Decembke 13, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



805 



observations, and they will not be resumed for 

 some time. 



A CABLE despatch fi'om Naples states that 

 Mount Vesuvius is in a state of eruption. Three 

 distinct torrents of lava are flowing from Atrio 

 del Cavallo, burning chestnut groves along their 

 path and falling into the Vetrana precipice, be- 

 tween Monte Somma and Colline del Salvatore. 



Me. Heney Seebohm, the well-known 

 British ornithologist, died in London, Novem- 

 ber 26th. He was an honorary member of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union. 



The Sixth International Congress of Otology 

 will be held in London, in 1899. 



The First Lord of the English Admiralty does 

 not wish to receive a deputation at the present 

 time on the subject of the renewal of Antarctic 

 exploration under Government auspices ; the 

 reason being that all the resources of the Navy 

 are at present required to place the English 

 Fleet in a state of efficiency. Mr. Goschen ex- 

 presses himself, however, as in sympathy with 

 Antarctic exploration. A meeting of the com- 

 mittee that has been taking the lead in the 

 movement will be held in a few days, and it is 

 possible that they may decide to make an effort 

 to interest the nation so far as to lead to a sub- 

 scription sufficient to send out an expedition 

 prepared to do two or three years' continuous 

 work. 



According to The Lancet the foundation stone 

 of a Museum of Anatomy and Surgery has been 

 laid in St. Petersbui-g. The construction of 

 such a museum was suggested by Prof. Ratimof, 

 who is now President of the Pirogoff Chirurgical 

 Society, and it is to be called the Pirogofi" 

 Museum. The scheme was well seconded ; the 

 Government provided 30,000 roubles towards 

 the purchase and reconstruction of a building 

 to contain the museum, and a sum of 60,000 

 roubles bequeathed to the Society by the late 

 Countess Musin-Pushkin, to be expended on 

 some memorial to the great Russian surgeon, 

 has been put aside as an endowment of the new 

 museum. The Society has purchased a building, 

 used as a Government store since the time of 

 the Empress Anna, appropriately situated on 

 the banks of the Neva not far from the Army 



Medical Academy and the large military hospital 

 named after Sir James Wylie. The museum 

 will be arranged on the lines of the Hunter col- 

 lection in Lincoln's-inn-fields, London, and that 

 of Dupuytren in Paris. 



A RECENT return shows that during the year 

 1894 the cost of alcoholic drink consumed per 

 head in England, Scotland and Ireland was re- 

 spectively £3 17s. 4d., £3 Is., and £2 2s. 8d. 



The following results of experiments relating 

 to the growth of trees at different times of the 

 day have been sent to Knowledge by Mr. E. H. 

 Thompson, the Government entomologist of 

 Tasmania. Measurements were taken as far as 

 possible every three hours, with the following 

 results: 



From 6 a. m. to 9 a. m 8| per cent, of growth. 



" 9 a. m. to noon l^^ " " 



noon to 3 p. m No growtli. 



3 p. m. to 6 p. m " 



6 p. m. to 9 p. m IJ per cent, of growth. 



9 p. m. to 12 p. m 3j " " 



12 p. m. to 6 a. m 85 " " 



The greatest growths in twenty-four hours 

 were banksia rose, six and a-half inches ; ge- 

 ranium, five and three-quarter inches ; wattle, 

 four and one-third inches ; apple, two and a- 

 quarter inches ; pear, one and a-third inches. 



On November 1st a laboratory for study and 

 research was opened in connection with the 

 school of physical and industrial chemistry at 

 42 Rue Lhormond, Paris. By paying a fixed 

 sum monthly to the city, anyone desiring to 

 work in this laboratory will have all its facilities 

 at his disposal. 



The publishers of Knowledge announce that 

 the first colored astronomical plfvte ever issued 

 in the magazine will appear in the January 

 number. This will take the form of a colored 

 drawing of Jupiter, which has been executed by 

 Mr. N. E. Green, and reproduced by a special 

 process. Amongst the special features for the 

 new year there will be a paper on ' Scientific 

 Geography in England,' by Dr. H. R. Mill, of 

 the Royal Geographical Society, and the follow- 

 ing series of illustrated articles : Mr. Vaughan 

 Cornish, M. Sc, on 'Waves;' Mr. Theo. G. 

 Pinches, on ' Akkadian and Babylonian An- 



