Fib. 5, 1874] 



NATURE 



273 



Two legacies have recently been left to the French Academ^ 

 of Sciences for the purp ose of founding prizes. The one, a per- 

 petual legacy of 2,500 francs, has been bequeathed by the late 

 M. Gay, to be aw arded as a prize in physical geography ; and 

 tlie oth er, a sum of 10,000 francs, the interest of which is to be 

 awarded to the author of an astronomical work. 



A GENTLEMAN in Glasgow who does not wish his name to be 

 given, has just made a donation to Glasgow University of looo/.i 

 for the better endowment of the chairs of astronomy, botany, 

 and natural history. 



At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences at Paris on Mon- 

 day, January 26, the place in the section of Anatomy and Zoology, 

 vacant by the death of M. Coste, was filled up. M. P. Gervais 

 was elected, but M. Alph. Milne-Edwards was a_ good second , 

 obtaining 24 votes to M. Gervais's 33. 



A NEW work by Mr. F. W. Burbidge, on " Cool Orchids, 

 and how to grow them," is announced by Mr. Hardwicke, 

 Piccadilly. It will be illustrated by coloured plates and wood 



engravings, and will be furnished with a copious list, in the shape 



of an index, of what are termed cool Orchids. 



In a despatch from Mr. Williams, H.M.'s Consul at Samoa, 

 to the Foreign Secretary, dated Sydney, Oct. 28, 1873, it is 

 stated that gold in quartz has been found in a valley in that 

 island, about three miles from the Port of Apia ; the samples 

 assayed yielded at the rate of 3000 ozs. to the ton. 



Mr. J. F. Gardner, geographer to Prof. Hayden's survey, 

 in giving a short sketch of the method adopted by him to deter- 

 mine the altitude of the various points occupied by the party in 

 the Rocky Mountains, states that the experience of the surveys 

 of California and of the fortieth parallel show that in the deter- 

 mination of the altitude of any point a mercurial barometer is 

 liable to an error varjing from 150 to 300 feet, even when the 

 base barometer is at the foot of the peak, and only 3000 feet 

 below the summit. In connection with Professor Whitney (chief 

 of the California Survey), the following plan was adapted for 

 correcting the errors of barometrical work. Four points were 

 chosen at successive levels of from one to 14,000 feet. These 

 stations were carefully connected by levellings with a spirit level, 

 and were occupied as permanent meteorological slations. The 

 obser\'ations taken by field parties are classified according to their 

 heights, and each class is referred to the base station which is 

 nearest its own elevation ; the lower station being Denver, the 

 fourth the summit of Mount Lincoln {14,000 feet), where are a 

 number of silver mines worked by Captain Breese. The central 

 position of this peak admirably fits it for the base of reference. 

 Besides the barometric determination e f heights, two connected 

 systems of trigonometric levelling have been carried over the 

 whole aiea surveyed, and the check observations are so arranged 

 that the probable error can be easily determined, and it is hoped 

 that the system will prove accurate enough to throw some light 

 on the amount of refraction at great ele^ations. By these me- 

 thods the altitudes of many high points have been determined, 

 from which to construct a map in contours 200 vertical feet 

 apart, on a scale of two miles to one inc h. 



Signalling between the earth and the planet Venus is a 

 suggestion made in all good faith by a French astronomer, M. 

 Charles Cros, who considers the coming transit of Venus to be a 

 good opportunity for ascertaining whether there are inhabitants 

 on that planet, and, if so, entering into relations with them. He 

 says : " It is possible that Venus is inhabited ; that amongst its 

 inhabitants are astronomers ; that the latter judge the passage of 

 their planet across the solar disc to be an object to exciie our 

 curiosity ; finally it is possible that these savants will strive in 



someway to make iignals to us at the precise moment when they 

 might suppose that many telescopes will be levelled at their 

 planet." 



In a recent communication to the Connecticut Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, Prof. Marsh gave a statement of the results 

 of his recent expedition to the Far West in search of fossil re- 

 mains of extinct vertebrates. He said the richest field for 

 e.x ploraticn was found in tie great basin of the prehistoric lake 

 which is now drained by the Colorado River. This body of 

 water was originally as large as all the present lakes of the 

 North-West combined, and had existed so long that the sand 

 washed down from the surrounding hills had accumulated to the 

 depth of a mile. In the different strata of this bed at least ten 

 distinct groups of extinct animals could be detected, among them 

 some extremely remarkable forms. One of these was a rhino- 

 ceros with two horns ; but these, not like those of the modern 

 rhinoceros, in the axis of the body, but transversely. In a space 

 of 10 ft. square he had sometimes found the bones of 30 different 

 animals. The number of species of extinct mammals in these 

 remains he estimates to be three times as great as that at present 

 inhabiting the same locality. 



A PAPER on Electrical Warfare will be read by Mr. Nath. 

 J. Holmes, at the Society of Telegraph Engineers, on Wed- 

 nesday, the Ilth inst. 



The new Holmes' Shipwreck Distress Signal, of great power, 

 will be exhibited from Primrose Hill on Thursday evening, 12th, 

 at 8. 30, in presence of the Marine Secretary of the Board of 

 Trade. This signal is self-igniting in water, and inextin- 

 guishable. 



The Naples correspondent of the Times, writing on Jan. 25, 

 states that Prof Palmieri has just published the following letter 

 in answer to the numerous applications sent to him for informa- 

 tion : — "The activity of Vesuvius continues to increase in the 

 crater towards the N.E. Frequent globes of smoke issue from 

 the bottom of it, with a kind of hissing sound, accompanied by 

 an unpleasant odour of chloridic and sulphuric acids. Not far 

 from it, at the commencement of the grand fissure of 1872, alka- 

 line sublimates make their appearance. Meanwhile the fire does 

 not yet show greater activity at the bottom of the crater, where 

 it will probably manifest itself, unless some eccentric eruption 

 should occur before the internal resistance of this crater is over- 

 come. The great subterranean energy now at work does, in- 

 deed, appear to be making an attempt at an outlet in various 

 parts. On the 21st inst. a slight undulatory shock of earthquake 

 was felt at Casamicciola, in the island of Ischia, and during the 

 last week many have heard the low continuous mutterings of the 

 mountein at a distance of 15 miles. As I write, however, the 

 sismograph, which has been very agitated for some days, is more 

 quiet." He also reports the melancholy death at Casamicciola 

 of Mr. Moggridge, who having bathed in the open sea, died on 

 his road to the hotel. 



We have received the Report of the Senckcnbngische naivr- 

 forschena'e Gesdlschajt for 1S72-73, a society of long standing, 

 and with several eminent names in its list of members. The 

 membershi^i, we are glad to learn, shows a considerable increase 

 during the year ; though M. v. Fritsch states, in his report, that 

 the efforts of the society are sadly hampered for lack of funds, 

 and that "we exist and vegState, rather than live." He laments, 

 also, that the museum, which once stooel fifth in importance in 

 Europe, is being quickly suipassed by other like institutions, and 

 thrown into the background ; which is hardly creditable to a 

 city of such wealth and culture as Frankfort. Among the re- 

 searches detailed in this Bnii/it, we note a paper b) Dr. Koch 

 on the Aiachnida of North Africa, especially those (hitherto 

 unstudied) of the Atlas region, and the coast of Morocco ; the 



