March 2, 1899] 



NA TURE 



421 



NOTES. 

 LoRr> Lister has been elected a foreign associate of the 

 Paris Academy of Medicine. 



Prof. E. Ray Lankf.ster, F. R.S., has been elected a 

 correspondant of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



Prof. L. Cremona, of Rome, Prof. Ray Lankester, and 

 i\I. Alexander Karpinsky, of the Institute of Mines of St. Peters- 

 burg, have been elected Associates of the Belgian Academy of 

 Sciences. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death of Sir John 

 Struthers, Emeritus professor of anatomy in Aberdeen Uni- 

 versity, at seventy-si."c years of age. 



The Belgian Royal Academy has awarded prizes of 600 

 francs to M. Georges Clautriau, of Brussels, for his memoir on 

 the macro- and micro-chemistry of digestion in carnivorous 

 plants, and to Prof. L. Cuenot, of Nancy, for his essay on the 

 excretory organs of Mollusca. 



Replying in the House of Commons on Monday to a 

 question upon the preservation of rare animals in Africa, Mr. 

 Brodrick said : " Steps have already been taken to guard 

 against undue destruction of wild animals by the issue of game 

 regulations, and we are in communication with the German 

 Government as to collective action. It is proposed to hold an 

 international conference in London in the spring." 



A prize of 500 francs, founded by Augustin-Pyramus de 

 CandoUe for the best monograph on a genus or family of plants, 

 is offered in competition by the Societe de physique e d'histoire 

 naturelle de Geneve. The monographs may be composed in 

 Latin, French, German, Italian or English, and must be sent 

 to M. Pictet, the president of the Society, before January 15, 

 1900. Members of the Society are not permitted to compete. 



At a meeting of the Manchester and Salford Trades Council, 

 held on February i6, the following resolution was passed: — 

 " That this Council desires to again express its sympathy with 

 the objects of the Decimal Association, believing that by their 

 adoption the interests of commerce and industry throughout 

 the United Kingdom will be much benefited." All the leading 

 Trades Unions in Great Britain strongly support the movement 

 for the adoption of the metric weights and measures by this 

 country, and on two occasions at the Congress of Trades Unions 

 resolutions in favour of this reform were unanimously passed. 



A recently issued number of the Nouvelles Archives of 

 the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris contains a full de- 

 scription, accompanied by coloured figures, of a very remark- 

 able new monkey lately discovered by the French missionaries 

 in Eastern Tibet, and proposed to be named Rhinopithaits 

 I'ieli, after Mgr. Biet, the head of the Mission. It inhabits the 

 western slope of the chain of mountains which separates the 

 valley of the Mekong from that of the Yang-tze, in the district 

 of Tsekou, where it is known to the natives as the Tchru-tchra, 

 or " snow -monkey." This is the third species of monkey now 

 known to inhabit high altitudes in Eastern Tibet. 



During the last week or ten days the weather over the 

 British Isles has partaken both of winter and summer, the 

 nights being characterised by sharp frost, while the days have 

 been bright and warm. From about February 19 an anti-cyclone 

 has enveloped most of the country and the greater part of 

 Western Europe. The early mornings especially have been 

 densely foggy in the neighbourhood of the metropolis ; the day 

 temperature in the screen has reached 55°, while at night the 

 sheltered thermometer has fallen to 22°. No rain has been 

 recorded over a large part of England since February 15, and 

 NO. I 53 I, VOL. 59] 



in the Daily Weather Repjrt issued by the Meteorological 

 Council on February 27 the unusual occurrence was recorded of 

 the absence of rain over the whole of Western Europe, between 

 Bodo, within the Arctic circle, and Lisbon. 



The British Fire Prevention Committee, the establishment 

 of which was the outcome of the Paris Charity Bazaar and 

 Cripplegate fires, has now become a fully incorporated scientific 

 society under the special sanction of the Board of Trade. 



Mr. Robert J. Aley contributes to the Proceedings of the 

 Indiana Academy of Science ( 1S97) a list of seventy-one collinear 

 sets of points connected with the geometry of the triangle, with 

 references for proofs to well-known text-books. The list should 

 prove useful for purposes of reference. 



In the Atti dei Lincei, viii. i, 2, Signor P. Pizzetti con- 

 tributes two notes on the intensity of gravity on Mont Blanc. 

 The values for g observed on the slopes on the mountain lead 

 the author to conclude that the attraction of the mountain is 

 only to a small extent compensated for by deficiencies in 

 internal mass. Such deficiencies cannot be much below those 

 represented by a stratum of 1000 metres thickness. At Cha- 

 mounix, on the other hand, the deficiency seems to be far 

 smaller. 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail that preparations for the 

 introduction of the electric light into Calcutta are going on 

 apace. Mains are being laid, and the central station, where 

 fifteen hundred horse-power will be employed in generating the 

 current, is approaching completion. The dynamos will shortly 

 be running, and the current available for the supply of private 

 houses ; so that electric fans driven by the current will soon 

 replace the coughing, slumbering punkah coolie. The engines 

 which are being set up will be entirely devoted to the produc- 

 tion of the electric light and the driving of electric fans, a 

 further installation being contemplated for the trams when these 

 come to be driven by electricity. 



It has been resolved that the memorial to the late Prof. Coats, 

 of .Glasgow University, shall take the form of a University 

 prize or scholarship in connection with pathology. To carry 

 out this a sum of at least 1200/. will be required. Circulars 

 are being issued calling for subscriptions, which will be received 

 and acknowledged by Dr. David Newman, honorary secretary, 

 18 Woodside Place, Glasgow, or Mr. James J. MacLehose, 

 honorary treasurer, 61 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. 



Numerous friends of the late Prof. Kanthack have ex- 

 pressed the wish that his work should be commemorated in 

 some suitable way. It is proposed to raise afund, the interest 

 of which shall be devoted to the use of Mrs. Kanthack during 

 her life, whilst the capital amount can eventually be employed 

 in founding some permanent memorial to the late Dr. Kanthack. 

 All who desire to contribute to the fund are requested to send 

 subscriptions to Dr. J. H. Drysdale, 25 Welbeck Street, 

 London, W. 



Referring to the late Dr. Alexandre Laboulbene, professor 

 of the history of medicine in the University of Paris, who died 

 recently at the age of seventy-three, the British Medical Journal 

 remarks that he had won great distinction as a pathologist and 

 an entomologist before he was appointed to the chair which he 

 occupied for the last twenty years of his life. He was the 

 author of a large number of papers on pathological and ento- 

 mological subjects, presented not only to the Academie de 

 Medecine, but to the Societe de Biologic, the Societe 

 Anatomique, and the Societe Entomologique de France. Prof. 

 Laboulbene was president of the .-Vcademie de Medecine in 1S93. 



