May 28, 1874] 



NA TURE 



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observations on record, made at any time in any portion of the 

 national territory or its immediate vicinity ; and very excel- 

 lent progress ;has been made in this direction. He has also 

 enlisted coadjutors to make systematic observations in various 

 parts of the country, and soon he hopes to have the country 

 well dotted with such observers. A considerable amount 

 of work has been accomplished in tabulating and computing 

 the results thus far collected. By the end of another year it is 

 expected that sufficient observations will be available to permit 

 the publication of a volume devoted exclusively to the meteor- 

 ological statistics of the Argentine Republic. 



Dr. Burmeister, well-known for his thorough knowledge of 

 the natural history of the region of La Plata, where he has 

 resided for many years, has been, we learn from the Acaihmy, 

 nominated to the post of Director of the Natural History and 

 Physical Faculty of the University of Cordova, where seven 

 chairs are already held by German professors. 



The delegates of the Oxford University Museum have ap- 

 pointed Mr. H. J- Stephens Smith, M.A., BalHol College, 

 Fellow of Corpus Christi College, to the keepership of the 

 University Museum, vacant by the lamented death of Prof. 

 Phillips. The stipend of the keeper is So/, per annum, with an 

 official residence adjacent to the museum. The appointment of 

 Mr. Smith will have to be ratified by convocation, The Pro- 

 fessorship of Geology, vacant also by the demise of Prof. Phillips, 

 and worth 300/. per annum, is still vacant, though no official 

 announcement of the vacancy has been made. , 



TliE first party of the English expedition for observing the 

 transit of Venus took its departure on Saturday afternoon in the 

 Government transport Elizabeth Mnrtin, (rom Woolwich. The 

 stores include cases of astronomical and photographic apparatus 

 to the extent of nearly 150 tons measurement, besides provisions 

 and other necessarieF, as some of the party will be for several 

 weeks located in inhospitable regions. Ol the gentlemen who 

 left on Saturday, Lieut. Neate, K.N., will be chief astro- 

 nomer at Rodriguez, in the Indian Ocean, and Lieut. Hoggan, 

 R.N., one of his assistants; Lieut. Goodridge, R.N., 

 one of the astronomers at Christmas Harbour, Kerguelen, 

 which lies between the Cape and Australia ; Mr. J. B. 

 Smith, astronomer and photographer at the same station ; and 

 Lieut. Cyril Corbett, C.B., is to be chief astronomer at a second 

 station in the same island. There are to follow — Mr. Burton, 

 astronomer and photographer at Rodriguez; the Rev. F. S. 

 Perry, F.R.S., chief astronomer at Christmas Harbour ; the Rev. 

 W. Sidgreaves, astronomer at the same station ; and Lieut. Coke, 

 R.N., who will act as astronomer with Lieut. Corbett at the 

 second station, Kerguelen. 



We greatly regret to hear that the Rev. R. T. Lowe, the well- 

 known author of a "Flora of Madeira," was among the pas- 

 sengers who lost their lives in the recent wreck of the Liberia. 



The French Academy has elected M. de Tchebycheff, the 

 eminent geometer of St. Petersburg, foreign associate, in place 

 of the late M. De la Rive, and M. Oilier of Lyon, a corre- 

 sponding member in place of the late Dr. Guy on. 



Science is beginning to make headway in the re-constituted 

 University of Strasburg. A new observatory (under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. Winnecke) is to be commenced at once, and an 

 \ 18-inch refractor has been ordered. The Physical Cabinet 



J (under the direction of Prof Kundt) already possesses a very 



- fine collection of the newest apparatus, and the professor has a 



class of fifty men. 



In a small pamphlet, reprinted from the Wiener Abemipost, 

 Karl von Littrow takes advantage of tlie foundation of the new 

 observatory of the Vienna University to give a history of the old 



observatory, which has been in existence for more than a century, 

 and of some of the work which has been done in it. The new 

 observatory has apparently been carefully planned, and will be 

 well provided with the most approved instruments. 



We would draw attention to the valuable Notes con- 

 cerning the work of the Challenger between Simon's Bay and 

 Melbourne, in the Times of Monday and Tuesday. Very im- 

 portant observations have evidently been made on the currents, 

 temperature, and life of the southern seas. Some interesting 

 observations are made regarding icebergs, and the remarkable 

 similarity of the fauna of the southern seas to that of the north- 

 ern is noticed. "We scarcely expected," the writer says, "to 

 find the water so deep, but it agrees with our former obser- 

 vations, which lead us now always to expect to find the deepest 

 water near the land. To account for this we can only reason 

 that no large part of the surface of the earth can be raised 

 higher than another by means of a volcano or otherwise, unless 

 at the same time a corresponding hollow or depression is ex- 

 cavated in the neighbourhood. To form a hill, the earth must 

 be removed from'somewhere else." 



Profs. Donders and Th. W. Engelmann have published, in 

 Dutch, the results of their inquiries made during 1S73 °" ^^ 

 passage of blood-cells through the vessel. Working with a uni- 

 locular microscope, they have not been able to find any aperture 

 by which the white corpuscle can pass through the vessel. 



The last number of the yoitrnal of Botany contains a sketch 

 by Mr. B. D. Jackson of the life of William Sherrard (1658- 

 1728). Mr. Jackson's object is thus stated : — " The whole life 

 of William Sherrard was so intimately connected with that of 

 the leading men of Science in his day, that a comprehensive 

 account of his career would be an epitome of his times. The 

 exigencies of space, however, forbid more than a sketch of his life, 

 designed to correct certain errors which appear in all the accounts 

 that have come under n.y notice, copied apparently from 

 one book into another." Mr. Jackson says of him: — "Whilst 

 we cannot admit him as the equal of his contemporaries, 

 Ray and Tournefort, who originated systems, yet the services 

 he rendered to botany at a period termed by Linnaeus 

 'the golden age,' must make his name as lasting as 

 the science. His intercourse with the leading men in the science 

 both at home and abroad was intimate and frequent ; he was 

 generous even to excess in distributing seeds and dried plants, 

 an unfailing patron of deserving naturalists, and crowned his use- 

 ful life by the bequest of Lis libraiy and herbarium (the most 

 authentic and one of the largest at the time) to the University of 

 Oxford, with the endowment of ,',,000/. for the professor of 

 botany." 



We are glad to learn that the anticipations expressed in one 

 of our recent numbers as to the management of the future office 

 for Maritime Meteorology in Germany, have been fulfilled by 

 the appointment of H err W. von Freeden to the post of director. 

 Herr von Freeden was for many years at tlie head of the Navi- 

 gation School at ElsHeth, near Bremen, and since 1867 has 

 superintended the Seewarte at Hamburg. The best results may 

 be hoped for from his long experience and his known zeal for 

 Science. 



It is requested that those members of the University of Cam- 

 bridge who desire to avail themselves of the facilities for study 

 at the zoological station at Naples, for which a grant has been 

 made from the Worts Travelling Bachelors' Fund, will send their 

 names to Mr. Foster, Fellow of Trinity College, on or before 

 October i. The nominations will be made by the Board of 

 Natural Science Studies early in October. 



An expedition is being fitted out for an exploration of the 

 Arctic Seas. Capt. Wigans, Sunderland, has engaged Mr. 



