; Sune 23, 1870 | 
NATURE 
149 
the Washington Observatory, the National Academy of Sciences, 
and the American Academy of Boston, all of which have 
afforded valuable assistance in providing him with instruments 
and equipment. This will be the second public observatory in 
South America, that at Santiago, in Chile, having been founded 
in 1851. Efforts are making to provide means for obtaining 
photographic impressions of some of the more prominent southern 
clusters of stars, analogous to those taken in the northern hemi- 
sphere by Mr. Rutherford ; but the success of these efforts is 
still uncertain. Dr. Gould estimates that three years will suffice 
to complete the southern zones within the limits which he has 
assigned to himself. We look forward with the most sanguine 
hopes to the results of Dr. Gould’s labours. In time we may 
hope to be almost as civilised as the Argentine Republic—almost 
as anxious to spread the knowledge of Nature. 
WE learn from the Academy that the Philosophical Faculty of 
the University of Gottingen has announced for the r1th March, 
1873, a prize of 500 thalers in gold, and a second prize of 200 
thalers in gold on the Beneke foundation, for the best new deter- 
mination of the atomic weights of the metals of the earths, The 
limits of error in the results obtained must be exactly fixed, and 
the investigation must be accompanied by a complete critical 
review of the existing scientific material connected with it. In 
his classical researches in this field, Stas ascertained the com- 
bining weights of ten elements, leaving those of five-sixths of the 
elements more or less unprecisely determined. It has been re- 
solved, therefore, to subject some of the numbers to careful 
revision, and those attached to the earth-metals have been 
selected. The dissertation, written in Latin, French, German, 
or English, and distinguished by a motto, must be deposited 
with the Dean of the Faculty on or before August 31, 1872. 
Tue Lecture, next Sunday evening, at St. George’s Hall, 
Langham Place, is on “ Cruelty in Relation to Lower Animals,” 
by T. Spencer Cobbold, M.D., I’.R.S. 
THE Anniversary Mecting of the Society of Arts will be held 
on Wednesday next, the 29th inst., at four o’clock. 
Tue indifference of agriculturists to scientific research has 
been again illustrated by the refusal of the Council of the Royal 
Agricultural Society to publish an account of the investigations 
which have established the truth of the old bucolic dogma, that 
berberries produce rust on wheat growing in their vicinity. There 
isnow no doubt that the berberry-rust and the wheat-rust are 
two different stages in the genetic cycle of Puccinia graminis. 
HER Majesty’s Commissioners for the International Exhibition 
of 1871 have resolved to set aside one guinea out of every season 
ticket sold at three guineas, through the Society of Aris, for the 
purchase of works of art and industry, out of the exhibition, the 
same to be circulated throughout the United Kingdom. 
Tue Pharmaceutical Fournal announces that a new, series will 
be commenced next month, when it will appear ina new form, 
and as a weekly publication, the first number to be published on 
the 2nd of July. The Pharmaceutical Fournal was originally 
established by the late Mr. Jacob Bell, as an organ of communi- 
cation especially devoted to the interests of the Pharmaceutical 
Society, which was founded at the same time, and it has been 
published monthly during the last twenty-nine years. 
AN industrial and technological museum has been recently 
formed in Victoria. It is connected with the Gallery of Art 
and the Public Library at Melbourne, and is governed by the 
same body of trustees. In the Library there are over 50,000 
volumes, and in the Gallery of Art pictures by Goodall, Webb, 
Graham, Lee, &c., besides several pictures by colonial artists 
and a very large collection of casts from the antique. Before 
this museum was formed a Royal Commission had been ap- 
pointed for promoting industrial instruction, and resulting from 
this movement we may add, that there are now no less than six 
schools of design open in Melbourne and the suburbs, with over 
600 pupils in attendance. 
THE statistics given in M. Bouley’s course of lectures on 
““Madness in Man and Animals” confirm the statement that 
hot weather is not a cause of rabies ; out of 302 cases recorded 
in six years, eighty-nine occurred in the spring from March to 
May, seventy-four in the summer from June to August, sixty- 
four in the autumn from September to November, and seventy- 
five in the winter from December to February. Male animals 
appear far more subject to the attacks of the disease than female 
animals. Out of 320 cases of bites from rabid animals, 284 
occurred with dogs (male), twenty-six with bitches, five with cats 
(male and female), and five with wolves (male and female). No 
instance is recorded of any attack on man by a rabid herbivorous 
animal. Now that we are approaching the dog-days, we com- 
mend these facts to the notice of the chief commissioner of 
police, and trust we shall have no repetition of the cruel and 
senseless police regulations as to the muzzling of dogs; to be 
consistent they should be in force all the year round. 
WE learn from the British Medical Fournal that Miss Garrett 
has just passed her final examination for the degree of Doctor ot 
Medicine in Paris. Her thesis has been read, and at the same 
time she received her degree from the Faculty of Medicine. 
Whatever opinion may be entertained, says our able contem- 
porary, as to the desirability of ladies studying and practising 
medicine, everyone must admire the indomitable perseverance 
and pluck which Miss Garrett has shown in overcoming the 
many obstacles to obtain in the first place the qualification of 
the Apothecaries’ Company in London, and, lastly, the Degree 
in Medicine of the University of Paris. 
Mr. Cyrus REDDING, who died recently at a very advanced 
age will, perhaps, be best known as the author of a “‘ History 
and Description of Modern Wines,” which was first published in 
1833, and has passed through several editions, being the stan- 
dard work on the subject. Among his MSS. he has left a 
*“Wine-book of Europe.” Mr. Redding has enjoyed for the last 
few years a government pension of 75/. per annum, which it 
may be hoped, will be continued to his aged widow. 
THE patent for printing photographs by a permanent process 
known as the Woodbury type, has been purchased by Mr. 
Vincent Brooks, of Gate Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, on behalf 
of a new company. 
WE have just seen a bill-head or order to which we think 
it necessary to call attention. On a scroll at the top is a 
name which, together with the address, which is on another 
scroll, we suppress, as we do not wish to assist this person in 
his advertisements. On other artistic scrolls we find the occu- 
pations of the advertiser, dyeing and printing works being set 
forth on one of them. Inthe centre is a coat of arms and crest 
surrounded by a garter, on which is printed 7¢//ow of the Chemi- 
cal Society, Londo. Ne have no wish to infer that this gentle- 
man is not a most eminent chemist, but we do most emphatically 
protest against the membership of a learned society being 
turned to account for advertising purposes. We hope that the 
Council will not allow this to continue unnoticed, for nothing 
could be more damaging to the welfare of a scientific society. 
A RECENTLY published part of Baillon’s “‘ Histoire des 
Plantes” contains a monograph of the Papilionaceous section of 
Leguminose executed with his usual care and wealth of illustration. 
We are glad to hear that an English translation of the work is 
announced, 
““MITTHEILUNGEN der Anthropologischen Gesellschalt in 
Wien,” is the title of a periodical which the Anthropological 
Society of Vienna have begun to publish, with accounts of their 
