i6 



NA TURE 



\_Nov. 4, 1886 



Dr. W. Siemens, and Colonel GoIe, of the Trigonometrical 

 Survey : France, by two, namely, MM. Faye and Tisserand ; 

 Italy, by one ; the Netherlands, by one ; Norway, by one ; 

 Austria, by three ; Portugal, by one ; Roumania, by two ; 

 Russia, by two, including Dr. von Struve, of the Observatory 

 at Pulkowa ; Sweden, Switzerland, and .Spain, each by one, 

 England, strange to say, is not represented ; nor has any one 

 come from the United States. Pro^Dr. Forster, of Berlin, 

 was elected President, and Dr. von Struve, of Pulkowa, 

 Vice-President of the Conference. In his opening address, 

 Herr von Gossler, Prussian Minister of Public Worship, in- 

 dulged in some general observations as to the progress and 

 aims of geodetic science, and, in the name of the Prussian 

 Government, thanked the various foreign deputies for their 

 appearance in Berlin. The chief task of the present Conference 

 has been to settle the organisation of the central geodetic 

 bureau, which is to have its permaneat seat in Berlin, in con- 

 nection with the Geodetic Institute of Prussia, founded by the 

 late Lieut.-General von Bayer. It was at the instance of 

 Lieut. -General Bayer that the first constituent internation.al 

 meeting of geodetic experts was held in Berlin in 1864, and it 

 is by the establishment of a central international bureau here, 

 supported by quotas from the various countries which it 

 represents, that it is intended to preserve to Prussia the 

 leading part she has always taken in promoting the 

 science of earth-measuring and all its kindred branches. 

 The permanent Committee elected includes Prof. Hirsch, 

 of the Neuchatel Observatory (Secretary), Professors 

 Forster (Prussia), Sande (Holland), Faye (France), Ferrero 

 (Italy), Ibannez (Spain), Ragel (Saxony), Oppolzer (Austria), 

 Stepnicki (Russia), and Zachariae (Denmark). The next 

 Conference will be held in 1S87 at Nice, on the invitation of 

 M. Bischoffsheim, owner of the great Observatory there. Before 

 separating, the Conference passed a resolution requesting the 

 Prussian Government to invite other States to join the Inter- 

 national Geodetic Society. 



At a recent meeting of the Common Council it was decided 

 that it be referred to the Gresham Committee to cotisider 

 whether the moneys now paid for lectures under the provisions 

 of Sir Thomas Gresham's will might be devoted to the en- 

 couragement of students destined for commercial careers acquir- 

 ing a useful knowledge of modern languages, with instructions 

 to confer with the Mercers' Company, and to report thereon 

 forthwith. 



The Professor of Physics of the University of Vienna, Dr. 

 Victor Pierie, died suddenly of appoplexy in his laboratory on 

 Friday last. 



At the Potato Centenary on December 2 and 3, to which we 

 have already referred, the following subjects for couferences have 

 been proposed : — First day. Morning : (i) historic considera- 

 tion of the question. Whence came the potato to England? (2) 

 the Incas and their cultivation of the potato ; (3) distinct wild 

 species of the potato as at present recognised ; (4) the produc- 

 tion of varieties by cultivation. Afternoon: (5) the potato dis- 

 ease ; (a) historic sketch, (/') our present knowledge of the disease. 

 Second day. Morning ; (l) proposed methods for preventing 

 the disease ; (2) methods for using partly diseased potatoes ; 

 (3) methods for storing and preserving potatoes. Afternoon : 

 conference of cultivators on rates for transport of potatoes. 



The French Government has granted the funds required for 

 the completion of the Algiers Observatory, which will be in full 

 operation next spring. Two assistant astronomers have already 

 been sent to join M. Trepied, and two others will be selected 

 from among the pupils of the School of Astronomy this winter. 

 A special Congress will be held in Paris, in the month of April, 



for determining the part that the Algiers Observatory will take 

 in stellar photography. The direct image of the sun will be 

 6 centimetres in diameter. A spectroscope by Thollon will be 

 put into operation. The extent of the spectrum will be 10 metres. 

 M. Trepied has organised the electrical transmission of the time 

 to the Hotel de Ville of Algiers and Tunis. Colonel Perrier, 

 head of the French and Algerian Survey, is arranging the 

 measurement of the requisite triangles for connecting the Algiers 

 Observatory with the Colonne Voirol, the starting-point of the 

 Algerio-Tunisian system of triangulation. 



Mr. W. a. Carter, of the Colonial and Indian E.xhibition, 

 writes to us that during this last spring he placed a specimen of 

 the Mexican axolotl in an empty (? dry) receptacle, where it has 

 remained ever since. It is in a lively condition. The colour of 

 the animal has become less intense, the gills have apparently 

 disappeared, and the powers of locomotion seem quickened. 



It is worthy of note that at the establishment of the National Fish 

 Culture Association many of the brook trout [Salmo fontinalis) 

 hatched during February 1885 commenced to spawn last week, 

 yielding about five hundred ova each. This fact is another proof of 

 the extraordinary reproductive capacity of fishes in spite of age and 

 artificial existence, for the fish in question have been maintained 

 in a pond of limited dimensions. The size of the ova is small 

 as compared with those of mature fish, therefore it is not likely 

 that the trout when hatched will be large. The parents are in 

 a healthy condition, and seem in no way weakened. 



A CONSIGNMENT of nearly a thousand German carp of various 

 kinds has arrived at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. The 

 great hardihood of the carp is evidenced by the fact that the fish 

 in question were retained in carriers for sixty hours before being 

 placed in tanks, when only two were found to have succumbed. 



In a paper in the October number of the American yournal 

 of Science by Mr. 0. W. Huntington, "On the Crystalline 

 Structure of Iron Meteorites," the author concludes as follows : — 

 " We have tried in this paper to establish the following points : 

 (i) that many of the masses of meteoric iron in our collections 

 are cleavage crystals, broken off probably by the impact of the 

 mass against the atmosphere ; (2) that these masses show 

 cleavages parallel to the planes of all the three fundainental 

 forms of the isometric or regular system, namely, the octahedron, 

 the cube, and the dodecahedron ; (3) that the Widmanstiittian 

 figures and Neumann lines are sections of planes of crystalline 

 growth parallel to the same three fundamental forms of the iso- 

 metric system ; (4) that on different sections of meteorites Wid- 

 manstiittian figures and Neumann lines can be exhibited in every 

 gradation, from the broadest bands to the finest markings, with 

 no break where a natural line of division can be drawn ; (5) that 

 the features of the Widmanstiittian figures are due to the elimina- 

 tions of incompatible material during the process of crystallisa- 

 tion. This investigation throws no new light upon the origin of 

 meteorites, except so far as it strengthens the opinion that the 

 process of crystallisation must have been extremely slow. The 

 occurrence of large masses of native iron occluding hydrogen 

 gas, and containing nickel, cobalt, phosphorus, sulphur, &c., 

 implies a combination of conditions which the spectroscope indi- 

 cates as actually realised in our own sun and in other suns among 

 the fixed stars, and the most probable theory seems to be that 

 these masses were thrown off from such a sun, and that tliey very 

 slowly cooled, while revolving in a zone of intense heat. In 

 this paper we have not taken into consideration a number of iron 

 masses, whose meteoric origin has been generally accepted, 

 which show no Widmanstattian figures, and not even any Neu- 

 mann lines. A considerable proportion of these are certainly 

 not meteoric. In the Harvard cabinet there are two specimens, 

 labelled respectively Campbell County (Tennessee), and Hominy 



