4IO 



NA TURE 



\_Mar. 26, 1874 



been established is the use of the antennse. Some ento- 

 mologists have regarded them as olfactory organs, some 

 as ears ; the weight of authority being perhaps in favour 

 of the latter opinion. In experimenting on his wasps 

 and bees Sir John, to his surprise, could obtain no 

 evidence that they heard at all. He tried them with a 

 shrill pipe, with a whistle, with the violin, with all the 

 sounds of which his voice was capable, doing so, more- 

 over, within a few inches of their head, but they con- 

 tinued to feed without the slightest appearance of con- 

 sciousness. 



Lastly he recounted some observations to show that bees 

 have the power of distinguishing colours. The relations 

 of insects to flowers imply that the former can distinguish 

 colour, but there had been as yet but few direct observa- 

 tions on the point. 



THE CAVENDISH LABORATORY 



THIS Laboratory, in which every facility is furnished 

 for the prosecution of physical research, is the 

 munificent gift of William Cavendish, Duke of Devon- 

 shire, K.G., Chancellor of the University, who has inti- 

 mated his intention of presenting it complete to the 

 University. 



The building, which is now finished, was erected from 

 the designs of W. M. Fawcett, M.A., of Jesus College, at 

 an expense of about 10,000/. 



The ground-floor contains a set of rooms for operations 

 requiring great steadiness, such as the measurements of 

 length, time, and mass, and of heat, electricity, and mag- 

 netism. A store-room, a workshop, and a battery-room 

 are also provided on the ground-floor. 



The first floor contains a spacious lecture-room with a 

 preparation-room, a large apparatus-room, a private room 

 for the professor, and a large working laboratory, fitted 

 with tables standing on beams of their own, so as to be 

 independent of the vibrations of the floor. All the tables 

 in the building are supported in the same way, and there 

 are in every floor small trap-doors, by means of which 

 bodies may be suspended over the tables in the room be- 

 neath, and through which electric and other communica- 

 ions may be made. 



The upper rooms are intended for acoustics, radiant 

 heat, optics, electricity, and the graphic reduction of ob- 

 servations. There is also a dark room for photographic 

 preparations. The air in the electric room will be kept 

 dry by a contrivance due to Mr. Latimer Clark, and the 

 electric machine worked in this room may be made 

 to furnish electricity for experiments in the lecture- 

 room. 



In the tower will be erected an iron tube, which may be 

 filled with mercury so as to measure the greater pressures 

 to which gases and vapours are subjected in the heat- 

 room on the ground-floor. There is also an arrangement by 

 which the electric potential of the air at the top ot the 

 tower may be measured either in the lecture-room or in 

 the electric-room. 



The laboratory is open daily from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. 

 under the supermtendence of the Professor of Experi- 

 mental Physics, for the use of any member of the Uni- 

 versity who may desire to acquire a knowledge of experi- 

 mental methods, or to take part in physical researches. 



NOTES 



A Reitter's telegram from Aden, of March 23, states that 

 the steamer Calcutta arrived there from Zanzibar on the previous 

 day with the body of the late Dr. Livingstone. We fear this 

 must be regarded as final, and as sliutting out any further hope ; 

 we can only now do all possible honour to those remains which 

 the doctor's faithful servants have so religiously preserved. A 



letter recently received from Zanzibar, by Mr. R. A. Laing, 

 states that the body, after having been exposed to the 

 sun for a month to dry, and then packed in a hollowed tree, was 

 wrapped round with cloth, and the natives carrying it supposed it 

 a bale of cloth, or kaniki. 



H. M. S. Challcnga- arrived at Melbourne on the 1 7th inst. : all 

 well. On her voyage from the Cape of Good Hope, she reached 

 the Antarctic Circle between E. long. 70° and 80°. 



In connection with our leading article this week v;e see with 

 pleasure that Mr. Mundella gave notice in the House of Com- 

 mons on Monday, that " at an early day he would call attention 

 to the Report of the Science Commissioners on National Mu- 

 seums, and move that, in the opinion of the House, steps should 

 be taken to render National Museums and Galleries of Art more 

 available for instruction for the purposes of Science and Art." 

 We sincerely hope Mr. Mundella's motion will lead to some 

 decided step in advance. 



We are sorry to have to announce the death of Joliann 

 Heinrich Maedler, the distinguished German astronomer, 

 at Hanover, on March 14, at the advanced age of eighty. 

 One of his best -known works is a Map of the Moon, of which 

 he was the joint author with M. Beer. He was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at Dorpat 

 in Russia about 1S4C, and was also the writer of various astro- 

 nomical treatises : — "Popular Astronomy," Berlin, 1S49; "The 

 Existence of a Central Sun," Dorpat, 1846 ; " Lectures on 

 Astronomy," Mittau, 1845-47, &c. 



We are informed that the Royal Belgian Academy has re- 

 solved to place the bust of Quetelet in the hall where its meet- 

 ings are held. We believe no successor to the Directorship of 

 the Brussels Observatory has yet been named. 



At the last meeting of the Royal Irish Academy, the Rev. 

 Prof. Jellett resigned the office of president, and Wm. Stokes, 

 M.D., D.C. L., F.R.S., was elected in his stead. Dr. Sullivan 

 also resigned the secretaryship of the Academy on being made 

 president of the Queen's College, in Cork, and Dr. E. Perceval 

 Wright, F.L.S., was elected to the post. Dr. R. McDonnell, 

 F. R. S., was also elected to the secretaryship of Foreign Cor- 

 respondence in the place of Sir W. Wilde. 



The Professorship of Astronomy in the University of Dublin, 

 the holder of which is also Astronomer Royal of Ireland, isnowr 

 vacant by the resignation of Dr. Francis Briinnow. Since its 

 fjundation this professorship has been held by Dr. Henry 

 Ussher (1783), Dr. John Brinkley (1790), Sir William Hamilton 

 {1827), and Dr. Briinnow (1S65). The election will be held on 

 April iS. Rumour in Trinity College points to Prof. R. Ball, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., as the most likely successor to Briinnow, a dis- 

 tinguished graduate of the University of Dublin in both pure 

 mathematics and experimental physics. Dr. Ball acquired aa 

 extensive knowledge of astronomy during the several years that ■ 

 he acted as the late Lord Rosse's assistant at the Observatory 

 at Parsonstown. 



At a numerously attended meeting of the Fellows of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, Ireland, held in the College Hall, Dublin, on 

 the 13th inst., it was resolved, by a large majority, th.it it is not 

 expedient for this college to take part in the proposed conjoint 

 scheme for the examination of medical graduates in Ireland. 

 The conjoint scheme had already been approved of by the 

 Council of the College, by the Medical Professors and Board of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, by the King and Queen's College of 

 Physicians, Ireland, and by the Governors of the Apothecaries 

 Hall. 



The circular of the Board of Trade, respecting Storm 

 Warnings, which appeared in our last, appears to require a 

 few additional remarks by way of explanation. The circular 



