Feb. 3, 1870] 
NEALE OTE 
363 
the phenomenon usually attributed to the interference of the 
two rays which, distinct at incidence, coincide on emergence. 
However this may be, the fact can have nothing to do with the 
present question. It is impossible, when the most refined spec- 
troscopic observation hardly gives us one octave, that the rain- 
bow should disclose three or four. 
Hyéres, Jan. 25 C. J. Monro 
Flight of Birds 
WITH reference to an abstract of a paper by Mr. Southwell 
on the flight of birds, which appeared in your paper a few weeks 
back, I venture to make the following note and inquiry. 
A late brother of mine who had been round the Cape, and 
had frequently observed carefully the flight of the albatross, 
told me that though he had watched individual birds on several 
occasions for many minutes together, he had seldom or never 
seen any of them flap their wings. Has this fact been observed 
by other persons, and if it be authenticated, has Mr. Southwell 
any explanation to offer? Io del 
Turdus Whitei 
Ir may interest some of your ornithological readers to know 
that a specimen of White’s Thrush, 72dus White?, was killed 
near here on the 7th inst. It was shot by Mr. J. Beadon, ot 
Gotten House, and presented by him to Mr. Cecil Smith, of 
Lydeard House, for his collection. This is, I believe, the fourth 
occurrence of this bird in Britain; it is, I think, even less 
known on the Continent. W. BipGoop 
Museum, Taunton, Jan. 15 
THE SARS FUND 
E are glad to find that the appeal made in our pages 
by Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, on behalf of the family of 
the late Professor Sars of Christiania, is being warmly 
seconded in Paris by M. Alglave, the Editor of the Revue 
des Cours Scientifigues. In the last number of the Revue 
Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys’ article is reprinted 77 exfenso, and an 
announcement made that subscriptions to the Sars Fund 
will be received at the office of that journal. But M. 
Alglave has not waited for the publication of his notice 
before beginning his good work ; he has already collected 
the sum of 2,026 francs (81/.), and publishes with the 
notice a first subscription-list containing the names of 
many of the most eminent naturalists in France. We 
have now the pleasure of giving in our advertising 
columns a list of the contributions already promised to 
Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys. Sars belonged to the best type 
of scientific men, the genuine lover of science, con- 
tented to work in obscurity without thought of honours 
or reward. His family have a special claim to help, 
inasmuch as the distress in which they are left is not 
due to neglect or extravagance on the part of the la- 
mented Professor, but is solely attributable to his having 
devoted himself to studies, which, notwithstanding the 
most self-denying labours, did not enable him to make 
any provision for the future. Those of our readers who 
have visited Norway, who know the genuine unworldly 
ways of the Norwegians, and who have enjoyed the enthu- 
siastic welcome so readily given to the English, have now 
a graceful opportunity of reciprocating the kindly feeling 
shown them by the countrymen of Sars. 
NOTES 
Lorp De Grey will to-morrow receive the Council of 
the British Association, as a deputation to urge upon her 
Majesty’s Government the desirableness of a Royal Commission 
being issued to inquire into the present state of Science in this 
country. 
THE Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical Society have 
both appointed committees of council, to report upon the steps 
which it may be desirable to take in connection with the 
total eclipse of the sun, visible in Algeria, Spain, and Sicily, 
in December next, 
Ir is proposed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 
Royal Astronomical Society by a dinner on the day of the 
annual meeting, February 11. 
Tue lectures annually delivered in the theatre of the Royal 
College of Surgeons were commenced yesterday by Professor 
Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., who will deliver six lectures on 
Dermatology. To illustrate that of yesterday, there were a 
large number of exquisitely-prepared models, duplicates of those 
prepared for the Hépital St. Louis, Paris. Professor Wilson’s 
course will be followed by Professor Flower, F.R.S., Con- 
servator of the Museum, who will deliver r8 lectures introductory 
to the study of the anatomy of the class mammalia. 
THERE is a terrible rumour to which we are compelled to 
refer, though it has reached us in a—let us hope—doubtful way. 
The news is, that Livingstone has been murdered and burnt 
ninety days’ journey from the Congo, 
THE Zodlogical Society of London have now in the press a 
memoir by Dr. O. Fiusch, of Bremen, one of their corresponding 
members, upon the birds collected by Mr. William Jesse during 
the recent Abyssinian expedition, This memoir, which was read 
before the society at one of their meetings last year, will appear 
in their quarto Transactions, and will be illustrated by coloured 
figures of the new or little-known species. It will be in the 
recollection of some of our readers that Mr. Jesse was selected 
by the Zodlogical Society, at the request of the Treasury, to 
accompany. the Abyssinian expedition as zodlogist, and that the 
society undertook the task of bringing the results of his investi- 
gations before the public. Dr. W. Peters, of Berlin, has under- 
taken to prepare a memoir upon some of the rarer mammalia 
obtained by Mr. Jesse during the expedition, which will likewise 
appear in the Transactions. Mr. W. T. Blanford, who was 
sent out by the Indian Government as geologist to the expedition, 
is preparing a separate work upon his discoveries, which will be 
published by Messrs. Macmillan. 
A? its last meeting (January 24), the Academy of Sciences 
elected a new correspondent for the Physical section in the place 
of the late Professor Forbes. M. Kirchhoff, who was the 
successful candidate, obtained forty votes ; Mr. Lloyd and Sir 
William Thomson received one vote each.—A committee of the 
three sections of Astronomy, Geometry, and Navigation selected 
the following candidates for the vacancy in the Bureau des Longi- 
tudes :—1. M. de la Roche Poncié ; 2. M. Gaussin. 
Ir is no secret that the present ég/e at the Observatory of 
Paris has been rather more autocratic than could be patiently 
endured, even in a country subjected to eighteen years of personal 
government. Matters have at length reached a crisis, and the 
Minister of Public Instruction is placed in the awkward position 
of having to dismiss from the public service one of the most 
eminent of modern astronomers, or accept the resignation of the 
whole of the rest of the staff of the Observatory. 
THE chair of Chemistry at the University of Tiibingen has 
been offered to Prof. Fittig. 
WE regret to have to announce the death‘ of a naturalist of 
great promise, Dr. Wilhelm Keferstein, Ordinary Professor of 
Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the University of Gét- 
tingen. He died on the 25th ult., at the early age of 37. 
TuHousr of our readers who are acquainted with the grand 
series of ethnographical photographs contained in the four 
volumes already published of the work entitled the ‘‘ People of 
India,” will be glad to hear that four more instalments completing 
the volume are now in progress. The publishers are Messrs. 
W. H. Allenand Co., of Waterloo Place. 
M. ScCHAFARIK, Professor of Chemistry in the Polytechnic 
Institute of Bohemia, writing on the 15th ult. to the Bohemian 
newspaper fo/itik, announces the discovery of a diamond in a 
