Sept. 2i, 1882] 



NATURE 



505 



following will show. The natives have a superstitious 

 fear of the creature, believing that it possesses some 

 supernatural power by which it can destroy those who 

 seek to capture it, or do it harm. The consequence of 

 this is that it is with the greatest difficulty one can 

 obtain a specimen. With most of the people no amount 

 of money would be a sufficient inducement to go in pur- 

 suit of the creature, "because," say they, "we value our 

 lives more than money." It is only a few of the more 

 daring spirits among them who, knowing the odiny, i.e. 

 the secret by which they can disarm it of its dreaded 

 power, have the courage to attempt its capture. 1 cca- 

 sionally it is brought to Tamatave for sale, where it 

 realises a good sum. Now and then it is accidentally 

 caught in the traps which the natives set for lemurs, but 

 the owner of the trap, unless one of those versed in the 

 Aye-aye mysteries, who knows the charm by which to 

 counteract its evil power, smears fat over it, thus securing 

 its forgiveness and goodwill, and then sets it free. The 

 story goes that occasionally, when a person sleeps in the 

 forest, the Aye-aye brings a pillow for him — if a pillow 

 for the head, the person will become rich j if for the feet, 

 he will shortly succumb to the creature's fatal power, or 

 at least will become bewitched. Such is the account 

 which the natives give of the curious Chcirovtys Macia- 

 gascariensis. R. Bar in, 



L.M.S. Missionary 

 Antananarivo, Madagascar, April, 18S2 



THE AM ERIC AX ASSOCIATIOX FOR THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIE.XCE 

 (From a Correspondent) 

 '"PHIS body held its thirty-first annual meeting at 

 ■■■ Montreal during the week beginning August 23. 

 under the presidency of Dr. J. W. Dawson, LL.D., 

 F.R.S. Ample accommodation for the Association was 

 found in the buildings of McGill University, and the 

 attendance was very large, 939 persons having been regis- 

 tered. Besides the American and Canadian Fellows 

 and Members of the Association, there were several 

 guests from abroad, among them, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, 

 Dr. J. H. Gilbert, Prof. Wiltshire, and Dr. Pheng, of 

 London ; Dr. Samuel Haughton and Prof. Fitzgerald 

 from Dublin, together with Messrs. Szabo of Budapest, 

 Kowalesky of Moscow, and Konig of Paris, all of whom 

 made communications to the Association. 



After the opening ceremonies on the morning of the 

 first day, the nine sections into which the Association is 

 now divided listened to the addresses of their respective 

 vice-presidents. These sections are as follows : — A. 

 Mathematics and Astronomy ; B. Physics ; C. Chemistry ; 

 D. Mechanical Science ; E. Geology and Geography ; 

 F. Biology; G. Histology and Microscopy; H. Anthro- 

 pology ; and I. Economic Science and Statistics. Accord- 

 ing to custom, the retiring president of the Association, 

 Dr. George J. Brush, gave his address on the first 

 Wednesday evening, taking for his theme, The Progress 

 of American Mineralogy. This was followed by a reception 

 of the Members of the Association by the Local Committee, 

 its chairman, Dr. Sterry Hunt, acting as host. On Thursday 

 evening the New Redpath Museum of Natural History, 

 lately erected at a cost of 100,000 dollars by Mr. Peter 

 Redpath, and by him presented to the University, was for- 

 mally opened with addresses by Mr. James Hall and Dr. 

 W. 6. Carpenter, a reception being given therein by the 

 President and Mrs. Dawson to the Association and others. 

 Thursday and Friday were devoted to the work of the 

 sections, but Saturday was given to excursions to Ottawa 

 and to Quebec, in both of which cities entertainments 

 were provided by the citizens. Public lectures were given 

 on Monday and Tuesday evenings by Dr. W. B. Car- 

 penter and Prof. Meville Bell, on The Temperature of 

 the Deep Sea, and On Visible Speech. The reading 



of papers, however, occupied both the morning and after- 

 noon of these days, and of Wednesday the 30th, on the 

 evening of which day the closing meeting was held, i'.e 

 Association adjourning to meet next August at Minnea- 

 polis, in Minnesota, under the presidency of Dr. C. A. 

 Young, of Princeton, New Jersey. The number of papers 

 entered was 256, of which nearly all were read either at 

 length or in abstract, and will be published in the 

 Proceedings. 



In addition to the excursions already noticed was one 

 provided by the Harbour Commissioners, and another 

 through South-eastern Canada, to Lake Memphramagog 

 at the close of the meeting. An entertainment in the 

 galleries of the Montreal Fine Art Association should also 

 be mentioned, and various garden parties sxiA/e/es by the 

 citizens, who vied with each other and with the railways 

 and steamboat lines in their hospitalities to the members 

 of the Association. 



Mention should here be made of a Handbook of 

 Montreal, an illustrated volume of 159 pages, prepared 

 for the meeting by Mr. S. E. Dawson, of the Local Com- 

 mittee, and presented to the members. This little book 

 is remarkable for its excellent historical introduction, and 

 also for a valuable coloured geological map of the environs 

 of the city, prepared by Dr. Sterry Hunt. 



After the meeting a small party, including Dr. Car- 

 penter, Prof. Wiltshire, and Dr. Szabo, were conducted 

 by Dr. J. W. Dawson and Dr. Sterry Hunt to the re- 

 markable locality of Eozoon Canadense, near St. Andre 1 

 Avellin, among the Laurentide Hills, not far from the 

 City of Ottawa. 



PROFESSOR PLANTAMOUR 



THE daily journals notify the decease on the 7th 

 instant, at Geneva, of Prof. Plantamour, for many 

 years Director of the Observatory and Professor of 

 Astronomy in the University of that city. 



Emile Plantamour was born at Geneva in 1815, and 

 received his early education in the old college founded by 

 Calvin. He entered the Geneva Academy in 1833, where 

 he became a pupil of Alfred Gautier, then in the Chair of 

 Astronomy, and on graduating, adopted this science as 

 his profession. He studied two years at Paris under 

 Arago, and subsequently proceeded to Konigsberg, where 

 he became a pupil of the illustrious Bessel. His inaugural 

 dissertation was upon the methods of calculating the 

 orbits of comets, and he obtained the degree of Doctor in 

 1839. He subsequently visited Berlin where Encke was 

 then one of the great masters of astronomical science of 

 the day. On returning to Geneva he was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory ; 

 these positions he continued to occupy nearly up to the 

 time of his decease. The observations made under his 

 direction were published in various parts, commencing in 

 1843, and related to astronomy, magnetism, and meteoro- 

 logy. He took part in a number of geodetical operations 

 in Switzerland, and was the representative of Geneva on 

 the Swiss Geodesic Commission. 



Plantamour was a man of considerable private means, 

 and hence was independent of the very modest salary 

 attaching to his official position. A few years since he 

 presented a 10-inch refractor to the Observatory of 

 Geneva, and a building suitable for it was erected at his 

 expense. This instrument has already done good work 

 in the hands of Dr. Meyer. Plantamour devoted much 

 attention to cometary astronomy, one of his most elabo- 

 rate investigations being his determination of definitive 

 elements of Mauvais' comet of 1844, which was observed 

 from July 7 in that year, to the middle of March, 1845, 

 and therefore offered a favourable opportunity for the 

 calculation of the true form of orbit. Plantamour's result 

 was a somewhat notable one : after taking into account 

 the effect of the attraction of the planets during the 



