226 



NA TURE 



yyan. 3. 1884 



Herr Steineger has been so fortunate as to secure eleven 

 crania and numerous bones of the extinct sea-cow, Rliytina 

 stelleri, which have been forwarded to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion at Washington. 



A SPLENDID meteor was seen at Frankfort-on-the-Maine on 

 December 8 at 6.45 a.m. It moved from west to east, and 

 illuminated the whole neighbourhood. 



A Times correspondent writes from Iceland that reports of a 

 volcanic eruption in the interior were current last year, and were 

 founded on peculiar appearances of ihe sky, and especially on 

 the observation from some of the remote inland farms of columns 

 of smoke or vapour rising in the far distance. Nothing definite 

 has, however, been ascertained as to these phenomena. An un- 

 usually large number of scientific men, geologists, botanists, and 

 philologists, chiefly German and Swedish, have this year visited 

 Iceland and investigated its structure, flora, and language ; and 

 at present Prof. Sophus Tromholt, well known in .scientific 

 circles by his researches as to the aurora borealis, is pursuing 

 these investigations here, and in'ends to remain all the winter, as, 

 from the clearness of the atmosphere and the frequency and 

 brilliancy of the aurora, Iceland is exceeJin^ly well suited fjr 

 his observations. 



The extensive collections of American Coleoptera made by 

 the late Dr. J. L. LeConte, containing an immense number of 

 original types, become the properly of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology of Cambridge, Mass. 



The French Societe des Electriciens has completed its 

 arrangements, and has been divided into six sectijns: — Theo- 

 KCtical electricity, M. Marie Davy pre ident ; Dynamo-electrical 

 machinery, transmission of force to a distance, distribution of 

 energy, M. Tresca president ; Electric lighting, M. Du Moncel 

 president; Telegraphy and telephony, M. lllavier president; 

 Electro-chemistry and electrotherapy, M. Jamin president. 



When Arago was director of the. Observatory of Paris, the 

 dotation of this establishment was less than 4000/. a year. This 

 sum was greatly increased when Leverrier was appointed by 

 Napoleon III., and before his death it had reached 10,000/. 

 Now the sum allotted is about 16,003/., although the meteoro- 

 logical department ha^ been set apart as a special service. 



The Italian Geographical Society awards its great ^'old medal 

 to Count Pietro Antonelli, in cmsideratinn of ihe important 

 results of his last journey to Sh^a. 



From advanced sheets of the Proceedings of 'the Anthropo- 

 logical Society of Washington, Col. F. A. Seely of the United 

 States Patent Office, we learn from Science, publishes a pamphlet 

 entitled " An Inquiry into the Origin of Invention." The 

 author is accustomed, day by day, as new claims for patents 

 come before him, to eliminate the successive steps in the classes 

 of machinery until he reaches the fundamental idea. This is 

 the plan pursued in tracing backward the whole subject of in- 

 vention to its sources in the mind of primitive man. The subject 

 is illustrated, fir-t, by the story of the steam-engine, and then by 

 the examination of the bow and arrow and other implements of 

 the lower races. The author rejects Prof Gaudry's Dryopithe- 

 cus, and aftirois, " Obvi msly, archseolo^y can find no trace of a 

 remoter age than that of stone ; but I mistrust that the thoughtful 

 anthropologist will accept the evidence of earlier ages, one of 

 which, taking one of its perishable materials as the type of all, 

 we may call the age of wood. Still farther back must lie an 

 age, as indefinite in duration as any, when man existed in his 

 rudest condition, without arts of any kind, except such as he 

 employed in common with i .wer animals ; and this is the true 

 primitive period. ' 



We liave received the report for the years 1880 and 1881 of 

 the administration of the artistic and scientific collections in the 

 Royal Museums of Dresden. The Zoological and Anthropologi- 

 cal Museum was visited by 61, 129 persons in 18S0, and by 65,455 

 in 18S1. An index to Rcichenbach's ornithohigical works has 

 been prepared by the director. Dr. A. li. Meyer, who has alsj 

 issued an important work on the picture-writings of the Eastern 

 Archipelago and Pacific Islands. The staff of this museum now 

 consists of the Director, Th. Kirsch, curator, L. Romer and 

 J. C. G. Wilhelm, first and second conservators, C. A. Kippe, 

 pre.iarer of specimens, a scientific assisiant, and two attendants. 

 The zoological and anthropological collections were enriched in 

 the years 1880 and 1S81 by 2242 specimens of the higher animals, 

 and 17,753 of insects, by 237 anthropological and 1 351 ethno- 

 graphic objects, including 6l crania and 56 photographs and 

 drauings of human types from various quarters. The library 

 attached to this departJient was increased by 332 works, includ- 

 ing donations from the British Museum, Smithsonian, and other 

 sources. The .systematic catalogue of the fishes was completed 

 in three volumes, with alphabetical index of the 294 genera, 726 

 species, and 2901 .specimens contained in the collection. The 

 ntsts, to the number of Soo, were also rearranged and catalogued, 

 and progress was made with the catalogues of the birds (froui 

 No. 168S to 2948) and insects (Hjmenoptera concluded, Diptera 

 thoroughly revised, of Coleoptera three families arranged and 

 catalogued). 



Messrs. Bailli^re and Co.- of Paris have issued the first 

 number of a new scientific weekly. Science et Nature, profusely 

 illustrated. 



M. Ell. M.-MLLY has brought out, in two volumes, a " Histoire 

 de I'Acadtmie Imperial et Royal de Bruxelles," from which so 

 much good work has emanated. The history abounds in interest. 

 F. Hayez of Brussels is the publisher. 



Spain does seem to be progressing in the right direction. We 

 have the second voluitie of Mr. F. Gillman's very useful and care- 

 fully compiled " Enciclopedia-Popular Illustrada" (Madrid), 

 with a large atlas of plates. Also the first number of La Indus- 

 tria Ibericj, a weekly paper devoted to the industry and science 

 of the whole peninsula, wdl printed, and, to judge from the first 

 number, judiciously edited. 



Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co. announce the following 

 scientific publicatiDns as forthcoming: — "A Manual of Gee 

 logy," by Robert Etheridge, F.R.S., and Prof. H. G. Seeley, 

 F.R.S. ; "A Manual of Chemistry," by Prof. Dupre, F.R.S., 

 and Dr. H. Wilsjn Hake ; "A Manual of Botany: the Mor- 

 phology, Physiology, and Classification of Plants, for the Use 

 of Students," by Prof. W. R. M'Nab; "A Pocket-book of 

 Electrical Rules and Tables, for the Use of Electricians and 

 Engineers," by John Munro, C.E., and Andrew Jamieson, C.E.^ 

 F.R.S. E. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus JMonkey [Macacus rhesus) from 

 India, presented by Miss P. Crabtree ; a Campbell's Monkey 

 (Cercopilhecus campbelti) from West Africa, presented by Mr. 

 Walter van Weede ; an Alligator {Alligator viississippiensis) 

 from the Mississippi, presented by Mr. Thick ; a Ring-tailed 

 Coati (Nasua rtifa) from South America, deposited. 



PHYSICAL NOTES 

 M. E. Reynier has described, in V Electricien, a research 

 made by him on the maxima and minima of electromotive force 

 of certain batteries in which polarisation taUes place. These he 

 calls "single-electrolyte" batteries, instead of "single-fluid" 

 batterie-, following a suggestio 1 of the late M. Niaudet. The 



