354 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



5CIENCE GOSSIP 



Messrs. Dawbarn and Ward, Limited, of 

 Farringdon Avenue, London, have been appointed 

 English agents for the new "Journal of Applied 

 Microscopy," issued from Rochester, New York. 



M. Jules Marco, a French geologist who 

 spent most of his life in geological explorations, 

 especially in America, died on April 18th at Cam- 

 bridge, Mass. ; he was in his 74th year. Several 

 works on geology stand to his credit. 



The series of articles in Science-Gossip on 

 "The Armature of Helicoid Landshells," by 

 Mr. G. K. Gude, have been temporarily interrupted 

 in consequence of awaiting material from America. 

 This having arrived, the author will continue the 

 work in next month's issue. 



The late Solar Eclipse. — The Rev. J. M. Bacon 

 appears to have been doubly unfortunate on his 

 late Indian solar eclipse expedition, for not only 

 did he lose his gold watch, but the film with the 

 cinematographic phototograph of the eclipse was 

 found to be missing when his package arrived 

 home. 



The older Naturalists' Union of Lincolnshire 

 rather resents the formation of the new Lincolnshire 

 Science Society, which has much in common with 

 the Union for its objects. A healthy competition 

 will doubtless be to the advantage of science in the 

 county, and for the prospects of the proposed 

 Lincoln Museum. 



Among the catalogues received this month is one 

 of books on Arthropoda from the libraries of Herr 

 Staatsrath, Professor Japetus Steenstrup and Dr. 

 Wallengren, for sale by Max Weg, 1, Leplaystrass, 

 Leipzig. Many scarce and interesting works are 

 included in its fifty-four closely-printed pages of 

 over 2,000 titles. 



Among recent deaths is that of Rudolf 

 Leuckart, Professor of Zoology at Giessen and 

 Leipzig. His more important work was the study 

 of animal parasitic worms. He it was who, as 

 well as our countryman, A. P. Thomas, worked 

 out the life-history of the liver-fluke. He was 

 born in 1822, and always attained the highest 

 respect among the leading teachers of zoology. 



Professor Kirk, F.L.S., author of " Forest 

 Flora of New Zealand," and an officer in the 

 Department of Woods and Forests, under the 

 Government of that Colony, will be much missed 

 by the supporters of Natural Science at the 

 antipodes. He was an authority on the botany 

 and timber trees of Australasia, which he had 

 studied during his many years of residence in 

 New Zealand. His monographs are well-known 

 to English students, and are always regarded 

 as trustworthy and authoritative. For some 

 time, Professor Kirk held the position of Con- 

 servator of State Forests of New Zealand, and 

 he was an active member of the New Zealand 

 Institute. Professor Kirk was engaged up till his 

 death on an extensive work on the botany of 

 Australasia. 



Arrangements are in progress for an acetylene 

 gas apparatus exhibition at the Imperial Institute, 

 London. The Secretary will be Sir Henry True- 

 man Wood. 



The Norfolk County Council have obtained the 

 usual Order to prohibit the destroying of eggs of 

 any species of wild birds for one year, from May 

 ist, within the area of the Norfolk Broads. 



From the general report on mines and quarries 

 for 1897, we find the output of coal in that year 

 in Britain was 202,119,196 tons, ironstone was 

 taken to the extent of 7,793,163 tons, and oil shale 

 2,223,757 tons. 



The Rev. E. F. Linton is engaged upon a new 

 " British Flora." He is taking the " London 

 Catalogue" as his basis. We hope the author 

 will give us some synonyms, for many who know 

 plants by sight cannot recognize some of them by 

 their London Catalogue names. 



The American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science will hold its Jubilee Meeting at Boston, 

 from August 22nd to the 27th. An important 

 circular setting out the proposed arrangements 

 for the meeting has been issued. These promise 

 to be exceptionally successful. 



Professor W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., is to 

 lecture on " Butterflies " on May 10th ; and on 

 June 7th, Professor Marshall Ward, F.R.S., on 

 " A Piece of Wood," at the Whitechapel Free 

 Public Library and Museum. The admission is 

 free by ticket on previous application at either of 

 those institutions. 



The United States Senate recently passed a Bill 

 for the protection of song birds, also prohibiting 

 the importation or transportation in any parts 

 of the States or District of Columbia, of birds, 

 feathers or parts of birds for ornamental purposes. 

 Cannot a Bill be introduced into the British 

 Parliament dealing in a like manner with the latter 

 subject ? 



We would draw the attention of our botanical 

 readers to the renewal of last season's photographic 

 competition. Full particulars will be found on p. 

 353 in this number. Dr. Porter's translation of 

 the Bonn Text Book of Botany formed the consola- 

 tion prize mentioned on ante p. 19S, as awarded to 

 Mr. W. P. Winter, of Cheltenham, to whom it has 

 been duly forwarded. 



An important paper was read on March 31st, at 

 the Imperial Institute, by Mr. H. Luttman- 

 Johnson, I.C.S., on " The Earthquake of Assam." 

 He described at length some of the remarkable 

 results of the violent vibrations that lasted about 

 three minutes. These extended in backward and 

 forward movements of about seven inches. Earth 

 tremors continued for three days afterwards. The 

 area affected was about 1,500 miles by 1,000 miles 

 wide. 



A conference on meteorology, held in Paris 

 in 1S96, appointed a committee of aerostatic 

 experiment, under the presidency of Dr. Hergesell, 

 of the Weather Office of Alsace-Lorraine. This 

 committee has attained some remarkable results 

 by simultaneous balloon ascents in Paris, St. 

 Petersburg and Berlin. Some of the altitudes 

 exceeded sixteen kilometres. A special meeting 

 has been held at Strasburg to discuss these results, 

 about forty persons being present from France, 

 Austria, Germany, Russia and America. The 

 object of these experiments is to obtain accuracy 

 in forecasting. 



