
NATURE 
395 

ture of North America, and from 1860 to 1866 was editor of the 
“Transactions of the Highland Society.” He was present at the 
recent meeting of the British Association, where he read a paper 
ona branch of meteorolugy, and was engaged in researches on 
this subject almost to the time of his death. 
THE death is announced of Mr. William P. Tumbull, of 
Philadelphia, at the age of forty-one. This gentleman was born 
in Scotland, but had resided for a number of years in Philadel- 
_phia, where he was well known as an ornithologist of consider- 
: able eminence. He occupied himself for a time in collecting a 
very complete library of works relating to American ornithology, 
and also in securing manuscripts, letters, and original drawings 
of Alexander Wilson. As an author he was known by the pub- 
lication of two works; the first, a list of the birds of East 
Lothian, published in Glasgow ; the second, a list of the birds 
of East Pennsylvania and New Jersey, both of them noted for 
the beauty of their typography and the accuracy of their indi- 
cations. He was for many years an active member of ihe 
Acad my of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and his loss will 
be much felt by that institution. 
A THIRD enterprise of the Coast Survey of the United States 
is that of a hydrographic reconnaissance of the Aleutian Islands 
and the adjacent coast of Alaska, under the direction of Mr. 
William H. Dall, so well and favourably known for his pre- 
vious Jabours in that country, as embodied in his work en- 
titled ‘‘ Alaska and its Resources.” Mr, Dall is now in San 
Francisco, and expects to leave in a short time for the field 
of his operations, to be absent a year or more. He is accom- 
panied by Mr. M. W. Harrington, of Ann Arbor, as astro- 
noimer, and goes prepared to carry on the work in all its 
details, including the preparation of charts, soundings of the 
bottom, determinations of temperature, the chemical constitu- 
tion of the water, the deep-sea fauna, &c. 
Galignani says that the French expedition to the North Pole 
with the Boral is about to be carried out, notwithstanding the 
death of Captain Lambert. The new enterprise has been under- 
taken by the Geographical Society of Paris. The vessel is at 
Havre, quite ready to start, and the new chief of the expedition 
is also, curiously enough, named Lambert. 
Mr. Ocrave Pave, a gentleman of French extraction, and, 
it is said, formerly a resident of New Orleans, has been lately in 
San Francisco preparing fur his proposed visit to Wrangell’s 
Land—an island of which we have already made mention as 
having been discovered several years ago by Caprain Long, to 
the north-west of Behring Straits, off the coast of Siberia. Mr. 
Pavé proposes to go to Cape Yokam as the nearest point, and to 
embark thence in an India-rubber buat for the region referred to. 
This boat is so arranged as to serveas a sledge on land and a boat 
in the water, and much is expected from its performances. 
Should Wrangell’s Land be reached, the subject of proceeding 
still farther to the north-west will be entertained, with the idea 
that possib:y a route to the pole may be found in that direction, 
A LENGTHENED abstract of Messrs. Hull and Traill’s paper 
on the relative ages ot the rocks of the Mourne Mountains, ap- 
pears in the Geological Magazine for September. In the report 
read at the recent meeting of the British Association, epitomised 
in our issue for August 24, the granite of Slieve Croob is made 
to consist of quartz, orthoclase, albite, and mica, instead of 
quartz, orthoclase, and mica. In the report of the Conversazione 
in the numer for August 17, Dr. Gladstone is spoken of as ex- 
hibiting experiments on the crystallisation of metals by electricity, 
instead of experiments on the crystallisation of silver; the cry- 
stalline growth of gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, and zine by 
electr:city was exhibited under tue microscope by Mr, P. 
Braham, 



Pror. Hoppe-Sty er has recently made an important con- 
tribwion to our knowledge of the proctsses of putrefaction and 
disinfection, and his experiments have a significant bearing on 
Pasteur’s researches. The ferments operated upon were en- 
tirely such as are formed of chemical insoluble substances, 
Liebig’s altered views on fermentation, putrefaction, and erema. 
causis are criticised, and Pasteur’s assumption that because living 
organisms are invariably present in putrefying and fermenting 
fluids, ¢herefore those organism are necessary to, and the cause 
of. the changes going on, is controverted. It is true, he says, 
that the organisms may con'ain the ferment, but it 1s not the less 
necessary to separate the ferment from the organism in order to 
form a correct estimate of the question at issue. The article 
appeared originally in the AZedizinische-chemische Untersuchungen 
for July, and an abstract is given in the Lazce¢ for August 26th, 
A SENSATIONAL story has been reprinted in the English papers 
from the Swiss Times, with respect to the disappearance of 
several persons while bathing during the present season in the 
Lake of Wallenstadt, a circumstance attributed to fishes of 
enormous size in the lake. Dr. Frank Buckland, while not 
plac ng implicit faith in “the story, suggests that the obnoxious 
fish may perhaps be specimens of Si/z7s g/anis which have 
strayed from their accustomed habitat in the Lower Danube, or 
descendants of the monstrous Kaiserlautern pike mentioned by 
Conra:t Gesner, or perhaps huge carps or mythical creatures 
existing only in the brains of enthusiastic tourists. More explicit 
information would be very desirable. This is not the only mar- 
vellous fish story. The Mew York Tribune, of August 24, says 
that a fish mystery is troubling Council Bluffs. Spoon Lake, a 
placid sheet of water near that city, has never been known to 
contain fish ‘‘toany extent” until recently, when its waters not 
only swarmed with myriads of finny monsters, but the surround- 
ing shores are a ive with fish. They have come in such eno:mous 
numbers that the waves wash them high and dry on the shore, 
where they lie knee-deep, dead and putrefying, The fish trade 
in Omaha and Council Bluffs has become prodigious, The fish 
secm to be greatly astonished at their new surroundings, and 
stick their heads from the water and open their mouths as if they 
wanted air. A little boy takes a flat buard and wades into the 
water, and in ten minutes throws out as many fish as a waggon 
can carry, varying in weight from two to five pounds. People 
who have lived in the neighbourhood for years declare the pheno- 
menon unprecedented, and various wild theories are put forth in 
explanation. ‘The , revalent belief is that the swarm came into 
the lake by a subterranean passage during a late storm, whie a 
few venerible observers contend that the Missouri overflowed its 
banks and flooded the lake with catfish and perch. 
A REPORT upon the Bombardment of the Muséum d’Histoire 
Naturelle of Paris, by the German Army in January last, is re- 
printed from the Bulletin de la Socié é Botunique de France, by 
M. Aug. Delondre, and possesses a certain historical interest. It 
contains details of the destruction wrought among the collections, 
and a list is given ot the stove plants which were des royed either 
by the direct agency of the shells or ny the effect o! the cold to 
which they were exposed by the destruction of the glass and 
damage to the houses. The Orchids, Pandanee, and Cyclan- 
these are among the families which have sustained the most 
serious injury. 
A FIELD-DAY in connection with the Newbury District Field 
Club is to be held on Tuesday, September 19. . Highclere and 
Kingsclere are to be visited, and a lecture will be given during 
the day by Prof Rupert Joues, on the Gevloyy of the Kings- 
clere Valley. The programme includes the visting of many 
places of local and antiquarian interest. The first volume of the 
Transactions of this society is in active preparation, and will 
shortly be issued. 
