May ii, 1882] 



NA TV RE 



41 



zoological work, whereas a long sojourn is rendered almost neces- 

 sary by the much longer journey to Naples. Further it is well 

 known that forms occur at Villafranca which are not found at 

 Naples, as also many occur at Naples not to be found at 

 Villafranca. 



An interesting account has been lately furnished by M. Plateau, 

 the eminent Belgian physicist (who has been blind nearly forty 

 years), of the sensations he experiences in his eyes. He has no 

 sense of objective light even when directing his eyes towards the 

 sun. But his visual field is always divided into spaces, some of 

 u hich are pretty bright and others sombre or nearly dark, and 

 which merge into each other. Their general tint alternates, in 

 time, between grey and reddish. The relative arrangement of 

 those different spaces is always the same, but the intensity of 

 their tints varies. The central space seems now rather bright, 

 now very dark ; above and below, and on the left to the limits 

 of the field, there is sometimes brightness, sometimes darkness, 

 but on the right there is generally a vertical band, nearly black, 

 and beyond this a space which is nearly always bright and 

 reddish. These appearances follow all the movements of the 

 eyes, which probably do not participate in the same way in the 

 tints, but M. Plateau cannot distinguish what belongs to one 

 from what belongs to the other. No connection of the general 

 tint with the work of digestion is observed. The author states 

 that he became blind through looking fixedly at the sun for some 

 time, with a view to observing his after-sensations ; it was not 

 till about fourteen years after this that inflammation of the 

 choroid set in, destroying vision, but, during the interval, he 

 often saw coloured and persistent halos round flames, &c. , and 

 he advises those who have such vision to consult an experienced 

 oculist. 



With the approval of the Treasury, Mr. P. Edward Dove, of 

 Lincoln's Inn, has been appointed Secretary to the Transit of 

 Venus Commission. 



The University of London have determined to prosecute with 

 energy before the City of London Livery Companies Commission 

 their claim to administer the funds of Gresham College. For 

 reasons which are given, it is alleged that the founder, Sir Thomas 

 Gresham, intended to found a University for London without 

 limitation to the City proper ; and it is urged that his bequest, 

 as at present administered, does not subserve that purpose, being 

 merely devoted to occasional lectures. 



Several commissions have been appointed by the French 

 Government to report on the advisability of undertaking to flood 

 the Algerian Sahara on the plan proposed by M. Roudaire. It 

 is believed, on good grounds, that the report will be in favour 

 of M. Roudaire's great scheme, and that the objections laid 

 before the Academy of Sciences will be put aside. 



The fate of Capt. De Long, the commander of the yeannette 

 Arctic Expedition is now only too certain ; Mr. Melville tele- 

 graphs from the mouth of the Lena, March 24, that he has found 

 the Captain's dead body and those of his companions, as well as 

 all papers and books. Mr. Melville was to search for the party 

 under Lieut. Chipp in the other cutter. 



The Daily News Naples Correspondent writes : — " The 

 illustrious Italian travellers, Capt. Bianchi and Signor Licata, 

 secretary of the Naples African Club, are about to undertake a 

 new expedition, the plan of which is as follows : — From the Bay 

 of Biafra, in Guinea, they will traverse the hitherto unexplored 

 high levels of the Cameroon Mountains in the direction of the 

 Labi Lakes, and study the country in which rise the Congo, 

 Niger, Gazelle Rivers, and Lake Tsad, to find the key of the 

 hydrographic system of tropical Africa. From the lakes they 

 will descend to Lake Luta, which was partly explored by Signor 

 Gassi. They will then traverse the Uganda territory, going 



north-east towards the Gallas country, already known to Capt. 

 Bianchi, and return to Italy vii Abyssinia and the Red Sea, 

 hnving thus crossed Africa from west to east. They believe it 

 will take four years to complete this immense journey, which 

 will have principally a scientific aim." 



The Natal Mercury records the death of Mr. G. \V. Stow, 

 F.R.G.S. The telegram announcing his death reached Bloem- 

 fontein from Heilbron vi& Bethlehem He was not only known 

 by his geological surveys of Griqualand West and Natal, but 

 he had been engaged for many years on a work on the Bushmen 

 tribes, and another on the influx of the native races into the 

 southern portion of Africa. 



The last news from Dr. O. Finsch, who has for the last two 

 years and a half been exploring the Pacific Islands, is dated 

 from Thursday Island, in Torres Straits, January 8, 1882 

 From September, 18S0, to March, 1881, he had been in the 

 little coral island of Matupi, near New Britain. After a visit to 

 Sydney and New Zealand, he had gone to Thursday Island ; 

 thence he intended to visit North Australia and various islands 

 in Torres Straits, after which he was to go to New Guinea, 

 there to stay several months. Dr. Finsch has already sent to 

 Berlin many boxes of collections in natural history and ethno- 

 logy. He has already concluded from his researches, that all 

 the Pacific races may be referred back to two stems — a straight- 

 haired (Polynesians and Micronesians), and a crisp-haired 

 (Melanesians and Papuans), and he is doubtful whether there do 

 not exist connecting links between the two. 



We have already given such full details of the objects and 

 methods of the International circumpolar observing stations, that 

 we need only bring the record up todate by giving the list of the sta- 

 tions so far fixed upon, and the countries that are to occupy them : — 



(1) Point Barrow (north-west An erica), by the United States; 



(2) Great Slave Lake, England and Canada ; (3) Lady Franklin 

 Bay, United States ; (4) Godthaab (West Greenland), Denmark ; 

 (S) Pendulum Islands, Germany (probably) ; (6) Jan Mayen, 

 Austria; (7) Spitzbergen, Sweden; (8) Bossekop, Norway; (9) 

 Sodankylii (67° 24' N., 26° 36' E.), Finland (probably) ; (10) 

 Novaya Zemlya, Russia; (11) Dickson's Harbour, Holland; 

 (12) Mouth of the Lena, Russia. Some of them are already 

 occupied, and all of them will be during the summer. 



Prof. Arthur Gamgee will, on Tuesday next (May 16), 

 give the first of a course of four lectures, at the Ruyal Institu- 

 tion, on Digestion ; and Prof. David Masson will give the first 

 of a course of four lectures on Poetry and its Literary Forms, on 

 Saturday (May 20). 



We have received a report of the meeting of the Essex 

 Naturalists' Field Club, held on February 25, when the preserva- 

 tion of Epping Forest in its natural condition was the subject of 

 discussion. It was decided that the Conservators should be 

 petitioned by the Club, on behalf of the natural history students 

 of the metropolis, and a form of petition has been circulated 

 among the various scientific societies and individual naturalists 

 interested in this question. Those wishing to sign the memorial 

 should communicate with the Hon. Sec, Mr. William Cole, 

 Laurel Cottage, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 



Apart from absence of soil and moisture, the height of the 

 "timber line," acoording to Mr. Gannett (Am. Jour, of Science, 

 April) is purely a question of temperatures, and he shows that in 

 several parts of Western America the line rises rapidly as the 

 latitude decreases. On the volcanic peaks of the Mexican 

 plateau, e.g. it is higher by several thousands of feet than any- 

 where else in the United States. Even in the same latitude 

 there are very marked differences in its height. The less the 

 elevation of the surrounding country, other things equal, the 

 lower is the limit of timber. Considering that this limit must 



