491 



NA rURE 



[Marck 24, 1887 



Dr. Eichler was barel)- forty-eight years of age, but 

 before entering upon the absorbing duties connected with 

 the University and Botanic Garden of Berlin he had 

 already made a name as a botanical author. 



For some years he was assistant to Von Martius at 

 Munich, and succeeded him as editor of the colossal 

 ■• Flora Brasiliensis," now nearly completed. This was 

 n 1S6S, but he had previously been a considerable and 

 excellent contributor to this work, having elaborated 

 several difficult families in a masterly manner. The 

 work by which he is more generally known is the 

 " Bluthendiagramme," in which he admirably illustrates 

 and explains the morphology and organogeny of the 

 Phanerogamia. His labours were chiefly in the direction 

 of morphology. His continued careful study of the female 

 flower of the Conifera: may be regarded as having finally 

 settled the homologies of the different elements of the 

 inflorescence of that family. One of his later contribu- 

 tions to science, if not his last, is entitled "Zur Entwicke- 

 lungsgeschichte der Palmenblatter," in which the author 

 fully elucidates the development of the various types of 

 leaf in the Palma. 



As a lecturer Dr. Eichler was exceedingly popular and 

 successful ; and he was regarded as an able adminis- 

 trator of the Botanic Garden. He was successively 

 Professor of Botany at Munich, Gratz, Kiel, and Berlin, 

 having been appointed to the last post in 1S78. Two 

 yearslater, "at the comparatively youthful age of thirty- 

 nine," he was chosen a member of the Berlin Academy of 

 Sciences; and in 1881 he was elected Foreign Member 

 of the Linnean Society of London. He was also honorary 

 and corresponding member of man)' other learned 

 societies ; and all who knew him, however slightly, will 

 join in regretting his early death. 



NOTES 



Baron Eggers, commissioned by Dr. Urban and assisted by 

 the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, is about to undertake 

 the botanical investigation of the hitherto unexplored higher 

 mountains of St. Domingo. The specimens collected for distri- 

 bution will be arranged (under corresponding numbers) in two 

 series. One will consist only of species which have not yet been 

 distributed in Baron Eggers' West Indian collections ; the other 

 and larger series will include everything except the commonest 

 tropical species. The first-n.amed series will be disposed of at 

 forty shillings per centuiy, the latter at thirty shillings. Dr. J. 

 Urban, assisted by other systematists, will determine the collec- 

 tions and receive the names of subscribers. As the expense and 

 difficulty of transit in the island must limit the number of collec- 

 tions for sale, early application to Dr. Urban is desirable. Dr. 

 Urban's address is Friedenau, bei Berlin. 



A coNVERS.'izio.VE given by the Council of the City and 

 Guilds of London Institute was held at the Central Institution, 

 Exhibition Road, on Wednesday evening, the i6th inst., and 

 was attended by about 1300 visitors. Lord Selborne received 

 the guests. A large number of interesting objects of scientific 

 and artistic interest were exhibited, and during the evening 

 demonstrations were given by the Professors in the various 

 departments, as well as by several gentlemen who are associated 

 with the work of the Institute. 



On the 15th inst. a meeting was held at Grimsby to consider 

 the expediency of est.ablishing there an Institution for Technical 

 Education with regard to Fish and Fisheries, and a Marine 

 Fish-Culture Station. Mr. W. Oldham Chambers, Secretary 

 of the National Fish-Culture Association, pointed out to the 

 meeting the advantages of the proposed Station and Institute. 

 Resolutions in support of the scheme were unanimously a^lopted. 



and an influential local Committee was appointed to further the 

 object in view. Letters have been received from the various 

 Fish Trade Associations and other bodies, heartily approving 

 of the undertaking. The Manchester, Shefiield, and Lincoln- 

 shire Railway Company are prepared to grant a site for the 

 Institute, and to erect a building, free of cost, at Cleethorpe, 

 near Grimsby. 



We are sorry to see that the income of the Mason Science 

 College, Birmingham, during the year ending "Founder's Day," 

 February 23, fell short of the expenditure by the sum of 

 1646/. After deducting what may be termed extraordinary ex- 

 penditure, there remained a deficiency of 1074/. The Council, 

 in their last report, remind the Trustees that the annual 

 deficits, which since 1881 have been charged against the accu- 

 mulated surplus, have now reduced this fund to the sum of 

 1419/., and that the estimates for the current financial year 

 anticipate that the balance of the fund will be required. It is 

 not creditable to the well-off citizens of Birmingham that an in- 

 stitution capable of doing great work for their town and district 

 should have to meet these constantly recurring deficiencies. 



The spring meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers, under the presidency of Mr. E. H. Carbutt, will take 

 place on Monday, May 16, and the following day. On Tues- 

 day, May 17, the Duke of Cambridge will dine with the 

 members of the Institution. 



In order to determine between the rival sites for the Sedgwick 

 Memorial Museum at Cambridge, and at the same time advance 

 the chances of proceeding early with a portion at least of the 

 building, the Council of the Senate propose to submit a grace 

 next term to settle the question of site. The grace will take the 

 form of authorising negotiations with Downing College for a site 

 opposite the old Botanic Garden. If this be rejected, the latter 

 affords the only practicable site. 



Miss Gordon has presented to the Museum of the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, the collections and drawings made by her late 

 brother, General Gordon, illustrative of the Coco de Mer (Lodoicea 

 scychellaruni), a palm peculiar to the Seychelles, and remark- 

 able, among other things, for possessing the largest known seed 

 in the vegetable kingdom. The seeds are well known in Euro- 

 pean museums. One amongst General Gordon's specimens is a 

 model which he had made of the fruit in its mature state, before 

 the external fibrous but perishable husk had become detached. 

 Some of the specimens are placed, with others already possessed 

 by Kew, in No. 2 Museum. The rest will be shown, with the 

 drawings made by his own hand, in No. 3 Museum. 



The Cambridge University Local Examination Report for 

 the past year states that in zoology and physiology the answers 

 showed very inefficient teaching. Botany is somewhat better 

 done ; but many senior candidates had not been taught the use 

 of floral diagrams. In physical geography, while the answering 

 was generally good, many had used antiquated text-books. 

 Chemistry was fairly done, the candidates choosing, out of the 

 alternative questions, the practical rather than the theoretical. 

 Qualitative analysis wa^ well done, both by seniors and juniors. 

 The seniors showed general ignorance about the laws of multiple 

 proportion, and combination by volume. Heat was badly done 

 by both seniors and juniors. Many seemed never to have read 

 any text-book, and to have presented themselves on the strength 

 of a few isolated facts. Statics was very unequally mastered. 

 There was better acquaintance with the mathematical than with 

 the practical part of the subject. Electricity (senior subject) had 

 not been studied seriously enough to warrant its inclusion in the 

 examination. The mathematical subjects of the examination 

 are reported on much more favourably. 



