258 



NA TURE 



[August 19, 192: 



year, we much regret to have to record. Mrs. Visger 

 was a woman of considerable attainments, with a good 

 deal of masculinity in her character, both mental and 

 physical. She had an absorbing interest in anything 

 appertaining to Nature, and her mind was a store- 

 house of material acquired during her long life. Her 

 powers of observation were great, and she used to the 

 full in her literary work the excellent memory which 

 Nature had given her, and the many opportunities 

 which travel afforded her. 



The real " Son of the Marshes " was understood to 

 have been a working naturalist in Surrey, but it is 

 probable that J. A. Owen's editorship went a good deal 

 further than mere editing. One might say, in effect, 

 that the books were practically written by her. They 

 contained much interesting natural history gossip, 

 following the Richard Jefferies style, but, as a rule, the 

 information was quite unlocalised, and so lost much 

 of its scientific value. The books followed rapidly 

 on one another, and amongst them may be mentioned, 

 " From Spring to Fall," " With the Woodlanders and 

 by the Tide," " Annals of a Fishing Village," " Within 

 an Hour of London Town," " Forest Tithes," and 

 " On Surrey Hills." 



Mrs. Visger was twice married, first in 1863, in which 

 year she went to live in New Zealand. There she re- 

 mained for five years, visiting Tahiti and the Sandwich 

 Islands. She returned to reside in England in 1876, 

 and married again in 1883, afterwards travelling con- 

 siderably in Europe and in the Pacific. She finally 

 returned to England in 1913. Beside a few books of 

 travel, Mrs. Visger wrote, " Forest, Field, and Fell," 

 " Birds in a Garden," " Birds Useful and Birds Harm- 

 ful," and in collaboration with the late Prof. G. S. 

 Boulger, " The Country Month by Month." Her 

 books are not now read, perhaps, so much as they 

 deserve to be. 



Prof. H. Battermann. 



Hans Battermann, who died in Blankenburg, Harz, 

 on June 15, at the age of sixty-two, has left a record 

 of much useful work in astronomy. In his youth he 

 studied at Berlin University under Forster and Tietjen, 

 gaining the degree of doctor in 1881 for a dissertation 

 on aberration. After a short period at Hamburg 

 Observatory he returned to Berlin as a member of the 

 Commission which was appointed, under the direction 

 of Auwers, for the discussion of the results obtained 

 at the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882. During 

 this period he observed a long series of occultations of 

 stars by the moon, utilising them to obtain a value of 

 the moon's parallactic inequality, and hence of the 

 solar parallax ; the value that he found for the latter 

 was 8-789", which is a good approximation to the 

 accepted value ; a still longer series of occultations, 

 observed near the first and last quarters of the moon, 

 should give a very accurate solar parallax. Battermann 

 also conducted two other useful investigations at this 

 time, one on the nature of the images in a heliometer, 

 the other a triangulation of the Pleiades with that 

 instrument. In 1888 he observed for nine months at 

 the Gottingen Observatory ; on his return to Berlin 

 he took the chief part in the star observations with the 

 transit circle, and in their reduction to a Catalogue, 

 including the discussion of proper motions. 



In 1904 Battermann was appointed professor and 

 director of the University Observatory at Konigsberg ; 

 he continued there his researches on proper motion, 

 and also observed further occultations with the 13-inch 

 refractor. He was compelled to resign his professor- 

 ship in 1919 through a complete breakdown in health, 

 brought on by overwork ; he retired to Blankenburg, 

 where he died three vears later, after much suffering. 



A. C. D. C. 



Current Topics and Events. 



Dr. M. O. Forster, who, since November 1918, 

 has been director of the Salters' Institute of Industrial 

 Chemistry, is relinquishing this post at the end of 

 next month, having been appointed director of the 

 Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He expects 

 to take up his new duties early in November. 



A new biological station for the study of limno- 

 logical problems and for research on the development 

 of fresh-water fishes has been established at the Lake 

 of Trasimeno, in Umbria. The University of Perugia 

 has assumed responsibility, and the director of the 

 station is the professor of physiology, Dr. Osvaldo 

 Polimanti. Further details of the equipment are 

 promised at an early date. 



The excavations at the Meare Lake Village, near 

 Glastonbury (Shapwick and Ashcott are the nearest 

 stations), will be resumed by the Somersetshire 

 Archaeological and Natural History Society on August 

 25, and continued until September 9 (exclusive of 

 the filling-in). As in previous years, the work will 

 be under the personal direction of Dr. Arthur Bulleid 

 and Mr. H. St. George Gray. The antiquities dis- 

 covered in past years at Meare are exhibited in the 



NO. 2755, VOL. I IO] 



Somerset County Museum at the society's head- 

 quarters, Taunton Castle, while those from the 

 Glastonbury Lake Village (described in two royal 

 quarto volumes) are to be seen, for the most part, 

 in the Museum at Glastonbury. Donations are 

 needed and will gladly be received by Mr. St. George 

 Gray, at the Somerset County Museum, Taunton. 



One of the oldest organised scientific societies, the 

 " Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft," is 

 holding its 103rd Annual Meeting at Berne on August 

 24-27. In addition to the usual business of the society, 

 there will be scientific discussions, and a number of 

 important papers will be read, including : " The 

 Trend of Modern Physics," Dr. C. E. Guye (Geneva) ; 

 "The Nature of the so-called General Neuroses," 

 Prof. Sahli (Berne) ; " The Aar Massif — an Example 

 of Alpine Granitic Intrusion," Dr. E. Hugi (Berne) ; 

 " The Natural Form of Substances as a Physical 

 Problem," Dr. V. Kohlschutter (Berne) ; " Experi- 

 mental Genetics in regard to the Law of Variation " 

 (illustrated by lantern slides), Dr. A. Pictet (Geneva) ; 

 and " Investigations into the Physiology of Alpine 

 Plants," Dr. G. Senn (Bale). Banquets will be held 

 at the end of each session, and there will be concerts 



