236 



NATURE 



[Jan. 21, 1875 



30,000/. was, as we have already intimated, placed at his com- 

 mand by Mr. Lick, the celebrated Calilornian capitalist, who 

 is the founder of the Lick Observatory. 



M. CiIEVREUL, the great French chemist and director of 

 the Jardin des Plantes, has been presented by the Minister 

 of Public Instruction with the grade of Grand Officer in the 

 Legion d'Honneur. This promotion is considered as being 

 a compensation for the difficulties raised by the Ministry in the 

 appointment of a Professor in the Museum. These quarrels 

 had induced the venerable savant to resign. 



The Bulldin of the French Geographical Society for December 

 contains an exceedingly interesting and carefully compiled paper 

 by M. n. Duveyrier, entitled "L'Afrique Necrologique." This 

 is a list of all the African explorers, from 1800 to 1S74, who 

 have met their death while doing their work, either from disease 

 caught in the country, or by murder, or other causes ; a very 

 large proportion have died from " intermittent fever." The list 

 includes not only those whose object was purely geographical 

 discovery, but also those whose researches were connected with 

 geology, meteorology, botany, zoology, ethnography, archa:ology, 

 or languages. The list is a sadly long one, numbering about 

 150 ; and ^L Duveyrier, ineach case, gives a brief account of the 

 explorer and of the work which he accomplished ; a large pro- 

 portion of these martyrs to science are English. Accompanying 

 the paper is an ingeniously constructed map, showing the place 

 at which each traveller met his death. 



It is announced that the committee to whose hands the Sub- 

 Wealden Exploration is entrusted have resolved to abandon the 

 present boring after six ineffectual efforts to recover tools which 

 have dropped down and obstructed the whole. The Diamond 

 Boring Company having made a very favourable olTer to com- 

 mence again, a contract for the completion o( 1,000 feet for 600/. 

 has been agreed to, with a conditional promise to execute the 

 second thousand feet for about 3,000/. additional. Mr. Willett, 

 hon. sec, has guaranteed 600/., and appeals for funds to carry 

 on the enterpris e. 



Mr. Charles D.\rwin's new work on " Insectivorous and 

 Climbing Plants is in the press and will be shortly published. 

 The following are the contents : — Part I. : On the sensitiveness 

 of the leaves of Drosera, Diomca, Ptn^uicula, &c., to certain 

 stimulants ; and on their power of digesting and absorbing 

 certain animal matter. Part II.: On the habits and movements 

 of climbing plants. The book will be issued by Mr. John 

 Murray. 



Mr. John Murray has also preparing for publication the 

 following two works in travel : — " The Land of the North 

 Wind," being an account of travels among the Laplanders and 

 Samoyedes, and along the coast of the White Sea, by Edward 

 Rae ; this book will be illustrated by a map and woodcuts : 

 and a description of a journey to Tabreez, Kurdistan, down the 

 Tigris and Euphrates to Nineveh and Babylon, and across the 

 desert to Palmyra, by Baron Max von Thielmann. The title of 

 the book will be "The Caucasus, Persia, and Turkey in Asia," 

 and it will be translated from the German by Mr. Charles 

 Heneage. 



Messrs. Longman and Co. have in the press a translation of 

 a work on the Primieval World of Switzerland, by Prof. Oswald 

 Ileer, of the University of Zurich. The book will be edited by 

 Mr. James Ileywood, M.A., F.R.S., and will be issued in two 

 octavo volumes with numerous illustrations. The same firm will 

 shortly publish a series of Elementary Lessons on the Structure 

 of Man and Animals, with special reference to the principles 

 affecting health, food, and cooking, and the duties of man to the 

 animal creation ; byMrs. Buckton. This volume will be illus- 

 trated with wood engravings. 



In the Astroiiomische Ndihrkhtcn, Nos. 2,009 ^"'i 2,016, are 

 notes on the spectroscopic observatim of fifty-two stars made 

 by M. D' Arrest. The stirs are chiefly of the 6th and 7th mag- 

 nitude, and appear in the Bonn Catalogue. The colours of 

 thirty-four of these stars are given, and the type to which each 

 star belongs is generally mentioned. From an analysis of the notis 

 we gain that there are iti the list four red or reddish stars of type 

 III. and two of type IV. ; of reddish yellow stars there are nine 

 of type III. ; of yellow or orange stars there are thirteen of type 

 III., and of the same type one brown and five colourless onei ; 

 on the remaining eighteen there are no remarks on colour. 

 The author remarks on the different grades of spectra of type III., 

 from an almost line spectrum to a discontinuous one of bands, as 

 that of a Herculis, but that grades of colour do not always agree 

 with grades of spectrum ; and he thinks that the theory that the 

 coloured stars are older because cooler than others cannot be 

 received without numerous exceptions, and he has concluded 

 that the temperature of the coloured stars may in general be 

 lower than that of others, but that it is not proved ; and further, 

 that the greater .ige of these stars is without foundation. The 

 author appears to take exception to the part of the address of 

 M. Wurtz at the French Association, reported in Nature, 

 vol. X. p. 350, where he says of the stars, " We have classed 

 them according to their ages. Stars coloured, stars yellow, stars 

 white; the white are the hottest and the youngest . . . the coloured 

 stars are not so hot, and are older." It certainly seems from 

 M. D'Arrest's observation that there are exceptions to this rule, 

 and a large number of stars must have their spectra and colours 

 tabulated before it can be judged how far this law holds good. 



At the last meeting of the Photographic 'Society a paper was 

 read by Mr. Hooper, " On the Origin, Aim, and Achievements 

 of the Photographic Society, with suggestions as to its future deve- 

 lopment." The suggestions were, the necessity of obtaining a 

 Royal Charter, the Society's claim upon the Government for a 

 money grant and suitable premises, and the necessity of forming 

 committees for scientific investigation. In the subsequent 

 discussion, the general "opinion was that there was little hope 

 of obtaining the proposed Charter, and that it was a mistake to 

 speak of photography as a science. " .Science," one speaker 

 said, "had done a great deal more for photography than photo- 

 graphy had done for science. " 



At the meeting of Convocation of the London University on 

 Tuesday, the motion brought forward by Mr. A. P. Hensman, 

 " That, in the opinion of Convocation, it is desirable that women 

 should be permitted to take degrees in Arts in this University," 

 was, after some discussion, withdrawn. , 



A RECENT decision has been given by the French Minis'iy in 

 favour of female doctors. A certain Mdlle. Domerque, of Mont- 

 pellier, has received due authorisation to pass her examination 

 for the doctorship. 



We are glad to see that by the decision of the Supreme Court 

 at Sydney, N.S.W., Mr. Gerard Krefft has been restored to his 

 position and house as Curator of the Sydney Museum. Mr. 

 Krefft has been connected with the Museum for fourteen years, 

 and in September last had been violently ejected by an order 

 from the trustees, who, it seems, had in this exceeded their 

 powers. 



The prospectus lies before us of a new Italian monthly journal, 

 to be entitled, Rivista Popolare di Scienzc c Lctkiy. Judging 

 from the prospectus, its projectors have a high idea of the im- 

 portant place which science is daily assuming in the life of the 

 world, and intend to devote a considerable proportion of the 

 pages of their Review to subjects of scientific interest. The 

 programme of the new journal is very comprehensive, embracing 

 all departments of philosophy and physical science, and we most 



