— May 22, 1873] 
men of England in their own country have not forgotten that 
we have always received from them the most cordial and the 
most generous hospitality. In conferring on Sir Charles Wheat- 
stone a reward rendered valuable by those who have already 
received it, the Council performs a pure act of justice, and 
acquits, at least for some among us, a debt of gratitude. 
Dr. VON DOLLINGER has been appointed President of the 
Bavarian Academy of Science and Conservator-General of Scien- 
tific Museums in Bavaria, which became vacant by the death of 
Baron Liebig. King Louis advised the doctor of his appoint- 
ment by an autograph letter. 
THE Institution of Civil Engineers hold a conversazione in the 
- West Galleries of the International Exhibition, on ‘Tuesday, 
* the 27th inst. i 
_ Mr. Artuur GAmGgE, M.D., F.R.S., Lecturer on Physio- 
Togy at Surgeons Hall, Edinburgh, and Examiner in Forensic 
Medicine in the University of London, has been appointed Brack- 
enbury Professor of Practical Physiology and Histology in 
Owens College, Manchester. 
Prog. H, pr Lacaze-DurHters, member of the French Insti- 
tute, Professor of Zoology at the Faculté des Sciences of 
Paris, and Director of the Zoological Station of Roscoff, will 
accompany Commander Mouchez, in the Warval, that officer 
_ béing engaged in completing the hydrographic map of the 
Algerian shores. The professor will make frequent soundings, 
and study the fauna of the Mediterranean. He will be assisted 
in the geological determinations by a distinguished young geo- 
logist, M. Vélain, Répétiteur of the Faculté of Sciences of Paris. 
The cruise will last five months. The ship left Lorient on May 
1. M. de Lacaze-Duthiers will join them in July, at the termi- 
nation of his lectures at the Faculté. Let us hope that these 
new explorations, under the guidance of an ardent, learned, and 
experienced man, will procure materials as valuable as those 
which were obtained by Agassiz, Wyville Thomson and others. 
a ee 
WE understand that there is a plan in hand for building a new 
museum at Vienna, to which the contents of the Imperial Zoolo- 
gical Cabinet, including the important collections of Natterer 
and other well-known naturalists, are to be transferred. 
THE following telegram was received on Saturday at the 
Foreign-office from Colonel Stanton :— Alexandria,J May 17, 
1873.—The Egyptian Government has just received a despatch 
from the Governor-General of Southern Loudan, dated 15th 
March, reporting the arrival at Gondokoro of the reinforce- 
_ ments sent to Sir S. Baker, confirming the private intelligence 
recently forwarded to your lordship as to the safety of the party, 
and adding that in compliance with Sir S. Baker’s demand, 200 
soldiers, with a supply of salt and ammunition, had been sent 
onto him. Sir S. Baker had not reached the lake. 
Dr. PETSRMANN has recently ‘received a letter from Dr. 
Nachtigal, who in 1869 was sent out to Africa on a mission 
from the Emperor of Germany to the Sultan of Borneo. The 
letter is dated February 1872, and gives some brief details of 
Dr. Nachtigal’s visits to the countries lying tothe N.E. of Lake 
Tchad, the greater part of the region visited being new to Euro- 
pean. exploration. A most important discovery made by Dr. 
Nachtigal is that Bahr-el-Gazal, put down on some maps con- 
jecturally as flowing into Lake Tchad, really flows out of that 
lake north-eastwards for about 300 miles. He has also disco- 
vered a range of mountains extending prubably a distance of 
upwards of 800 miles from Tibesti to Darfur ; one of the passes 
is at least 7,878 ft. above sea-level. At the date of the despatch 
of his letter, Dr. Nachtigal was about to undertake a journey 
into {Bagirmi, the country lying to the south-east of Lake Tchad. 
It will thus be seen that this traveller is collecting materials 
_ which will add greatly to our knowledge of Central N. Africa. 
7s 
a a fi 
NATURE 
75 
A MESSAGE has been received by the Daily Telegraph from 
Mr. George Smith dated Mosul, May 19. “Since my last 
message,” he says, “ I have come upon numerous valuable inscrip- 
tions and fragments of all classes, including very curious sylla- 
baries and bi-lingual records. Among them is a remarkable 
table of the penalties for neglect or infraction of the laws. But 
my most fortunate discovery is that of a broken tablet containing 
the very portion of the text which was missing from the Deluge 
tablet. Immense masses of earth and débris overlie whatever 
remains to be brought to light in this part of the great mound. 
Much time and large sums of money would be required 
to lay it open. I therefore await instructions from yow 
and the Museum, as the season is closing.” Tae Daily 
Telegraph and the British Museum Lave now an opportunity, 
of showing that they have really at heart the advancement 
of historical research, and we are sure Mr. Smith’s hint will ba 
met by a hearty response. We feel confident that the liberality 
of the Dazly Telegraph will be continued until Mr. Smith’s re- 
searches are completed to his own satisfaction. 
SoME time ago we were able to give authentic news of the 
safety of the Russian explorer of New Guinea, Dr. N. yon 
Miklucho-Maclay, who had been reported dead in several 
newspapers. Dr. Maclay has himself sent a letter to Dr. 
Petermann, dated on board the Russian clipper, Asuwmrud, 
March 11, with a postscript dated Manilla, March 22, saying he 
is alive, though not very well, and was about to despatch to the 
St Petersburg Geographical Society an account of his explora- 
tion of New Guinea, his main object in visiting that country 
being to collect material for its ethnology. He intended to 
visit Luzon and the Sunda Islands, and then return to New 
Guinea. 
AN important step has been taken in the carrying out of the 
decisions of the International ,Metric Commission which met 
at Paris in October last year. The form and mode of execution 
of the standard-metre having been settled, the Commission en- 
trusted to the French Section the manufacture and comparison 
of the new metres with the original standard in the Archives 
of France. We learn from Les A/ondes that before proceeding 
to cast the definitive metres, the French Commission has thought 
it advisable to execute the first types, with which to test succes- 
sively all the methods that will ultimately be applied to the 
definitive metres. This first experiment took place in the labo- 
ratory of M. EI. Sainte-Claire Deville, who, with the assistance 
of M. Debray, has succeeded in obtaining the iridio-platinum 
alloy perfectly pure. The operation of casting this first inter- 
national metre was considered of so much importance, that the 
President of the Republic and some of his Ministers, and other 
eminent Frenchmen, ‘‘assisted” at it. Nine kilogrammes 
of platinum, with one kilogramme of iridium, were melted under 
the action of an oxyhydrogen flame from a blow-pipein three- 
quarters of an hour. The ingot was then cast, perfectly limpid, 
ina mould formed, like the furnace itself, of a block of car- 
bonate of lime, whose interior walls alone were burned under the 
influence of the excessive temperature which was developed ; 
consequently with this substance there is no risk of breakage. 
The metal was allowed to cool in the mould, and preserved its 
bright surface ; in this condition it will be submitted to all the 
processes necessary to give it the definitive form which it ought, 
to possess. The operation was considered, by all who witnessed 
| it, as perfectly successful. 
Tue following further particulars with reference to the Ame- 
rican Arctic exploring ship FPo/aris, Captain Hall, have been 
obtained by the correspondent of the Mew York Herald ; they 
are dated Bay Roberts, va St. John’s, N.F., into which the 
steamer 7igress had come, having on {board nineteen survivors, 
including H. C. Tyson, assistant-nayigator of Captain Hall’s 
