Nov. 27, 1879] 



NATURE 



apertures, has been several times seen by Franks with a 

 5-inch object-glass ; my less acute vision with 9^ inches 

 of a silvered mirror distinguished it in 1878, not readily, 

 indeed, but quite certainly, in the absence of the primary 

 from the field. 



The variable light of the outermost, Japetus, in different 

 parts of his orbit, has long been known, and might have 

 been readily explained by a synchronism of rotation and 

 revolution, but for superinduced irregularities similar to 

 those of the satellites of Jupiter, and probably depending 

 upon a similar cause. Schroter detected differences of 

 brightness in some of the others, on opposite sides of the 

 planet : but the subject deserves a fuller investigation. 



T. W. Webb 



NOTES 

 We record with deep regret the death of John (Allan Broun, 

 F.R.S., on Saturday last, at the age of sixty-two years. Mr. 

 Broun was many years in India, as Director of the Observatory 

 of the Maharajah of Travancore, and has been resident in 

 London for the last six years. We hope next week to give 

 details of Mr. Broun's life and the valuable sen-ice? he has 

 rendered to meteorology. 



We regret to learn that Prof. A. H. Sayce is compelled to 

 spend the winter in Egypt on account of his health. We trust 

 his sojourn on so congenial a soil will quite re-establish him. 



A marble medallion of Father Secchi has been placed in 

 front of the Stilvio Observatory, 2,543 metres above the level of 

 the sea. The observatory owes its establishment to him. 



The Swedish Academy of Sciences has appointed Dr. B. V. 

 Wittrock, the celebrated algologist, to be keeper of the botanical 

 department of the Swedish State Museum, in succession to Prof. 

 N. J. Andersson, who has retired in consequence of the bad state 

 of his health. 



The works for creating an astronomical observatory on the 

 top of Etna were progressing favourably, but have been arrested 

 for some months owing to the state of the weather. The central 

 iron cupola and the telescope would have been placed this year 

 if the operation had not been prevented by the large quantity of 

 snow which fell prematurely on the mountain. This establish- 

 ment is unrivalled for its position under an admirable sky, and will 

 be placed on an immense natural platform situated at an altitude 

 of 3,000 metres above the sea. The central crater has an 

 elevation of 350 metres, and the observatory has been built at 

 its very foot. An hotel is also being built, where twenty persons 

 can find board during fine weather. 



The Municipal Council of Lyons, after a protracted discus- 

 sion, has voted a credit for raising a statue to Ampere, who was, 

 with Arago, the inventor of the electro-magnet. Ampere was a 

 Cathol.c, and the son of a magistrate who had been beheaded 

 at Lyons after the great revolution of 1793. The elder Ampere 

 had written the charge against Challier the Mmtagnard, whose 

 death caused the breaking out of civil war and the shedding of 

 the blood which deluged Lyons during so many months. 



The death is announced of the eminent physicist, Friedrich 

 von Ewald. He died at St. Petersburg on October 16 last, at 

 the age of sixty-six years. He was for many years instructor to 

 the Czarewitch. 



Friends and admirers of the late Herr Theodor Heuglin, the 

 well-known African traveller, have erected a monument to his 

 memory in the Prager Cemetery, at Stuttgart ; it consists of a 

 large erratic block from Upper Suabia, adorned with the medal- 

 lion portrait of the deceased. Prof. Kopff, of Baden Baden, was 

 the sculptor of the medallion. The monument was unveiled a 

 few days ago. 



The death is announced of Mr. Serjeant Cox, on Monday, 

 in his seventieth year. Mr. Cox was known as the author of 

 several works in physiological psychology, written mainly from 

 a spiritualistic point of view. 



At Hamburg, the resolution has been passed to erect a new 

 Natural History Museum, for which the sum of 1,000,000 

 marks (50,000/.) will be expended. It appears that through 

 the great marine trade of the city, its rich natural history collec- 

 tions are rapidly increasing year by year. Up to the present not 

 one half of these collections could be properly exhibited to the 

 public for want of space. All this will be changed when the 

 new building is completed. 



A catalogue of scientific serials, from 1633 to 1876, has 

 been recently prepared by Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, assistant- 

 librarian at Harvard College Library, and under the auspices 

 of that library, which has met the expense of publication, with 

 the expectation that the demand for the volume will refund the 

 outlay, and with the promise that, if so far remunerated, this 

 shall be the beginning of a series of "works such as may be 

 properly undertaken by a public library, and do not offer induce- 

 ment for commercial speculation." The catalogue embraces the 

 transactions and bulletins or proceedings of learned societies in 

 the natural, physical, and mathematical sciences of all countries, 

 as well as independent journals. It is the result of a large 

 amount of painstaking labour and should prove an invaluable 

 companion to those engaged in research, or otherwise interested 

 in the progress of science. 



Few local natural history societies can show a better record 

 of work done than the Torrey Botanical Club, the Bulletin of 

 which is published monthly or bi-monthly. In addition to 

 records of localities and descriptive articles of local and geogra- 

 phical interest, the pages of this publication not unfrequently 

 contain contributions of sterling value on important points of 

 morphology and physiology. Articles of this character in the 

 numbers which have recently reached us are "Notes on the 

 Relative Age and Dimensions of a Number of Different Trees," 

 by N. L. Britton, and " A Few Notes on the Abnormal Absence 

 of Colour in Plants," by A. HoKick. 



It is intended to erect a statue at Hanover in memory of the 

 late eminent technologist, Karmarsch. 



The recent Hungarian earthquakes were coupled with pheno- 

 mena of a most remarkable nature. The large island in the 

 Danube near Old Moldowa was completely cleft in two by one 

 of the shocks. From the chasm thus formed a gigantic column 

 of water shot forth partly flooding the island. On October 18 

 the giant fountain suddenly ceased to flow, but numerous funnel- 

 shaped craters had formed from which black sand and clay were 

 ejected. Near Weisskirchen the old ruins of the Castle of 

 Golubacz have fallen in completely, and in the vicinity several 

 caves were rendered inaccessible. These caves were die breed- 

 ing places of the dreaded Kolumbacs mosquitos, and if this 

 insect is thus exterminated the earthquake may, with all the 

 damage it did, have yet been of some use. Another smart shock 

 was felt at Temesvar on Friday morning last. A violent earth- 

 quake is reported from Iceland. It occurred on September 24 

 last and is ascribed to volcanic eruptions in the Krisuvik moun- 

 tains, a locality where eruptions have not been known within the 

 memory of the present generation. 



Rudolf Falb has written from San Francisco to German 

 friends to inform them that a monument in Bolivia much more 

 ancient than the times of the Incas has given him a clue to the 

 origin and development of speech and writing. He is apparently 

 incliued to recur to the Semitic hypothesis. 



At the opening meeting, last week, of the Society of Arts 

 the following prizes were awarded -.—The Gold Medal, offered 

 for the best means of saving life at sea, to Messrs. J. and A. W. 



