5i6 



NA TURE 



{April 29, 1875 



communications should be sent to the Geographical Society, 

 3, Rue Christine. 



At the meeting of the French Geographical Society last 

 week, a gold medal was presented to Mr. Washbume for the 

 family of the late Capt. Hall, the American Arctic explorer. 



In the University of Edinburgh, Miss Flora Masson has 

 passed the examinations for University certificstes in Arts for 

 women, with honours of the first class, in English Literature; 

 and Miss Annette Conan Doyle has passed the ordinary exami- 

 nations in English Literature, Chemistry, and Mathematics. 



M. EuGtNE GoD.\RD will probably obtain authority to hold 

 an international balloon race in Paris. The proceeds will be 

 given to the families of Sivel and Spin»lli. 



The death is announced on Saturday last, at the early age of 

 thirty-seven years, of Mr. Winwood Reade, whose name is no 

 doubt familiar to readers of Nature as tlie author of " Savage 

 Africa " and the "African Sketch Book." 



The Norwegian Storthing has adopted the Government Bill 

 fjr the introduction of the metrical system of weights and 

 measures. 



M. WuRrz is to remain the Dean ot the Paris Ecole de 

 Medecine. The report of his resignation, to which allusion was 

 made in our last number, has been contradicted. 



In a paper on the age of the Tertiary deposits of Malta, pub- 

 liohed in the third part of the Sitzungsberichte der Akademie dc-r 

 Wissetuchafteti in ]Vien, Dr. T. Fuchs states that these beds 

 belong to two distinct stages ; the older, representing the ' ' Bor- 

 midian" of Sismonda (Aquitanian), may be regarded as equiva- 

 lent to theOligocene marine Jlolasse of Switzerland and Bavaria, 

 the strata of Bajas, Merignac, and some less known Central 

 European deposits; the newer as equivalent to the " Leytha- 

 kalk" of Vienna (Sarmatian stage). He states, in opposition 

 to previous authors, that these two series of beds have scarcely 

 any fossils in common, and remarks especially that the great 

 Pectens and Echinoderms do not occur in the upper strata. Dr. 

 Fuchs believes that many Syracusan Pliocene fossils have been 

 described as derived from Malta. The two series are conformable 

 in their stratification. 



In a second paper in tire same publication. Dr. Fuchs an- 

 nounces the occurrence of Miocene beds, which he also identifies 

 with the " Leythakalk," unconformably underlying the Pliocene 

 deposits near Syracuse, and forming a great plateau to the west 

 of that city. 



The same journal contains an interesting contribution to the 

 palaonlology of the Arctic regions, in the shape of descriptions 

 of fossU shells from the Carboniferous Limestone and Zechstein 

 rocks of Horn Sound, on the south-western coast of Spitzbergen, 

 collected during the rcctnt Austrian expedition to those regions. 

 The author of the paper, Dr. F. Toula, enumerates seventeen 

 species of Brachiopoda, three of which are described as new, 

 and a new Aviculopecten. Most of the fossils are figured. 



Mr. Van Voorst has just ready for publication " The Flora 

 of Eastbourne," by Mr. F. C. S. Roper, F.L.S., President of 

 the Eastbourne Natural History Society. 



Prof. Helmholtz' work " On the Sensations of Tone, as a 

 Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music," translated (with 

 the author's sanction) from the third German edition, with 

 additional notes and an additional appendix, by Mr. A. J. 

 Ellis, F.R.S., is nearly ready, and will te published in the 

 course of a week. It will be issued by Messrs. Longman 

 and Co. 



\ 



The same firm will pubUsh, during next month, " A Short 

 Manual of Heat," for the use of Schools and Science Classesi 

 by the Rev. A. Irving, Second Master of the High School, 

 Nottingham. 



The following information, with regard to the Gresham Lec- 

 tures, we take from the Journal of the Society 0/ Arts : — "It 

 appears that the nomination to vacancies as they occur among 

 the lecturers, is alternate between those members of the Gresham 

 Committee who are appointed by the Corporation of London, and 

 those appointed by the Mercers' Company. It is understood that 

 the filling up the present vacancy, occasioned by the resignation of 

 the Rev. Jos. Pullen, the lecturer on astronomy, rests with the 

 Corporation side of the Committee, and that they have deteE 

 mined to commence a reform in the administration of this be 

 quest. They therefore intend to make the appointment annual, 

 dependent on the popularity of the lecturer, to increase the 

 number of English lectures, and to get rid altogether of the use- 

 less Latin lecture. It is to be hoped that the Mercers' Company 

 will take up the question in a similar spirit." 



The Journal of the Society of Arts contains some details con- 

 cerning Scientific and Literary Societies in India. The Bengal 

 Asiatic Society was founded by Sir \Vm. Jones in 1774, and the 

 Madras Literary Society was formed in 1S18. The Bombay branch 

 of the Asiatic Society dates from the year 1S04, and in 1817 it was 

 grafted on to the Royal Asiatic Society in England as the Bombay 

 branch. Its Journal was established in 1S41, and the publication 

 has been regularly kept up ever since at intervals of one or two 

 years. The Bombay Geographical Society, which dates from 1830, 

 was in 1S73 amalgamated with the Bombay branch of the Asiatic 

 Society. The Medical and Physical Society, though it languished 

 from 1863 to 1869, has now been revived, and published a large 

 volume of transactions in 1871. The Sassoon Mechanics' Insti- 

 tute has 346 members, courses of lectures, and a good library of 

 reference of 13,935 books. In Calcutta, besides the venerable 

 Asiatic Society, there are several other societies both for Euro- 

 peans and natives, and for the latter alone. In Bombay, the 

 Students' Literary and Scientific Society consists exclusively of 

 natives, and has 1 1 1 members. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Great Kangaroo [Macropus gi^anteus) from 

 New South Wales, presented by Mr. Carleton V. Blyth ; a 

 second specimen and a Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus) born in 

 the Gardens ; a Persian Gazelle [Gazella suhguttuosa) from Persia, 

 presented by Mr. C. Czarinkow ; two Kinkajous (Ccreole/lts 

 caiiuiiok'ulus) from North Venezuela, presented by Mr. Chas. 

 Campbell Downes ; a Grey Ichneumon {Herptstes griseus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. H. M. Grellier ; a Macaque Monkey 

 (Macacus cynotnoli^iis), White var., from Samar, Philippines, pre- 

 sented by Mr. J. Ross ; a Crowned Eagle {Spizaetus coronatus) 

 from Senegal, received in exchange ; two Silky Marmosets 

 (Midas rosalia) from Brazil ; an Ocelot (Felis pardalis) from 

 South America, purchased. 



EASTER WEEK AT THE SORBONNE 



(Reunion des Dlleguis des Sociites Savantes des D^parlements.) 

 T^HE idea of utilising the Easter vacation as the date, and the 

 ^ venerable Sorbomie as the place, of the annual gathering 

 of the representatives of the learned societies of France was a 

 very happy one, and, like all good ideas, it is crowned by a yearly 

 increasing success. Numbers are but a feeble guide as to the 

 impoitance of a gathering, yet even in numbers the list of dele- 

 gates was strong (more than 250) ; but the true value of the 

 meeting v.ilt be better estimated when we have given a brief 

 report of some of the communications read and discussed, in 

 doing which we shall necessarily mention some of the best- 

 known names. We have purposely used the term " some of 

 the communications," because, as the science list alone contains 



