466 



NA TURE 



IMarch 17, 188 



means of an adjusting screw, to press lightly against the 

 face of the ebonite ring, and to produce metallic contact 

 ■with the studs when passing over them. The binding 

 screws around the case of the instrument are connected 

 in serial order with the wires inserted in the bore of the 

 thermometer, and the traverser is in permanent electrical 

 contact with the binding screw L, to which is attached 

 the line- wire. 



If the transmitter is intended to convey the signals 

 from more than one thermometer, there are inserted in 

 the ebonite ring, at suitable intervals, three small platinum 

 studs very close together. These studs are not in con- 

 nection with the thermometers, but with the binding-screw 

 C, which is in permanent connection, through the battery, 

 with earth. By this arrangement the current is short- 

 circuited whenever the tra\'erser passes over these extra 

 studs, and the three signals sent down the wire in quick 

 succession serve to show that the transmitter has com- 

 menced to send signals from another thermometer. 



The a.\is which drives the traverser carries round with 

 it a metallic disk, which is drilled with a hole into which 

 fits, when the clockwork is at rest, a small plug. This 

 plug, which acts as a detent, is attached to the heavier 

 side of a light lever, the opposite end of which is furnished 

 with an iron armature in close proximity to the poles of a 

 very small electro-magnet. One end of the magnet coil 

 is connected with the binding-screw C, and so through 

 the battery with earth, whilst the other end of the coil is 

 connected through the binding-screw m (Figs. 2 and y- 

 ■with another line-wire which is carried to the obser\iiig 

 station, and is capable of being put to earth through an 

 ordinary electric bell-push. 



The general arrangement of the whole apparatus is 

 shown in the diagram. Fig. 3. The action of the instru- 

 ment is as follows : — The line-wire connected with M is 

 momentarily put to earth at the observing station by 

 depressing the bell-push ; this causes a current to circulate 

 round the coils of the electro-magnet, which, attracting 

 its armature, liberates the detent, and starts the clock. 

 The number of signals now passed down the line-wire by 

 the pass.ige of the traverser over the platinum studs will 

 be a measure of the height of the mercury colurrm in each 

 thermometer. The traverser, having made one complete 

 revolution, is arrested by the falling of the plug into the 

 disk. 



It is evident that any number of observing stations can 



be established along the line-wire, and also that, if 



desired, the apparatus may be made automatically to 



register the temperature at any required interval of time. 



Horace T. Brown 



THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF THE BODY OF 

 RHINOCEROS MERCKII IN SIBERIA 



TT is a well-known fact that carcases of extinct animals, 

 ■*■ such as the Mammoth {E/fp/ias p^-hiiigenius) and 

 Tichorhine Rhinoceros {Rhinoceros ticliorhinus) are ob- 

 tained in a more or less perfect state of preservation in the 

 frozen tundras of Siberia. A memoir recently presented by 

 Dr. Leopold von Schrenck to the Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences of St. Petersburg,' informs us that the most 

 recent discovery of this nature (which took place in 1877) 

 is of a specially interesting character. The remains 

 found upon this occasion turn out, not to belong to either 

 of the above-named animals, but to a distinct species of 

 Rhinoceros, Rhinoceios Mcrokii (better known in England 

 3.i R/iinoceros leptorliinus of Owen), which had never 

 been known previously to occur in such a condition. 

 Unfortunately full advantage has not been taken of this 

 extraordinary discovery. Although the carcase, as already 

 mentioned, was found in 1877, it was not until March, 



* *' Das erste Fund eiaer Leiche, Khiiioceros Merckii, Jaeg.** Von Dr. 

 Leop. V. Schrenck (Mem, Ac. Imp. Sc. Si. Pet., vii' s^rie, vol. xxvii. No. 7. 



1879, that it came to the knowledge of the Imperial 

 Academy. At the same time the sad fact was commu- 

 nicated that only the head and one foot of the whole 

 body of this extinct monster had been preserved, all the 

 remaining portions having been allowed to drift away 

 into the River Yana, upon the banks of which it had first 

 come to light. 



The head in question, after having been exhibited in 

 Moscow, at the Anthropological Exhibition of 1879, was 

 presented to the Zoological Museum of St. Petersljurg, 

 where upon comparison with the Tichorhine Rhinoceros, 

 it was shown to belong, not as had been previously 



j supposed, to that species, but to Rhinoceros Merckii. 



Of this specimen, which is naturally reckoned among 



j the greatest treasures of the Imperial collection, Dr. L. 



! von Schrenck now gives us an excellent description, illus- 

 trated by several figures, which show that in external as 

 well as (as now already known) in osteological characters, 

 R. Merckii presents many salient features to distinguish 

 it from R. ticliorhinus. 



As regards the former distribution of R. Merckii, 

 although it was once supposed that this species was con- 

 fined to Western and Southern Europe, recent researches 

 had already proved that this extinct rhinoceros had a 

 much more extensive range. Besides being found in 

 several localities in Eastern Europe, Brandt, in his excel- 

 lent Memoir on the Tichorhine Rhinoceroses, has shown 

 that this species formerly existed in Eastern Siberia. It 

 is therefore not now so remarkable that a whole frozen 

 body of this former inhabitant of the Steppes of Siberia 

 should have been discovered on the banks of one of the 

 rivers, preserved frozen during many thousands of years, 

 as we know to have been also the case in the previously 

 obtained specimens of the Mammoth and the Tichorhine 

 Rhinoceros. 



NOTES 



We give on another page an abstract of the revised edition of 

 the proposed statutes on the professoria'e promulgated by the 

 Oxford University Commissioners. It is, to say the least, hope- 

 ful to find the Commissioners so amenable to criticism and sug- 

 gestions, and the proposed revised statutes, it will be found, obviate 

 most of the objections which came from all quarters to the 

 harassing and humiliating nature of the first draft. Occupying the 

 position we do in relation to science, we could not but condemn 

 the statutes in their first form. Were we the mouthpiece of 

 the College of Preceptors, then possibly we might not have 

 objected to the Oxford professors being legislated for as if they 

 were merely elementary school-teachers ; but as we are bound 

 to consider the interests of science and its advancement, and as 

 we believe one of the chief duties of an Oxford professor, as 

 of a German or a French professor, to be original research, we 

 could not but consider the statutes in their first form as a serious 

 blunder. 



On Monday, March 15, the Paris Academy of Sciences held 

 its annual sitting, when the prizes for 1880 were delivered. 

 M. Ed. Becquerel was in the chair. He opened the sitting 

 by an llo^e of M.>IicheI Chasles, who died quite recently, and 

 who was one of the most popular members of the Academy. 

 At the end of his address he reminded his fellow members of 

 the completion of the 'great work of M. Milne-Edwards, which 

 has lasted for a quarter of a century. The great prize for 

 mathematics was awarded to M. Halphen, with honourable 

 mention to M. Poincarre ; the Poncelet Prize to M. Leonte, 

 engineer of the machinery constructed by the Government. A 

 sun of 3000 francs was awarded to M. Ader for having ad- 

 vanced in an essential ^manner phonetic telegraphy (also tele- 

 phony). The Tremont Prize was awarded to M. Vinot, the 

 editor of the only astronomical paper publi>hed in France, and 

 the foun'^er of the onlv astronomical society. M. Dumas, with 



