the wing upon its axis, during extension and flexion, when the insect is playing its wings before an object, or still better when it is artificially fixed, it is otherwise when the down stroke is added, and the insect is fairly on the wing and progressing rapidly. In this case, the wing in virtue of its being carried forward by the body in motion, describes a spiral or undulating course" (p. 233, diag. 6, Plate xv., figs. 58, 59 and 61). "The wings, while they are describing the wave-tracks during the down and up strokes, are in addition rotating upon their long axes" (p. 266). In fact the rotation of the wings upon their long axes when they rise and fall, necessitates the twisting and untwisting, or figure-of-8 action of the margins of the wings, and this latter necessitates the figure-of-8 action of the whole wings in the act of flight. From these and other passages, which I could adduce in plenty from the Memoir quoted, it will be abundantly evident that in the year 1867 I described and delineated the following points : First. That the margins of the wing describe figure-of-8 curves during flexion and extension. Second. That the whole wing describes figure-of8 curves when it is made to vibrate, if the animal be fixed. Third. That the whole wing describes a waved track when it is made to vibrate, if the animal is advancing as in forward flight. These are facts which any one can verify for himself. I send a copy of the Memoir in corroboration. These points having been clearly established by me in 1867, it is not a little amusing to find the reviewer stating that their discovery is due to Prof. Marey, who did not write till 1869. The reviewer's statement is the more remark able, as he is quite aware that the French Academy of Sciences recognized my claim to priority in the discovery of those figure-of-8 movements, and that Prof. Marey wrote a letter to the Academy admitting the claim. The following is from the letter in question :"J'ai constaté qu'effectivement M. Pettigrew a vu avant moi, et représenté dans son Mémoire, la forme en 8 du parcours, de l'aile de l'insecte que la méthode optique à laquelle j'avais recours est à peu près identique à la sienne. Je m'empresse de satisfaire à cette demande légitime, et je laisse entièrement la priorité sur moi, à M. Pettigrew relativement à la question ainsi restreinte." (Comptes Rendus, May 16, 1870, p. 1093.) In the face of this positive information, known widely on the Continent, in America, and in Britain, your reviewer asserts that I only discovered that the margins of the wing made figureof-8 movements, and that it remained for Prof. Marey to discover that the whole wing made figureof-8 movements; and that, consequently, the discovery of the true principle of flight is due to Prof. Marey, and not to me. The foregoing will, I hope, show, once and for all, that the discovery of the figure-of-8 and wave movements made by the wing in stationary and progressive flight, whatever may be its value, is wholly mine. I therefore do no injustice to Prof. Marey. On the contrary, Prof. Marey does grave injustice to me; for (having admitted, as he did to the French Academy, that the figure-of-8 movements were first described and delineated by me) he now, according to your reviewer, insinuates that our theories (although in the main identical) are radically distinct. With regard to the reviewer's statement that the arrows in my figure-of-8, representing the curves made by the wing during extension and flexion are wrongly placed, I beg to assure him he is in error. I beg further to assure him (notwithstanding his point of exaclmation) that the under surface of the wing invariably looks downwards and for ward, both during the down and up strokes. It is in this way that the wing acts as a kite, both when it rises and falls; the wing, when it is vibrating, having virtually no slip. This is a matter of experiment. If a properly-constructed artificial wing be made to strike downwards, it invariably makes a downward and forward curve. If, again, it be made to strike upwards, it makes an upward and forward curve. These curves, when united, form a waved track, and this track represents that described by the body and tip of the wing in space in progressive flight. The under surface of the wing never strikes downwards and backwards in horizontal or upward flight. This only happens when the bird is everted and flying downwards. I hope I have said enough to show that Britain has no cause to be ashamed of her science. As far as I am concerned, I am content to leave the matter wholly in the hands of my countrymen. When these facts are fully known, as I hope they will be through your columns, I not only expect their forbearance, but even their sympathy and support. The book, the publication of which the reviewer regards as a misfortune, has been translated into French, and is being translated into German, and I feel confident that on the Continent, if not at home, and in the future, if not in the present, the true discoverer will be recognized. J. BELL PETTIGREW, M.D., F.R.S. his 1867 Memoir, which, when removed from their *** Dr. Pettigrew quotes short sentences from context, may seem to bear a different interpretation from what was evidently intended when they were written. That in that Memoir the movement of the wing in space is not once compared to a figure-of-8, anyone who reads it carefully can convince himself. But, what is more, in one place at least it is there compared to quite a different figure in a most unmistakable manner, for, in pp. 273 and 274, the following description occurs of a drawing which represents a common blow-fly buzzing: "Fig. 58. Blur or impression produced on the eye by the rapid oscillation of the wing of the blow-fly, when the insect is fixed. Seen from above. This figure represents the rotating of the wing on its long axis, and the double cone which it forms during its ascent and descent. Of the cones referred to, that marked a presents a convex surface, and is caused by the pinion rotating on its long axis in a direction from above downwards, and from behind forwards, as in the beginning of the down stroke (compare with a, of diagram 6, p. 233); the other (a') presents a concave surface, occasioned by the rotating of the wing in an opposite direction, as seen towards the termination of the down stroke (compare with d, of diagram 6, p. 233). The wing, therefore, during its descent, describes a twisting, sinuous, or wave-like track, which is differently, but equally faithfully, represented at a a' of fig. 59. The track described by the wing, or, what is the same, the blur or impression produced on the eye by its continuous and rapid action, is, in fact, spiral in its nature; and if the space traversed by the wing were represented by a solid, it would take the form of the blade of a screw-propeller, as shown at ca, da, of fig. 52."-Trans. Linn. Soc., Vol. xxvi., pp. 273 and 274. The last two sentences in this quotation set the question at rest for ever. If Dr. Pettigrew had, at the time he wrote, known that the wings moved in a figure-of-8, he would never have said that they described a wave-like track, which M. Marey has shown they do not; and it is worthy of note that in his new work on 'Animal Locomotion,' he has re-introduced the above-described drawing, with the following very different explanation :-To "show right wing of blue-bottle fly rotating on its anterior margin, and twisting to form double or figure-of-8 curves." Consequently M. Marey's theory has caused Dr. Pettigrew to modify his ideas as to the movements of the wing in flight. By an oversight it is stated in the review that the figure-of-8 movement of the margins of the wing is only referred to on one page of the 1867 Memoir (p. 233); it is, however, also mentioned on p. 225, but not on any of the others which are referred to in Dr. Pettigrew's letter. How Dr. Pettigrew can make the statement which he encloses in brackets in the first sentence of the sixth paragraph of his letter, we are at a loss to conceive. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. THE pamphlet just issued by Prof. Ernst Haeckel, entitled "Die Gastraæa Theorie,' marks an epoch in the progress of our knowledge of the laws of development. The embryological investigations of the last few years, especially those of Kowalewsky and of Haeckel himself, have resulted in showing that the whole animal kingdom above the Protozoa have descended from a simple saclike form as ancestor, whose body-wall, consisting simply of an ectodermal and an endodermal layer of cells, encloses a space, the primitive stomach. This ancestral form constantly shows itself in the development of the most diverse types-polyps, sponges, worms, arthropods, molluscs, and vertebrates. The ancestor which possessed this form Haeckel names a Gastræa. All the higher animals are, consequently, Gastræades; and though they develope into much more complicated structures than the sac-like Gastræa, yet often exhibit a Gastrula condition in the course of their progress from the egg to the adult form. In the present higher Gastræades between endoderm and exoderm, memoir, Prof. Haeckel follows out other questions as to the muscular layers which develope in the and the blood-lymph space or "colom," which also makes its appearance in this position. The classification of animals on the basis of these important facts of development is attempted in the organism according to the mode of their detail, as well as an enumeration of the tissues of development. Mr. Ray Lankester is cited by Prof. Haeckel as of, himself arrived at general views of the same having simultaneously with, but independently description, which were published in the Annals of Natural History, May, 1873. Prof. Haeckel's splendidly illustrated monograph of the Calcareous Sponges published at the end of 1872, contained his first sketch of the Gastræa theory. The present pamphlet is illustrated by a diagrammatic plate of the Gastrula and the various dispositions of the subsequently developed "layers" of the organism as exhibited in transverse sections. The work will shortly be translated in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. Prof. Morse, of Bowdoin College, U.S.A., has been doing some very valuable work in the development of the Brachiopoda. He has already made known a part of some interesting observations on Lingula pyramidalis, to collect which he made a long journey on the American coast. The complete account of this investigation is looked for with much interest, since, with the exception of Semper, no naturalist but Prof. Morse has had the opportunity of studying Lingula in a living and fresh condition. Spirit specimens are very unsatisfactory in the case of these delicate organisms. Prof. Morse has, however, concluded another piece of work relating to the Brachiopoda, or Spirobranchia," as they would be better termed. He has given a very full account of the development from the egg of Terebratulina, in two memoirs published by the Boston Society of Natural History. He establishes, in the first place, that the embryo is segmented like an Annelid, as Lacaze Duthiers found to be the case with Thecidium. He then shows how the embryo attaches itself, and that the mantle-fold developes like a two-lipped cup, secreting the two valves of the shell; whilst the peduncle grows to a great length, giving the embryo the appearance of a stalked Polyzoon. And, indeed, as Prof. Morse most rightly urges, there is altogether the closest agreement in the structure of the young Terebratulina and such a Polyzoon as Pedicellina. The spiral arms of Terebratulina begin as half-adozen or more movable ciliated tentacular processes, surrounding the mouth, and not to be distinguished from the "lophophore" of a Polyzoon, whilst the arrangements of the viscera are identical We cannot agree with the in the two cases. author's suggestion to classify the Brachiopods with chatophorous Annelids, but hold both Brachiopods and Polyzoa as degraded groups of the Molluscan stock. Prof. Morse is so energetic and able an observer that we may venture to urge one failure against him, in the hope that he may remedy it. He does not use high powers of the microscope, nor attempt the questions of histogenesis, the metamorphoses of the embryo-cells. If he would train himself for this kind of observation, his excellent researches would have a greatly-increased value. confirmed adherent of the evolution - hypothesis. Nevertheless, he is careful at the close of his memoir to declare his disbelief in the efficiency of struggle for existence" as an explanation of evolution, and re-asserts his faith in a "secondary cause or law," which he considers to be "the deep and pregnant principle in Philosophy," evolved Those who are interested in any way in the in his own researches on the General Analogies general comparative anatomy of the muscles of and Archetype of the Vertebrate Skeleton. the Vertebrata- and there are many in England The second English publication alluded to is who have taken up this branch of study very that of Dr. Carmichael M'Intosh, on the 'British earnestly-cannot omit to thoroughly master the Nemerteans,' issued by the Ray Society. Dr. excellent memoir by Max Fürbringer in the third M'Intosh is medical superintendent of the Murthley part of Vol. VII. of the Jenaische Zeitschrift, Lunatic Asylum in Perthshire, was formerly a published at Leipzig by Engelmann, 1873. The distinguished student in Goodsir's class, and is first part of this memoir, entitled 'Zur verg- well known for his conscientious, detailed, and leichenden Anatomie der Schultermuskeln,' gives high-class work in the anatomy of the Invertebrata. a reference to the labours of Cuvier, Mekel, Since the end of 1869, the work, now at last pubOwen, Rüdinger, Parker, Rolleston, Humphry, lished, has been waiting for the convenience of Mivart, and proceeds to the consideration of the those tyrants of publishing naturalists, "the muscles of the shoulder-girdle in the case of artists." Dr. M'Intosh may, however, be conSalamandra maculata and of Rana esculenta, gratulated on the beauty of the finely-coloured after laying down the following general principle:- quarto plates, which reproduce with so much "In the comparison of the shoulder-muscles in the accuracy the admirable drawings of his fellowdifferent classes of Vertebrates there are the follow-worker, now, most unhappily, lost to him and to ing points of moment: the position of the muscles in relation to the bones (origin and insertion); the position in relation to adjacent soft parts-other muscles and nerves; and, lastly, the mode of innervation by particular nerves. All three points must be weighed together; one of the three alone cannot be regarded as sufficient to determine a homology." Credit is given to Prof. Rolleston, of Oxford, for having been the first to apply the test of innervation to the questions of muscular homology. Some beautifully-executed plates of most minute dissections illustrate this memoir, which is distinctly a "path-breaking" one. Dr. Fürbringer is the exponent of the views of Prof. Carl Gegenbaur, in whose laboratory these researches have been made, and under whose direction the present memoir (the first of a series) has been drawn up. The work is not that of a hurried practitioner or medical-school lecturer, who has snatched a few moments to rapidly dissect something and write on it, whether he find anything worth recording or not. It has been the author's constant occupation and theme of study, with no interruptions, no harassing teaching duties, during more than two years; during which he has been aided with advice, discussion, and direction by the most learned and "geniál" of living zoologists. There are two recent zoological publications in England which deserve special notice. Prof. Owen's memoir on the American King Crab (Limulus), in the Linnean Transactions just issued, is an exceedingly useful paper at the moment when Dohrn, Van Beneden, and others are occupied in disputing over its affinities. We value especially Prof. Owen's clear drawings of the nervous system and of the great vascular trunks. Our veteran anatomist shows that the second and third pairs of appendages, as well as the eyes and first pair of claws, are supplied with nerves from the anterior half of the pharyngeal nerve-circle. The fact is, that in Limulus what becomes the cephalic ganglion in other Arthropods of a more specialized type has not become concentrated. The nerve ganglia are in Limulus "caught," as it were, in the act of travelling up the pharyngeal commissures in order to concentrate as a cerebral superoesophageal ganglion, which they do to the number of three pairs in the normal Crustacea and Insects. Prof. Owen does not like to rank the Limuli and their fossil allies, the Pterygoti, with the Scorpions and Spiders (Arachnida), nor yet to remove them from the Crustacea and erect them as an independent group of Arthropods. He, at the same time, substantially admits all that has ever been contended for in this direction, namely, that the Poecilopoda (Limulus, &c.) developed from the Crustacean stock, at a time antecedent to the acquisition by the members of that stock of the characters which to-day mark them. The series of annectant forms between Limulus and the Silurian Slimonia is glanced at by Prof. Owen with the approval of a science. The anatomy of this obscure but very The continuation of the German yearly record METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. M. BECQUEREL presented to the Académie des Sciences, on the 19th of January, in his own name, and that of his son, M. Edmond Becquerel, a new memoir upon the temperatures found by them in the Jardin des Plantes, with the electric-thermometer, from the surface of the soil to the depth of 36 mètres, during the meteorological year, from the 1st of December, 1872, to the 1st of December, 1873. The tables given are of considerable interest, showing as they do the influences of different conditions of the surface upon the subterranean temperature, and the variations of temperature due to the circumstances which affect the radiations from the surface. Prof. H. Mohn, of Christiania, communicated to the Scottish Meteorological Society a paper, On Certain Effects of Currents on the Temperature of Sea and Air.' As explaining certain climatological peculiarities, this communication was of some importance. The results of the very extensive investigations made by Prof. Mohn are as follows: 1. That the surface of the sea in currents in narrow sounds, in summer, is colder than in neighbouring places, where there is a wider sheet of water. 2. That an effect of the reverse kind takes place in winter, but in a much smaller degree. 3. That both effects together diminish the yearly range of the temperature of the surface of the sea. 4. That these circumstances influence the tem perature of the air in the same direction at such places, and that hereby a part of the anomalous, strongly-marked oceanic character which places in such situations exhibit is accounted for. The Quarterly Weather Reports of the Meteorological Office for October-December, 1872, and January-March, 1873, are published. The former Report has a special Appendix, giving the results of the discussion of four years' anemometrical observations at Bermuda. It gives also the rainfall for the whole year (1872), as observed at the seven meteorological stations, at nineteen telegraphic reporting stations, and from nine extra stations. The greatest total fall of rain was at Valencia68.16 inches; the lowest being at Kew, 26·15. The greatest number of rainy days were at Stonyhurst-302; the smallest number of rainy days at Kew-194. The quarter's report for 1873 contains nothing requiring especial notice, except the great excess of temperature at the beginning of January, which was succeeded by a defect at the end of the month, lasting nearly to the 1st of March. M. V. Raulin publishes, in the Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences, a paper 'Sur le Régime Pluvial de la Zone Torride, dans le Basin de l'Océan Atlantique.' His observations lead him to divide the year into two equal parts from April to September, and from October to March. In the interior of tropical America, the largest amount of rain falls during the hot months; while in the regions near the coast, the cold months are the wettest. Observations have been, indeed, made in all the French colonies in America, Africa, and Asia, and this difference has always been found to exist; and from the observations made in the three great oceans, similar opposition has been found. In the basin of the Atlantic Ocean, a similar opposition prevails. To the west, in America, between Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, and the West Indies to the north; and New Granada, Guiana, and Brazil to the south. To the east, in Africa, between Senegambia and the Cape de Verd Islands to the north; and Guinea and the Ascension Isles and St. Helena to the south. Mexico and Central America form a barrier, more or less elevated, between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, on which the rainfall occurs in the summer. It is the same at Vera Cruz, on the coast; but at Talasco, Belize, and Aspinwall, the maximum of rain does not fall until October. In the Greater Antilles, between the tropics and 18° north, the most rainy months are in the summer; while in the Lesser Antilles the greatest rainfall is in September or October. In Guiana those months are the dryest which are the most rainy in the West Indies. M. Raulin gives the results of an extensive series of observations from other places, all going to show that similar states of opposition prevail; the rainy months in certain localities being regularly the dry ones in others. The Bulletin de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, No. 10, contains a note by M. van Resselberghe, 'On a System of Universal Meteography.' A meteograph connected with an electrical arrangement, which is described and figured, has been in use for several months at Ostend. It registers at once barometric, thermometric, and anemometric observations; and hygrometric and magnetic records are to be added to it. SOCIETIES. ROYAL-Feb. 5.—The President in the chair.— The following papers were read: 'On the Anatomy and Habits of the Genus Phronima (Latr.), by Mr. J. D. Macdonald,-On a Self-recording Method of Measuring the Intensity of the Chemical Action of Total Daylight,' by Prof. Roscoe,-and "Contributions to the History of Explosive Agents, Second Memoir, by Mr. F. A. Abel. GEOGRAPHICAL.—) -Feb. 9.-The Right Hon. Sir Bartle Frere, K.C.B., President, in the chair.-The following Fellows were elected: Capt. P. C. H. Clarke, Lieut.-General R. F. Copland-Crawford, Capt. T. W. Goff, Hon. R. H. Manners-Sutton, Col. F. Tighe, Rev. J. Davis, Messrs. C. G Barclay, J. Bray, S. Bristow, J. B. Brown, A. Folkard, H. C. Forde, W. T. Hunt, M. F. Keller, G. Knowles, C. R. Marten, W. F. Scholfield, and R. Stewart. The paper was, 'A Journey Outside the Great Wall of China,' by Dr. S. W. Bushell. The route taken was north-westerly through inner Mongolia to Kalgan, and thence north-easterly to Dolonnor (a large town whose exact position was previously unknown), and Shang-tu, the old northern capital of the Yuan dynasty, described in glowing terms by Marco Polo. The ruins of Shang-tu, built by the famous Kublai-Khan, were identified by the existence of a marble tablet, with an inscription of the thirteenth century. It is the place referred to by Coleridge in the lines In Xanadu did Kublai Khan A stately pleasure dome decree, &c. The author found the site a complete desert, overgrown with rank weeds and grass, the abode of foxes and owls, which prey on the numerous prairie-rats and partridges. The walls of the city, built of earth, faced with unhewn stone and brick, are still standing, but are more or less dilapidated, and the enclosed space is strewn with blocks of marble and other remains of large temples and palaces; while broken lions, dragons, and the remains of other carved monuments, lie about in every direction, half hidden by the thick and tangled overgrowth. From Shang-tu the author travelled south-easterly, past the great enclosed park called the Imperial hunting-grounds, to the city of Jehol, and thence to Pekin.-A second paper was read, by Mr. G. Phillips, entitled Notices of Southern Mangi.' GEOLOGICAL.- Feb. 4.-The Duke of Argyll, President, in the chair.-Messrs. T. Stevenson, H. Fisher, M. Delmard, and J. D. Kendall, Corporal W. Parsons, R.E., and Col. W. Boyle, were elected The following communications were read: The Physical History of the Valley of the Rhine,' by Prof. A. C. Ramsay,-and On the Correspondence between some Areas of Apparent Upheaval and the Thickening of Subjacent Beds,' by Mr. W. Topley. S. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-Feb. 5.-C. Perceval, Esq., V.P., in the chair.—Mr. J. M. Foster exhibited and presented a curious-and in this country, probably, unique-manuscript, in the Ahom character, from Upper Assam, India.-Mr. A. W. Franks exhibited a fine specimen of those brass (so-called) alms dishes, about the origin of which so much uncertainty exists-some antiquaries supposing they were made at Dincont, in the Low Countries, while others consider them a The product of Nuremberg art or industry. Mr. present example bore a date, scil. 1487. Franks also communicated an account of some Roman remains, from the neighbourhood of Derby, and exhibited two fragments of pottery, one of which was remarkable as a specimen of Roman glazed ware, and the other as containing a name unknown in the lists of Roman potters, scil. Samogenus. Mr. Franks also exhibited a drawing of a reindeer, as figured on a piece of horn of that animal, recently found in Switzerland.-Mr. W. M. Wylie gave an account of a Roman monument at Wiesbaden, in honour of the Dea Matres. Major Heales exhibited rubbings of brasses from Lübeck and Cracow. Feb. 6. Sir ZOOLOGICAL.-Feb. 3.-Dr. E. Hamilton, V.P., ambiens, the femoro-caudal, the accessory femorocaudal, the semi-tendinosus, and the accessory semi-tendinosus. After stating which of these are present or absent in the different families of birds, he showed that the presence or absence of the ambiens muscle is so intimately correlated with other characters, that a division of the whole class into Homalogonati and Anomalogonoti, depending on that peculiarity, would stand the test of much criticism. The Homalogonatous birds were divided into the Galliformes, the Anseriformes, the Ciconiiformes, and the Charadriiformes; the Anomalogonatous into the Passeriformes, the Piciformes and the Cypseliformes. Among the most important changes proposed or substantiated were the placing Serpentarius and Cariama with the Otididæ, the Cypselida with the Trochilidæ, and the Musophagidae among the Galliformes. CHEMICAL-Feb. 5.-Prof. Odling, President, in the chair.-'A Preliminary Notice on the Action of Benzyl Chloride on the Camphor of the Lauraceae (Laurus camphora),' by Dr. D. Tommasi, was read by the Secretary.-Dr. C. R. A. Wright had a paper, On the Isomeric Terpenes and their Derivatives, Part III., on the Essential Oils of Wormwood and Citronelle,' being a detailed account of his experiments on these substances, a preliminary notice of which was communicated to the Society some time since.-The other communications were, 'A Preliminary Notice on the Perbromates,' by M. M. Pattison Muir,-and 'On the Coals from Cape Breton, their Cokes and Ashes, with some Comparative Analyses,' by Dr. H. How, the latter paper giving the amount of coke produced by slow and quick coking, from the main seam coal of Sydney Mine, Nova Scotia, and the Lingan Coal, also analyses of the ashes left by these coals. PHILOLOGICAL. Feb. 6.-A. J. Ellis, Esq., President, in the chair.-Col. Sir A. B. Kemball was elected a Member.-The papers read were English Etymologies,' by Mr. H. Wedgwood:Lay-Figure, from the Dutch leeman-ledeman, a jointed image, from Ledt or lid, a joint, pl. Leden; "with a wanion" (ill luck), from O.E. waniand, the waning of the moon, supposed to be an unlucky season; lawn, fine transparent linen, from Norse and Sw. glaana, to shine or peep through, with the loss of g-, as in gleam, leam, &c.; badger, the animal, a diminutive from bladier, a corndealer, as Herrick, in his 'King Oberon's Palace,' shows that the badger was supposed to store up its food; filibuster, from Fr. flibustier, which word Oermelin, himself a buccaneer, says came "du mot Anglois flibuster," a mere corruption of "free"mate, companion," booter"; bully, originally a with no bad meaning, from M.H.G. buole, brother, spouse, dear friend: the bad sense of G. buhle, Du. boel, our bully, is later,-A Notice of M. Gaston Paris's edition of the "Vie de St. Alexis," by Mr. H. Nicol, - an account of the critical methods pursued by M. G. Paris in the classification of his MSS., and the formation of his text, which Mr. Nicol considered as a model, in nearly all points, for Early English and other editors to work by,On Yorkshire Sheep-scoring,' by Mr. A. J. Ellis, President. Mox. United Service Institution, 8.-Sanitary Precautions in Moving and Camping Troops in Tropical Regions,' SurgeonGeneral W. C. Maclean. Asiatic, 8). TUES. Royal Institution, 3.-'Physical Properties of Liquids and Gases.' Prof. Tyndall. WED. Statistical, 7.- Statistics of Courts of Justice and Legal Society of Arts, 8.-Thrift as the Outdoor Relief Test,' Mr. To the list of notable persons recently deceased must be added the name of Mr. Samuel Burt Howlett, for many years principal Surveyor and Draughtsman in the Department of War, Pall Mall. Mr. Howlett entered the public service at a very early age in the then existing Corps of Military Surveyors and Draughtsmen, and before he had reached twenty years was engaged on the Ordnance Survey, in which capacity he surveyed the Vale of the White Horse and other parts of Berks and Wilts, single-handed. In 1830 he was appointed Chief Surveyor and Draughtsman, and was charged with the inspection of the instruments supplied for the use of the Corps of Royal Engineers. To this work he applied himself with scientific zeal, improving and modifying more than one instrument brought under his notice. In this way he was led to prepare a set of tables for calculating altitudes by the mountain barometer which have been extensively used. The improved Stadiometer, as used at Hythe, was another of Mr. Howlett's inventions, and was brought out under the auspices of the late General Hay. Mr. Howlett contributed numerous papers to the publication known as 'Professional Papers of the Royal Engineers.' He also published a Treatise on Perspective,' which has been regarded as an excellent manual on the subject. Although a trivial matter, it may interest some to know that the words "In" and "Out," which we now see on the doors of every public office were the suggestion of Mr. Howlett. They were first used at the Bank of England in consequence of a written communication made by him to the authorities of that establishment. Howlett, who continued in official harness up to within a very few years of his death, died on the 24th ult., at his residence, Bromley, in Kent, aged seventy-nine years. Mr. THE daily papers announce that Mr. Matthew Moggridge was drowned, while bathing, near Naples, in the beginning of January. He was well known among achæologists and naturalists, and of late years had devoted himself to his favourite subjects in winter residence at Nice and Mentone. He had lately published papers on the inscribed rocks, and on the discovery of fossil human skeletons in a neighbouring cave. THE Annual Dinner of the Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, has this year been fixed for Saturday, the 21st of March, at Willis's Rooms, St. James's. A COLOURED map, showing the relative density of population in different parts of the German Empire, appears in the last number of Petermann's Mittheilungen. This journal also contains a map of the Gold Coast, showing the country inland as far as Coomassie. PROF. ANDREWS, of Belfast, has been reading a paper before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, On Ozone.' He confirms his former experiments, that this mysterious body exists independently in the atmosphere. The facility with which the nature of ozone was changed, was shown by shaking it in a bottle with a little perfectly dried ground glass, when simple oxygen appeared. The bleaching properties of ozone had been tried at both Belfast and Greenock, and failed. Dr. Andrews doubts the alleged connexion of atmospheric ozone with the state of public health. THE Royal Irish Academy have granted to Messrs. Draper and Moss the sum of 30l. towards their researches on Selenium, and 35l. to Mr. G. J. Stoney, F.R.S., towards the construction of the Academy's spectroscope. DR. ALLEYNE NICHOLSON, Professor of Natural History in the University of Toronto, has been appointed Professor of Zoology in the Royal College of Science, Dublin. Ar a meeting of the North Staffordshire Institute of Mining Engineers, on the 5th inst., Mr. T. M. Goddard read a paper 'On Communication between the Depths of a Coal-Pit and the Surface by Electricity. We are glad to see this, since it is surely time that electrical science should be brought in to aid in increasing the security of our workings for coal. M. JOANNES CHATIN has communicated to the Société Philomathique de Paris a series of researches Sur la Localisation des Principes Colorantes dans les Feuilles.' This was an extensive series of anatomical investigations made for the purpose of determining the causes giving rise to the variety often seen in the tintings of the leaves of plants, and an examination into the vernal colouration of plants, and of that which the same plants exhibit in the autumn. This communication is printed in L'Institut for January 14. M. TERBY has communicated to the Académie Royale de Belgique a series of observations made on the planets Jupiter and Mars during the last appearance of those planets in 1873. The observations on Jupiter extended from the 23rd of January to the 15th of May; those on Mars, from the 13th of April to the 29th of May. Two series of drawings exhibited the variations which were observed from one day to the other. M. PAUL GERVAIS was elected, at the Séance of January 26th of the Académie des Sciences, to fill the place vacant in the section of anatomy and zoology by the death of M. Coste. FINE ARTS ROYAL ACADEMY of ARTS, Burlington House.-The EXHIBITION of WORKS of the late SIR EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A, is NOW OPEN.-Admission (from Nine till Dusk), One Shilling; Catalogue, Sixpence. Season Tickets, 58. The SOCIETY of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS. - The WINTER EXHIBITION of SKETCHES and STUDIES by the MEMBERS WILL CLOSE on Saturday. Feb 28-5, Pall Mall East. Ten till Five.-Admission, 18. ALFRED D. FRIPP, Secretary. INSTITUTE of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS will SHORTLY CLOSE their EIGHTH WINTER EXHIBITION. Admission, 18.-Gallery, 53, Pall Mall. JAMES FAHEY, Secretary. DUDLEY GALLERY, Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly.-GENERAL EXHIBITION of WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS.-The TENTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION is OPEN DAILY, from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M.Admission, 18; Catalogue, 6d. GEORGE L. HALL, Hon. Sec. The SHADOW of DEATH. Painted by Mr. HOLMAN HUNT. -NOW on VIEW. From 10 till 5.-391, Old Bond Street.Admission, 18. DORE'S GREAT PICTURE of CHRIST LEAVING the PRETORIUM,' with Night of the Crucifixion,''Christian Martyrs,' 'Francesca de Rimini,' 'Neophyte,' 'Andromeda,' &c., at the DORÉ GALLERY, 35, New Bond Street. Ten to Six.-Admission, 18. MR. JOHN PYE. WE the other day recorded the death of Mr. Cornelius Varley, one of the oldest painters in Europe. He had exhibited pictures at the Academy not fewer than seventy years ago. We have now to announce the death, on the 6th inst., of another aged artist, and to give a sketch of the career of one of the ablest men in his profession whom this country has produced, a landscapeengraver of the highest class either in this or any former time, a master of the refinements of chiar oscuro, John Pye, who produced the plates after Turner, 'The Temple of Jupiter in Egina' and "Ehrenbreitstein,' and many other fine examples of the purest style and most poetic rendering of poetry in art. John Pye was born in Birmingham in 1782. He was consequently within a few months of the age to which Mr. Cornelius Varley attained. Stanley's Bryan's 'Dictionary of Painters, &c.,' generally so good an authority, errs in saying that Pye was the son of another engraver of the same name. Our subject had some property, or at least assistance from his father early in life, but to no great amount; he had when quite a youth shown considerable aptitude and not a little skill in drawing, and devoted himself to that branch of artistic practice. He left Birmingham when he was about eighteen years of age, came to London, whose well-filled workshop he met several youths and became an apprentice to James Heath, in who became eminent at a time when English engravers were without rivals in the world, and their works were eagerly sought in every direction. On his arrival in London, Pye had already acquired so much skill that, although he was only self-taught, Heath not only took him as an apprentice without the premium ordinarily paid to able engravers, but gave him wages from the first moment he entered the house, which then contained many older but less advanced pupils. He continued with James Heath for a considerable period. Pye's first decided step towards fortune was engraving 'Pope's Villa,' with the figures by C. Heath, after Turner, and published in 1811. Before this time he was, if we are rightly informed, engaged on the plates to Flinders's 'Voyage of discovery in Australia and its neighbourhood, which described the wonders of voyagers and surveying of that day. While busy with this work, Pye was introduced to Sir Joseph Banks, and by him he was brought into contact with many scientific and literary men. Turner was so delighted with 'Pope's Villa' that he called on Pye, and, a most unusual thing with him, expressed warmly his satisfaction with the work. This led to the production of 'The Temple of Jupiter in Egina,' which gratified Turner so greatly that he offered to paint a companion picture to the Temple' in order that Pye might engrave it. This incident caused Pye not less astonishment than delight. From this time his progress was certain and steady, so that he rose to the summit of his profession, and while by no means an old man, retired from the active practice of his art with a competence. One of the most frequent sources of emolument which Pye enjoyed, was that of revising the plates of other engravers, which he did chiefly with respect to chiaroscuro. That element of engraving which we are now accustomed to consider as the least dispensable in the art, was, in Pye's early days, so little understood, except by etchers, either here or on the Continent, that no one had mastered it so thoroughly as Pye. After his retirement, now more than forty years since, he was accustomed gratuitously to counsel engravers on his favourite subject. No one was equally competent to advise, for successful pursuit of his method demanded not only skill of the highest quality, and admirable taste, but true genius in art. Its successful cultivation elevated engraving far above its former standing in this country, made it really an independent art, and not a mere branch of sculpture in metal, and gave it aims of its own, without which no art can exist. Pye extended the knowledge gained by the English mezzotinters of Reynolds's pictures by application to the infinitely richer field presented by the landscapes of Turner. Of their unapproachable subtlety Pye was by far the ablest translator into black and white, that is to say, he was the man who reduced colour, as given by the original artist, in aid of chiaroscuro, to its elementary condition in black and white. He was virtually the founder of the Artists' Fund, and, in fact, with Mulready, his constant friend, revived that charity when it was in danger of something like extinction. This was in 1821-5, a period signalized by the production of Mr. J. H. Robinson's plate, after Mulready's 'The Wolf and the Lamb.' It was published in 1825, and, Mulready generously giving up whatever profits might have accrued to himself had he published such a print from his own picture, the result was a net profit to the Fund of about 1,000l. The same expedient was tried again ten years after and with the same object, the subject of the plate being the Pleiades,' after a picture by H. Howard, R.A. That venture, however, from a variety of causes, came to no good end. In acknowledgment of his services to the Fund, 143 members presented to Pye a handsome silver vase, with an appropriate testimonial. This was in May, 1830, and was mentioned in our columns at the time. Pye had a way of throwing himself heart and soul into the management of everything he took in hand, and the former of these experiments undoubtedly owed its success to him. He had nothing to do with the second experiment. With characteristic ardour, and, it must be admitted, with an unwise acerbity which went no little way towards temporarily defeating his ends, Pye gave his whole energies to procuring what he considered essential reforms in the constitution and conduct of the Royal Academy, and for that purpose he wrote and published his well-known Patronage of British Art,' a book which, with all its defects, is unquestionably a valuable and important one. In that work he discussed with extraordinary vigour and tenacity the shortcomings of the Academy, and his views of the duties and right nature of such an association. He went into the history of the foundation and action of this society with remarkable spirit; and, if energetic inquiries and arguments could have been effectual, he must have been immediately victorious. His lucubration, however, although ineffective at first, had a good deal to do with such reforms as have been accomplished in the Academy. To Pye was vouchsafed the extraordinary honour of being elected a Corresponding Member of the French Institute; and that too at a time when, in France, the belief prevailed that Art did not exist in England. The French artistic authorities gave to Pye a gold medal of honour. This medal, however, owing to the political troubles of 1848, did not reach him. When he inquired, after a long period had gone by, nothing could be heard of the medal; so, with French courtesy, another medal was forwarded, to supply the place of the lost one. Our subject resided in Paris for a considerable time, and was known to all the best artists of France. Among other works by him not noticed above are plates after Claude's 'Annunciation' and 'A Pastoral Landscape,' and, after G. Poussin, Abraham Preparing for the Sacrifice,' all three in the National Gallery; they were brought out in 'Engravings from the Pictures in the National Gallery,' a work of which Pye took the entire management it ceased after the publication of twenty-nine plates. Also 'The Holy Family,' after M. Angelo; 'Evening,' after G. Barrett; 'The Remains of William Smith,' after Landseer; and the plates to Stanhope's Olympia,' and steel engravings in 'The Oriental Annual,' and 'Scenes in India,' after W. Daniell, 1836; and after Turner, The Junction of the Tees and Greta,' 'Hardraw Fall,' 'The Rialto,' 'La Riccia,' and 'Redcliffe Church, Bristol.' RUBENS'S PAINTINGS AT ANTWERP. THERE having been some grounds for supposing that these paintings were being injured by exposure to damp in the Cathedral, an inquiry has been held, by the direction of the Belgian Government, and it has been ascertained that they are not seriously damaged. This inquiry led to a discussion as to whether the paintings belonged to the Cathedral authorities or to the State; and at a meeting of the Common Council of Antwerp last month, it was stated that the well-known picture, "The Descent from the Cross,' one of Rubens's chefsd'œuvre, and now in the Cathedral, was painted by Rabens for the Guild, or Society of Arquebusiers of Antwerp, in 1611; who, some years afterwards, placed it in a chapel in the Cathedral exclusively belonging to the Arquebusiers, and with which the Cathedral authorities could not interfere. During the French Revolution, these paintings were carried away to Paris, and placed in the Gallery of the Louvre; and the French National Convention, in 1793, after having suppressed all church and corporate bodies, declared their property to be the property of the nation. In 1795 Belgium was annexed to France; and, although the churches were restored to the clergy, these paintings were retained in the Louvre. After the Treaty of Paris, in 1814, they were restored to the King of the Netherlands, who, by a decree dated the 6th of October, 1815, directed them to be deposited in their former places; and the care and surveillance of them was entrusted to "the Government Commissioner of Arts and Sciences." These facts having been verified by eminent jurists, the Council contend that the Government of 1815, having entrusted them to the care of certain individuals, and the "surveillance" of them being reserved to a Government official, the Government had never parted with its right of property in the paintings; but had treated them as belonging to the State. The question as to the propriety of removing them from the Cathedral is now under the consideration of the Council. SALE. MESSRS. CHRISTIE, MANSON & WOODS sold, on the 7th inst., the under-named works of art, the property of the late Sir Richard Frederick and others J. Juannes, Christ before Pilate, 1837.G. Berckheyde, View of Haarlem, with figures and animals, 791.-Van Dyck, Portrait of Killigrew, 541.-Van Uden and Teniers, a landscape, with figures dancing in the foreground, and sheep, 540l. P. Neefs, Interior of a Cathedral, with a procession of figures, 541. - Elisabetta Serani, The Daughter of the Gracchi, the head and hands said to be by Guido, 941.-Claude, An Italian SeaPort, with a triumphal arch and figures, boats in the foreground, 3361.-J. Both, An Italian Landscape, 751.-Janet, Portrait of Diane de Poitiers, with other figures in the background, signed, 1317. -F. Hals, Portrait of D. Teniers, in a black dress and white collar, dated 1644, 7351.-Jan Miel, A Composition of Architecture, with figures, horses, and dogs, 2251.-Rubens, The Last Supper, a study after L. da Vinci, 1057.-Sir P. Lely, Portrait of Charles the Second, whole-length, 651.-Hobbema, A Forest Scene, with a pool of water under a group of trees in the foreground, two figures reposing on a road, 2361.-A. Cuyp, A Landscape, with a ruin on our left, a peasant tending cows on our right, a village church in the middle-distance, 841.-Hobbema, A Woody Landscape, with cottages, and a man in a boat, on our left is a cottage in a clump of trees, &c., 1417.-Giorgione, The Madonna and Child, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873, 1521.-Camphuysen, A Party of Sportsmen in a Landscape, with cows, 631.-Old Van de Velde, The Landing of Charles the Second, 521.-A. Nasmyth, A Glen in Scotland, with deer, 521. Fine-Art Gossip. MR. F. MADOX BROWN has just finished two superbly painted and most characteristic portraits, of Mr. D. Davis, the new member for Cardigan, and his wife. They are seated, life-size, nearly whole-length figures, and are intended as presentation portraits to be given to Mrs. Davis. Modern portraits are seldom so happy, either technically or as likenesses. We hope these works will be exhibited in London. Mr. Brown has in hand also a picture representing an incident in the life of the Protector Oliver, before he took an active political part. The work is far advanced. MR. A. HUGHES has made considerable progress with a picture of unusual interest, the subject being the parting of a young lady with her friends before entering a convent. The scene is on the banks of a river with the convent on the side removed from us; she has entered a boat, and is about to be ferried over the stream. Her family, including a favourite little brother, are taking their last look at the intended nun. The landscape, which has been charmingly painted from nature, adds greatly to the interest of the picture. MESSRS. AGNEW have formed at their gallery, Waterloo Place, their annual exhibition of watercolour drawings by deceased and living artists. The private view takes place to-day (Saturday); the collection will be opened to the public on Monday next, and promises to be unusually attractive, comprising well-chosen specimens of the skill of many of the ablest practitioners of the art in question." MR. BRETT has nearly finished some interesting and important landscapes, the results of his last year's studies. THE officers of the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, have been occupied in arranging an interesting and extensive collection of studies, designs and sketches by Hilton, which were given to the nation some time ago. Among them are many early studies from the antique, and life sketches for figures in pictures by the artist, including that of 'Sir Calapine rescuing Serena,' now in the National Gallery, besides other works of great merit and beauty. MUSIO ROYAL ALBERT HALL CHORAL SOCIETY.-Conductor, Mr. Barnby.-Handel's MESSIAH,' on WEDNESDAY, February 18, at 8 o'clock. Madame Lemmens-Sherrington, Madame Patey, Mr. Sims Reeves, and Signor Agnesi. Organist, Dr. Stainer. Solo trumpet, Mr. T. Harper -Tickets, 78. 6d., 58., 33.; admission, 1s.; at Novello's, 1, Berners Street, and 35, Poultry; the usual agents; and at the Royal Albert Hall. BRITISH ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY.-Patron, H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh.-Conductor, Mr. George Mount.-NEXT CONCERT, THURSDAY, February 28, commence at Eight.-Prices of Admission, 108. 6d., 58., 38., 28., and 18.-Tickets of Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co., 84, New Bond Street; and usual Agents. " JEANNE D'ARC.' Ir is not a little curious that the original form of the five-act musical drama in verse, by M. Jules Barbier, 'Jeanne d'Arc,' which has enjoyed nearly a three months' uninterrupted run at the Gaîté, in Paris, was a cantata, and that the first English adaptation of the piece is in the same mould. The subject proposed for the prize at the Institut in Paris, in 1871, was 'Jeanne d'Arc,' and M. Jules Barbier was the successful author. The musical setting was by M. Serpette, who thus secured the Prix de Rome, once won by M. Gounod. M. Barbier had his drama in hand, it appears, for some years before the competition, and it was a happy thought on his part to produce his play, with the all-powerful co-operation of M. Gounod, at a period when Parisian patriotism could be excited by passages having special reference to the invasion of France. If we bear in mind these facts and coincidences, the amount of enthusiasm evinced last Saturday night in St. James's Hall, when the music alone was executed, without the additional stimulus of national sympathy, without the eye being gratified by the stage adjuncts of a brilliant mise en scène, and without the fine acting of Mdlle. Lia Félix, who created the character of the Maid of Orleans, was really remarkable. Nothing but the intrinsic merits of the composition could have moved a large audience as this performance of the music did, for, despite the zeal of some ardent partisans of the distinguished French composer, there could be no doubt of the genuineness of the applause. And if 'Jeanne d'Arc' could be given on the British stage with any approximation to the ensemble witnessed in Paris, the interest felt in M. Gounod's score would be still further increased. That score is quite worthy of the composer of ' Faust,' whether we look to the ingenuity and charm of the orcheɛtration, or the conception of the setting of the striking dramatic situations. There are here and there weak points, and there are chords ever and anon, which are in themselves ugly, but which, owing to their repetition, the ear tolerates, although they had better have been avoided. Still, in music distributed through five acts of a drama, it is surprising how continuous is the impression |