Under these circumstances, even with the now rich collections and well-stored library of the Zoological Station, it was a serious question how the proposed "History of the Life of the Bay of Naples" could be best accomplished. Dr. Dohrn has wisely adopted the project of attacking the fortress by a number of small approaches. By dividing the labour into a large series of restricted monographs he hopes finally to accomplish a complete account of the fauna and flora of the Bay of Naples. In the first place, under this system each of his assistants can thus take up the group he is most familiar with, and work it out. Then in this way he is likewise able to secure the contributions of various naturalists who pay temporary visits to the Zoological Station, but who would not bind themselves to join in an extensive general work on the whole subject.

It will be seen by reference to our advertising columns that Dr. Dohrn's scheme thus elaborated is now on the eve of execution. Two of the proposed monographic memoirs on the Ctenophora by Dr. Cheen of Leipsic, and on the Fishes of the genus Fierasfer, by Prof. Emery of Cagliari, are already issued, and three other memoirs are announced as being in preparation for the present year. Dr. Dohrn is quite cosmopolitan in his arrangements. Though, as might have been expected, the greater number of his fellow-workers are natives of the Fatherland, he has many Italian co-operators, and the monographs may be written in German, Italian, English, or French. It is with some regret we observe that no English naturalist is yet on the list of contributors, although, as is well known, many of our countrymen have done good work on Dr. Dohrn's "tables." We trust that English recruits may still be enlisted in so good a cause, and that the "Fauna and Flora of the Bay of Naples" may attain to a goodly list of subscribers, and be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

CHARLES FREDERIC KUHLMANN

WE regret to record the death, at Lille, during the past week, of Charles F. Kuhlmann, the distinguished French chemist and economist. Born at Colmar, May 22, 1803, he pursued his scientific studies under Vauguelin at Strassburg, and later at Paris. In 1832 he was appointed Professor of Applied Chemistry at Lille. Soon after he devoted himself almost exclusively to the practical solution of the problems of manufacturing chemistry, and established at Lille extensive works, which rank today among the important chemical manufactories of the world. During the past forty years he has been a prominent figure in the industrial, scientific, and even political circles of France, attracting general admiration by a remarkable combination of inventive power and executive ability. The Government named him Commander of the Légion d'Honneur, and the French Academy of Sciences elected him a corresponding member, in recognition of his important services, while he was frequently called upon to occupy prominent posts of responsibility in public life and commercial undertakings. His failing health during the past year forced him to decline one of the leading honours in the scientific world of France, the presidency of the Société Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences.

As an investigator Kuhlmann was a prominent member of that group of Alsatian chemists which includes Wurtz, Friedel, and Schützenberger, and forms the chief school of modern French chemistry. His researches, extending

over nearly every department of inorganic chemistry, and touching on the tinctorial branches of organic chemistry, are characterised by a broad range of knowledge, a happy application of fact and theory, and a marked reverence for the demands of pure chemistry, while contributing so notably to the advancement of applied science.

First among his great researches mention should be made of that on baryta compounds, made over twenty years since, and by means of which he created the entire industry of this important group of salts. Another investigation, scarcely less valuable, was that made a few years previously, which led to the introduction of the process of saturation in the manufacture of sugar. Equally prolific of practical results were his extensive studies on the crystallisation of insoluble bodies, on the chemistry of mortars and cements, of manures, of bleaching, of dyeing and printing, and of numerous other branches. Especially interesting were his researches (1847) on the formation of nitric acid from ammonia, and on the relation of this reaction to the fertility of the soil. Among his more purely scientific investigations mention should be made of those on the formation of ethers, on the formation of cyanides and of prussic acid, on nitrous oxide, on the use of oxide of iron as an oxidising agent for organic compounds, on the action of gases on minerals, on the use of gaseous hydrofluoric acid for the analysis of silicates, and on a variety of minerals. The subject of crystallisation was throughout his career of investigation one of Kuhlmann's favourites, and we are indebted to him for the artificial reproduction of a variety of natural minerals, the most novel of which are the pseudomorphic forms of protoxide of manganese, of the sulphides of copper and lead, and of these metals themselves.

In 1879 Kuhlmann gathered together his numerous researches, extending over a period of forty years, into a volume of 750 pages, in which we have a remarkable picture of his many-sided and untiring activity.

The deceased leaves behind him a son who has already obtained a name as a chemist, and who made an able report to the French Government on the Chemical Section of the Philadelphia Exhibition. T. H. N.

OF

THE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF DUBLIN F the scientific societies of Dublin two take special rank as publishing societies; but from inquiries made of us we conclude that their publications are not everywhere known.

Vol.

The Royal Irish Academy issues both Transactions of a quarto size and Proceedings in octavo. Of its series of Transactions 26 volumes have been published. Of these vols. I to 23 contained memoirs chiefly on Science, but occasionally on Polite Literature and Antiquities. 24 was divided into two sections-the first, Science; the second, Polite Literature and Antiquities. Vols. 25 and 26 were exclusively Science. Vol. 27, in course of publication, is devoted to Polite Literature and Antiquities; and vol. 28, which also is in course of publication, is devoted to Science. These quarto volumes contain from 600 to 700 pages each, with numerous plates and other illustrations. To give some idea of their contents we add the following analysis of vol. 26. It contains papers on Astronomical Subjects by Dr. Doberck (2), J. Birmingham, J. L. E. Dreyer, and C. E. Burton; on Meteorological Subjects, by Dr. H. Lloyd; on Geological Subjects, by Rev. Dr. S. Haughton, Dr. E. Hull, Dr. A. Leith Adams, and Prof. O'Reilly (2); on Mathematical Subjects, by J. C. Malet (3), Dr. A. S. Hart, Dr. J. Casey; on Biological Subjects, by Dr. R. J. Harvey, Dr. E. P. Wright (4), and W. H. Mackintosh; on Chemical Subjects, by H. N. Draper and R. J. Moss. The memoirs which form the volumes of Transactions are published shortly after they are read, and without waiting to form a part of a volume. The Proceedings, like the Transac

tions, now also form two series: the Science Parts being published twice a year, in December and April, and the Polite Literature and Antiquary Part once a year, in December. Quite recently the Academy have determined to publish another series of quarto Transactions under the title of "The Cunningham Memoirs," part 1 of the first volume of which, containing a memoir by Dr. John Casey, F.R.S., on Cubic Transformations, has just appeared.

The publications of the Royal Dublin Society are of the same type as those of the Irish Academy, except that they are exclusively confined to science. Of their new series of Transactions, parts I to 13 of volume I have been published, and for convenience of publication the first two parts of volume 2, containing "Observations of Nebula and Star Clusters, 1848-1878," by the Earl of Rosse, have also appeared. The first two volumes of these Proceedings have been published, and a part makes its appearance pretty regularly every third month. Following the example of the Academy, the memoirs forming the Transactions are published separately.

It would thus appear that not only is there evidence of scientific life among the societies of Dublin, but that there is also an abundant opportunity for the publication of any really valuable scientific information, and so far at least as the publications of the Irish Academy are concerned they fall in no respect as regards type, paper, or illustrations, behind the best of our London societies.

JOHN DUNCAN

AL
LONG with a cheque for 57. to John Duncan, whose
story was told by Mr. W. Jolly in NATURE of
January 20, we have received the following note from
Mr. W. Westgarth :-

January 27, 1881

DEAR SIR,-On reading the account of John Duncan in your last week's issue, it occurred to me that surely your readers would respond to your invitation to get up a small fund, say of 100l. to 2007., for the brave old man who has so long and perseveringly fought, and against all "odds," for the cause. of science and mind. I enclose 51. towards the object. Should you see objections to opening a list in NATURE, please send on my small dole to Mr. Jolly as he directs.

W. WESTGARTH

CASSELL'S NATURAL HISTORY1 THE HE third volume of this useful cyclopædia of zoology consists of the concluding portion of the Birds by R. Bowdler Sharpe, and of the Reptiles and Amphibia by the Editor. On glancing over the well-printed and beautifully-illustrated pages, a few facts have struck us, to which, for the benefit of the series, we would call the editor's attention. In the opening sentence of Chapter I. of this volume we are referred to "the preceding chapters" for an account of the Picarian birds. The context proves it should be to the preceding volume. This, which might mislead the reader, is evidently the result of the publication of the work in parts, and could be easily avoided.

All through Mr. Sharpe's portion of the work, when the scientific names of birds are referred to they are "Cassell's Natural History." Edited by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.R.S. Vol. III. (London, Paris, and New York: Cassell, Petter, Galpin, and Co., 1880.)

quoted generally within brackets in the same line as the popular name; while in the editor's special portion no such useful uniformity is attended to. Sometimes, as on p. 245, the eye has to wander from the text to foot-notes at the bottom of the page; sometimes, as at p. 248, the name is quoted after Mr. Sharpe's fashion (for a mixture of both styles see p. 362). The use of the word "kind," when the editor refers to "species," is in our judgment, though perhaps sanctioned by its use in the English translation of the Bible, not happy. Thus we read that, while genera among the reptiles are abundant, kinds "" are numerous. The "kinds" of some families swim freely; some "kinds" have a skin; by the way, what kind of a reptile be it that has no skin? In other cases the word "member" instead of species is used. Is it not a mistake to say that in many Chelonians "the wellknown 'tortoise-shell' covers over all the hind parts.' Surely in Caretta squamosa the tortoise-shell plates cover over most of the carapace. While the families of the Chelonian order are given, we find, when we come to the Lacertine order, no intelligible mention of the families of the split-tongued lizards. In referring to the important paper on Archæopteryx by the Professor of Geneva, the editor ought to have seen that the name of Carl Vogt was correctly spelled. The divisions of the Snakes is such as must necessarily confuse any student. The suborder Thanatophidia is made to include two sub-orders in the text, when in the table of classification one of these sub-orders, Solenoglypha, is called a family. The groove-fanged Opisthoglypha are included with the Aglyphodontia with solid teeth. In a work of this nature nothing is, we take it, of more importance than that there should be some well-defined system of classification, not necessarily to be treated of in full detail, but as far as is possible to be rigidly adhered to. That this is possible, a glance over the sections of this and the previous volume treating of Birds will abundantly demonstrate; and that this is practicable, even with an extreme compression of space, is also to be proved by an appeal to the way in which the eighth order of Birds is managed, where, though only three pages were allowed to this most interesting and important of orders, yet we are even in these few lines enabled to get an idea of the orderly sequence of its families. This work is in many ways so excellent, that we venture on these criticisms with the object of trying to keep it up to a fairly good standard, and of making it useful in some measure as a work of reference.

As specimens of the excellent illustrations in this volume we have, through the courtesy of the publishers, the opportunity of presenting to our readers the two following. The Common Quail (Coturnix dactylisonans) visits Europe in the summer, when prodigious numbers are trapped and sold for purposes of food. Waterton mentions that 17,000 specimens were brought to Rome in one day. They are to be found in large quantities on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and so abundant are they in the beautiful Island of Capri, that it is said that it was from this source that the bishops in the olden times derived a large part of their wealth. The Quail is most rapid in its flight, and performs long and fatiguing journeys. Sunset is its time for active exertion; during the day it remains quite quiet, reserving its energies for the evening, when it goes off in quest of food.

Their favourite nourishment is insects, but at times they feed on grain and seeds; small stones are also swallowed to facilitate digestion. The habits of the quail are most unamiable and unsocial, and generally, when they meet with one of their own species, they display a very pugnacious disposition. The female has a much better nature; she is a most excellent mother, even protecting young birds who have been deprived of their parents' care. She builds her nest of small portions of plants, and lays eight to fourteen eggs; these are pear

shaped in form, of a light-brown colour, marked with a darker shade; the young seem full-grown when only six months old, and are ready to join their parents in their long autumn journey, which may extend as far as the Cape of Good Hope, where they are known to arrive in large numbers. The quail, unlike the partridge, also figured in our illustration, has several wives, and displays great spirit in keeping rivals at a distance; while the mother is attending to the care of her young ones, the cock bird, too, often amuses himself in the vicinity with his companions. Our second illustration is taken from the higher of the

two classes of the Ichthyopsida, known as the Amphibia; these skull-bearing animals have no annion and but a rudimentary allantois, and they breathe by gills at some period of their life. In this volume they are placed as an independent class alongside of the Sauropsidian reptiles. Among the permanently tailed Amphibians (Urodela) the sub-order containing those species with gills that fall off (Caducibranchiata) contains the interesting species known as Salamanders. It is of one of these of which we give the accompanying figure, not only as a fair specimen of those in the volume we are reviewing, but also in the hope of awakening some interest in a rather uncommon

Amphibian. "The next genus [to Salamandra], Pleurodeles, has short ribs, which give the appearance as if they penetrated the flanks, but their ends come against the tissue under the skin and produce horny projections thereon. The tail is long and compressed, and the small tongue is adherent only in front, and there are two series of palatine teeth in longitudinal series. The Spanish kind (P. Waltlii) has an ashy grey body, very prettily marked with long transverse stripes and dots. It is like a heavy lizard." Lord Clermont, in his useful work on the Reptiles of Europe, describes the tongue as small, warty, free behind and on the sides, adhering in front; he also describes the ribs as piercing the skin, and they are

also said by some to be capped by horny tubercles; but this is denied by Leydig. Prof. St. George Mivart tells us that this species differs from all the other Urodela in the length and strength of its ribs, the longer ones considerably exceeding the length of two of the longest vertebrae of the body. M. Waltl first discovered it at Chiclana in Spain; Schinz states that it is very common in Andalusia in tanks and cisterns of water; Wallace gives its distribution as Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Lord Clermont hints that the Bradybates ventricosus of Tschudi is probably the young of this species.

Now when Lord Clermont wrote his book there was not much more known about this interesting little animal,

but some sixteen months ago Dr. F. Leydig of Bonn published an excellent account of it in Wiegmann's Archiv, in which he gives a short account of Dr. Joseph Waltl, who first discovered Pleurodeles, and of the gallant Dr. Michahelles, who called it after his friend, its discoverer (1830). Among the specimens sent to Bonn, one was living, and in it could be easily seen the tips of some of the ribs sticking through the skin; and that "this penetration of the skin of the sides was not in the first instance caused by or through the transport, the accompanying note from the kind sender proved. "You will remark that in the Pleurodeles the ribs

pierce the integuments, and that if this be an accident, it is in some sort a physiological one." The habits of the Pleurodeles seem to be more or less like that of our native Tritons. During the procreative season they remain upright in the water; later they leave it and hide themselves in damp places under stones. Like the Water Newts, they possess a sort of cry; when frightened, as on being suddenly seized, they emit a low, short, almost squeaking sound, generally repeated several times. This seemed to come not so much from the throat as to be caused by a rapid expulsion of air through the openings of the nose-in fact, to be a sort of snort.

It had a tendency to crawl vigorously backward when uneasy, by prising the ends of the ribs against the skin this snake-like progression no doubt causing the skin openings. Prof. Leydig's specimen lived on slugs of small size, which it took eagerly as well as worms, indeed preferring these latter. The skin surface was rather dry than clammy. The colour changes through the chromatophores were clearly to be noticed; during cold weather it was of a tolerably uniform dark, when warmer the colour became lighter, numerous dark spots standing out from a light gray-ground colour. On very warm days it would lie for hours motionless on the surface of the water.

NOTES

THE Akhbar published a programme of the excursions which have been arranged for the next session of the French Association at Algiers on April 14. The excursions are very numerous, and are classified according to the length of time required for their completion. One of the most attractive in the vicinity of Algiers is the tomb of the Kings of Mauritania; Laghouat and the desert is one of the most protracted, and requires eight days for its completion. The travellers will enjoy unexampled facilities for visiting the country. The seat of the French Association is 76, rue de Rennes, Paris. Applications are to be made to M. Gariel, Professor of Physics to the École de Medicine, permanent secretary. A reduction of 50 per cent. has been granted by the railway companies; the arrangements made for the sea passage will be published in proper time. An influential

:

It would almost seem worth one's while to pay a visit to those Andalusian tanks, and by their semi-limpid sides and under the shelter of their surrounding fig and olivetrees work out the complete history of this interesting little form.

These woodcuts will show that in point of illustration this volume keeps up with both its predecessors in effect; while we have gently hinted at a few blemishes, the work deserves a very considerable mead of praise, and we heartily recommend it as an excellent volume to be placed in the hands of all interested in the animal kingdom.

local committee has been established in Algiers. M. Chauveau, Professor to the Veterinary School of Lyons, has been appointed president of the session; the vice-president is M. Janssen.

MINERALOGICAL science has suffered a great loss by the early death, on January 27, of Prof. Dr. Emanuel Boricky, who was well known by his microscopical researches in petrography. Boricky was born at Milín, near Príbram (Bohemia) in the year 1840, and he had therefore just completed his fortieth year. In 1865 he became an assistant of the mineralogical section of the Bohemian Museum, and in 1866 he was named Assistant Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Prague. Having attained the degree of a Doctor of Philosophy, he became a teacher of mineralogy at one of the colleges of Prague in 1868, and in 1869 he was promoted to the post of a custos of the mineralogical collections at the museum. Since 1871 he ha

lectured in the Bohemian language on petrography at the University of Prague. He was a diligent and successful worker in science, and his microscopical researches have made his name familiar to mineralogists far beyond the boundaries of his native country. He has left a monograph on the porphyries ready for printing. Science has lost in him a devoted student, and the Bohemian nation regrets the death of one of its best sons.

THE Times announces the death of Mr. William White, a wellknown chemist and mining authority. Mr. White was the author of numerous works, including the "History of Chemistry," 66 Economy of Health, ," "Chemistry of Vegetation," "Chemistry for Students," "Hints from a Chemist," 'Mineral Resources of Newfoundland," &c., and was for over half a century a constant contributor to scientific literature. He had held at different periods lectureships on metallurgy and chemistry at various educational establishments, and had earned for himself a reputation as a lecturer and writer on agricultural chemistry. He died in London on Sunday last, at the age of seventy-one, from a painful disease contracted while conducting experiments in his laboratory.

THE Prussian Government, according to Berlin papers, intends to purchase the Godeffroy Museum at Hamburg for the Berlin Anthropological Museum. The former is one of the most interesting zoological and anthropological collections, particularly with regard to Eastern Asia and the islands of the Pacific; it was formed by the Hamburg firm of that name by means of special scientific expeditions during the last decades.

THE Senatus of Glasgow University has just been presented with a portrait of the Very Rev. Principal Caird, the esteemed bead of the University, and Mrs. Caird with a replica. The portraits are the gift of subscribers belonging to all religious and political parties, and are the works of Mr. Millais, R.A. The Principal is represented in academic dress, and the likeness is very striking. The portrait presented to the Senatus will be placed in the University library, the walls of which are already adorned with likenesses of former principals and professors.

M. MARIETTE, better known as Mariette Bey, the celebrated

Egyptologist, has died in Alexandria. M. Maspero, his pupil, Professor of Egyptology to the Collège de France in Paris, has been appointed by the Egyptian Government to fill the place vacated by the death of M. Mariette.

A PROPOSITION has been made by the Operator and other electrical papers of the United States to open at New York an international exhibition of electricity in 1882. It is stated that the United States Congress will vote a sum of money to subsidise the American exhibitors at the exhibition of this year in Paris.

THE Royal Commission appointed in 1879 to inquire into the cause of accidents in mines have concluded the taking of evid

ence.

The attention of the Commission is now directed to a series of experiments as to the explosive nature of coal dust, as to the best kind of safety lamp, and as to other matters designed to elucidate the causes of explosions. It is proposed that some experiments shall take place to test the efficacy of the electric light as an illuminating power in mines.

THE Committee formed for the exploration of the remarkable holes, which have recently appeared on the surface of Blackheath, have been negotiating with an experienced well-sinker, and intend to commence active operations in the course of a few days in the hope of finding a clue to their origin. Contributions in aid of the work, from persons interested in the investigation, will be gladly received by the honorary treasurers of the Committee Dr. Prior Purvis, Landstown Place, Blackheath, or Mr. E. W. Brabrook, F.S.A., director of the Anthropological Institute, 28, Abingdon Street, Westminster.

ORDINARY MEETINGS of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, 9, Conduit Street, W., for the reading of papers and discussion upon sanitary matters, will be held during 1881 on the second Wednesday in the months of February, April, and June, chair to be taken at eight o'clock precisely. At the first meeting, February 9, a paper will be read by W. H. Michael, Q.C., upon "The Law in Relation to Sanitary Progress," to be followed by a discussion.

AN earthquake was felt over a considerable area of Switzerland on January 27. It was felt with varying degrees of intensity at Berne, Muensingen, Thun, Basle, Solothurn, Zurich, Bienne, Oberhofen, and Aarberg. The principal shock occurred at 2.20 in the afternoon, Berne mean time. A slight shock was observed at three o'clock the same day, and another equally slight at six the following Friday morning. According to a report of the Berne Observatory the first and principal shock was in the direction from east to west, with a slight northerly deviation. The oscillation was both vertical and lateral, and according to some accounts, was preceded by a rumbling subterranean sound. Its intensity may be judged from the facts that the chimes in the church clocks were made to strike and the bells to toll, books were thrown from their shelves, and pictures detached from the walls, while in Berne alone more than 100 chimneys were thrown down. This is the twenty-fourth earthquake that has been recorded in Switzerland since November, 1879, and is probably the most severe.

A SHOCK of an earthquake was felt at 5 p.m. on January 24 at Bologna, Florence, Venice, Padua, Ferrara, &c. At Bologna there were also slighter shocks at midnight, and at 8 and 9.15 a.m. next day; while Florence likewise had a second shock at 7.53 a.m. on the 25th.

IN a recent number of the Journal de Physique, of which the late M. d'Almeida was so long the editor, the following interesting episode is narrated :-During the investment and siege of Paris by the German armies in the winter of 1870-71 M. d'Almeida took a prominent part in certain attempts to re-establish telegraphic communication between Paris and the provinces, using the River Seine as a conductor. This suggestion originated with M. Bourbouze (of galvanometer fame), who was, after the war, created a chevalier for his suggestion. It was proposed to send powerful currents into the River Seine from batteries at the nearest available point outside the German lines, and to receive in Paris, by delicate galvanometers, from the river such a portion of these currents as might not have leaked into the earth. After some preliminary experiments had been made between the Hôtel de Ville and the manufactory of M. Claparède at St. Denis, by Professors Desains, Jamin, and Berthelot, it was decided to make the attempt, and accordingly on December 17, 1870, M. d'Almeida was despatched by balloon to the provinces in order to try to establish this novel mode of telegraphy without wires. The balloon descended after sundry perils in the Arcadian solitudes of Champagne outside the Prussian lines. Thence he proceeded via Lyons and Bordeaux to Havre. Not finding suitable appliances and apparatus, there was again a delay in sending to England for the necessaries, which on arrival were conveyed to Poissy, where M. d'Almeida regained the banks of the Seine on January 14, 1871. Here however the frost proved inimical, the river having been frozen hard since the beginning of December. The attempts at communication were however to have been made on January 24, when the armistice was proclaimed. It was too late; and the world missed a famous scientific exploit from amongst those which made the siege of Paris notable beyond all other sieges of history.

M. JULES FERRY, French Minister of Public Instruction, and M. Tirard, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, paid an