to the Catholic Colleges at Douai and Rome. While at Rome, he resolved to enter the Order of Jesuits; and, returning to England, he joined the English province of the Order on November 12, 1853. After two years' noviciate, he went to France for one year. He then returned to Stonyhurst for a course in philosophy. His inclination to mathematics was soon apparent, and his superiors in the Order decided to train him specially for this line of work. In 1858 he occupied the 6th place on the Mathematical Honours list of the London University. After attending lectures by De Morgan, he went to Paris for a year to finish his mathematical studies. On returning to Stonyhurst, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Observatory, succeeding Father Weld, who had for many years occupied the position. During the College year 1862-63, Father Perry taught one of the classes at Stonyhurst. In September 1863 he went to study divinity at St. Bueno's College, North Wales, and in 1866 he was ordained priest. Two years later he returned to Stonyhurst to resume his professorship and the charge of the Observatory. From this time he never left the College save to take part in some scientific expedition. The work at Stonyhurst Observatory had been chiefly meteorological and magnetic before Father Perry's assumption of the directorship. In 1866 it was selected as one of the first-class meteorological stations. In 1867 the astronomical department of the Observatory was placed in a much more satisfactory position by the acquisition of an equatorial which originally belonged to Mr. Peters, and a small instrument destined for spectroscopic work. The first of these instruments was an 8-inch by Troughton and Simms, the second a 23-inch. The first spectroscope was procured in 1870 from Mr. Browning, and was used for preliminary work on star spectra, pending the construction of a larger instrument ordered from Troughton and Simms. In 1874 a large direct-vision spectroscope was ordered from Browning for use in observing the transit of Venus. Two years later a Maclean spectroscope was added, and in 1879 another by Browning containing 6 prisms of 60; and more recently a Christie half-prism by Hilger. With these instruments Father Perry has carried out systematic work of the highest class, his aim being to make Stonyhurst as efficient an observatory for solar physics as the means at his disposal would admit. His first communication to the Royal Astronomical Society indicates the policy he pursued-to undertake no work which was a mere duplication of that done at other places. His solar work during the last ten years formed the subject of a lecture at the Royal Institution on May 24. It may be divided into two classes-drawings and spectroscopic observations. For the drawings an image of the sun 10 inches in diameter was projected on a sheet of drawing-paper affixed to a sketch-board carried by the telescope, and all markings on the sun traced. The drawing finished, the chromosphere and prominences were examined with the spectroscope. About 250 drawings were made every year from 1880. The results of the observations were published annually in a neat little volume, and also in various publications. In addition to this work, regular observations of Jupiter's satellites, comets, &c., were made, as also spectroscopic observations of comets, stars, &c. Father Perry's labours were not confined to the Observatory alone, and in fact the extraneous work which he undertook gave the world the best opportunities for studying his high character, and impressed astronomers with a sense of his great devotion to their science. The first occasion on which he left the Observatory for scientific work was in the autumn of 1868, when, accompanied by Father Sidgreaves, he made a magnetic survey of the west of France. In the following year the vacation was spent in a like work for the east of that country. In 1871, assisted by Mr. Carlisle, he made a similar surve› of Belgium. In 1870, Father Perry took part, for the first time, in 25 eclipse expedition, being stationed near Cadiz, whither be had taken the two spectroscopes acquired by the Obsenz tory in 1870, and two telescopes-a Cassegrain of inches and a 4-inch achromatic. In 1874 he volunteers: for the Transit of Venus expeditions, and was selected ov Sir George Airy as chief of the Kerguelen party. Mura tact and energy were required for the success of party, who encountered several obstacles before arrivia at the "Island of Desolation," as he termed Kergueler The spirit in which these obstacles were met is shown by his words-" We were determined that no consideration should make us flinch where the astronomical interests of the expedition were at stake." That this was no vaz boast is proved by the evidence of those who were his colleagues in any excursions by water. His sufferin from sea sickness were so fearful that everyone wondered that he cared to venture on even the most promising trip aad that he should have undertaken the terrible voyage to Kerguelen speaks volumes for his enthusiasm for science. "Four days and nights the mighty waves tat been washing over the Volage." His patience in suffer, on this and other occasions helped to win for him the esteem of the officers with whom he came in contact Not one word of his discomfort is to be found in any the journals kept by him. In addition to the work of the expedition, he took magnetic observations at the Care Kerguelen, Bombay, Aden, Port Said, Malta, Paler, Rome, Naples, Florence, and Moncalieri, and lectured = the Transit of Venus at the Cape and Bombay, and, his return, at the Royal Institution. In 1882 he went to Madagascar for the Transit Venus. For the eclipse of August 29, 1886, he went to Carriacou, for that of August 19, 1887, to Russia; an last November he sailed for Salut Isles on his final expe dition. It is worthy of remark that the Archbishop of Demerara, who had been a pupil of his, went to Barba does in 1886 to see his old master; and on the presen occasion the body of the master was taken to Dementa When at Stonyhurst, Father Perry, in addition to is Observatory work, carried out to the fullest extent i duties as a professor. He was very popular as a lecturer: and at Liverpool, Wigan, and neighbouring towns, b often delighted audiences, some of which numbered more than 3000 people. Father Perry but rarely occupied the pulpit of recent years, but he was much admired as a preacher. His sermons were marked by the earnestness which formed so distinguished a feature of his character To those who came in contact with him in connection with his scientific work, he endeared himself by his gen and retiring manner, retiring on all occasions save whe some sacrifice was demanded for the science he loved s well, and for which he laid down his life on December In 1874, Father Perry was elected a Fellow of the Rova Society, and very shortly before his last voyage he wa placed on its Council. He was a Fellow and Member Council of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a Fellor of the Royal Meteorological Society, the Physical Sonch of London, and the Liverpool Astronomical Society. L' the last-named Society he was President at the time of his death. In 1886 he received the honorary degree of D.Sc. from the Royal University of Ireland, and a various dates he was elected by the Accademia dei Nu Lincei, the Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, and the Société Géographique d'Anvers. For several years pr ceding his death, he served on the Committee of Sour Physics, appointed by the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, and also on the Committee for Cole paring and Reducing Magnetic Observations, appointes by the British Association for the Advancement of Science In April 1887 he took part in the International Astro photography Congress held at Paris. MR. DANIEL ADAMSON. S a mechanical engineer and a metallurgist, Mr. Daniel Adamson must always maintain a foremost place, for he was in the van in the industrial progress of the century. He was born at Shildon, in the county of Durham, in 1818, and apprenticed to Mr. T. Hackworth, locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, with whom he remained from 1835 to 1841. He then held various stations in the same railway until 150, and in 1851 he began business on his own account as an iron-founder, engineer, and boiler-maker. From this time forward until quite recently Mr. Adamson has brought out many highly successful inventions In connection with the manufacture of boilers and the application of steam. The first of these was a flange seam for high-pressure boilers, patented by him in 1852, and well known as Adamson's flange seam. In 1856, Mr., now Sir Henry, Bessemer, read a paper before the Batish Association at Cheltenham describing his steel process, and one of the first to apply it was Mr. Adamson. Having satisfied himself by experimental trials of the quality of steel, he determined to use it for the manufacture of boilers; and Sir Henry Bessemer, when on May 9, 1888, he presented the Bessemer Medal to Mr Adamson on behalf of the Council of the Iron and Steel Institute, referred with satisfaction to this circumstance, as being the turning-point in his own career, and having given a start to the use of steel for general engineering purposes. Later on, when open-hearth steel as introduced by the late Sir William Siemens, Mr. Adamson made trial of it for boiler use, and was for years an upholder of the merits of steel. He wrote a Comprehensive paper "On the Mechanical and other Properties of Iron and Mild Steel," which was brought before the Paris meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 1878, when it gave rise to a most interesting discusson. This paper is looked upon as a standard one on the subject of steel. Mr. Adamson's inventions appear to have been all Intimately connected with his business. In 1858 he apped hydraulic power for the riveting of steel structures, and in 1862 he brought out an invention for building team boilers, the rivet holes being drilled through the plates when these were in position. He was entirely opposed to the punching of steel plates; he deribed it as a barbarous mode of treatment, as it fore the fibre of the material; and he would never allow to be used in his own works. The important feature in all Mr. Adamson's work was its thoroughness; all the material used was subjected to chemical and mechanical tests, so that he obtained a reputation throughout the world for the soundness of everything he turned out. Mr. Adamson was one of the first to show the superiority of compound engines. This class of engine had already been introduced by Mr. John Elder, of Glasgow, but to Mr. Adamson is greatly due the credit of the employment of triple and quadruple expansion engines. In 1574 he read a paper at Manchester, in which he maintained that pressures of 150 pounds on the square inch could be as safely applied as pressures of 50 pounds by a careful extension of the compound system. As far back as 1861 he patented and brought out a triple-expansion engine, ! and in 1873 a quadruple engine. In the paper to which we have just referred Mr. Adamson gave expression to the opinion that the consumption of coal per horse-power per hour should not exceed from 1 to 1 pounds of coal, whilst at that time 24 pounds per horse-power per hour was considered a very good result. Besides these inventions, Mr. Adamson took out patents in connection with the manufacture of steel by the Bessemer process, with machinery for compressing steel, And for testing machines, as also improvements in guns and armour. No account of his work would be complete without a reference to his connection with the Manchester Ship Canal. He was of an enthusiastic temperament, and this was made specially evident in connection with this great undertaking. A Manchester man, and thoroughly convinced of the benefit which would accrue to the surrounding manufacturing towns, Mr. Adamson set to work to effect what others had proposed. It is more than 65 years ago since it was proposed that Manchester should be connected with the sea by a ship canal, but it was Mr. Adamson's invitation to various persons to meet at his house on June 27, 1882, that really started the project. The proceedings then initiated resulted in the incorporation of the Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1885. Mr. Adamson's work in connection with international progress, and his labours to make Manchester an ocean steam port, will not readily be forgotten. In September and October last he was engaged on an examination of the iron mines of the island of Elba, and he embodied the results in a report to the Italian Government. About two months ago he caught a cold on his Flintshire estate of Wepre Hall. He returned to his home at Didsbury, and died there on Monday, the 13th inst. Quite recently Mr. Adamson was elected President of the Iron and Steel Institute. He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and of the Iron and Steel Institute, and to the proceedings of these Societies he presented many papers containing the results of his inquiries as to the properties and treatment of metals, especially iron and steel. NOTES. AT a meeting of a Committee appointed by the Council of the Royal Society to set on foot a memorial to the late James Prescott Joule, held on November 30 last, at Burlington House, it was unanimously resolved that a fund should be raised for a memorial of an international character commemorative of the life-work of Joule. This memorial will have for its object the encouragement of research in physical science. It is proposed also that a tablet or bust shall be erected to his memory in London, a Manchester Memorial Committee having already taken steps to ensure a suitable monument in his native city. Joule's discoveries were of such commanding importance that there can be no doubt as to the success of this movement. The Committee feel confident not only that men of science will gladly contribute towards a fund to do honour to Joule's memory, and to assist others to follow in his footsteps, but that those who devote themselves to the practical application of scientific principles will also be anxious to aid in the promotion of a fitting memorial of one whose work has exerted so great an influence on industry. WE regret to announce the death of Gustave-Adolphe Hirn, the eminent physicist. He died at Colmar on January 14, in his seventy-fifth year. Mr. MR. ROONEY, who accompanied the late Father Perry on the solar eclipse expedition to the Salut Isles, has arrived in England, bringing with him the plates successfully exposed during the totality of the eclipse by Father Perry and himself. Rooney has put himself in communication with the Astronomer Royal, and the plates will be handed over to the Royal Astronomical Society to be developed.. THE Forth Bridge was tested by the engineers on Tuesday as a preliminary to the passage of the first train over it on Friday. The following is the official report :-" Sir John Fowler and Mr.. Baker, engineers of the Forth Bridge, have to-day tested the two 1700-feet spans by placing on the centres two trains, each made up of 50 loaded coal waggons and three of the heaviest engines and tenders, the total load thus massed upon the spans being the enormous weight of 1800 tons, which is more than double what the bridge will ever be called upon in practice to sustain. The observed deflections were in exact accordance with the calculations of the engineers, and the bridge exhibited exceptional stiffness in all directions." Every part of the bridge will be in perfect order for the visit of the Prince of Wales on March 4. AT the meeting of the Convocation of London University, on Tuesday, there was some discussion as to the question of the reconstitution of the University. Dr. F. J. Wood, who presided, said he was not in a position to help Convocation very much. As they were well aware, the Senate had drawn up a scheme which was intended to follow on the lines of the recommendations of the Royal Commission. That scheme had been submitted to the consideration of University College and King's College, and up to now those Colleges had arrived at no decision upon it, but requested a conference. That conference was about to take place, and, of course, until it was held it was impossible for any of them to say what shape the scheme would ultimately assume. Mr. T. Tyler moved a resolution declaring that "The proposal of the University for London Commission that, under a new charter for this University, special powers and privileges should be conferred on certain institutions in or near London is incompatible with the fair and just treatment of the provincial Colleges, and that the acceptance of this proposal would be detrimental alike to the interests of the provincial Colleges and to those of the University itself." This motion was unanimously adopted. On Friday, January 24, at 4.30 p.m., Mr. Holland Crompton will begin a course of ten lectures at the Central Institution, Exhibition Road, on the theory of electrolysis and the nature of chemical change in solution. In this course an historical account will be given of the recent development of the Clausius dissociation hypothesis by Arrhenius, Ostwald, and others; of van't Hoff's extension of Avogadro's theorem to dilute solutions; and of the Raoult methods of determining the molecular weights of dissolved substances. On Monday, January 27, at 4.30 p.m., Prof. Armstrong, F. R.S., will begin a special course of ten lectures on methods of analysis as applied to the determination of the structure of carbon compounds. The object of this course will be to explain and experimentally demonstrate the methods adopted in determining the structure of the more important and, typical compounds, including alkaloids, carbohydrates, and oils and fats. THE annual meeting of the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching was held last Friday morning in one of the theatres of University College, London, under the presidency of Prof. Minchin. While observing with pleasure that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge had embodied in the printed regulations for various examinations some requests of the Association with regard to elementary geometry, the Council in their report expressed regret that the Euclid papers set for responsions at Oxford still consist exclusively of "book work." The response of the University of Dublin to the Society's petition is that they are not prepared to decide on such important questions without much consideration. At the afternoon meeting papers were read by the Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, on a new treatment of the hyperbole; by Mr. G. Heppel, on the teaching of trigonometry; by Mr. E. M. Langley, on some geometrical theorems; by Prof. Minchin, on statics and geometry; and by Mr. R. Tucker, on isoscelian hexagrams. FEARS having been expressed as to a possible connection between influenza and cholera epidemics, Dr. Smolenski pais lishes, in the Russian Official Messenger, an elaborate repon upon the subject. He points out that the suspicion is not s and that in 1837 it was discussed by Gluge (“Die Influenza”, and refuted. In fact, influenza or grippe epidemics have lemn known in Europe since 1173-that is, for more than serey hundred years; whilst the first cholera epidemic appeared : Europe in 1823, but did not spread, that time, further tha Astrakhan. Six years later it broke out in Orenburg; next yez: in Caucasia and Astrakhan again, whence it spread over Russ and, in 1831, reached Western Europe. As a rule, influent. spreads very rapidly, and in 1782, at St. Petersburg, no fewer than 40,000 persons fell ill of it on the same day (January 14 In 1833 its progress was also very rapid, and within a few days it appeared at places so far apart as Moscow, Odess Alexandria, and Paris, while cholera epidemics are usually sica in their migrations from one place to another. Moreover, influenza is chiefly a winter epidemic, while cholera prefers the spring and the summer. Dr. Smolenski has further tabulat. all influenza and cholera epidemics which have broken out in the course of our century in Europe, and he comes to the followin results :-Influenza broke out in 1816, in Iceland; 1827, Russia and Siberia; 1830-33, in Europe generally; 1836-37 in Europe; 1838, in Iceland; 1841-48 and 1850-51, in Europe 1853, in the Faroe Islands; 1854-55 and 1857-58, in Europe 1856, in Iceland and the Faroe Islands; 1862, Holland a Spain; 1863-64, France and Switzerland; 1866, France an Great Britain; 1867, France, Germany, and Belgium; 1868 Turkey; and 1874-75, Western Europe. As to the choler epidemics during the same period they were: 1823, Astrakha and Caucasia (from Persia); 1829, Orenburg (from Turkestan) 1830, Russia (from Persia); 1831-37, various parts of Europe. the next epidemic appeared in 1846 in Transcaucasia (coming from Persia); in 1847 it spread over Siberia and Russia, and is 1848 it was in Europe; in 1849-52 it was followed by fec outbreaks all over Europe. The third cholera epidemic cam from Persia again in 1852, and it resulted in a severe outbreak during the years 1853-55 in Europe, followed by feebler breaks till 1861. The fourth cholera epidemic came through the Mediterranean ports in 1865, and lasted in Europe till 1868 with feebler epidemics in 1869-74. The latest invasion 4 cholera was in 1884, when it came again through the Mediter ranean ports. As to the cholera epidemic which now begins to die out in Persia and Mesopotamia, it certainly is a dangerthe more so as, out of the five epidemics of cholera which hav visited Europe, three have come from Persia. ATTENTION has lately been called to the fact that anchor are found off Torquay and other south coast fishing centr Prof. Ewart, of Edinburgh, has written to the Times that dura the present winter they have made their appearance in the Moray Firth. At the end of December they were abundant of Troup Head, where considerable numbers were captured in the herring nets by the Buckie fishermen. Prof. Ewart thinks tex further inquiries may perhaps show that the northward migran of the anchovies is in some way related to the mildness of t** winter. He points out that it is most desirable to ascerta whether they have reached the Moray Firth with the was Atlantic water that during western winds rushes through ': Pentland Firth, or by travelling along the east coast through the cold Arctic water that wells up from the bottom in the vicinity the Dogger Bank. THE programme of the Royal Horticultural Society for present year includes a daffodil exhibition and conference, to be held at Chiswick on four days of April; the great show in Temple Gardens in May; an exhibition of tea roses, by National Rose Society, in June; in July an exhibition of ant conferences upon carnations, ferns, and selaginellas; and in September, at Chiswick, exhibitions of and conferences upon dahlias and grapes. The drill-hall meetings began with one on the subject of winter gardening, introduced by the Rev. W. Wilks; and, after the annual meeting in February, there are to le papers and discussions upon hippeastrums (amaryllis), saladings, spring flower gardening, spring flowering shrubs and trees, herbaceous pæonies, lilies, fruit-drying, hollyhocks, crinums, rees and shrubs for large towns, and Chinese primulas. The accommodation at the drill-hall is not adequate to the wants of the Society, and the Council is considering whether it would not be possible to erect a suitable building on the Thames Embankment. his apparatus should be scientifically tested at Kew, but it would not have been easy for any member of the staff of the Royal Gardens to find time for the necessary observations. The task was undertaken by Dr. Francis Oliver, who now presents the results of his investigation. The following is a summary of the conclusions at which he has arrived:-"I contend that all the movements exhibited by the leaves of Abrus precatorius depend on causes not so far to seek as those suggested by Mr. Nowack. The ordinary movements of the leaflets, of rising and falling, are called forth in the main by changes in the intensity of the light. In a humid atmosphere they are more sluggish than in a relatively dry one. In other words, when the conditions are favourable for transpiration the movements are most active. The position for snow and hail is connected intimately, in the cases that have come under my observation, with a spotting or biting (by insects) of the leaflets, and is not due to any other external factor. The position for fog and mist, and for electricity in the air, is probably due to the disturbance caused by varying light, the rhythmical movements of the leaflets being temporarily overthrown. The position indicating thunder and lightning I take to be pathological from its tendency to recur on the same leaves. Daily movements of the rachis constitute a periodic function in this as in many other plants with pinnate leaves. The regularity of these oscillations is considerably influenced by both light and tem THE International Horticultural Exhibition to be held in Berlin under Royal and Imperial auspices, from April 25 to May 5, will be characterized by two special features-an exhibitom of horticultural architecture, and one of horticultural models, apparatus, &c. It is requested that all exhibits or announcements of such should be promptly sent to the General Secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Horticulture, Prof. Dr. L. Wittmack, Invalidenstrasse 42, Berlin N., from whom all further information may be obtained. The Exhibition will be Leid in the Royal Agricultural Exhibition building, on the Lehrt Railway. The general organizer of the scientific depart-perature." ment is Prof. Dr. Pringsheim; and the following gentlemen have undertaken the management of special branches:-For the geography of plants, Prof. Dr. Ascherson; for physiology, Prof. Dr. Frank; for seeds, Herr P. Hennings; for morphology, anatomy, and the history of development, Prof. Dr. Kny; for tangi, Prof. Dr. Magnus; for soils, Prof. Dr. Orth; for history, literature, and miscellaneous, Dr. Schumann; for officinal and technical objects, Dr. Tschirch. The Minister for Agriculture, Fr. Freiherr v. Lucius-Balhausen, will be the Honorary President of the Exhibition. The city of Berlin has granted the sum of 15,000 marks towards its expenses; and a guarantee fund of 80,000 marks has been raised. THE Calcutta Herbarium contains a rich collection of Malayan plants, and Dr. King, the superintendent of the Calcutta Royal Botanic Garden, proposes to publish from time to time a sysmatic account of as many of them as are indigenous to British provinces, or to provinces under British influence. In addition to the States on the mainland of the Malayan penninsula, these provinces include the islands of Singapore and Penang, and the Nicobar and Andaman groups. The classification which Dr. King intends to follow is that of the late Mr. Bentham and Sir Joseph Hooker. The current number of the Journal of the series of papers. THE January number of the Kew Bulletin contains an able and most interesting report, by Dr. Francis Oliver, on the solied weather plant. This plant is Abrus precatorius, Linn., a well-known tropical weed. Mr. Joseph F. Nowack claims to have discovered that its leaves have "the peculiar property of indicating by their position various changes in nature about forty-eight hours before the said changes occur." Numerous stservations with hundreds of such plants have convinced him that "any given position of the leaves corresponds always to a certain condition of the weather forty-eight hours afterwards." Some time ago he devised an apparatus for the purpose of putting has supposed discovery to practical use. It consists of a "transparent vessel containing the weather plant, closed on all sides, protected against injurious external influences, and adapted to be internally ventilated and maintained at a temperature of at least * Reaumur, these being the conditions under which, in temperate climates, Nowack's weather plant answers the purpose of a weather indicator." Last year Mr. Nowack was anxious that ON Tuesday an Archæological Congress began its proceedings at Moscow. The sitting was attended by delegates from German, Austrian, and French Archæological Societies. The section of the Russian Imperial Historical Museum in Moscow allotted to the Moscow Archæological Society was formally opened on January 8, by Prince von Dolgoroukoff, the Governor-General. The collection consists of a variety of antiquities from the Caucasus, stone and glass ornaments, beautiful enamel work from various parts of Russia, ancient holy images, and antique garments and china. A correspondent of the Times, who gives an account of the exhibits, calls attention especially to a number of ancient gold ornaments from the Caucasus (described as Merovingian), contributed by the Countess Ouvarova, the President of the Society. He also refers to certain Osetinian copper pins, 18 inches long, found near some human skulls, and supposed to have been used for dressing the hair. A helmet of Assyrian form has attracted much notice. IN one of the lectures he is delivering at Aberdeen, under the Gifford Bequest, Dr. E. B. Tylor offered a most interesting suggestion the other day as to the meaning of a well-known but puzzling Assyrian sculptured group. This group consists of two four-winged figures, with bodies of men and heads of eagles, standing opposite a tree-like formation, which is easily recognized as a collection of date-palms, or a conventionalized representation of a palm-grove. Each of the two figures carries in the left hand a bucket or basket, in the right a body which each seems to be presenting to the palm-tree. What is this body? It is usually described as a fir-cone, but some have regarded it as a bunch of grapes, others as a pine-apple. Dr. Tylor suggests that it should be connected with the most obvious point of interest for which the date-palm has been famous among naturalists since antiquity-namely, its need of artificial fertilization in order to produce a crop of edible dates. This process in its simplest form consists in shaking the pollen from the inflorescence of the male date-palm over the inflorescence of the female. The practice is mentioned by Theophrastus and Pliny, and in modern times in such works as Shaw's "Travels in Barbary." Dr. Tylor exhibited a drawing of the male palm inflorescence, and said it was hardly necessary to point out the resemblance to the object in the hand of the winged figure of the Assyrian sculpture. As the cultivator of the palm-tree has to ascend the tree in order to perform the process of fertilization, he of course takes with him a supply of fresh flowers in a basket. Dr. Tylor's theory, therefore, is that the objects carried by the winged genii of the Assyrians are the male inflorescence of the date-palm in one hand, the basket with a fresh supply of inflorescence in the other, and that the function the genii are depicted in the sculptures as discharging is that of fertilizing the palmgroves of the country-a function which must have been held to denote their great beneficence, since it showed them fulfilling the great duty of providing the Assyrians with bread. THE current quarterly statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund contains a brief review of the work done in connection with the Fund during 1889. It is stated that excavations on property belonging to a French gentlemen on the eastern slope of Zion have revealed a number of rock-hewn chambers, which appear to have been used in ancient times partly as dwellings and partly as storehouses. In describing them Herr Schick remarks that nearly all the ground covered by the city of Jerusalem is found on examination to be honeycombed with these rockhewn chambers. It is not improbable that the Jebusites were to some extent troglodytes. In the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles mention is made of a cave at Cyprus "where the race of the Jebusites formerly dwelt." SEVERAL violent shocks of earthquake occurred in Carinthia on January 14, at 9.30 p.m., their direction being from southeast to north-west. In the theatre at Klagenfurt, which was densely packed, the seismic disturbance caused a panic, which was heightened by a false alarm of fire. The audience, however, soon became reassured, and there was no accident to life or limb. THE Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for the month of January states that December was notable for the severe storms that prevailed along the Transatlantic routes. A number of the depressions followed each other in rapid succession; the most notable of these was one on the 16th, in about lat. 51° N., long. 37° W. Gales of hurricane force, with mountainous seas, accompanied this disturbance, as it moved to the north-eastward, to the serious embarrassment of west-bound steamers. Two storms occurred to the eastward of Bermuda during the first week of the month. The first of these disturbances was central on the 4th, in about lat. 36° N., long. 55° W. After 16 hours the wind, hauled to south-east and moderated. The south-east wind experienced after the passage of the storm was probably due to the approach of the second cyclone, which was central on the 5th in about lat. 31° N., long. 63° W., and was accompanied by severe hailstorms and heavy seas. Very little fog was reported. A dense fog along the coast of the United States on the 19th, 20th, and 21st, extended some distance inland; navigation in New York harbour was practically suspended on the 20th. Ocean ice was reported in the neighbourhood of lat. 48° N., long. 47 W. WE referred lately to a new kind of butter which is now being made in Germany from cocoanut milk. The Calcutta Correspondent of the Times says that the cocoanuts required for this industry are imported in large numbers from India, chiefly Bombay, and that the trade seems likely to attain still greater importance. ACCORDING to the Perseveranza of Milan, quoted in the current number of the Board of Trade Journal, important sponge-banks have lately been discovered close to the island of Lampedusa, on the southern coast of Sicily. These deposits of sponges extend for over a surface of from 15 to 18 marine leagues, and are situated about an equal distance from the southeastern extremity of the island. The smallest depth above these banks is 20 ells; the greatest depth is from 30 to 31 ells. At the lesser depths rock is met with, on which the sponge grows; at greater depths a sandy soil is found. All varieties of sponge are discovered here, including those which are in the greater commercial request, and they are easy to obtain, Greek and Italian vessels have already proceeded to Lampedusa to taar advantage of this discovery. AT the meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, on November 27, Mr. K. H. Bennett read a paper on the breeding of the glossy ibis (Ibis falcinellus, Linn.). The us precedented rainfall of the year on the Lower Lachlan induce several species of birds to breed in the district, contrary to th author's experience of previous years. Among these was the glossy ibis, two nests of which with eggs of a beautiful green ish-blue colour somewhat resembling those of Ardea nos hollandia, but much brighter, were found in October and November. At the same meeting Mr. J. H. Maiden tom municated preliminary notes, by Dr. T. L. Bancroft, on the pharmacology of some new poisonous plants. Mr. T. P. Luc5 read a paper on Queensland Macro-Lepidoptera, with localtim and descriptions of new species. Forty-one species belonging to various families were proposed as new, and new localines were given for about ninety-five other species. THE new number of "The Year Book of Pharmacy" (J. and A. Churchill) has been issued. It comprises abstracts of papers relating to pharmacy, materia medica, and chemistry, con tributed by British and foreign journals from July 1, 1888, June 30, 1889. It presents also the Transactions of the Brit Pharmaceutical Conference at the twenty-sixth annual meeting, held at Newcastle-on-Tyne, September 1889. MESSRS. E. AND F. N. SPON have issued a third edinon of "A Guide for the Electric Testing of Telegraph Cables." by Colonel V. Hoskiær, of the Royal Danish Engineers. The fire edition appeared in 1873. The Congress of Electricians in 1881 made some alterations necessary, and the author explams that he has added a few methods of testing, in the hope of making the book more useful. THE Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge has issued, in the series entitled “Chief Ancient Philosophies," a third edition of the Rev. I. Gregory Smith's "Aristotelianism," n which an attempt is made to tabulate from the "Ethics" the opinions of Aristotle on questions relating to what has been called "the scientific basis of morality." In the same volume is printed a treatise, by the Rev. W. Grundy, Head Master of Malvern College, on the more important of Aristotle's other works. SOME interesting properties and reactions of the chlorides selenium are described by M. Chabrié in the current number at the Bulletin de la Société Chimique de Paris. Selenium terr2chloride, SeCl, was obtained by Berzelius by passing a stream of chlorine over selenium at the ordinary temperature, a quan of the reddish-brown liquid subchloride, Se,Cl, being int formed, and eventually converted to the pale yellow solid tetra chloride. The tetrachloride was subsequently volatilized by heating and obtained in small white opaque crystals. By heating the crystals obtained by this method in one end of a sealed tube to 190°-200° C., M. Chabrié has obtained a sublimate of much larger and better formed crystals, presenting brilliant fac tetrachloride were attempted by Victor Meyer's method at gre With these crystals determinations of the vapour density of the in an atmosphere of nitrogen. The resulting numbers show that two molecules of SeCI, dissociate at 360° into one molecule of Se,Cl, and three molecules of chlorine. The subchloride. SeaCl, is a very much more stable body, and may be distilled unchanged at 360°. Determinations of the density of its vapour yield values closely approximating to 795, the theoretical density of a molecule of the formula Se,Cl. Among the numeroas reactions of these compounds which M. Chabrić bas studied, the most interesting are those between selenium tetrachloride and |