April 9, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



323 



as the exemption of natural science men from the 

 classical examination known as : moderations ' 

 will shortly come into operation, there will be no 

 difficulty in this respect. A skilled anatomical 

 teacher, Dr. Arthur Thomson, has been imported 

 from Edinburgh ; and the names of Profs. Bay- 

 ley Balfour, Burdon Sanderson, and H. N. Mose- 

 ley, are a sufficient guaranty that the preliminary 

 training in botany, physiology, and zoology will 

 be thoroughly efficient. 



In the person of Mr. C. W. Peach, another 

 member of the good old school of British natural- 

 ists has passed away. He began life as a coast- 

 guardsman in the preventive service, and soon 

 acquired an intimate knowledge of the marine 

 fauna of the south of England. When not en- 

 gaged in detecting smugglers, he devoted his 

 energies to zoological and geological studies, 

 and was rewarded by the discovery of many new 

 species among the lower invertebrates, and also, 

 a point of much more importance, of traces of 

 fossil fishes in the Devonian rocks of Devonshire. 

 Later on he received an appointment in Scotland, 

 and his discovery of fossils in the altered rocks of 

 the highlands proved to be one of the utmost value 

 in the skilled hands of Sir Roderick Murchison. 

 Mr. Peach's great powers of observation and rich 

 store of knowledge were always at the service of 

 professional scientific men. Lyell and Murchison, 

 Forbes and Carpenter, Gwyn Jeffreys and Wy ville 

 Thomson, and many others, who are happily still 

 with us, knew and valued him highly. His son, 

 Mr. B. N. Peach, is a distinguished member of 

 the geological survey of Scotland. 



The American friends of the late Dr. Thomas 

 Davidson may like to know that a fund is being 

 raised by the mayor of Brighton for the purpose 

 of placing some memorial of him in the museum 

 of that town. It was the object of his constant care 

 during the many years that " he resided at Brigh- 

 ton, and it is felt that his services in the cause of 

 science deserve some permanent commemoration. 

 His library and large collection of brachiopods are 

 now in the Natural history museum at South 

 Kensington. 



Some important statements which have been 

 recently made in the house of commons indicate 

 that the government is going to form a depart- 

 ment of the board of trade which shall do for 

 England what the fishery board of Scotland and 

 the Irish commissioners of fisheries do for Ireland. 

 It is hoped that this may be the first step towards 

 the establishment of a definite board of British 

 fisheries, analogous to the department of botany at 

 Kew, the geological survey office, and other simi- 

 lar institutions. At the present time the English 

 fisheries are not under the supervision of any pro- 



fessional naturalist whatever, and their interests 

 suffer in consequence. 



Although February last was the coldest on 

 record in England, the first ten days of March 

 were colder. Only once in that period, viz., at 

 the Scilly Islands, off the south-west corner of 

 England, was 50° F. recorded at any station in 

 the British Isles. Nothing above 43° was recorded 

 in London in that period, and from Feb. 19 to 

 March 11 there was a frost every night in London. 

 Though March, 1883, was the coldest March but 

 two of this century, 52° was recorded on March 5 

 of that year. On March 19 the frost suddenly 

 broke up, terminating the twenty-four days' con- 

 tinuous skating which had been enjoyed in a 

 northern suburb of London ; and since then the 

 weather has been very mild. 



The results of the experiments in the Pasteur 

 laboratory are being watched with the keenest 

 interest. One of the Russian moujiks, who had 

 been bitten by a mad wolf, has died, but the 

 others show no sign of disease. The children 

 and other patients sent from Bradford (Yorkshire) 

 have returned thither, and are loud in praise of 

 the treatment they have received. It is rumored, 

 as a result of the question in the house of com- 

 mons mentioned in the last London letter, that 

 the government intends to appoint a royal com- 

 mission to investigate the question. The names 

 of Sir James Paget, Sir W. Jenner, Dr. Lauder 

 Brunton, Prof. Burdon Sanderson, and Sir H. 

 Roscoe, are mentioned in this connection. 



A very crowded audience assembled a few 

 nights ago to hear a paper upon domestic electric 

 lighting, by Mr. W. H. Preece, head of the elec- 

 trical department of the general post-office. He 

 expressed the opinion, that, although England 

 was beaten by so many countries in the adoption 

 of arc-lighting, she probablj- led the way in the 

 domestic use of incandescent lamps. These, how- 

 ever, were all private and separate installations, 

 many instances of which were given. The elec- 

 tric lighting bill of Lord Rayleigh. introduced 

 into the house of lords on March 19. would, if it 

 became law, remove the disabilities imposed by 

 the act of 1882. Although the nomenclature and 

 efficiency of glow-lamps was in a very unsatisfac- 

 tory state, enormous improvements had been 

 made in the dynamo since the expiration of the 

 patent monopoly. It was now the most perfect 

 existing converter of energy, and was one- 

 third the price, and its output was trebled : hence 

 it was nine times better than it was a few years 

 ago, during the existence of the patent. A lively 

 discussion followed the reading of the paper. 



Mr. W. H. Christie, the astronomer royal, 

 recently lectured at the Royal institution on uni- 



