224 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Mr. Remy Perrier has lately studied the 

 holothurians found by the " Talisman " expedition ; 

 the material being in the Museum of Paris. These 

 animals were found inhabiting immense depths in 

 the ocean. He has examined 354 individuals of 

 nine different genera, two of which are new to 

 science. 



Dr. Thomas Appleton, Science Secretary of the 

 Fulham Society of Literature, Science and Art, has 

 asked us to inform our readers that the Society will 

 be very pleased to welcome any of them to the 

 Lecture on Birds, by the Rev. J. W. Horsley, on 

 January 7th, to which reference was made ante 

 page 195. No tickets will be necessary. 



Geologists who find difficulty in naming some 

 of their specimens, will find in the December 

 number of "Natural Science" a list of specialists 

 in various groups who are willing to assist them ; 

 these include authorities on most sections, but help 

 is still required, as we no not see in the list anyone 

 to advise on trilolites, belemnites or Palaeozoic 

 brachiopods. 



. The oldest known pear-tree in Europe has 

 succumbed to one of the recent storms. It grew in 

 a garden between Toulon and Vilette du Var. It 

 was known to have been planted nearly six hun- 

 dred years ago, in the reign of Queen Jeanne, 

 whose name it bore. This venerable tree measured 

 twelve feet in circumference at the middle of the 

 trunk. 



In consequence of the difficulties raised in some 

 quarters against the use of acetylene, on November 

 23rd last there met in Paris a number of those 

 interested in its manufacture, who formed them- 

 selves into "The Societe Technique de I'Acety- 

 lene," for mutual protection, which will include 

 those who manufacture the carbide and the by- 

 products, also the larger consumers of this splendid 

 light. 



Acetylene gas, described in Science-Gossip, 

 (N.S. vol. i, page 278), is rapidly becoming a 

 recognized illuminant. It is now manufactured 

 in large quantities in Switzerland and other 

 parts of Europe, and at Niagara. The calcic 

 carbide, from which it is produced, is delivered for 

 private consumption in convenient carriers, and we 

 have lately seen in France an inexpensive and 

 admirable gasometer for generating acetylene gas 

 for private houses. 



The seventieth anniversary of the veteran guide, 

 Aimer, was recently celebrated at Grindelwald, who 

 has made upwards of one hundred ascents each of 

 the Jungfrau, the Moench, the Eiger, the Wetterhorn 

 and the Schreckhorn. Aimer was the first to climb 

 all these heights excepting the former. He is the 

 only person who has made the descent from the 

 Moench to the Wengernalp. There is not a single 

 mountain in Oberland, the Valis, the Grisons, 

 Savoy and Dauphine whose summit he has not 

 reached. 



In the November issue of Science-Gossip (page 

 164), an error appeared from some unexplainable 

 cause, to the effect that Mr. Edward Wilson, 

 F.G.S., was " the curator of the British Museum." 

 It is hardly necessary to say that it should have 

 read Bristol Museum, to which institution he has 

 written a guide. 



There died at San Remo, in December, in his 

 sixty-third year, the celebrated Swedish engineer, 

 Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and smoke- 

 less gunpowder. Originally comparatively poor, 

 Nobel commenced business as a chemist and 

 engineer with a capital of £160, and has died 

 worth over two millions sterling. He was com- 

 paratively unknown to the general public. His 

 last important invention was for the manufacture 

 of artificial silk with a form of guncotton (celluloid) 

 as its basis. 



An instance of the effect of electric light upon 

 the increased vigour of plants is notable in the 

 public gardens at Nice, where the grass is renewed 

 each year from seed. Those blades in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of the large electric lamps are 

 not only larger in size, but brighter green in colour. 

 The seeds of this grass are usually planted in the 

 middle of October on perfectly bare ground ; the 

 former crop having succumbed to the intense 

 sunshine of July and August. Within a month of 

 sowing the whole gardens are brilliantly green, and 

 it is at that period one first sees the difference 

 beyond the reach of electric rays. 



The first annual report of the'Moss Exchange 

 Club has been issued to members, and shows a good 

 record of work done during the first year of its 

 existence. More than 2,000 Mosses and Hepaticae 

 were distributed among its twenty-five members. 

 The next exchange will take place in March. 

 Mosses may be sent in to be named as specimens for 

 exchange, and in this way the Club will prove useful 

 to beginners, as well as to those who desire to have 

 help with difficult and critical species and varieties. 

 New members can still be enrolled, and should 

 communicate with the hon. secretary. Rev. C. H. 

 Waddell, Saintfield, Co. Down. 



Royal Institution. — The following are the 

 lecture arrangements before Easter : — Professor 

 Silvanus P. Thompson, six lectures (adapted to a 

 juvenile auditory) on Light, Visible and Invisible ; 

 Professor Augustus D. Waller, twelve lectures on 

 Animal Electricity ; Professor Henry A. Miers, 

 three lectures on Some Secrets of Crystals ; Dr. J. 

 W. Gregory, three lectures on The Problems of 

 Arctic Geology ; Professor Percy Gardner, three 

 lectures on Greek History and Extant Monuments ; 

 Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, three lectures on 

 The Relation of Geology to History ; Mr. Carl 

 Armbruster, three lectures on Neglected Italian 

 and French Composers ; Mr. Walter Frewen Lord, 

 three lectures on the Growth of the Mediterranean 

 Route to the East ; and the Right Hon. Lord 

 Rayleigh, six lectures on Electricity and Electrical 

 Vibrations. The Friday evening meetings will 

 begin on January 22nd, when a discourse will be 

 given by Professor Dewar. Succeeding discourses 

 will probably be given by the Right Rev. the Lord 

 Bishop of London, Professor Jagadis Chunder 

 Bose, Professor John Milne, 'Dr. G. Johnstone 

 Stoney, Lieut. -Col. C. R. Conder, R.E., Mr. Shel- 

 ford Bid well. Professor Arthur Smithells, Sir 

 Edward Maunde Thompson, Sir William Turner, 

 Mr. Charles T. Heycock, the Right Hon. Lord 

 Rayleigh and other gentlemen. 



