October 19, igi 1] 



NATURE 



525 



France, simultaneously with their development by 

 Vogelsang, von Lasaulx, and Rosenbusch in Ger- 

 many. A dual nomenclature, indeed, grew up, for 

 certain structures in igneous rocks, of which traces 

 are still clear when we compare works produced on 

 opposite banks of that great factor in literature, the 

 Rhine. 



Levy, in his desire to understand, and not merely 

 to describe, set himself to construct igneous rocks by- 

 fusion in the laboratory, as Ste.-Claire Deville and 

 others had constructed rock-forming minerals. In 

 the domain of lavas the results, produced in collabora- 

 tion with A. Lacroix, were especially successful, and 

 surpassed the expectations of penologists, who had 

 previously been content with glassy slags. Carrying 

 the study of the optical properties of minerals in thin 

 sections to a high degree of refinement, Levy and 

 Lacroix issued their book on " Les MineVaux des 

 Roches " in 1888, and the details there given have 

 formed the basis for a long series of researches by 

 their followers in many lands. 



The separation of the members of the felspar 

 family, those halting-points in the continuous series 

 indicated, on chemical grounds, by Tschermak, re- 

 ceived special attention in Levy's memoir on the 

 " Determination des Feldspaths " in 1894. But those 

 who have watched the development of the French 

 Geological Survey will also recognise how much is due 

 to LeVy as an organiser in the field. The gneisses of 

 the Morvan occupied his attention twenty-four years 

 ago, and in 18S7, in a modest paper entitled " Sur 

 l'origine des Terrains cristallins primitifs," published 

 by the Soc^te g^ologique de France, he set forth his 

 belief that dynamic metamorphism had been over- 

 rated as a cause of the crystallisation of minerals in 

 schists. His official memoir on the "Granite de 

 Flamanville " (1803) shows how far he was prepared 

 to go in urging the potency of contact metamorphism 

 and mutual absorption in the production of types of 

 crystalline rock ; and his views, associated as they 

 were with the parallel work of Barrois, laid the 

 foundation for many later observations, such as those 

 of Lacroix, Sederholm, and Dalv. 



Levy's official work extended to an investigation of 

 the water supply nf his country, a research of immense 

 public importance, which is still in progress. His 

 secure position as one of the foremost of scientific 

 men r-arned him his election as a member of the 

 Institute of France. For those who wish to have 

 before them, and for future generations of their 

 students, the record of the firm and noble features 

 of Levy as he lived, it may be well to mention the 

 fine photogravure portrait now included in the series 

 bv Eckstein, of Berlin. 



DR. F. AMEGHINO. 

 A CIRCULAR letter recently received at the British 

 '»■ Museum (Natural History) from the president of 

 the Sociedad Cientifica Argentina, Buenos Aires, 

 announces the death of Dr. Florentino Ameghino, the 

 well-known palaeontologist, as having taken place at 

 I a Plata, on August 6. We believe that the cause of 

 death was neglect of a limb that had been wounded 

 in an accident, the deceased refusing to call in medical 

 assistance. For many years Dr. Ameghino kept a 

 small stationer's shop in La Plata, and it was there 

 that much of his palaeontological work was carried 

 on. When and how his attention was first directed 

 to this subject we have no information, but it must 

 evidently have been during the 'seventies, as he pub- 

 lished a paper entitled " L'homme pr£historique dans 

 la Plata " in the second volume of the Revue d'Anthro- 

 pologie, 1870. This was followed bv a number of 

 NO. 2190, VOL. 87] 



papers in various local journals on the Tertiary mam- 

 mals of Patagonia, the materials of which were 

 collected by his brother, Carlos Ameghino, who for 

 many years afterwards continued to make collecting 

 journeys to that country ; but whether on his own 

 account or at the instance of others we are unaware. 



Figures and fuller descriptions of the, frequently- 

 fragmentary, specimens upon which scores of species 

 and genera were founded in these preliminary papers 

 were given in a quarto two-volume work, published 

 at Buenos Aires in 1889, under the title of "Contri- 

 bucion al conocimento de los Mamiferos fosiles de la 

 Repiiblica Argentina." This was followed by a per- 

 fect stream of memoirs and papers on the fossil mam- 

 mals and birds of Patagonia and other parts of the 

 Argentine Republic, in all of which the author insisted 

 that the Santa Cruz beds are Lower Eocene, and some 

 of the other mammaliferous horizons of Patagonia 

 Cretaceous, whereas most palaeontologists consider 

 them to be not older than Oligocene. 



In 1895 Dr. Ameghino published in Buenos Aires an 

 important memoir entitled "Sur les Oiseaux fossiles de 

 Patagonie," in which appeared a full account 

 of the gigantic seriema-like Phororhachis. The 

 discovery and description of this wonderful bird 

 were alone quite sufficient to have made Ameghino's 

 name celebrated in palaeontological annals; another 

 great discovery being that of the development of a 

 monodactyle type of foot in an animal far below the 

 grade of the horse. That Ameghino, out of the re- 

 dundance of his material, should have been profuse 

 in naming species and genera, is, although a matter 

 for regret, scarcely to be wondered at, and must not 

 be allowed to obscure our view of the value of his 

 work in bringing to notice the marvels of the ancient 

 fauna of Patagonia. 



On the death of Dr. Carlos Berg, Dr. Ameghino 

 was appointed director of the Museum at Buenos 

 Aires, a post he held until his death. 



NOTES. 

 Reuters agency states that the British Government is 

 sending out a further commission to Central Africa in 

 connection with sleeping sickness. This will be in charge 

 of Colonel Sir David Bruce, who will be accompanied by 

 Lady Bruce, and assisted ' by Captain Hamerton, 

 R.A.M.C, Prof. Newstead, of the Liverpool School of 

 Tropical Medicine, Major Harvey, R.A.M.C, Staff- 

 Sergeant Gibbons, and Mr. James Wilson. The work of 

 the commission will on this occasion be confined to Nyasa- 

 land, where more than forty cases of sleeping sickness have 

 occurred since 1909. The commission, which is also under 

 the auspices of the Royal Society, is expected to be absent 

 from England for three years. Sir David and Lady Bruce 

 will leave Marseilles on November 10, and will proceed up 

 the Zambezi ana the Shire Rivers to Blantyre and Zomba, 

 the capital of Nyasaland. One of the principal objects of 

 the commission is to endeavour to ascertain whether the 

 existence of the fly supposed to be responsible for sleep- 

 ing sickness in Nyasaland depends upon the presence of 

 big game. 



All artists and chemists will learn with regret that Sir 

 Arthur Church has decided to retire from his position as 

 professor of chemistry to the Royal Academy, where he 

 has for so many years not only acted as guide to the young 

 art student through the intricate subject of chemistry as 

 applied to the painting of pictures, but has also performed 

 invaluable services both in advising and assisting artists 

 in their work, and on many occasions helping the Govern- 

 ment in the preservation of works of art. His careful 



