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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The death of Sir Richard Thome Thorne, the 

 principal medical officer of the Local Government 

 Board, removes one of the enthusiasts in the crusade 

 against consumption, and a man who has done a very 

 great deal for sanitary science. 



At the last meeting of the Essex Field Club, held 

 at Jermyn Street Museum, a woodlouse, new in the 

 fauna of the British Isles, was exhibited. Its name is 

 Poxellio ratzburgi Brandt, and it was found at Warley 

 by Mr. Wilfred Webb, who is working out the 

 land Isopoda of the county of Essex. 



Messrs. Longmans have in the press an English 

 editionof "Malaria, accordingto the New Researches/' 

 by Professor Angelo Celli, Director of the Institute 

 of Hygiene, University of Rome. It is translated by 

 John Joseph Eyre, M.R.C.P., L.R.C.S.Ire. 

 Ph.D. Cambridge. With corrections and additions 

 made for this translation by the Author. 



Professor E. A. Schafer has received from the 

 University of Edinburgh grants from the Moray Fund, 

 towards the expenses of his researches on the cerebral 

 nervous system. Dr. John Malcolm has received 

 funds from the same source for experiments on the 

 alterations in bone marrow produced by nucleins and 

 their allies. 



The famous herd of Chillingham wild white cattle 

 are given a new owner by the death of Lord 

 Tankerville, at the advanced age of ninety. We 

 might point out that too careful preservation of a 

 strain may cause it to deteriorate, while the 

 occasional gift or exchange of an individual cow 

 or bull might be of advantage to two herds. 



We regret to record the death, at the age of 68, of 

 Mr. R. James Gregory, the well-known dealer in 

 geological specimens, which took place on December 

 15th. Our readers will doubtless recall that the recent 

 articles upon "Meteorites" in our pages were founded 

 upon the very fine collection of these bodies, one of 

 the best in existence, in the possession of the late 

 Mr. Gregorv. 



When the Boer War broke out there were on the 

 way to Pretoria, for the South African Republic, 

 several insect cabinets consigned to the order of that 

 Government, by Messrs. Janson and Sons, of Great 

 Russell Street, London. What has become of these 

 valuable cabinets since they left Cape Town cannot 

 be discovered, as they were in transit up country when 

 war was declared. Their value much exceeds ^100. 

 All those who are fond of pictures of animals 

 should manage to get a ticket for the "One Man 

 Show " by Mr. Henry Stevens, at the Camera Club. 

 It will be open all through January. We have seen 

 many beautiful photographs of living animals at the 

 Zoo by professional photographers, and of creatures « 

 in their haunts by field naturalists who have made 

 this kind of work their special study, but in none 

 is the perfection of detail to be seen which 

 characterises Mr. Stevens' charming creations. 



Among the Lecture Arrangements at the Royal 

 Institution before Easter are, Mr. C. Vernon Boys, 

 Six Christmas Lectures, specially adapted for young 

 people, on Fluids in Motion and at Rest ; Professor 

 E. Ray Lankester, Twelve Lectures on the Structure 



and Classification of Fishes ; Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, 

 Three Lectures on The Senses of Primitive Man ; 

 Professor H. H. Turner, Three Lectures on Modern 

 Astronomy ; and The Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, 

 Six Lectures on Polarised Light. The Friday Even- 

 irg Meetings will begin on January 19th, when a 

 Discourse will be given by the Right Hon. Lord 

 Rayleigh, on Flight. 



By the death of Sir Henry Tate, Bart., science and 

 general education, as well as art, lose a liberal patron. 

 Born the son of the Rev. W. Tate, at Chorley, in 

 Lancashire, in 1819, he died at his house on 

 Streatham Common, in his 81st year. His mag- 

 nificent gifts to the nation included the recently- 

 erected Tate Art Galleries for the reception of 

 modern masterpieces, ^50,000 to University College, 

 Liverpool, ^10,000 to Owen's College, Manchester, 

 numerous educational scholarships, several public 

 libraries, and ,£30,000 for an homoeopathic hospital. 



Early in the New Year, Mr. John C. Nimmo will 

 publish the first volume, by Professor Sayce, of 

 Oxford, of " The Semitic Series." This is a set of 

 new standard handbooks intended to present com- 

 pactly, and in popular scientific form, the more 

 important facts in the history, religion, government, 

 language, and customs, of the Babylonians, Assyrians, 

 and allied Semitic races of ancient history. The first 

 issue is : " Babylonians and Assyrians' Life and 

 Customs, with special reference to the Contract 

 Tablets and Letters," by the Rev. A. H. Sayce, 

 Professor of Assyriology at Oxford. Other volumes 

 will follow at regular intervals. 



One of the saddest events in connection with the 

 siege of Ladysmith was the death of Arthur C. Stark, 

 M.B. , who was killed at his own door by an enemy's 

 shell bursting at his feet. Fie lived only a few 

 moments, exclaiming "look after my cat." This has 

 been treated as one of the humours of the war ; but 

 as explained by one of his relatives, the last word 

 could only have been the first part of the word cata- 

 logue, and that he died before completing his sentence. 

 Dr. Stark was engaged when the war broke out, in 

 obtaining material for a book on the birds of South 

 Africa. This was to have been the first of a series on 

 the fauna south of the Zambesi, edited by Mr. 

 Sclater, the Director of the Cape Town Museum. 



It is with very greatest regret that we have to 

 record that our contemporary " Natural Science" has 

 had to own itself eliminated in the struggle for 

 existence. It was originated in 1892 by some of the 

 staff of the British Natural History Museum. The 

 magazine soon became important on account of its 

 straightforward and trenchant criticism as well as by 

 reason of the valuable matter that specialists con- 

 tributed to its columns. Only the Natural History 

 Sciences were considered. If there is one branch 

 one could pick out as having been typical of " Natural 

 Science" it would be that philosophic biology which 

 Darwin's work has pre-eminently helped to evolve 

 from the older Natural History. 



We recently received from the Warwick Trading 

 Company, Ltd., of Warwick Court, High Holborn, 

 an extensive and classified catalogue of new Cinemato- 

 graph Films covering a variety of interesting subjects 

 in motion. As we went to press a supplementary list 

 to the foregoing reached us, chiefly devoted to 

 subjects connected with the war in the Transvaal, 

 though there are more general subjects included. 



We regret to report that Mr. Carrington, our 

 editor, was taken very seriously ill a few days before 

 Christmas. We are, however, glad to be able to add 

 that, at the time of going to press, his condition has 

 changed for the better, and we sincerely hope the 

 improvement will be maintained. 



