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found, along with the implements and vessels of the old Bronze period, a piece of an antler, which, from its flattened form and entire want of snags and branches, I concluded at once must be referred to the Fallow Deer. Careful comparison of it with the antlers of the Red Deer, Reindeer, Moose, and Irish Elk, in several museums, as also in rich private collections, confirmed me in this belief. Experienced students of the Cervidae agreed with me, although certainly a still more weighty authority-Herr Prof. Rütimeyer, of Basel-indicated the possibility of the fragment from Olmütz having belonged to a Red Deer.

In the third article of his "Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles," Cuvier has already mentioned the existence of fossil Fallow Deer. In page 191 (of the 8vo. edition of 1836) he speaks of "bois assez semblables a ceux du Daim, mais d'une très grande taille trouvés dans la vallée de la Somme et en Allemagne." On Plate 167 (Figs. 19a and 196) are figured two pieces of antlers from Abbeville, of which 196 certainly belongs to Cervus dama. Moreover, Cuvier tells of a drawing sent to him by Autenreith (of which he gives a copy, Pl. 168, Fig. 11), "d'un crâne et d'un merrain y adherent, deposés au cabinet de Stuttgardt; pièces que ce savant rapportait au cerf à bois gigantesques, mais qui me paraissent plutôt se devoir rapporter à le Daim, à cause de la longueur de la partie cylindrique."

Subsequently similar remains of antlers were discovered at Gergovia, near Clermont, in the department of Puyde-Dôme, and at Polignac, near Le Puy, in the department of Haute-Loire. These are spoken of by Robert under the name Cervus dama polignacus, by Pomel as Cervus somonensis and C. Roberti, and by Gervais (Zool. et Pal. Franc. ed. 2, Paris 1859, p. 145) under the term Cervus somonensis, taken from Desmarest.

Gervais says of them that they are "des bois de Daims qui indiquent une espece ou variété bien plus grande que celle dont il a été question ci-dessus" (i.e. Cervus dama), and that these horns are d'un tiers au moins plus grand que ceux du Daim ordinaire."

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Georg Jäger, in his "Review of the Fossil Mammals of Wurtemberg, "* mentions numerous discoveries of the remains of Fallow Deer in the caverns and turbaries, as also in the diluvial fresh-water chalk of Wurtemberg. Moreover, Jäger states that in the Museum of Mannheim there is not only a skull of Bos primigenius, but also one of Bos priscus and of its ally Bos prisco affinis, along with a skull of Cervus dama giganteus, from the diluvium of the neighbourhood of Mannheim.

In the Museum of Linz, in Upper Austria, are displayed numerous remains of animals from the diluvium of the neighbourhood of Wels, which were dug up at Buchberg, near Wels, when the Elizabeth Railway was made. Besides a fragment of antler of a Red Deer, a molar of Ursus arctos (not U. spelæus), a fine molar of Elephas primigenius, and teeth of the horse, there is in the Linz Museum, labelled as obtained from the railway-cutting, a fine large fragment of an antler which must have belonged to the Fallow Deer. Like the fragment of the Red Deer's antler from the same locality, it is whitened and has a calcined appearance. I examined this interesting specimen several times in 1870 and 1873, and have to thank Herr Kaiserl. Rath Ehrlich, the custos of the museum, for a photograph of it.

In October 1873 I examined personally the formation at Buchberg, and convinced myself of its being truly diluvium. In many places it had been dug into deeply for gravel. The horns and teeth in the museum of Linz were apparently obtained from one of these pits in the diluvium, but lay in the marly layer which is found under the gravel.

Fragments of antlers undoubtedly belonging to the

* Nov. Act. Acad., Cæs. Leop. Car. xxii., pars post. 1850, pp 807, 893, 897, 899, 907.

Fallow Deer were discovered in the autumn of 1828 by Dr. Fr. Aug. Wagner in the ash-heap of an old place of sacrifice between the town of Schlieben and the village of Malitzschkendorf, in the circle of Schweinitz in Saxony, in great abundance, along with those of the elk, ox, roe, and sheep.* Dr. Wagner, a physician in practice in Schlieben, made his researches with scientific precision, and determined the remains of the animals with care and exactness, as will be evident from his book, at the bombastic title of which one must not be alarmed. In the determination of the specimens of antlers he was assisted by the distinguished zoologist Prof. Nitzsch, of Halle. The specimen of elk's antler is figured (Tab. v. Figs. 3, 4, 5), but unfortunately none of those of the Fallow Deer. Besides remains of plants and animals, this sacrificial heap supplied bones of various sorts. As regards the Fallow Deer, Wagner writes (p. 34) : “At various times in the excavation of the temple were found fragments of antlers which apparently belonged to the Fallow Deer. But as an entire specimen was never put together, nor even such fragments as could make the fact incontrovertible, it remains uncertain whether this species was sacrificed along with Cervus alces, and the subject requires further investigation."

Of a Cervus fossilis dama affinis, Alex. v. Nordmann figures five teeth in his " Paleontologie Südrusslands."+ But the Fallow Deer was found even further north in the period of the diluvium and in later prehistoric times. For example, in 1871, within the city of Hamburg, and subsequently from one of the arms of the Elbe, there were disinterred numerous upper and lower jaws and frag ments which differed only in size from those of the living Cervus dama, and the teeth of which were nearly identical. These were associated with remains of the Auerox and another large Bos, and with bones of the horse, pig, &c. The remains first discovered lay in compact black peat at a depth of from 20 ft. to 22 ft. among stumps of trees.

In the Bulletins du Congrès International d'Archéologie prehistorique à Copenhague, en 1869,"§ Steenstrup has given a short description of the remains of animals from the kitchen-middens and turbaries of Denmark, which were exhibited in the University Museum on the occasion of the Congress in 1869. Amongst them (pp. 160 et seq.) he includes the Fallow Deer, of which the horns and bones are found in the upper peat-layers of Denmark.|| At the same time he adds, .6 Cet animal n'est pas originaire du Danemark: il est bien constaté qu'il a été introduit dans le pays pendant le moyen âge."

Of the occurrence of remains of the Fallow Deer in England also there is some evidence given, although with a caution as to the necessity of subsequent more accurate examination, by Owen in his "History of British Fossil Animals and Birds" (London, 1846.) From the peat-moor of Newbury were exhumed "portions of palmated antlers" and teeth" which accord in size with the Fallow Deer" (op. cit. p. 483.) Buckland likewise found in the large cavern of Paviland, on the coast of Glamorganshire, along with remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and hyæna, various antlers, "some small, others a little palmared." But Owen rightly remarks that these last may have belonged to the Reindeer just as well as to the Fallow Deer. T

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Detailed accounts of these discoveries are given in Dr. Wagner's Ægypter in Deutschland oder die germanisch-sciavischen wo nicht rein germanischen Alterthümer an der Schwartzen Elster." Leipzig: Hartmann, 1833

Helsingfors, 1858-60, Pl. xviii. Figs. 4-8.

Dr. K. G. Zimmerman in "Neues Jahrb. f. Mineralogie Geologie u. Paleontologie." Heidelberg, 1872, helt i. p. 26. § Copenhagen, 1872.

Le Daim (Cervus dama.) Bois et ossements provenants des états supérieurs de la Vourte, op. cit. p. 162.

Sir Victor Brooke tells me that in his opinion Cervus brownii, Boyd Dawkins, founded on remains from the fresh-water strata at Clacton, is identical with C. dama. Mr. Boyd Dawkins acknowledges that the antlers are almost alike in size and form, and apparently only distinguishes his species because Cervus dama has never been found to occur in a fossil state in Northern or Central Europe."-P. L. S.

Among the remains of animals in the Swiss Piledwellings also have occurred fragments of horns apparently belonging to the Fallow Deer. Rütimeyer, in his "Fauna der Pfahlbauten der Schweiz," says as follows:

"A number of flat bits of shed antlers with smooth surface, in the collection of Oberst Schwat, of Biel, found in the Lake of Biel, can, to judge from their dimensions and form, be only referred to the Fallow Deer. Similar bits from Meilen, perfectly agreeing with the abnormal forms which the Fallow Deer's antlers present in aged individuals, can only be referred to this deer. Yet I must remark that no perfect antlers of this animal from the Pile-dwellings have come under my observation, nor even examples of the skull, which, next to the antlers, would give the most certain indications of this deer. Incontrovertible evidence of the spontaneous existence of this deer north of the Alps remains therefore still to be obtained."

On the other hand, there is positive proof of the existence of this deer in the "Terremare" of Italy-the equivalent of the Swiss "Pfahlbauten." In the Museum | of Modena are two fragments of antlers, which Prof. Canestrini has spoken of in his "Oggelti trovati nelle terremare del Modenese," and subsequently in Mortillet's "Materiaux pour l'histoire positive et philosophique de de l'homme." In 1870 Dr. Carlo Boni, former director of the Museum of Modena, had the kindness, at my request, to send these fragments to me at Basel (where I passed the winter of 1869-70), for comparison with my specimen from Olmütz, and Prof. Rütimeyer saw them too. He declared, as regards one of them (marked " 624 Gorzano"), that it could not certainly be referred otherwise than to Cervus dama.

Besides Moravia, the Fallow Deer appears to have existed formerly in the bordering country of Lower Austria. At Pulkau, near Eggenburg, south of the Thaya, was found, in a sacrificial heap of former days examined by Dr. Woldrich, along with ancient vases, stone, bone, and horn implements, remains of the dog, ox, and Red Deer, likewise a fragment of an antler, which was apparently a frontal snag of the Fallow Deer."*

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Finally, we may remark that the Fallow Deer appears to be figured upon the Assyrian monuments; and, moreover, so faithfully as not to be mistaken for any other species of deer. We have only to look at Plates xxxv. and liii. of Layard's "Nineveh" to see this. Again, amongst the pictures upon the walls of the Egyptian tombs this species of deer is found. Its hieroglyphical name is Hanen.*

We now come to the present geographical distribution of the Fallow Deer. Occasionally this deer still occurs wild in Western Asia. Tristram notices it as found in Mount Tabor, in Palestine, and in the woods between that mountain and the gorge of the Litany River,† and met with it once about ten miles west of the Sea of Galilee." Lartet had previously obtained teeth of this deer from the bonebreccia of the Lebanon.‡

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In Africa, according to Hartmann, the Fallow Deer is found at the present time in the shrubby desert-valleys and on the edges of the cultivated lands in Tunis, Tripoli, and Barquah, up to the Wadi Nahun. § Gervais speaks of it as found in the neighbourhood of La Calle, in Algeria. || Loche, in his "History of the Mammals of Algeria," says that it is now rare in that province. In the Island of Sardinia, in Cetti's time, Fallow Deer were found in enormous quantities in all parts of the island, especially in the plain of Sindia. Not less than 3,000 head were at that time killed every year in Sardinia. It is remarkable that in this island the Fallow Deer is called Crabolu, corrupted from Capriolo-meaning Roe, which last animal is not found in Sardinia; whereas the Red Deer is met with occasionally, especially in the eastern portion, but attains a much less size here than on the Continent. According to Bonaparte and Cornalia (“Fauna d'Italia") this species of deer is still common in above-named island.

In Spain it seems that the Fallow Deer is seldom found wild at the present time-at least A. E. Brehm, in his 'Beitrag zur Zoologischen Geographie Spaniens” in the Berliner Zeitschr. f. Allgemeine Erdkunde (1858, s. 101), can speak from personal observation only of those he In the Middle Ages the Fallow Deer still inhabited the met with in parks. On the other hand, Graëlls mentions woods of Switzerland, as appears from the benedictions Cervus dama as an inhabitant of the Sierra Guadarrama. of the monk Ekkehard, of St. Gall, of the eleventh cen- The Spaniards of the present day call the animal "Gamo" tury,t and as is shown by the German edition of Gesner's or Paleto." According to Buffon (Hist, Nat. tome vi., "Thierbuch," even at a later period. In the latter work Paris, 1756, s. 170), the Fallow Deer of Spain in his time it is said, p. 84: "Der gemeine Damhirsch wird an was nearly as large as the Red Deer, and had a longer vilen anderen Orten gejagt, auch in den Wäldern d'Helve-tail than the same animal in other parts of the world. tieren als bey Lucern offt und vil gefangen nennen es gemeiniglich Dam, Dämlin od.' Dannhirsch, besser Damhirsch."

In a Latin edition of Gesner's "Historia Animalium," now before me, however, I find no notice of the presence of Cervus dama in Switzerland. It is only said (i. p. 308): "Nostra vero dama etiam in Europa capitur, cum alibi tum circa Oceanum Germanicum, ut audio. Germani vulgo vocant dam vel dämlin, vel dannhirtz, vel damhirtz potius; Itali daino, nonnulli danio: Galli dain vel daim: Hispani gamo vel corza.'

In both editions of Gesner, moreover, Latin and German, the Fallow Deer is unmistakably figured.

According to the writing on Spekle's map of Alsace, there were Fallow Deer in Wasgau up to 1576.||

In the neighbourhood of Rome, besides, have been found numerous fragments of Fallow Deers' horns, along with remains of Hyæna spelaa, Cervus tarandus, and Rhinoceros megarhinus, in a Post-pliocene travertine on the heights of Monte delle Gioie. T

* See Woldrich in "Mitth. d. Anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien," bd. iii. pp. 13 and 19, Pl. iv. Fig. 54 (1873).

+ "Imbellem damnam faciat benedictio summam," vers. 128 of the "Bened. ad mensas Ekkehardi" in the "Mitth. d. Antiquar. Gesellech. zu Zürich," iii. p iii.

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Gérard (Faune Hist. de l'Alsace, s. 327) tells us that this deer is found to this day wild (á l'état naturel) in France, in Nivernais, the Cevennes, and in the Alps of Dauphiny. He gives no authority, and Gervais, in his "Zoologie et Paléontologie," says nothing about it.

As for Greece, Blasuis says, in his "Säugethiere Deutschlands," Braunschweig, 1857, s. 455, that Bélon found the Fallow Deer in the Greek Islands. But Erhard does not mention it in his "Fauna of the Cyclades." Von der Mühle, however, speaks of it in his "Beiträgen zur Ornithologie Griechenlands," 1844, s. I.

From the foregoing data the following conclusions may be formed :

1. The Fallow Deer lived in prehistoric times, partially in company with other extinct mammals on the Lebanon, in Southern Russia, Italy, France, Upper Austria, Wurtemburg, Baden, Saxony, near Hamburg, and in Denmark. It appears also to have occurred in Switzerland and in England, likewise in Moravia and Lower Austria.

2. Within the historic period it was found in Egypt and Assyria, and even in the later part of the Middle Ages in Switzerland and Alsace.

* Hartmann in Brugsch, "Zeitschr. f. Ægypt. Sprache und Alterthumsk." Jahrg. ii p. 21.

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3. It is still found wild in Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Sardinia, and apparently also in parts of Spain, likewise in Greece, and perhaps also in the Cevennes and parts of Dauphiny.

4. The size and strength of the antlers, as well as the dimensions of the skull, have decreased in the course of time. Skulls of the existing Fallow Deer as well as their antlers are smaller than those of the prehistoric period.

[P.S.-Lord Lilford, whose knowledge of the larger mammals of Southern Europe is very extensive, tells me that he has himself met with Fallow Deer wild in many parts of Sardinia, in Central Spain near Aranjuez, and in the province of Acarnani in Greece.

In December 1864 the Zoological Society received from Mrs. Randal Callander a small dark-coloured Fallow Deer from the Island of Rhodes, where, however, it may have been introduced by the Knights.

Lastly, I have lately received from Mr. P. J. C. Robertson, H.B.M. Vice-consul at Bussorah, the skin and horns of a "Spotted Deer," found wild in that part of Mesopotamia, which must belong either to the Fallow Deer or to a very closely allied species.-P. L. S.]

OR

THE LATE SİR WİLLİAM JARDINE RNITHOLOGISTS will learn with regret that Sir William Jardine, Bart., died, after a few days' illness, at Sandown, in the Isle of Wight, on Saturday last, the 21st of November, aged 74. The labours of the deceased baronet extend over nearly half a century. In 1825 he commenced, in conjunction with the late Mr. Selby, of Twizell, the publication of the "Illustrations of Ornithology," which seems to have been his earliest contribution to natural history, and almost immediately became recognised as one of the leading zoologists in Scotland, if not in the United Kingdom. In 1833 he undertook a still more important work, "The Naturalist's Library," forty volumes of which appeared in the course of the next ten years, and served to popularise in a most remarkable manner zoological knowledge among classes to whom it had hitherto been forbidden through the high price of illustrated works. With this publication, though its value may have been impaired by the progress of science, Sir William's name will always be identified; for, having as contributors Selby, Swainson, Hamilton Smith, Robert Schomburgk, Duncan, William Macgillivray, and others, he was yet not only the author of a large proportion of the volumes, but to each he prefixed the life of some distinguished naturalist. Of his labours, however, we cannot now speak in detail; it is sufficient to notice his excellent edition of Alexander Wilson's "American Ornithology," the establishment of the "Magazine of Zoology and Botany" (afterwards merged in the "Annals of Natural History"), and of the "Contributions to Ornithology." Sir William's expedition, with his friend Selby, in 1834, to Sutherlandshire-a country then less known to naturalists than Lapland— gave a great impulse to the study of the British fauna and flora, and almost marks an epoch in the history of biology in this island. Though ornithology was his favourite pursuit throughout life, Sir William was not merely an ornithologist-other classes of the animal kingdom had a fair share of his attention, and he was a recognised authority on all points of ichthyology. Botany and geology were also studied by him to advantage, and the science last named he enriched by his splendid "Ichnology of Annandale," the chief materials of which were found on his own ancestral estate. With all this he was keenly addicted to field-sports, and a master equally of the rod and the gun. Sir William married first a daughter of Mr. David Lizars, of Edinburgh, and by her had a numerous family, of whom the eldest daughter was married to the late Hugh Edwin Strickland, F.R.S. After

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Than you they could not be discreeter, Who know how many millions meet Within a cubic millimetre ; They clash together as they fly, But you! you dare not tell me why. Then, when, in tuning my guitar,

The intervals would not come right, "This string," you said, "is strained too far, 'Tis forty dynes, at least, too tight." And then you told me, as I sang, What over-tones were in my clang. " You gabbled on, but every phrase

6

Was stiff with scientific shoddy ;
The only song you deigned to praise
Was "Gin a body meet a body;"
And even there, you said, collision
Was not described with due precision.
"In the invariable plane,"

You told me, "lay the impulsive couple ;"7
You seized my hand, you gave me pain,

By torsion of a wrist too supple.
You told me, what that wrench would do ;
"Twould set me twisting round a screw." 8

1 C. G. S. system-the system of units founded on the centimetre, gramme, and second. See Report of Committee on Units: Brit. Ass. Report for 1873, p. 222. Erg-the energy communicated by a dyne acting through a centimetre. See Note 5. 3 Tenth-metre 1 metre x 10" 10,

Megadyne = I dyne X 10". See Note 5.

Dyne-the force which, acting on a gramine for a second, would generate a velocity of one centimetre per second. The weight of a gramme is about 980 dynes. See "Sound and Music," by Sedley Taylor, p. 89. See Poinsot, "Théorie nouvelle de la rotation des corps."

8 See Prof. Ball on the Theory of Screws: Phil. Trans., 1873.

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We understand that the Admiralty have appointed a committee, consisting of Admiral Sir Leopold M'Clintock, Admiral Sherard Osborn, Admiral Richards, and Capt. Evans, the Hydrographer, to advise them on all points connected with the equipment and personnel of the Arctic Expedition. The first point has been to select suitable vessels, and last week Sir Leopold M'Clintock proceeded to the northern ports to examine the whalers. It is probable that one steam whaler will be purchased, while a vessel of the Lyra class may perhaps be selected for the advanced ship. Both vessels will be strengthened and fitted out at Portsmouth, under the immediate superintendence of Sir Leopold M'Clintock. It is a most fortunate circumstance that the great arctic explorer, the discoverer of arctic sledge travelling, should be AdmiralSuperintendent at this juncture, and that the expedition should have the advantage of being equipped, in all its details, under his vigilant supervision. The next point will be the selection of a leader, and we believe that the decision will be formed within a few days. Little doubt is entertained among naval men that the choice will fall upon Commander A. H. Markham, who acquired a knowledge of ice navigation during a cruise in Baffin's Bay and Prince Regent's Inlet last year, and who is universally considered to have all the qualifications for that important pest. The number of volunteers among lieutenants, sub-lieutenants, and men is extraordinary, and is daily increasing. The committee will certainly have a wide field for selection.

IT is authoritatively announced that the reward of 2,000/ offered some years ago by Lady Franklin for the recovery of the official records of her husband's expedition still holds, and that over and above she will be prepared to remunerate anyone who may succeed in recovering them for any outlay to which his research may subject him.

A PHYSICAL Observatory is soon to be established in Paris, and a recent vote of the Academy appointing a commission to report on the subject will not be lost. It is said that M. Janssen is to be the head of the establishment, in which solar photography will be practised on a large scale. It is also supposed that the Observatory is to be ready by the time M. Janssen returns from Yokohama with the instruments.

M. BERTRAND has been elected perpetual secretary of the Paris Academy of Science by thirty-three votes out of forty-nine. M. Faye had only thirteen votes; the other three were lost. The Chair of the Institute of which M. Bertrand is the president being thus vacated, the vice-president, M. Fremy, will preside over the sittings; M. Bertrand being moreover a member of the Section of Geometry, an election to that section will take place very shortly. He will probably be succeeded by M. Mannheim, his pupil, now a professor in the Polytechnic School and a captain in the Engineers' service. M. Mannheim is well known in England as a mathematician.

THE recent election of a perpetual 'secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences is the first serious competition since Condorcet was elected to fill the place vacated by the voluntary retirement of De Faudry. It is curious that

the Condorcet election took place just a century ago, in 1774. Condorcet was supported by D'Alembert and opposed by Buffon, who supported Bailly, the astronomer. The contest of 1874 is between an astronomer, Faye, and a geometer, Bertrand. Condorcet was regarded as a geometer, as he had written a work on differential calculus. The academical regulations state that at least two-thirds of the members of the Academy must take part in a scrutiny, in order that it may be deemed valid.

THE death is announced, on the roth inst., of Dr. Friedrich Rochleder, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Vienna.

WE are glad to notice that Mrs. Annie Mather, of Longridge House, near Berwick-on-Tweed, has handed over to the treasurer of the Newcastle College of Physical Science the munificent sum of 1,000l. for the founding of a scholarship or scholarships, to be called "The Charles Mather Scholarship," and to be attached to the College in perpetuity. The details of the examination and the mode of carrying out the bequest are left to be settled by the Council, subject to the approval of the donor or her advisers.

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THE German Emperor has conferred on Dr. Samuel Birch, of the British Museum, the Order of the Crown, Second Class, in recognition of Dr. Birch's presidency of the late International Congress of Orientalists.

AN inscription has recently been set up at Galluzzo, near Florence, in memory of the late Prof. Donati, who died of cholera rather more than a year ago on his return from the Meteorological Congress at Vienna. In consequence of the strict sanitary laws in force within the city of Florence, the body was buried privately. The interment took place at night, in the small Campo Santo attached to the church of Galluzzo, not far from the new Observatory at Arcetri, in the erection of which the last three years of his life had been expended. The Commune of Galluzzo were anxious to do honour to the illustrious man, and have, at the public expense, erected a marble tablet with the inscription—

GIAMBATTISTA DONATI
Astronomo

nato in P'sa il xvi. di Decembre MDCCCXXVI
scropri più Comete
studiò con lo spettroscopio perfezionato da lui
la luce stellare

ne chiarì il fenomeno della scintillazione
ebbe il concetto di una meteorologia cosmica
Curò l'edificazione del nuovo Osservatorio
su la collina di Arcetri illustrata da Galileo
del quale continuava la bella scuola
quando immatura morte il xx. di Sett. MDCCCLXXIII
lo chiuse nell' angusta fossa
che il Comune del Galluzzo
onorò di questa Memoria

On the day appointed for its inauguration the rain poured in torrents, but the church of Galluzzo was crowded during the performance of a Requiem Mass, after which the congregation stood around the tomb, where speeches were made, and representatives from the Observatories of Padua and Rome presented garlands of flowers.

AT the meeting of the Geographical Society on Monday, Sir Henry Rawlinson, after expressing his gratification at the decision

of Government with regard to an Arctic Expedition, stated that he had that day heard that Col. Gordon was in Gondokoro on Sept. 5, and that he then had the sections of his steamer destined to navigate the Albert N'yanza at Mount Regiaf, below the falls, having full confidence of getting them transported to the smooth waters of the Upper Nile, beyond the falls, in a fortnight from that time.

MR. A. W. CHASE communicates an interesting fact in connection with an account of the destruction of fish on the Oregon coast by means of the explosion of nitro-glycerine. In this he remarks that some of the fish are killed outright by the explosion, while others appear to be simply stunned; and that in several instances, after having fish apparently dead for half an hour, scaled, the intestines taken out, and prepared for cooking

WE are glad to hear that 420 teachers have this year joined (the head, however, remaining on the body), they began to flop

the classes of the Charterhouse Teachers' School of Science.

MR. BELLAMY, F.R.C.S, commenced his course on Artistic Anatomy, at South Kensington, on Tuesday the 17th inst.

THE Royal Irish Academy has just published No. 9, vol. i., Ser. ii. of its Proceedings, which concludes the volume. This number contains eighteen papers read before the Academy during the last session, among which are several by Prof. Macalister on the myology of the gorilla, the civet, the tayra, and on the anatomy of the rare Charopsis libernensis and Aonyx leptonyx; by Mr. Mackintosh, on the myology of the genus Bradypus; by Messrs. Draper and Moss, on the forms of selenium; and by Mr. Hardman, on a substitution of zinc for magnesium in minerals. It is proposed for the future to publish the Scientific Proceedings of the Academy three times each year. The part to appear January 1875, to contain the Proceedings for November and December 1874; that in April 1875, the Proceedings for January, February, and March 1875; and that in July 1875, the remaining portion of the business for the session 1874-75. The Minutes of the Proceedings, to be published each month during the session, will contain the titles of papers read, list of donations, &c.

WE have just received an important memoir on the embryology of the Ctenophora, by Prof. Alexander Agassiz. Although read before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in November 1873, this memoir was only published at Cambridge, Mass., early in September last, giving a résumé of what was known on the subject, and calling attention to the importance of Allman's contributions to this subject, which, from the want of figures, have been too frequently overlooked. Agassiz describes the different stages in the development of Idyia roseola, and when discussing the systematic position of the Ctenophora, which can now, from our greater knowledge of their embryology, be treated of more intelligently, he proceeds to criticise "the special interpretation of fanciful affinities and homologies exist ing only in forms conjured up by Ernst Hæckel's vivid imagination," and concludes that Hæckel's "assumptions, which form the basis of his Gastræa theory, are totally unsupported, and the theory must take its place by the side of other physio-philosophical systems."

THE great success of the season in the theatres of Paris is the "Tour du Monde in Eighty Days," a scientific play, written by M. Jules Verne, well known as the author of several fantastical scientific productions. Boxes are let many days in advance and sold at more than double the usual price.

THE Journal of the Society of Arts states that M. Mège Mouriès, after analysing butter, has succeeded in making it synthetically. This imitation butter, recognised by the Conseil d'Hygiène as indistinguishable from real butter, is finding its way into the Paris markets at half the present price of real butter.

We have received Part II. of vol. vii. of the Transactions of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, which contains a number of valuable papers connected with arboriculture.

M. ALIX has taken his degree of Doctor by sustaining a thèse on the Val des Oiseaux (the flight of birds). The these is a large 8vo volume of 380 closely-printed pages, with many plates, and will be published by Victor Mollaux.

around as briskly as if just taken from the water.

THE Municipal Council of Paris has voted that a commemorative medal be given to each aëronaut who conducted a balloon out of Paris during the siege.

THE number of adult pupils who are attending the evening lectures established by the Municipal Council of Paris is 14,000, and it is expected that the number will rise to 20,000, in 1875. The number of candidates for the diploma of teacher or keeper of Salle d'Asyle is also rapidly enlarging. Last year it was 2,564; this year it is 3, 100, both numbers including females. The number of candidates for a certificate of études primaires (honours of primary course of education) was 5,028.

PRIVATE letters from America announce that the proprietors of the Great Eastern are engaged in discussing a most extraordinary proposal. The great ship, it is said, is to be anchored in Philadelphia Harbour during the Centennial Exhibition, and to be made a great floating hotel, where 5,000 persons can be comfortably accommodated.

SIEGE balloons have been given by the Postal administration to the French War Office, which has established Balloon Committee. The head of that institution is Col. Laussedat, of the National Engineers. The balloons are now being repaired at the Hôtel des Invalides, by Jules Godard, the youngest member of the celebrated Go.lard aëronmautical family.

M. OPPOLZER has been appointel an O.ficer in the Legion of Honour for his share in the determination of the Vienna and B.egenz longitude. Two astronomers of the Paris Observatory have been p.o.noted to the Francis-Joseph Order for the same work, one of them having been knighted, and the other, who was already a knight, having been made an Officer.

AT the special meeting of the Council of the Victoria (Pailosophical) Institute, held preparatory to the comm ncement of the session in December, Mr. C. Brooke, F. R.S., in the chair, the election of twenty-five members took place. It was stated that papers by the following authors would be announced in a few days: -Professors Challis, Birks, Palmer, Nicholson, and J. W. Dawson; Mr. C. Brooke, F.R.S., Mr. J. Howard, F.R.S., Dr. C. B. Radcliffe, and the Rev. Dr. Irons.

PRINCIPAL TULLOCH, of St. Andrew's University (N. B.), the British Medical Journal states, in a recent conference with Provost Cox and Mr. Henderson of Dundee, on a proposal to erect a College for that town, to be affiliated with the University, decided that, for the present, the scheme was impracticable on account of the enormous expense which it would entail, 150,000%. at least. In the meantime, courses of lectures under the auspices of the University were arranged to be delivered in Dundee.

We are pleased to see that the Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes, a little scientific serial which was noticed in these columns on its first appearance in 1870, has entered on its fifth year of existence. Founded by M. Ernest Dollfus, of Mulhouse, an enthusiastic young naturalist of eighteen, it has been maintained with unflagging spirit, has met with fair commercial success, and has carried a love for natural history into many French schools, eliciting from some of the older pupils very creditable papers. The number before us contains a touching biography of M. Ernest Dollfus, who died last year. We heartily wish success to a practical and persevering enterprise.

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