started to represent what Newman used to call the via media. Among its first proprietors and writers were Dean Church, the brothers Haddan (one a clergyman, the other a lawyer), Chief Justice Coleridge, and the late Mr. Mountague Bernard, who undertook to edit it. As Mr. Bernard lived chiefly in Oxford it was necessary to have a very efficient and discreet sub-editor, and Mr. Bernard offered the post to young Mr. Sharp, who accepted it. The Guardian was distinguished from the first by its literary ability, but it worked its way slowly, though steadily, towards the immense success which it eventually achieved. Politically it represented the Peelite School, and was a discriminating supporter of Mr. Gladstone while Mr. Bernard and Mr. Sharpoccupied in succession the editorial chair. Indeed, Mr. Gladstone has had the credit of having been both one of its proprietors and contributors; but we believe that he never had any connexion with it in either a literary or pecuniary sensecertainly not in a pecuniary sense, for he once told the present writer that when he entered public life he made it a rule (from which he never deviated) to have no pecuniary interest in any newspaper. Mr. Bernard continued for many years to edit the Guardian, and he wrote at the same time the admirable summary of the events of the week which appeared on the first page. But Mr. Bernard's editorship became more and more honorary, and the practical management of the paper fell into Mr. Sharp's hands long before he became editor in name. One feature which has always distinguished the Guardian has been its controversial courtesy and its avoidance of personalities, and for this honourable tradition it is largely indebted to Mr. Sharp. He rigorously excluded even from his correspondence columns letters which transgressed the rule which he had laid down on this subject. A remarkable testimony to this characteristic of the Guardian was borne at a later period. In course of time the Guardian failed to satisfy the advanced section of the High Church party, and it was proposed to start a new paper. Mr. Keble was consulted, and he replied that although he | Gascon, 210l. Total realized by the sale,

200l. Breviarium Romanum, by a German scribe, twelfth century, 205l. Bible Hystorious, in two volumes, highly illuminated with miniatures and capital letters, executed in 1291, 250l. Josephi Flavi Antiquitates Judaicae, in two volumes, thirteenth century, with small miniatures, 150l. Roman de la Rose, fourteenth century, with miniatures en grisaille, 325l. St. Augustin, La Cité de Dieu, in two volumes, fourteenth century, finely illuminated throughout with miniatures, borders, and initials, 520l. Boccaccio, Les Illustres Malheureux, a beautiful manuscript, illuminated with miniatures and initials in the finest Burgundian style, fifteenth century, 1,700l. Antiphonale, by an Italian artist, fifteenth century, 2001. Genealogie de la Ste. Vierge, fourteenth century, 150l. Breviarium Romanum, fifteenth century, 146l. Missale secundum usum Fratrum Ordinis Beatæ Dei Genetricis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, fifteenth century, finely illuminated, 470l. Officium B. Mariæ V., sixteenth century, written for the wife of Charles V., with miniatures by Gerard David, 540l. Diodorus Siculus, sixteenth century, by Geofroy Tory, with a painting in the beginning of Francis I. and his three sons with courtiers, 1,000l. Manuscript of various French Poets of the Fourteenth Century, 310l. Officium Divinæ Mariæ Virginis, 1524, most beautifully illuminated with full-page miniatures, borders, and initials, stated to be by Geofroy Tory, 1,2301. Heures a l'Usage d'Angers, fifteenth century, highly illuminated, 365l. Horæ B. Mariæ V., fifteenth century, sumptuously decorated with miniatures, borders, initials, &c., in the brightest colours, 495l. Horæ B. Mariæ V., fifteenth century, by a Flemish artist, 134l. Thomasin von Zirclaria, der Wälsche Gast, by a German scribe, fourteenth century, on pure vellum, decorated with coats of arms and mi miniatures, 340l. Horæ B. Mariæ V., sixteenth century, of Flemish work, probably executed in Brussels, 120l. Nicolas Jarry, Livres d'Emblemes, 1650, 120l. N. Jarry, Preces Christiane, bound by Le 15,189l. 10s. 6d.

IN MEMORIAM OF PROF. WILLIAM WRIGHT.

had himself become in some degree dissatisfied with the tone of the Guardian on some Church questions, he could have no hand in starting a rival, because he could not forget the example set by the Guardian of never abusing an opponent and never imputing bad motives. Failing health compelled Mr. Sharp to resign the editorship in 1885; but he had in course of time become one of the leading proprietors, and he continued to take an active part in the financial management of the paper till his death last week from a stroke of paralysis. Although | branches and dialects, such as Mandaic, Aramaic,

one of the most unbending of editors on the lines which he had laid down for his own guidance, he was one of the most courteous and most amiable of men.

SALE.

MESSRS. SOTHEBY, WILKINSON & HODGE sold on the 23rd ult. ninety-one manuscripts from the celebrated Hamilton collection. When Messrs. Sotheby sold this collection en bloc to the Prussian Government at a very high price the Berlin authorities apparently never intended to retain them all. A few were sold privately to the British Museum, and it was determined to sell others by auction. The sale excited a good deal of interest, and the room was crowded long before the sale began. The following were the more important prices realized :- Evangelia Quatuor, Latine, on purple vellum, in uncial letters of gold, ascribed in the catalogue to the seventh century, but it is questionable whether it is at least not a century later, 1,500l. Bestiarius, by an English scribe, twelfth century, illustrated, with a large number of drawings of animals and other things, 500l. Evangelistarium, Græce, by a Byzantine artist, with five miniatures, 480l. Evangelia Quatuor, by a Byzantine artist, ornamented with small human figures,

THE premature death of William Wright (he had not yet reached the age of sixty) has broken up the triad of scholars in general Semitic philology, omitting Assyrian. The other two members are Profs. Nöldeke and Ignazio Guidi, who are equally eminent in Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Hebrew, with all the dependent

Himyaritic, Talmudic, and Rabbinic. If I do not rank with them Prof. de Lagarde and M. Halévy, it is solely because the former prefers to be a theologian, and the latter has never tried his hand at editing texts, except those found in inscriptions. I have no intention of writing a biography of the deceased, nor of giving a bibliography of his numerous publications in the Semitic field; all this can be found in biographical dictionaries, and partly in the notice which appeared in the last number of the Atheneum, and which I am going to supplement.

Dr. Wright's profound scholarship in Arabic can be seen from his editions of the texts of Ibn

Jubair, and more especially from the 'Kamil,' which is so full of poetical pieces. In Syriac one has only to examine his masterly catalogue of the very important collection of MSS. in the British Museum, wher no item is omitted, and where not a word is superfluous, to discover his scholarship, not to mention his editions of Aphraates, of the Apocryphal Gospels, of Joshua the Stylite, and the 'Kalilah v Dimnah. In Ethiopic, again, his catalogue of these MSS. in the British Museum is equal to that of the Syriac collection. Dr. Wright also tried his hand successfully at inscriptions, as can be seen from articles in various periodicals and transactions on the Moabite stele, on Himyaritic inscriptions,

and on Hebrew epitaphs from Yemen. He was by no means inclined only for dry work; he liked to read lively articles on Semitic scholarship, and wrote essays of a like kind; for instance, his admirable sketch of Syriac literature in the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' This, although limited in space, is complete as well as interesting, and will remain the standard article on this branch of Semitic learning. For general Semitic scholarship we have only to read a page of his Arabic grammar, which he called in his modesty Caspari's grammar, to discover genuine comparative studies in all the branches of the Semitic languages. Such is a brief sketch of his literary activity. No doubt much will be found amongst his papers, for he was restless and industrious; I believe that the 'Diwan' of Ferazdak was the last work which he had in hand, and which must be far advanced, if not entirely finished. I hope that his university will favour the publication of this early Arabic monument in memory of its successful Professor of Semitic Languages since 1870.

Not only was he an indefatigable worker himself, but he also encouraged others, and more especially younger scholars, by advising them, by reading their proof-sheets, and by copying and collating for them, the last to his own pecuniary loss. How many times did he not travel from Cambridge to the British Museum to do work for others? The Dean of Canterbury will much miss him as regards his excellent 'Thesaurus Syriacus'; and for myself he read the proofs of Aboo-l-Walid's Hebrew dictionary in Arabic, which appeared in 1875; and in one of his last communications to me, when he already felt prostrate, he said, "How shall I be able to read the proof-sheets of Tanhum's dictionary to the Mishnah, which you are preparing for press?" And his kindness he extended not only to Semitic scholars, but also to others in all branches of study. Where he was not competent himself to copy and to collate, he tried to procure help for them through his friends. All foreign savants found hospitality at his house when he was in the British Museum, and later on when at Cambridge. And with all that, W. Wright was very modest, and never aimed at popularity. Thus England first learned that he was an eminent scholar when the Continent bestowed upon him all possible honours, amongst which I shall mention that the Académie des Inscriptions named him corresponding member, and the Prussian Government made him knight of the order pour le mérite-one of the greatest honours, which Prof. Max Müller had alone before him received.

Thus Semitic scholars have lost in W. Wright a first-rate pioneer and one of their enthusiastic friends, and the University one of its most eminent professors. If Oxford could easily replace the Laudian Professor by a promising young scholar, Cambridge will have hard work to find a worthy successor of one who had mastered all branches of Semitic learning with such profound knowledge and deep criticism.

A. NEUBAUER.

Literary Gossip.

MR. FRASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P., is going to print 'Letters of Two Centuries,' a series of two hundred private letters, chiefly written by or addressed to members of Highland families more or less connected with Inverness and the North. One of them is dated in each year of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and they are introduced by explanatory and illustrative remarks. They have already appeared from week to week during the last four years in the Scottish Highlander.

OUR Welsh readers will be glad to learn that the memoir of the late famous Welsh

preacher, the Rev. I. Kilsby Jones, is in active preparation by his son.

IT is understood that when the Chair of Arabic at Cambridge, vacant by Dr. Wright's death, is filled up, a separate Readership in Syriac will be created.

We greatly regret to hear of the death of Mr. J. H. Onions, Senior Student of Christ Church, a most promising young scholar, whose contributions to the Journal of Philology and Classical Review had deservedly

attracted attention. Educated at Shrews

bury, he at Oxford betook himself, under the inspiration of Prof. Nettleship, to the study of the Latin grammarians. He had also made an especial study of Plautus. He published in 1882 a collation of the Harleian MS. of Nonius, and an edition by him of the text of Nonius is now passing through the Clarendon Press.

THE following letter may be read with interest just at this moment. It was addressed to the late Canon Evans by his former schoolmaster, Dr. Butler, in 1839. The Bishop of Durham mentioned in it is, of course, Maltby. Evans was always noted for his Greek verse. He took delight in turning the Times into iambics :

"DEAR EVANS, -I first heard of your Greek verses on the Birth of Mathematics from the Bishop of Durham, who agrees with me that they are decidedly the very best Greek verses either of us have (sic) ever read, and I take it that the Bishop is one of the very best judges on such a subject that Europe can produce. The good people at Burton may be very well contented with this splendid specimen of your attainments as a scholar, but if they wish more, I can bear the most ample testimony to your proficiency in classical literature, as well as to your moral and religious character. With all good wishes for your prosperity I remain, dear Evans, truly yours,

S. LICHFIELD."

An amusing tale is told of Canon Evans in his Rugby days. On the occasion of the appearance of a comet, he collected a party at his house to view the phenomenon through a telescope he had himself adjusted. He was doing the honours in proper classical style, apostrophizing λάμπας κομήτης, κ.τ.λ., when a sceptic tried the naked eye, and found the good man had levelled his instrument on the bedroom candle of an opposite neighbour! Countless stories used to be retailed of him. His pupils will recollect his self-communings in school: "When I consider the differences between πῶς ἂν and ὅπως ἂν, I am often constrained to shake the head of dubitation."

'THE BATTLES AND LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR' is the title of a work in four volumes, with many maps and illustrations, which will appear immediately in the United States and this country. The generals who fought on the Northern and Southern sides are allowed to give their respective stories of the campaigns. Mr. Fisher Unwin is the publisher here.

MR. ANGELO LEWIS is about to resign the editorship of Pick Me Up. Mr. Joseph Hatton will be his successor.

of the leading countries of the world. It has been compiled under the authority of the London Chamber of Commerce, and is edited by Mr. Kenric B. Murray. Amongst the contributors will be Lord Brassey, Mr. R. Giffen, Mr. H. C. Burdett (Stock Exchange), Mr. J. S. Jeans, F.S.S. (Secretary Iron Trade Association), Major Craigie, F.S.S. (Secretary Central Chamber of Agriculture), Mr. John Corbett, M.P., and M. E. Fournier de Flaux, of Paris.

MR. W. G. COLLINGWOOD, hon. president of the Ruskin Reading Guild, will bring out immediately a life of Mr. Ruskin. Messrs. Virtue are the publishers.

CANON W. SPARROW SIMPSON is engaged on a companion volume to his 'Chapters in the History of Old St. Paul's,' entitled 'Gleanings from Old St. Paul's.' Among other chapters it will contain three devoted to the music of St. Paul's in the olden time, with illustrations. The volume will be published shortly by Mr. Elliot Stock.

M. LOUIS GAYET, chaplain of St. Louis des Français at Rome, will shortly publish the contemporary documents relating to the beginning of the Western schism, from the Vatican archives. A French translation and an elaborate study of the documents will accompany the original text. Mr. David Nutt is the English agent for this work.

MESSRS. F. V. WHITE & Co. will publish shortly 'A Little Fool,' by John Strange

Winter.

MR. MERCER's letter about Sir John Hawkwood in the Athenæum of May 11th has prompted Signor Marcotti to write and explain, as Mr. Mercer spoke of the forthcoming biography of Hawkwood as the joint production of Prof. Marcotti and Mr. Temple Leader, and sometimes as that of Prof. Marcotti only, "that Mr. Temple Leader alone took the initia

tive to illustrate and to reconstruct the bio

graphy of his famous fellow countryman. With this intention he had already collected and put in order many important documents, and he never ceased to be an assiduous and efficacious coadjutor in the research of unedited documents, in the study of histories and chronicles, in the redaction of the work, and in the superintendence of the two editions."

By the way, we may take this opportunity of saying that Messrs. Macmillan have, in consequence of Mr. Marion Crawford's abandoning his intention of writing a life of Hawkwood, given up the idea of including Hawkwood among their "English Men of Action."

THE Scots Observer, which has much improved since Mr. Henley became its editor, has begun its second volume.

MR. N. H. MASON is going to issue a life of his ancestor, the Rev. Nicholas Mason, M.A., Vicar of Irchester and Rector of Bletsoe (born 1599, died 1671), accompanied by biographies of his descendants and pedigrees. He will add historical, biographical, genealogical, and literary notices of other families of the name. The work will contain some of the correspondence of the author of 'Caractacus.' Various wills and other documents will be printed for the first time.

THE chief Parliamentary Papers of the week are East India (Home Accounts), 8d.;

of the Number of Houses licensed for the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors in England and Wales, 3d.; and the Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories.

SCIENCE

CHEMICAL NOTES.

THE subject of the relative atomic weights of hydrogen and oxygen is still receiving great attention. Lord Rayleigh has made entirely independent determinations of the relative weights by actual combination of weighed quan tities of the two gases. Globes are filled by atmospheric pressure with the two gases, and are then carefully weighed. By means of Sprengel pumps the gases are exhausted into a mixing chamber, sealed below with mercury, and thence, by means of a third Sprengel pump, are con ducted into a eudiometer, also sealed below with mercury, where they are fired by electric sparks in the usual way. After making all necessary corrections, the experiments so far conducted lead to the number 1589 as the atomic weight of oxygen. In America Noyes has also been working on this subject, using a modification of the old method of the reduction of cupric oxide with hydrogen. The figure deduced from his experiments for the atomic weight of oxygen is 15.886.

A posthumous memoir on the compressibility of hydrogen, by the late Prof. Wroblewski, contains results which render it very doubtful whether Pictet or Cailletet really succeeded in liquefying hydrogen. Direct experiments since made by Zakrzewski show that even at so low a temperature as -223° C. no signs of liquefaction were observable.

Hérard has shown that when bismuth is heated to bright redness in a current of nitrogen a grey sublimate of amorphous bismuth is ob tained, which under the microscope is found to consist of agglomerations of spheres, similar in appearance to amorphous antimony or amorphous arsenic. It has a specific gravity of 9 483, whilst the specific gravity of crystalline bismuth is 9.823. The amorphous metal is more readily attacked by reagents than the crystalline form.

Some interesting results have been obtained by Biltz and Meyer in determining the vapour densities of some elements and compounds at temperatures considerably higher than those previously employed for this purpose. Bismuth was readily volatilized, and the figures obtained show that the density is smaller than corre sponds with the formula Bi,, and thus render it pretty certain that, like mercury, cadmium, and zinc, the bismuth molecule contains only a single atom. In the case of arsenic, the mole cule at these high temperatures consists of two atoms, whilst at lower temperatures, as is well known, the molecule is tetratomic. Thallium is only volatilized with difficulty at a temperature of 1728° C., but would seem to be diatomic. At the highest temperatures employed sulphur was still diatomic: mercury and iodine, monatomic. With cuprous chloride results were obtained in close agreement with the formula Cu2Cl. Silver chloride did not volatilize readily enough for s satisfactory estimation, but the figures obtained. as far as they go, are too small for the formula Ag2Cl2.

Many determinations of the atomic weight of chromium have been made, with the result of showing that the true value lies somewhere between 52.0 and 535. The mean value of s series of determinations recently made by Mr Rawson is 52:06.

SOCIETIES.

ROYAL. May 23.-The President in the chair.The Croonian Lecture, Les Inoculations Préve Institute, Paris. tives,' was delivered by Dr. Roux, of the Paste GEOGRAPHICAL. May 27.- Anniversary Meeting. General R. Strachey, President, in the chair. The following gentlemen were elected Fellows: the Earl of Jersey, Rear-Admiral J. C. Purvis, Lieut.-Col. Birkett, Lieut. J. M. Wingfield, Capt. H. Pelham-Burn, the Rev. J. E. Symons, the Rev. J. T. Wordsworth, and Messrs. A. Bentley, A. L. Bruce, F. A. Campbell, W. Colley, W. R. Dunstan, S. H. Godman, G. R. Hemmerde, E. F. Henley, W. Kelty, P. Lee, G. S. Mackenzie, H. Y. Oldham, P. F. Payn, D. L. Poole, H. W. Topham, B. J. Warick, and W. Warren. The following gentlemen were elected as Council and officers for 1889-90: President, Right Hon. Sir M. E. G. Duff; Vice-Presidents, Sir R. Alcock, F. Galton, Major-General Sir F. J. Goldsmid, Sir J. Hooker, General R. Strachey, and General Sir C. P. B. Walker; Treasurer, R. T. Cocks; Trustees, Right Hon. Lord Aberdare and Sir J. Lubbock; Hon. Secretaries, D. W. Freshfield and Col. Sir F. W. De Winton; Foreign Secretary, Lord A. Russell; Councillors, J. Ball, Sir G. F. Bowen, Admiral L. Brine, Hon. G. C. Brodrick, R. N. Cust, Sir A. Dent, Col. J. A. Grant, Sir J. Kirk, Lieut.-General Sir P. L. Lumsden, General R. Maclagan, Clements R. Markham, A. P. Maudslay, Admiral Sir F. L. McClintock, Major-General Sir enry C. Rawlinson, Sir Rawson W. Rawson, P. L. Sclater, H. Seebohm, S. W. Silver, B. L. Smith, Capt. W. J. L. Wharton, and Col. Sir C. W. Wilson. -The Royal Medals for the Encouragement of Geographical Science and Discovery were presented: the Founder's Medal to Mr. A. D. Carey (Indian Civil Service) and the Patron's Medal to Dr. G. Radde (Director of the Natural History Museum, Tiflis); the Back Premium for 1889 to Mr. F. C. Selous, the Cuthbert Peek Grant to Mr. F. S. Arnot, and the Gill Memorial to Mr. M. J. Ogle.-The scholarships and prizes given by the Royal Geographical Society to students in training colleges for 1889 were also presented. The annual address on the progress of geography during the year was delivered by the President.

Henry

GEOLOGICAL. - May 22.-Dr. W. T. Blanford, President, in the chair. - Messrs. J. Berry, A. R. Browne, and W. F. Hume were elected Fellows. -The following communications were read: 'Notes on the Hornblende Schists and Banded Crystalline Rocks of the Lizard,' by Major-General C. A. McMahon,-'The Upper Jurassic Clays of Lincolnshire,' by Mr. T. Roberts, and 'Origin of Movements in the Earth's Crust,' by Mr. J. R. Kilroe, communicated by Mr. A. B. Wynne.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. - May 23.-Dr. J. Evans, President, in the chair.-Mr. C. H. Fowler exhibited a photograph of a grave-cover from Easington-in-Cleveland, Yorks, of fourteenth century date, with the letters of the marginal inscription filled in with lead or pewter.-Rev. J. Morris exhibited a tracing of, and read some notes on, a wall-painting of St. Paul shaking the viper off his hand, recently discovered in the chapel of St. Anselm in Canterbury cathedral church. - Sir W. Crossman exhibited a Saxon memorial stone found at Lindisfarne, Holy Island, bearing the name Aldberect.-Mr. J. Park Harrison communicated a paper on the shrine or monument of St. Frideswide at Oxford. The remains, as shown by photographs and detailed drawings, are of singular beauty, being in the best style of early Decorated work of the thirteenth century, and equalled only by examples in the chapter-house at Southwell. The foliage with which the spandrils of the ten arches that surrounded the monument are filled has been identified by Mr. Druce, the author of the 'Flora of Oxfordshire,' as that of medical plants: bryony, celandine, wood-sanicle, hemlock, ivy, and columbine, each with its proper fruit and stalk admirably copied, and pointing to a belief which had been handed down of Frideswide's knowledge of the virtues of herbs. A sketch was exhibited which showed what the appearance of the monument would be if re-erected. A strong opinion was expressed that this should be done, in order to show the great beauty of the work to more advantage and preserve it from injury. No new feature would be required, except caps and bases, which could be formed of wood or some other material than the Forest Marble employed in the structure itself. Mr. Harrison believed with Anthony à Wood and others that the Perpendicular monument on the north side of the Lady Chapel, now called the Wakeling Cham■ber, contained an altar and reliquary, and thought it may have been erected mainly for that purpose on St. Frideswide's name being admitted into the Sarum Office Books in 1480.

LINNEAN. May 24.-Anniversary Meeting.-Mr. Carruthers, President, in the chair. The Earl of Ducie, Messrs. W. J. Hindmarsh, C. M. Peal, R. W. Scully, T. W. Girdlestone, and W. Kirkby were

lenius (1687-1747), the first Professor of Botany at Oxford, copied from the original picture at Oxford, was presented to the Society by the President, who gave a brief outline of Dillenius's career and of his personal acquaintance with Linnæus. The Treasurer having made his annual statement of accounts, and the Librarian's and other reports having been read, a ballot took place for the election of officers and Council for the ensuing year. The President, Treasurer, and Secretaries were reelected, and the changes recommended in the Council were adopted. --The President then delivered his annual address, in which, after reviewing the progress and prosperity of the Society during the past year, and noticing with regret the loss which the Society had sustained by the death of several of its Fellows, he gave an elaborate and interesting history of the existing portraits of Linnæus, a great many of which were in the possession of the Society, and would now be supplemented by others which he had the pleasure to present. The result of his inquiry showed that there are at least seven original and authentic portraits of Linnæus in existence, that the engravings most widely known are from the originals by Inlander and Roslin, and that these give the most faithful representation of the features of the great naturalist. The Society's gold medal, which was founded last year in commemoration of the Society's centenary anniversary, was this year awarded to the eminent botanist Prof. Alphonse de Candolle, and in his unavoidable absence was handed to his grandson, M. Austin de Candolle, who attended on his behalf to receive it.

ZOOLOGICAL.- May 21.-Prof. Flower, President, in the chair.-Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks on a mummied falcon from Egypt, and some photographs of groups of sea-birds and seals taken on the shores of Antipodes Island, Antarctic Ocean; and also called attention to a specimen of a leaf-insect, in the Society's Insect-house, from the Seychelles: it was not quite fully developed, but was believed to be referable to Phyllium gelonus, Gray.Papers and letters were read by Mr. M. Jacoby, on the species of Coleoptera of the families Crioceridæ, Chrysomelidæ, and Galerucidæ, of which specimens had been collected in Venezuela by M. Simon, -from Mr. A. G. Butler, on a new extinct genus of moths belonging to the Geometrid family Euschemidæ, based on a fossil specimen obtained from the eocene freshwater limestone of Gurnet Bay, Isle of Wight; this insect was named Lithopsyche antiqua, - by Mr. W. F. Kirby, on new genera and species of dragonflies in the collection of the British Museum, chiefly from Africa, and by Dr. H. Gadow, on the taxonomic value of the intestinal convolutions in birds. After pointing out the different forms assumed by the intestinal convolutions in this class of animals, and suggesting a nomenclature for them, the author proceeded to give the outlines of a classification of birds based solely on this part of their structure, and to show the differences and resemblances of the various groups.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.-May 14.- Prof. Flower, V.P., in the chair. The election of Mr. J. Etlinger and of Mr. H. Tufnell was announced.Mr. A. Thomson read a paper On the Osteology of the Veddahs of Ceylon, and exhibited a complete skeleton and several skulls of these people. Although the skeleton was said to be that of a man of twenty-six years of age, many parts were not completely ossified. The fifth lumbar vertebra was less wedge-shaped than amongst the higher races of man, and hence there was a tendency to a backward curve in this region. Attention was drawn to the fact that the left clavicle was longer than the

right by no less than 10 mm., and this may probably be explained by the employment of the left arm in the use of the bow. The left arm was also slightly larger than the right. The scapulæ were small and slender, and the high index 71.1 indicates a marked

difference in shape from that of Europeans. The femora and tibiæ were remarkable for their great length, and in each case the left was the longer. On the anterior borders of the lower extremities of both tibiæ were semi-lunar facets articulating with corresponding surfaces on

the necks of the astragali in extreme dorsi-flexion of the foot. The extreme length of the articulated skeleton was 1,578 mm., which was somewhat above that of the average Veddah as calculated by Virchow. It appeared from the examination of all the available crania that the average capacity of the Veddah male skull is 1,321 ce. and that of the female skull 1,229 cе. The cephalic index was 70.9. From the data given in the paper the author inferred that if the Veddahs be not of the same stock as the so-called aborigines of Southern India, they at least present strong points of resemblance regards stature, proportions of limbs, cranial capacity, and form of skull; and that if physical features alone be taken into account, their affinities

as

of the Coromandel coast and the country near Cape Comorin are fairly well established. A paper by Mr. R. B. Batty On the Yoruba Country,' and one by Mr. H. L. Roth On Salutations,' were also read.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.

MON. Royal Institution, 5.-General Monthly.

Victoria Institute, 8. - The Butterflies of South Africa, Mr. W. F. Kirby; Niobe, or Neferura-Urmaa, the Daughter of the King of the Hittites, Rev. F. A. Walker.

TUES. Royal Institution, 3.-'Recent Biological Discoveries,' Prof.
E. Ray Lankester.

Biblical Archæology, 8.-'Ashtoreth and the 'Ashera,' Rev.
G. W. Collins.

Zoological, 8.-' Intelligence of the Chimpanzee, Dr. G. J.
Romanes; Notes on some Entozoa in the Collection of the
British Museum, Signor F. S. Monticelli; List of Birds col-
lected by Mr. Kamage in Dominica, West Indies, Mr. P. L.
Sclater.

WED. Entomological, 7.

=

Cymmrodorion, 8.- The Marches (Y Gorovau), Mr. O. Edwards.
Geological, 8. Observations on some Undescribed Lacustrine
Deposits at Saint Cross, Southelmham, in Suffolk, Mr. C.
Candler; Chelonian Kemains from the Wealden and Purbeck,"
Mr. R. Lydekker; Relation of the Westleton Beds or Pebbly
Sands of Suffolk to those of Norfolk and on their Extension
Inland, with some Observations on the Period of the Final
Elevation and Denudation of the Weald and of the Thames
Valley, Prof. J. Prestwich

Shorthand, 8.- Joined Vowels, Mr. J. H. Mogford.
British Archæological Association, 8-Anglo-Saxon Charter of
Edward the Confessor to Coventry, recently brought to Light,"
Mr. W. de Gray Birch.

THURS. Royal Institution, 3.- Chemical Affinity, Prof. Dewar.

FRI.

SAT.

Some

Royal, 4-Election of Fellows. Archæological Institute, 4.-'The Monumental Effigies in Cubberley Church, Gloucestershire, Mr. A Hartshorne; Funeral Wreaths of the Græco-Roman Period discovered in the Cemetery of Hawara, Egypt, Mr. P. E N-wberry. Linnean, 8.-'A Monographic Revision of the Salices, Dr. F. B. White.

Chemical, 8-Experimental Researches on the Periodic Law," Dr. B. Branner; 'Amylodextrin of W. Naegali,' and Determination of the Molecular Weight of the Carbohydrates,' Part II, Dr. H. T. Brown and Mr. G. H. Morris; 'Researches on the Silicon Compounds,' Part V., Prof. E. Reynolds; Isomerism of the Alkyl Derivatives of Mixed Diazo-amido Compounds.' Prof. Meldola and Mr. F. W. Streatfield; 'Atomic Weight of Zinc,' Dr. Gladstone and Mr. W. Hibbert; 'Amount of Nitric Acid in the Rain Water at Rothampstead, with Notes on the Analysis of Rain Water, Mr. R. Warrington; 'Product of the Action of Sulphur on Resin,' Dr. G. H. Morris.

Antiquaries, 84. -Election of Fellows.
Geologists' Association, 8.

Philological, 8.- English Etymologies,' Prof. Skeat.
Royal Institution, 9.- Highlands of Scotland and the Wes
Ireland, Mr. A. Geikie.

Royal Institution, 3- Idealism and Experience in Philosophy and Literature, Prof. Knight (Tyndall Lecture).

Physical, 3.- Method of suppressing Sparking in Electric Currents. Prof. S. P. Thompson; A Shunt Transformer, Mr. E. W. Smith; Notes on Geometrical Optics: (1) On the Deduction of the Elementary Theory of Mirrors and Lenses from Wave Principles, (2) On a Dioptric Spherometer, (3) On the Formula of the Lenticular Mirror, (4) On the Use of Circle in Mirror and Lens Problems, Prof. S. P. Thompson, • Use of the Biquartz, Mr. A. W. Ward.

Science Gossip.

the Focal

By the death of M. Gaston Planté, which we regret to hear has recently occurred in Paris, electrical science has lost one of its most zealous cultivators. The great attention which in recent years has been bestowed upon secondary batteries has forcibly reminded the scientific world of Plante's early work. Thirty years have passed since he presented to the French Academy his paper 'Sur la Polarisation Voltaique,' a subject to which his attention had been called while engaged as chemist at the works of Messrs. Christofle & Co. Shortly afterwards he described to the Academy his 'Nouvelle Pile Secondaire d'une Grande Puissance.' The wellknown Planté cell consisted of a plate of metallic lead as one element and a leaden plate coated with oxide as the other. The battery afterwards celebrated as Faure's accumulator was only a modification of this arrangement, in which one of the lead plates was coated with litharge, and the other with minium. The study of secondary batteries continued to occupy much of M. Planté's attention during the later years of his life, while quietly working, under the disadvantage of failing health, in his Parisian laboratory. Occasionally, however, his energies were diverted from electricity to other departments of science, as exemplified by the researches which he published on the lignites of the Paris basin.

PROF. G. G. STOKES, President of the Royal Society and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, has been made a baronet.

CIRCULAR NO. 24 of the Wolsingham Observatory (Rev. T. E. Espin) states that bright lines were seen (D3 very plain) in the spectrum of X Cygni on the 19th and 21st of May, and that this was afterwards confirmed by Mr. Taylor at Ealing.

FINE ARTS

ROYAL SOCIETY of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS.-The HUNDRED and ELEVENTH EXHIBITION is NOW OPEN, 5, Pall Mall East, from 10 till 6.-Admission, 18; Illustrated Catalogue, Is. ALFRED D. FRIPP, R.W.S., Secretary.

The NEW GALLERY, REGENT STREET.-SUMMER EXHIBITION NOW OPEN, 9 till 7.-Admission, Is.

Mr. MARTIN COLNAGHITS PRIVATE EXHIBITION of Mr HERMAN SCHMIECHEN'S PORTRAITS at the MARLBOROUGH GALLERY, 53, Pall Mall, S. W., is NOW OPEN.

THE VALE OF TEARS.'-DORE'S LAST GREAT PICTURE,completed a few days before he died, NOW ON VIEW at the Doré Gallery, 85, New Bond Street, with Christ leaving the Prætorium,' 'Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,' 'The Dream of Pilate's Wife,' and his other great Pictures. From 10 to 6 Daily. -Admission, la.

THE GROSVENOR EXHIBITION.

(Second and Concluding Notice.)

THE Nasturtiums (No. 2) of M. Fantin-Latour shows admirable facility of touch, but less choice colour than most flower paintings of this born artist, who sees in tones and tints, and the representation of substances of all sorts, as much fine material as any painter of our time. He is better represented by Roses (115) and other specimens we have already mentioned. --Mr. Keeley Halswelle's Macbeth (132) aims, not unsuccessfully, at adapting the sentiment of an impressive landscape, which is suitable enough for the occasion, to the tragic character of the third scene of the first act of Shakspeare's drama. It errs rather from a sensational surplusage of expression than from lack of fitness. The picture as such differs hardly at all from-it certainly is not inferior to - the average art of an able, but very mannered painter, who ought by this time to have shaken off his conventions, as he has already abandoned a somewhat exuberant and demonstrative way of treating Roman figure subjects of a character quite different from the cloudy mountain and river views he has of late years affected. The fact is he relies upon facility of perception and a powerful and easy technique such as few artists can boast of. These are snares to him, as they have been to men of greater resources. His Arundel Castle

and Town (64), despite a confused composition, some lack of brilliancy, and excess of paint, has seldom been surpassed, although a host of men have painted the scene. The worst of it is that Mr. Halswelle has omitted to make a technical or a pathetic subject of the well-known view. We hold that a good landscape should excel in one or other of these respects; the best is that which most happily combines them. We turn from this somewhat heavy and laborious prose, and find no comfort in the conventionalities and hackneyed pretences of Miss C. Montalba's Fishing Fleet, Venice (69); the mannered weakness of Mr. Boughton's Under the Harvest Moon (71), although in the latter not a little of the beauty and sentiment of nature is recognizable; the heavy handling, but true colour, of Mr. W. Llewellyn's Cornish Village (99); and the inherent

Rit Bit of

a

vulgarity of Mr. J. R. Reid's Long Shore Farm (128), a picture astonishingly coarse and lacking in veracity, and in these respects almost as great an outrage on taste in landscape painting as his large picture in the Third Room, courageously called a Landscape (214). The exhibition of works like No. 214 indicates more than anything else the degradation which has overtaken painting. The Mussel Gatherers (141), by the same gentleman, is an equally unfortunate example of a sort of art that ought never to appear in the Grosvenor Gallery, which was loyally established for the advancement of art. As a coast piece it seems to represent gaslight !-Mr. G. Clausen's Ploughing (174), though not without merit, may be called a commonplace of the Salon. It has, however, an almost unique place among the works of this careful imitator of Bastien Lepage-it is a picture complete, and not, like many of his best and most soundly executed productions, such as

heads and half-figures, an elaborate study for part of one.

The Oak Farm (178) of Mr. D. Murray displays all the charms of his cleverness, tact, and receptivity of nature in general.

Mr. A. Goodwin's Kynance Cove (199) is not up to his mark. Among the portraits not yet mentioned let us refer to Mr. R. B. Browning's capital figure of his father, No. 184; and Mr. G. P. Jacomb-Hood's Pauline (149) in a yellow dress, which, so far as it goes, is very clever indeed, and pretty. The face has a charmingexpression. - Mr. Logsdail's F. Villiers, Esq. (171), is 1), is spirited and Hals-like. Mr. Bigland's Mrs. G. Rhodes (175) is a little rough, but in character, colours of the flesh and dress, and treatment at large, very good indeed.Among the noteworthy sculptures we invite attention to Non Angli sed Angeli (365) of Mr. C. Dressler; the beautiful Marble Head (371), a very fine instance indeed, by Mr. H. Bates; Mr. T. N. MacLean's Master Nanney (372) and Bas-relief (374); Mr. Boehm's Sketch for one of the Soldiers of 1815 (382), which is rather wanting in vigour of inspiration and choice execution, but is attractive; Miss E. Casella's very pleasing Wax Medallion (385); Miss A. M. Chaplin's able Decorative Study (400); and Mr. G. Tinworth's Children (401).

THE ROYAL ACADEMY. (Third Notice.)

THOUGH painty, Mr. G. C. Haité's The Moon hath raised her Lamp above (No. 9), a view of a harbour in calm moonrise and soft grey light, is like nature, and distinguished by sentiment of the right sort. - Another moonrise will be found in Mr. W. S. Byrne's Twilight, on the Trent (27), the river and its marshy banks, whence vapours rise like smoke from the smooth stream: a pic ture at once modest and true, notable for breadth of effect and a true atmosphere. It is hung too high. - Softness and low grey tones characterize Mr. E. Elliot's Stokesby Ferry (34); while the Calm Decay (33) of Mr. E. T. Lingwood represents a farmyard in bright, late autumnal sunlight. It evinces good feeling for colour, but there is some excess of paint. We should have liked to see more finish, and we should then have been better assured of the future of a painter whose picture, so far as it goes, is a tribute to nature, and is free from spectacular elements such as seem to have taken the fancy of Mr. W. L. Wyllie when he painted The Phantom Ship (81), a barque becalmed in an electric storm just after sundown, and towed upon the slowly heaving sea by her boats. Her crew see the spectre of the Dutchman outlined in white fire upon a dun cloud, while livid coruscations enclose the ghastly craft, and the sullen sunset fades behind the great cloud, above which the moon's light breaks through. This would be a noble and original picture without the coruscations, the effect of which cannot, of course, be given in painting, and ought not to have been attempted beyond the point which convention and custom have made allowable in representations of lightning. The erratic flashes only bewilder the spectator, and they go far to spoil the pic ture. The spectral ship presents no such difficulties. - Mr. V. Cole's picture of Valdez's surrender to Drake, called the Summons to Surrender (343), will be welcomed by those who are weary of his calm river-vistas and mannered and tame effects. Not only has Mr. Cole changed his subject, but there are symptoms of effort, if not of vigour, in this big picture of highsterned, high-decked ships. The pretence of reality and the hollow sentimentality in the hackneyed landscapes were ten times more displeasing than the bold untruth of these absurd green waves, and the questionable craft placed confusedly upon their summits. The rigging and hulls will not bear a moment's examination, but the movement of the vessels

hulls and deep-green sea. Still as a pictur No. 343 is, on the whole, less faithful and sincer than that view of the Pool with which Mr. C astonished us all last year.

At some little distance from it hangs Mr. A. J Hook's modest and careful News on the Reef (35), It is a sunny and bright picture; the sea carefully studied, defective through lacking some transparency, yet still well drawn, solid, and understood to a degree we fail to find in the billows of Mr. V. Cole's more pretentious piece There is a good deal of grace about the whisk tower of the lighthouse reared against the deep blue sky. There are some fresh touches pathos in the tall figure in The Little Sabot (168) of a young matron in humble mourning standing on the shore of a wind-swept, rainy sea, and musing sorrowfully over a child's shoe which has just been cast at her feet. The low tones and sad harmony of many greys are in admirable keeping with the sky and its one line of pallid light, and the vexed and labouring sea, broken by jets of foam among the distant rocks The figure is thoroughly well painted, and in would be hard to improve on the way in which the films with frothy edges that precede the waves invade the sands. Gisli the Outlaw (453) is really a landscape of a fen where a man armed with a sickle lurks behind the rushes. The time chosen is that between glowing sunset and moonrise; the distance is good and the aerial effect excellent.

Among the figure pictures with subjects, to which we may now turn for a while, we may notice Mrs. H. Bannerman's Case for the Hospital (198), a carpenter's shop, where a child has brought her doll for repairs. In this the critical and kindly mind of the carpenter is well expressed. The child is good. The effect, though rather dry, is just. More colour and a freer method of painting are called for in the shavings which strew the floor, and ought to have been a leading element of the coloration and chiaroscuro, - The Holy Rest (212) of Mr. H. Prell is a Riposo of the old German type, in which the chief figures are traditional and very good, while an elegant angel, clad in white, plays on a violin with more grace than energy. It seems to deserve a better place. - The so-called Ophelia (27) of Mr. J. W. Waterhouse is not Hamlet's love, but a damsel who reclines in a grey dress upon some very damp grass near a piece of water. Apart from its subject which is naught-it is pleasant to find this extravagantly overrated artist honourably trying to paint flesh in a way which may some day justify his admirers praise. The young lady's face is, as a piece of flesh painting, excellent; as such it curiously resembles the face of a damsel in one of Sir J. Millais's early works, so rich are its carnations and so bright is its key. This is worth a hun dred pictures like the unhappy 'Lady of Sha lott' of last year. Under the Olives (171), by the same, does not attract us. - Mr. J. Hayllar's Picture Gallery at the Hall (226) is a pretty, if rather tame and commonplace design. There is much cleverness in the treatment, but colour finish, and brilliancy are wanted to make it really good. -Mr. Yeames's Baby's Opera (2 approaches, to our astonishment, much nesre than seemed possible for Mr. Yeames to the level of Mr. Horsley's domestic platitudes. The faces are painted in a common way; there is some humour, not necessarily intended by the artist, in the vulgar graces of the woman; the whole is unworthy of Mr. Yeames. A portrait the sole contribution of the newly elected Aca demician, Mr. Burgess, has so many of the finen qualities of a picture proper that it may prot ably be considered as such. Muriel, Daugh of J. Collett, Esq. (229), a young lady in a bi dress, is a capital piece of colour and expre sion sympathetically dealt with. The treatme of the blue in reference to the adust complexi is first rate. - A very pleasant and graceful pie of sentimentality is Mr. Marcus Stone's sil