Feb. 24, 1 881] 



NA TURE 



395 



Traquair, F.G.S., of Edinburgh ; the Mavchison fund to Frank 

 Rutley, F.G.S. ; the Lyell Fund in equal parts to G. R. Vines 

 of Sheffield, and to Dr. Anton Fritsch of Prague. 



In addition to the amount reported last week, we have received 

 two guineas from Mr. William Black for the John Duncan Fund, 

 making the total received through Nature ^^67 4?. 3</. 



The first of Prof, Flower's nine lectures on the Anatomy, 

 Physiology, and Zoology of the Cetacea, in the theatre of the 

 College of Surgeons, will be given on Monday next. The 

 Com, arative Anatomy of Man, which formed the subject of the 

 last four courses of lectures, is far from being exhausted, 

 especially as the acquisition of the Barnard Davis collection has 

 more than doubled the materials at the disposal of the lecturer 

 for its illustration. But the work of removing, cleaning, arranging, 

 and cataloguing the numerous specimens of this collection has 

 absorbed so much time, that little has been left as yet for their 

 scientific examination. As any attempt at exposition of the 

 variations of the osteological structure of man, from which the 

 evidence afforded by the newly-acquired specimens is omitted, 

 would be very incomilete, it has been thought advisable to 

 postpone the continuation of the subject to a future time. The 

 anatomy of the group selected for consideration this year is of 

 great interest, and particularly well illustrated in the Muveum, 

 {as it is a subject to which John Hunter devoted much attention, 

 and upon which he published a valuable memoir in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1787, entitltd " Observations on the 

 Structure and CEconomy of Whales ") : — General characters of 

 the Cetacea ; Division into two ditinct groups — Mystacoceti or 

 whalebone-whales, and Odontoccti or tooth whales ; Anatomy of 

 the lesser rorqual {Bahznoptera rostrata) as a type of the Mysta- 

 coceti ; Other whalebone-u hales — rorquals (Balcenoptera), hump- 

 backs (Afigaptera), and right whales (Bahtna) ; Anatomy of the 

 porpoise (Phociena communis) as a type of the Odontoccti ; Other 

 toothed whales — Dclphinida, dol[>hins, beluga, narwhal, pla- 

 tanista, &c. ; Physcteridic — sperm-« hale and its allies ; Extinct 

 Cetacea — position of the order in the animal kingdom, and 

 relation to other groups. 



We regret that the Lords should have thrown out the Bill on 

 Tuesday for -he Opening of Museu^is and similar places on 

 Sundays. Ihe smallness of the majority leads us to hope that 

 this forward and really beneficial step will be taken ere very 

 long. As the Times \sry well puts it: — "The gravity of the 

 question is that London has in its midst people to whom 

 anything of the nature of intellectual toil — and prolonged 

 sight-seeing is of that character — is essentially irksome. But 

 they are human beings, and not lost to all salutary influence-. 

 It would be folly to despair of making the Sunday more toler- 

 able than it is to them. Our climate does not often admit of men 

 and women sitting out of doors talking or listening to elevating 

 music. Some substitute must be found to put us on equality 

 with the people of more sunny lands. It is the task of true 

 friends of the working classes to suggest means by which, 

 without any revolution in national ideas as to the sacredness 

 of Sunday, they may be enabled to taste those simple and primi- 

 tive pleasures — for example, the pleasure of piu'e repose of mind 

 and body, or that of hearing music — which all, even the un- 

 tutored, can enjoy. The movement is directed towards the 

 cure of a real social evil, and those v\ ho oppose it are bound to 

 suggest a more effectual remedy." 



By an oversight, for which the American authorities must be 

 held partly responsible, we did not oberve that the volume on 

 "Odontornithes," by Prof. Marsh, briefly alluded to in Nature 

 of last w eek, w as the same work which had already been reviewed 

 in our columns as far back as September 16 of last year (vol. 

 xxii. p. 457). 1 he monograph now sent to us bears no reference 



to the previous issue of the same work. It is announced as a 

 portion of the Survey of the Fortieth Parallel under Mr. Clarence 

 King ; but no number is assigned to it as a volume of that 

 splendid series of quartos. We hope that this new issue of the 

 work will secure for it a still wider circle of readers, as it 

 certainly adds additional lustre to the Survey of the Fortieth 

 Parallel. 



The Hunterian Oration this year was so far original that the 

 orator, Mr. Luther Holden, gave the results of some original 

 research he has been making into the early life of John Hunter. 

 It is usually said tliat Hunter, up to the time of his coming to 

 London, led a completely idle life, giving no promise whatever 

 of future eminence. Dr. Holden however thinks he ha 

 proved that Hunter, instead of being apprenticed to a cabinet- 

 maker, entered Glasgow University when he was seventeen 

 years old, and had the advantage of a regular training under the 

 eye of Cullen. Whatever may be thought of the evidence Mr. 

 Holden adduced, he has certainly opened fresh ground, quite 

 deserving to be worked out by future orators. 



The freedom of the Cutlers' Company was conferred upon 

 Sir Henry Bessemer last week. At the dinner which followed 

 he stated that a young and rising American "city" had been 

 named after liim. 



Can any reader send us information concerning the fate of 

 the instruments which belonged to the late Dr. Dick of Broughty 

 Ferry, Scotland, the author of a number of theologico-scientific 

 works (" Philosophy of a Future State," &c.), rather remarkable 

 for their advanced views, considering the time at which they 

 were published — about forty years ago ? He is said to have left, 

 among other things, a large telescope, the subsequent history and 

 present possessor of which we are anxious to trace. 



The Commissariat-General of the Paris International Exhi- 

 bition of Electricity are anxious that all requests for space be 

 sent in as soon as possible, and not later than March 3 1 . 



The following are prize-subjects lately proposed by the 

 Society of Arts and Sciences at Utrecht : — Researches on the 

 development of one or several invertebrate species of animals 

 whose history is not yet known ; exact anatomical description 

 of the larva and nymph of the common cockchafer i^RIclolontha 

 vulgaris) ; means of purifying the rivers of HoUand so as to 

 render them potable, and expense of application on a lai^e 

 scale ; results of experiments in recent times as to the move- 

 ment of liquids and the resistance they offer to moving bodies ; 

 study of the theories of electric phenomena in muscles and 

 nerves ; critical aperfii of the methods for determining the place 

 occupied in bodies of the aromatic series by substituted atoms 

 and groups uf atoms (according to Kekule and Ladenburg's 

 theory regarding benzol) ; quantities of heat liberated or absorbed 

 in the allotropic change of two or several simple substances ; 

 heat given by the moon in different phases. Papers may be 

 written in French, Dutch, German, English, or Latin, and 

 must be sent to the Secretary, Baron K. Melvil, of Lynden, 

 before December I, 1881. The prize is a diploma of honour 

 and 300 Dutch florins. 



A CLASSIFIED list of the books published in Germany during 

 1S80, just issued by Hinrichs of Leipzig, show s the number of 

 publications to be steadily increasing. We find a total of 14,941 

 new works against 14,179 in 1879. The largest number belongs 

 to the class of school-books and other works for the young, viz., 

 2446 (against 2175 in 1879). We give the further classes in a 

 descending scale, adding the numbers for 1S79 : — Law, politics, 

 statistics, conveyancini-, 1557 (16S3) ; theology, 1390 (1304); 

 Belles Lettres, 1209 (11 70); medicine, 790 (732); natural 

 history, chemistry, pharmacy, 787 (841) ; historical works, 752 



