December 28, 1883.1 



SCIENCE. 



839 



graph-office. Moreover, iii propounding his views on 

 the universal dissipation energy and on vortex mo- 

 tion and molecular vortices, Sir Williain Thomson 

 has propounded conceptions which belong to the pri- 

 ma philosophia of physical science, and will assuredly 

 lead the physicist of the future to attempt once more 

 to grapple with those problems concerning the ulti- 

 mate construction of the material world which Des- 

 cartes and Leibnitz attempted to solve, but which 

 have been sedulously ignored by most of their suc- 

 cessors. 



One I'oyal medal has been awarded to Dr. T. 

 Archer Hirst, F.K.S., for his investigations in pure 

 geometry, and more particularly for his researches 

 into the correlation of two planes and into tlie com- 

 plexes generated by them. 



The other Koyal medal has been awarded to Dr. 

 J. S. Burdoii Sanderson, F.R.S., for the eminent 

 services which he has rendered to physiology and 

 pathology, and especially for his researclies on the 

 electrical phenomena exhibited by plants, and for his 

 investigations into the relation of minute organisms 

 to disease. In making this award, the council desire 

 not merely to recognize the merit of Dr. Uurdon 

 Sanderson's researches, especially those on the anal- 

 ogy between the electrical changes wliich take place 

 in the contractile tissues of plants and those which 

 occur in the liUe tissues of animals, but to mark their 

 sense of the important influonoe which Dr. Sander- 

 son has exerted upon the study of physiology and 

 pathology in this country. 



The Davy medal has this year been again awarded 

 in duplicate; the recipients being M. Marcellin Ber- 

 thelot, member of the Institute of France, and foreign 

 member of the Uoyal society, and Professor Julius 

 Thomsen of Copenhagen. The thermochemical re- 

 searches of Berthelot and Thomsen have extended 

 over many years, and have involved an immense 

 amount of work, partly in the application of estab- 

 lished methods to new cases, partly in devising new 

 methods and applying them to cases in which the 

 older methods were not applicable. Chemists had 

 identified a vast variety of substances, and had deter- 

 mined the exact composition of nearly all of them; 

 but of the forces which held together the elements of 

 each compound they knew but little. It was known 

 that certain elements combine with one another with 

 great evolution of heat-forming products in which 

 they are firmly miited ; while other elements combine 

 but feeblj, and with little evolution of heat. But the 

 materials for forming any general theory of the forces 

 of chemical combination were but scanty and imper- 

 fect. The labors of Messrs. Berthelot and Thomsen 

 have d<ine much towards supplying that want, and 

 they will be of the utmost value for the advancement 

 of chemical science. 



— Dr. Charles W. Dabney, director of the North 

 Carolina agricultural experiment-station, has issued 

 a circular urging the necessity of a strictly scientific 

 agricultural journal in this country, either a (piar- 

 terly or monthly. Those interested should address 

 Dr. Dabney at Raleigh, N.C. The station at Kaleigh 

 is reported to he in a prosperous condition. 



— The next number of the Journal nf the. Cincinnati 

 society of natural history will contain a biographical 

 sketch and a steel-plate portrait of the late V. T. 

 Chambers, the entomologist. Mr. Chambers was at 

 one time president of the society, and at all times 

 one of its most active members. 



— The Ohio mechanics' institute of Cincinnati has 

 inaugurated a scries of popular scientific lectures on 

 a plan pursued in former years. The lecturers and 

 the topics for this series are as follows: Prof. T. 0. 

 Mendenhall, 'The electric light ;' Prof. C. L. Mees, 

 'Molecular motion and crystallization;' Prof. F. W. 

 Putnam, 'Ancient arts of North- American nations;' 

 Dr. A- Springer, ' The cell and its functions;' Prof. 

 E. S. Morse, 'Japan;' Prof. Thomas French, jun., 

 'Sound;' Prof. W. L. Dudley, 'Water;' Prof. T. H. 

 Norton, 'Kecent advances in chemical technology;' 

 Prof. J. B. Porter, 'Mining and metallurgy.' The 

 first two of these have already been given. The others 

 will follow at intervals of about two weeks. 



— The course of free popular scientific lectures 

 just concluded by the Cincinnati society of natural 

 history was a great success. Eight lectures were 

 delivered on topics connected with zoology by mem- 

 bers of the society. They were given every Friday 

 evening from Oct. 19 to Dec. 7, and were attended 

 by as large audiences as the lecture-room would ac- 

 commodate. The lecture committee is arranging 

 for another course, to begin on Jan. 4 ; and these lec- 

 tures will treat of topics connected with geology and 

 mineralogy. 'Gems,' 'Marbles and corals,' 'Phys- 

 ical geography of the United States,' and 'Fossil 

 botany,' are some of the subjects. The officers of 

 the society deserve credit for their efforts to make the 

 institution of practical educational value. 



— It is proposed to hold during the year 1SS4. says 

 Nature, an international exhibition, which shall also 

 illustrate certain branches of health and education, 

 and which will occupy tlte buildings at South Ken- 

 sington erected for the fisheries exhibition. The 

 object of the exhibition will be to illustrate, as viv- 

 idly and in as practical a manner as possible, food, 

 dress, the dwelling, the school, and the workshop, as 

 affecting the conditions of healthful life, and also 

 to bring into public notice many of the most recent 

 appliances for elementary school-teaching and instruc- 

 tion in applied science, art, and handicrafts. The in- 

 fluence of modern sanitary knowledge and intellectual 

 ])rogress upon the welfare of the people of all classes 

 and all nations will thus be practically demonstrated, 

 and an attempt will be made to display the most valu- 

 able and recent advances which have been attained 

 in these important subjects. The exhiUition will be 

 divided into two main sections, — I. Health; II. Edu- 

 cation, — and will be further subdivided into six princi- 

 pal groups. In the first group it is intended specially 

 to illustrate the fooil-resources of the world, and the 

 best and most economical methods of utilizing them. 

 For the sake of comparison, not only will specimens 

 of food from all countries be exhibited, but the vari- 

 ous methods of preparing, cooking, and serving food 

 will be practically shown. The numerous i)rocesse3 

 of manufacture connected with the preparation of 



