134 



NA TURE 



[June i i, 1896 



of knowledge, the more neetl to strengthen and train the mind 

 by which it must l)e carried, the judgment by which it must be 

 exercised ; such is the constant moral of Sir Russell Reynolds's 

 final utterance to the medical world. Was it in a spirit of 

 prophecy that he warned the subject-ridden student of to-day of 

 the danger of becoming entangled in the net of an ill-considered 

 and misunderstood technical phraseology, and of juggling with 

 words when he ought to be dealing with concrete things ? It 

 was at least the warning of a man, rarer among us as the 

 generations proceed, who had seen both sides of the intellectual 

 shield ; who was at once a scholar and a scientific physician." 



The Royal Medals and other awards made by the Royal 

 Geographical Society for the encouragment of geographical 

 science and discovery have, reports the Gcoi;raphica! Magazine, 

 been assigned as follows : — The founder's medal, to Sir William 

 Macgregor, for his long-continued services to geography in 

 British New Guinea, in exploring and mapping both the interior 

 and the coast-line, and in giving information on the natives : the 

 patron's medal, to Mr. St. George R. Littledale, for his three 

 important journeys in the Pamirs and Central Asia ; the 

 Murchison grant, to Yusuf Sharif Khan Bahadur, Native Indian 

 Surveyor, for his work in Persian Baluchistan and elsewhere ; 

 the Gill memorial, to Mr. A. P. Low (of the Canadian Survey), 

 for his five explorations in Labrador ; the Back grant, to Mr. 

 J. Burr Tyrrell (of the Canadian Survey), for his two expeditions 

 in the Barren Ground of North-East Canada ; and the Cuth- 

 bert Peek grant, to Mr. Alfred Sharpe, for his journeys during 

 several years in Central Africa. The following geographers 

 have been elected honorary correspondingmembers of the Society : 

 M. P. de SemenofT, Vice-President of the Russian Geographical 

 Society ; Prof. Dr. Karl von den Steinen, President of the 

 Berlin Geographical Society; Prof. Dr. G. Neumayer, Director of 

 the Naval Observatory, Hamburg ; Prof. A. de Lapparent, late 

 President of Council of the Paris Geographical Society ; Dr. 

 Albrecht Penck, Professor of Geography in Vienna University ; 

 Prof. Dr. Otto Petterson, of Stockholm, the distinguished 

 oceanographer ; Prof. Dr. Kan, President of the Dutch Geo- 

 graphical Society ; Sr. D. Ernesto do Canto, of Sao Miguel, 

 Azores, who has edited a series of the Archives of the Azores ; 

 Prof. H. Pittier, Director of the National Physico-Geographical 

 Institute of Costa Rica. 



The preliminary announcement of the Local Committee of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science for the 

 forty-fifth meeting, being the iourth Buffalo meeting, has just 

 been issued. The meeting of the Association itself will be held 

 August 24-28, and affiliated societies will begin their meetings 

 on August 20, and will continue till September i. On Monday 

 morning, August 24, the retiring President, Prof. Ed ward W. 

 Morley, will introduce the President-elect, Prof. Edward D. 

 Cope. On Monday afternoon the several Vice-Presidents will 

 deliver their annual addresses as follows : — Carl Leo Mees, 

 before the section of physics, on " Electrolysis and some outstand- 

 ing Problems in Molecular Dynamics " ; Alice C. Fletcher, before 

 the section of anthropology, on " Emblematic Use of the Tree in 

 the Dakotan Group" ; Ben. K. Emerson, before the geological 

 section, on " Geological Myths " ;■ Wm. E. Story, before the 

 section of mathematics and astronomy, on " Intuitive Methods 

 in Mathematics " ; William R. Lazenby, before the section of 

 social and economic science, on " Horticulture and Health " ; 

 Theodore N. Gill, before the section of zoology, on ' ' Animals as 

 Chronometers for Geology " ; Wm. A. Noyes, before the section 

 of chemistry, on " The Achievements of Physical Chemistry" ; 

 Nathaniel L. Britton, before the botanical section, on " Botanical 

 Gardens" ; Frank O. Marvin, before the section of mechanical 

 science and engineering, on " The Artistic Element in Engineer- 

 ing." Prof. F". W. Putman is Permanent Secretary of the 

 NO. 1389, VOL. 54] 



A.ssociation, ami Eben P. Dorr, of Buffalo, is the Local Secretary 

 for this meeting. 



The Geological Society of America will have a series 01 ex- 

 cursions before the meeting of the -American Association, and 

 will hold a business meeting on Saturday evening, August 22, 

 at which papers will be presented by title, which are to be read 

 and discussed in the geological section in the following week. 

 This is a departure from the custom of previous years, wher* 

 papers read before this Society detracted from the material 

 presented to the geological section. Prof. Joseph Le Conte is 

 President. Other affiliated societies, which meet two or three 

 days before the tleneral Association, are the American Chemical 

 Society (Dr. Charles B. Dudley, President), Society for the 

 Promotion of Agricultural Science (Prof. Wm. R Lazenby, 

 President), Association of Economic Entomologists (I'rof. C. H. 

 Fernald, President), Botanical Society of America (I'mf. Charles 

 E. Bessey, President), Society for the Promotion of Engineer- 

 ing Education (Prof. Mansfield Merriman, President). .\ meet- 

 ing of the American Mathematical Society will be held after 

 the close of the Association meeting. 



From a circular recently distributed we learn that Mr. W. 

 Garstang, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, will again conduct 

 a vacation course of study in marine biology at the Plymouth 

 laboratory during the ensuing summer, from July 23 to 

 August 22, inclusive. Students who may desire to join the 

 class should apply to Mr. Garstang before the end of the 

 current month. 



In a contribution to the current number of the Bicilogisches 

 Ccntralblatt , Dr. Imhof records some observations upon the 

 effects of introducing eels into certain Alpine lakes which seem 

 to him to discredit the generally received opinion that the fresh- 

 water eel spawns only in the sea. The reproduction of the eel 

 is a mystery which has hitherto baffled all attempts at solution ; 

 and naturalists may perhaps find some clue to the successfiil 

 elucidation of the problem in Dr. Imhof's communication. It 

 appears that eels were first introduced into three small Alpine 

 lakes in canton Graubtinden in the year 1SS2. In two of the 

 ponds the fish apparently died ; but in the Caumasee they 

 flourished. Extensive additions were made to the stock in the 

 lake in 1SS7. The eels still thrive well there and attain a length 

 of I "3 metres. No additions have been made to the stock since 

 1887, so that all the original eels must be at least eight or nine 

 years old at the present time. Nevertheless, it was discovered 

 last year that ynuiig eels were present in the lake : and the 

 knowledge that both sexes are represented there, combined with 

 this discovery, has led Dr. Imhof to the conclusion that the eels 

 introduced into the Caumasee have multiplied in the lake itself. 

 It should be mentioned that the Caumasee is 1000 metres above 

 .sea-level, has no apparent outlet, and is fed almost exclusively 

 by subterranean springs. It seems improbable that the presence 

 of the young eels can be due to natural imm igration. 



At the recent annual meeting of the Selborne Society, Sir 

 William Flower delivered an interesting address, which is 

 printed in the June number of Nature Notes. In the course 

 of his remarks he traced the rise and fall of local museums, and 

 pointed a moral which cannot be too widely known. He 

 said : — " A museum is started or established in sonte country 

 town, a building is appropriated, various things are brought 

 together, and the people who have done this think they have 

 done a great thing towards cultivating a love for natural history. 

 But in twenty or thirty years when you go again to that place, 

 you will see the building and most of the specimens, but in such 

 a condition that you might well think that the inscription 

 ' Rubbish may be shot here ' should be over the doorway. 

 There are a few exceptions here and there, of course, but the 



