Aug. 28, 1873] 
4 THE Philadelphians are hard at work preparing for their Cen- 
; al Exhibition to be heldin 1876. 200/. each for the ten best 
designs foranappropriate building had been offered, and forty plans 
have now been sent in. The Centennial Commission having 
in charge the inauguration and conduct of the Great Exhibition, 
_ have already made most commendable progress. Committees 
from their number, having in charge special departments of the 
vast scheme, are in constant session, and the general outline of 
_ the work seems to have been fully developed. The site for the 
buildings used for the occasion has already been selected in Phila- 
delphia’s beautiful park, and the formal transfer of the ground 
_ by the city authorities to the control of the Centennial Commis- 
sioners took place, with the imposing ceremonies befitting the 
occasion, on July 4. The decoration of the ground for the pur- 
_ pose, the planting of shade trees, &c., will be taken in hand at 
‘once. ; 
___ Amonc the appropriations made by the State of New York 
_ for the State Cabinet of Natural History are the following enu- 
merations :—Hall of Natural History, cleaning, repairs, &c., 
3,000 dols. ; for the increase of the zoological collection, 1,000 
dols. ; assisting in arrangirg duplicate fossils and minerals for 
distribution, 1,500 dols. ; salary of botanist, 1,500dols. ; for the 
use of the Cabinet of Natural History, 10,000 dols,, making an 
aggregate of 17,000 dols. The Board of Regents of the Univer- 
sity receive 6,500 dols. 
THE offer of free lodging in the Rudolphinum during the Ex- 
hibition at Vienna has been responded to by no fewer than 2,412 
teachers. Of these 418 have been selected, viz. :—207 Austrians, 
99 Germans, 36 Italians, 20 Englishmen, 14 Dutchmen, 13 
Swedes, 12 Danes, 10 Swiss, 7 a, 3 Belgians, and 2 
Spaniards. 
THE Committee appointed by the Birmingham Natural 
History and Microscopical Society to carry out the pro- 
posed Marine Excursion have, as nearly as possible, completed 
all the necessary arrangements. A yacht has been hired 
for six days, commencing Sept. 1, for a very moderate 
sum. Mr. A. W. Wills has made a large-sized dredge, which 
he has kindly presented to the Society. The small dredges 
belonging to the President and Mr. Wills will also be available 
for the excursion. With the view of rendering the dredging 
operations scientifically interesting and valuable, it is proposed 
to use a Miller-Casella thermometer with copper case, similar to 
those supplied for the Porcupine and Lightning expedition. 
Dredging operations, and the management of the yacht, will be 
entirely under the direction of the President and Mr. Wills, who 
_ will determine the hours of sailing and returning, the places to 
_ be visited, &c. &c. In addition to those made in the yacht, 
excursions to places of interest in the neighbourhood will be 
planned at intervals during the expedition. Very satisfactory 
arrangements have been made as to accommodation. The pro- 
posed excursion is an experiment which, if successful, may be 
_ repeated on 2 larger scale at some future time, 
| 
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4 
THE United States screw steamer 7iala, of 828 tons bur- 
den, left New York on the 24th of June, bound to Greenland, 
on her mission of rescue to the crew of the Polaris. She is in 
charge of Commander Braine, with a picked crew, and has been 
fitted out with every appliance needed for the success of her ob- 
ject. She reached St. Johns, Newfoundland, on June 30, and 
immediately went into the dock for the purpose of being pro- 
perly sheathed with iron, and otherwise strengthened and refitted. 
As soon as this was completed she left for Disco, on July 9, 
where, or at Upernavik, she will wait until the arrival of her 
consort, the Zzgress. The Zigress, it will be remembered, is the 
Newfoundland sealing steamer which rescued a part of the crew 
of the Fo/aris from the ice, and was purchased by the Secretary 
NATURE 
ev« ee ee ae 
355 
of the Navy as a relief vessel for the remainder of the party, as 
being better fitted for this end than any vessel that could be pro- 
perly prepared in time for departure during the present summer. 
She reached New York on June 28, and was immediately exa- 
mined by proper officers of the navy, who decided at once what 
alterations and repairs to put upon her. The Zigress is 165 ft. 
in length, has 28 ft. breadth of beam, and 16 ft. depth of hold, 
draws 13 ft. of water, and has a capacity of 463 tons. She has 
been placed under Commander Greer, lately of the Naval Aca- 
demy, and is accompanied by Captain Tyson, late of the Polaris, 
as ice-master. The Zigress left Brooklyn on July 14, and arrived 
at St. Johns on July 23, where, like the Yuniata, she will take 
in additional supplies, and then proceed northward. She is pre- 
pared to remain two years in the North if necessary, although it 
is hoped that she will return during the present season, convoy- 
ing the Polaris. 
THE second annual report of the Board of Commissioners of 
the Department of Public Parks in New York, is partly devoted 
to the condition of the Menagerie in Central Park, which has 
increased considerably in size during the last year. A catalogue 
is appended of the animals contained_in the collection, which is 
on exactly the same plan as Mr. Sclater’s carefully constructed 
List of Animals in‘the, Zoological Society’s Gardens in Regent's 
Park. 
IN Part V. of Dr. Brown-Sequard’s new ‘‘ Archives of Scieti« 
tific and Practical Medicine,” there is an excellent analysis of 
some of the recent researches on the localisation of the cerebral 
functions, including an account of the experiments of Nothnagel, 
Gudden, and others. We hope next week to be able to give an 
abstract of the paper. 
THE death of the Rev. Peter John de Smet, of the Society 
of Jesus, is announced as having taken place at St. Louis on 
May 23—an event which is worthy to be noted in a scientific 
point of view. Although not himself a special student of natu- 
ral science, numerous collections made at his request and under 
his direction, and transmitted to museums at hoine and abroad, 
have borne witness to his tastes; and it is even stated that he 
has left behind him a manuscript record of his life, in which are 
embraced important notes of the habits and customs of the 
Indian tribes of the West, and of the physical condition and 
natural history of the regions inhabited by them. 
Tue Fourth Part of the illustrated work by Mr. Hermann 
Strecker, of Reading, Pennsylvania, upon the Lepidoptera has 
just been published, and contains figures and descriptions of 
quite a large number of species, illustrated by one plate. Among 
other species is included a new butterfly (Satyrus hoffmannt), 
obtained by Dr. Hoffmann at Owen’s Lake, in Nevada. 
THE Journal of the Society of Arts for August 22 contains a 
report on steel as represented at the International Exhibition, 
by Mr, William Baker. 
A LETTER appears in the Zimes of Tuesday, from Mr. Richard 
Potter, one of the paity from Mr. Leigh Smith’s Arctic Expe- 
dition, by the Spitzbergen route. Itis dated Trenerenberg Bay, 
July 4, and says :—‘‘ The Po/hem came in here last night, and is 
going away again to-day. She is going home in about three 
weeks, I believe. We fell in with the Samson two days ago. We 
have been up to the Seven Islands, lat. 80° 50’, but there is too 
much ice to go farther North at present. Prof. Nordenskidld 
and the other men who tried to get North in boats could not 
get farther than 80° 35’ lat., and then, finding the ice too rough 
for sledging, crossed the north-east land, and returned by Hinlo- 
pen Straits, They must have had a bad time of it, as there were 
