l82 



NATURE 



{July 4, 1872 



certain to be seen when the net is not at hand. How, under 

 such circumstances, is the butterfly to be caught ? I reply, wait 

 till it settles, and then pick it up. Perhaps most of your readers 

 will reply "Absurd, no hutterlly will sit to be caught in that way." 

 Try and see. Whenever kiie butterfly settles you^ may walk 

 quickly up to within a short distance from it ; the distance will 

 depend on the nature of the liutterfly. Arrived at a short dis- 

 tance from the butterfly, the motion must now be slow and even, 

 and as the hand is slowly and steadily advanced towards the 

 butterfly, it will take little or no notice of it, and may be easily 

 picked up with the fingers. In Italy this spring I picked up in 

 this manner both varieties of swallow-tails, as many as five when 

 walking one afternoon. I have also caught in this way, whites, 

 red admirals, painted ladies, peacocks, and many other smaller 

 varieties. This manner of catching butterflies does look sus- 

 ]iiciously like the old story of catching birds by putting salt on 

 their tails. Before anyone condemns it, I ask him to give it a 

 fair trial, and 1 have no doubt he will be astonished at his 

 success. The only thing to guard against is any jerkiness in 

 your motions. All your motions when near the butterfly must 

 be slow and regular. Perhaps the butterfly may not sit long 

 enough for you to approach it by such slow motions. If the 

 butterfly does rise take care not to change your slow and steady 

 motions, and it will take no notice of you, and will often settle 

 again within a few inches of your hand. Often the butterfly 

 takes no notice of you ; at other times it seems sensible of dan- 

 ger, but generally contents itself by folding its wings as close as 

 possible, as if to e-cape notice. When ihe wings are in this 

 position the butterfly is caught with least damage to its plumage. 

 But in some cases the wings are open. When that is the case I 

 have sometimes folded t!ie wings before picking them up, in 

 order to save the plumige, so tame are they under this treat- 

 ment. At first I thought it was necessary to approach the butter- 

 fly from behind, and keep out of sight as much as possible, but 

 this I find, though an advantage, is not essential. Of course I 

 do not advocate this pl.an of catching butterflies when a net can 

 be got, as it is much slower and not so certain. Yet it has its 

 advantages. You get the hutterfly without breaking its wings or 

 rullling a feather, and if not a good specimen you cm let it away 

 unhurt. J- A. 



ERNEST T. CHAPMAN 



MR. E. T. CHAPMAN has met his death by an ex- 

 plosion in his laboratory at Riibeland in the Hartz. 

 A letter containing this sad news has the following 

 particulars : — 



" As you are probably aware, Mr. Cliapman's work was 

 always in the laboratory, and it was there on the 25th 

 inst. (June) that the accident occurred. On the morning 

 of that day Mr. Chapman had a conversation with the 

 gentlemen here, and shortly after this, at u a M., the 

 bomb-proof building in which he was with three workmen 

 exploded with a tremendous crash. Mr. Chapman may 

 perhaps have informed you that latterly he has been 

 chiefly engaged with the production of ni'ric methyl- 

 a;ther, with which he has been making various experi- 

 ments, and we cannot explain the catastrophe otherwise 

 than that he was not thoroughly aware of the great cx- 

 plosibility of this substance. The workmen present 

 having also all perished, it is unfortunately not possible 

 to obtain any details. The force of the explosion was so 

 tremendous that all the surrounding buildings have been 

 more or less injured, and about ten people seriously 

 wounded." 



The substance I presume was nitrate of methyl. If so, 

 this lamentable accident furnishes another proof of the 

 treacherous nature of explosives which, like nitro-glycerinc 

 and gun-cotton, contain hydrogen and carbon associated 

 with nitrogen oxides. 



Mr. Chapman was only in his twenty- seventh year 

 when his career was thus prematurely closed. A pupil 

 of Hoffmann and Kolbe, he was a prolific author of 

 original researches in organic chemistry. Perhaps the 

 best known of Mr. Chapman's researches is his study 



of limited o.xidation. This process, in his hands and 

 those of others, furnished chemists with a valuable method 

 of chemical diagnosis. The little work on the Analysis 

 of Potable Waters, by Mr. Chapman and Mr. Wanklyn, 

 is a well-known work of reference on this important sub- 

 ject. 



Mr. Chapman was an enthusiastic worker. His 

 manipulative skill was of a high order, and his ac- 

 quaintance with organic chemistry very extensive, his 

 researches in this branch of science being very nu- 

 merous. If he had lived, and had an opportunity of 

 continuous scientific work, it is impossible to doubt 

 that he would have contributed his quota towards 

 rescuing our country from the too just reproach of 

 rapidly becoming more and more sterile in chemical 

 discoveries. 



His intimate friends esteemed him highly, for he was a 

 man of varied culture and singular conversational power. 

 It was always a matter of regret to all true friends of 

 science that a man of such proved ability and promise 

 should have besn coinpelled in a manner to banish him- 

 self in order to gain a livelihood. His letters show 

 that even in the remote place of his exile his brain 

 was busy with chemical and physical questions. He 

 must have been killed instantly, and therefore without 

 pain. Arid certainly as a brave and loyal soldier of 

 science slain on the battle-field of the laboratory, his 

 death, like his lif:, showed his unwearied devotion to 

 science. We can ill afford to lose such men. 



Frederick Guthrie 



DR. WILLI AM STIMPSON* 



DIED, at Ilchester, Maryland, l\Iay 26, of con- 

 sumpticn, Dr. William Stimpson, Secretary of the 

 Chicago Academy of Sciences, in the forty-second year 

 of his age. 



The announcement of the death of Dr. Stimpson will 

 be received with profound regret, not only by a wide circle 

 of friends here, but throughout the country. Science has 

 lost an assiduous cultivator, the value of whose labours was 

 recognised in both heinisphercs. 



For the second time in the course of a few years the 

 Chicago Academy is called upon to mourn the loss of an 

 accomplished secretary. Under Dr. Stimpson's energetic 

 supervision, the collections gathered within its walls at 

 the time of the great fire, in magnitude and importance 

 ranked fifth in tfie United States, and so admirable were 

 his arrangements that they were flowing in from every 

 quarter of the world. Their total destruction on the morn- 

 ing of the 9th of October last was a terrible blow to the 

 secretary. His private losses, too, were beyond compu- 

 tation, embracing as they did a choice scientific library, 

 gathered at different intervals — tiiany of the volumes being 

 out of print, and many of them being presentation copies 

 from the authors — and also all his manuscripts, including 

 those of the Government Japan Expedition, of which he 

 was the naturalist, which were written out for publication, 

 and were copiously illustrated by drawings, many of which 

 were engraved. Thus, in an hour, perished the results of 

 twenty years' unremitting scientific labour. 



To show the high estimation in which Dr. .Stimpson 

 was held by men engaged in kindred pursuits, it inay be 

 stated that, at the instigation of Agassiz, the results of the 

 deep-sea dredgings of the United .States Coast Survey 

 were passed over to him for description — a task calling 

 for the most exact and extensive knowledge. 



After the terrible calamity to which we have referred, 

 Dr. Stimpson remarked that he had not the heart to 

 attempt to enter upon his life-work again, but would 

 devote all his energies to the restoration of tiie Academy. 



' From Oie Chicago Infey-Occaji, Communicated by Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys. 



