322 



NATURE 



[February 6, 1902 



permit the erection of such a building in the public park and 

 fecreation ground. In a room at the base of the building the 

 meteorclogical instruments will be placed, and on one side of 

 the exterior a tablet will be fixed on which there will be set a 

 medallion portrait of Dr. Joule and a short record of his titles 

 In fame. The cost of this tower will probably be looo/., which 

 sum the District Council would have been willing to provide 

 h;id its funds been applicable for such a purpose. As this 

 course was not practicable, a committee has been formed at the 

 instance of the District Council for the purpose of obtaining 

 subscriptions to raise the amount required. Subscriptions 

 should be sent to the hon. treasurer (Mr. A. H. Megson, The 

 Priory, Sale), or the hon. secretary (Mr. J. W. Kobson, 

 Selbourne Lodge, Sale). 



The Royal Institution has received the following relics 

 of Michael Faraday, bequeathed to it by the late Mr. Thomas 

 J. F. Deacon, of Newcastle-on-Tyne : — Medals of silver and 

 bronze (numbering twenty in all), and including the Fuller 

 medal of 1S28, two Copley medals of 1832 and 1838, two 

 Newton medals of the Royal Society, 1833 and 183S, and the 

 Rumford medal of 1846 ; and two foreign Orders, contained in 

 a small mahogany box ; a book of portraits and autographs, 

 including original letters from the Prince of Wales and Prince 

 Alfred (written in 1S56), Louis Napoleon, Emperor of the 

 French ; Humphry Davy, Thomas Young, Humboldt, John 

 Dalton, Whewell, Maty Somerville, and many others ; a 

 daguerreotype of a consultation of Faraday with Prof. Daniell ; 

 a drawing in colours of the laboratory of the Royal Institution, 

 by a niece of Sir John Moore ; and a manuscript book entitled 

 " A Class Book for the Reception of Mental Exercises insti- 

 tuted July 1818," containing contributions by Faraday. 



The Council of the Society of Arts is prepared to award, 

 under the terms of the Benjamin Shaw trust, a gold medal or 

 a prize of 20/. "for any discovery, invention, or newly-devised 

 method for obviating or materially diminishing any risk to life, 

 limb or health incidental to any industrial occupation, and not 

 previously capable of being so obviated or diminished by any 

 known or practically availa ble means. " Intending competitors 

 should send in descriptions of their inventions not later than 

 May I, 1902, to the secretary of the Society of Arts, Adelphi, 

 London, W.C. 



The Royal College of Physicians of London has appointed 

 Dr. D. Ferrier, F. R. S., as Ilarveian orator for this year, Dr. 

 CuUingworth as Bradshaw lecturer, and Dr. H. T. Bulstrode as 

 Milroy lecturer. 



The manuscript of a French translation of Viete's works has 

 been presented to the Paris .-Academy of Sciences by the family 

 of the late M. F. Ritter, who devoted many years of his life in 

 translating the Latin text and adding explanatory notes. The 

 documents also include a history of the great geometrician's life 

 and times. 



On Saturday, February 15, Lord Rayleigh will begin a course 

 of six lectures at the Royal Institution on "Some Electrical 

 Developments." The Friday evening discourse on Friday, 

 February 7> will be delivered by Prof. E. Ray Lankester, his 

 subject being " The New Mammal from Central .Xfrica and 

 (iiher Giraffe-like Animals.'" 



The London County Council has appointed Prof. A. C. 

 Haddon, F.R.S., advising curator in connection with the 

 Horniman Museum at Forest Hill. It will be remembered that 

 this museum was presented by its founder, Mr. E. J. Horniman, 

 M.P., to the Council last year. It contains a fine collection of 

 anthropological, art and natural history objects. 

 NO. 1684, VOL. 65] 



The sixty-third anniversary meeting of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society will be held on Thursday, May 22. The Society's 

 annual exhibition of live stock, implements, poultry and produce 

 will be held at Carlisle in the week commencing Monday, July 

 7. An appeal has been issued by the Society for funds for the 

 purchase and preparation of the site in the metropolis which has 

 been selected for the future permanent showyard of the Society. 



Prof. E. Millosevich has succeeded Prof. P. Tacchini as 

 director of the Astronomical Observatory of the Roman College 

 and of the astronomical museum connected with it. Prof. 

 Tacchini has resigned his office of administrator in the Reale 

 Accademiadei Lincei, and Prof. Volterra has been appointed as 

 his successor. Prof. P. Villari having been unable to accept 

 the office as president, an election to the presidential chair will 

 be made early in June. 



The executive committee of the Jenner Society has resolved 

 that, in view of the provisional character of the Vaccination Act 

 of 1 898, and as a preliminary to the further legislation which 

 must be adopted next year in fulfilment of the promise made by 

 the Government in regard to revaccination and of the termina- 

 tion of the experimental period for which the Act was passed, a 

 comprehensive and careful inquiry should be made into the 

 working of the administrative machinery by which vaccination 

 is promoted as well as of the results of the Act itself. 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal Scottish Arbori- 

 cultural Society, held in Edinburgh on Friday last, Lord Mans- 

 field said he was authorised to slate that it was Mr. Hanbury's 

 intention to appoint a departmental committee to inquire into 

 and report upon the present position and future prospects of 

 forestry and the planting and management of woodlands in the 

 United Kingdom, and to consider whether any further measures 

 might be taken with advantage, either by the provision of 

 further educational facilities or othersvise, for their promotion 

 and encouragement. Mr. Munro-Ferguson, M.P., has been 

 invited and has consented to act as chairman of the committee. 



Mr. S. Harbert Hamilton has started on a scientific 

 exploring and collecting trip of several months' duration in the 

 vicinity of Santiago, Cuba. Collections will be made in all 

 branches of natural history, the bulk of which will go to the 

 New York Botanical Gardens, the American .Museum of Natural 

 History and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 

 Specialists or institutions desiring material in any branches 

 direct from the locality are invited to correspond with Mr. 

 Hamilton at .Santiago, Cuba. 



The meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club on March 19 

 is to be specially devoted to an exhibition of photographic slides, 

 illustrating bird-life of all kinds, taken by members of the Club 

 and their friends in various parts of the world. It is expected 

 that a large number of very interesting light-pictures will be 

 shown on this occasion. 



From the American Field we learn that a young female 

 specimen of that rare Arctic mammal, the musk-ox {Ovi/ios 

 mosckatus), reached Chicago alive at the beginning of January 

 last. It is said to have been captured by hunters employed for 

 the purpose by Captain H. H. Bodfish, of the steam-whaler 

 Beluga (of San Francisco), near Cape Bathurst in the Arctic 

 Ocean. A figure is given of this animal, which is stated to be 

 the only living musk-ox ever brought alive to the United States. 

 The only specimen of the musk-ox in England is that belonging 

 to the Duke of Bedford at Woburn. There are, however, said 

 to be also examples of this animal in the Zoological Gardens 

 of Copenhagen and Berlin. 



