NATURE 
35 
which would result from the successful establishment of a Zoolo- 
gical Garden. In addition a Committee was appointed to report 
on the scheme. Few places are more suitable for the establish- 
ment of such gardens than Calcutta—climate, facilities for pro- 
curing animals, and an enormous floating population are all in 
their power. We are glad to learn that several of the native 
princes have already promised large donations, and that the 
local and Imperial Governments will give the schem> their 
support. 
Dr. SCHOMBURGK’s Report on the Botanic Garden at Ade- 
laide, South Australia, gives an interesting view of the usefulness 
of such an institution in a new country. Although, according 
to the director, young Australia has very little taste for the 
science of botany, yet the number of persons who frequent the 
gardens for the purpose of getting various kinds of information 
incréases yearly. Part of the report deals with the subject of 
state conservation of forests. In many districts of the colony the 
supply of wood for timber and fuel appears to be altogether 
exhausted, or is soon about to become so, The effect of the 
déboisement on the climate is much dreaded by Dr. Schomburgk, 
and no doubt, even if the belief in a diminution of the rainfall 
be not well founded, clearing certainly promotes evaporation, 
and sooner or later brings about the drying up of springs. 
Various economic plants have been introduced, including esparto 
(Macrochloa tenacissima), The climate allows of the planting 
out of many palms in the open air, such as Latania borbonica, 
Rhapis flabelliformis, Sabal Blackburniana, several species of 
Chamerops and others. There are grand possibilities for a well- 
managed botanic garden in such a climate. 
Tue third part of Mr. D. G, Elliott’s superb ‘* Monograph of 
the Paradiseidz: or Birds of Paradise,” has just been published, it 
contains six plates beautifully executed by Mr. Wolf and 
Mr. Smit. 
THE first part of a new biological work has recently been 
published at Moscow, entitled ‘‘ Pripoda””—popularnoi estest- 
venno—istoricheskisaornik. It contains a paper by M. Severtzoff 
on the sheep of Asia, but from being written in Russian, it is 
beyond the reach of most English readers, and would probably 
be worthy of translation, 
_ Lerrers received from Mr. R. Swinhoe announce his removal 
from the Consulship of Ning-po to the more northern Chinese 
port of Che-fow, on the south shore of the Gulf of Petchelee. 
M. Swinhoe alsoannounces the despatch of a living specimen of 
the very interesting hornless deer, Hydropotes inermes, first 
‘described by him in 1870, for the Zoological Society’s Menagerie. 
_ WE understand that Dr. John Anderson, F.Z,S., director of the 
Indian Museum at Calcutta, will return to England in the 
autumn for a leave of two years. 
WE learn from Sirius that the Russian Government has de- 
voted 70,000 roubles to the observation of the Transit of Venus, 
and is to send out twenty-four expeditions to various parts of 
the world. 
’ From Sirius we learn that recently 84 pages of a manuscript 
‘of Copernicus have been discovered. 
Tue Archeological Institute of Great Britain and Ircland 
will hold its annual meeting at Exeter on July 29 and following 
days. Lord Deyon has consented to fill the office of President. 
THE Royal Microscopical Society hold a conversazione in the 
Large Hall, King’s Coll:ge, on Wednesday evening, May 14. 
In reference to the Natural Science Scholarship at Trinity 
College, Cambridge, to which, as mentioned last week, Mr. 
‘Bridge has just been elected, we are informed that Mr. Alfred 
Milnes Marshall, of St. John’s College, was also highly recom- 
mended by the examiners for a second scholarship, but the master 
and seniors decided that only one should be given. Mr. Bridge, 
we may add, has for some time past, been a non-collegiate mem- 
ber of the University. 
A VERY interesting publication is the ‘“ Memoir of the 
Founding and Progress of the U.S. Naval Observatory,” at 
Washington, prepared by Prof. J. E, Nourse, by order of Rear- 
Admiral B. F. Sands, the presentiSuperintendent of the obser- 
vatory. The large pamphlet gives details of the history of the 
observatory from the first attempt in 1810 to move the American 
Government to take steps to establish a meridian for America, 
so as to make that cvuntry independeut of the meridians of 
Greenwich and Paris, down to the present time, when by the 
liberality of the Government and the zeal and knowledge of 
American astronomers and meteorologists, it has become one of 
the most efficient observatories in the world. The present 
observatory was founded in 1842, and the first superintendent 
was the late Commander M, F. Maury, whose successors have 
been Capt. J. M. Gilliss, Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis, and Rear- 
Admiral B. F. Sands. In their attempts to render their obser- 
vations, astronomical, meteorological, and magnetic, as thorough 
and wide as possible, the officials have been well backed by the 
American Government, the result being, as we have said, that 
the observatory is perhaps the most efficient institution of the 
kind in the world, both with regard to the higher aims and the 
practical results of the sciences with which it is connected, 
Every year, almost every month, as the readers of our *‘ Notes ” 
must have seen, are new ramifications being developed, and new 
means of greater efficiency being added. For the purpose of 
circulating accurate time, the observatory is connected with all 
the telegraphic offices in the United States, and every day at 
12 o’clock, the exact time is by this means made known through- 
out the country. At present, as we noted some time ago, there 
is being constructed for the observatory by Messrs. Clark, of 
Cambridgeport, at a cost of 50,000 dollars, a refracting telescope 
of the largest size ; and as we also noted several months since, 
preparations on the most liberal scale are being made for 
observing the forthcoming Transit of Venus. 
A CORRESPONDENT puts the following case:—A strong man 
is suddenly struck dead by lightning. What has become of the 
potential energy he possessed the instant before he was struck? 
To this we have received the following reply :—His potential 
energy would be where it was before, viz., within the space 
bounded by his exte:nal surface, What the l'ghtning has done 
has been to destroy the mechanism for realising that potential 
energy. A small portion of the man’s potential energy might 
have been converted into actual energy by the lightning, as, for 
instance, in the shape of heat ; but the great bulk would be got 
by anybody who chose to eat his body. 
AN International Monument to the late Commodore Maury 
has been proposed, and there is no doubt his memory well 
deserves such a tribute. It has been mooted that an appropriate 
form in which to embody the monument would be a lighthouse 
on Rocos, which is sighted by all vessels on the route t Rio de 
Janeiro. : 
AT a meeting held in Edinburgh last week, it was resolved to 
appeal to the public for subscriptions in order to procure the 
erection in Edinburgh of Mrs. D. O. Hill’s, statue of Dr. 
Livingstone. The sum proposed to be raised is 3,500/. 
Tue U.S. signal office has begun the ;ublication of a brief 
monthly review of the weather, in which special attention is, of 
course, given to the storms that visit the Unived States. Tt ap- 
pears irom these that there were € iumerated during the month of 
January twelve storms, during February ten, and during March 
eleven. The paths pursued by the centres of these storms are 
classified as follows :—Twenty-one passed from the Upper Mis- 
