160 
and sent in (in MS. or printed form, and in the usual anonymous 
way) before May 30, 1884. 
ANOTHER well-known naturalist has passed away. Prof. 
Andrea Aradas, of Catania, died on November 1 last, after a 
long and laborious life, which was devoted to the study of 
marine zoology and paleontology. His publications were very 
numerous, and extended over nearly forty years. He was a man 
of great amiability as well as learning. 
THE death is announced of Sir Thomas Watson, M.D., F.R.S., 
the eminent physician, at the age of ninety years. 
On Monday evening the annual dinner of the Professors and 
Members of the Royal School of Mines was held in the Victoria 
Room of the Criterion, Piccadilly. Mr. E. L. J. Ridsdale, late 
of the Royal Mint, presided. It was announced that Major- 
General Martin was about to retire, owing to ill-health. 
Prof. Huxley made a long and inteiesting speech, in the 
course of which he recalled the personal characteristics of the 
professors who filled the chairs at the school. Prof. Judd 
proposed ‘‘The Geological Survey,” to which Dr. A. Geikie 
responded. 
ProF, KENNEDY has issued invitations for an inspection of 
the experimental engine and other apparatus just completed at 
the Engineering Laboratory, University College, London. 
Prof. Kennedy draws attention to the fact that the laboratory 
was the first of its kind established in England, and was at the 
time of its establishment an entirely new departure in technical 
education in this country. Since that time (1878), its principle 
has been more or less formally adopted by all the recently-esta- 
blished technical colleges. A very large number of the leading 
engineers of the country have also formally expressed their 
approval of the scheme, which, too, came in considerable detail 
before the present Royal Commission on Technical Education. 
The additions now just finished to the Laboratory render it 
already probably the most complete of its kind in Europe. 
A RECENT writer in the Chia Review exemplifies the diffi- 
culties surrounding interpretation from Chinese into English, or 
vice versa, by mentioning that the simple question, Was he (or 
she) dead? which occurs so frequently in inquests and other 
judical proceedings, admits of a positive or negative reply ac- 
cording to whether the European or the Chinese idea as to when 
death occurs be followed. We believe that a man is dead when 
he has ceased to breathe, and when his blood no longer circu- 
lates ; the Chinese consider him still alive whilst a trace of 
warmth lingers in the body. The two estimates may thus differ 
by several hours. Hence it was that in inquests in Hongkong 
the time of death formed a stumbling-block in almost every 
Chinese case. The medical evidence would show that the 
deceased must have been dead when brought to the hospital, 
while the relatives would swear he was alive at the gate. Sub- 
sequent inquiry showed that the general view among the Chinese 
was that a person is considered to be dead when the body is 
cold, and not before. It does not speak very well for the 
Chinese scholarship of the officials of Hongkong that it took 
about forty years to discover this important distinction. 
AN aurora was seen in Belgium on October 2, and one feature 
of it was (according to M. Montigny) the formation of a broad 
luminous are extending across the sky from east to west, and 
passing a little to the south of the zenith. After a little time it 
broke up and gradually disappeared. M. Montigny observed 
the stars during this aurora, and found his former conclusions 
{as to increased scintillation during auroras greater in winter, 
and in the northern region, and towards the zenith, &c.) 
confirmed, He notes, however, an interesting new phenomenon 
NATURE 
[ Dec. 14, 1882 
of scintillation, For more than a year, when a magnetic 
perturbation has been observed to occur at Brussels Observatory, 
he has very often observed a simultaneous sudden increase in the 
scintillation, No auroral phenomena were reported at those 
times, as during aurora the increase is more marked for the 
north and west, and the circular line in the scintillometer 
becomes irregular. M. Montigny is prosecuting his study of the 
phenomena, 
IN the same Aulletin of the Belgian Academy, with M. Mon- 
tigny’s paper (November 9-10) is a full description, by M. 
Tarby, of the aurora of October 2, as observed at Louvain. 
Besides the luminous arc referred to above (which moved 
towards the south), he notes that the aurora had not the pro- 
nounced red tint characteristic of large phenomena of this class ; 
white streamers coastantly predominated. The successive dis- 
placement of the manifestations was from east to west, by north, 
a direction presented in certain previous auroras (which he speci- 
fies) ; while the opposite direction was observed in others. M. 
Tarby tabulates several years’ observations of aurora in Belgium, 
and finds striking confirmation of an observation of M. Quete- 
let’s in 1870, that auroras (through some unknown periodic 
influence) tend to appear at about monthly intervals, 
In the pile-dwellings near Bobenhausen (Ziirich), a hatchet 
made of pure copper has been discovered. Special importance 
is attached to this discovery by students of prehistoric archzeo- 
logy. 
‘THE fourth edition of the Micrographic Dictionary is now 
more than two-thirds completed. The book will always be an 
indispensable work of reference to the student of the lower 
forms of animal and vegetable life. Very little attempt appears, 
however, to have been made by the editors to keep pace with 
the advance of biological science during the eight years that have 
elapsed since the publication of the last edition ; notwithstanding 
the number of new forms that have been discovered during that 
period, the work so far occupies rather less space than before. 
In order to test the extent to which recent knowledge has been 
incorporated, we turned to two or three of the cryptogamic 
articles. Under ‘‘ Fungi,” we find it still stated that ‘‘the 
| structure of all fungi exhibits a well-defined separation into two 
parts, namely: (1) a mycelium... and (2) the reproductive 
structure, or fruit” ; and this although Schizomycetes are yiven 
as one of the groups of fungi; while the classification of 
“‘Fungi” into ‘“‘I. Schizomycetes; II. Phycomycetes ; III. 
Hypodermiz ; IV. Basidiomycetes ; V. Ascomycetes ; and VI. 
Myxomycetes” is stated to be ‘‘that of Sachs (!) slightly modi- 
fied.” Under ‘‘ Lichens,” the theory of the symbiosis of algz 
and fungi is dismissed in a few sentences, without adducing any 
of the evidence in its favour, as ‘‘one of the modern natural- 
history romances.’’ A new paragraph appears under the head 
“* Gongrosira,” which is described as a genus of Cheetophoracez, 
without any reference to its genetic connection with Vaucheria. 
These and similar deficiencies suggest the question how far the 
text can have been revised by the eminent cryptogamist whose 
name still appears on the title-page. 
THE concluding volume of the new edition of ‘‘ The 
Imperial Dictionary,’’ edited by Mr. C. Annandale, has been 
issued with praiseworthy promptitude by Messrs. Blackie and 
Son. In a supplement Mr. Annandale has added a consi- 
derable number of words omitted from their places in the body 
of the work, including not a few scientific terms. In the 
Appendix are copious lists of classical, scriptural, and geo- 
graphical names, foreign words and phrases. In the preface the 
editor explains his method, which we think rational and judicious, 
and which has led to an excellent result, The list of authors 
consulted for quotations contains abou 2000 names, 
