ly themselves energetically to the development of the 
icultural resources of their country. 
In 1856-appeared the first edition of Maury’s “ Physical 
Geography of the Sea,” which ran through many editions 
inthe United States, was republished in England, and 
translated into several European languages. In this 
work he embodied the results of his researches on winds 
and currents, and propounded his well-known theory 
of the Gulf-Stream. Although it has been shown 
that this theory will not hold water, it does not 
‘in the least detract from the high and enduring 
value of the services he rendered to navigation and to 
meteorology. There is no doubt that to him is due the 
honour of having first shown how the latter could be 
raised to the dignity and the certainty of a science, 
though, forsooth, it is yet far enough from deserving to 
be called an exact one. But Maury was essentially a 
practical man in the best sense of the term; all his 
labours from beginning to end had for their one great 
aim, to render navigation more secure and more econo- 
‘mical ; and in the accomplishment of this aim he was 
eminently successful. The saving in time, in money, and 
in lifeto Britain alone which has resulted from Maury’s 
labours it would be very difficult to calculate; through 
him have the characteristics of almost every mile of that 
part of the ocean over which the commerce of the world is 
carried, become as well known as any district which has 
been mapped by the Ordnance Survey. Dr. Neumayer, 
than whom no one is better entitled to pronounce judg- 
ment on such a subject, in his recent pamphlet on the 
Exploration of the South Polar Regions, in opposition to 
some ill-informed detractors of Maury’s fame, speaks of 
him in the very highest terms ; and though we hesitate to 
class him, as a recent writer has done, with Newton, 
he will certainly, and deservedly, occupy a niche in the 
temple of fame as a benefactor of bumanity and a 
‘promoter of scientific knowledge, to which not many 
men eyer attain. 
NOTES 
THE Duke of Devonshire, Chancellor of the University of 
Cambridge, has consented to preside at the meeting of the friends 
of the late Prof. Sedgwick, which is to be held in the Senate 
House at Cambridge, on Tuesday, March 25, at two o’clock, to 
consider what steps shall be taken to raise a memorial to the late 
professor. Many men of eminence are expected to attend. It 
is rumoured that the memorial is likely to take the appropriate 
form of a new geological museum at Cambridge. 
WE are sorry to record the death of the interesting wasp 
referred to by Sir John Lubbock in his address at last year’s 
“meeting of the British Association. It slept away as it were 
on Feb, 20 last, first the head dying, then the thorax, and then 
the abdomen, It has been deposited in the British Museum. 
_ In order that local inspectors of weights and measures may 
more conveniently and accurately compare all commercial mea- 
Sures containing subdivisions of the imperial yard, with verified 
copies of the official standard measures of Jength, which have 
en legalised under the provisions of the Standards Act, 1866, 
Her Majesty’s Order in Council of March 24, 1871, a model 
a new subdivided standard yard, attached toa simple, in- 
enious, and comparatively inexpensive comparing apparatus, 
s been constructed by Messrs. Troughton and Simms, under 
‘ irection of the Warden of the Standards. This comparing 
apparatus has been expressly designed as one that may be used 
y local inspectors of weights and measures for comparing ordi- 
Mary commercial measures of length, and it may now be inspected 
at the Standards Department. 
WE have received a short paper by Mr. Lewis M. Rutherfurd 
on the stability of the collodion film. Urged by the statements 
391 
of Mr. Paschen, in the ‘‘Astronomische Nachrichten” in 
April last, Mr. Rutherfurd determined to subject the ques- 
tion between dry and wet process to a thorough examina- 
tion, and made a number of measures, proving conclusively 
the superiority of the former to the latter. This con- 
clusion is of great importance in connection with the ap- 
proaching Transit of Venus. In all casés save two the 
distance was greater between the lines when the plate was 
dry than when wet, the mean excess of the nine measures 
is Rey. 00017, which is 53,45, of an inch; it reaches in 
no case z/y5 Of an inch. This result is no doubt due to the 
cooling of the glass plate, by the evaporation which takes 
place the moment the wet plate is taken from the plate-holder 
and exposed to the air under the micrometer. This excess of 
distance (Rey. 0’001r7), would be caused by an increase of tem- 
perature for the dry glass of about 4°F. This consideration re- 
veals a source of error inthe use of wet plates which he had not 
before considered, since the same evaporation takes place no 
doubt during the long exposures given to star plates; the amount 
will vary according to the hygrometric state of the atmo- 
sphere, and may be met by reading wet and dry bulb ther- 
mometers. Mr. Rutherfurd’s objection to the method used 
by Mr. Paschen, is that instead of being confined to an investi- 
gation of what happens to the collodion film between the moment 
of exposure wet and the moment of measurement when dry, it 
is a comparison of the actual state of the plate when dry with 
what it ought to have been had all the adjustments, manipula- 
tions, and instruments been perfect. 
AN exhibition for proficiency in natural science will be offered 
for competition at King's College, Cambridge, on April 22 and 
following days. Its value is 80/. a year for three years. It is 
open to all British subjects under 20 years of age who bring a 
satisfactory certificate of good character. The examination will 
be in chemistry, physics, and physiology, with elementary papers 
in classics and mathematics. Avypplications should be sent to the 
tutor before Easter-day, April 13. 
WE mentioned some months ago that Vice-Chancellor Bacon 
had decided against the validity of the late Mr. Yates’s bequest 
to University College of endowments for the chairs of Geology 
and Mineralogy, and of Archeology, on the ground that the 
testator had never fulfilled his expressed intention of framing a 
code of rules and regulations for the manner in which the ap- 
pointments to the professorships should be filled up. We are 
glad to see that the Lord Chancellor has, on appeal, reversed the 
decision of the Vice-Chancellor, so that the College will derive 
the benefits from the will designed by the testator. 
A COMMITTEE has been formed among the members of the 
Berlin Geographical Society, and a plan has been drawn up in 
conjunction with the other geographical societies of Germany, 
for the completion from the west coast of Africa of the dis- 
coveries commenced by Dr. Livingstone from the East, The 
Committee propose that the expedition should start from the 
West Coast south of the Equator. The funds for the proper 
equipment and maintenance of the expedition are already partly 
provided, 
Tue Edinburgh Botanical Society has decided to offer trien- 
nially a prize of ten guineas, as an encouragement for practical 
research. The subject for competition is to be announced by 
the council at the commencement of each triennial period, and 
the successful competitor must have been a student who has 
attended the botanical class at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin- 
burgh, during atleast one of the preceding three years, and who 
has gained honours at the class examinations. 
THE mode in which the Fertilisation of Grasses, and espe- 
cially of Cereals, is effected—a question of no small importance 
from an agricultural point of view—has recently been the subject 
of a series of observations by Delpino in Italy, and Hildebrand 
