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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



SCIENCE GOSSIP 



Shrewsbury has honoured the name of Charles 

 Darwin by erecting a bronze statue to his memory 

 in that, his native, town. 



Dr. Arminio Nobile, Professor of Geodesy in 

 the University of Rome, and author of several 

 astronomical works, has passed away. 



Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., the veteran meteoro- 

 logist, states that there have been six months of 

 July in the last forty years as dry, or drier, than 

 that recently passed, which was thought by many 

 to have been the driest on record. 



A New Irish Alga. — Professor T. Johnson 

 exhibited at a recent meeting of the Dublin 

 Microscopical Club, Streblonema minimum, a 

 microscopic alga new to the Irish marine flora. 

 It was taken at Dungarvan in October last, and 

 had been worked out by Miss M. C. Knowles. 



Mr. Rowland Ward, of Piccadilly, records the 

 capture, off the coast of Aberdeen, of a rare fish 

 (Lampris haia), the opah, or king fish. The specimen 

 weighs sixty pounds, and was, when fresh, one of 

 the most handsomely coloured of fish. 



Miss Catherine W. Bruce has given 1,500 

 dollars to Professor Rees, of the Columbia Univer- 

 sity Observatory, to be employed in publishing the 

 observations and reductions for " Variation of 

 Latitude," etc., made by himself, Professor 

 Jacoby and Dr. Davis. 



In " Science " for 25th June, Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell 

 gives an interesting account of the Virginia colony 

 of Helix ncmoralis. Many new variations different 

 from those observed in Europe have occurred 

 in the colony since they were first placed at 

 Lexington. 



We have to record the death of M. Doumet 

 Adanson, a descendant of the celebrated naturalist, 

 Adanson, who devoted his life to scientific re- 

 searches and the amalgamating of large natural 

 history collections. At his park at Baleine, he 

 had a number of species of exotic trees, some of 

 which were the only specimens in France. 



From Wady Haifa, on August 23rd, a journalist 

 describes the rapid progress, on its way south, of 

 the new Nile Railway. This line is sure to be of 

 great importance for the scientific, and especially 

 anthropological, examination of the desert region. 



He states that the mirage is seen everywhere. 

 The labourers appeared to be working into a 

 beautiful lake. " One seems to see on all sides, 

 lakes, beautiful wooded hills, ships, boats and 

 cascades. When examined through field-glasses 

 the illusion is heightened rather than diminished." 



We do not know whether the disappearance 

 of the mirage in the upper Nile Valley is similar 

 to that of the plains of North-Western America; 

 but our experience of that stage is even more 

 astonishing than its appearance. It frequently 

 goes away in patches, leaving little islets, as it 

 were, dotted about over a landscape quite unlike 

 the illusion. 



Professor Langley, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, recently received a warm welcome on the part 

 of French aeronauts at a meeting of the French 

 Academy of Sciences. In reviewing his work, 

 he stated he had obtained excellent results with 

 his steam aeroplanes. These discoveries will 

 shortly be published for the advantage of those 

 working at aerial navigation. 



The motor-carriage industry proceeds with 

 lagging steps. The handsome prize of ^1,000 

 offered by a London engineering contemporary for 

 the best cars in a competition, tailed to bring out 

 any carriage fulfilling the simple requirements laid 

 down for the trials. 



There have, however, appeared in the London 

 streets about a score motor-cabs, which are plying 

 for hire. They are driven by electric motors, 

 which are stored, with the batteries, under the 

 seat and floor of the carriage. When the driver 

 applies the break, the same action cuts oft the 

 electric current from the motor, so adding to the 

 ease of stopping. 



The meeting of the British Association was held 

 at Toronto, in Canada, commencing on August 

 iSth, when about 1,500 members and associates 

 attended, 400 of whom were from England. Sir 

 John Evans gave the presidential address, which 

 was really a defence of Archaeology as one of the 

 sciences. The subject of the address was largely 

 the Antiquity of Man. 



In the section for Geology at the British Associa- 

 tion meeting at Toronto, the President, Dr. G. M. 

 Dawson, C.M.G., F.R.S., of the Canadian Geolo- 

 gical Survey, gave a long and interesting address 

 on the " Geology of the Northern Continent of 

 America." 



Professor L. C. Miall, F.R.S., who was the 

 sectional President for Zoology, took several 

 subjects for his address. These included the 

 " Study of Live Animals," " Life-history of Eels," 

 "Life in the Deep Sea," "Adaptability of the 

 Lower Animals," and " Contrast with the 

 Vertebrates." 



Professor H. Marshall Ward, Sc.D., F.R.S., 

 President of the Botanical Section, took chiefly for 

 his subject the " Consideration of the lower forms 

 of plant-life," such as bacteria. 



The De Gerlache expedition to the Antarctic 

 regions started lrom Antwerp on August 16th, 

 under pleasant auspices and much honour. It will 

 call at several South American ports on the way, 

 and expects to reach the southern ice regions soon 

 after Christmas. 



The Treasury have appointed a Committee, on 

 which we note the names of Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. 

 and W. C. Roberts-Austenn, to report upon the 

 establishment of a national physical laboratory 

 for testing and verification of instruments, for 

 physical investigation, and the preservation of the 

 standards of measurement. 



Mr. Albert Marth, for many years an active 

 Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, died 

 recently whilst on a visit to his native country of 

 Pomerania. He was, for some time, connected 

 with the observatories of Regent's Park, Durham 

 and Malta. He was the discoverer, in 1854, of the 

 planet Amphitrite, or, No. 29. For the last nine 

 years he has had charge of Colonel Cooper's 

 observatory in County Sligo. He was sixty-nine 

 years of age. 



