writing, and arithmetic, and into these schools not only the soldiers and their children, but also the children of the neighbouring citizens and peasants were admitted gratis." Military schools of industry were also established where the soldiers learned useful trades; thus the military clothing was spun, woven, and made up by the soldiers themselves; roads and other public works were made and erected, and the men were permitted to hire themselves out in garrison towns. Besides this the soldiers were used as industrial missionaries for the introduction of improvements in agriculture, manufactures, &c. The potato, until then almost unknown in Bavaria, was thus introduced by the aid of Thompson's military gardens or model farms. One of these gardens still remains, viz. the well-known "English Garden" at Munich.

Still more remarkable was his success in radically curing the overwhelming curse of Bavaria, which was infested with hordes of beggars and vagabonds that had defied every previous effort of suppression or diminution Here again the same strictly philosophical method of proceeding was adopted. Human materials and motives were handled precisely as we manipulate the physical materials and forces of the laboratory, and the results were similarly definite, reliable, and successful. The scientific social reformer not only cleared the country of its rogues, vagabonds, and beggars, but made their industry pay all the expenses of their own feeding, housing, and clothing, besides those of the industrial and general education of themselves and their children. In addition to all this they made clothing for the military police who took them into custody, and earned a handsome net profit in hard cash.

It is not surprising that such success should have earned for him a long list of Bavarian honours and titles which need not be here recounted, and that he should now appear as "Count of the Holy Roman Empire and Order of the White Eagle," or, as better known to us, in the title of his own choice, "The Count of Rumford." Neither need we be surprised that his health should fail, and that in spite of repose and change of scene we next find him lying dangerously ill at Naples.

On his recovery he returns to England, and while busily engaged there in literary and scientific work, is suddenly recalled to Munich, which now has the Austrians at its gates, and is simultaneously threatened by the French. Matters become so serious that the Elector saves himself by flight, only eight days after Rumford's arrival ; but before leaving the monarch hands over to the philosopher the command-in-chief of the army, and the practical dictatorship of the capital. During the three months of this supreme command Rumford succeeds in overawing and checkmating both French and Austrians, and saving the city, after which the Elector returns.

This is the climax of the great philosopher's career, and now we find him a second time stricken by dangerous illness. On recovering he returns to London, founds the Royal Institution, publishes his essays, and then leaves England for the last time to reside in Paris, where he marries the "Goddess of Reason," Madame Lavoisier.

Here the curtain falls upon all his greatness, for though but fifty-two years of age, the brilliant career of the Count of Rumford is ended, and the subsequent scenes of his life display a miserable contrast with all that preceded them.

His biographers are evidently puzzled by what follows, and painfully seek apologies for his matrimonial squabbles, his general irritability, his morose seclusion, and the small results of the fussy labours of the last ten years of his life. My own theory is that the illness at Munich where he describes himself as being "sick in bed, worn out by intense application, and dying, as everybody thought, a martyr to the cause to which I had devoted myself "—was followed by chronic and permanent cerebral disease, and that the gradually developing change of character which he displayed from the date of his return to England in 1798, until his death in 1814, was but a natural symptom of this growing malady.

Present space does not permit me to state in detail the evidence upon which I base this conclusion, but I cannot conclude without protesting against the explanation of Cuvier, who in his Eloge states that "It would appear as if, while he had been rendering all these services to his fellow-men, he had no real love or regard for them. It would appear as if the vile passions which he had observed in the miserable objects which he had committed to his care, or those other passions, not less vile, which his success and fame had excited among his rivals, had embittered him towards human nature." Cuvier, if I am right, only knew the diseased wreck of the brilliant, courteous, and even fascinating "soldier, philosopher, and statesman,” and I suspect that the unjust oblivion of his merits which so speedily followed his death, was largely due to the bad impression made, not only upon the French Academicians, but also upon his Royal Institution associates, by the moral obliquities and eccentricities due to a diseased brain.

The main interest of the career of this wonderful man appears to me to lie in this, that it affords a magnificent demonstration of the practical value of scientific training, and the methodical application of scientific processes to the business of life. I have long maintained that every father who is able and willing to qualify his son to attain a high degree of success either as a man of business, a soldier, a sailor, a lawyer, a statesman, or in any other responsible department of life, should primarily place him in a laboratory where he will not merely learn the elements of science, but be well trained in carrying out original physical research, such training being the best of all known means of affording that systematic discipline of the intellectual and moral powers upon which all practical success in life depends. The story of Count Rumford's life, and the lesson it teaches, afford most valuable evidence in support of this conclusion, and cannot fail powerfully to enforce it.

This subject is specially important at the present moment, particularly to those Englishmen whose minds are still infested with the shallow foolishness that leads them to believe that scientific men are dreamy theorists, and disqualified for practical business. Let them follow in detail the practical triumphs of this experimental philosopher, and ask themselves candidly whether such success could have been possible had he been trained in the mere word-exalting study of the Greek and Latin classics, instead of the practical school of experimental research.

W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS

GARRETT'S FISHES OF THE PACIFIC Andrew Garrett's Fische der Südsee beschrieben ünd redigirt. Von Albert C. L. G. Günther, Heft i. (Hamburg: L. Friederichsen & Co., 1873.)

ΤΗ

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HE house of Hr. Cesar Godeffroy & Co. of Hamburg have for several years employed scientific collectors in various parts of the Pacific to prepare and send home specimens of natural history. These have been stored at Hamburg, in what is now a well-known scientific institution, the "Museum Godeffroy," under the care of an active superintendent, whose services have been engaged to take charge of and arrange the various objects thus accumulated. But not content with thus bringing the rarities of the Pacific within the grasp of European naturalists, Herr Godeffroy has obtained the assistance of some of the best known workers in Science for examination of these materials. The extensive collections of birds made for him by Dr. Edward Gräffe were submitted to the well-known ornithologists Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub of Bremen, and formed the basis of their excellent work on the "Birds of Central Polynesia," published a few years since. For the working out of the Polynesian Fishes, of which we believe, Herr Godeffroy's collection is still more complete, the co-operation of Dr. Günther of our National Museum, the most distinguished of living ichthyologists, has been obtained, and the book now before us contains the first-fruits of Dr. Günther's labours.

The brilliant colours which adorn many of the Polynesian fishes have been well known to travellers in those regions since the days of Cook, and have been frequently described in lively terms. Unfortunately, however, these colours entirely disappear in fishes preserved in spirit after the ordinary fashion, so that their beauty can only be appreciated by visitors to the distant seas which they inhabit. In order to exhibit these colours in the present work, Herr Godeffroy has acquired a large series of drawings, taken from living specimens, by Mr. Andrew Garrett, who has been many years resident in the Sandwich and Society Islands, and in other parts of Polynesia. Under these circumstances we may well anticipate the production of a first-rate work, more especially as the services of the unrivalled lithographic artist, Mr. G. H. Ford, have been secured to put the drawings on the

stones.

Dr. Günther commences his work in systematic order with the Serranidæ, of which numerous brightly coloured forms inhabit the various Archipelagoes of the Pacific. Twenty splendid plates illustrate the letterpress, and it is only wonderful how they can be produced at so small a cost. Nine similar parts will complete the work, which bids fair to become one of the most perfect icthyological monographs ever issued.

OUR BOOK SHELF

Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. By S. M. Bradley, F.R.C.S. Second Edition. (Manchester: Cornish; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.)

ENCOURAGED by the success of an earlier and much

smaller edition of this work, the author has entirely rewritten the new one. In so doing, we think that he could not have made a greater mistake, as the small size of the

original precluded the introduction of detail with which he is not acquainted, and so prevented his exposing his ignorance to the world at large. The impression which remains after the perusal of a few pages is, that the author, after reading rapidly through some one of the standard text-books on Zoology, wrote down his impressions as far as his memory served him. Faults of omission are not uncommon in text-books, especially when they are written by those who are not practically acquainted with their subject, but faults of commission are, fortunately, much less common. In the work before us there are several of the former, and they cannot all be laid down to want of space; for in the case of the Myriapoda, respecting the peculiarities of the main divisions of which the position of the legs is not referred to, twothirds of the page on which they should have been found is left blank before the commencement of the following chapter. The faults of commission are so numerous that they admit of easy classification. There are those of sheer carelessness from inattentive reading, otherwise, how is it that we are told that the Dugong has six cervical vertebræ, and that the Tragulina, or Musk Deer (!) have all the tarsal bones anchylosed. Others arise from a want of power to realise the meaning of the ordinary descriptions of well-known anatomical facts, as when it is indicated that the ventricles of the Crocodile's heart are not completely separated, and the marsupium, or pouch of the female Kangaroo in the male is everted, and supports the penis. Absolute and inexcusable errors it Nummulites are Cephalopoda; the Marsipobranchii have is difficult to explain, but among such we are told that the more than one nasal sac; that in the Lepidosiren the nasal canals are not open at both ends, and the vertebrae are ossified; and that in the Bear the clavicles are more developed than in other Carnivora, when they are in division are omitted with regard to them, and referred to reality absent altogether. Peculiarities found in one others entirely different, as when it is stated that among the Marsupialia" each oviduct in the female leads into a perfectly distinct uterus, which opens into a separate vagina, which is also the passage of the urine," and that in the male the vasa deferentia "open into a cloaca comremarks apply to the Monotremata well enough, how is it mon to the urinary and generative secretions." These they are omitted in speaking of them, and stated of their allies, which in these respects are quite differently constructed. We rarely remember to have seen a work so carelessly undertaken, and by so incompetent an author. Seventeenth Half-Yearly-Report of the Marlborough College Natural History Society for the Half-Year ending Midsummer, 1873. (Marlborough: Perkins.) ALTHOUGH the tone of the Preface to this Report is not quite so desponding as that of the previous one, still it contains a good deal of complaint. It seems to be the rule, for which we cannot see any reason, that members on entering the fifth form resign their membership. Is it because their schoolwork occupies all their time? or is it long to such a society? Probably no satisfactory considered beneath the dignity of a fifth-form boy to becould be assigned for the practice, therefore we hope it may not be continued. Another discouragement to the society has been the difficulty of getting papers except from a very few, who, after a time, "struck work," because they "felt that others ought to help in keeping up the interest of the meetings." We think the few workers continued to prepare and read papers amid all discou would have been more likely to attain this end had they ragements; by this means, we think, they would be mon likely "encourager les autres." We see no reason why exhibition of objects and with discussions. Is not the the reading of papers should not be combined with the Marlborough College Society too sensitive? From the reports of the field-work done and the collections

reason

made, it seems to possess a few admirable workers, who possess energy, knowledge, and earnestness enough to keep any such society from collapsing. The Botanical list is a model one. The papers in the Report are,— "Heraldry," by Mr. F. E. Hulme, F.L.S.; "On the Perception of the Unseen," by Mr. G. F. Rodwell; "A Walk across the Karst," by the Rev. J. Sowerby; and "The Luschari (Heilige) Berg in Carinthia," by the same gentleman.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed by his correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] Prof. Agassiz

THE sad intelligence received in London this morning of the death of Prof. Agassiz adds another illustrious name to the long roll of victims to the insidious demon, "over-work." May I ask you to give room in your next issue to the following passage from a letter (probably one of the last he penned) received from Prof. Agassiz only last week, which may be interesting to his many sorrowing friends on this side the Atlantic, as attesting in. directly to the cause of his death, viz., excess of mental and physical exertion. P. DE M. GREY EGERTON

Athenæum Club, Dec. 16

"Museum of Comparative Zoology, "Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 26, 1873 "A feeling of despondency comes over me when I see how long a time has elapsed since I received your last letter, which at the time I meant to answer immediately. With returning health, I have found the most frightful amount of neglected work to bring up to date, with the addition of a new institution to organise. I have given myself up to the task with all the energy of which I am capable, and have made a splendid success of the Anderson School, which cannot fail henceforth to have a powerful influence upon the progress of Science in the United States. But this has driven out everything else, and I should have neglected even the Museum had not a constant appeal to my attention arisen from the close connection in which the Anderson School stands to the Museum, of which it is, as it were, the educational branch. So School and Museum have made gigantic strides side by side; but I am down again. At least I feel unable to exert myself as usual, and such a feeling in the beginning of the working season is disheartening. When I last wrote I had strong hopes of an easy summer with my family, and confidently expected to be able to pass the greater part of the winter in Europe, and to have prepared the volume on Selachians of the Poissons Fossiles' for a new edition, or rather an English work on the subject. Now that hope is gone; the immense accessions to our Museum make even the progress of the Coal Fishes from Iowa slow and almost hopeless. With 22 assistants and 14 sub-assistants in the Museum, I have my hands full with administrative duties and responsibilities, and science and friends suffer.

Experiments on Frogs

WILL you grant me the space in your journal for a few words called forth by Mr. Lewes's letter in your number of December 4, on "Sensation in the Spinal Cord "?

In that letter the writer describes some experiments on frogs of such excessive cruelty that I cannot refrain from entering a protest against the principle which justifies such actions.

The right to perform such actions as vivisection, &c., in the cause of Science, has often before been questioned; but the present case-a case in which the infliction of pain is not an unavoidable attendant on the experiments, but the very essence or

object of them, and the slowness and prolongation of agony a necessary part-stirs and revolts the whole mind, and brings the question again prominently to the front.

The question then is-are either the possible or probable benefits to a portion of mankind, or the advancement of Science for its own sake, sufficient reasons for the infliction of intense suffering on our fellow-animals? Of course much may be urged in favour of vivisection. It may be said that without its assistance Science, and especially the science of medicine, could never have advanced to the point it has now reached; and mankind urges that the good of mankind is of such paramount importance that that of all other animals must be subordinated to it unconditionally, and consequently that the smallest good to mankind balances the greatest evil to other animals.

To many this would be considered an amply sufficient reason for answering the question in the affirmative, but at least it should be remembered at what tremendous cost to one portion of creation these benefits to another portion are purchased.

As time and Science advance it is becoming more recognised that other animals have their rights as well as men ; and perhaps it may some day be found that the right which mankind assumes to himself of supremacy over his fellow-animals (including the right to inflict deliberate torture, for whatever purpose) is, after all, but the right of the strongest or most powerful.

It seems to me so shocking that such things should be written of and read with indifference, and without evoking one word of protest on the other side, that on this ground alone, i.e., that the assumption of the right to inflict torture may not pass quite unchallenged, I venture to beg for the insertion of this letter. Dec. 8 X.

Proposed Alterations in the Medical Curriculum IN a recent number of NATURE, remarks are made in regard to the present Medical Curriculum, more especially in connection with the proposal of Prof. Huxley to alter the Curriculum for medical graduation in the University of Aberdeen. His object is to remove the subjects of Botany and Natural History from that Curriculum, and to put them in the category of a preliminary examination, without any compulsory at endance upon lectures. Such a proposal if carried into effect would tend in no small degree to limit the medical student's acquirements in the biological sciences, as he will not be required to take full scientific courses on these subjects. The tendency of such a system will be to encourage what is commonly called “cram,” inasmuch as there will be no guarantee for methodical practical instruction under a qualified teacher.

While it may be true that those who take the diplomas of the medical corporations are not called upon to attend courses of lectures on these subjects, and rarely undergo an examination on university degrees. The latter look not merely for a license to practhem, the case is quite different with those students who aspire to tise, but desire also a university honour. An important distinction at the present day, between the licentiates of colleges and the graduates of universities, is that the latter are expected to have a higher literary and scientific knowledge. In place of reducing the qualifications for degrees, so as to compete with colleges, we ought to keep up the standard, and send forth medical men who are not only well fitted for the practical duties of the profession, but who can also occupy a prominent position in the scientific world. In accomplishing this object we should arrange the curriculum in such a way as to put the study of the sciences in its proper place. The student ought to commence the study of botany and natural history in summer, before entering upon anatomy, surgery, and other purely medical subjects. This is now to a large extent carried out in the University of Edinburgh, and by so doing a three months' course of scientific study is added to the curriculum. The student might be encouraged to take his science examination at an early period of his curriculum, say at the end of his first year of study. The training which these studies give to the mind of the young medical student, is most important. They call forth his powers of observation and diagnosis; they present to him the principles of classification, and they enlarge his views of anatomy and physiology. In primary schools of the present day we frequently find that the elements of botany and zoology constitute a part of the teaching, and most properly so. But this is not enough for the graduate in medicine. He must supplement this by going through the higher University Curriculum.

The commissioners for visiting the Universities of Scotland, remark in their report "that it is desirable that graduates in medicine should have that degree of literary and scientific attain ment which will prevent them when mingling as they must do with mankind, in the exercise of their profession, from being looked upon with contempt; or from committing errors in conversation and in writing, for which others would be despised; because even upon the supposition that they have high professional acquisitions, the law of association will operate, and the conclusion will be drawn that much confidence cannot be placed in them." The value of university training was strongly insisted on by the late Prof. Edward Forbes, when speaking of the relation which scientific studies bear to medicine. The following are his remarks:-" It is the training of the mind in correct methods of observation that gives the Natural History Sciences so much value as instruments for preparation in professional education. Not unfrequently do we hear the short-sighted and narrowminded ask-what is the use of zoology or botany or geology to the physician and surgeon? what have they to do with beasts or plants or stones? Is not their work among men healing the sick? Of what use save as remedies, are the creeping things, or the grass that grows upon the earth, or the minerals in the rock? Vain and stupid questions all-yet they are sometimes put by persons who profess to promote the spread of education. They want something, but the best of them mistake the end for the means. The best want knowledge, but have not learnt that the mind must be trained ere it is prepared to gather and digest knowledge. They want science, but science turns mouldy and unwholesome in our unprepared mind. They forget or do not know that education consists chiefly in training, not in informing. "We must counteract the natural tendency of purely professional studies-the tendency to limit the range of mental vision. We can do this most beneficially through the collateral sciences, which are sufficiently different to give them a wider sphere of action. It is from this point of view that we should regard the natural history sciences as branches of medical education. For my part," continues Forbes, "after much intercourse with medical men who had studied at many seats of professional education, some collegiate, some exclusively professional, I have no hesitation in saying that, as a rule, the former had the intellectual advantage. There are noble and notable exceptions old and young, but the rule is true in the main. The man who has studied at a seat of learning, university or college, has a wider range of sympathies, a more philosophical tone of mind and a higher estimate of the objects of intellectual ambition, than his fellow-practitioner who, from his youth upwards, has concentrated his thoughts upon the contractedly professional subjects of an hospital school. I will not believe that the practitioner of medicine, any more than the clergyman, or the lawyer, or the soldier or merchant, is wiser, or better able to treat the offices of his calling, because his mind takes no note of subjects beyond the range of his professional pursuit. It is a great pleasure, both to patient and neighbourhood, to find in our doctor an enlightened friend, one who, whilst he does his duty ably and kindly, has a sympathy and an acquaintance with science, literature, and art."

În Scotland a university is not merely a board authorised to examine students and grant degrees, it is an educational institution, intended to exercise a surveillance over the studies of youth, to train their minds for the proper acquisition of knowledge, and to direct their energies in such a way as to insure that mental culture which will fit them for all the duties of life. We speak of our University in Scotland as our Alma Mater because she acts the part of a mother to her alumni, educating them and superintending their progress in liberal studies.

It appears to me that a great injury would be inflicted on the character of our medical degrees if the required curriculum did not embrace the natural sciences. To study these properly something more than books is required. There must be practical training under an able teacher, examination of living objects both with the naked eye and with the microscope, and a certified course of study. I am sure that everyone, in Scotland at all events, who desires to make graduation in medicine a University honour will aid in keeping up a scientific curriculum under quali

fied teachers.

Edinburgh University

JOHN H. BALFOUR

Ancient Egyptian Balances

I HAVE to thank Mr. Rodwell for calling my attention, in NATURE, vol. ix. p. 8, to the curious representation of an

equal-armed Egyptian balance in a papyrus, now in the British Museum. This papyrus, which is perhaps the most beautiful in the whole collection, all the colours and lines being as bright and distinct as when originally painted, has been shown to me b Dr. Birch, who also informed me where I could procure a phoo graph of it, being one of a series of photographs from the collec tion at the British Museum, taken by S. Thompson, and pablished by Mansell and Co., 2, Percy Street. By Mr. Mansel's permission the following drawing has been made.

From an ancient Egyptian papyrus in the British Museum, of Hennefer, superintendent of the cattle of Seti I., 19th Dynasty, about 1330) B.C.. representing the "Ritual of the dead." The heart of the deceased s being weighed in an equal-armed balance, and found lighter than a feather. In the papyrus, the weighing is being made in the Hall of perfect Justice, in presence of Osyris.

It may be seen that what Mr. Rodwell mentions as a sliding weight on one side of the beam, appears rather to be a loop or ribbon for limiting the oscillation of the beam. In the original papyrus the middle and both ends of the beam, as well as the lower part of the column, are coloured to represent polished brass, whilst the other parts of the balance are dark, as if of bronze. It should be observed that the balance beam has boxends for suspending the pans. Judging from the height of the human figures, the length of the balance beam represented is about six feet, and the height of the column of the balance is nearly the same. Several similar, though rougher, representations of weighing the heart of the deceased may be seen in the papyrus drawing on the staircase leading from the Egyptian sculpture room to the upper Egyptian room in the British MuH. W. CHISHOLM

seum.

Stalagmitic Deposits

IN a former number of NATURE (vol. viii. p. 462), Mr. A. R. Wallace, in reviewing Sir Charles Lyell's last edition of the "Antiquity of Man," makes use of the rate of deposits of stalag. mite as data for ascertaining the age of animal remains which arefound buried in caves. It is evident that the variations of rate will render unreliable data for arriving at correct conclusions; still, calculations based thereon may be of service.

Some thirty years ago I procured a piece of lime deposit from a lead mine at Boltsburn, in the county of Durham; it measured about 18 in. in length, 10 in. in breadth, and fully in. thick; it was compact and crystalline, and showed distinct facets of crystals on its surface, over which the water was running. I had indisputable evidence that the deposit had taken place in fifteen years. The water, from which it was produced, issued from an adit driven in the Little limestone, which is about 9 ft. thick. After leaving the adit, the water ran down the perpendicular side of a rise, for some fathoms, on to some rock débris, which was lying on the bottom of a hopper, whence it proceeded from the upper part of the hopper mouth, then perpendicularly down over two narrowish wood deals, which were set on edge, and put across the mouth of the hopper to retain the worked materials. It was from off these deals that I obtained the speci men above described. On its back side the forms of the deals

Shooting-stars in the Red Sea

ON my way to India, in November 1872, I witnessed in the Red Sea the splendid phenomenon of a star-drift, a note about which may be of interest, in comparison with the observations at the same time in Europe.

November 24, at 8 P.M., about 600 miles to the south of Suez, I first saw a series of shooting-stars falling from about 70° W.N. W., but not in such a quantity that my attention was much attracted; I only made a note about it in my diary.

In the night of the 25th-26th I noticed nothing particular, but in that of the 26th-27th again many shooting-stars were to be seen.

But in the night of the 27th-28th, about 100 miles to the west of Aden, the phenomenon reached its height. Through the whole night many thousands of shooting-stars were falling from every quarter of the heavens, and in all directions. It was impossible for me to count the average number falling in one minute, although I tried several times to do so, because the eye could not be everywhere, and the shooting-stars did not come from one point only. I sat the whole night on deck, to witness this sublime phenomenon of nature, which certainly was far more splendid here in the tropics than in Europe, on account of the generally greater brightness of the stars in these latitudes.

Cuckoos

A. B. MEYER

IN vol. v. p. 383 of NATURE, you were so good as to publish a note of mine, in which I tried to describe exactly all that took place when I saw a young cuckoo throw a young pipit out of the

nest.

I am much flattered to find that Mr. Gould has thought my note fit to be transferred to the introduction of his magnificent "Birds of Great Britain," and a rough sketch of mine worthy to be made the foundation of one of his large coloured plates. As, however, I have always tried in my drawings of facts in natural history to express neither more nor less than what I saw, I think it right to say that I am not the authority for many of the details in the large plate.

None of us saw the parent pipit looking on while the young cuckoo behaved so naughtily; we saw only two young pipits besides the young cuckoo, and no egg-shells. The young cuckoo was absolutely naked and blind, the young pipits partly fledged and bright eyed.

One curious point I tried to call attention to in my former note in these words :-"The nest was below a

heather-bush on the declivity of a low abrupt bank The most singular thing of all was the direct purpose with which the blind little monster made for the open side of the nest, the only part where it could throw its burthen down the bank." This peculiarity my rough sketch could not, and Mr. Gould's plate does not, express. J. H. B.

fect ephemeris that had ever existed.* But, in 1808, death deprived Maskelyne, who was then about 76 years of age, of his pupil and industrious collaborateur, R. Hitchins, upon whom he had depended for ten years for the most important part of his work, the verification of the calculations, and who was during that time the real editor of the Nautical Almanac. The advanced age of Maskelyne no longer permitting him to undertake any active occupation, the work passed into irresponsible hands, the calculations fell into great confusion, and “while astronomy advanced, the Nautical Almanac remained stationary, and even retrograded."+ Maskelyne died shortly afterwards, in 1811, and Brown of Tiedeswill (Derbyshire), was appointed to succeed him. The new director did not improve the Nautical Almanac, and English mariners and astronomers complained loudly; a reform was necessary. The Board of Longitude being incompetent to improve the work of which it had charge, Government abolished that body in 1818, by advice of the Admiralty, to which the publication of the work was entrusted, and which replaced the former body (which numbered sixteen members) by another much less nu

merous.

This new Board of Longitude was ingeniously formed; it was composed of a Resident Committee "of three persons well versed in mathematics, astronomy, and navigation, nominated by Government," to which was added, a Commission of the Royal Society, consisting of the president and three members, charged to support it, and, if need be, to control it. The members of the resident committee had to live in London, or its neighbourhood, and to lend their aid to the Commissioners of the Royal Society for the scientific questions within the domain of the Commission. They received a salary of 100/., and the secretary of the committee, who was charged with the publication of the Nautical Almanac, a salary of 500%. Captain Kater, Dr. Wollaston, and Dr. Young were appointed resident members, and the latter, the secretary of the committee, had the editorship of the Nautical Almanac.

Young did much to improve the work, to restore to it the reputation for accuracy which Maskelyne had given it, and to render it capable of satisfying the constantly increasing wants of navigation. Thus, he introduced into the Almanac, in 1822, the apparent position, for every ten days, of twenty-four fundamental stars, which number was increased to sixty in 1827; mariners had thus constantly at their command the exact position of their reference points. Moreover, it is to him that we owe the publication of the elements by means of which we can predict occultations of stars by the moon, phenomena so useful to astronomers on an expedition, and to sailors whose ships are in a foreign harbour.

But these improvements were by no means the only ones which English astronomers and mariners demanded; as it was, the Nautical Almanac satisfied neither the one nor the other of these; sailors stood in need of the ephemerides and planetary distances of Schumacher, and astronomers of the supplement to these ephemerides. Moreover, it often happened that these ephemerides appeared too late to be of any service to mariners who were setting out on a long voyage. Thus Young was exposed to criticism, very just, no doubt, but sometimes extremely violent. The result was an excessively sharp controversy, which, although sustained by most of the English

Correspondance astronomique francaise," of Baron de Zach, vol. iv. pp. 87, et seq. Sir James South's Address to the Royal Astronomical Society, February 12, 1830. The first of these ephemerides was due to the Baron de Zach, and Rear-Admiral Hövernörn caused them to be adopted by the Danish Governor in 1800. The Director of Copenhagen Observatory, Thomas Bugge, was then entrusted with their editorship; they were continued by Schumacher, and a little later were published, partly at the expense of the British Government. They gave the position of the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn for every day in the year, and their distances from the moon every three hours.