;o6 



NATURE 



{Jan. 29, 1880 



and to illustrate the history of the Greek race in the ancient, 

 Byzantine, and NeoHellenic periods, by the publication of 

 memoirs and unedited documents or monuments in a journal to 

 b; issued periodically. 2. To collect drawings, facsimiles, tran- 

 scripts, plans, and photographs of Greek inscriptions, MSS., 

 works of art, ancient sites and remains, and with this view to 

 invite travellers to communicate to the Society notes or sketches 

 of archaeological and topographical interest. 3. To organise 

 means by which members of the Society may have increased 

 facilities for vUiting ancient sites and pursuing archaeological 

 researches in countries w hich, at any time, have been the sites of 

 Hellenic civilisation. 



Amongst the prizes offered by the Istituto Reale Veneto di 

 Scienze e Lettere at Venice we mention the following: — (1) 

 1,500 lire (about 58/.) " for a detailed description of the deter- 

 minations hitherto made of the mechanical equivalent of the heat 

 ■unit, investigation of causes, &c. ; (2) 3,000 lire (116/.) "for a 

 representation of the advantages which the application of physics 

 has brought to medical science, and to clinical medicine in par- 

 ticular ;" (3) 3,oco lire "for a summary of the recent investiga- 

 tions in theoretical hydrodynamics, followed by a representation 

 of the true and essential progress made in this part of scientific 

 mechanics ; " (4) 3,000 lire "for a description of the most recent 

 hypotheses in physical science concerning the phenomena of 

 light, heat, electricity, and magnetism, followed by an indication 

 of the changes which scientific language would have to undergo 

 in order to be in accordance with the best founded theories, this 

 indication to be illustrated by some examples describing some of 

 the principal phenomena." The competition for the first and 

 fourth of these prize-themes ends on March 31 next, that for the 

 second and third on March 31, 1881. For further details we 

 must refer our readers to the Institution itself. 



On his passage through Rome, Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs was 

 received in special audience by the King of Italy, who personally 

 ■decorated the great traveller with the Commander Cross of the 

 Italian Order of the Crown. 



The Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin has awarded the 

 Bressa prize for the four years 1875 to 1878, to Mr. Charles 

 Darwin. 



We had occasion some time ago to call attention to the excel- 

 lent scientific work which is being carried on at the Carlsberg 

 Laboratory, Copenhagen. This laboratory of research, it will 

 be remembered, was founded and endowed by Mr. J. C. 

 Jacobsen with the intention of aiding, as far as possible, in 

 placing upon a secure scientific basis the technical processes of 

 brewing and malting. We have now before us a Report of the 

 work carried out during the past year. This is published under 

 the title of " Meddelelser fra Carlsberg Laboratoriet " by the 

 committee of management appointed by the Royal Danish 

 Academy of Sciences. The original report is in Danish and is 

 accompanied by a very full restimi in French. We append the 

 titles of the principal papers embodied in the Report : — "Con- 

 tributions a la Connaissance des Organismes qui peuvent se 

 trouver dans la Biere et le Mout de Biere et y vivre," par E. Chr. 

 Hansen. " Sur l'lnfluence que l'lntroduction de 1'Air atmo- 

 spherique dans le Mout qui fermente exerce sur la Fermenta- 

 tion," par E. Chr. Hansen. "Recherches sur les Ferments 

 producteurs de Sucre," par J. Kjeldahl. (1) Recherches sur la 

 Diastase; (2) Recherches sur la Ptyaline (Diastase de la Salive). 



With regard to distinguishing artificial from natural butter, 

 M. Donny remarks, in a recent note to the Belgian Academy, 

 that the two behave very differently when heated between 150 

 and 160 degrees in a cap.-ule or test-tube. At this temperature 

 artificial butter produces very little froth, but the mass undergoes 

 a sort of irregular boiling, accompanied by violent jerks which 



tend to project some of the butter out of the vessel. The mass 

 grows brown, but this is by reason of the caseous matter separat- 

 ing out in clots on the walls ; the fatty portion of the sample 

 sensibly retains its natural colour. Natural butter, on the other 

 hand, heated to 150° or 160° produces abundant froth, the jerks 

 are much less pronounced, and the mass grows brown but in a 

 different way. A good part of the brown colouring matter 

 remains in suspension in the butter, so that the whole mass has 

 a characteristic brown aspect similar to that of the sauce called 

 au beurre noir. All natural butters behave thus, and it is 

 strange, M. Donny says, that this simple method of distinguish- 

 ing natural from artificial butter has not been indicated before. 



A UODY of Russian savatis is expected to go next spring 

 into the Slavonic Balkan provinces to study their geology and 

 ethnographicaliy examine the palatograph ic architectural remains. 

 The expenses of this expedition are to be defrayed by the Russian 

 Geographical Society and a Slavonic committee. 



The death is announced at New Braunfels, in Texas, of 

 Ferdinand Lindheimer, a German botanist, long settled in 

 Texas, for the botany of which he did much by the valuable 

 collections he made. 



Several shocks of earthquake were felt at Havana on the 

 night of January 22. On Sunday last two slight shocks were 

 felt at Carlsruhe. 



A MUNICH correspondent describes an interesting anatomical 

 model recently constructed by Prof. Rutlinger of that city. The 

 model represents a whole human body, life-size, which can be 

 taken to pieces in eight different ways. The sixteen section 

 planes thus obtained show most minutely all anatomical details. 

 The model was executed, under the learned professor's direction, 

 by Messrs. Zeiller. 



The Gazelle de Lausanne of January 20 publishes a very in- 

 teresting letter by Dr. Forel, on the probability of the Lake of 

 Geneva being frozen during this winter. After having made 

 several measurements on January 15, Dr. Forel proved that the 

 temperature of water throughout the lake (at a certain distance 

 from the shores) was on that day equal to 5° 2 Celsius. Now 

 comparing this figure with the temperature of water measured at 

 various depths on October 23, 1879, he concludes that the water 

 of the lake has lost during eighty-five days no less than thirty 

 calorific units for each square centimetre of its surface, and that 

 it must lose twenty-four units more to reach the temperature of 

 maximum density (4° Celsius), when a superficial freezing might 

 become possible. The laws of freezing are but imperfectly 

 known ; but applying to the Lake of Geneva the results of 

 measurements he has made during December last on the frozen 

 Lake Moiat, Dr. Forel concludes that the waters of the former 

 lake must lose eight calorific units more to lower the temperature 

 of the water at the surface to the freezing-point. Thus the 

 waters of Lake Leman must lose altogether thirty-two calorific 

 units per square centimetre of surface before any freezing would 

 become possible. The lake having lost but thirty units from 

 October 23 to January 15, we ought to experience a period of 

 cold of the same intensity as that which was experienced during 

 the last three months, for the freezing of the lake. But, accord- 

 ing to the computations of Prof. Plantamour, it would be highly 

 improbable that the cold December of 1879 should be foUowed 

 by a January as cold as that of 1830. Thus, it is highly 

 improbable that the Lake of Geneva will freeze during this year, 

 but it is possible that the " Little Lake " (i.e., its south-western 

 part) might freeze in January. January, however, is near an 

 end, and we have not yet heard of the lake being frozen. 



The ice on the Loire continues to occupy the French 

 engineers. The works are proceeding actively but not very 



