ISO 



NATURE 



\yune 20, 1872 



The following is the list of those who have passed the 

 special examinations in Natural Sciences for the ordinary B. A. 

 degree at the University of Cambridge :— Chemistry — First 

 Class : Porter, Clare ; I_oder, Trinity ; Den^ Trinity ; Corbet, 

 St. John's. Second Class (in alphabetical order) : Flood, Jesus ; 

 Savary, Trinity ; Thomas, St. John's ; Winder, Christ's. 

 Geology^First Class : Jesson, Trinity. Botany — First Class ; 

 .Smith, Christ's ; Gibb, Down ; Standert, Corpus ; NorcocV, 

 Corpus. Second Class (in alphabetical order) : C. W. H. 

 Evans, Caius ; Gibson, Christ's ; Hamilton, St. Peter's ; 

 Hughes, Clare ; Norton, Clare; Tamberlain, Trinity. .-Egrotat : 

 Moore, Corpus. Zoology — First Class : Bird, Trinity. Second 

 Class (in alphabetical order) ; Campbell, Caius ; Glutton, Clare; 

 Lcatham, Trinity. 



Science has sustained a great loss in the West of England 

 by the death of Mr. J. S. Enys, of Enys, near Penryn. In con- 

 junction with Sir Charles Lemon and Mr. Davies Gilbert, he 

 assisted science in every way that one of the largest landed gen- 

 tlemen in the county could do. The Falmouth Polytechnic, and 

 most others of the Cornwall scientific institutions, will miss the 

 support which Mr. Enys so largely and constantly afforded them. 

 Many of his geological and kindred works have been printed in 

 the "Proceedings of the Royal Cornwall Institution," and by 

 liberal subscription he assisted scientific periodical literature. 

 He died, an ardent nature-worshipper, in his 76th year. 



■ Mr. Gregory, the new Governor of Ceylon, we are happy 

 to hear, not only takes great interest in the wonderful archaeo- 

 logical treasures of the island, but also intends to do his best to 

 promote the course of science there. A regular curator, a 

 zoologist, will probably be appointed to the Colombo Museum, 

 and if he does half as much work amongst the fauna of Ceylon 

 as Mr. Thwaites has done amongst the flora, biological science 

 will profit in no small degree thereby. We wish Mr. Gregory 

 all success, and hope he may secure a good man for the post. 



The great provincial meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society will be held next week at Aston, near Birmingham, and 

 promises to be a brilliant one. The proceedings will be 

 opened on Tuesday, the 25th inst., by H.R.H. Prince Arthur. 



Prof. IIumthry commenced his course of three lectures on 

 Human Myology at the Royal College of Surgeons on Monday 

 last. He spoke of the various provisions, suc'n as obliquity of 

 the direction of fibres, insertion near tlie centre of motion, 

 passage through loops, &c., which are for the purpose of lessen- 

 ing the range of muscular action required, and so of shortening 

 the fibres of muscles. The mechanical disadvantage resulting 

 from this is, he observed, more than compensated for by the 

 greater number of fibres brought to bear by means of tendons 

 upon given points, and by the convenience of massing the fibres 

 in certain positions, as well as by greater strength in the muscle 

 itself. He next entered into the morphology of the muscles of 

 the trunk, neck, and head. All of these he regarded as modifi- 

 cations of, or derivatives from, that structure which in the fish 

 forms the great lateral muscle ; and he showed how the parts 

 corresponding with the septa of the lateral muscle sometimes 

 form inscriptions in the muscles, and sometimes become con- 

 verted into tendons, as well as into osseous and cartilaginous 

 structures. This subject was discussed at considerable length. 

 In speaking of the intercostal muscles, he gave mechanical rea- 

 sons for believing that both the external .and the internal inter- 

 costal fibres are, in their whole extent, agents in inspiration, and 

 that the internal intercostals do not, as they have been supposed 

 to do by some authors, act as depressors of the ribs at parts of 

 the intercostal spaces. 



A PAPER will be read at the Horological Institute on Tues- 

 diy, June 25, on "The Compensation and Adjustment of the 

 Hemispherical Cup Arms of Velocity Anemometers," by Mr. 

 John James Hall, F.M.S. 



The Franklin Society of Mobile was organised in the year 

 1835, under charter of the State of Alabama, for the purpose 

 of promoting intellectual culture, literary taste, and other kin- 

 dred objects. Its operations were suspended a liitle before the 

 outbreak of the late American war, in consequence of the de- 

 struction of its hall, furniture, and a part of its library by fire, 

 and have only recently been resumed. A suitable building has 

 been purchased and remodelled, and arrangements are in pro- 

 gress for the inauguration of lectures and for the extension ol 

 the privileges of the Society's library beyond its own membership 

 to the public at large. The library, however, is as yet but 

 limited, and the ability of the members of the Society has been 

 well nigh exhausted in the expenses incident to the purchase 

 and fitting up of a new building. At a recent meeting it was 

 resolved that a committee be appointed to correspond with the 

 officers of similar societies in the several States, and wi'.h such 

 other persons as the committee may think proper to address, 

 and to request donations or loans of books, manuscripts, paintings, 

 engravings, or other works of art. We commend the move- 

 ment to those who have the means and inclination to contribute 

 to objects of this nature. .Shipments mry be made to the 

 "Franklin Society, Jlobile, Alabama," ihe freight on which 

 will be paid by the Society ; or parcels may be sent to W. E. 

 Mickle, Secretary Mobile Franklin Society, care of E. Stock, 

 63, Paternoster Row. 



The Austrian Government steamer Admiral Tegethoff sailed 

 from Bremen on Thursday last, on its North Pole expedition. 

 A farewell banquet, at which Count Zichy and Dr. Petermann 

 were present, was given to the members of the expedition at 

 Geestemunde. 



It is reported that the Emperor of Russia is projecting Ihe 

 junction of the Black Sea with the Caspian by a short canal con- 

 necting the Manutch, an eastern tributary of the Don, with the 

 Ker.ma, a river running into the Caspian. The total length of 

 the communication will be 680 versts , or 90 German miles ; but 

 the length of the canal will be only about one German mile. 

 The piercing of the mountain which separates these rivers will, 

 however, be an engineering work of gigantic magnitude, and is 

 calculated to require the labours of 32,000 workmen for six 

 years, and to cost 81,000,000 roubles. 



Prof. Dawson, F.R.S., delivered the Annual Address to the 

 Natural History Society of Montreal on May 18. In it he 

 strongly attacked the Darwinian theory of Evolution, which, in 

 its extreme form, he considered had a tendency to "prostitute 

 natural history to the service of a shallow philosophy," and 

 to lead to "the destruction of science, and a return to semi- 

 barbarism." He held that his researches on the shells of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and the coasts of Labrador and Green- 

 land, showed t'nat it was impossible that any changes of the 

 nature of evolution were in progress ; but that all these species 

 had remained the same, even in their vaiietal changes, from the 

 post-pliocene period till now. Principal Dawson then referred 

 to tlie controversy raised by Dr. Sterry Hunt with regard to the 

 use of the names Cambrian and Silurian in geology; and con- 

 cluded with a sketch of tl\e recent operations of the society in 

 dredging the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



The members of the Austr.ali.an Eclipse Expedition, if they 

 were unsuccessful in the primary oliject of their voyage, saw some 

 strange things along the shores to the north of the great continent 

 of Australia. Mr. Foord tells a wonderful story, "amply attested 

 by witnesses," of a fish with four hands. This extraordinary 

 creature was found crawling on a piece of coral dredged up from 

 the bottom of the sea. "The body was that of a fish," says 

 Mr. Foord before the Royal Society on January 22, "but won- 

 , derful to relate, it had in the place of fins four legs terminated by 



