3o6 



NA rURE 



\Jan. 27, 1887 



Murray, the only grant of the kind is 300/. annually to the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh, and this is repaid to a Government 

 Department in the form of rent. With regard to I^ondon, Mr. 

 Murray, we think, should verify his references, as we know of 

 no Society which receives "a money grant of considerable 

 value." 



The death is announced of M. Feil, the well-known glass- 

 founder, who prepared so many disks for the large telescopes 

 in use in several Observatories ; and of M. Mercadier, Pro- 

 fessor of Physics to the Polytechnic School of Paris, and author 

 of the only French book on electrical measures. M. Feil was 

 seventy-four years of age ; M. Mercadier ten years younger. 



The French are making use of their occupation of Mada- 

 gascar to gain a thorough knowledge of the natural history of 

 the island. There have already issued from the national press 

 several fascicules of a magnificent " Histoire physique, natur- 

 elle, et politique de Madagascar," edited by M. Alfred Grandi- 

 dier, to be completed in thirty volumes quarto. The subjects to be 

 comprised in this work are : (i) physical and astronomical geo- 

 graphy ; (2) meteorology and magnetism ; (3) ethnology, anthro- 

 pology, and linguistics ; (4) political, colonial, and commercial 

 history ; (5) natural history of mammals ; (6) natural history of 

 birds ; (7) natural history of fishes ; (8) natural history of rep- 

 tiles ; (9) natural history of Crustacea; (10) natural history of 

 terrestrial and freshwater mollusks ; (li) natural history of 

 plants; (12) geology and paIa:ontology. The various sections 

 .ire intrusted to competent authorities ; and the geological por- 

 tion is to be illustrated by about 500 chromolithographs or 

 coloured plates, the anatomical details being represented in 

 lithography and photography. The total number of plates will 

 not be less than 1200. 



Preparations for the first general meeting, at Rome, of the 

 International Statistical Institute are being made by the 

 Executive Committee, consisting of .Sir Rawson W. Rawson, 

 K.C.M.G., C.B. (the President), M. E. Levasseur and Prof, 

 von Neumann- Spallart (Vice-Presidents), Signer Luigi Bodio 

 (General Secretary), and Mr. JohnBiddulph Martin (Treasurer). 

 The arrangements will be announced by the Committee in due 

 course. 



On Friday evening last an important lecture on "Modern 

 War-Ships " was delivered at the Mansion House by Mr. W. H. 

 White, Director of Naval Construction and Assistant Controller 

 of the Navy. The lecture, which was illustrated by diagrams 

 and models, was one of a series given by members of the Com- 

 pany of Shipwrights. Mr. White's object was to place before 

 the meeting facts and figures illustrating the progre.^s of war-ship 

 building in recent years, and he confined his attention almost 

 exclusively to the period between 1859, when the ironclad 

 reconstruction of the Royal Navy begin, and the present year. 

 He pre ented a very lucid and interesting account of the extra- 

 ordinary changes which have taken place during this time in the 

 methods of war-ship building. 



Dr. Hopkinson's account of the electric lighthouses of 

 Macquarie and of Tino, which was read before the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers last month, has just been issued in pamphlet 

 form, with a report of the oral and written di-cussion to which 

 it gave rise. 



It is stated that the Lake District in New Zealand is showing 

 signs of fresh disturbances. Tremors have been felt at Rotorua, 

 and Tarawera has emitted dense volumes of steam. The 

 Wahanga Peak appeared most active. No fire was visible, and 

 after this outburst everything quieted down again. 



We have before us the first number of the "Bulletin of Mis- 

 cellaneous Information," issued from the Royal Gardens, Kew. 



The "Bulletin" will appear from time to time as an occasional 

 publication, and will contain notes, too detailed for the Annual 

 Report, on economic products and plants to which the attention 

 of the staff of the Royal Gardens has been drasvn in the course 

 of ordinary correspondence, or which have been made the sub- 

 ject of particular study at Kew. These notes will serve the 

 purpose of an expeditious mode of communication to the numer- 

 ous correspondents of Kew in distant parts of the Empire, and 

 they will be useful to members of the general public interested in 

 planting or agricultural business in India and the colonies. The 

 present number contains much valuable information about Teff, 

 one of the cereals indigenous to Abyssinia, and about Oil of 

 Ben. 



Messrs. Ginn and Co., publishers, Boston, U.S.A., are 

 about to issue a youvnal of Morphology, which will be 

 devoted principally to embryological, anatomical, and histo- 

 logical subjects. Mr. C. O. Whitman, Milwaukee, Wis., will be 

 the editor. For the present only two numbers a year will be 

 issued. The agent for Great Britain is Mr. W. P. Collins. 



Messrs. De la Rue and Co. have in the press the second 

 volume of " A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (Methods 

 of Measurement and Applications)," by E. Mascart, Professor in 

 the College de France, and Director of the Central Meteorological 

 Bureau, and J. Joubert, Professor in the College RoUin. The 

 work is translated by Dr. E. Atkinson, Professor of Experi- 

 mental Science in the Staff College. 



Messrs. Cassell and Co. have just issued the first pari of 

 " Our Earth and its Story," a serial which will be completed in 

 thirty six parts, and they are about to publish " Practical Elec- 

 tricity," by Prof. Ayrton. 



M. BfiCLARD has presented some interesting statistics to the 

 Academical Council of Paris on the number of female students 

 in the Faculty of Medicine in the University there. He reports 

 that since Germany closed the doors of its Universities to 

 women, the number in Paris has been constantly increasing. At 

 present the numbers of the various nationalities are : Russians 83, 

 English II, French 7, Americans 3, Austrians 2, Roumanian r, 

 and Turk i. The greater number of these do not pursue their 

 studies as far as the doctor's degree. The large proportion of 

 Russian ladies is due to the closing of the female medical school 

 recently founded at St. Petersburg. M. Beclard tVanks that the 

 number of students has now reached the maximum, and will 

 probably decline, since the prelimin.ary studies of the Faculty for 

 bjth sexes have been ma de alike. 



Although the competition which takes place annually for 

 the vacancies in the assistantships in the Paris hospitals is not 

 over, it is known that among the interms whose names will be 

 published in some days, there will be ona woman. Miss Klumpke 

 js the first woman who ha; successfully competed for the concours 

 de liHtcriiit. In the written examination she ranked second 

 [ex isqiio with one or twj others). She obtained 27 marks, the 

 maximum being 30, and the highest nujiber secured being 28. 

 A good deal of grumbling is going on among the students. The 

 idea of being distanced by a woman is not agreeable to them. 

 Miss Klumpke has done very good work in neuro-pathology, 

 and her name is known to all who study this branch of medicine. 



There are at present nine female students at the Upsala 

 University, three of whom study medicine, five philosophy, and 

 one jurisprudence. 



The Aquarium constructed by the Executive of the Fisheries 

 Exhibition in 1883 has just been sold by the Royal Commis- 

 sioners by public auction, the property realising 100/. in the 

 aggregate. Until recently«it was expected that thii Aquarium 

 would be maintained as a part of the Buckland Museum. Many 



