April 1 6, 1874] 



NA TURE 



463 



A Beech pierced by a Thorn Plant 

 The word //ivci'ii' makes the difference between an impossi- 

 bility and a fact which is not uncommon in nature. The thorn 

 mentioned in your last impression by Mr. Murphy has grown 

 between two beech steins, which were so close that from their 

 annual increase they grew together, and in so doing they en- 

 closed the tho.-n, which could no more \asi pierced the beech 

 than it could have piercad a block of marble. If young tress are 

 twisted together they will grow together. Years ago I placed a 

 bar of iron in an interstice between two stems so twisted, in 

 another interstice below it I placed a part of the drag-chain 

 of a waggon. According to Mr. Murphy the two iron appen- 

 dages "have grown right through the middle of the trmrks of 

 the two beeches." They are at least as firmly fixed as if they 

 had done so. 



The tree with the iron branches is close to the lodge on 

 lirookwood Hill. Should any of your readers consider it to lie 

 worth inspection, the lodge-keeper will show it to them. 

 April II George Greenwood 



Mars 



I HEc; to olTer my thanks to Mr. Knobel for his obliging 

 Correction (vol. ix. p. 39O) with regard to the contrasted tint ol 

 the snow-poles of Mars. His observations had quite escaped my 

 recollection. 



I have also to mention a correction with which I have been 

 favoured by the Earl of Rosse. It appears that an erroneous 

 hour had been affixed to the drawing of Mars made at Parsons- 

 town on September 14, 1S62, and engraved in Mem. U.A.S., 

 vol. xxxii., pi. v., and that an explanation is thus offered of 

 one of the discrepancies commented on by Prof. Kaiser. 



Cheltenham, April 9 T. W. Webb 



Bright Shooting-star 



xV SII00TING-ST.\R, equal in apparent brightness to th^ 

 planet Jupiter, was seen hereby me this evening at 9I' iS"- 

 It traversed a path of 24° in two seconds, beginning at R.A. 

 242°, D -V 47°, and ending at R.A. 27S', D + 50^ No per- 

 ceptible train remained after the disappearance of the nucleus, 

 which, however, emitted numerous sparks when in motion. The 

 radiant point of this meteor was probably near ^ Bootis, and 

 identical with No. 36 in Mr. R. P. Greg's table of radiant posi- 

 tions in the "Monthly Notices R. A.S.," vol. xxxii. p. 350. 

 This is given at R. A. 223°, D -f 40° by Greg and Herschel, 

 and at R.A. 224°, D -h 38^ by Schiaparelli and Zezioli. The 

 meteor described above was not therefore a member of the well- 

 marked meteoric streams of April iS-20. At stations eastward 

 it was probably a much brighter object than observed here, and 

 tliese brief details may be useful, taken in conjunction with 

 others, in determining its height and velocity. 



Gotham Park, Bristol, April 11 William F. Dhnning 



THE LA TE DR. LIVINGSTONE 



OUR readers are no doubt familiar through the daily 

 press with all that has transpired during the past 

 week in reference to the all-absorbing topic of the late 

 Dr. Livingstone and the home-bringing of his remains. 

 The coffin containing these arrived at Southampton 

 yesterday morning, and was received by the Corpora- 

 tion, Livingstone's family and friends, the President and 

 fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, and many 

 others, with all solemnity and with every mark of genuine 

 respect. The body of the great explorer was accom- 

 panied to the station by a long and distinguished pro- 

 cession, and was conveyed in a special train to London, 

 to be buried in Westminster Abbey on Saturday at i p.m. 



The proposed position of the grave in the Abbey is 

 near that of Major Rennet, the father of English geo- 

 graphy, and the friend and adviser of Mungo Park. There 

 was some hesitation between this position and the one 

 near the gra\e of Sir John Chardin, the Persian traveller. 



The President of the French Geographical Society, 

 Vice-Admiral Baron de la Ronciere le Noury, is coming 

 over from Paris, for the e.xpress purpose of being present 

 at the funeral. 



^ The Government grants a sum which Sir Bartle Frere 

 • trusts wdl be sufficient for all purposes." Still we are 

 glad to have Sir Bartle Frere's assurance that in the end 

 there will be "no shortcoming on the part of the 

 Government." 



Dr. Livingstone's vocation was not a money-making 

 one ; he did not even live to hear that the worid ranked 

 him among its greatest men ; the end of all his labours 

 was a sad one. This country, all civilised countries we 

 may say, will attend to the appeal which has been made 

 on behalf of his family. 



_ As was to be expected, Scotsmen have taken the 

 initiative in raising a monument to one of the greatest 

 of their fellow-countrymen ; at a meeting held at 

 Edinburgh, on Tuesday, it was resolved, in recognition 

 of the " heroic services rendered to science and civili- 

 sation by the late Dr. Livingstone," that a national 

 statue be erected to hi3 memory in the capital of 

 his native country. This is right' and it is honour- 

 able to his fellow-countrymen, though the memory 

 of Livingstone will need no " labour of an age in piled 

 stones" to render it immortal. Indeed a true idea of 

 the full height of his greatness is only as yet beginning 

 to dawn gradually upon u;, and it will be some time ere 

 we are able adequately to estimate it. No doubt, there- 

 fore, the thought contained in Tennyson's sad strain must 

 have occurred to many a one during the last few weeks— 

 " I would that my tongue could utter 



The thoughts that arise in me ; " 

 and perhaps with still greater force those others— 

 " Oh for the touch of a vanished hand 



And the sound of a voice that is still." 

 What honours would we have heaped upon his head 

 had he only lived to reach his native shore ! 



NATIONAL MUSEUMS IN BRAZIL 

 'pHE working of the National Museums in Brazil seems 



-•- to be conducted on similar principles to those 

 recently advocated for the management of the Govern- 

 ment Museums in this country. From a thick volume of 

 38S pp. explanatory of the topography, constitulion, and 

 resources of Brazil, issued in connection with the Brazilian 

 Department of the late Vienna Exhibition, we gather 

 that the most important Natural History Museum in 

 South America, is that at Rio de Janeiro, which was 

 founded in 181 7. It is divided into four sections .-—the 

 first includes Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, and 

 Zoology ; the second Botany, Agriculture, and the 

 ]\Iechanical Arts ; the third Mineralogy, Geology, and 

 the Physical Sciences ; and the fourth Numismatics, 

 Archa5ology, &c. Each section hasi its separate director, 

 who has assistants, and the whole Museum is presided 

 over by a Director-in-Chicf " The Museum has, 

 besides, several corresponding members in the National 

 and Foreign Scientific Societies, and there are two natura- 

 lists travelling through the Empire, for the purpose of 

 making collections. 



" The principal object of the National Museum is, to 

 collect and study all the natural products of the country, 

 and to deliver public lectures on the science of its 

 province, spreading among the people theoretical and 

 practical knoA-ledge, in a simple style, adapted to their 

 comprehension. 



" The Museum," it is stated, " now keeps up a corre- 

 spondence with European establishments of the same 

 description, and willingly exchanges duplicates of its col- 

 lections for those of foreign museums. 



" The Government intends to create in the provinces 

 several museums independent of that in the capital of the 

 empire, that they may exchange among one another the 

 respective products of each one, receiving at the same 

 time from the central one, not only the necessary instruc- 

 tions for the classification and study of the collections, 

 but its superabundant duplicates." 



