Dr. Neumayer, of the German Marine Observatory at Hamburg, and Herr G. Albrecht, of Bremen, are the Presidents, and the Secretary is Dr. Lindeman, who for many years has, through his editorship of the Geographische Blätter, kept the German public fully informed concerning all polar matters. This Committee has recently issued a detailed plan and estimates of a great German expedition to be sent out, not by the Government, but by the nation.

The objects of the expedition are defined as being the study of the meteorological and magnetic conditions of the South Polar area, geodetic observations, zoological, botanical and geological collections, the study of Antarctic ice, and the exploration of the still untouched polar region. For these purposes a station, in which observers can winter, would be fitted up either on the Antarctic continent or on one of the neighbouring islands, and one ship would remain in the nearest safe harbour which could be found, while the second vessel should spend the winter in cruising round the Southern Ocean making oceanographical researches.

The point at which an effort should be made to break new ground within the Antarctic circle was carefully considered, and the region between 70° and 85° E., i.e. south of Kerguelen, was selected, for the excellent reason that no previous serious effort has been made south of the Indian Ocean. Special value is placed upon magnetic and meteorological observations at Kerguelen or McDonald Island, because these lie nearly equidistant between the great observatories of Cape Town and Melbourne to west and east, and at a corresponding distance from the observatory of Mauritius to the north. The recent publication by Dr. Murray, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of a detailed account of the work of the Challenger in the neighbourhood of Kerguelen, with lists of all the species obtained by the collectors on board, will be of service in guiding the biological work of the expedition, while at the same time it furnishes a compact summary of all that is at present known of the marine life and deposits on the edge of the Antarctic.

The German expedition is intended to include two vessels of about 400 tons, no doubt of the type of steam whalers, each carrying four officers, a scientific staff of four, and a crew of twenty-two. The ships would be absent for about three years, and would spend two winters in the Antarctic regions. The total cost is estimated at 950,000 marks, or £47,500, and the German nation is appealed to to find this money, the report of the Committee as published in the Verhandlungen of the Berlin Geographical Society concluding:

"The leading Powers of the civilised world appear to be preparing to attempt the solution of the great problem of the geographical conditions of the Antarctic regions. The German nation, always a leader in the solution of geographical problems, cannot possibly lag behind in this contest, the less so because a great and successful voyage of discovery would largely increase the reputation of Germany on the seas, and bring the greatest honour to the German name."

Beside this patriotic sentiment, the practical outcome of which the scientific world and not Germany alone looks for with hope and confidence, we may place a remark from another continental scientific paper, which from the reported refusal of the British Government to consider a proposal for a national expedition, drew the not illogical conclusion that the whole strength of the British Navy had to be brought under requisition for the purpose of making a warlike display before the great Powers. The President of the Royal Geographical Society at a recent meeting observed that "never was there a more favourable opportunity than the present for our Government to demonstrate its confidence in its own naval resources, by detaching a small expedition for special service in

Antarctic research." The country is always ready to applaud and support a movement for the honour of the flag and the popularisation of the navy. If a contest between the great Powers is called for by the unthinking of several nations, what contest could be better than friendly rivalry in the advancement of science by maritime exploration? Around the South pole there is room for many simultaneous expeditions. Ross from Britain, Wilkes from the United States, and Dumont D'Urville from France were together in Antarctic waters fifty-six years ago, and the scientific world would gladly hail the early repetition of such history.

The Antarctic Committee of the Royal Geographical Society having been warned that an appeal to Government is not likely to be favourably entertained, has not as yet come to a decision as to its future action. The agitation for a complete scientific expedition will certainly not be allowed to rest. The only want is money; and surely some means can be found to supply this. The necessary amount would never have been missed from the surplus recently at the command of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. If the 600,000 professional men of the British Island's were to subscribe half-a-crown each, the resulting £75,000 would suffice for a very valuable expedition. If a few of the largest daily papers were to start a popular shilling subscription, they might without expense to their proprietors confer a priceless boon on science, and stimulate a healthy excitement in the public. There surely remain in this country some menat least one man-able to do for the South Polar region what Mr. Harmsworth is so generously doing for the North; and to induce such potential benefactors to make their names great in history should not be an insurmountable task. The last and greatest feat of exploration on our planet may still be done, and allow the nineteenth century to close on a Terra Cognita; and the doing of it may still be secured for our country. If the opportunity is not taken now, it may not occur again for us, and the inevitable enrichment of science will redound to the glory of some more far-sighted, more patriotic, and less selfish people. It is an error surprisingly common, and every day becoming more ludicrously erroneous, that only Englishmen are capable of great deeds of daring and perseverance. If we are to retain our pre-eminence in polar exploration, we shall have to fight for it, not with armoured ships costing a million pounds apiece, but with a few old wooden whalers that may be purchased, manned, and equipped for a three years' cruise for less than a tenth part of that sum. Nothing less than a well-equipped scientific expedition can be looked upon as sufficient for the purpose in view.

Mr. T. Gilbert Bowick, of 2 Savile Row, is, as mentioned in a recent number of NATURE, at present completing arrangements for securing a passage for a party of scientific men on a whaling expedition, which is expected to set out in the autumn of this year, and will endeavour to land the passengers near Cape Adare (lat. 71° 45′ S.) in November 1896, returning for them in December 1897. Mr. C. E. Borchgrevink, whose Antarctic voyage is described in NATURE (vol. lii. p. 375), is proposed as the leader of the scientific party, which is intended to include twelve members. The plan of work involves the exploration of the coast of South Victoria Land and shallow-water dredging from a small steamer, which will be left at the winter quarters. Most of the work will naturally consist of meteorological, biological and geological observations near the station at Cape Adare, but a ski-journey is projected over the ice-cap in the direction of the magnetic pole. This expedition will, we hope, be undertaken, and if a landing can be made and a station established, the results will be of great value; but such an expedition, useful as it must be, is not sufficient. The alternative seems to be to allow the German and Belgian expeditions the full glory of renewing

serious work in the Antarctic, or to equip an adequate British expedition to co-operate with them by conducting simultaneous observations on the other side of the unknown area. An expedition a few years hence would be much less serviceable, because the value of consecutive work is at most additive, while that of simultaneous work is as the square, or some higher power, of the numbers engaged.

For the first time a south-polar map on a good scale is now available, thanks to the enterprise of Herr von Haardt of Vienna, and his publisher Hölzel. It is on a polar projection, and the scale of 1: 10000000, approximately 160 miles to one inch. A special feature is made of ice-conditions and ocean currents, and the tracks of all the important southern voyages are laid down. But the most impressive feature is the vast central blank wherein lie hitherto untouched gold-fields of scientific data. HUGH ROBERT MILL.

IN

THE HEIGHT OF LUMINOUS CLOUDS. N the Astronomischen Nachrichten (No. 3347), Dr. O. Jesse gives a short condensed account of some of the main results that have been obtained from a discussion of all the observations made during the years 1889-91. The full discussion, entitled "Die leuchtenden Nachlwolken," will, however, soon appear in the Publications of the Konig. Sternewarte in Berlin.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this work is that which is based, for the most part, on a series of photographs taken simultaneously at Steglitz, at the Urania Observatory, at Nanen, and at Rathenow, which brings out prominently the fact that the height of these clouds since the beginning of the phenomenon in 1885 has remained for the most part constant. The first table given by Dr. Jesse shows to a remarkable degree this almost constant value obtained for the mean height of the clouds, the actual total mean value being 82'08 kilometres 0009. The apparent constancy in the value thus obtained for the height of these luminous masses is even more surprising when it is remembered that the observations were not made exactly simultaneously, a task by no means easy, so that the fast movements of the clouds were liable to influence the results to some marked

extent.

An examination of the facts, however, seems to indicate that if the observations had been made strictly simultaneously, then the zone in which these nocturnal masses move might be considered narrower than the observations have as yet indicated.

As the observations used in this discussion were made for the most part after midnight, the computed value of the height to which they extend can only be said to hold for those clouds observed at this time. As a matter of fact, however, the few observations made before midnight indicate also roughly the same elevation as above obtained, but the paucity of the observations renders impossible any degree of certainty being attached to the result obtained.

Another part of the investigation related to the question as to whether the apparent height of the clouds had always been the same as that deduced from the observations extending over the years 1889-91. To answer this, an examination of all the observations since 1885 was made to see whether the zenith distances for the same depression of the sun below the horizon had always been the same; which would necessarily be the case if the distance of the clouds from the earth's surface be assumed to be nearly always constant.

The observations employed were those made by Backhouse, of Sunderland, in Kissingen, and by Dr. Jesse himself in Steglitz. A condensed form of the table given by the latter is as follows:

From table.

After allowing for the numerous sources of error which might account for some part of the large differences in the fourth column, Dr. Jesse adds that the magnitudes of these are such as to lead him to assume another source of explanation, namely, in the arrangement of the particles composing the clouds themselves. It is probable that the clouds vary very considerably in thickness vertically, which would also affect the differences to some extent; thus with decreasing zenith distances a largely increased impression on the measured zenith distance of the clouds would result.

Setting aside, however, the question of the origin of these small differences, the important main result of the investigations still remains intact, namely, that from the years 1885-91 the luminous clouds have always had nearly the same mean height, namely 82 kilometres, or about 51 miles. W. J. S. L.

THE BISHOP OF RIPON ON HUXLEY AND SCIENCE.

AT

Ta meeting convened by the Leeds Philosophica and Literary Society, held a few days ago, a resolution was unanimously adopted appointing a Committee, consisting of the Mayor, the members of the Council of the Philosophical and Literary Society, and all others who volunteered to join, for the purpose of raising subscriptions in aid of the Huxley Memorial Fund. We rejoice at the formation of the Leeds Committee, but another cause of gladness is the address delivered by the Bishop of Ripon in support of the object for which the meeting was held. In no uncertain voice, Dr. Boyd Carpenter declared himself a supporter of the principles which guided Huxley's noble life, and proclaimed the righteousness of scientific truth. It is not often that dignitaries of the Church speak so boldly for science as Dr. Carpenter did at the Leeds meeting; and on this account, and also because many of our readers will be glad to see this public recognition of Huxley's integrity of thought and purpose, we gladly print a report, though an abridged one, of the address.

It would not be surprising to discover there are many in this meeting who would be prepared to point out one or two special and specific objections or difficulties they have felt in regard to Prof. Huxley's teaching. I think, however, you will agree with me that if we demand complete harmony of opinion, that stupid unanimity which betrays either ignorance or thoughtlessness, before we dare to speak in honour of any one whose

A

name has become great, we shall be in the position of those who have nobody to honour and no names to commemorate. I feel, therefore, though all may differ in some points from Prof. Huxley, there is not one of you who cannot with the most simple honesty of purpose take part in this meeting. I am here to do honour, as an English citizen, to the name of a great Englishman. We who belong to the English race are, I suppose, sometimes slightly jealous for its greatness in certain departments. We feel we are outstripped by our Teutonic neighbours in the pathways of investigation. We feel we are outstripped sometimes by our American neighbours in the process of invention. So that whenever we have a great man we might as well cherish him, and make the most of him. Nations are great from a variety of causes. Their geographical position contributes to their greatness; their fertility and wealth of soil, and their racial qualities play a large part in the conspicuous or obscure place they are able to fill on the platform of the world. But the element which constitutes the happiest source of national greatness is the possession of great men. Great men are in the nation what the highest peaks are in the geography of the land-they mark the high level to which the people are capable of attaining; they are fertilising water-sheds | pouring out their rich stores on the great plains below them. nation ought, therefore, to reverence its great men, for they are not merely the expression of national greatness, but high ideals producing a reaction, an enthusiasm, an ambition in the hearts of those who come after them. I think with me you will agree that Huxley was entitled to the epithet "great.' He was a strong man among strong men. But it was not simply that he attained immense eminence in the walk of life to which he dedicated his powers, he possessed also an unique power of being able to look with a sympathetic and appreciative eye on other walks and realms of science than those which were peculiarly his own. And, therefore, he was able to take a larger outlook than many a man who, shut up in his laboratory, or working in the fields, or observing through his telescope, remained limited to one particular sphere of scientific work. And because Huxley possessed that power, he became what he himself humorously described, "a maid of all work, a gladiator-general for science. That position was a worthy and a useful one. He also possessed a marvellous gift of lucid exposition. He was able to make clear to the minds of those who were not scientific, thoughts and ideas which were eminently scientific. For these reasons we have a right to claim him as great-great in English life, great by virtue of his devotion to science, great by virtue of that wide appreciativeness he brought to bear upon it, and great in the power of being able to expound to others. I am here as a friend of knowledge, to do honour to one who enlarged its borders. I know there are many-though they are a diminishing quantity-who are disposed to look somewhat askance at the progress of science. In the history of the world it has been only too obvious that men through timidity have been afraid of the advance of knowledge, and it is not surprising to find that in the nineteenth century, with all its vaunted enlightenment, that spirit of timidity should have found expression. What men own and feel to be dear to them they cherish, and God forbid they should be hindered from cherishing it. Many a man looks on science very much in the same way as a woman who hugs her infant to her breast looks on the doctor who draws near, and in regard to whom she entertains some very unreal but still natural suspicion. When men hug to their bosom the faith which is dear to them, and which they feel to be bound up with their dearest hopes, one can quite understand their clinging more closely and looking apprehensively at the progress and advance of science. But men are beginning to understand that it cannot be in the nature of things that facts and truths will contradict those things which are nearest and dearest and most essential to men. And because we are men we claim it to be our privilege and our responsibility—I may almost say we claim it to be part and parcel of our probation in this world-to follow truth wherever it leads

us.

It is not, therefore, our duty to encourage a timidity which, if it were encouraged, can only lead to a fatal obscurantism. The progress of knowledge can only deepen and intensify our attachment to the things which are true, and things which are true cannot be out of harmony with the things round about us. The child, cherished and reluctantly parted with, is restored to us by his doctor healed and saved. Religious truth, in one sense, must always wait on scientific truth, and religious truth must often change its form at the bidding and on the information

given it by scientific truth. I am not aware that in the history of scientific progress religion has ever lost; the precious jewels have always been restored to her in richer and nobler settings. Because I believe that the advancement of knowledge must be for the benefit of mankind, and could not in the long run be hostile to any of the things most precious to us, I stand here to-day to do honour to one who laboured in the cause of the advancement of knowledge, and did so much to make it the heritage of all people. And, lastly, I am here to do honour to one, for whose truthfulness of character I have the profoundest admiration. Prof. Huxley had what might almost be called an exaggerated tenacity for the thing which he believed to be true, and a reluctance to surrender the truthfulness of his spirit at the bidding of any man or any authority. "But," some may say, "he was antagonistic." This is not the place nor the occasion to speak of Prof. Huxley's attitude towards Christianity, or even towards faith; but it should be remembered that the antagonism of his spirit was far more called out by the unfortunate attitude adopted by some who professed and called themselves Christians than by anything in its (Christianity) own nature. The moral and lesson of it is perfectly clear. A man may show himself the antagonist of other men's errors and of other men's methods without in the least degree being hostile to those precious things on which the hearts of men were wont to repose. Prof. Huxley was not one to knock from under any cripple's arm the crutch that enabled him to walk. While he spoke the language which seemed to him to be justified against those whose methods he could not approve, his language at other times was of that childlike simplicity, that entire modesty, and that natural humility which belonged to all thinking, educated, and reasonable men. Because he seemed to be setting before the world, even when we did not agree with him, an example of simplicity and truthfulness of disposition, I am here to say I honour him. We all desire to honour one who, great in his powers, sought to extend the borders of knowledge, and thus to add to the comforts, the joys, and the assurances of life, and who showed a character so simple, steadfast and truthful.

NOTES.

PROF. VICTOR MEYER has been elected a corresponding member of the class of mathematics and physics of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

MAJOR P. A. MACMAHON has been appointed to represent the London Mathematical Society at Lord Kelvin's jubilee commemoration in Glasgow.

THE Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich has awarded the Liebig Gold Medal to Prof. F. Stohmann, Professor of Agricul tural Chemistry in Leipzig University, and silver medals to Prof. B. Tollens, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in Göttingen University, and Prof. P. Sorauer, of Berlin.

MR. FREDERIC DUCANE GODMAN, F.R.S., has been elected a Trustee of the British Museum.

THE annual visitation of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, will take place on Saturday, June 6.

MR. G. GRIFFITH left Liverpool for Toronto on Saturday, to make arrangements for the meeting of the British Association in 1897.

THE exhibition galleries of the British Museum, Bloomsbury and of the British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road' will be opened to the public on Sunday next from 2.30 to 7 p.m.; and will be opened on subsequent Sunday afternoons until further

notice.

A SPECIAL general meeting of the Geological Society will be held on Wednesday, May 20, in order to submit to the decision of the Fellows certain resolutions of the Council regarding a proposed transference of a portion of the Society's collections to the Trustees of the British Museum.

THE Journal of Botany states that Herr V. F. Brotherus, of Helsingfors, has just started on a botanical journey to Central Asia; he is going by way of Samarcand and Tashkend to Thian Shan, with the special purpose of investigating the mosses of the highlands of Issikkoul. The district is a new and promising

one.

THE Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France records the death, on December 31, 1895, of M. R. P. Delavay, Roman Catholic missionary at Yunnan, at the age of sixty-two. Since his arrival in China in 1867, he had been a most industrious explorer of the flora of that country, having sent home to the Museum of Natural History in Paris more than 4000 species, nearly half of them new. According to the Bulletin, he described for the first time about fifty species of Rhododendron and Pedicularis, and about forty of Primula and Gentiana.

IN connection with next year's country meeting, to be held at Manchester, under the presidency of the Duke of York, the Royal Agricultural Society will offer two prizes of £100 and two prizes of £50 for self-moving vehicles for light and heavy loads. In both classes the self-moving vehicles are to be propelled exclusively by mechanical means. The points to which the special attention of the judges will be called are: due regard to the convenience of the public; ease of handling, with special reference to stopping, starting, and steering; economy in working, price, simplicity, strength of design, and weight of vehicle.

OUR American correspondent writes, under date May 1:"Columbia College will send a band of naturalists, under the leadership of Prof. Bashford Dean, to explore Puget Sound this summer, leaving New York June 10. Three zoologists and one botanist will accompany the party. The deep-sea work will be done with the aid of the United States Fishery Commissioners' vessel Albatross. The region is almost unexplored, and important results are expected.-A delegation of prominent scientific men appeared before the Finance Committee of the United States Senate a few days ago, to urge legislation favouring the metric system, but were informed by Senator Sherman that it was probably too late to accomplish anything at this session of Congress."

THE provisional programme of the International Congress of Psychology, to be held in Munich on August 4 to 7, under the presidency of Prof. Dr. Stumpf, shows that there is likely to be a plethora of papers on all branches of the science of mind. Eminent psychologists from many parts of the world have sent papers, among those who have done so being M. E. Bértillon (Paris), Prof. Bernheim (Nancy), Dr. Alfred Binet (Paris), Prof. Delboeuf (Liège), Prof. H. Ebbinghaus (Breslau), Prof. Sigmund Exner (Vienna), Prof. Stanley Hall (Worcester, Mass.), Dr. E. Hering (Prague), Prof. P. Janet (Paris), Prof. Th. Lipps (Munich), Prof. W. Preyer (Wiesbaden), Prof. Th. Ribot (Paris), Prof. C. Richet (Paris), Prof. H. Sidgwick (Cambridge), Mr. G. H. Stout (Cambridge), Dr. Carl Stumpf (Berlin), and Dr. W. Wundt (Leipzig). Details as to the arrangements of the Congress, which promises to be truly international in membership, and broad in scope, may be obtained from the General Secretary, Dr. Frhr. von Schrenck-Notzing, Max Josephstr. 2/1, Munich.

We learn from Die Natur of April 26, that the Imperial Russian Geographical Society has sent to the northern boundaries of Russia a large number of notices relating to the possible descent of Herr Andrée's polar balloon in Russian territory. The inhabitants are exhorted not to be frightened at the balloon, to treat the occupants, in case of need, with all respect, and to conduct them to the nearest Government authorities; the notice also states that any expenses incurred will be repaid. It is

further requested that if the balloon be sighted, information should be given of the direction in which it was going. The document contains representations of the balloon, both in flying and falling conditions.

PROF. UGOLINO Mosso (Atti della R. Accad. dei Lincei) describes a series of observations on human respiration at high altitudes, performed with the object of testing whether the quantity of carbonic acid exhaled in breathing is in any way affected by the rarefaction of the air. For this purpose a number of soldiers were tested in the course of an expedition on the slopes of Monte Rosa, and further experiments were made by the author on himself in an experimental chamber at the Physiological Institution of Turin. These observations prove that the quantity of CO, expired by a man at an altitude of 6400 metres, differs but slightly from that expired at 276 metres above the sea-level. Prof. Mosso subjected himself to pressures as low as 34 cm. of mercury without feeling any ill-effects, the oxygen present being still sufficient for purposes of respiration; but when the pressure was reduced to 30 cm., the author began to find his faculties impaired, and in one case felt a great want of breath. After about eleven or twelve minutes, he became incapable of making accurate observations, and the experiments had to be discontinued.

66

THE Kew Observatory Committee of the Royal Society have recently issued their Report for the year 1895. The Chairman of the Committee is Mr. F. Galton, and the Superintendent of the Observatory is Dr. C. Chree. At the suggestion of the Council of the Royal Society, the title of the Committee has been changed during the year; the change consists in the insertion of the word "observatory" and the omission of the word "incorporated." The magnetographs have been kept in constant operation throughout the year, but no very exceptional disturbances were registered during that period. An analysis of the declination and horizontal force results for selected quiet days" during 1890-94 has been published in the Report of the British Association for last year. The self-recording meteorological instruments have also been in regular action during the year, and the observations have been transmitted, as usual, to the Meteorological Office. Sketches of sun-spots were made on 159 days, and the groups numbered according to Schwabe's method. Various experimental investigations have been carried on, in addition to the regular routine work, relating to fog, atmospheric electricity, platinum thermometry, &c. A sum of £100 was obtained from the Government Grant Committee for the purpose of making experiments on the behaviour of platinum thermometers; these are found to possess advantages even in dealing with some ordinary temperatures which require to be read at a distance from the spot where they are recorded. The total number of instruments verified, and of watches and chronometers rated, shows a considerable increase.

IT was not to be supposed that the astonishing announcement made by Jörgensen and Juhler as to the development of yeast cells from the Aspergillus oryza would go unchallenged ; but it must, at any rate, be a satisfaction to these investigators that the inquiry has fallen into such skilled hands as those of Messrs. Klöcker and Schiönning, both assistants in the famous Carlsberg Laboratory. These gentlemen have repeated in every conceivable manner the experiments of Jörgensen and Juhler, and have even greatly extended the scope of their original observations; but in no single instance have they obtained any evidence of the development of yeast cells from moulds. It would appear that too much weight has been given to mere microscopical evidence, and not sufficient attention bestowed upon the acquisi tion of pure cultures. Perhaps the most interesting efforts to decide this knotty question were those investigations made with various fruits growing in a natural condition on trees,

investigations suggested by some early work of Pasteur, and also Chamberland, published in 1879. As is well known, moulds and yeasts are present side by side in large numbers on various fruits, such as plums, cherries, grapes, &c. ; and Messrs. Klöcker and Schiönning determined to prove, if possible, that their simultaneous presence is a mere coincidence, and not evidence of the development of yeast cells from moulds. Comparative examinations were therefore instituted of numerous fruits, some of which were simply gathered from the tree, whilst in other cases they were only examined after having been carefully excluded from the outside air for some time by enclosing a small fruit-bearing branch in a specially constructed glass case. Thus, for example, on none of the plums protected from the surrounding air could any yeast cells be discovered, although moulds were present in abundance, whilst on as many as 50 per cent. of those exposed to the air, yeast cells were found along with the moulds. Messrs. Klöcker and Schiönning contend that they offered the moulds the most natural and favourable opportunities for the produc

Dr.

tion of yeast cells in these glass cases, which could be devised, but they failed in every case to make their appearance. Jörgensen himself, it is only fair to add, appears to be somewhat baffled by the nature of his observations, and in his most recent communication on the subject, frankly confesses that this elaboration of yeast cells from moulds must at present be regarded as a process in which chance appears to play an important part, and the circumstances attending which we are yet quite unable to master !

M. MOISSON is reported (Centr. Zeit. für Opt. u. Mech., xvii. 6) to have discovered a substance harder than the diamond in the form of a compound of carbon and boron, produced by heating boracic acid and carbon in an electric furnace at a temperature of 5000. This compound is black and not unlike graphite in appearance, and it appears likely to supersede diamonds for boring rocks, cutting glass, and other industrial purposes.

It

Irish caves, which mostly fall into three categories-those inhabiting the entrance to the cave as a hiding-place, those that have accidentally been brought in, and those that form its normal fauna. The last consist of a spider and two Collembola, and are interesting as constituting the first true cave-fauna recorded in the British Isles. A description of these forms appeared in previous numbers of the Irish Naturalist and of Spelunca.

WE have received from the Geological Survey of Norway a set of their Reports for the years 1893, 1894, and 1895, pubbring them within the reach of every one who may be interested lished by H. Aschehoug and Co., Christiania, at prices which in the subjects of which they treat. The Reports are highly creditable to such a sparsely-peopled country as Norway, and to the Director of its Geological Survey, Dr. Hans Reusch, who seems to thoroughly appreciate the wants of his practical countryAs the country apparently possesses few organised public departments, the publications of its Geological Survey are com

men.

prehensive in their scope, covering questions of agriculture,

forestry, climate, irrigation, soil, and orography, as well as of mining and geology. The economic aspects of the buildingstone and mining industries are well considered and presented to the people for their deliberation and guidance, as well as the purely geological questions of stratigraphy and petrography. Paleontology, however, is conspicuous by its absence. One of the largest of the Reports deals with roofing-slates, flagstones, and with steatite as a building-stone. It is a pity that the vocabu lary of the language is not rich enough to have different words for slate and schist (Skifer represents both); but our own language is equally faulty, or rather misapplied, when the word slate is used in referring to Stonesfield slate, as well as to that of Ballachulish or Llanberis.

IN one of the Reports (No. 14) referred to in the foregoing note, there is an interesting communication by A. Helland, on the

in pieces of any required size.

ACCORDING to Prof. J. C. Arthur, the popular idea that of the two seeds in the spikelet of wild oat, one germinates at once, and the other only after a year, has no foundation in fact. But this is true of the two seeds in the fruit of the "cockle-bur," Xanthium canadense and strumarium. The cause of the difference in the action of the two seeds appears to be constitutional and hereditary.

ONLY three species of Bears have hitherto been generally recognised by naturalists as occurring in North America, namely the Polar Bear, Black Bear of the Atlantic States, and Grizzly Bear of the Western States, though others have been proposed. In his recently issued "Preliminary Synopsis of the American Bears," Dr. C. Hart Merriam takes a very different view. Dr. Merriam raised the number of American Bears to no less than eleven, dividing those of the "grizzly" type (Ursus) into six species, and those of the "black" type (Euarctos) into four. Dr. Merriam's synopsis is illustrated by figures of the skulls of the different species.

M. E. A. MARTEL, President of the Speleological Society (Paris), has visited and surveyed the Mitchelstown Cavern in Ireland, and reports on it in the Irish Naturalist for April. Although discovered over sixty years ago, and well known to tourists, this cavern had never before been properly explored. Its chief peculiarity consists in its extensive ramifications, which in one part follow the jointing of the limestone so regularly that the plan looks like that of the streets of a town. The total length of the cave exceeds a mile and a quarter, so that it is probably the longest in the British Isles. Mr. Lyster Jameson furnishes a report on the living animals found in this and other

tained from soundings by himself and others; but unfortunately all of them have been made in the line of the length of the lakes, none of them transversely, thereby missing a most important clue to the explanation of their origin. He gives longitudinal sections of four of the principal lakes in Jotunheim, but the irregularities in the bottoms are not favourable to the glacial erosion theory which he supports; transverse sections would probably prove more instructive. Of the forty-two lakes mentioned, no less than twenty-three of them have their bottoms below sea-level. The following series of figures represents the number of feet below sea-level of the first twelve, viz. 1417, 1085, 715, 712, 593, 568, 528, 456, 456, 456, 361 and 190. The first is the Hornindals Vand, the surface of which is only 177 feet above sea-level, but the bottom is 1417 feet below it; the second is the Mjösen Vand, the surface of which is 397 feet above, and bottom 1085 below, sea-level. The great depth below sea-level seems to militate against the theory that they were eroded by ice.

IN the Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of Cracow, Dr. L. Natanson contributes a long and elaborate communication on "The Laws of Irreversible Phenomena," and L. Birkenmayer describes a series of observations on the length of the seconds' pendulum in the neighbourhood of Cracow,

PROF. J. M. COULTER publishes, in the "Contributions from the United States National Herbarium," a revision of the North American species of Echinocactus, Cereus, and Opuntia. Fiftytwo species are enumerated of the first genus, eighty-two of the second, and 101 of the third; a good many of these are now described for the first time.

MR. JAMES HORNELL, Director of the Jersey Biological Station, is issuing a series of Microscopical Botanical Sections,