SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



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SCIENCE GOSSIP 



A curious "Weeping Chrysanthemum" was 

 shown at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Societj on December lih. It was one of eleven all 

 possessing a peculiarity in the geotropic direction 

 of the branches, which were bent like those of a 

 weeping ash. but upturned heliotropically at the 

 cuds where the flowers are produced. 



THE Board of Agriculture, since the recent re- 

 tirement of Mr. Charles Whitehead from the 

 position of Technical Adviser, has made some 

 alterations in the means by which the Board 

 obtains advice on questions concerning agricul- 

 tural botany and economic zoology. It is now 

 decided that the scientific assistance required 

 shall be furnished by the Koyal Botanic Gardens, 

 Kew. and the Natural History Department, South 

 Kensington, respectively. 



In the "Journal" of the Franklin Institute Mr. 

 Edward L. Nichols writes on the use of the acety- 

 lene flame in physical laboratories. He deals with 

 various interesting points, such as the decrease in 

 illuminating power when acetylene is stored for 

 some time, especially over water. The character- 

 istics of pure acetylene flame, and the uses of 

 acetylene for the lantern, for the production of 

 high temperatures, and for photographic measure- 

 ments are also treated. 



The Anthropological Institute have decided to 

 issue a monthly record of the progress of anthro- 

 pological science. It will be entitled " Man," and 

 will include contributions on physical anthro- 

 pology, ethnography, and psychology. There will 

 also be articles on the study of language and 

 the earlier stages of civilisation, industry, art, and 

 the history of social institutions and of moral and 

 religious ideas. Special attention will be given 

 to investigations which deal with the origins and 

 earlier .stages of those forms of civilisation that 

 have become dominant. 



The medals of the Royal Society for this year 

 were presented by the President, Lord Lister, at 

 Burlington House on November 30. They were 

 awarded as follows : — The Copley medal to Pro- 

 lessor Marcellin Berthelot, For.Mem.R.S., for his 

 brilliant services to chemical science ; the Rum- 

 lord medal to Professor Antoine Henri Becquerel. 

 for his discoveries in radiation proceeding from 

 uranium ; a Royal medal to Major Percy Alexander 

 MacMahon, F.R.S., for the number and range of 

 his contributions to mathematical science ; a Royal 

 medal to Professor Alfred Newton, F.R.S.. for his 

 eminent contributions to the science of ornithology 

 and the geographical distribution of animals ; the 

 Davy medal to Professor G-uglielmo Koerner, for his 

 brilliant investigations on the position theory of the 

 aromatic compounds; and the Darwin medal to 

 Professor Ernst Haeckel, for his long-continued 

 and highly important work in zoology, all of 

 which has been inspired by the spirit of Darwinism. 



A STom I be effect thai a 



postman was rendered insensible near Great Pan - 

 don, Dear Harlow, on the evening of December 22. 

 by the shock sustained through the fall of a 

 meteoi Lte in hi- immediate proximity. 



The proprietors 0! "Knowledge" announce in 

 its issue for December thai they have arrang 

 with Mr. -M. I. Cross, one of the authors of the 

 "Handbook of Modern Microscopy," to conduct 

 the column on Practical Microscopy in that 

 journal. 



The Royal Society, in selecting for the coming 

 year as its Presidenl the eminent astronomer, Six 



William Huggins. K.C.B.. K.R.S.. D.C.L., Id.. I'. 

 Ph.D.. has well commenced the new century. Sir 

 William was born in London in 1824. He built bis 

 private observatory at Tulse Hill in 1856, and has 

 long been an authority on spectroscopic astronomy. 

 Among Sir William's recreations is the study of 

 botany. 



Death, at the age of sixty-three years, remover 1 

 on December 20 a well-known devotee to natural 

 history in the Croydon district when Philip Crow- 

 ley, F.L.S., F.Z.S.. died at his residence, Waddon 

 Hall, near that town. His connection with the 

 brewery company associated with his family name 

 had produced ample means, enabling him to amass 

 considerable entomological and ornithological 

 collections, also to take some interest in horticul- 

 ture. 



The lease of Bushey House and the surrounding 

 grounds of thirty acres in extent has been 

 assigned by Her Majesty to the Council of the 

 Royal Society for the National Physical Labora- 

 tory. The Government will also add a further 

 sum of £2,000 to the grant for building in order 

 that the extensive alterations and repairs which 

 will be necessary may be effected. This is in 

 consequence of the necessity for removal of the 

 Kew Observatory through electrical disturbance 

 from projected tramways passing from Kew to 

 Richmond. 



Writing to the " Friend," Miss Charlotte Fell 

 Smith discusses "Some Quaker Contributions to 

 Nineteenth Century Literature." In a pleasantly 

 written article she mentions several writers who 

 have added to the knowledge of natural and phy- 

 sical science. Among these are the work of Luke 

 Howard, meteorologist ; " Edward Doubleday on 

 the Nomenclature of Lepidoptera," Joseph Woods 

 in Botany. Edward Newman in Entomology and 

 Ornithology. " Henry Doubleday upon British 

 Birds." and Henry Seebohm on Bird Migration. 

 Miss Fell Smith has, however, transposed the 

 work of the Doubledays, for. although both wen- 

 eminent entomologists and ornithologists, it was 

 Henry who studied the nomenclature of British 

 butterflies and moths, of which he issued a 

 synonymic list, founded on an arrangement of 

 Gtiene, a French savant, no longer adopted by 

 scientific entomologists. Although all these 

 workers did good service for the passing time 

 during which they lived, it is perhaps worth 

 noting that there is not, we believe, one of them 

 who has left any system, or even science, which is 

 in the present day adopted by the more exact 

 investigators in it- realm. Neither is there any 

 book written by any of them which i- completely 

 relied upon by advanced student- of science at 

 this period. 



