Sept. 13, 1877] 



NATURE 



429 



years of age he was not the oldest member of the whole French 

 Institute. The dean by age is now M. Chevreul, a man of 

 extraordinary debating power, and who the very day of Thiers' 

 death read before the Academy of Science an admirable chemical 

 paper referred to in this week's report of the Paris Academy. 



Mr. Layard, the British ambassador at Constantinople, has 

 received a firman from the Sultan authorising excavations at 

 Nineveh. 



Several members of the enterprising Birmingham Natuval 

 History Society spent last week in a dredging excursion at 

 Arran, Brodick being made the headquarters. The excursion 

 was eminently successful, and several objects of considerable 

 rarity were obtained. An interesting account of the excursion 

 appears in the Birmingham Daily Post of September 10. 



At the meeting of delegates held to discuss the formation of 

 a Midhand Union of Natural History Societies on August 2S, at 

 the Midland Institute, a basis of union was unanimously agreed 

 to. The Union is to be governed by a council composed of two 

 members from each society included within it, one of these 

 members to be a secretary of the society. The annual meetings 

 are to be held in the various towns in which are located the 

 societies forming the Union. The president of the society in 

 association with which the annual meeting is held shall be pre- 

 sident of the Union for that year, and each annual meeting shall 

 decide where the next is to be held. The levy from each society 

 is to be \d. per annum for each member, unless the members 

 shall be less than twenty-four in number, when it shall be 2.r. 

 for the whole of the society. A monthly journal is to be 

 published by the Union similar to the West Riding Naturalist, 

 to be called the Midland A'aturalisl. The following Sub- 

 Committee was appointed to arrange various matters : — Messrs. 

 Lawson Tait, James Eagnall, John Morley, Egbert D. Hamel, 

 and Charles Perks. The first meeting of the Council will be 

 held at the Midland Institute, Burmingham, on Tuesday, 

 October 2, at 5 p.m. 



London now possesses an 'aquarium tank believed to be the 

 largest in existence. By removing the partitions between several 

 of the tanks in the Westminster Aquarium, the present natu- 

 ralist, Mr. Carriiigton, has arranged one capable of holding 

 94,000 gallons. It is 150 feet long, 20 feet broad, and the 

 depth of the water will vary according to circumstances. The 

 tank is intended for the e.xhibition of large fish. 



A .SHOCK of earthquake was felt at Bagnferes de Bigorre at 

 2 P.M. on Friday, its direction being east to south-east, and its 

 duration five seconds. 



Local societies have organised in Switzerland a large number 

 of district museums so arranged that the natural characteristics of 

 the country are always open to the inspection of the public. The 

 extent of these collections is sometimes astonishing. We have 

 been favoured with a catalogue of the Vevey Cantonal Museum, 

 from which we learn that it possesses 415 zoological object^, 

 three different herbariums, four mineralogical collections, fifteen 

 objects of ethnography, twenty-five archreological relics found 

 ill the country, 650 pieces of money or medals, complete labo- 

 ratories of physics and chemistry, and a library. Vevey is a 

 small country place having only S,ooo inhabitants. 



The Council General of Guadeloupe have offered a premium 

 of §20,oo3 for the best new process of extracting juice from 

 sugar-cane, the cost not to exceed forty per cent, of the market 

 value of the product. Applications may be made up to June i, 

 18S0. 



We have referred to the expedition to Cambodia, headed by 

 Dr. Ilarmand, on behalf of the French Government. A large 

 parcel containing a number of natural history specimens has 

 arrived at Paris for the Museum, from the expedition. 



The Germanic Museum at Niirnberg celebrated the twenty- 

 fifth anniversary of its existence on the l6th uU. The celebration 

 was simple, dignified, and in good keeping with the national 

 character of the institution. The foundation-stone of a new 

 wing of the building of the museum was laid, the funds for this 

 enlargement having been supplied by the German Government. 

 The director, Herr Essen wein, addressed the company assembled, 

 and gave an account of the development of the museum, pointing 

 out that the institution was the result of common efforts made 

 by the whole nation ; that princes and people had equally con- 

 tributed towards the furtherance of the work, and that the new 

 wing would bear the Imperial arms upon its fa9ide as a sign of 

 its origin. 



The European staff for the first international station to be 

 established in Africa has been completed. It consists of Messrs. 

 Cambier, .Crespel, and Mais. The Austrian traveller, Ernst 

 Marno, will accompany the expedition in the capacity of 

 naturalist. The expedition will proceed to Natal in the Union 

 Company's Royal Mail steamship Danulu, appoinfed to leave 

 Southampton on October 18 next, direct for Algoa Bay and 

 Natal. The expedition will remain at Na'al for a week or ten 

 days, perfecting their arrangements, and will then go on to 

 Zanzibar, for Tanganyika, in the same Company's steamship 

 Katal. 



Among the papers in the just-published part of the Ziitschi-i/t 

 of the Berlin Geographical Society are letters from Dr. Erwin 

 von Bary to Baron von Richthofen on the travels of the former 

 in North Africa ; the itinerary of Dr. Pogge from Kimbundo 

 to Quizemene, the Mussumba or residence of Muata Jamwo, 

 and further eastwards to Inchibaraka, from Septemlier 16, 1875, 

 to February 28, 1876 ; two papers on Persii, one by Dr. Kiepert 

 on Dr. Stolze's journey in South Persia in 1S75, and a descrip- 

 tion by Gen. Schindler of little known routes in Chorassan. 

 Capt. von Schlienitz contributes a paper of much interest on 

 the geographical and ethnographical observations in New 

 Guinea, the New Britannia and Solomon's Archipelago, ob- 

 tained by the Austrian GazdL- expedition. To the I'crhand. 

 hiiigeii (Nos. 5 and 6) of the same Society Baron von Richthofen 

 contributes a paper of much historical value on the Central 

 Asiatic silk routes up to the second century of our era. 



At the last meeting of the Niederrheinische Gesellschaft fiir 

 Natur und Ileilkunde of Bonn, Herr Siegfried Stein reported on 

 some new mirrors made of rock crystal and agate, and used for 

 refiecting sextants. Dr. H . Eylert, the astronomer to the Deutsche 

 Seewarte at Hamburg, had pointed out to him that glass mirrois 

 lose their correct shape in course of time, or turn dim and render 

 impossible the exact determination of the sun's altitude. The 

 new mirrors are free of these faults. 



Throughout the past week, says the Sussex Advertiser, 

 Col. A. Lane Fox has been engaged, with several workmen, m 

 making some interesting excavations into Mount Caburn, on 

 behalf of the combined committees of the British Association 

 and Anthropological Institute. A number of pits were found in 

 the interior of the camp, and some of them have been opened. 

 They are of different sizes, and between six and seven feet deep, 

 and are of a square, oval, and round shape. They were 

 evidently human habitations, and would contain perhaps two 

 persons crouched up together, there not being room for them to 

 lie extended. They were found to contain the bones of a great 

 variety of animals used for food, but chiefly of the ox, pig, and 

 goat, and the remains have .been sent to Prof. RoUeston, of 

 Oxford, for identification. The filling in of the pits appears to 

 be of the late Celtic period, but whether the pits themselves are 

 of the same age it is difficult to determine. A large basin-shaped 

 shaft, sbcteen feet deep, has been cleared on the south side of 

 Mount Cabum. In this case it is also difficult to decide the 



