356 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 89. 



Cremieux-Jamin without giving credit to this 

 author. The matter was brought into the 

 courts at Eouen. It was stated that the pla- 

 giarism was accidental and shown that M. 

 Cremieux-Jamin had been given adequate rec- 

 ognition in thg preface, but Prof. Lombroso 

 was compelled to pay a considerable fine. 



In view of the failures to observe the solar 

 eclipse in Norway and Japan, it is fortunate 

 that the party taken to Novya Zemblya by Sir 

 George Baden-Powell obtained very good re- 

 sults. Mr. Shackleton, one of the party, has 

 written to Nature : "I obtained about eight 

 photos during totality. The most successful 

 are those at the beginning of the eclipse, also 

 at the end and the long exposure near mid- 

 totality. The two photos near the beginning 

 of totality are very interesting; the one nearest 

 the time of the beginning of totality shows, I 

 think, without doubt, as many bright lines as 

 there are in the Fraunhofer spectrum with the 

 same instrument ; so in all probability we have 

 succeeded in photographing the ' reversing 

 layer.' The plate at the end of totality also 

 shows a great many lines, but not as many as 

 the beginning ; probably they are the same as 

 those photographed by Mr, Fowler in the me- 

 tallic prominences of 1893 — certainly most of 

 them are. The long exposure near mid-totality 

 gives a good ring at 1474 K, and also one near 

 K (3969^), and several other fainter ones. The 

 spectra are not so extensive in ultra-violet lines 

 as those of 1893, probably because of the cloudy 

 state of the sky. The corona-photos have also 

 come out very well." 



According to The Lancet a new meteorologi- 

 cal observatory has recently been erected at 

 Edinburgh, about half way up Ben Nevis. The 

 principal objects are to determine, with greater 

 precision than has hitherto been possible, the 

 extent to which anticyclones descend on the 

 mountain, and to obtain records of temperature, 

 pressure and humidity for comparison with 

 those noted at the summit and at Fort William. 

 With this knowledge the inquiry into the char- 

 acter of coming cyclones as regards their shal- 

 lowness or depth, and of the occupying anti- 

 cylones, will be greatly extended, particularly 

 in view of the important practical question of 



forecasting the weather. The instruments to 

 be used are a new Fortin barometer, with ex- 

 tended scale adapted to the height by Mr. 

 Casella, of London, dry and wet bulb, and 

 maximum and minimum thermometers ; rain 

 guage, and instruments for measuring solar and 

 terrestrial radiation. The erection of the new 

 laboratory has been promoted by the Meteoro- 

 logical Society, and the observations are to be 

 made and recorded by Mr. Muir, one of 

 the assistant masters in the Edinburgh High 

 School. 



At the Electrical Congress held at Geneva 

 from August 4th to 8th the magnetic units 

 provisionally adopted by the American Insti- 

 tute of Electrical Engineers were rejected and 

 no units nor names were adopted. The Con- 

 gress, however, adopted a photometric unit 

 entitled bougie decimale, based on the . Hefner 

 amyl-acetate lamp. 



We learn from Die Natur that Dr. B. Hofer, 

 privatdocent of zoology in the University of 

 Munich, has been elected to a newly founded 

 chair of fish culture and the diseases of fishes in 

 the veterinary school of Munich. This would 

 seem to be the first academic recognition of this 

 subject and it would be an advantage if the ex- 

 ample were followed in America, where there 

 are many openings for students having a scien- 

 tific and practical knowledge of the subject. 



The Botanical Gazette calls attention in an 

 editorial article to the neglect of foreign litera- 

 ture by German botanists. Dr. Correns ex- 

 plains, in the Botanisches Centralhlatt, that he did 

 not know of an article by Prof. MacDougal be- 

 cause The Botanical Gazette is not to be found in 

 Tiibingen. It is probable that American scien- 

 tific work will not be adequately recognized on 

 the continent of Europe until an international 

 method of indexing and abstracting scientific 

 literature has been devised. In the meanwhile, 

 although the orderly advance of science is ob- 

 structed, American students have an advan- 

 tage over their foreign colleagues similar to that 

 of him wearing 'the invisible cap.' 



A CORRESPONDENT of The Lancet writes that 

 Lord Kelvin's remarks at the banquet given ii 

 his honor in July last have led to some misui 



