288 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



administration of policemen's discipline to so- 

 called drunken cases in hot weather. Most 

 frequently such cases are suffering far 

 more from other causes than from liquor 

 — from debility, heat-stroke, or some other 

 cause peculiar to or resulting from the 

 weather — added to a degree of intoxication 

 which under ordinary circumstances might 

 not attract an officer's attention — not un- 

 frcquently from the policeman's club or 

 rough handling. The thing they need is medi- 

 cal attention, or at least medical examination, 

 before being thrust into a hot, close cell. 



The meeting of the British Association 

 for this year is to be held at Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, under the presidency of Prof. W. H. 

 Flower, F. K. S. The presidents of the va- 

 rious sections are as follows : A, Mathemati- 

 cal and Physical Science, Captain W. De 

 W. Abney, R. E., C. B., F. R. S— B, Chemi- 

 cal Science, Sir I. Lowthian Bell, F. R. S. — C. 

 Geology, Prof. James Geikie, LL. D., F. R. S. 

 — D, Biology, Prof. J. S. Burdon-Sanderson, 

 M. A., M. D., LL. D., F. R. S .— E, Geography, 

 Colonel Sir Francis de Winton, K. C. M. G., F. 

 R. G. S. — F, Economic Science and Statistics, 

 Prof. F. T. Edgeworth, M. A., F. S. S.— G, 

 Mechanical Science, William Anderson, M. 

 Inst. C. E.— H, Anthropology, Prof. Sir W. 

 Turner, LL. D., F. R. S. 



A Botanical Congress has been called 

 by the Botanical Society of France, to be held 

 in Paris in August, for the presentation and 

 discussion of treatises on botanical subjects, 

 pure or applied. Particular attention will 

 be given to considering the usefulness of es- 

 tablishing joint action looking to the prepa- 

 ration of maps showing the distribution of 

 species and genera over the globe; and to 

 the characters for classification furnished by 

 anatomy. 



The French Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science will meet in Paris, August 

 8th to 15th. 



An affection similar to sunstroke is de- 

 scribed by the " British Medical Journal " as 

 produced by the electric light, and is called 

 " electric-light stroke." It is very liable to 

 attack the men working at the electric fur- 

 nace of the Creuzot steel-works. As the 

 heat emitted by this furnace is not felt to 

 any great degree, the fact lends probability 

 to the supposition that the "stroke" is an 

 effect of light rather than of heat. 



The French Academy of Sciences offers 

 for 1889 the Prix Vaillant, of three thou- 

 sand francs, for the best work on diseases of 

 cereals in general; a grand prize of three 

 thousand francs for the complete study of 

 the embryology and development of any ani- 

 mal ; the Prix Breant, of one hundred thou- 

 sand francs, for a specific against cholera ; 

 and a prize of five hundred francs for a 

 theoretical and practical essay on the prog- 

 ress of aerial navigation since 1880. 



OBITUARY NOTES. 



M. Chevreul died at his home in Paris, 

 from natural exhaustion of his vital force, 

 April 9th, at the age of one hundred and 

 two years, eleven months, and nine days. 

 He had lived very quietly since the celebra- 

 tion of the completion of his one hundredth 

 year, August 31, 1886. He was accustomed , 

 to drive daily to see the progress made in 

 the erection of the Eiffel Tower. His son, M. 

 Henri Chevreul, had recently died ; and, al- 

 though the fact had not been communicated 

 to him, he seemed to have some suspicion of 

 it, and to be anxious. On his return from 

 his last drive, the Wednesday before his 

 death, he was very weak, and had to be 

 helped, with some difficulty, up to his apart- 

 ments ; and it was evident that the end was 

 approaching. He sank gradually, without 

 pain, till the morning of the 9th, when he 

 expired. 



Charles Martins, an eminent student in 

 several branches of science, died in Paris, 

 March 7th, in his eighty-third year. He was 

 appointed a Fellow in Natural History in the 

 Faculty of Medicine in 1839 ; lectured on 

 geology at the Sorbonne ; became Professor 

 of Botany at Montpellier in 1851 ; was elected 

 to the Academy of Sciences, Section of Rural 

 Economy, in 1863. He was also a great 

 traveler ; in his long career, he devoted him- 

 self with equal success to the study of me- 

 teorology, physics, botany, paleontology, 

 comparative anatomy, and physiology. 

 Wherever he went, he studied alike the cus- 

 toms, fauna and flora, and the physical phe- 

 nomena of the region, and he described 

 them all in his book, " From Spitzenberg to 

 the Sahara." With Bravais and Lepileur he 

 ascended Mont Blanc in 1844, and verified 

 the results which De Saussure had reached. 



Prof. Donders, of the University of 

 Utrecht, one of the first of contemporary phys- 

 iologists, has recently died. He was the au- 

 thor of valuable studies on accommodation 

 (of eye-sight), binocular vision, astigmatism, 

 and phonation, which have become stand- 

 ards. 



The Rev. Dr. Frederick A. P. Barnard, 

 late President of Columbia College, died at 

 his home in this city, April 27th, a few days 

 less than eighty years of age. We gave 

 a sketch of his earlier life in the " Month- 

 ly" for May, 1877, and purpose to publish 

 in a future number a fitting memorial of the 

 great services which he rendered to the cause 

 of education. 



M. G. Meninghini, Professor of Geology 

 in the University of Pisa since 1849, died 

 January 29th, seventy-eight years of age. 



Signor Angelo Genocchi, President of 

 the Academy of Sciences of Turin, died 

 March 7th, aged seventy-one years. 



