SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
85 
Rosse's great telescope is a hoiiseLold word, as it were, with observers. To 
the uninitiated it represents something mysteriously powerful, while to 
those who are acquainted with the difficulties connected with instruments 
of such a size it shows what indomitable perseverance and energy can 
ultimately accomplish. Sir William Herschel’s great reflector at Slough 
was four feet in aperture j the first completed by Lord Rosse was three 
feet 5 but he did not rest satisfied with this, and with enormous trouble and 
expense succeeded in bringing to perfection the great reflector of six feet 
aperture. In 1850 the results of this great undertaking were laid before 
the Royal Society. Lord Rosse’s name as an observer is principally con- 
nected with the nebulae, many of which, hitherto considered irresolvable, 
were broken up into stars by the great telescope at Parsonstown, while 
others, hitherto not distinguished by peculiarity, were found to possess the 
most singular spiral forms. Lord Rosse was born in 1800, and succeeded 
his father in 1841 ; he became President of the Royal Society in 1849. Ilis 
death took place on the 31st of October last. 
Loj'd Wrottesley died but a few days previously to the subject of our 
first notice, on the 27th of October, at the age of 69. He was one of the 
founders of the Royal Astronomical Society, and succeeded Lord Rosse as 
President of the Royal Society in 1855. His first observatory was situated 
at Blackheath, where he installed Mr. Hartnup, now director of the Liver- 
pool Observatory, as his assistant. Here he completed a valuable catalogue 
of stars, for which, in 1839, he received the gold medal of the Astronomical 
Society. He established his observatory at Wrottesley in 1841. 
Sir James South also died in the month of October last year, at the age 
of 82. In like manner one of the founders of the Royal Astronomical 
Society, he took the greatest interest in its early proceedings, and was some 
time its President. In conjunction with Sir John Herschel, he compiled a 
valuable catalogue of double stars, which is still a standard of reference, 
and has been extensively used in all works on the subject : a full description 
of the instruments used in the observations made for it is to be found in 
the Philosophical Transactions for 1825. At the time of his death, his 
observatory at Campden Hill was furnished with a variety of large and 
valuable instruments \ and although his great age and increasing infirmities 
have caused his name to be little mentioned of late years, he took the 
greatest interest in astronomy up to the last. 
BOTxiNY. 
Effect of Electricity on Plants. — In a memoir quite recently presented to the 
French Academy, M. Blondeau — whose researches on the sensitive plant 
were chronicled in our last number — described the peculiar influence which, 
according to his experiments, the induced electric current exerts on the seeds 
and fruits of plants. In the case of the fruit the effects of the current were 
not so remarkable as in that of the seeds. It caused the former to ripen 
with greater rapidity than usual, but it produced very singular results when 
passed through the seed. Peas and grains of corn which had been electrified 
were placed in pots of earth, and beside them, and under like conditions. 
