Jan. 6, 1 88 1 J 



NA TURE 



225 



and partly to the Eocene system. Among the younger 

 formations the author devotes a couple of pages to sub- 

 aerial deposits, including the results of the superficial 

 weathering of rocks and the formation of " eluvial " accu- 

 mulations. The third section describes the geological 

 structure of different traverses of the country, and locali- 

 ties of geological interest, while a supplement contains 

 observations on the mineral resources of the ground re- 

 ported upon. 



Dr. Tietze describes in a similar methodical way the 

 geology of East Bosnia, while Dr. Bittner tal^es the 

 Herzegovina and the south-east part of Bosnia, These 

 reports are full of interest, especially in relation to the 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary geology of the east of Europe. 

 To some of the questions discussed in them we may 

 return on another occasion. Though the geologists in 

 their rapid m.irches had little time to collect specimens 

 they nevertheless found opportunity to carry off some 

 rocks and fossils which were found of sufficient importance 

 to deserve special description. Herr C. v. John gives a 

 report on some crystalline rocks of the Provinces, including 

 granite, older plagioilase rocks, younger diabases, diorites, 

 and similar rocks froin the Flysch, gabbros, serpentines, 

 eclogites, with trachytic and andesitic lavas. Dr. 

 Neumayr describes a series of brackish-water shells from 

 the Tertiary formations of the Provinces. 



The Geological Institute of Vienna may be congratulated 

 on the signal success of its well-planned and admirably- 

 conducted enterprise. Rarely has so compendious a body 

 of detailed information in geology been so rapidly accu- 

 mulated and so promptly published. Ritter von Hauer's 

 preface is dated March I, 1S80 — that is within a year 

 from the time when his proposal for the Survey was laid 

 before the Austrian Government. These i^w months 

 sufficed for the field-work, for the elaboration of the reports, 

 and for the preparation of the map and engravings. The 

 Reports form a volume of 333 closely-printed octavo 

 pages. The map is issued in one sheet on the scale of 

 iTvaVoci with twenty-one colours. Arch. Geikie 



MICHEL CHASLES 

 Born November 15, 1793, Died December 18, 1880. 



" Tv" NO^' y^ "°t that there is a prince and a great 

 -^^ man fallen this day?" might well have been the 

 thought of the President Becquerel when he announced 

 to the Academy on the 20th ult. that Chasles was dead. 

 To many the mm who had surpassed in age Leibnitz by 

 seventeen, Euler by eleven, Lagrange by ten, Laplace 

 and Gauss by nine, and Newton by two years, was a 

 '■ venerabile nomen," but ytt a "nomen " only. 



As far back as the present generation can remember 

 Chasles has been a prince of geometers, and it has come 

 upon many of us as a surprise to hear that he was still 

 walking and working in our midst. A few years back a 

 telegram was sent him from Boston conveying congratu- 

 lations, and expressing the hope that the illustrious 

 mathematiL^ian might see the close of the present century, 

 in which event he would have surpassed the years of 

 Pythagoras. Length of days is not always a boon, but 

 Chasles's was a pleasant old age, and he died in harness : 

 in such a case he might say with one of old, "nihil habeo 

 quod incusem senectutem.'' "La vie de M. Chasles a 

 i-.€ heuieuse et simple ; il a trouvd dans la .Science, 

 avec les plus grandcs joies, une gloire qui sera immortelle, 

 et dans la vive affection de ses amis, dans leur assiduitd 

 erapressee aux reunions oil il les conviait avec une grace 

 si aimable, dans leur respectueuse d^fdrence en toute 

 circonstance, la consolation de sa vieillesse." 



Born at Epernon (Eure-et-Loir), he entered the 6cole 

 Polytechnique in 1S12. At this early date he would com- 

 munica'e to students in the rival colleges the pro'jlems 

 and exercises of the week, asking in return the questions 

 proposed by their masters : " Dans cet ^change organist 



par le jeune lyc(fen, on peut croire aisdment que le futur 

 gdometre avait souvent la meilleure part.'' After taking 

 his place in the defence of Paris in 1S14 he passed out in 

 engineering, but he re-entered the school in 1815. And 

 this is the reason : Chasles was on the point of leaving 

 for Chartres to show his uniform and to bid farewell to 

 his mother before going to Metz, when he was waited on 

 by the father of one of his comrades. " Mon fils," said 

 the father, "est le premier des Aleves qui n'ont pas 

 obtenu de place ; vous avez hdsite, je le sais, a accepter 

 I'dpaulette ; votre refus aurait assurd a votre camarade 

 une carriLTe qui lui plait et pour laquelle j'ai fait les 

 derniers sacrifices ; il m'est impossible de les continuer 

 pour lui en prtfparer une autre.'' Chasles made no reply : 

 he went to Chartres ; on his arrival his choice was made, 

 and he told his mother he would stay with her. The 

 army lost him as an officer, the world gained him as a 

 geometer. On finally leaving the establishment, in spite 

 of the high position he held amongst his companions, he 

 voluntarily renounced public employtnent (Larousse states 

 however : " Fut agent de change et plus tard aux affaires 

 pour les sciences ") and went to Chartres, where he spent 

 some ten years. He was working quietly however : 

 " Toujours passionnd pour la geometric, il rdsolvait de 

 beaux problemes, comme au college, trouvait chaque jour 

 dMldgants th(^oremes, inventait des mdthodes gdnerales et 

 fdcondcs, san; attirer I'attention des maitres de la science 

 et sans y prdtendre. 'Que de talent perdu!' disaient 

 les plus bien-veillants, sans songer raeme ^ trailer d'dgal 

 ce jeune homrae obstind k approfondir les theories dld- 

 mentaires et qui bientot peut-etredevait, par elles, s'l^lever 

 bien au-dessus d'eux." Elected a Corresponding Member 

 of the Academy in 1839 ('"decorated'' the same year), he 

 was made " Professeur de Machines et de Geodi^sie " at 

 the Ecole Polytechnique, in succession to Savary in 1841. 

 This chair he occupied for ten years, when, in conse- 

 quence of some alterations (" profondes et trt:s regret - 

 tables " '), he sent in his resignation, and ever afterwards 

 did all in his power to combat these, as he thought, 

 dangerous reforms. His affection however continued 

 unabated : " C'est ainsi qu'il acceptait avec tout d'empres- 

 sement la presidence du Comitd de la Socicte amicale des 

 Anciens Elcves ; c'est ainsi qu'il entrait au conseil de 

 perfectionnement, et que, tout rdcemment encore, malgrd 

 son grand age, il acceptait le renouvellement de son 

 mandat, avec le desir, disait-il, de continuer jusqu'a son 

 dernier souftlc A entretenir ce foyer de travail, d'honneur 

 et de devouement au pays." With the ardour which so 

 distinguished him, M. Chasles had undertaken to write a 

 history- of the school ; an e.xtract from this history he 

 recently published : " Expose historique concernant le 

 Cours de Machines, dans I'Enseignement de I'Ecole 

 Polytechnique" (see notice in Nature, vol. xxiii. p. 75). 

 M. Lausscdat informs us that the veteran's wish is in 

 great part attained, and that it was with great pleasure 

 Chasles learned before his death that the Journal de 

 V itcolc Polytechnique is to be revived, and that the re- 

 vision of the " programmes de I'enseignement " was 

 decided upon. In France the professorial chairs are 

 special? Poinsot was, for some years, desirous that a 

 chair should be appointed for the Modern Geometry, and 

 in 1S46 this chair was created by the Faculte des Sciences, 

 and Chasles was elected to be the first occupant. In 

 185 1 he was elected a Member of the Academy, and in 

 the same year, as above stated, gave up his appointment 

 at the Polytechnic. In 1854 he became Foreign Member 

 of our Royal Society, in 1865 he was awarded the Copley 

 medal, and in April, 1867, he was elected the first (and 

 for some time the only) Foreign Member of the London 



' Note, p. 583, to the admirable " 

 Ge' )mArie Supe'rieure de la Faculte' d 

 1846), which follows the second edi 

 SupWeure" (1880). 



^ ''Toutes les chaires ont un titre special. " "Rapport 

 la G^omdtrie," P,iris, 1870, pp. 219. 376 



scours d'lnauguration de Cours de 

 Sciences de Paris " (i>ecember 2a, 

 n of the ' ' Trait(£ de Ge'ometrie 



- les Progres de 



