March 25, 1875] 



NA TURE 



413 



25/. to Dr. Hansdel Grifliths, for " Experiments on the Effects of 

 Certain Dnigs on the Circulation ; " 25/. to Dr. Reuben Harvey, 

 for " Researches on Staining Reagents used in Histology ; " and 

 30/. to Prof. A. H. Church, Cirencester, for report on the 

 analysis of some rare mineral arseniates and phosphates. 



At the meeting of the Academy held on the i6th March, the 

 following were elected honorary members in the department of 

 Science : — ^Joseph Bertrand, Paris ; Bernard von Cotta, Freiburg ; 

 and Asa Gray, Cambridge, U.S. 



The following parts of vol. xxv. of the Transactions of the 

 Royal Irish Academy have iust been published : — Part 10, Re- 

 searches in Chemical Optics, by the Rev. J. H. Jellett, B.D. 

 Part II, Report on the Strength of single-riveted Lap Joints, by 

 Bindon B. Stoney, A.M. ; with plate and tables. And the 

 following are in the press : — Parts 12 and 13, On the First Comet 

 in 1845 ; and On the Binary Star y? Bootis, by Dr. Doberck. 

 Part 14, On the Anatomy of Insectivorous Edentates, by A. 

 Macalister, M.B. ; with two plates. Part 15, On the Fern 

 Flora of the Seychelles, by J. G. Baker, F.L.S. ; with Notes 

 on some of the Species, by E. P. Wright, M.D. ; with four 

 plates. Part 16, On the Structure of the Spines of the Diade- 

 matidjc, by H. W. Mackintosh, A.B. ; with three plates. 



Two prizes of 30/. and 20/. each, the gift of Mr. J. T. 

 Mackenzie, of Kintail, are offered by Aberdeen University for 

 the best and second-best essays on "The Conservation of 

 Energy, considered especially with reference to the Mechanical 

 Theory of Heat." The essays must be sent in on or before 

 the 1st of November next. 



The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University has announced 

 that the election of a Jacksonian Professor of Natural Experi- 

 mental Philosophy will be held in the Senate House on Tuesday, 

 the 13th of April. The Rev. J. Clough Williams Ellis, M.A., 

 Fellow of Sidney, who acted .is Deputy Jacksonian Professor 

 for two years, and Mr. James Stuart, M.A., Fellow of Trinity, 

 are candidates for the vacant appointment. 



Dr. Von Miclucho Maclay, the Russian traveller, has 

 recently returned to .Singapore from a journey into the interior 

 of Taborc. The object of his expedition was to gather informa- 

 tion about wild and almost unknown races inhabiting the Tabore 

 jungles. These tribes are named Jakuns, Oran Rajet, and Oran 

 Utan. As these races always withdraw deeper into the interior, 

 seeking shelter in the forest and mountains on the approach of 

 strangers. Dr. Machy had to extend his explorations into places 

 never yet visited by Europeans, and rarely even by the Malays. 

 His travels occupied fifty days, proceeding sometimes by boat, 

 but performing the greater part of the journey on foot. Dr. 

 Maclay has, it is stated, succeeded in obtaining much valuable 

 infonnation regarding the habits and dispositions of these un- 

 known tribes. 



The Agassiz Memorial Fund of 300,000 dollars is said to be 

 nearly raised. The "teachers' and pupils' fund" alone exceeds 

 9,000 dollars. 



An International Horticultural Exhibition is to be held at 

 Cologne from the 25th August till 26th September. All com- 

 munications must be addressed, post paid, to the Horticultural 

 Society "Flora," Cologne, from whence all necessary informa- 

 tion can be obtained. 



The Council of the Royal Dublin Society advertise for candi- 

 dates to fill the post of Keeper of the Minerals in their museum. 

 The salary is 100/. a year, paid by a Government grant, and the 

 keeper acts the part to a certain extent of assistant to Dr. Carte, 

 the director. The gentleman appointed Keeper of the Minerals 

 will also be elected Analyst to the Society and have charge of 



their Chemical Laboratory, at an additional salary of 50/. per 

 annum, with fees for analysis, the scale of fees chargeable to 

 members of the Society being regulated from time to time by the 

 Council. The interests of the mineralogical collection of the 

 Society would appear to be perhaps unavoidably overlooked by 

 the above arrangements, as the person elected must look for 

 a livelihood to the fees for analysis. 



Letters from Nordenskjold, the celebrated Swedish polar 

 explorer, intimate that he will very shortly leave Tromsoe for 

 Novaja Semlja. He will spend only a few months on that 

 island, and try a land journey from the mouth of the Lena or Obi 

 throughout Northern Russia, travelling southwards, if possible, 

 by bo.it. The funds are supplied by Mr. Oscar Dickson, the 

 well-known Gottenburg merchant. 



A SHOCK of earthquake was felt on the night of March 17 at 

 several places in the province of Ravenna. • 



A NUMBER of large meteors were observed in several parts of 

 France on the 9th and loth of March. The meteor of Feb. 10 

 was seen in an immense number of localities, and additional 

 notices are daily aniving at the Observatory. 



I\L Dumas, Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, 

 is a candidate for the French Academy as well as M. Jules 

 Simon, the ex-Minister for Public Instruction, who is an influen- 

 tial member of the department of Moral and Political Sciences. 

 According to the rules enacted when the Institute was created, 

 no member of one class could become a member of another. 

 The rule was .abolished when the academical constitution was 

 remodelled by Napoleon I., but many academicians adhered to 

 it. Arago refused several times to become a candidate in the 

 French Academy. 



An edition of Laplace's works was published by the French 

 Government about thirty years ago, and is now almost out of 

 print. A new edition is preparing ; it will be edited by the 

 Academy under the superintendence of M. Dumas, assisted by 

 a member of the Section of Geometry. A copy of the work 

 will be presented by the Institute, at the anniversary meeting, to 

 the pupil of the Polytechnic School who has obtained the first 

 place. 



M. Wallon, the new Minister of Public Instruction, has 

 declined to appoint as his general secretary a member of 

 the Versailles Assembly who desired the appointment, and 

 has nominated M. Jourdain, a tjcneral inspector of the Uni- 

 versity and a member of the Institute. He has appointed 

 as his chef dit cahittd, not as is usually the case, a private 

 friend or a member of his family, but M. Delfour, who is 

 one of the ablest teachers in the Paris College. He has ap- 

 pointed M. G. Pouchet, the son of the celebrated advocate of 

 spontaneous generation, to fill the room of M. Paul Bert, Pro- 

 fessor of Physiology to the Sorbonne, as the latter, being a 

 member of the National Assembly, cannot attend to his profes- 

 sorial duties. 



Dr. Forbes Watson, director of the India Museum, has 

 published in a separate form the paper he read at the Oriental 

 Congress in September last, and of which, at the time, we gave 

 a report. It is entitled, "On the establishment in connec- 

 tion with the Indian Museum and Library of an Indian Institute 

 for Lecture, Inquiry, and Teaching ; its influence on the pro- 

 motion of Oriental studies in England, on the progress of the 

 higher education among the natives of India, and on the training 

 of candidates for the Civil Service of India." The unsatisfac- 

 toi7 state of the museum and library in the attics of the India 

 Office is notorious. The collections in the museum are to be 

 housed for three years in the eastern galleries of the International 

 Exhibition bvulding. But this is only temporary ; and m the 



