I lO 



NATURE 



\ytnie 7, 1877 



Of these one in particular (altazimuth-observations of the 

 moon) has originated with myself; others, from the suggestions 

 of the Board of Visitors, or from the obvious demands of the 

 scientific world. 



This increase is felt even in our buildings and grounds ; every 

 corner of every room is or will shortly be occupied ; and the 

 form of the ground almost forbids extension. 



The prinHng of the steps of the reductions of observations 

 (which originated with myself more than forty years ago) natu- 

 rally increased the labour within the observatory, as well as the 

 expenses without it. This printing, however, must never be 

 abandoned. But there is another part, of which the policy still 

 appears to me somewhat doubtful, namely, the printing in extenso 

 of every figure of original observations, it being remarked that 

 the originals or extracts are always open to astronomers. I 

 brought the question of suppressing these before the Board of 

 Visitors many years ago ; but the opinions of as'ronomers (I cite 

 in particular the honoured name of M. Biot and that of Mr. 

 Johnson) were so strongly adverse to it, that I laid aside all 

 further thoughts of it ; and I do not even now profess to enter- 

 tain a decided opinion. 



The three points, however, to which I have alluded (the 

 extent of scientific occupations, the enlargement of buildings, 

 and the amount of printing) must before long engage the atten- 

 tion of the Visitors. 



RECENT RESEARCHES AMONG THE LOWER 

 SARCODE ORGANISMS 



'T'HE customary annual address on the occasion of the anni- 

 ■'■ versary of the Linnean Society was, on Wednesday, the 

 24th May, delivered by the President, Prof. Allman, F.R. S. In 

 continu.ition of his last year's summary of the progress in this 

 department of biology, he dwelt upon the important additions to 

 our knowledge of these organisms, due to the investigations of 

 Archer in our own country and of Ilertwig and Lesser, Franz 

 Eilhard .Schulze, and Greeff in Germany. 



The discovery of many new monothalamic Rhizopods of fresh 

 water and the important additions made by the British and Ger- 

 man investigators to our knowledge of their protoplasmic bodies 

 were brought in review before the meeting. These mono- 

 thalamic forms may be divided in accordance with the nature of 

 their pseudopodia ; in some these processes being short, thick, 

 and finger-shaped (Lobosa) ; in others long, slim, and filiform 

 (Fiiifera). The former were illustrated by Hyalosf'hmia, with 

 its smooth, transparent shell, and by Quadiiila, with beautilully 

 sculptured shell ; and the latter by Gromia. with its very long 

 filiform reticulated pseudopodia ; and by Microgromia socialis, 

 v/hich has the curious habit of forming colonies by the associa- 

 tion of numerous individuals, which become united to one 

 another by the mutual fusion of their pseudopodia. The remark- 

 able form of reproduction discovered by Hertwig in Microgromia 

 was also described. Hertwig had shown that in this Rhizopod 

 the protoplasm divides by spontaneous fission into two segments, 

 one of which remains in the shell, while the other forces its way 

 out, assumes an oval shape, develops, instead of pseudopodia, 

 two vibratile flagella, and becomes a free-swimming flagellate 

 Zoospore, capable of ultimate development into the form of the 

 adult. The very intert sting discovery by Haeckel, that the con- 

 tents of the so-called " yellow cells " of the Radiolaiia become 

 of a deep violet colour under the action of iodine, and are there- 

 fore mainly composed of starch, was also referred to among 

 recent additions to our knowledge of the lower organisms. An 

 account was then given of the remarkable and very significant 

 researches of Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale among the so- 

 called *' Monads," — microscopic organisms which become deve- 

 loped in putrifying solutions of organic matter, and which, in their 

 ordinary and apparently adult state swim about by the aid of vibra- 

 tile flagella. These laborious and trustworthy investigators have 

 shown that the flagellate monads may acquire an amcoboid con- 

 dition and move about by the aid of pseudopodia ; that two such 

 amceboid forms when they come in contact with one another 

 become instantly blended together at the point of contact, that 

 this blending becomes more and more intimate until the two 

 individuals become completely fused together, when their mingled 

 protoplasm assumes the form of a spherical sac filled with par- 

 ticles of immeasurable minuteness. These particles are germs 

 destined for the reproduction of the individual. Their form can 

 be demonstrated only by the highest powers of the microscope ; 

 and by following them by means of a one-fifti<.th of an inch 



object glass, Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale were enabled to 

 trace their gradual development into the form of the adult. They 

 further proved the remarkable and unexpected facr that these 

 minute germs may be subjected to a temperature of from 258° F. 

 to 300° F. w-ithout losing their vitality and power of develop- 

 ment, a fact of vast significance in its bearing on experimsnts 

 connected with the question of spontaneous generation. Finally 

 attention was drawn to the quite recent discovery of Hertwig 

 and F. E. Schulze of a nucleus in the Foraminifera. By this 

 discovery the true systematic position can now be assigned to 

 the Foraminifera, which must accordin,dy be removed from the 

 region of Cytodes or non-nucleated protoplasm masses (to which 

 they had been hitherto relegated), and placed on a much higher 

 stage in the great division of the Rhizopoda. Resting on these 

 facts F. E. Schulze has attempted to represent by the aid of a 

 genealogical tree the mutual affinities and derivation from one 

 another of the various members of the Rhizopoda. The base of 

 the tree where its stem is as yet undivided, consists of the primi- 

 tive forms— mere non-nucleated Cytodes represented by Haeckel's 

 Monera {Protogenes, Protanwba, &c.). From these by the dif- 

 ferentiation of a nucleus in their protoplasm are evolved the 

 nucleated forms {Amccba, fresh-water Monothalamia, Foramini- 

 fera, Heliozoa, &c.) which constitute the sub-divisions into which 

 the stem branches off. These repeat the various modifications 

 of pseudopodia (Lobose, Filiform, &c. ) which had already existed 

 in the primitive forms, and which they thus derive by inheritance 

 from their non-nucleated progenitors. Finally through the branch 

 of the Heliozoa we are conducted to the ultimate twigs formed 

 by the families of the Radiolaria, in which we find not only 

 nuclei but a "central capsule " indicating the highest grade of 

 differentiation attained by any member of the group. 



THE NORWEGIAN DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION 



THE Norwegian Deep-Sea Expedition is about to start from 

 Bergen on its second summer cruise in the steamer Bariii- 

 gen. It has just been decided by the proper authorities that the 

 expedition, like last year's, shall be commanded by Capt. Wille 

 with Lieut. Petersen as first officer. The scientific start' of the 

 expedition is also the same as the previous year with the exception 

 of the chemist, whose post is this year filled by Herr H. Tornre, 



The following is the approved plan of the expedition of the 

 present year. 



The equipment of the vessel and the determination of its 

 magnetic constants were to be completed by June i. In 

 studying the temperature in the deep sea over the banks off 

 the West Coast, it has become evident that accurate observations 

 are wanting in the Norwegian Rende. In order to obtain these 

 the ves.'iel will go from Bergen direct to sea, and following the 

 bottom of the Rende, take accurate observations there. Farther 

 to the north several of last year's observations may also be 

 verified. 



The first proper field of wo'k is the Norwegian coast banks to 

 the north of Ramdalen. From existing observations it is 

 probable that the *' Havbro," where the bank sinks toward 

 the depths of the Polar Sea, and where the ice-cold water begins 

 at the bottom, lies at least twenty-five geographical miles from the 

 coast. Between Rrest and the point oil" Ramdalen, where the 

 expedition last year found a depth of about sixty fathoms with a 

 rocky bottom ten miles from land, it is considered probable that 

 there runs a more or less continuous ridge of rock. 



The position and characteristics of the " Havbro " and the 

 supposed ridge form main points in the examination of the 

 banks. This goes on by forming cross-sections perpendicular to 

 the coast. The sections, like last year's, are to be at a distance 

 of twelve or thirteen geographical miles asunder. Their inner 

 boundary is to be the outermost line of the special hydrographical 

 survey. Their outer boundary is where the temperature at the 

 bottom of the sea is 1° C , or thereby. In each section besides 

 the observation of the temperature at each sounding, at least 

 three other series of observations are required, one at the inner 

 boundary, one at the " Havbro," at its inner edge, and one at 

 the outer limit of the section. The number of soundings will 

 depend on the bottom being found more or less even as the work 

 goes on. 



In order to leave as much time as possible for work in the 

 depths of the Polar Sea, and at Jan Mayen and the Greenland 

 ice, there will be carried on, along with the survey of the banks, 

 the examination of the Umbellularia region to a depth of 1,000 

 fathoms in every third cross-section. If circumstances permit 



