304 



NATURE 



{Aug. 15, 1872 



The Trustees of the British Museum have nominated Dr. 

 Albert Giinther, F.R.S., to the post of "Assistant Keeper" in 

 the Zoological Department, vacant by the decease of the late 

 Mr. G. R. Gray. It need hardly be said that no fitter appoint- 

 ment could have been made. The vacancy occasioned by Dr. 

 Giinther's promotion is, we understand, to be filled by Mr. R. 

 B. Sharpe, F.Z.S., late Librarian to the Zoological Society, a 

 young and rising Ornithologist, to whom the care of the National 

 Collections of Birds will be entrusted. 



It is with, great regret that we find there is too much 

 tnith in the report that the eminent astronomer and physicist M. 

 Delaunay, Director of the Taris Observatory, has met his death 

 by the upsetting of a boat while in an excursion on the Coast 

 of Normandy. We hoiie In a future number 'to give a bio- 

 graphy of this distinguished man. His loss is an irreparable 

 one, not only to France, but to Science throughout the world. 



The meeting of the British Association for 1873 will be held 

 at Bradford, under the presidency of Mr. J. P. Joule, D.C.L., 

 F.R.S. At the present meeting the Association loses, with great 

 regret, the services of one of its permanent officers. Dr. Thomas 

 Thomson, one of the general secretaries, who will be succeeded 

 by Dr. Michael Foster, K.R.S. 



We have to record the death of Sir Andrew Smith, K.C.B., 

 Director-General of the Army Medical Department from 185 1 

 to 18 58, at his residence in Alexander Square, Brompton, at the 

 at the age of 75 . Sir Andrew Smith is well and favourably known 

 to zoologists by his " Illustrations of the Zoology of South 

 Africa." His complete and accurate knowledge of the various 

 tribes of Southern Africa rendered his opinion of great value to 

 successive Governments, and it was upon his representation and 

 advice that the district of Natal was constituted a colony. 



Although we can quite sympathise with those feelings 

 which induced Mr. Fawcett to bring on the Ayrton-Hooker 

 question in the House of Commons at all hazards, we consider 

 that it is extremely unfortunate that Sir John Lubbock's deter- 

 mination to postpone it till next session — when the true opinion 

 of the House, if necessary, would have been elicited — was not 

 carried out. As it is, Mr. Ayrton has had an opportunity of 

 exhibiting himself in his true character, which, however, was 

 pretty well known before ; and Mr. Gladstone has had an op- 

 portunity of again learning from the public press, in no hesi- 

 tating tone, what is thought of his protii^c ; but the case itself 

 has not progressed since the time we last referred to it. 



In his annual address as president of the Pharmaceutical 

 Society, delivered at Brighton on Tuesday morning, Mr. H. B. 

 Brady advocated the application of a portion of the surplus funds 

 of the Society to the encouragement of scientific training. He 

 enunciated the very sound proposition that beyond an invest- 

 ment sufficient to guarantee the means of carrying out the 

 examining and governing functions entrusted to the Society by 

 Government, there can be no excuse for the accumulation of 

 wealth. Constantly recurring investments represent good left 

 undone, opportunities unaccepted. Nor in this hoarding of 

 money instead of science is the Pharmaceutical Society true to 

 the spirit of its founders. The Society was formed to do in a 

 collective capacity what could not be done by individuals. " It 

 has seemed to me," he continued, " that the most substantial .aid 

 which could be rendered in the direction alluded to would be the 

 setting apart of a number of free benches in the Society's labo- 

 ratory for students who, having passed the Major examination 

 with credit, might desire to continue their studies. These should 

 even be endowed with a small annual income, under certain con- 

 ditions, if found necessary. The only primary stipulation should 

 be that, possessing the requisite preliminary knowledge, the re- 

 cipient should be ready to work for the advancement of pharmacy 

 under the direction of the professor. The effect of half-a-dozen 

 or a dozen men so trained, sent out annually from Bloomsbury 



Square, would be to make a British school of pharmacy the like 

 of which has never existed ; and were this carried out, the most 

 serious difficulties in the way of provincial education would re- 

 solve themselves in a few years." Should the Pharmaceutica 

 Society follow this admirable advice of its president, it will place 

 itself distinctly in the van of our learned societies, and will 

 furnish an example which might be well followed by some of the 

 others with their too abundant invested property. 



A MONUMENT in honour of Jahn, the founder of the German 

 Turnvereine, was unveiled on Saturd.ay on the Haasenheide, near 

 Berlin, amid enthusiastic acclamations. When shall we, as a 

 nation, delight to honour in a similar manner the physical bene- 

 factors of mankind? 



The French Academy has elected M. Loewy, Titular 

 Astronomer to the National Observatory, to a seat at the 

 Bureau de Longitudes, vacant by the death of M. Laugier. 



One of the biennial posts for practical work at the Laboratory 

 of Crypt ogamic Botany at Pavia is now open. There is attached 

 to it a honorarium of 700 francs. 



Lord Northprook has shown his appreciation of the vahie 

 of scientific research by offering a gold medal for competition by 

 the students of the Calcutta Medical College for the best essay 

 on the exciting causes of fever, with special reference to the 

 calamity which has for a long time devastated the Burdwan 

 district in India, and the measures, sanitary or other, to be 

 adopted for their remedy and prevention. 



A Meteorological Congress Is being held at Leipzig from 

 the 14th to the i6th inst. inclusive. 



The establishment of the College of Physical Science at New- 

 castle-on-Tyne has been followed by the formation of a similar 

 scheme for another of our industrial centres, Birmingham, the 

 necessary endowments being, on this occasion, given by the 

 munificence of a single private individual, Mr. Josiah Mason, to 

 whom Birmingham already owes so much in various ways. Being 

 deeply convinced {Mr. Mason says, in his trust-deed) from long 

 and varied experience in different branches of manufacture, of 

 the necessity for and benefit of thorough systematic scientific in- 

 struction [specially adapted to the practical, mechanical, and 

 artistic requirements of the manufactures and industrial pursuits 

 of the Midland district, and particularly of the boroughs of 

 Birmingham and Kidderminster, he has determined to devote a 

 portion of his remaining property to the foundation of an institu- 

 tion wherein such systematic scientific instruction may be given. 

 With this object he assigns certain freehold and leasehold property 

 situate in various parts of the town, which may be roughly esti- 

 mated worth not less than 100,000/., to a body of trustees in 

 trust for the purposes of the college. Out of the net income a 

 sum not exceeding one-tenth may be set apart annually for pro- 

 viding scholarships, exhibitions, and other prizes, premiums, or 

 gratuities, for the pupils, the remainder going to the general sup- 

 port of the college, the payment of professors, &c. Instruction 

 is to be provided by means of classes in mathematics, physics, 

 chemistry, the natural sciences (especially geology and minera- 

 logy, with their application to mines and metallurgy), botany, 

 zoology, physiology, the English, French, and German languages, 

 mechanical drawing, and architecture. In addition to these 

 means of instruction, the trustees may arrange for popular or 

 unsystematic teaching by means of additional lectures or classes 

 upon any subjects comprised in the regular curriculum. While 

 no person is to be admitted to the benefit of the institution who 

 is not for the time being wholly or principally dependent for a 

 livelihood upon his o\vn skill or labour, or upon the support of 

 his parents, or upon some other person or persons, the poorer 

 classes of the community are not to be considered as having any 

 exclusive right to the benefit of the institution. An excellent site 



