54^ 



NA rVRE 



{Oct. 31, 1872 



S, 100 arguments ; besides certain other quantities, depending 

 only on the modulus, that will be added. Forms have been 

 printed, and the calculation has already been commenced. The 

 F.lliptic Integrals (the inverse forms to the Functions) were, as 

 is well known, calculated by Legendre, and published in his 

 " Traite dc-s Fonctioas Elliptiques, 182O." It is unquestionable 

 that the KlUptic Functions are the most widely used transcen- 

 dents in analysis that have uOt yet been tabulated, and it is be- 

 lieved that the tables will be found very generally useful in all the 

 matliematical sciences. The great labour has no doubt alone 

 prevented any previous attempt. The work proposed by the 

 committee will, whan completed, be most likely the largest piece 

 of numerical computation, with general application throughout 

 the whole of mathematics, that has been uadertaken since the 

 original calculation of the logarithms of numbers and trigono- 

 metrical functions of Briggs and Vlacq, 1620-1633. 



Dr. FREiiERirK Welwitscii, the well-known African ex- 

 plorer and botanist, died at his residence in London on Sunday, 

 the 20th inst., in the 65th year of his age. A native of Carinthia, 

 Dr. Welwitsch studied medicine at Vienna, and early devoted 

 liimself to botanical pursuits. When on a visit to Portugal, he 

 was induced to take up his residence at Lisbon as Director of the 

 Botanical Gardens there, and in 1S53 was despatched by the 

 Portuguese Government to Angola to investigate the natural 

 history of that region, where he remained from 1S53 to 1S61. 

 riis collections of the vegetable productions ot that country are 

 unrivalled in extent and completeness, have established a new 

 region in geographical botany, and have been copiously used 

 in the compilation of the two volumes already published under 

 the auspices of the authorities at Kew of the " Flora of Tropical 

 Africa." Dr. Welwitsch was not himself an extensive writer, but 

 the number of species new to science discovered by him and 

 described by others is very large, among the most remarkable of 

 which is one of the most extraordinary vegetable productions 

 known, dedicated to him by Dr. Hooker, the Wdwilsthia mira- 

 bilis. He was also an accomplished zoologist, and his entomo- 

 logical collections are of great extent and value. It is understood 

 that the British Museum Avill have the first option in the purchase 

 of the most valuable part of his collections. 



The death on Monday, 21st inst., is announced of the physi- 

 cist, M. Jacques Babinet, the academician, at the age of 7S 

 years. He was elected to the Academy in 1840. Another 

 member of the Academy, M. Fuiseux, has also just died. 



Sir John LunBocK and Mr. Grant Duff are now travelling 

 in Asia Minor ; and it is expected they will bring home some 

 very important and interesting information on the pre-historic 

 remains of that region, an almost untried hunting-ground. 



The GarJenty's Chronuit states that it is proposed that the 

 sum of 48,000/. shall be included by the French Government in 

 the Budget of 1S73 for the commencement of the 'entire re- 

 building of the museums and consen-atories of the yardin dfs 

 rlantfs, a move which has been long in eontemplation. In addi- 

 tion, tlie vote for civil buildings for 1S73 includes a sum^of S,ooo/. 

 for the construction of laboratories of chemistry and zoology in 

 the Museum for the EcoU dtis Hautfs Etudes, and for the com- 

 pletion of the reptile house. 



The Board of Trinity College, Dublin, has elected Dr. Ben- 

 jamin M'Dowell to the ProfessorshipjOf An.atomy and Surgery, 

 and has resolveil to found a new Pcofessorship of Comparative 

 Anatomy, endowed with 100/. a year and a portion of the fees 

 for dissections. The professor mil have to deliver eighteen 

 lectures each year. 



The Swiney Lectureship, which has just been vacated by Dr. 

 Cobbold, will be filled up in February. It is a travelling 

 I./ectureship, open to Doctors of Medicine of Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity, and is tenable for five years. 



The statue to the memory of Sir Humphrey Davy has just 

 been erected at Penzance, his native place. The statue, which 

 cost 600/, , is a colossal one, and stands on a massive granite 

 pedestal in front of the Post Office, and a few yards from the 

 house in which tlie great cliemist, philosopher, and inventor 

 was born. 



We learn from the Meckama' Afa^aiinc that a committee of 

 the Derby and Chesterfield Institute of Engineers has been 

 appointed to consider the possibility of erecting a memorial 

 hail, to cost 20,000/. to 30,000/,, in memory of George 

 Stephenson. 



In reference to Mr. J. R. Hind's letter to the Times, printed 

 in its issue of Oct. 19th, on the subject of the probable ex- 

 istence of a planet revolving round the sun within the orbit 

 of Mercury, we propose to revert to the subject as soon as 

 Mr. Hind has further discussed the subject ; as we learn that in 

 consequence of errors in some of the calculations made by some 

 who have previously inquired into the subject, a revision of 

 sortie of the results announced in the letter in question is necessary. 



An admirable article has appeared in Em^inccring, under the 

 heading, "Great Britain in Forma Pauperis." The burden of 

 the writer is the parsimonious, nay, even ungratefully insolent 

 manner, in which the neighbourly request of Austria for a re- 

 ciprocity of assistance (such as she and other nations afforded to 

 England in 1851 and 1862) in the forthcoming Universal Exhi- 

 bition at Vienna has been met by the Ciovernment and the 

 Treasury. It appears, that whereas France, torn and bleeding 

 at every pore, votes 60,000/., her conqueror, Prussia, an equal 

 sum, with a supplementary vote, Italy the same sum, Spain 

 1,200,000 reals, the minor states of Europe in proportion, even 

 little Switzerland voting 16,000/., Great Britain, wealthy and 

 powerful, the ancient friend and ally of Austria, who has con- 

 tributed to her exhibitions over 100,000/., votes the noble, 

 magnanimous sura of six thousand pounds sterling,! We fully 

 sympathise with the indignant comments of our contemporary at 

 the lamentable parsimony for which our Government has made 

 us responsible. 



The Gardeners Magatine announces its full adhesion to 

 the views enunciated in our article on the potato disease, 

 that it is in its origin cosmical, and probably connected with 

 the great cycle indicated by the recurrence of sun-spots. 



The total number of entries at the various medical schools of 

 London for the session just commenced is 1496, of which 476 are 

 of new students, the former number being 21, and the latter 8 in 

 excess of those last year. Guy's and LTniversity College Hos- 

 pitals occupy the first place, each with 83 fresh entries. West- 

 minster brings up the rear with 4. 



The prizes of the Charles Science and Art School, riymouth> 

 were distributed on Friday, Oct. 21, by Sir Massey Lopes, 

 Bart. M. P., who spoke very encouragingly of the success of the 

 schools. 



Mr. Thomas Webster, Q.C, F.R.S., will read a p.aper before 

 the members and friends of the London Association of Foremen 

 Engineers and Draughtsmen " On the Promotion of Practical 

 Science and Technical Education by Museums of Inventions 

 established and maintained by the Surplus of the Inventors' F.o 

 Fund," at the meeting to be held on Saturday, the 2nd of Noveu;; 

 ber, at the City Terminus Hotel, Cannon Street, at 8. 30 p.m. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers invite 

 communications dealing in a complete and comprehensive 

 manner with such subjects at (n) Account of the Progress of 

 any Work in Civil Engineering, as far as absolutely executed 

 — Smeaton's Narrative of the Building of the Eddystone Light- 

 house may be taken as an example ; (/') Descriptions of dis- 



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