434 



NA TURE 



\_March 6, 1 884 



conditions have of course necessitated this departure 

 from the original scope of the Institute, which, as we are 

 expressly told by Tiraboschi, did not exclude the 

 "humanities." ' The scheme of the natural sciences 

 itself has also been entirely recast, with a corresponding 

 increase and redistribution of members among the 

 various sections. As regards foreign membership the 

 Lincei take the lead in an important innovation, which will 

 doubtless be adopted in due course by the great scientific 

 institutes of other countrie?. In a truly "international" 

 spirit, they henceforth practically abolish the distinctioii 

 between Associates (Soci, or home members) and Cor- 

 respondents (Corrispondenti, or foreign members). The 

 clause bearing on this point in the President's Circular of 

 June 26, 1S83, deserves to be here cjuoted in full: — 



" Per cio che concernegli stranieri fu unanime il pensiero 

 di togliere la distinzione fra i Soci ed i Corrispondenti : 

 distinzione la quale riferendosi a pochi personaggi 

 eminent! nelle scienze a cui attendono e disseminati 

 in tutto il mondo civile, riesce difficilissima e di utilita 

 molto dubbia. Per le scienze fisiche, matematiche, e 

 naturali parve necessario un aumento nel numero degli 

 stranieri aggregabili all' Accademia, non solo per dare 

 una dimostrazione d'onore a personaggi cosi benemcriti, 

 ma anche per agevolare le relazioni scientifiche le quali si 

 fanno ogni giorno piii frequenti, piii necessarie, e piu 

 intime fra i cultori delle stesse scienze ed i direttori di 

 aaaloghi stabilimenti scientific!, independentementc dai 

 ccnfini politici che li separono." - 



Amongst the foreign savants who thus receive full 

 membership, occur the names of Airy, Adams, Lockyer, 

 ai d Huggins in Astronomy, Ramsay in Geology, Hooker 

 in Botany, Huxley in Zoology, Cayley and Roberts in 

 Mathematics, Whitney in Philology, Freeman in History 

 and Geography, Gladstone in Social Science. 



As reorganised under the new constitution, the Academy 

 consists henceforth of two classes : (i) Physical, Mathe- 

 matical, and Natural Sciences ; (2) Moral Sciences, — dis- 

 tributed into a number of Categories and Sections as 

 under : — 



Class I. 



Categories Sections Members 



( Mathematics 

 ) Mechanics ... 



) Astronomy... ... ... ... 11 



Geography (Physical) ... ... 4 



Physics ... ... ... ... 17 



Chemistry ... ... ... ... 8 



Crystallography and Mineralogy ... 9 



3. ... Geology and Paleontology ... 11 



/ Botany ... ... 9 



''■' \ Zoolngy and Morphology... ... 8 



(Agronomy... ... ... ... 3 



5. ... < Physiology ... ... ... ... 6 



( Pathology 3 



Class II. 



Categories Members 



1. Philology 17 



2. Archaeology ... ... ... ... ... 19 



3. History and Historical Geography ... l6 



4. Philosophy ... ... ... ... ... 15 



5. Jurisprudence ... ... ... ... 10 



6. Social Science ... ... ... ... 21 



On May 14, 1881, an Act was passed granting a large 

 sum for the purpose of erecting or purchasing a suitable 

 edifice for the I.incei, henceforth officially recognised as 

 the "Royal Academy of Sciences." After protracted 

 negotiations, an arrangement was made with Prince 

 Tommaso Corsini, in virtue of which for the sum of 

 95,400/. the Academy acquired the perpetual use of the 

 magnificent Palazzo Corsini, situated in the Via della 



' " E benche il principal loro oggetto fosser le scienze matematiche e 

 filosofiche, nun Ir.iscuravono ptro I'amena litteratura e gli studi poetici " 

 (viii. p. 73). 



■ As finally modified in the new articles, the clause affecting foreign 

 members runs thus:— "I soci stranieri sono equiparati ai nazionali allor- 

 quando essi sono in I tat a." 



IS 



Longara, Trastevere. The purchase, which was effected 

 in May 1883, included the furniture, fittings, gardens, and 

 annexes, but not the Library and Pinakothek, which, being 

 entailed, the prince had no power to alienate. To meet 

 this difficulty a special Act was subsequently passed, 

 which removed the entail, and enabled the prince to make 

 a free gift of the Pinakothek to the nation, and of the 

 Library to the Accademia del Lincei. The Library, origin- 

 ally collected by Cardinal Neri Corsini, and bequeathed by 

 him in 1774 to his nephew, Duca don Filippo Corsini, com- 

 prises the prints, drawings, books, and manuscripts occu- 

 pying the nine rooms on the first floor of the north side of 

 the building so well known to Engli^h visitors in Rome. 

 It passes to the Lincei on the condition of being preserved 

 by them for the public use under the name of the 

 " Biblioteca Corsiniana." It is also to be kept forever 

 not only in Rome, but in Trastevere, as set forth in the 

 disposition of its chief founder, Cardinal Neri Corsini. 

 Some of our leaders may possibly remember the two 

 allegorical busts at the main entrance of the palace. 

 These are now to be replaced by busts of the Cardinal 

 and of Prince Tommaso Corsini, with inscriptions record- 

 ing their services to the cause of the arts and sciences. 

 The prince also receives from the Academy the gift of a 

 complete copy of its Atti or Proceedings, of which there 

 are three series : (i) under the Pontifical "dispensation," 

 23 vols. ; (2) 1S73-76, 8 vols.; (3) 1876-83, 7 vols. On 

 the yellow wrapper of the present series the tiara gives 

 place to the royal crown of Italy above the lynx, and the 

 Lincei pass from the shadow of the now silent Sant' 

 Uffizio to a right royal residence on the banks of yellow 

 Tiber. A. H. Keane 



NIELS HENRFK CORDULUS HOFFMEYER 



AI rE have already (p. 387) briefly referred to the death 

 '' of Capt. Hofl'meyer ; the importance of his work 

 in meteorology deserves more detailed notice. 



Capt. Hoffmeyer was born at Copenhagen, June 3, 

 1836. His father was Col. A. B. Hoffmeyer. He com- 

 menced his studies with a view to a professional career, 

 but the idea was soon abandoned, and he was entered as 

 a pupil in the military academy. At the age of eighteen 

 he became an officer, and on completing his studies he 

 received an appointment in the artillery service. 



He was engaged in the Schleswig-Holstein war of 

 1864, but as early as February he was compelled by ill- 

 ness to retire from activ'e service. In early youth he had 

 suffered from rheumatic fever, and the exposure and 

 fatigues of the winter campaign soon laid him prostrate 

 with another severe attack of the same fever. On the 

 reduction of the army at the close of that year, Capt. 

 Hoftmeyer was placed on the i etired list. 



He spent the early part of the summer of 1S65 re- 

 cruiting his health at Sophienbad, a watering-place near 

 Hamburg, and in August he proceeded to Paris, where 

 and at Nantes he remained a year studying the works 

 carried on at the iron foundries there, t'n his return to 

 Denmark he took an active part in establishing a similar 

 foundry at Christiansholm, but in 1867 he was appointed 

 to a post in the War Department, and became at the 

 same time a captain of the militia of Copenhagen. 



It was while residing in France that Hoftmeyer's atten- 

 tion began to be directed to meteorology. At that time, 

 fortunately, the principles which distinguish modem 

 meteorology were being developed and prosecuted by the 

 genius and energy of Leverrier, in the daily publication 

 in the Bulletin International of a weather map for all 

 Europe, which had been begun onl) two years before. 

 After his appointment to the War Department, he devoted 

 his energies with characteristic ardour to the study of 

 meteorology, and when the Danish Govenunent esta- 

 blished the Meteorological Institute in 1872, Capt. 

 Hoffmeyer was appointed director. 



