88 



NATURE 



\_lMay 27, iSSo 



cussing the question of the motive power and deciding in favour 

 of a gas-engine, the memorial goes on to state : — " It is sug- 

 gested that Dr. Siemens, F. R.S., D.C.L., to whom the electric 

 light owes much of its recent development, might with advan- 

 tage be consulted in connection with this proposal. Whether a 

 permanent institution or an experimental trial is in question, all 

 parties concerned can have the most perfect confidence that 

 everything will be done as it should be in his hands. It is 

 suggested that an experimental trial should be first made, which 

 could be done at comparatively little expense. The memoriali-ts 

 feel confident that if this is conceded the permanent adoption 

 of the light will follow." The memorial is already signed by 

 Professors Henry S. Smith, W. Acland, H. Nettleship, Sayce, 

 Sir Gore Ouseley, and Mr. Warren De la Rue. 



The enterprising Naturalists Society of Dundee had a very 

 successful] dredging excursion off the mouth of the Tay and in 

 .St. Andrew's Bay on Wednesday last week. Considerable hauls 

 were obtained of familiar denizens of the coast waters, though we 

 regret to learn that under the influence of the gentle swell in St. 

 Andrew's Bay several of the budding naturalists suffered some 

 disturbance of their equanimity, and ^ve fear were not able to 

 do perfect justice to the dinner and tei which were liberally 

 provided on board. At the annual meeting of this Society a 

 .satisfactory report was presented, though we do not altogether 

 approve of the movement for 'the publication of abstracts of the 

 proceedings of the .Society in the form of a journal. Such publi- 

 cations, we are inclined to believe, are more gratifying to the vanity 

 of provincial societies than conducive to the promotion of science 

 in any way. We see the Society is uniting with several other 

 Scotch societies to endeavour to obtain the benefit of the 

 Gilchrist Lecture Trust ; why do they not take a hint from the 

 line of action in reference to a journal, and endeavour to bring 

 about a union of the various Scottish natural history societies for 

 this and other purposes ? 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Scotsman writes that a colony of 

 rooks has taken possession of a garden which is next to St. 

 Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, and built about a score of nests. 

 It is only two or three seasons since rooks made their first 

 appearance in Orkney, and it is supposed the absence of trees in 

 the country districts has caused them to take up their abode in 

 the centre of the town. 



Cotton is the title of a new weekly journal for manufacturers 

 and planters. 



An important discovery is stated to have been made in the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney, New South Wales. Boring for coal 

 has been going on in Moore Park for ten months, and about the 

 middle of March a quantity of oily matter was observed to come 

 up, one gush lasting h.alf an hour. This liquid is believed to be 

 crude kerosene, but the analysis was not complete when the last 

 mail left. 



The Rcale htitiito Lombardo di Scicnzc e Lettcre at Milan 

 offers the following prizes: — For a treatise on Miasma and 

 Contagions (Term May 31, iSSi), a prize of 1,500 lire and a 

 gold medal worth 500 lire. For determining by experiments 

 whether the virulent principle of hydrophobia is an organised 

 germ or not, a prize of 6,000 lire (Term February 28, 18S2). 

 For a descriptive treatise on the Motor-centres of the Periphery 

 of the Brain, the sum of 2,000 lire (Term April i, iSSi). For 

 the illustration by new research of the letiology of cretinism and 

 idiotism, 2,000 lire (Term May 31, 18S2). Further details can 

 be obtained by application to the Secretary of the Institution. 



The Forester is the title of a magazine published in connection 

 with Nottingham High School, No. 7 of which has been sent us. 

 The contents are varied, one paper being on the "Origin of 

 Sandstones." 



M. Dehairan has opened the course of lectures that he is to 

 deliver at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, on Vegetable Physio- 

 logy. This chair has been recently created by M. Jules Ferry. 



A SCIENTIFIC examination of the Ibaraki mountain range in 

 Japan has resulted in the discovery of marble of different 

 coloui-s. One mountain is believed to be a mass of vhite 

 statuary marble, and in another place black marble of the finest 

 description was found. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 prist week include a Blnck-faced Kangaroo {Macropus nielanops) 

 from South Australia, four Short-tailed Wallabys (/iahnaturus 

 brachyurns), three Vulpine Phalangers {Phalangista vulfina), 

 three white-backed Piping Crows {Gymnorhina Imconota) from 

 West Australia, presented by Sir Harry St. Gejrge Ord, C.B., 

 F.Z.S. ; a Javan Chevrotain [Tragulus javanicus) Uartv Java, 

 presented by Mrs. L. Dudfield ; a Brown Capuchin {Cebus 

 fatitclliis) from Guiana, an Ocelot {Fclis fardalis) from South 

 America, a Ring-tailed Lemur (Li-inur catta) from Madagascar, 

 presented by Mr. Chas. A. Craven : a Pinche Monkey (Midas 

 ttdipiis) from New Granada, presented by Mrs Henry Druman 

 Macaulay ; a Long-eared Owl (Asio otiis), British, presented by 

 Mr. G. E. Dobson, C.M.Z.S. ; an Eyed Lizard (Lacerta ocel- 

 lata), an /Esculapian Snake (Cclitbcr asculapn), six Viperine 

 Snakes ( Tropidonotus viperiiius) from San Remo, North Italy, 

 presented by Lieut L. L. Fenton ; two Toco Toucans (Ram- 

 phustos toco) from Guiana, a Brown Passerine Owl (Glaucidium 

 pkahrnoides), a Rusty Urubitinga (Urubitin^a mcridionaUs), a 

 Downy Owl (Pulsatrix torquata] from South America, deposited ; 

 two Guilding's Amazons (Chiysotis guildiiigi) from St. Vincent, 

 West Indies, two Black-tailed Hawfinches (Coccothrauslts 

 ?ne!anuriis) from Japan, four Golden .Sparrows (Aiiripasser 

 eiichlorus) from Abyssinia, four Blood-breasted Pigeons (PJdo- 

 givnas criienta'a) from the Pliilippine Isles, two Nightingales 

 (DanUas luseiiiia), a Canary Finch (Seriiitts canarins), a Gannet 

 (S2i!a bassana), British, purchased ; a Black Wallaby (Halma- 

 turns ualabatus), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Late Prof. Peters. — Prof. Christian August Friedrich 

 Peter-, whose death was mentioned last week, was the son of a 

 merchant at Hamburg, and was born on September 7, 1S06. 

 His father's fortunes suffered in the war times, and his son's 

 education was attended with difficuhies, though he endeavoured 

 to cultivate to the best of his power the natural bent for mathe- 

 matical studies which was very early evinced. After some years 

 the attention of Schumacher was drawn to the young Peters, and 

 he employed him in various calculations for his ephemerides and 

 geodetical works, and in 1S26, and for several years subse- 

 quently, he was actively engaged in such operations at Ham- 

 burg and in Holstein, at the same time pursuing his studies and 

 incidental employment under Schumacher. He then became for 

 a time a pupil of Pe-sel, and in 1S34 was appointed assistant in 

 the observatory at Hamburg, whence in 1S39 he was promoted 

 to a position in the newly-founded Central Russian Observatory 

 at Pulkowa, where he wcrked in theoretical and practical astro- 

 nomy for ten ye.irs. In 1849 he was nsmed Professor of Astro- 

 nomy in the University of Konigsberg, where he remained until 

 1S54, in which year he was appointed to succeed Petersen in the 

 direction of the observatory at Altona, and at the same time 

 editor of \)it. Astronomische Nachrichtcn, which he conducted 

 up to the period of his decease. He removed to Kiel when the 

 observatory at Altona was transferred to that place, and died 

 there on the Sth inst., after a severe illness of many months' 

 duration. 



The works by which Prof. Peters was perhaps more widely 

 known were his "Numerus constans Nutationis ex Ascensioni- 

 bus Rectis Stellae Polaris in Specula Dorpaten^i Annis 1822 ad 

 1S3S observatis deductus," which appeared in the Transactions 

 of the Imperi.al Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg in 1842, 

 and tlie " Recherches sur la Parallaxe des Etoiles Fixes," 

 printed in the same Transactions in 1846. For these important 



