Nov. 26, 1 8 74 J 



NATURE 



75 



Were every hair of every tress 

 Which you, no doubt, imagine mine, 



Drawn towards you with its breaking stress, 

 A stress, say, of a megadyne. 



That tension I would sooner suffer 



Than meet again with such a duffer ! d fi 



dt 



NOTES 



We understand that the Admiralty have appointed a committee, 

 consisting of Admiral Sir Leopold iM'Clintock, Admiral Sherard 

 Osborn, Admiral Richards, and Capt. Evans, the Hydrographer, 

 to advise them on all points connected with the equipment and 

 personnel ol the Arctic Expedition. The first 'point has been to 

 select suitable vessels, and last week Sir Leopold M'Clintock 

 proceeded to the northern ports to examine the whalers. It is 

 probable that one steam whaler will be purchased, while a vessel 

 of the Lyra class may perhaps be selected for the advanced ship. 

 Both vessels will be strengthened and fitted out at Portsmouth, 

 under the immediate superintendence of Sir Leopold M'Clintock. 

 It is a most fortunate circumstance that the great arctic explorer, 

 the discoverer of arctic sledge travelling, should be Admiral- 

 Superintendent at this juncture, and that the expedition should 

 have the advantage of being equipped, in all its details, under 

 his vigilant supervision. The next point will be the selection of 

 a leader, and we believe'that the decision will be formed within 

 a few days. Little doubt is entertained among naval men that 

 the choice will fall upon Commander A. H. Markham, who 

 acquired a knowledge of ice navigation during a cruise in Baffin's 

 Bay and Prince Regent's Inlet last year, and who is universally 

 considered to have all the qualifications for that important post. 

 The number of volunteers among lieutenants, sub-lieutenants, and 

 men is extraordinary, and is daily increasing. The committee will 

 certainly have a wide field lor selection. 



It is authoritatively announced that the reward of 2,000/. 

 offered some years ago by Lady Franklin for the recovery of the 

 official records of her husband's expedition still holds, and that 

 over and above she will be prepared to remunerate anyone who 

 may succeed in recovering them for any outlay to which his 

 research may subject him. 



A Physical Observatory is soon to be established in Paris, 

 and a recent vote of the Academy appointing a commission 

 to report on the subject will not be lost. It is said that 

 M. Janssen is to be the head of the establishment, in which solar 

 photography will be practised on a large scale. It is also sup- 

 posed that the Observatory is to be ready by the time M. Janssen 

 returns from Yokohama with the instruments. 



M. Berirand has been elected perpetual secretary of the 

 Paris Academy of Science by thirty-three votes out of forty-nine. 

 M. Faye had only thirteen votes ; the other three were lost. 

 The Chair of the Institute of which M. Bertrand is the president 

 being thus vacated, the vice-president, M. Fremy, will preside 

 over the sittings ; M. ; Bertrand being moreover a member of the 

 Section of Geometry, an election to that section will take place 

 very shortly. He will probably be succeeded by M. Mannheim, 

 his pupil, now a professor in the Polytechnic School and a captain 

 i'l the Engineers' service. M. Mannheim is well known in 

 England as a mathematician. 



The recent election of a perpetual secretary of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences is the first setious competition since 

 Condorcet was elected to fill the place vacated by the 

 voluntary retirement of De Faudry. It is curious that 



the Condorcet electio.i took place just a century a"0 in 

 1 774. Condorcet was supported by D'Alembert and opposed 

 by Buffon, who supported Bailly, the astronomer. The contest 

 of 1S74 is between an astronomer, Faye, and a geometer 

 Bertrand. Condorcet was regarded as a geometer, as he liad 

 written a work on differential calculus. The academical regula- 

 tions state that at least tn-o-thirds of the members of the Academy 

 must take part in a scrutiny, in order that it may be deemed 

 valid. 



The death is announced, on the loth inst., of Dr. Friedrich 

 Rochleder, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Vienna. 



We are glad to notice that Mrs. Annie Mather, of Longridge 

 House, near Berwick-on-Tweed, has handed over to the trea- 

 surer of the Newcastle College of Physical Science the munifi- 

 cent sum of 1,000/. for the founding of a scholarship or scholar- 

 ships, to be called "The Cliarles Mather Scholarship," and to 

 be attached to the College in perpetuity. The details of the 

 examination and the mode of carrying out the bequest are left 

 to be settled by the Council, subject to the approval of the 

 donor or her advisers. 



H.R. H.the Duke of Edinburgh has consented to take the 

 chair at a meeting to be held in London on Dec. 7, in promotion 

 ol the scheme for the extension of the buildings of Edinburgh 

 University. 



The Council of Marlborough College has recently decided to 

 erect a laboratory and science lecture-room. The ground-floor 

 of the building will contain the museum of the Marlborou"h 

 College Natural History Society. Mr. Street will be the 

 architect. 



The German Emperor has conferred on Dr. Samuel Birch 

 of the British Museum, the Order of the Crown, Second Class, 

 in recognition of Dr. Birch's presidency of the late International 

 Congress of Orientalists. 



An inscription has recently been set up at Galluzzo, near 

 Florence, in memory of the late Prof. Donati, who died of 

 cholera rather more than a year ago on his return from the 

 Meteorological Congress at Vienna. In consequence of the 

 strict sanitary laws in force within the city of Floi'ence, the body 

 was buried privately. The mterment took place at night, in tlie 

 snnll Campo Santo attached to the church of Galluzzo, not far 

 from the new Observatory at Arcetri, in the erection of which 

 the last three years of his life had been expended. The Com- 

 njune of Galluzzo were anxious to do honour to the illustrious 

 man, and have, at the public expense, erected a marble tablet 

 with the inscription — 



GlAMPATTISTA DoNATI 



nato in P.sa il xvi, di Decembre MDCCCx.vvr 



scropri piu Cometc 

 studio con lo spetiroscopio perfezionato da lui 



la luce -stell; 

 ne chiari il fenomeno della 

 ebbe il concetto di una meteorologia 



llazic 



Curo I'edificazione del nuu 



su la coUina di Arcetri illustrata da Galileo 



del quale coutiuuava la bella scuola 



quandoimmatura morte il xx. di Sett. MocccLXxiir 



lo chiuse neir angusta fossa 



che il Coinune del Galluzzo 



onoro di questa Memoria 



On the day appointed for its inauguration the rain poured in 

 torrents, but the church of Galluzzo was crowded during the 

 performance of a Requiem Mass, after which the congregation 

 stood around the tomb, where speeches were made, and repre- 

 sentatives from the Observatories of Padua and Rome presented 

 garlands of flowers. 



At the meeting of the Geographical Society on Monday, Sir 

 Henry Rawlinson, after expressing his gratification at the decision 



