Jan. 22, 1880] 



NATURE 



=85 



University, has been appointed to succeed Dr. Farr in the Regis- 

 trar-General's Office. 



Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., has been appointed Examiner 

 for the Medical Service of the Army in Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy, vice George Busk, F.R.C.S., who has resigned the 

 appointment. 



The first meeting of the Society of Telegraph Engineers will 

 take place on Wednesday, the 28th inst., when Mr. Preece, the 

 new president, will deliver his introductory address. 



M. Dumas, who is the Chancellor of the French Academy, 

 pronounced the speech in answer to M. Taine, the new member. 

 Everybody was struck by the spirited delivery and eloquence of 

 (he venerable perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences. 

 The house was so full that even academicians were unable to find 

 room on their benches. 



Mr. Crookes has been exhibiting his wonderful experiments 

 on radiant matter in Paris at the Ecole de Medecine, on Thursday, 

 January 8, and on Saturday, the Ilth; at the Observatory on 

 Thursday, the 15th; and at the Societe de Physique on Friday, 

 the 16th. On all these occasions Mr. Crookes met with great 

 success. M. Salle, a well-known physicist, spoke in the name 

 of Mr. Crookes, who superintended the experiments. M. 

 Gauibetta and the Ministers of Public Works and of War were 

 present at the Observatory, as well as the most influential 

 members of the Institute. 



The Times Philadelphia Correspondent telegraphs on Sunday 

 that the Edison electric lights in Menlo Park were still burning to 

 the extent of about eighty lamps. Mr. Edison, finding that defective 

 vacuums hive developed in a considerable percentage of the 

 lamps, has for several days been experimenting to improve the 

 mechanical con-truction of the glass globe containing the light 

 so as to insure a permanent vacuum. Mr. Edison's friends 

 report that he is able to overcome the difficulty. Meanwhile, 

 the manufacturing of additional lamps has been delayed, while 

 no arrangements have yet been made practically to use the light 

 in New York. 



The correspondent of the New York Herald has interviewed 

 M.Dumas, M. Niaudet Breguet, Mr. Crookes, and M. Fontaine, 

 the pre.-ident of the newly established Syndicat d'Electricite. 

 The object of the interviews was to obtain the opinion of these 

 gentlemen on the Edison light, and the results have been tele- 

 graphed to America. We can state that they are not against the 

 possibility of the success of Mr. Edison. 



We notice an important communication which was made by 

 Prof. Kessler at the annual meeting of the St. Petersburg Society 

 of Naturalists on January 8, on the "Law of Mutual Help," as 

 one of the chief agents in the development and progress of 

 organisms. Prof. Kesaler, although an able follower of Darwinism, 

 thinks that the struggle for existence would be insufficient to 

 explain the progress in organic life, if another law, that of 

 sociability and of mutual help did not powerfully work for the 

 improvement of the organisms and for strengthening the species. 

 M. Severtsoff warmly supported this view, quoting several 

 examples which prove that the unsociable birds are in a state of 

 decay ; so, for instance, although the system of robbing is 

 ideally organised by the hawks, nevertheless the species is in a 

 state of decay precisely because of its want of sociability. 



On January 10 the Russian Physical and Chemical Society 

 held at St. Petersburg its annual meeting. After the reports of 

 the secretaries Prof. Mendeleeff gave an interesting address on 

 the resistance of fluids ; he gave an historical sketch of the sub- 

 ject, and, pointing out how little it has hitherto been investigated, 

 and how important it is, he invited Russian physicists to give 

 special attention to that part of hydrodynamics. Prof. N. 



Beketoff, from Kharkofl", read a paper on the dynamics of 

 chemical reactions, and explained the electro dynamical theory 

 he proposes to explain them. Prof. Lentz made a communica- 

 tion on electrolysis, and M. Jablochkofl" exhibited his new 



galvanic element. 



M. le Bon, in rendering an account of the progress of his 

 observations on the comparative mean weights of male and 

 female skulls (Bull, of Paris Anthrop. Soc. t. v. fasc. 5) has 

 explained the precautions which he had taken to avoid errors 

 arising from considerations of the differences, bodily stature, age, 

 race, and social or civilised status. After taking all these con- 

 ditions into account, he finds a difference of 172 grammes in 

 favour of the skulls of men over those of women. He asserts 

 that while a newly-born girl has a heavier brain than a newly 

 born boy — an advantage which she rapidly loses — the women of 

 inferior races are relatively superior to those of highly civilised 

 races, in other words, woman does not advance, and consequently, 

 the differences between her and man are constantly augmenting. 

 If M. le Bon's assertions are to be accepted as facts, they would 

 undoubtedly seem to point to the necessity of bringing the oppor- 

 tunities of intellectual culture more closely within reach of women, 

 but the learned doctor predicts that the abomination of desolation 

 will fall on society if women be removed from the happy ignorance 

 of their domestic hearths. Apart from his avowed preference, 

 for women with the cerebral capacities of savages, M. le Bon's 

 memoir will be found of great use to the student of craniology, 

 by helping him to determine the mathematical relations of 

 different parts of the head, and their bearing on other parts of 

 the body. We are glad to learn that the great value of his work 

 in elucidating various obscure questions of general anthropology, 

 have secured for it the award of the Godard prize for 1879. 



At Vienna a " Verein fur Hohlenkunde " has been formed' 

 with the object of investigating caves. Everybody taking an 

 interest in this subject may become a member. The subscription 

 is only 5 florins per annum. Dr. Franz von Hauer is the 

 president, and Prof. Ferdinand von Hochstetter the vice-pre- 

 sident of the new Society. 



The next German Anthropological Congress will be held at 

 Berlin early in August next, and will be accompanied by an 

 exhibition, illustrating prehistoric times in Germany. It will be 

 closely followed by a Geological Congress to be held in the same 

 city. 



A MONUMENT of the late eminent naturalist and horticulturist, 

 Freiherr von Siebold, will shortly be erected in his native town 

 of Wurzburg. 



The Japan papers record the fact that an enormous piece of 

 coral was lately dredged up near Tosa. It is stated to have five 

 branches, the stem being 15 inches in circumference and 5 feet 

 in length. 



The Section of the Society of Arts formed in 1S74 for the 

 discussion of subjects connected with practical chemistry and its 

 applications to the arts and manufactures, has been this year 

 enlarged in its scope that it may include applications of physics 

 as well as chemistry. At the six meetings of the present year 

 the following papers will be read. The meetings are on Thursday 

 evenings at eight o'clock, and the dates have been selected so 

 that they do not clash with those on which the meetings of the 

 Chemical Society are held -.-January 22, "The Teaching of 

 Technical Physics," by John Perry, late Professor of Engineer- 

 ing Japan: February 12, " Gas Furnaces and Kilns for Burning 

 Popery," by Herbert Guthrie, C.E. ; March 11, "The Jnoxious 

 Gases Bill," by Dr. S. K. Muspratt, F.C.S. ; April 8, On 

 Recent Improvements in Benzine Colours,' by F. J. frisweu, 

 F.C.S. ; April 22, "On some Recent Advances in the Science 



