652 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 96. 



diamonds. Some of these crystals are more 

 than half a millimeter in diameter. 



J. L. H. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



The Astronomische Nachrichten of October 

 5 contains an extended article by Dr. Paul 

 Harzer upon the influence of gravity on 

 the circles of astronomical instruments. 

 This subject, which was treated by Bessel 

 in the last paper he ever wrote, seems to 

 possess theoretical rather than practical 

 interest. 



The Academy of Sciences of St. Peters- 

 burg has published a careful investigation 

 of the errors of a micrometric apparatus 

 constructed for the Academy by the Messrs. 

 Eepsold. The apparatus is intended for the 

 accurate measurement of astronomical pho- 

 tographs, and its investigation has been car- 

 ried out at the Poulcova observatory by 

 Messrs. E,enz and Kostinsky. 



The Washburn Observatory has issued 

 Vol. X., Part I of its publications. It con- 

 tains Prof. Comstock's observations of dou- 

 ble stars made between the years 1892 and 

 1896. H. J. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The great physiologist, Dr. Moritz SchiflF, 

 professor at Geneva, died on October 6t]i. 



Dr. M. W. Drobisch, professor of philoso- 

 phy in the University of Leipzig, died on Sep- 

 tember 30th, at the advanced age of 94 years. 

 Drobisch was one of the most eminent of Her- 

 bart's followers, and had made contributions to 

 mathematics as well as to philosophy. 



FRANgois Felix Tisserand, director of the 

 Paris Observatory, professor of astronomy in 

 the Paris faculty of sciences, and member of the 

 Institute, died from apoplexy at Paris on Octo- 

 ber 20th. Tisserand was born January 15, 1845. 

 He was assistant in the Paris Observatory and 

 was appointed director of the Observatory of 

 Toulouse and professor in the faculty of sci- 

 ences in that city in 1873. He was appointed 

 first professor of mechanics at Paris, and later 



professor of astronomy. He was made director 

 of the Paris Observatory in 1892, in the place 

 of the late Admiral Monchez. 



The Australian geologist, Baron Heinrich 

 Freiherr von Foullon-Norbeeck, was killed on 

 August 10th by natives on the island of Guad- 

 alcanara, one of the Solomon group. He had 

 landed with a party from the German warship 

 Albatross, to explore the mountains of the is- 

 land, when the party was attacked and Foullon- 

 Norbeeck, as well as three sailors and a guide, 

 were killed. He was born in 1850, and was at 

 the time of his death chief geologist of the geo- 

 logical bureau at Vienna. 



Dr. Theodore Marbe, professor of zoology 

 at Buda-Pesth, died on September 5th at the 

 age of 80 years. He was known especially for 

 histological researches on muscles and nerves, 

 but had also made contributions to zoology, 

 and had formed in the University at Buda- 

 Pesth a laboratory of zoology and a museum of 

 comparative anatomy. 



Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mitller, the 

 eminent botanist, died at Melborne on October 

 9th. From the London Times we take the fol- 

 lowing facts : Miiller was born at Rostock in 

 Germany, in June, 1825. He obtained a train- 

 ing in pharmacy and in his leisure time devoted 

 himself to the study of botany and chemistry. 

 In 1846-47 he studied at the University of Kiel, 

 where he took the degree of Ph.D. For several 

 years he investigated the botany of Schleswig 

 and Holstein. In 1847, in order to counteract 

 a hereditary tendency to phthisis, he emigrated 

 to Australia, and at once entered upon those 

 labors for the exploration and development of 

 the continent which have only ceased with his 

 death. From 1848 to 1852 he traveled over 

 4,000 miles, mainly for botanical purposes. In 

 1852 he was appointed government botanist to 

 the colony of Victoria. In 1855-56 he accom- 

 panied as botanist the expedition under the 

 command of A. C. Gregory for the exploration 

 of north and central A.ustralia, and was one of 

 the four to reach Termination Lake, in central 

 Australia. Some 6,000 miles of previously un- 

 known land was traversed, and abundant col- 

 lections made of the various forms of vegeta- 

 tion. On Miiller' s return to Melbourne he was 



