Feb. lo. 1887] 



NA TURE 



349 



we have the liistory of the genus, written in a manner 

 that, except for the anatomical student, will not for very 

 long indeed be surpassed. 



Hints on cultivation and on species not yet intro- 

 duced to cultivation, and remarks on saffron, its culti- 

 vation and uses, form Chapters V. and VI. Saffron would 

 appear to have been cultivated in England prior to 15S2, 

 and from its importance as an article of commerce gave 

 its name to Saffron Waldcn. It is very strange that after 

 having been grown as an economic plant in England for 

 three or four centuries its production has died out, and 

 that it is an extremely difficult thing to get the saffron 

 crocus to flower in this country. The author says that 

 satiron was used as a royal dye in the olden time in Ire- 

 land, but this is a very doubtful statement. 



Into the descriptive portion of this work it is needless 

 that we should enter in detail. All the species and their 

 chief varieties are most carefully described, full synonymic 

 lists are given, and ample details as to the geographical 

 distribution of each and its period of flowering. The 

 description of each species is accompanied by .1 plate 

 illustrating the corm, flower, leaves, fruit, and structural 

 details : and, as if to add to the attractiveness of this 

 splendid volume, there is a series of very exquisite wood- 

 cuts, introduced as head-pieces, of some of the more 

 remarkable districts where the rarer species are found. 

 Some of these are from original sketches, by Mr. Danford, 

 of the remote mountain region of the Taurus and of other 

 parts of Asia Minor, where, with Mrs. Danford, journeys 

 were made in quest of crocuses. The volume is dedicated 

 to Mr. and Mrs. Danford. 



The appendix, by Mr. Lacaita, on the etymology of the 

 words crocus and saffron, is of great interest, and tells of 

 the almost world-wide use of the terms. 



NOTES 

 Last week, Sir William Armstrong paid to the bankers of 

 the Royal Society a cheque for 7S00/. for the Scientific Relief 

 Fund. 



The Council of the Geological Society have awarded the 

 medals to be given at the anniversary meeting of the Society on 

 February 18, as follows : — The \Volla^ton Gold Medal to Mr- 

 J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., the Murchison Medal to the Rev. P. B. 

 Brodie, the Lyell .Medal to Mr. S. .\llport, and the Bigsby Gold 

 Medal to Prof. C. Lapworth. The balances of the Funds at the 

 disposal of the Society are awarded as follows : — The Wollaston 

 Fund to Mr. B. N. Peach, the Murchison Fund to Mr. R. 

 Kidston, and the Lyell Fund to the Rev. Osmond Fisher. We 

 believe that the President's address at the anniversary meeting 

 will deal mainly with the relations between geology and the 

 mineralogical sciences. 



The Geographical Society of .Australasia has been authorised 

 by the Queen to prefix the word " Royal " to its title. 



The recent death of General Hazen, the chief of the Army 

 Signal Service in the United States, which is responsible for 

 the meteorology of that country, has raised the question whether 

 or not meteorology should be dealt with by a civil rather than a 

 military bureau. It will be remembered that when the present 

 meteorological system was established in the United States it 

 was connected with the Signal Service, in order to utilise the 

 time of the officers and men during peace. There is no doubt 

 that the work done by the American Signal Service has been 

 done with a thoroughness and vigour which have not been equalled 

 elsewhere ; and the eminent men of science who have been 

 associated with the Chief Signal Officer have taken care that the 

 mere forwarding of weather information should not be th.- whole 

 of their duties. A Committee of the National Academy of 

 Science has already been appointed to consider the matter, and 



has recommended separation of the work from the War Office. 

 Whatever decision is arrived at, it is to be hoped that the service 

 in its new form (if it is to have one) may not be less efficient 

 than it has been in the past. This question is of course part of 

 the general question now being seriously discussed in the United 

 States, as to whether a purely scientific service should be con- 

 trolled and directed by scientific men. In the abstract there can 

 be of course but one answer to this question, but it must at the 

 same time be pointed out that to make a man of science respons- 

 ible for large administrative and executive work is to destroy 

 him utterly as a man of science. This is a good reason fir 

 having some one other than a man of science for the carrying 

 out of such work. It is, however, no argument for placing 

 the man of science in a subordinate position to any mere ad- 

 ministrator, and it would perhaps be best to intrust such 

 inquiries on a very large scale to a small Committee, one of 

 whom should be the man responsible for the science and the 

 other the man responsible for the administration. 



Very enlightened ideas prevail among the influential classes 

 of India with regard to the manner in which the Qaeen's 

 Jubilee should be celebrated. On the motion of Dr. Hunter, 

 the Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, the Jubilee Com- 

 mittee at Calcutta decided some days ago that the fund which is 

 ' to be raised in India for a permanent memorial, shall lie devoted 

 partly to the Imperial Institute in London, partly to a scheme 

 for the placing of teclinical education in India on a sound and 

 lasting basis. It is said that the provincial cities are resolved 

 I not to be outstripped by the capital. The people of Patna pro- 

 i pose to found an industrial school, and the Calcutta Corre- 

 spondent of the Times says their example is likely to be fol- 

 lowed in many places. The native princes have also begun to 

 see the importance of technical education, and the Maharijah 

 of Mysore has determined not only to contribute largely 1 1 the 

 Imperial Institute in London, but to form an Institute of a 

 similar kind in his own dominions. All this promises well for 

 the material progress of our great dependency, and it should 

 tend to strengthen the movement among ourselves for the 

 establishment of closer relations between science .and industry. 



Nearly four years ago we were able to announce that a vote 

 had been passed at Oxford authorising the Curators of the 

 University Chest to spend a sum of 7500/. in building an 

 annex to the east side of the University Museum, to contain the 

 splendid anthropological collection which General Hitt-Rivers 

 had most munificently offered to the University, and in provitling 

 the requisite cases and fittings. The collection has now been 

 partially arranged in the hall built for it, and is thrown open to 

 visitors. It has been enriched by objects transferred from other 

 University Museums, such as the A^hmolean, and by numerous 

 donations from other sources. The opening of the collection 

 ought to mark an epoch in the history of anthropological study 

 at Oxford. Its importance arises less from the value of the 

 objects (.although that, of course, is very great) than from the 

 manner in which they are grouped. The arrangement brings 

 out with astonishing cleainess the working of the law of 

 evolution in the development of all kinds of implements and 

 weapons. 



It is proposed that a Medical School shall be formed in con- 

 nection with University C liege, Dundee. There can be little 

 doubt that the scheme will be successful, for not only has Dundee 

 an important hospital, but medical students at the n^w school 

 would have the advantage of being able to take the degrees of 

 the Univer-ity of St. Andrews. Some time ago Mr. T. H. 

 Cox offered 12,000/. as an endowment for a Chair of Anatomy, 

 and now the sons and daughters of the late Mr. J. F. White, of 

 Balruddery, have given 6000/. to found a Lectureship or Chair 

 to be associated with their father's name. 



