178 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 31, 1874 



" As rtgards Kerguelen's Land, this large island (100 by 50 

 miles) was last visited in 1840, by the Antarctic Expedition undtr 

 Sir James Ross, in mid-winter only, when it was lound 10 contain 

 a scanty flora of tlowering plants, some of which belong to entirely 

 new types, and an extiaurdinary profusion of marine animals and 

 plants of the greatest interest, many of them being representatives 

 of north-temperate and .Arctic forms of life. 



"H. M.S. (;'///(//i7/-t7- will no doubt visit Kerguelen's Land, 

 and collect largely ; liut it is evident that many years would be 

 required to obtain even a fair representation ol its marine pro- 

 ducts ; and though we are not prepared to say that the scientific 

 objects to be obtained by a naturalist's visit to Kerguelen's Land 

 are of equal impoitance to those which Rodriguez will yield, we 

 cannot but regard it as in every respect most tlesinsble that the 

 rare opportunity of sending a collector to Kerguelen's Land 

 should not be lost." 



I may further state as a matter of great scientific interest, that 

 Rodriguez contains the remains of a gigantic species of land- 

 tortoise allied to those still surviving in some other islands of the 

 Mauritius group, and that the nearest allies of these are the gigantic 

 tortoises of the Galapagos Islands in the opposite hemisphere of 

 the globe, as one of our Fellows, Dr. Giinfher, has shown in a 

 paper lead last session to the Society. Very valuable collec- 

 tions of these fossils have been made by Mr. Newton, the 

 Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, during a brief stay which he 

 was enabled to make in Rodriguez ; but the materials are lar 

 from sufficient for obtaining all the information we want. 



In accordance with your Council's recommendation, the 

 Treasury sanctioned the appointment of four naturalists — three 

 to Rodriguez, and one to Kerguelen's Land. Those sent out 

 to Rodriguez are : — Mr. I. B. Ealfour, son of Piof. Balfour, of 

 Edinburgh, F.R.S., who, besides being educated as a botanist, 

 has worked as a field geologist in the Geological Survey of 

 Scotland ; he is charged with the duties of botanist and geolo- 

 gist ; Mr. George Gulliver, son of one of our Fellows and a 

 pupil of Prof. Rolleston, in Oxford, who goes out as natu- 

 ralist ; and Mr. H. H. Slater, who has had great experience 

 as a cave explorer, and who will devote his attention especially 

 to the collection of fossils. 



The Kerguelen's Land duties are undertaken by the Rev. 

 A. E. Eaton, M.A., a gentleman most favourably known as 

 an entomologist, and who had made very important collections 

 in Spitzbergen, which he visited for the purpcse of studying its 

 fauna and Hora. These gentlemen had, by the last accounts, 

 all proceeded to their destinations. 



( To be continued^ 



FRENCH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.— ANNI- 

 VERSAR Y MEETING 



THIS Anniversary took place on the 2Sth December, the 

 president being M. Faye, who delivered an able address, 

 giving some interesting details as to the history of the prizes 

 offered for competition by the Academy. 



One of the first ever offered was a sum of 4,000/. given by 

 Philippe d'Orlcans, then Regent of France, in 1716, to be 

 awarded to the person or persons who should invent a method of 

 determining longitude at sea. This handsome sum was not 

 awarded to anyone up to 1793, when the Academy was sup- 

 pressed, M. de Choiseuil, French Ambassador to England, 

 iiaving made fruitless exertions on behalf of Harrison, the well- 

 known chronometer maker, in 1763. 



A circumstance connected with these old prizes is worth noting. 

 La Condamine, about 100 years ago, offered a prize for an essay 

 on the question *'why so many differences of colour were noted 

 between the male and female livery in quadrupeds as well as in 

 birds." The question being deemed useless, the money was not 

 accepted by the Academy. 



In the last century almost all the prizes were won by Euler 

 and Bernouilly, but now scarcely any of the prizes, amounting 

 to l6c/., are awarded ; sometimes nobody competes for them. 



Although the distribution this year is both for 1872 and 1S73, 

 only two of the competitive prizes have been taken, one for 

 1873 by M. Mascart, professor in the College de France, for a 

 paper on the modification which the light of the sun undergoes in 

 consequence of the motion either of the sun or oi the earth. 

 M. Mascart failed to observe any modification, but the prize was 

 given to him owing to the care and ingenuity displayed in his 

 experiments. One prize was also won by M. Balbrain for a 



paper on the reproduction of animals that present partheno- 

 genetic phenomena. 



The proceeds of the 4,000/. offered by M. Breaut to the 

 person who should discover a cure for the cholera was divided 

 between several partly successful essayists for 1S72 and 1873, 

 but it is not likely that the sum itself will ever be parted with 

 by the Academy. 



The i^rizes offered for general excellence or voluntary work on 

 a certain subject have been a great deal more fortunate, so that 

 the method adopted by the Royal Society promises better 

 results than the old academical competitive system, even in Paris. 

 The Plumly prize of 120/. for the best paper on the improve- 

 ment of steam navigation was gained for 1872 by M. Zaurir.es, 

 who has carefully investigated propulsion by the Archimedean 

 screw ; in 1873 by M. Bertin, for a paper on the best method 

 of ventdating steamers. 



The Lalande prize in astronomy has been gained for 1872 by 

 the brothers Henry for the discovery of a number of small 

 planets at the Paris Observatory, and in 1873 by M. Coggia, of 

 the Observatory of Marseilles, for his discoveries among comets. 



The Poncelet prize has been given for 1872 to M. Mannheim 

 for the general excellence of his geometrical disquisitions, and in 

 1873 to Sir W. Thomson for his magnificent works on the 

 mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism. 



The Godard prize for 1872 has been awarded to Dr. Pettigrew 

 for his work " On the Muscular Arrangements of the Bladder 

 and Prostate, and the manner in which the Ureters and Urethra 

 are closed." 



The aggregate sum to be awarded yearly, exclusive of the 

 Breaut prize, is 4,400/., and'the number of prizes nineteen, only a 

 few being for subjects specially proposed by the Academy. The 

 competition is open to all nations. The names of competitors 

 must be placed in sealed envelopes, which are opened only in 

 the case of those who succeed ; but, except in the case of prizes 

 given for general excellence, papers must be written either in 

 Latin or in French. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



yahrbiich der k.k. geoloi^ischcn Reichsaiistall. Band xxiv, 

 Nos. I and 2. — The first article in No. I is by Dr. A. Redten- 

 bachtr, and treats of the stratigraphical relations of the mesozoic 

 formations as developed in the district of Gams, near Hieflau. 

 The second paper, by Dr. C. Doelter, gives some account of the 

 Siebenbuigischen metalliferous mountains. The district de- 

 scribed lies south of the river Arranyos, between Offenbanya 

 and Bistia, as far as the Maros. The formations developed in 

 this distiict consist of (1) crystalline, metamorphic, and eruptive 

 rocks (gneiss, crystalline limestone, granite, diorite, syenite) ; 

 (l) Jurassic and cretaceous (limestone, melaphyre and augite 

 porphyry, sandstone, chalk, &c.) ; (3) Tertiary (comprising, 

 besides various fossiliferous deposits, such igneous rocks as 

 hornblcnde-andesite, augite-andesite, basilt) ; (4) alluvium. 

 A sketch-map accompanies Dr. Doelter's communication. — 

 Herr K. Homes contributes a paper entitled "Tertiary Studies," 

 in which he gives an account of the mollusca met with in various 

 Tertiary deposits (as at Kischeneff, Jenikale, &c. ) A number 

 of the species described are new to science. Four excellent 

 plates illusirati; the paper. — Dr. E. Mojsisovics, whose con'iibu- 

 tions to the Jalirbuch are both frequent and valuable, gives us 

 a long paper on the Triassic period in the East Alps. He dis- 

 cusses the distribution of the Triassic fauna, and shows th.t the 

 form.ation itself may be divided into zones, e.ich chaiacteristd 

 by certain well-marked species ; further, he describes at length 

 the nature of the deposits, and points out that the trias is 

 characterised throughout by the constant presence of poorly 

 fossililerous limestone and dolomite and richly fossiliferous marl 

 and calcareous marl. — The only geological paper in No. 2 is one 

 by Dr. Guido Stache, On the pateozoic regions of the East 

 Alps. The author describes in considerable detail the structure 

 of the lock-masses forming the Alpine lands of Austria, and 

 gives a coloured geological map of the regions described, and 

 two plates of horizontal sections. — Amongst the mineralogical 

 papers accompanying these numbers of the Jahrbtnk may be 

 noted one by Dr. Doelter, On the trachyte of the Siebcnbiirg- 

 ischen meiaiiiierous mountains, m which a number of analyses 

 are given. — Herr Kalkowsky turnishes an account of the micro- 

 scopy of the felsite and pechstein of Saxony. — A new mmeral 

 (Ludwigite) from Banat is described by Tsjhennak]; anl a 



