Feb. 12, 1 8 74 J 



NA TURE 



293 



Wk have just received from Mr. Gerard Krefft the cast of a 

 fossil specimen of extreme interest. It is that of one of the teeth 

 of an extinct species of Ceratodus found with the usual Difrotodon 

 remains in the alluvial deposits of the Darling Downs district of 

 •Queensland. This able naturalist has named the fish indicated 

 by this fossil in honour of the present Colonial Secretary of 

 Queensland, Ceratodus palmcri. It is larger than the corre- 

 sponding tooth— the left upper dental plate — ol C. forsteri, the 

 enamel being rather coarser and the surface more undulated than 

 that of Forster's fish. In the specimen under consideration, 

 three of the prongs are perfect, being three-fourths of an inch in 

 width. Mr. Krefft mentions that the existing fish is called 

 " Jeevine," .ind not " Barramundi ; " also that it never goes 

 ashore, and is not caught, as supposed by some, with hooks 

 baited with frogs. 



The Academy has been favoured by Dr. Kirk with the fol- 

 lowing private telegram, which he received from Brigadier- 

 General Schneider, C.B., Her Britannic Majesty's political 

 Resident at Aden, with reference to the news of the death of 

 Livingstone. Dr. Kirk considered that the details given in the 

 telegram as published concerning Livingstone's death and the 

 embalming of his body presented so many doubtful points which 

 required clearing up, that he was anxious to ascertain whether 

 Cameron had convinced himself of the accuracy of these reports 

 by personal examination of the messengers who, it is said, 

 preceded Livingstone's dead body to Unyanyembe, and among 

 whom was Chumah, his servant ; or whether the reports had 

 come to his ear, before Chumah himself reached Unyanyembe, 

 in the usual untrustworthy and exaggerated native manner. He 

 therefore telegraphed to General Schneider ; but, as will be seen 

 by the reply from General Schneider, it cannot be ascertained at 



\ present whether Cameron actually saw Chumah. The evil 

 tidings may have preceded him by some days ; and there is 



I nothing for it but to wait the receipt of Cameron's written 

 advice : — "General Schneider to Dr. Kirk. — Aden February 2 

 5.15 P.M. — Captain Prideaux merely says Chumah went ahead 



I and gave intelligence to Cameron." 



There has been instituted by the French Government, under 



the Minister of Public Instruction, a Commission of Scientific 



and Literary Voyages and Missions. The object of the Com- 



' mission, we learn from Les Mondes, is (l) to discover what are 



the most useful scientific and literary enterprises ; (2) to examine 



I the projected voyages and missions proposed to the Minister ; 



(3) to study the programmes of these missions, to give detaded 



instructions to those who undertake them, and to carry on cor- 



\ respoiidcnce, if necessary, during the voyage ; (4) to examine, on 



' their return, the works on which the voyagers have reported, and 



prepare their publication in a record of Missions, when that is 



] founded ; (5) to name to the Minister such voyagers as may be 



' worthy of honourable reward after the completion of their enter- 



I prise ; (6) to appeal to the various administrations to concentrate 



I on certain enterprises all the resources at the disposal of the 



I state. The Under-Secretary of State is President of the Com- 



, mission, and M. Beule Vice-President ; while, among the 



I members are, MM. Felix Ravaisson, Conservator of (he Louvre 



I Museum, Leon Renier, Chevreul, Milne-Edwards, D'Avezac, 



' President of the French Geographical Society. 



The Paris Journal gives a ctuious account of an hotel situ- 

 ated in the Rue des Pctitcs Ecuries, which has a clientele ol living 

 ' phenomena. It is an hotel of the lowest oider, which was fitted 

 up by a French barman for housing extraordinary creatures. 

 \ The hoinine chien and his son Ft dor lived there for some time. 

 I The giant of Folies Bergeres (8 ft. ) dwelt there. He was an 

 ^ intimate friend of a dwarf whom he carried in his arms 

 i every evening, when taking his daily promenade after dark. 

 I There are also a good many acrobats and lion-tamers admitted 



into the house. Mdlle. Christine, the double sisters, were not a 

 lodger ; they had an agent of their own, an Englishman. 

 Most of these curious specimens of humanity are placed 

 under the direction of the hotel-keeper, who procures en- 

 gagements for them at certain prices, according to their de- 

 merits, and directs them either to some of the minor theatres, 

 concert-halls, or to the booths erected at suburban fairs. A Table 

 d'hote of the Petites Ecuries Hotel, where all these strange crea- 

 tures come together, is the most extraordinary sight in the whole 

 town. 



The sale of several works on the book-stalls at railway- 

 stations, has been prohibited by the Minister of the Interior, 

 Amongst these we notice "Les Ballons du Siege," by M. W. 

 de Fonvielle, who, as it is known, escaped from Paris in a balloon 

 during the investment of Paris, and delivered lectures in London. 

 M. \V. de Fonvielle, who was just returning from London when 

 the prohibition was issued, has written to the minister in order 

 to ascertain the real facts of that extraordinary decision. 



Dr. A. Ernst prints (unfortunately in Spanish) under the 

 title "La fecula y las plantas fariniceas del nucvo mimdo," a 

 list of 100 plants of the New World which yield starch, with 

 detailed accounts of the more important ones. 



In the discussion which followed. Sir Bartle Frere's address, 

 at the opening of the^ African Section of the Society of Arts, 

 Mr. Hyde Clarke read a letter from Lieut. Maurice, Private 

 Secretary to Sir Garnet Wolseley, dated " Head Quarters, 

 Yancoomassie," from which we take the following extract ; it 

 may prove of some interest to students of the Science of 

 language :— " A somewhat curious piece of word-coining, which 

 has fallen under our notice here, may interest you in connection 

 with the broader aspects of the subject of which you write. The 

 Ashantees having experience of our rockets only as they come to 

 them in destructive form at the end of their journey, call them 

 by the sound they make, 'Schou-schou,' or something of the 

 kind. The Fantees, on the other hand, adopt bodily into their 

 Language our own names for those things which they have not 

 seen before. Thus to the Houssa or the Fantee, in speaking to 

 one another, our rockets are named rockets, while their enemies 

 call them schou-schou. It is possible that as war has not been 

 in savage times an uncommon condition of mankind, analogous 

 causes for different names having been adopted by different 

 nations may have been not unfrequent in the past." 



The Council of the Statistical Society have founded a bronze 

 medal, under the title of " The Howard Medal," to be presented 

 to the author ol the best essay on some subject in "Social 

 Statistics " a preference being given to those topics which Howard 

 himself investigated, and illustrated by his labours and writings. 

 The title of the Essay to which the Medal will be awarded in 

 November 1874, is as follows: — "The state of Prisons, and 

 the condition and treatment of Prisoners, in the Prisons of 

 England and Wales, during the last half of the eighteenth 

 century, as set forth in Howard's " State of Prisons," and work 

 on ' Lazarettos. ' " The Essays must be sent to the Assistant 

 Secretary of the Society on or before September 30. The 

 competition is open to any competitor, providing the Essay be 

 written in the English language. 



We called atten ion last week to the course taken by the Perth- 

 shire Society of Natural Science, in reference to the present 

 election of Members of Parliament. The Society sent questions 

 to the car didates for the City and County of Perth, relating to 

 the appointment of a responsible Minister of Education, to State 

 help lor Science, and to the promotion of scientific exploration 

 expeditions, such as that of an Arctic expedition. The Liberal 

 candidates sent no reply; the Conservative candidates sent favour- 

 able answers. The following is the reply of Sir William Stirling 

 Maxwell, theConservative candidate for the County of Perth : — 



