436 



NATURE 



\_March 6, 1884 



M.A. ; P.G. B. Westmacott, M.Inst.C.E. Secretaries t A. T. 

 Atchison, M.A., C.E. ; J. Kennedy, C.E. ; L. Lesage, C.E. ; 

 II. T. Wood, IS. A (Recorder). H. — Anthropology. — Presi- 

 dent: E. B. Tylor, D.C.L., LL D., F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: 

 Prof. W. Boyd D.iwkins, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. ; 

 Prof. Daniel Wilson, EL.D., F.R.S. E. Secretaries: G. W. 

 Bloxam, M.A., F.L.S. (Recorder) ; Rev. J. Campbell, M.A. ; 

 Walter Hurst, B.Sc. ; J. M. P. Lemoine. It is expected that 

 the public lectures will be by Mr. CrooUes, Dr. Dallinger, 

 and Prof. Ball. Liberal reductions of fares will be made by 

 the steamship companies and the American railways ; the Cana- 

 dian Piicific Railway, indeed, gives free travelling to all mem- 

 bers from August I to the time for the excursion to the Rocky 

 Mountains, wliich it offers free to 150 members. Many other 

 excursions have been .arranged for, and the American Association 

 invites the members to join its meetings and excursions at 

 Philadelphia on September 3. We are glad to see that Section A 

 is following the good example set by Prof. Lankester in Biology 

 last year. A circular signed by Sir William Thomson has been 

 issued by the Committee of Section A, inviting the co-operation 

 of mathematicians and physicists, and requesting those willing to 

 read papers and take part in the discussions to send their names 

 to the Secretaries of Section A, British Association, Albemarle 

 Street. The following subjects have been selected for special 

 discussion by the Committee :— On Friday, August 29, The Seat 

 of the Electromotive Forces in the Voltaic Cell. On Monday, 

 September i. The Connection of Sunspots with Terrestrial 

 Phenomena. 



The death is announced on March i of Dr Isaac Toihunter, 

 F.R.S., the well-known mathematician, at his residence, Brook- 

 side, Cambridge. Dr. Todhunter was born in 1820, and having 

 passed some years of his life as usher in a school, proceeded to 

 University College, London, and when twenty-four years of age, 

 entered aj an undergratuate of St. John's. He graduated in the 

 Mathematical Tripos of 1S48, ob'aining the distinction of Senior 

 Wrangler and first Smith's Prizeman in a ye.ir which produced 

 some remarkably able men. Dr. Todhunter was in due course 

 elected to a Fellowship at St. John's, and subsequently filled the 

 offices of assistant tutor and principal lecturer in mathematics. 

 Dr. Todhunter is well known as the author of numerous mathe- 

 matical treatises, which have obtained a wide circulation, and 

 are recognised .as standard works of education in the universities 

 and public schools. His treatises on the "Differential Calculus," 

 "Analytical Statics," "Plane Coordina'e Geometry," "Plane 

 Trigonometry,'' and "Spherical Trigonometry," greatly enhanced 

 his reputation. He also published various elemental^ works, 

 all of which enjoyed a lar^e circulation. In 1871 he obtained 

 the Adams Prize for an essay, " Researches on the Calculus of 

 Variations." He published, in 1873, "A History of the Mathe- 

 matical Theories of Attraction and the Figure of the Earth from 

 the time of Newton to that of L.aplace." In 1876 there also 

 appeared from his pen, "An Acciunt of the Writings of William 

 Whewell, D D., Ma.ner of Trinity College, with selections from 

 his li erary and scientific correspondence." By the new LTniver- 

 sity statutes the University was authorised to confer the degrees 

 of Doctor in Science and Doctor in Letters. Dr. Todhunter was 

 among the first upon whom the distinction of Doctor in Science 

 was conferred, and last year proceeded to that degree. A few 

 years previou.sly he had been elected an honorary Fellow of his 

 College as a mark of recognition of his great mathematical 

 attainments. It may be mentioned that Dr. Todhunter took an 

 active part in University affairs, was a meojber of several 

 Syndicates and Boards of Studies, and an elector to the Plumian 

 Professorship of Astron .my. He had been in failing health for 

 some time, and a few weeks ago was attacked with paralysis, 

 which precluded all hope of recover-.-. 



Natural History, and especially Palaeontology, in Sicily, 

 have sustained a great loss in the decease of the septuagenarian 

 Abbe B'ugnone, who died at Palermo on the 3rd of last month. 

 He published several excellent papers on the recent and Pliocene 

 shells of his native island, which were illustrated by his own 

 pencil. His real name appears from the obituary card to have 

 been Rugnone. We understand that his valuable collections are 

 for sale. 



M. Fayk read at the list meeting of the Academy of Sciences 

 the draft of a resolution which will be presented by the Special 

 Commission appointed to report on the removal of the Ob- 

 servatory, and which will be discussed by the Academy at one 

 of its next private sittings. It approves the removal of the 

 Observatory to a site in close proximity to Paris, and the sale 

 of the grounds, on condition that the existing building will 

 remain int.ict, and so much land as is necessary for executing 

 astronomical observations in the establishment. 



The Academy of Sciences has nominated M. D.arboux a 

 member in the Section of Geometry. Mr. Darboux is the editor 

 of a matliematical paper published in Paris, and the author of 

 numerous memoirs on analysis and geometry printed in the 

 Transactions of the Academy. 



M. Bertrand has issued the first number of a monthly astro- 

 j nomical journal published by the Observatory of Paris under the 

 title of the Bidhtin. It is edited by M. Tisserand, with the co- 

 operation of a number of astronomers of the Paris Observatory. 



Under the auspices of the Paris Geographical Society a 

 course of lectures is being delivered by some of the most eminent 

 French men of science. These lectures, eight in number, are 

 held every Monday, at 8.30 p.m. ; they began on February 11, 

 and end on March 31, in the Hall of the Geographical Society. 

 The following are the subjects of these lectures : — M. Faye, of 

 the Institute, the connection of astronomy and geography in the 

 principal periods of history ; M. de Lapparent, M.E., reliefs of 

 the globe ; M. E. Fuchs, M.E., distribution of minerals ; M. 

 Mascart, director of the Meteorological Bureau, climate; M. 

 Velain, lecturer at the Sorbonne, glaciers and their action on 

 the reliefs of the globe ; M. Bureau, professor at the Museum 

 of Natural History, geographical distribution of plants ; M. Ed. 

 Perrier, professor at the Museum of Natural History, the depths 

 of the sea and their inhabitants ; M. Alphonse Milne-Edward.s, 

 of the Institute, geographical distribution of animals. The 

 course will be continued next year. Information respecting the 

 above lectures, to which the public is admitted, may be had at 

 the rooms of the Geographical Society, 184, Boulevard .St. 

 Germain. 



The Rev. Marc Dechevrens, S.J., of Zi-ka-wei Observatory, 

 writes to us under date January 22, that the sky there continues 

 1 1 exhibit remarkable colours ; during this winter the zodiacal 

 light appeared to M. Dechevrens to be more feeble than in pre- 

 ceding yea-s. He incloies a letter from Dr. D. J. Macgowan 

 of Hankow to the North China Daily News : — " A phenomenon 

 similar to the 'green sun in India' (obsei-ved at Ceylon from 

 September 9 to 11 inclusive; from various portions of the 

 Indian Ocean on the loth and 13th ; and at Trichinoiwly, for 

 sone three weeks preceding October 2) has lieen witnessed 

 several times at Hankow; on November 17 by the Rev. A. W. 

 Nightingale, and on another occasion about the same time (date 

 unrecorded), and again sd recently as December 29 by the Rev. 

 G. John and Rev. A. Foster. On these occasions the sun shortly 

 before setting was of a pale green tint, the colour deepening as 

 the orb declined ; then followed an exhibition of the glowing 

 redness of the western and southern horizon, which since the 

 early part of December last has been observed from the sea-board 

 far into the interior. Information from other parts of Chma 

 respecting the 'green sun ' is a desideratum." 



