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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



^3 l5CIENCE GOSSIP ^i 



Dr. Duclaux, formerly sub-director of the 

 Pasteur Institute, has been appointed to succeed 

 M. Pasteur as director, and Dr. Rous is to be 

 sub-director in his place. 



Africa has claimed another scientific explorer in 

 the person of Dr. F. M. Stapff, the well-known 

 geologist, who has died while prospecting for gold 

 on the eastern side of Africa. 



We understand that the late Professor Babington 

 left his herbaria to the University of Cambridge, 

 which has also been enriched with a collection of 

 shells bequeathed by Miss Saul. 



The Montrose Town Council has been presented 

 by Miss Paton with a bronze bust of Robert 

 Brown, the botanist, who was a native of that 

 town, having been born in 1773. 



The programme of meetings of the Scarborough 

 Field Naturalists' Society's autumn session is to 

 hand. Several papers are announced to be read. 

 The Secretaries are Messrs. R. Gilchrist and W. J. 

 Clarke. 



The next volume of the "Cambridge Natural 

 History" is, we understand, to be mainly by Dr. 

 David Sharpe, F.R.S., and devoted to insects. It 

 will be issued by Messrs. Macmillanand Co. during 

 November. 



. Mr. Leonard Hcxley is anxious for the loan of 

 letters or other documents of interest relating to 

 his father, the late Prof. Huxley, in view of his 

 issuing a biography. They are to be forwarded to 

 Mr. Huxley, at the Charterhouse, Godalming. 



We are informed by Mr. F. G. Kitton that 

 the late Frederick Kitton's beautiful and typical 

 collection of Diatomaceae, numbering over 4,000 

 slides, has been purchased by Mr. Wynne E. 

 Baxter, F.R.M.S., the well-known Coroner for 

 East London. 



We have received a catalogue of the works on 

 butterflies by Samuel Hubbard Scudder, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass, U.S.A. Dr. Scudder is so well 

 known as an entomologist that his works should be 

 perused by all taking an interest in butterflies of 

 northern North America. 



The Victoria Naturalist (Melbourne, June, 

 1S95) contains a paper by Mr. C. French, jun., 

 on ' ' The Flowering Times and Habitat of some 

 Victorian Orchids." This contains a systematic 

 list of the Victorian orchids, with their habitats. 

 Mr. French's observations extend over a period of 

 nine years. 



In the "Nineteenth Century," for October, the 

 president of the Royal Geographical Society urges 

 that the time has come when a scientific expedition 

 should be made to the Antarctic Continent for the 

 purpose of improving the knowledge of terrestrial 

 magnetism. This is now at a standstill for want of 

 more recent observations in the far south, and the 

 growth of which science is of ever increasing 

 necessity from the more extensive use of iron and 

 steel in the building o f ships. 



The deepest sounding yet found in an ocean 

 recently came near being found by H.M.S. Penguin, 

 in lat. 2y 40', S. long. 175- 10' W. The wire 

 cable had run out 4,900 fathoms, when it broke 

 before touching the bottom. The deepest abyss 

 yet sounded is near Japan, and measures 4,655 

 fathoms. 



Slowly but surely the subject of auto-mobile 

 carriages is coming before the world. At Tun- 

 bridge Wells there has been an important display 

 of petroleum-driven vehicles. When we remember 

 how slowly the now familiar bicycle came to its 

 present popularity with certain classes in this 

 country, we imagine that it is only a question of 

 waiting for the horseless carriage to appear as 

 commonly on our roads. 



There was recently opened to the public in a 

 small fishing village on the Cornish coast a 

 museum, privately erected at his own expense by 

 Mr. W. E. Baily, F.L.S., F.G.S. It is at Porth 

 Enys, near Penzance, beautifully situated overlook- 

 ing Mousehole Harbour. Many of the contents 

 are of an educational character, to which have 

 been added Mr. Baily's large private collections of 

 objects appertaining to Natural Science. 



Some larvae of the dipterous family Stratiomy- 

 iidae were found this year by the Hon. J. C. Hamm, 

 in a hot spring, in Minta Count}', Wyo., U.S.A. 

 The larvae were found in a cup-shaped depression 

 at the top of a small cone about twenty inches 

 high, situated a few feet from a large sulphur 

 mound, under which the boiling water could be 

 heard. Through small apertures in the bottom of 

 the cup the hot water rose and filled it. It was in 

 this that the larvae were found. Mr. Hamm 

 estimated that the temperature of the water was 

 between twenty and thirty degrees below boiling 

 point. 



The " Proceedings of the Royal Societ)'," for 

 September, 1895, contains " The Fourth Report of 

 the Roval Societv Water Research Committee,' bv 

 Percy F. Frankland, Ph.D., F.R.S., Professor of 

 Chemistrv in Mason College, Birmingham, and H. 

 Marshall Ward, D.Sc, F.R.S., Professor of Botany, 

 Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill. 

 This report is profusely illustrated with diagrams 

 and figures showing the stages of bacterial germina- 

 tion, also several tables giving the time of observa- 

 tion, the length of the segment at that time, the 

 number of minutes between observations, the 

 approximate rate of growth per minute, and the 

 temperature. These experiments have a very 

 important bearing in the stud}? of epidemic 

 diseases. 



Ox October 2nd, Professor Elliott A. Rogers, 

 instructor of chemistry at Harvard College, New 

 York, died very suddenl\\ He dismissed his class 

 in the afternoon as usual, and went into a room 

 adjoining the classroom with a glass beaker, con- 

 taining some chemical, in his hand. Before many 

 minutes, Professor Rogers had sunk on to the floor 

 with a groan ; some of the students rushed in, but 

 found him dead. The cause of death is supposed 

 to be cyanide of potassium. Professor Rogers 

 experimented largely in quick-acting poisons, and 

 it is believed that he had just completed some 

 experiment with the beaker he held in his hand- 

 Mr. Rogers was about thirty-five years of age ; he 

 graduated in 1891, and had travelled much in 

 Europe, especiallv in Germany, where he studied 

 chemistry. He was considered one of the foremost 

 men in this branch of education. 



