28o 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Dr. Arthur Auwers, the Berlin Astronomer, has 

 been awarded a gold medal by the German Emperor. 



The German Anthropological Society have 

 elected Dr. Rudolf Virchow as President for the 

 year 1897. 



M. Gaillot has been appointed sub-director of 

 the Paris Observatory in place of M. Loewy who 

 is now director. 



At the Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java, a 

 new research laboratory is to be erected. The 

 Government of Holland have contributed |6,ooo 

 towards the expenses. 



Dr. Rudolf Mewes has undertaken the direc- 

 tion of a German Antarctic meteorological station, 

 which is to be established in Victoria Land. It 

 will be in connection with the German South Polar 

 expedition. 



Lady Prestwich is collecting material for a 

 biography of the late Sir Joseph Prestwich, and 

 will be glad if friends will forward to her any 

 letters they may possess. They will be at once 

 copied and carefully returned. 



Sir Robert Ball has been nominated as the new 

 President of the Royal Astronomical Society. At 

 their meeting of February 12th a gold medal was 

 awarded to Professor Barnard for his numerous 

 contributions to Astronomy. 



We regret to have to record the death of Sir 

 Spencer Wells, who passed away early in 

 February. He was President of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons from 1882-83, and did good service 

 both to medical science and humanity. 



The Council of the Royal Society have invited 

 Professor C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., Professor of 

 Physiology in University College, Liverpool, to 

 deliver the Croonian Lecture for this year on April 

 Tst. The subject will be " The Spinal Cord and 

 Reflex Actions." 



Professor Lippmann has been awarded the 

 Progress medal of the Royal Photographic Society 

 for his discovery of the process of producing photo- 

 graphs in natural colours by the interference method. 

 Since the establishment of the Society in 1878 only 

 ten medals have been awarded. 



On February i6th the Marquis of Salisbury 

 received at the Foreign Office a deputation of 

 representatives of science, who asked the Govern- 

 ment to establish a national physical laboratory at 

 a cost of ^30,000 for buildings and /5,ooo a year 

 for maintenance. Lord Lister introduced the 

 deputation, as President of the British Association. 



In "Nature" for February iSth there is an 

 article by Mrs. G. C. Frankland on Dr. Yersin's 

 discovery of the plague virus and its anti-toxin. 

 That the most remarkable therapeutic value 

 attaches to the anti-plague serum as now elaborated 

 at the Institut Pasteur, in Paris, is shown by the 

 success which has recently followed its application 

 in undoubted cases of plague at Amoy. Dr. Yersin 

 is now Director of a Pasteur Institute at Nha- 

 Trang, in Annam. 



The "Bulletin" of the University of Wisconsin 

 for 1897 is a carefully prepared work, entitled 

 "Analytic Keys to the Genera and Species of 

 North American Mosses," by Charles Raid Barnes, 

 Professor of Botany, revised and extended by 

 Fred De Forest Heald. A large number of new 

 species have been added to the already existing 

 lists. 



During the visit of the President of the French 

 Republic to the Pasteur Institute on February loth, 

 Dr. Roux was able to show him his experiments 

 in the cultivation of the plague microbe. Dr. Roux 

 stated that the microbe is easily destroyed by 

 antiseptics and by a temperature of 140 degrees. 

 He added, however, that this bacillus retains its 

 vitality in the soil and to this is due the epidemics 

 of the eastern countries. 



We are asked to bring before the notice of our 

 readers a work shortly to be published by Messrs. 

 Taylor Bros., Leeds, on "Wild Bird Protection 

 and Nesting Boxes," by John B. B. Masefield. 

 The work will contain, amongst other items of 

 useful information, " A full list of the Orders made 

 under the Wild Birds Protection Acts on the 

 application of County Councils, with the names of 

 the species protected." This will be very useful to 

 collecting ornithologists. 



Mr. E. Wheeler, of Clifton, Bristol, sends the 

 following cutting from " Pearson's Weekly " as an 

 instance of the " schoolmaster abroad " as far as 

 natural history is concerned. Imagine a caterpillar 

 depositing eggs! "The female of one species of 

 caterpillar tears off the fur from the extremity of 

 her abdomen to make a soft bed for her eggs and 

 to preserve them from the cold. Yet she never 

 sees her young, for after she has accomplished the 

 task of laying the eggs the caterpillar invariably 

 dies." 



Mr. Charles G. Barrett, F.E.S., records in 

 the " Irish Naturalist " the capture, by Mr. W. F. 

 de V. Kane, of several specimens of Plafyptilia 

 tesseradactyhis, L. (Fischeriz), a "plume " moth not 

 previously known to occur within the limits of the 

 United Kingdom. The specimens were taken by 

 Mr. Kane and the Hon. R. E. Dillon near 

 Clonbrock and elsewhere in the County of Galway. 

 The moth is much like Platyptilia gonodactylus, the 

 species found among Tussilago farfara, but less than 

 one-half its size. 



The Geological Society will award its medals 

 and funds for this year as follows : the Wollaston 

 Medal to Mr. W. H. Hudleston; the Murchiscn 

 Medal and part of the Fund to Mr. Horace B. 

 Woodward ; the Lyell Medal and part of the Fund 

 to Dr. G. J. Hinde; the Bigsby Medal to Mr. 

 Clement Reid ; the proceeds of the Wollaston Fund 

 to Mr. F. A. Bather; the balance of the proceeds of 

 the Murchison Fund to Mr. S. S. Buckman ; and 

 the balance of the proceeds of the Lyell Fund to 

 Mr. W. J. Lewis Abbot and Mr. J. Lomas. 



The Council of the Royal Meteorological Society 

 have arranged to hold, in commemoration of the 

 Queen's Diamond Jubilee, at the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers, Great George Street, Westminster, 

 from March i6th to 19th, an exhibition of the 

 meteorological instruments in use from 1837 to 1897, 

 and of diagrams and photographs illustrating them. 

 The Council will be pleased to receive, not later 

 than March ist, lists of articles contributors are 

 willing to exhibit and an estimate of the space 

 required. Address, the Assistant Secretary, 22, 

 Great George Street, S.W. 



