472 



NATURE 



\Oct. 8, 1874 



As there are not many works devoted to this important branch 

 of botanical science, we shall gladly welcome this book, as from 

 the well-known abilities of the authors we have every reason to 

 anticipate that it will at once take a prominent position among 

 standard works on this subject. It will be copiously illustrated. 



Dr. Humphrey, F.R.S., the Professor of Anatomy at the 

 University of Cambridge, gives notice that his course of lectures 

 on Practical Anatomy will begin on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 9 A.M., 

 and be continued daily. The course on Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy will commence on Friday, Oct. 23, at I p.m., and be con- 

 tinued on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at the same hour. 

 This course is intended for students of natural science as well as 

 for students of medicine, and gentlemen not requiring certificates 

 are at liberty to attend without fee. 



A TELEGRAM received at Hull from the captain of the schooner 

 Samson, which has just returned from a cruise in the Arctic 

 regions, announces the discovery of large beds of coal at Spitz- 

 bergen. 



The volcanic soil in the neighbourhood of Vesuvius is stated 

 to be an antidote to the potato disease and other fungoid diseases 

 of plants. It is also said that it is found of great value in the 

 treatment of Phylloxera ; this, however, remains to be proved. 



The inaugural meeting of teachers, students, and friends of 

 the College for Men and Women (with which is incorporated the 

 Working Women's College) will be held at St. George's Hall, 

 Langham Place, on Monday, October 12. The chair will be 

 taken by Mr. Thonms Hughes, Q.C., at S P.M. Tlie College is 

 established to afford to men and women occupied during the 

 day a higher education tlian has generally been within their 

 reach. The classes are taught for the most part gratuitously, and 

 the design is that mutual help and fellowship may be promoted 

 between all members of the College, teachers and students, by 

 the educational work in the classes and the social life of the 

 coffee-room. 



The Statistical Society, that has occupied apartments at No. 

 12, St. James's Square, for nearly thirty years, as a tenant of the 

 London Library, has recently changed its quarters to the house 

 formerly occupied by the Principal of King's College, and its 

 present address is Somerset House Terrace, Strand, W.C, 

 London (King's College entrance). This change has become 

 necessary by the simult.ineous growth and development of both 

 the London Library and the Statistical Society, and is therefore 

 a matter of congratulation to both institutions. 



We have to record the death, on Saturday last, of Dr. William 

 W. Fisher, Downing Professor of Medicine in the University of 

 Cambridge since 1841, wlien he succeeded Dr. Comwallis 

 Hewett. Dr. Fisher, from being an undergraduate, first at 

 Trinity and then at Downing College, became Fellow of the 

 latter, and remained so until he accepted his Professorship. He 

 was formerly physician to Addenbrooke's Hospital, and till his 

 death steward and librarian of his College. Tlie stipend of the 

 Professorship is 400/. a year with a residence in Downing Col- 

 lege ; it must be refilled within two months of a vacancy 

 occurring. 



The opening meeting of the approaching session of the Medical 

 Microscopical Society will take place at the Royal Westminster 

 Ophthalmic Ilospit.al on Friday, the l6th inst., at S p.m. 



Al.PHONSE DE Candolle, of Geneva, whose first botanical 

 memoir was published forty-five years ago, has been elected one 

 of tlie eight foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences at 

 Paris, in tlie place of Agassiz. 



M. Melsens, a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, 

 has published a pamphlet describing the verification of liglitning- 

 conductors, as practised by him in several monuments of Brus- 



sels, for ascertaining if they are in a position to conduct electricity 

 into the humid parts of the earth. The experiments were tried 

 with a Hely machine, and with Daniel elements and galvano- 

 meters. In the first Instance fifteen of the pupils of the Veterinary 

 School were employed to ascertain if they had received any 

 shock. 



TiiE reptiles of the French Museum have been removed to 

 their new home. The boas had been previously overfed, so that 

 they were as easy to handle Ijy the keepers as so many cables. 

 The crocodiles were most unm.mageable, and it was necessary to 

 use nets in order to catch them. Some of the venomous snakes 

 were tempted by food offered to them into small cages, in whicli 

 they were shut up hurriedly, and removed. Now everything is 

 right, and the several inhabitants of the reptile menagerie are 

 happy and contented in the new building which will be formally 

 opened within a few days by the Minister of Public Instruction. 



The death is announced of one of the most prominent and 

 indefatigable members of Col. Gordon's expedition, Mr. Anson, 

 who succumbed to an attack of fever on the 27th of July. The 

 deceased was the son of Admiral A.nson, and was highly esteemed 

 by Col. Gordon for his zeal and usefulness. 



M. X. DucLOUX has discovered and given the name of Kivo- 

 ti/a, or Rivotite (in honour of the memory of M. Rivot, late Pro- 

 fessor of the School of Mines, at. Paris), to a new kind of 

 mineral, which is found in small irregular masses, dispersed in a 

 yellowish-white chalk, upon the western slope of the Sierra del 

 Cadi, in the Spanish province of Lerida. 



We have received the Sixth Annual Report of the Cardiff 

 Naturalists' Society, and are pleased to notice that the year just 

 closed has proved most successful ; the number of members h.is 

 increased from igo to 288, and the finances of the society are in 

 a good condition. During , the past year, the committee have 

 organised for the first time a series of scientific and literary lec- 

 tures, which have been largely successful. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Call Ducks (Aims hosc/ias), European, 

 presented by Mrs. Wilson ; four Little Bustards (Tetrax cam- 

 peslris), European, purchased ; a Rhesus Monkey (Macaais ery- 

 ikra'us) from India ; a Solitary Tinamon ( Tiiiamus solilariiis) 

 from South America ; three Lesser Pin-tailed Sand Grouse 

 (PUj-odcs cxHslits) from North Africa ; two Cornish Choughs 

 (Fn-^ilits graculus), European, deposited. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The yournal of the Chemical Society for August contains, in 

 addition to the usual abstracts from foreign journals, the following 

 papers communicated to the Society : — On ipomroic acid, by E. 

 Neison and James llaync. This acid, obtained by the action of 

 nitric acid upon jalapin, has been shown by the authors to be 

 identical with scbacic acid. This conclusion has been arrived at 

 from a comparison of the solubility, melting-point, and composi- 

 tion of the acids. The potassium, barium (normal and acid), 

 lead, and silver salts have been prepared and examined. — Note on 

 New Zealand kauri gum, by ^I.M. I'attison Muir. The gum is 

 an exudation from a coniferous tree {Dammara Australis) im- 

 ported into this country for the purpose of making varnish. 

 The .action of different solvents .and of various reagents has been 

 tried, from which it appears that the substance is a mixture of 

 resins with a true gum, and is therefore to be classed as a gum- 

 resin. — On certain compounds of albumin with the acids, by 

 George Stillingfleet Johnson. Compounds with nitric, hydro- 

 chloric, sulphuric, orlhophosplioric, metaphosphoric, citric, 

 oxalic, tartaric, and acetic acids liave been oljtained. The 

 method of preparation consists in dialysing white of egg over 

 dilute solutions of the acids. The action ol water heated above 

 its boiling point upon these compounds lias been studied, and 

 special experiments undertaken to .ascertain the nature of the 



