Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

placed that the line joining the centres of the two systems of rings is vertical, and the crystal is first turned so as to bring one centre into the centre of the field of view (usually marked by cross wires); the index is then read, and the crystal turned so as to bring the centre of the second system of rings to the centre of the field. The index is again read, and the difference of the two readings noted. This, however, gives not the true angle of the optic axes, but the apparent angle in air, that is, the angle between the rays as affected by refraction on emerging from the crystal. (See Fig. 27.)

In some crystals the optic axes have different angles of inclination for the different rays of the spectrum. Of this titanite or sphene is an example. All rays have a common middle line, and lie in the same plane, but the optic axes for the red rays are more widely separated than those for the blue, and consequently the part of the field which would exhibit a dark brush if red light were used is deprived of the red rays but not of the blue. The brushes, therefore, appear broader than with ordinary crystals, and are tinged with blue on the edges farthest from the middle point, and with red on the edges nearest to it. It is said that a similar distribution of the optic axes, or its opposite in which the red rays are least separated and the blue most, is found in all crystals belonging to the rhombic system.

In other crystals, the axes all lie in one plane, but all have not the same middle line, so that the two ring systems are unsymmetrical. This is the case with borax. In others the optic axes for different colours lie in different planes, all of which pass through the middle line.

Lastly, we may mention the crystals brookite and tartrate of ammonia soda and potash, in which the optic axes for the two extremities of the spectrum lie in planes at right angles to one another, both passing through the same middle line. If the systems of rings be examined with light which has been so widely dispersed that the portion illuminating the field in any given position is practically monochromatic, and the position of the instrument shifted through the different parts of the spectrum (or what is more convenient, if the different parts of the spectrum be successively thrown on the polariscope by means of a totally reflecting prism), the optic axes will be seen to draw gradually together until the figure closely resembles that of a uni-axal crystal; after which the axes open out in a direction at right angles to the former, until they have attained their greatest expansion. This experiment requires a strong light, butfit is instructive, as showing the exact distribution of the optic axes for different

rays.

In some bi-axal crystals, notably in gypsum, the distribution of the optic axes varies with the temperature. When the crystal is heated the angle between the optic axes diminishes until the crystal appears uni-axal; with a further increase of temperature the axes again open out, but in a direction at right angles to the former. When the crystal is cooled the axes generally resume their original directions. Sometimes, however, when the heating has been carried to a great degree, or has been continued for a long time, the axes never completely return to their normal condition; and in such a case the crystal may appear permanently uni-axal. Such an appearance, when permanent, has been considered a test of former heating; and this phenomenon, when presented by crystals found in a state of nature, may be taken as evidence that the rocks in which they have been formed have been subject to high temperatures.

In the production and examination of the rings hitherto described, we have used light which has been plane-polarised and plane-analysed; but there is nothing to prevent our polarising the light or analysing it circularly, or indeed doing both.

If a quarter-undulation plate be placed between the polariser and the crystal to be examined, with its axis in

clined at 45° to the plane of original vibration, the light will fall upon the plate in a state of circular polarisation; and as the polarisation will then have no reference to any particular plane of vibration, the black cross will disappear. A system of rings will be produced, but they will be discontinuous. At each quadrant, depending upon the position of the analyser, the rings will be broken, the portions in opposite quadrants being con tracted or expanded, so that in passing from one quadrant to the next the colours pass into their complementaries. If either the direction of the axis of the quarter-undulation plate be changed from 45° on one side to 45° on the other side of the plane of vibration of the polariser; or if the crystal be changed for another of an opposite character (i.e. negative for positive, or vice versa), the quadrants which were first contracted will be expanded, and those which were first expanded will be contracted. Hence for a given position of the quarter-undulation plate the appearance of the rings will furnish a means of determining the character of the crystal under examination.

Similar effects are produced if the quarter-undulation plate be placed between the crystal and the analyser ; that is, if the light be analysed circularly.

In the case of bi-axal crystals under the action of light polarised or analysed circularly, the black brushes are wanting, but they are replaced by lines of the same form marking where the segments of the lemniscatas pass from given colours into their complementaries.

If the light be both polarised and analysed circularly, all trace of direction will have disappeared. In uni-axa! crystals the rings will take the form of perfect circles without break of any kind ; and in bi-axal they will cahibit complete lemniscatas.

To pursue this matter one step farther. Suppose that, the arrangements remaining otherwise as before (viz., first, the polariser; secondly, a quarter-undulation plate with its axis at 45° to the principal plane of the polariser, thirdly, a uni-axal crystal; fourthly, a quarter-undulation plate with its axis parallel or perpendicular to the first; and, lastly, the analyser), the analyser be turned round; then in any position intermediate to o° and 90° the rings will be contracted and extended in opposite quadrants until at 45° they are divided by two diagonals, on cach side of which the colours are complementary. Beyond 45° the rings begin to coalesce, until at 90° the four quadrants coincide again. During this movement the centre has changed from bright to dark. If the motion of the analyser be reversed the quadrants which before contracted now expand, and vice versa. Again, if the crystal be replaced by another of an opposite character, say posi tive for negative, the effect on the quadrants of the rings will be reversed. This method of examination, therefore, affords a test of the character of a crystal.

A similar process applies to bi-axal crystals; but in this case the diagonals interrupting the rings are replaced by a pair of rectangular hyperbolas, on either side of which the rings expand or contract, and the effect is reversed by reversing the motion of the analyser, or by replacing a positive by a negative crystal. The test experi ment may then be made by turning the analyser slightly to the right or left, and observing whether the rings appear to advance to, or recede from, one another in the centre of the field. In particular if, the polariser and analyser being parallel, the first plate have its axis in a N.E. direction to a person looking through the analyser, the second plate with its axis at right angles to the former, and the crystal be so placed that the line joining the optic axes by N.S., then on turning the analyser to the right, the rings will advance towards one another if the crystal be negative, and recede if it be positive.

W. SPOTTISWOODE

(To be continued.)

FLOWERS OF THE PRIMROSE DESTROYED but, on the other hand, they are so minute that one can scarcely

WE

BY BIRDS

E have received a number of answers to Mr. Darwin's letter on this subject in NATURE, vol. ix., p. 482; these we have thought it advisable to bring together here. On the general question of the destruction of flowers by birds, Prof. Thiselton Dyer writes as follows:

MR. DARWIN remarks that he has never heard of any bird in Europe feeding on nectar. There is perhaps one well-authenticated instance in Gilbert White's "Selborne" (illustrated edition, p. 186) "The pettichaps. . . . runs up the stems of the crown imperials, and putting its head into the bells of those flowers, sips the liquor which stands in the nectarine of each petal." This is the more curious, because, according to Kirby and Spence ("Entomology," 7th edition, p. 384), this plant "tempts in vain the passing bee probably aware of some noxious quality that it possesses." I do not know how far this is true, but it has a peculiar odour which makes it rather unpopular as a garden plant.

I have, in my note-book, another instance, also from the Liliacea, of a plant visited for nectar in an extra-tropical country. Mrs. Barber relates that in South Africa "the long tubular flowers of the aloe are well supplied with nectar, and this provision affords during the winter season a continued store of food for our beautiful sun-birds," the numerous species of the genus Nectarinia (Journ. R. Hort. Soc., n.s., ii. 80).

Two other cases of the destruction of flowers by birds occur to me. I was assured this year that the flowers of the common crocus are persistently destroyed by sparrows, at least in the neighbourhood of Hammersmith. The base of the perianth tube, which is the usual seat of any secretion of nectar, is here beneath the surface of the ground; perhaps, however, the style and stigma are attractive to the birds. I did not investigate the matter at all closely, but my informant was an observant person, who I think would be likely to have satisfied himself that the sparrows really did the mischief, the effects of which were obvious enough. If so, we have a clear instance in crocuseating of an acquired habit on their part.

The other case, that of the destruction of flower-buds of fruit-trees by bullfinches, is probably well known. The mischief is said to be out of all proportion to any benefit the birds can derive from it, as regards food. Such a visitation would obviously tell heavily against the plants in any country where they formed part of the indigenous flora, and had to take their chance with the rest.

Dr. J. H. Gladstone writes, that in his garden the flowers of the primroses have been similarly bitten off, and the crocuses also. He says

ONE morning some weeks ago I especially remember secing the beds and the gravel walks strewn with the yellow petals of the latter flower, which were severed from their stalks, and bore abundant marks of the sharp beaks which had torn them asunder. I cannot learn that anyone saw these London birds at their destructive work, which was probably done before any of us were stirring.

Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs, of Plymouth, writes

I HAVE been familiar with the fact to which Mr. Darwin directs attention for as long a period as that during which he says it has engaged his own, without, however, my being able to point out the author of the mischief. In the neigh bourhood of Plymouth it is no uncommon thing to find the flowers both of the primrose and polyanthus bitten off and lying around the plants exactly as Mr. Darwin has described; indeed, so often does this occur here, that I have known it a source of annoyance to cultivators of the latter plant. When residing some years ago at a house in the parish of Egg Buckland, about four miles from Plymouth, I remember to have repeatedly seen the polyanthus flowers in the grounds so destroyed, and to have heard it asserted that the redbreast was the culprit ; but of this no proof was brought forward. The locality is a land of springs and streams, and it could not have been a want of water that led the destroyer to do the work there.

The tubular portion of the primrose is much infested by small insects (thrips ?), and I have sometimes thought that a bird, for the sake of feeding on these, might be led to bite the flowers;

think they would attract its notice.

I would say, in reply to Mr. Darwin's queries, that primroses are in profusion about Plymouth (at least beyond the immediate neighbourhood of the town, whence they have been rooted out by wretched fern- and wild flower-grubbers), but I have never seen the flowers bitten off to such an extent as in the small materially affect the numbers of the species here. Kentish wood he refers to, or in a sufficiently large quantity to

The Rev. H. C. Key, of Stretton Rectory, Hertford, says that primroses being in great abundance in his neighbourhood, he was led by Mr. Darwin's letter to make a careful search for flowers bittten off in the way he describes, but he failed to find even one.

IT is obvious that the abundance of other food for which birds have a preference-such as apple, pear, plum, and cherry blossoms afford-may possibly have saved our primrose flowers from destruction; but, taking into consideration the fact that animal food must necessarily be supplied to the young birds at this season, I should be disposed to suggest that the primroses Mr. Darwin speaks of have been mutilated by birds rather for the sake of procuring thrips and other beetles, which are attracted by the nectar, than for the nectar itself.

I find the untouched primrose flowers here swarm with beetles and acari; but the great profusion of apple, and pear-blossom, &c., close at hand, may prove more attractive to the birds from the flowers being more open, and therefore more easily accessible. Mr. G. M. Seabroke writes

I HAVE cbserved the same thing as he relates in my small garden in this town. Nearly all the early buds from some twenty primrose plants were bitten off, and birds of some sort were undoubtedly the perpetrators of the mischief. I laid the blame on the sparrows, but did not see them in the act. This is the first year that I have noticed this form of depredation.

Mr. T. R. Stebbing, of Torquay, writes as follows::

A FORTNIGHT ago the bank on either side of the road from Kingsbridge Road Station to Salcombe were covered, for many miles, with a brilliant profusion of primroses in boom. In all this long range of country, eighteen miles in all, there was no appearance anywhere of that destruction of blossoms as to which Mr. Darwin makes inquiry. The attention of my companion and myself was especially directed to the primroses throughout our route, not merely by the lavish and unexpected beauty of the display, but by the look-out which we were keeping up for white or red varieties. Among the myriads of plants with the ordi

nary, yellow blossom we noted five with white and two with

pinkish flowers. On returning over a portion of the same road ten days later, we detected as many as seven plants with the pale-red or pink flowers, but none of these were blooming freely like the white and the yellow flowering-plants in the same district.

It may be worth noticing that this great stream of primroses flowed down from the rather bleak upland near the railway right into the fertile and sheltered valley of Salcombe, so that in one district or the other the birds might have been expected to seek the nectar, had they been to the manner born, in this part of the country.

A correspondent, E. T. S., says that

IN the north-west corner of Hampshire the birds have the same taste as in Kent for the nectar of primroses and polyanthuses. A few weeks ago a correspondent wrote thence that this spring the blackbirds "were as bad as peacocks," whose well-known habit of cutting off the blossoms of polyanthuses, carnations, lilies, and any particularly choice tropical plant that they can get hold of, makes them a gardener's despair. A peacock who resided for a short time in the neighbourhood relerred to, might possibly have taught the native birds the trick, but this is hardly probable, as he died three winters ago, and the present year, when all spring flowers have bloomed earlier and more abundantly than usual, is the first in which his example has been extensively followed. I should doubt the practice being limited to a single species. Sparrows certainly gather flowers very carefully; I have seen them almost strip a bed of the variegated arabis, though in this case the flower-stalks were carried away and used, not for food, but in nest-building. Does any other bird use fresh flowers for that purpose?

THE

JOHN PHILLIPS

BORN DECEMBER 25, 1800: DIED APRIL 24, 1874 'HE daily press has already spread the sad tidings from Oxford that Prof. Phillip met with an accident which suddenly cut short his life while in good health and such full vigour that we still expected work from him. A few days ago he was here amongst us in London, bearing himself with form as erect and step as elastic as if the last ten years had but further mellowed though in no way lessened his energy. Now we learn that a stumble over a door-mat, on leaving a friend's rooms in All Souls, followed by a heavy fall, has deprived Oxford of one of her brightest ornaments, and men of science of a genial friend.

Another bond is broken which linked together by a living presence the geologists of to-day with those who watched the infancy of the science which, in place of wild phantasies of the imagination as to the origin of our planet, substituted a patient and careful investigation of its structure, as far as observation was possible. From the time when William Smith in 1792-3 surveyed the ground between High Littleton and Bath for the Somersetshire Coal Canal, and proved an unvarying sequence in the strata of England, and their identification by their fossil contents, every "cosmogomy" and "theory of the earth" was doomed. Fact henceforth took the place of fancy.

Among the earliest of those trained in the new school was young John Phillips. Born at Marden, in Wiltshire, on Christmas-day (N.S.) 1800, he lost his father when he was but seven years old, and his mother dying soon after, his training fell into the hands of his mother's brother, the renowned William Smith, "Father of English Geology."

We have never heard that there was anything to be recorded of his father beyond that he was the youngest son in a Welsh family, settled for many generations on their own property at Blaen-y-ddol, in Caermarthenshire, who was destined for the Church, but became an officer of the Excise, and that he married the sister of William Smith. Mr. F. Galton, a few weeks ago, read a paper at the Royal Institution, in which he gave statistics about eminent scientific men, showing the number of cases in which the greatness was due to the father, and the number of cases in which it was due to the mother. Whether Prof. Philips was included we do not know, but he most certainly was an instance in which the influence of the mother preponderated. The mould of the features were distinctly those of the Smith family, and the likeness between Prof. Phillips and the busts and pictures of William Smith has often been remarked. His habit of thought was so much due to the direct training of his uncle that we cannot trace how much of it was hereditary. No particular school could have much influenced him, for he passed through four schools before he was ten, and then for a short time went to the excelent old school at Holt Spa, in Wiltshire. It is said that Latin, French, and Mathematics were his favourite studies, and the enjoyment of Latin authors seems to have grown on him, for in the writings of no other geologist will be found so many quotations from the Latin classics. The Rev. Benjamin Richardson, Rector of Farley Hungerford, near Bath, was one of his earliest instructors in natural history. Very little, indeed, is known of Mr. Richardson; he had the reputation of being in his time the best naturalist in the west of England, and the obituary notices at the time of his death mention that he was a member of Christ Church, Oxford. One fact about him which has an historical interest is certain, and that is that it was his hand which, from the dictation of William Smith, "first reduced to writing at the house of the Rev. Joseph Townsend, Pultenay Street, Bath, 1799" the table of "the order of

the strata and their imbedded organic remains in the vicinity of Bath." The original document is in the keeping of the Geological Society, and is regarded as a memo rial of the first step towards the examination of strata on a definite plan, the first step in the science of geology as contrasted with cosmogony. During the year that young Phillips spent at the pleasant rectory of Farley, he heard continually of the importance attached to the discovenes of his uncle and of the results which, in the estimation of Richardson and Townsend, were to flow from it. Under Mr. Richardson's direction he spent a large portion of his time in searching for fossils through the valleys around Farley, and in making drawings of the fossils he found and of the recent forms that were most nearly allied to them in Mr. Richardson's extensive collections. Prof. Phillips always spoke with pleasure of his recollections of Mr. Richardson, and attributed to him both his early taste for natural history and the ready use of his pencil, which so often not only reproduced faithfully a geological section but artistically included the foliage and background recording the pleasant accomm paniments of the work which principally engaged his attention. Mr. Richardson though a kind was not a flattering guide to the young man, for a frequent remark on being shown the drawing of a fossil was, “Very good John, now put that in the fire and try and do even better." At the end of the happy year at Farley, young Phillips went to live with his uncle in London, to share with him his labour, his hopes, and his disappointments. William Smith had then just removed to Buckingham Street, after the fire in Craven Street, which had so disarranged his work. Here, however, he rearranged his collection of fossils, the first collection in which fossils were placed in their stratigraphical sequence. Made first at Cottage Crescent, Bath, removed to Trim Street, then to Craven Street, and Buckingham Street, this historical collection finally found a resting-place in the British Museum. Each separate stratum recognised by Smith had one or more shelves sloping to represent the dip as he knew them in the typical ground of the Dunkerton Valley, near Bath, where he first studied them. This was the collection from which young Phillips first derived his ideas of a geological museum for teaching purposes, and which he saw so often referred to by his uncle in explaining to his many visitors his new ideas, when urging upon them the national importance of his iscovery as regarded agriculture and mining. William Smith was then working at his map of England, and to this his best energies were given and all his money devoted. In the "Memoirs" of his uncle, published in 1844, Prof. Phillips has described all the delays and trials that attended the production of this, the first geological map of England ever produced. The indomitable courage shown by Mr. Smith in the face of every discouragement could not fail to impress young Phillips with the importance of his uncle's work, and to win respect for him. How he was attached to him, and how he valued his teaching, is apparent in many places in his writings. In the preface to the "Memoirs" he speaks of himself as "an orphan who benefited by his goodness, a pupil who was trained up under his care." The map was issued in 1815, and Mr. Smith's professional engagements rapidly increased, requiring him to visit all parts of the county. He conceived the plan of producing county geological maps on a scale considerably larger than that of the map of England, and on almost every journey his nephew was his glad companion, haud passibus æquis ;" and according to an established custom on all such tours, was employed in sketching parts of the road and recording on maps the geological features of the country. In 1821, the map of Yorkshire, in four sheets, was published, which were prepared and coloured by his own hands. Throughout the "Memoirs" we have indications of the way in which he worked under his uncle's direction. Here is one which

new

gives an insight into the way in which he gained his intimate knowledge of the strata of the country. "The whole of the remainder of 1821 was devoted to long and laborious wanderings. Two lines of operation were drawn through the country which required to be surveyed. On one of these Mr. Smith moved with the due deliberation of a commander-in-chief; the other was traversed by his more active subaltern, who afterwards found the means to cross from his own parallel to report progress at head-quarters." In this way 2,000 miles were traversed in six months, and he thus learned to rely on his own judgment. His work delighted him. "Innumerable rambles," he says, "led up every glen and across every hill, now sketching waterfalls, anon tracing the boundaries of rocks or marking the direction of diluvial detritus." As greater accuracy in tracing the boundary of different strata was thus acquired, the successive issues of the map of England were modified. The lines of these alterations were mostly traced by Mr. Phillips Eimself, and thus it was that differences appeared in maps which apparently belonged to the same "edition." At length, in 1824, Mr. Smith was asked to deliver a course of lectures on his geological work at the newlyformed Yorkshire Philosophical Society. For this maps were coloured, new sections drawn, and even the distant cabinet of Mr. Richardson at Farley was laid under contribution, to supply illustrations for these discourses." Lectures at Hull, Scarborough, and Sheffield soon followed. The share that Mr. Phillips took in the preparation of these lectures brought him under the notice of the executive of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society; he was offered the curatorship of the new museum, and accepted it. This was one of the important events of his life. His work no longer came before the public in his uncle's name, he had an individuality of his own, "and commenced to make his own reputation." I was delighted to find in the prosecution of this duty innumerable proofs of the truth of Mr. Smith's views respecting the distribution of organic fossils, and saw very clearly that many of the strata in the north-eastern part of Yorkshire might be confidently identified with well-known formations in the south of England. Soon after (in 1826) he read before the Society the first paper he wrote. His subject was: The Direction of the Diluvial Currents of Yorkshire, and it was thought worthy of being reprinted in the "Philosophical Magazine." From this time his pen was ever active. His early geological papers were on Yorkshire, and with that county his name is indissolubly connected. In addition to the curatorship of the museum he was appointed one of the secretaries of the Society, and delivered courses of lectures, and in 1829 he published his illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire.

It was not till 1834 that Mr. Phillips communicated a paper to the Geological Society, and in the same year he published his "Guide to Geology," was appointed Professor of Geology in King's College, London, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His recommendature to election into the Society is of sufficient interest to be printed, and is as follows:

"John Phillips, Esq., of York, Fellow of the Geological Society of London and Secretary of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, a gentleman well versed in geology, meteorology, and various branches of natural science, and author of Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire," being desirous of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society, we whose names are hereunto subscribed do, from our personal knowledge, recommend him, as highly deserving of the honour he solicits, and likely to prove a valuable and useful member.

"Rod. I. Murchison, Wm. Buckland, G. B. Gresnough,

William Clift, Edw. Turner, Adam Sedgwick, John
Taylor, H. T. De la Beche, C. Daubeny, John
Edw. Gray, Geo. Peacock, John Lindley, B.
Powell.

"Elected April 10, 1834."

Not only was he associated in work with the "father" of Geological Science, from which such valuable practical results have flowed, but he was one of the band who, in his own words, "stood anxious but hopeful by the cradle of the British Association." It is well known how through his activity the first meeting at York was a success in September 1831, and how till 1863 he was the courteous assistant-secretary of the Society.

Among other posts Prof. Phillips has filled are the Chair of Geology at Dublin, to which he was appointed in 1844; the Presidency of the Geological Society in 1859-60; Rede Lecturer in Cambridge in 1860; and the Presidency of the British Association in 1866. The Chair at Oxford he has held since 1853.

He not only helped to lay the foundations of English Geology, he has been to the last an active worker and an industrious writer. Besides more than sixty papers communicated to Societies' proceedings and to magazines, he was largely a contributor to the "Penny Encyclopædia,” the "Encyclopædia Britannica," and the "Encyclopædia Metropolitana."

In 1841 was published his "Palæozoic Fossils of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset, after he had examined the country in company with Mr. William Sandars. In 1842 he began an examination of the Malvern district, and having settled his data at Malvern, Abberley, and Woolhope, he extended his observations to May Hill, Fortworth, and Usk. The work was given to the world in 1848 as one of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey. "The Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-coast of Yorkshire" appeared in 1853, and his Essay in the " Oxford Essays,” in 1855.

His contribution to the Palæontographical Society on the Belemnitidæ, and his "Geology of the Thames Valley," are well known; and he has also written many smaller works which we have not space to notice.

For many years he has been Keeper of the Museum at Oxford, and his lectures have had such a reputation for being popular that they have been largely attended by ladies. The Professor had also given much time to meteorology and astronomy, and had made many observations in his own observatory. He was an honorary M.A. and D.C.L. of Oxford, and LL.D. of Cambridge and Dublin.

NOTES

DR. LYON PLAYFAIR, C. B., has given notice that, on the House of Commons going into committee on the Education Estimates, he will call attention to the deficient ministerial responsibility under which the Votes for Education, Science, and Art are administered, and will move for a Select Committee to consider how such ministerial responsibility may be better secured. We believe that Dr. Lyon Playfair's views are strictly in accordance with those of the best scientific men of the country, namely, that the only satisfactory way of dealing with the subject will be by the appointment of a Minister for Education, Science, and Art.

THE 15th or 16th of June has been fixed for the inauguration of the physical laboratory, the gift of the Duke of Devonshire to the University of Cambridge.

THE following is a list of candidates selected and recommended by the Council of the Royal Society for election as Fellows:-Isaac Lowthian Bell, F.C.S.; W. T. Blanford, F.G.S.; Henry Bowman Brady, F.L.S.; Dr. Thomas Lauder Brunton, Sc. D.; Prof. W. Kingdon Clifford, M.A.; Augustus Wollaston Franks, MA.; Prof. Olaus Henrici, Ph. D.; Pres. cott G. Hewett, F.R.C.S.; John Eliot Howard, F.L.S.; Sir Henry Sumner Maine, LL.D.; Edmund James Mills, D.Sc.; Rev. Stephen Joseph Perry, F.R.A.S.; Dr. Henry Wyldbore Rumsey; Alfred R. C. Selwyn, F.G. S.; Major Charles William Wilson, R.E.

Ir is stated that Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S., has been nominated to succeed Dr. Odling at the Royal Institution.

these in autotype, and thus to afford to inquirers in this curious branch of study authentic copies of considerably more than half the whole number of such inscriptions known to exist. They will be accompanied by short notices, strictly limited to a statement respecting the localities where the inscriptions were found,

THE funeral of the late Professor Phillips will be solemnised at York to-day at 11 A. M. It is understood that this locality was fixed on by himself, other members of his family and other matters of fact respecting them; the philological dis being buried there.

A DEPUTATION, consisting of Sir Bartle Frere, president of the Royal Geographical Society, Sir James Watson, Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, M. P., and several other members of Parliament, waited on Lord Derby last Friday, to lay before him the claims which exist for an official recognition of the late Dr. Livingstone's arduous services in the cause of humanity and of Science during his long tenure of office as one of Her Majesty's Consuls. The memorial, which was handed to Lord Derby, was signed by many eminent and well-known names, and his lordship said he agreed with the deputation that something ought to be done for the members of Livingstone's family. There seems no doubt that Government will meet the wishes of the country in this matter.

ON Monday night, at the usual meeting of the Royal Geo. graphical Society, the principal business of the evening consisted of reading extracts from the letters of Dr. Livingstone to Sir H. Rawlinson, to Sir R. I. Murchison, to Sir Bartle Frere, and to some private friends. This correspondence extended over six or seven years. Very voluminous materials have been preserved, but the work of editing them has yet to be performed. Sir Bartle Frere was happy to say that the son of the illustrious traveller accepted the duty of editing the materials left by his father, and had resigned a promising career in Egypt for that purpose. THE Spectator proposes that as an appropriate memorial to the late Dr. Livingstone, some Exploration Scholarships should be founded, to be called by the explorer's name.

MR. F. J. SCHUSTER has made a donation of 2257. to the Physical Laboratory of Owens College, Manchester, for the purpose of buying apparatus.

THE Royal Irish Academy has sanctioned the following grants from the fund at its disposal for aiding scientific researches by providing suitable instruments and materials :-30%. to Messrs. Studdert and Caldwell for the chemical analysis of the mineral waters at Lisdoonvarna, in the county of Clare; 30%. to Prof. Macalister, to be expended in the purchase of rare insectivora and other mammals for dissection, in order to enable him to report on the myology of mammals; 40%. to Mr. W. H. Bailey, to investigate the fossils of the coal districts in Ireland, with a view to their comparison with those of British and other coal-fields; 50%. to Prof. Haughton, to complete an investigation into the chemical and mineral composition of the successive lava-flows of Vesuvius; 39. 175. 11d. (being the remainder of the fund) to Dr. David Moore, for the investigation and cataloguing of the Irish Hepaticæ. Gentlemen purposing to undertake scientific researches during the coming year, and desirous to obtain grants from this fund, are invited to send in their applications to the secretary of the Academy without delay.

THE Ogham inscribed stones, ten in number, purchased by the Royal Irish Academy from the representatives of the late Mr. Windele, have been arranged in the crypt of their Museum with the other Ogham stones belonging to the Academy, one being set vertically in the floor, and the others placed either on iron stands in the bays at the south side, or on the dwarf walls forming the bays. These stones are now all easy of access, and, in the daytime, have the advantage of a light well adapted to the examination of their respective inscriptions. The Academy is in possession of 134 photographic negatives of Ogham inscriptions, representing about eighty different texts. It is intended to print

cussion and interpretation of them being left to the free compe tition of scholars.

REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES H. DAVIS was ordered, on Feb. Washington, U.S., in place of Rear-Admiral Sands, who has 23, to the duty of superintendent of the Naval Observatory al

been detached and placed on the retired list, in accordance with the rules of the service. Admiral Sands, during his tenure of office, has merited the respect and goodwill of British Astronomers, who will view with regret the necessary termination of his functions.

AMONGST the estimates passed by the House of Commons on Friday last was 80,000!. to continue the works on the New Natural History Museum at South Kensington, with which rapid progress is now being made.

IN answer to a question in the House of Commons on Tuesday Viscount Sandon stated that arrangements consequent on the retirement of Mr. Cole were now the subject of consideration by the Science and Art Department, but had not yet been com pleted.

THE Council of the Paris Observatory is said to have protested against a ministerial decision which allowed the Bureau des Longitudes to take the half of the astronomical library, which has been forming during centuries, and which is one of the richest in the world. It is almost certain that the decision will be cancelled, M. Leverrier having given the alternative of leaving the whole of the books in the hands of the Bureau, and refusing to be a party to such a mutilation. When the library shall be saved, it will be open to the public under certain regulations.

WE recently announced the oppressive treatment to which M.

Alglave, editor of La Revue Scientifique and Professor of Law at Douai, had been subjected; there is no doubt now that his suspension by the Minister of Public Instruction has been caused by his refusal to resign the editorship of the journal just mentioned and of the Revue politique et littéraire, of which he is also editor. On Monday week, on his going to open his class for the term, he received a letter from the Under-Secretary of the Eiu cation Department informing him that his course would be sus pended until further notice. Science has many difficulties to contend with in this country, but happily vexatious interference on the part of the State is not one of them.

A PAPER on the grasses and fodder plants which may be bene ficial to the squatter and agriculturist in South Australia, by Dr. Richard Schomburgk, director of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, has been officially published by order of the Governor.

and much admired Japan lacquer-work, the secrets of which It is stated in the Scientific American that the well-known were supposed to be known only to the Easterns, has been suc cessfully reproduced, or rather imitated, in Holland. The lacquer is prepared from Zanzibar copal, coloured black with Indian ink. The articles are painted with several coats of this lacquer, in which the pieces of mother-o'-pearl or other sub. stances used for ornamentation are placed before it becomes hard. The lacquer is then dried by placing the articles in a heated oven or furnace, after which another coat of lacquer is applied, and when dry smoothed with pumice, which is repeated until all cracks are filled up and the surface has become perfectly smooth, when the whole is polished, or rather burnished, with tripoli.

« AnteriorContinuar »