June 13, 1907] 



NA TURE 



163 



niarkable feature in the ceremony was the firing of a 

 cannon as each candidate was promoted. The delegates 

 were reminded of another Scandinavian land the King of 

 which gave command to '* let the kettle to the trumpet 

 speak, the trumpet to the cannoneer without." In Upsala 

 the trumpet and kettle-drum seemed to be replaced bv the 

 electric button. 



The Doctors in Philosophy were promoted by Dr. Tycho 

 TuUberg, a collateral descendant of Linna;us. The cere- 

 mony consisted in placing a gold ring on the finger and 

 a " laurel crown " on the head of each candidate; in the 

 case of the honorary doctors the crown was made of 

 leaves from a bay tree planted by Linnaeus. The British 

 doctors were Mr. Carruthers, Mr. F. Darwin, Sir A. 

 Geikie, and Mr. Daydon Jackson. Among the Swedish 

 doctors was the deservedly popular Prince Eugen, who 

 has made for himself a reputation as an admirable land- 

 scape painter. 



In the evening there was a great banquet in the Aula of 

 rhe University, and an evening entertainment given by the 

 students. 



On Saturday, May 25, the delegates departed for Stock- 

 holm, where the Linn^ Fest was continued by the Roval 

 Swedish Academy under the auspices of Count Mbrner, 

 the president. Here again the delegates were met with 

 excellent arrangements and a warm welcome. A solemn 

 meeting of the academy was held at which the delegates 

 j'resented addresses, speeches were made, and a cantata 

 was sung, of which the words were by G. Retzius, the 

 music by Valentin. To the general satisfaction of all the 

 delegates, and to the especial delight of those from Britain, 

 the Linnean gold medal of the academy was awarded to 

 Sir Joseph Hooker, and handed to Sir Rennell Rodd, the 

 British Ambassador, for transmission to England. A 

 beautiful bronze medal given to each delegate forms a 

 {.articularly attractive memento of a memorable occasion. 



In the evening a great banquet was given, at which the 

 speeches were made by the president of the academy (Count 

 Morner), the Crown Prince, Prince Roland Bonaparte, 

 and the Prime Minister. Later in the evening the students 

 gave an entertainment at Skansen, the beautiful zoological 

 and ethnological garden of Stockholm. 



One of the most striking features of the Fest was the 

 interest shown in it by the Royal House. The Crown 

 Prince and Princess and other members of the Royal 

 Family were present at the meetings and banquets both 

 a' Upsala and Stockholm. The Crown Prince mingled 

 with the guests with a kindness that was much appreciated 

 by the delegates, and the same may be recorded of the 

 other members of the Royal House. A garden-party given 

 by the Crown Prince on .Sunday was somewhat marred by 

 the break-up of the fine weather which had added so much 

 to the effect of the Upsala gathering. 



Finally must be mentioned the generosity of the authori- 

 ties of Upsala and Stockholm in presenting the delegates 

 with a valuable reproduction of the portraits of Linnteus 

 and a reprint of nis works, including a facsimile of the 

 first edition of the " Svstema Natune." 



Cei.ebr.atiox at the Ltnxean Society. 



The reception held by the Linnean Society of London 

 on Friday, June 7, as part of its celebration of the 

 bicentenary of Linnseus, was attended by nearly three 

 hundred guests, many of whom were ladies. The Swedish 

 Minister, some of the Swedish Legation, and several other 

 Swedes were amongst those present. The president of the 

 society, Prof. Herdman, F.R.S., and Mrs. Herdman, re- 

 ceived the guests in the library, and prominent among the 

 exhibits were many interesting personal relics of the great 

 naturalist — selections from his herbarium, cases of Lepido- 

 ptera, Coleoptera, fishes, and shells, including the cele- 

 brated artificial pearls produced by the native fresh-water 

 mussel. 



The beautiful medallion by Inlander, which was copied 

 by Josiah Wedgwood, occupied a conspicuous position, 

 and was surrounded by a laurel wreath from the recent 

 festival held at L'psala on May 23 and 24, which was 

 lent by one of the British representatives who received an 



NO. 1963, VOL. 76] 



honorary degree there. A large series of medals which had 

 been struck at various times in honour of Linna>us also 

 were set out in the same case ; they included Count 

 Tessin's medals of 1746 and 1758, Ljungberger's large 

 medal, struck by command of Gustaf III. in 177S on the 

 death of Linnaeus, and many of a later date. Recent 

 medals were also shown, such as the Linnean medal of 

 the society, a special copy of which had been presented 

 to the Royal University of Upsala last month, and, latest 

 of all, a bronze copy of the bicentenary medal, struck for 

 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and awarded on 

 May 25 to Sir Joseph Hooker, G.C.S.I., F.R.S. Two 

 cases contained the correspondence between Linnseus and 

 our own countryman, John Ellis, F.R.S., the letters on 

 both sides being shown ; manuscripts of great interest, 

 copies of books interleaved and copiously annotated bv 

 Linnaeus, his Lapland diary, and his note-book for the 

 eventful year which witnessed his departure from Sweden 

 to take his medical degree at Harderwijk, and the issue 

 of his " Systema Naturae " in 1735. The foregoing were 

 shown by the Linnean Society, in whose possession they 

 have been since the death of Sir J. E. Smith, the first 

 president, in 1S2S. 



Dr. Tempest Anderson displayed photographs showing 

 the growth of vegetation in St. Vincent since the volcanic 

 eruption in 1902 ; Prof. Dendy, preparations from his New 

 Zealand specimens ; Mr. .\. D. Darbishire, Mendelian 

 phenomena ; Miss Benson and Prof. F. W. Oliver, the 

 spermatozoid bodies in the fossil seeds of Lagenostoma 

 and Physostoma ; Prof. Farmer, apogamic growths from 

 fern-prothallia ; and the president, specimens of pearl 

 oysters and plankton gatherings taken during the present 

 spring. Animated photographs of plant-life were shown 

 by Mrs. D. H. Scott, and many other objects of great 

 interest were on view in the library and the galleries. 



During the evening a series of short lectures was given 

 in the meeting room by the following : — Prof. Poulton, 

 Prof. Herdman (who prefaced his remarks by a short dis- 

 course on the present Linnean celebration), Lieut-Colonel 

 Prain, and Mr. F. J. Lewis. The rooms were not de- 

 serted until nearlv midnight. 



THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, GREENWICH. 



HTHE report of the Astronomer Royal to the Board of 

 Visitors, on the work done at the Royal Observatorv 

 during the period May 11, 1906, to May 10, 1907, was 

 presented on Saturday, June S, when the annual visitation 

 took place. .\ brief summary of this report is given 

 below. 



In addition to the routine observations, the transit-circle 

 was employed on a number of stars, of the ninth magni- 

 tude and brighter, which may be used as reference stars 

 for the Oxford astrographic zones ; 7704 transits were taken 

 during the year. 



The second nine-year catalogue (epoch 1900) will prob- 

 ably be ready for press before the end of the current year, 

 and will be divided into two parts, (i) fundamental and 

 zodiacal stars, (2) astrographic reference stars. 



The reflecting prism for illuminating the field of the 

 altazimuth has been replaced by a smoothly ground re- 

 flector of opal glass, cemented on to the object-glass, and 

 this gives a much more uniform illumination. The observ- 

 ations of the moon and of the lunar crater Mosting .\ were 

 continued, and, discussed with the similar observations 

 carried out at the Cape Observatory, should give an 

 improved value for the lunar parallax, 



The new working list for the 28-inch refractor primarily 

 includes double stars discovered by Hough, and during the 

 rear 400 pairs were observed, fifty-eight of them having 

 a separation of less than o".^. The equatorial and polar 

 diameters of Jupiter were measured by the methods de- 

 scribed in the previous report, these measures being in- 

 tended to supplement those made during the opposition of 

 1895-6. The diameters of the satellites were also measured 

 on two nights with the filar micrometer. 



When the 30-inch mirror on the Thompson equatorial 

 was taken out for re-silvering, in November, 1906, it was 

 found to be slightly loose in its cell, so, before re-mounting. 



