Feb. 19, 1 874 J 



NATURE 



l^l 



At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, on 

 Feb. 9, the candidates to be recommended to the Minister of 

 Public Instruction for the chair of Comparative Embryogenesis at 

 • the College of France, were balloted for. The names of MM. 

 Gerbe, Balbiani, and Dareste, were presented to the meeting, 

 and the result of the voting was to select the two former gentle- 

 men as the Academy's nominees for the post. 



Captain S. P. Oliver writes us concerning a meteor-cloud 

 which he observed at Buncrana, Co. Donegal, on Feb. 5, at 

 about 9. 10 P.M. local time. He saw what he at first thought to 

 be a comet's tail, viz. a broad band of silvery white and luminous 

 cloud extending in an arc from S.E. by E. to N.W. by W., as 

 near as he could judge, from horizon to horizon, but tapering 

 towards the extremities. The apex of this arc, which was 

 some four or five degrees in width, was as nearly as possible on 

 the meridian at about 80° elevation from the horizon. The band 

 passed within three or four degrees above the upper stars of 

 Orion. Through this luminous cloud the ■■ stars shone brightly. 

 The edges appeared well-marked, and there was no appear- 

 ance of that serpentine track into which meteor-clouds frequently 

 dissolve. Several " shooting-stars " were visible the same 

 evening. One especially he noticed which seemed to come 

 from a radiant point at. the S.E. extremity of the above-named 

 cloud. 



Messrs. S.mith, Elder, and Co. have a new edition of Mr. 

 Charles Darwin's work on the " Structure and Distribution of 

 Coral Reefs " in preparation. 



MiCHELET, the celebrated historian, who died within the last 

 few days at Cannes, aged 76 years, has written a few sensational 

 books on natural history. "L'Oiseau" and" L'Insecte," had 

 an immense circulation, although their real scientific value was 

 very small. 



M. Reinwold, one of the largest Parisian scientific pub- 

 lishers, is just publishing a translation of Haeckel's " History of 

 Creation." It is prefaced by M. Charles Martin, one of the 

 most celebrated correspondent members of the French Institute. 

 Consequently Darwinism is not to be considered as having been 

 extinguished in France by the last rejection of Darwin by the 

 Academy. Neither will the success of Haeckel's great work 

 be paralysed by the cry of no more Gernianism raised in certain 

 quarters. 



Capt. MoUCHEZ, who has been appointed the chief astro- 

 nomer for St. Paul's station on the Venus Transit Expedition, is 

 publishing, at the expense of the French Admiralty, a map of 

 the Algerian coast on the scale of y^j's-ir u ■ The survey was executed 

 on anew plan and only lasted iS months. Although Algeria 

 extends about 750 miles east-west, M. Mouchez has determined 

 all his stations by a series of triangulations executed on shore, 

 independently of the situation of his boats or ships. 



For some years past much interest has been excited in the 

 United States in reference to the erection of a large telescope, and 

 possibly a complete astronomical observatory on the high por- 

 tion of the Rocky Mountains. As preliminary to this, a number 

 of careful examinations have been made of tlie o|nical qualities 

 of the atmosphere in various portions of the Western coiuitry. 

 Of these special interest attaches to the expedition of Professor 

 Davidson of the Coast Survey, whose report to the Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences, states that the meteorological tables 

 kept at Summit Station, on the Sierra Nevada, 7,042 feet above 

 the sea, during the year ending November 1867, show that out 

 of 35S days and nights only eighty-eight were cloudy, nearly all 

 of these occurring in the winter months, during which the snow- 

 fall was about forty-five feet, the winter nut being unusually 

 mild. The summer weather is very pleasant, the nights cool, 

 and the atmosphere wonderfully clear. The mountain flanks are 



covered with verdureduring the summer, and there is freedom from 

 great clouds of dust. Prof. Davidson says that, owing to the 

 steadiness of the atmosphere, observations at this elevated point 

 would in one or two nights be of greater value than the results 

 of six months' observations at lower stations. Higher and per- 

 haps more desirable positions exist in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Summit Station ; and the interest excited by Prof. 

 Davidson's report probably has, to a considerable extent, influ- 

 enced the determination announced in a recent letter of Mr. J. 

 Lick, the well-known millionaire of San Francisco. This gen- 

 tleman has indicated in a letter to the California Academy of 

 Sciences, and again in a letter to Prof. Joseph Henry, his desire 

 to establish an observatory in the best possible location, and 

 provide it with the largest and finest astronomical instruments. 

 He proposes to this end to set aside one million dollars as a 

 permanent endowment fund. This is a monument and a renown 

 which few are rich and wise enough to achieve for themselves, 

 and it is greatly to be hoped that the founder of the Lick Ob- 

 servatory may live to enjoy the congratulations of his State and 

 country. 



Prof. James Orton, of Vassar College, N.Y., has just returned 

 to the United States from South America, where he has been 

 engaged in a second exploration of the Amazons. The general 

 object of his recent travels in South America, was to supplement 

 his expedition in 1S67, when he crossed the continent from 

 west to east, I'/ii Quito and the Nipo wilderness. His route 

 in 1873 was up the Amazons from Para to Yurimaguas on 

 the Hoallaga River ; thence up to the Paravapura and its 

 tributary, the Cachiyeen to Balsa Puerto ; thence over the Icuto 

 Vange on foot to Moyobamba ; thence across and among the 

 Andes to Chachipoyas and Cayamarca, crossing the Upper 

 Mavaiion, or Balsas, and striking the coast at Pacasmayo ; 

 thence to Lima and its immediate region ; thence to MoUendo, 

 Areguipa and Puno on the shore of the Lake Titicaca. He was 

 the first traveller to pass from the Pacific to the Lake by the 

 railway just finished by Mr. Meiggs. The prime object of his 

 explorations was to study the physical geography, geology and 

 topography of the Amazons. On these points he obtained a vast 

 amount of new and reliable information. He found that the 

 Upper Amazon (Maraiiora), has been grossly misrepresented in 

 all the more recent maps of Peru. He made everywhere, but 

 especially in Northern Peru, large collections in natural history, 

 to throw light upon the distribution of animal life. Prof. Orton 

 will condense the results of his expedition in a work on the 

 Physical Geography, Natural History, and Commercial Re- 

 sources of the Valley of the Amazons. 



Fresh advices to January 11, received from the German 

 exploring expedition in the Lybian Desert, under Gerhard 

 Rohlfs, announce that the expedition had reached the important 

 oasis of Dachel, containing 17,000 inhabitants. Valuable geo- 

 graphical discoveries had been made, and six maps of the 

 country had been taken. 



The metrical system has just been 'adopted in Germany for 

 the measurement of distances. The official papers have published 

 the order with decrees that henceforth the kilometre shall replace 

 the I'russian mile. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a pair of Coatis [Nasiia nasica) from South 

 America, presented by Mr. \V. P. Chambers ; an Egyptian Fox 

 (Canis niloticus) from Port Said, presented by Mr. J. T. Keane ; 

 a Bonnet Monkey (Macacis lai/inliis) from India, presented by 

 Mr. R. Wilkinson ; a Great Kangaroo (Macropus giga)iteus), 

 born in the Gardens ; five Branched Sea Horses [Hippocampus 

 ramulosus) fiom the coast of France, purchased ; a Capybara 

 (Hydrochariis capybara) from Rio Negro. 



