January 26, 1899] 



AATURE 



299 



Natural History Professorship at St. Andrews. This 

 post he held till 1882, when he was appointed Regius 

 Professor of Natural History in the University of 

 .Aberdeen ; and here he died in harness, respected and 

 esteemed alike by colleagues and pupils. The degrees 

 of M.D. (Edinburgh) and D.Sc. he took in due course ; 

 and he was also Ph.D. of Gottingen. In 18S8 he was 

 the recipient of the Lyell medal from the Geological 

 Society. He also held the Swiney Lectureship in Geology 

 from 1877 to 1882, and a second time from 1890 to 

 1894, when it had come under the direction of the 

 Trustees of the British Museum. He was elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society in 1897. 



Although his life's work covered a very wide field, 

 perhaps Nicholson's best claims to distinction will rest 

 on his researches into the structure and affinities of the 

 Stromatoporoids and the Graptolites. But, although all 

 his conclusions did not meet with general acceptation, it 

 would be unfair not to mention also his works on the 

 Monticuliporoids and the Pala*ozoic Tabulate Corals. 

 .And here it should be observed that, through no fault of 

 his own, his investigations of these latter groups took 

 place a little too early ; so that when the results of the 

 Challenge)- discoveries became known, several modifi- 

 cations of view were rendered necessary. The older 

 rocks of the Lake District likewise claimed a large 

 share of his attention ; many of his summer vacations 

 being diverted, with a genial companion, to the elucida- 

 tion of the difficult problems they present. His claims 

 to distinction as a paL-eontological student of the lower 

 Invertebrates are recognised by the dedication to him of 

 the recently described Millestroma Nicholsoni. The 

 important part he played in determining the rock-succes- 

 sion in the Lake District must not be forgotten in 

 estimating his achievements. Nicholson's most w^idely- 

 known monument will, however, undoubtedly be the large 

 series of zoological and pal<contoIogicalte.\t-books, which 

 have rendered his name a household word in every 

 science-school and university where the English tongue 

 is spoken. These had but comparati\ely humble be- 

 ginnings ; and it is to the credit of their author that, as 

 they acquired a wider and wider reputation, he rose to 

 the occasion by endeavouring to bring the later editions 

 to a higher level than that on which he had started. 

 Whether the plan of separating paktontology from 

 zoology proper is the best that could have been devised, 

 or the one likely to be followed in the future, this is 

 neither the place nor the occasion to enquire. But, from 

 a student's standpoint, it may be admitted that the first 

 volume of the last edition of his "Paleontology" is 

 almost the ideal of what a te.\t-book should be. Person- 

 ally, we knew him as a teacher only by a too brief 

 portion of his last series of Swiney lectures ; but, apart 

 from the testimony of those who have enjoyed more 

 favourable opportunities, his books are sufficient to pro- 

 claim how admirably suited he was for the important 

 position he occupied with so much distinction. 



The University of .Aberdeen will have no easy task to 

 secure a worthy successor \ R. L. 



NOTES. 



.\ FULL biography of the Polish philosopher Hoene-Wronski 

 has been in preparation during the past seven years. Wronski 

 resided in London in 1820-22, and Mr. Zenon Przesmycki, 

 who has the work in hand, would be very grateful for any further 

 information, or access to correspondence, bearing on Wronski's 

 life during that period. Mr. Przesmycki was in London last 

 summer, and through the kindness of the authorities of Green- 

 wich Observatory, the Admiralty, Royal Society, British 

 Museum, and Record Office, he was able to consult various 

 important documents. But no trace was found of a paper 

 NO. 1526, VOL. 59] 



(" Reforme de la theorie mathematique de la terre ") of his, pre- 

 sented to the Royal Society in June 1820, by the hands of the 

 -Astronomer Royal, Mr. Pond, nor of two printed extracts of this- 

 paper which Mr. Pond was authorised by the Society to make ; 

 their titles being (0 "Extrait du memoirede M. Hoene-Wronski 

 sur la theorie de la terre " ; (2) " Nouveaux extraits du memoire 

 de M. Hoene-Wronski et de son appendice, principalemenl 

 sur la theorie des fluides, 1821." The publication now of these 

 facts, and that when in London Wronski corresponded frequently 

 with Pond, with the mathematician Davies Gilbert, with the 

 Rev. Mr. Nolan, and with Lord Melville, then First Lord 

 of the Admiralty, and that he resided in Thiot's Hotel, at 

 15 Bucklersbury Square, may help to the discovery of further 

 particulars. Dr. Alexander Gait, of Glasgow University, will be 

 glad to receive, for Mr. Przesmycki, any information upon 

 these matters. 



At its annual meeting, on January 10, the Russian Academy 

 of Sciences awarded its Helmersen premium to A. Mick«itz for 

 his work, " Die Brachiopoden. Gattung Oboliis, Eichwald " ; 

 the Lomonosoff premium toN. I. Andrusoff for his work, "The 

 fossil and the living Dreissenidae of Eurasia " ; to E. Burinsky, 

 for his improvements in photography ; and to P. I. Brounow. 

 for his works in meteorology. The large Tolstoi medal was- 

 awarded to L. Besser and \^. Ballod, for their researches into 

 the natality and mortality of the populations of European 

 Russia, the Baltic provinces, and different countries of Europe, 

 including Great Britain ; and the small medal to P. G. 

 Matsokin, for a MS. work on the half-breeds of Transbaikalia. 



Proi'. Ray Lankester makes the welcome announcement 

 that arrangements have been made for the supply of electric 

 lighting to the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 

 The electric light will be gradually introduced into the \-arious 

 parts of the building — first of all into the offices and studies of 

 the staff and the workshops in the basement, and then into the 

 various public galleries. 



Herr J. BoRNMiJLLER Starts this month on a botanical 

 expedition to the less-known mountains of Northern Persia. 



Dr. Don Francisco P. Moreno, director of the La Plata 

 Museum, and commissioner of the Argentine Republic in the 

 boundary delimitation with Chile, has arrived in London from 

 Buenos Ayres. 



We regret to read, in the Atlicnaeiiin, that, in a fire which 

 broke out in the physical laboratory of the University of Geneva, 

 Prof. Chodat has lost the whole of his valuable herbarium, 

 together with two hundred botanical drawings, the result of ten 

 years' labour. A large number of botanical specimens, lent by 

 other institutions, have also been destroyed. 



A SERIES of lectures will be delivered in the Lecture Theatre 

 of the South Kensington Museum on the following Saturdays, at 

 3.30 p.m. : — January 28 and February 4, Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 

 "Astronomical Instruments" ; February 11 and iS, Mr. J. H. 

 Pollen, " Furniture " ; February 25 and March 4, Mr. William 

 Burton, "Pottery." 



The Nicaragua Canal Bill has passed the U.S. Senate. 

 The Bill provides for the construction of the canal by the 

 present Nicaragua Maritime Canal Company. The United. 

 States will control the canal, and own all the stock except 7i 

 per cent, given to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Each of these 

 will have one director, the United States appointing five. The 

 neutrality of the^canal is guaranteed by the United States. The 

 canal is to be used by all nations at equal tolls. It is to be 

 completed within six years. Its cost is limited to 115,000,000 

 dollars, and not more than 20,000,000 dollars are to be 

 expended annually. 



