March 24, 1881] 



NA TURE 



491 



In the name .-^//benigaras there is sufficient resemblance 

 to the name Beeragmh with the Arabic prelix At \.qi make 

 it probable that they were identical. V. Ball 



Calcutta, January 12 



NOTES 



We hear that good progress is being made with the reprint of 

 the late Prof. A. H. Garrod's scientific papers, the pubHcation 

 of which may be expected early in the summer. It will form a 

 volume of about 500 octavo pages, illustrated by more than 

 thirty plates and about 200 woodcuts. Mr. Hubert Ilerkomer, 

 A.R.A., the well-known artist, has most kindly undertaken to 

 execute an etching of the late professor, as a frontispiece to the 

 volume. The edition will be limited to a very tmall number of 

 copies only, most of which are already subscribed for. Thosj 

 who wish to add their names to the list of subscribers betore 

 it is closed, are requested to communicate at once with the 

 secretary of the Garrod Memorial Fund, II, Hanover Square, 

 W., who will also be glad to receive subscriptions already 

 promised. Cheques to be crossed "London and County Bank, 

 Hanover Square." 



Writing to the Times on Friday last, Mr. Sclater calls 

 attention to the fact that the collection of birds of the late John 

 Gould, the ornithologist, had been offered to the Trustees of the 

 British Museum for 3000/., and expressed a hope that there will 

 be no difficulty on the part of the Treasury in sanctioning the 

 expenditure. The collection is stated to embrace about 1500 

 mounted and 3S00 unmounted specimens of humming-birds, 

 being the types from vi hich the descriptions and figures in the 

 celebrated " Monograph of the Trochilidte " were taken. There 

 are besides 7C00 other skins of various groups, amongst which 

 are splendid series of the families of Toucans, Trogons, birds of 

 Paradise, and Piltas. 



The following course of lectures will be given by Members of 

 the Committee on Solar Physics appointed by the Lords of the 

 Committee of Council on Education : — An Introductory Lecture, 

 by Prof. Stokes, Sec. R.S. ; April 6. A Lecture on the 

 Practical Importance of Studying the Influence of the Sun on 

 Terrestrial Phenomena, by Lieut. -General Strachey, R.E., 

 C.S.I., F.R.S. ; April 8. Two lectures on the Connection 

 between Solar and Terrestrial Phenomena, by Prof. Balfour 

 Stewart, F.R.S. ; April 27 and 29. Six lectures on Spectro- 

 scopy in relation to Solar Chemistry, by Mr. J. Norman 

 Lockyer, F.R.S. ; May 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, and 20. Three 

 lectures on the Photography of the Infra-red of the Spectrum in 

 its Application to Solar Physics, by Capt. Abney, R.E., F.R.S., 

 May 25 and 27, and June I. The lectures will be delivered in 

 the Lecture Tlieatre of the South Kensington Museum at 4 p.m. 

 on the days stated aliove. Admission will be by tickets, which 

 may be obtained, as far as there is room, on application by letter 

 to the Secretary, Science and Art Department, South Ken- 

 sington, S.W. 



We must remind our readers that the French Association 

 will hold its next session in April at Algiers, beginning on the 

 14th. Those who have been enrolled members will have the 

 advantage of half price for railway travelling, and of a special 

 steamer jfrom Port Vendres to Algiers. This ship will leave 

 Marseilles on the nth, calling at Port Vendres on the 12th. 

 The lists were closed some time ago, but by addressing, without 

 loss of time, M. Gariel, General Secretary of the Association, 

 Paris, Rue de Rennes, all particulars relating to the excursions, 

 which are very numerous and attractive, some of them includ- 

 ing a tour in the Algerian Sahara, will be given. An industrial 

 exhibition has been organised in Algiers, with races, feles, and 

 inauguration of the Algerian Institute, which is directed by M. 

 Pomel, Senator. Mr. F. Maxwell-Lyte, Hon. Foreign Secre- 



tary of the Association, Science Club, Savile Row, will be 

 happy to afford fm-ther information to intending English visitors. 



The arrangements for the International Medical and Sanitary 

 Exhibition are progressing so satisfactorily that it promises to be 

 the most important Sanitary Exhibition hitherto organised in this 

 country. Applications for space are nosv being rapidly sent in, as 

 the 31st inst. is the la-t day fi.xed by the Committee for receiving 

 them. Up to March 15 applications fur 984 feet had been 

 received by the Committee. The Certificates of Merit which 

 are to be given will be valuable awards to tlie public and to the 

 successful exhibitors on account of the high character of the list 

 of jurors, which already includes among many other the follow- 

 ing :— Medical Section: Christopher Heath, F.R.C.S., Wm. 

 S. Playfair, M.D., Charles Higgins, F.R.C.S., Chas. S. Tomes, 

 F.R.S., Prof. John Marshall, F.R.S., Dr. Robert Farquharson, 

 M.P., the president of the Pharmaceutical Society, C. H. 

 Golding-Bird, F.R.C.S., Lionel Beale, F.R.S., W. B. Carpenter, 

 C.B., F.R.S., J. S. Bristowe, M.D., Major Duncan, R.A., 

 Surgeon- General Longmore, C.B., E. H. Sieveking, M.D., &c., 

 &c. ; Sanitary Section: Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., M.D., 

 F.R.S., Geo. Aitchison, F.R.I.B.A., Edwd. C. Robins, F.S.A., 

 T. Roger Smith, F.R.I.B.A., F. J. Monat, M.D., Alfred 

 Waterhquse, A.R.A., Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B., F.R.S., 

 Ernest Hart, M.R.C.S., Prof. Corfield, Wm. Eassie, C.E., 

 Roger Field, M. Inst. C.E., R. Thorne Thorne M.B., Prof. 

 Prestwich, F.K.S., &c., &c. In addition to the interest taken 

 in the Exhibition by medical men, architects, and manufacturers, 

 the general public have recognised the importance of the work 

 thus initiated by the Executive Committee of the Parkes Museum 

 of Hygiene by subscribing to the Guarantee Fund, which at the 

 meeting of the Committee Last Tuesday was reported to amount 

 to 1026/. 7.r. At this meeting the Secretary read a letter from 

 Mr. MacCormac, the Hon. Sec. General of the International 

 Medical Congress, forwarding the following resolution which 

 had been unanimously passed by the Executive Council of the 

 International Medical Congress at their last meeting: — "That 

 the sum of fifty pounds be guaranteed to the Committee of the 

 International, Medical, and Sanitary Exhibition, to be held at 

 South Kensington in connection with the Parkes Museum 

 of Hygiene, on the occasion of the International Medical 

 Congress." 



The programme for the annual meeting of the Iron and Steel 

 Institute on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of May has just been issued. 

 The first item on the programme is the presidential address of 

 Mr. Josiah T. Smith, the president-elect, whose experience as 

 one of the earliest and for many years one of the largest stee 

 manufacturers in this country, and as the head of the most exten- 

 works of their kind in the world, will give his address an excep- 

 tional interest. The papers to be read cover pretty fairly the 

 whole field of the manufacture and application of steel for ship- 

 building purposes. A paper will be read by Mr. Alexander 

 Wilson of Sheffield on the manufacture of armour plates. The 

 subject of the manufacture of steel and steel plates will be dealt 

 with by Mr. Sergius Kern of Russia, who will describe improve- 

 ments recently practised in Russia ; while the experience lately 

 gained in the practical use of steel for shipbuilding purposes will 

 be dealt with in a paper by Mr. Denny of Dumbarton, at whose 

 works on the Clyde a considerable amount of steel shipbuilding 

 has been turned out during the last two years. The important 

 question of the relative corrosion of iron and steel will be dis- 

 cussed by Mr. William Parker of Lloyd's. Another paper is 

 promised by Capt. Jones, manager of the Thomson Steel Works, 

 Pittsburg, on the manufacture of Bessemer steel and steel rails 

 in America. 



Scientific honours are being paid to John Duncan, the 

 weaver botanist. Recently the Inverness Scientific Society and 



