64 



HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



town. The palaeolithic and neolithic inhabitants of 

 Ipswich and the neighbourhood are referred to as far 

 as material afforded. The author then proceeds with 

 a chapter on " Roman Ipswich," and gradually traces 

 the antiquarian and historic development of the town 

 up to the present time. The work is printed on 

 hand-made paper, and is embellished by fifty capital 

 illustrations of the most picturesque and historic parts 

 of this very old town, by Mr. Percy E. Stimpson. 

 Two editions were simultaneously issued — a large 

 imperial 4to., and a demy 4to. The number of the 

 large-paper edition being limited, the price has gone 

 up a guinea since the day of publication. 



OUR SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



[The Editor will be obliged, if, for the benefit of his numerous 

 readers, secretaries of scientific societies will send notices like 

 the following, also place and time of meeting.] 



T^AST London Natural History and Microscopical 

 i ^ Society: President, W. Smart ; Hon. Secretary, 

 A. Dean. 



Wakefield Naturalists' Society: President, J. Ger- 

 rard, Esq. ; Hon. Secretary, \V. Rushworth. 



Manchester Working Lads' Association. Lads'' 

 Literary and Scientific Society : President, Sir Henry 

 Roscoe, M.P. ; Hon. Treasurer and Secretary, Mr. 

 G. Devine ; meeting room, The "Museum" Lads' 

 Club, Mulberry Street, Hulme. 



Hiiddersfield NaiJiralists' Society : President, J. H. 

 Kirk, Esq. ; Hon. Secretary, S. L, Mosley, Beau- 

 mont Park Museum. 



Iliiddcrsficld Board Schools Natural Histoiy Society : 

 President, J. W. Robson ; Hon. Secretary, 



; Conductors of Ramble, Mrs. H. Rawlings 

 and Mr. S. L. Mosley. 



Haslingden Natural History Society : President, 7^1 r. 

 Thomas Holden ; Secretary, Mr. David Halstead. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



We have received from Mr. Cecil Carus-Wilson 

 his paper on "Musical Sand," read by him before 

 the Bournemouth Society of Natural Science. He 

 enumerates the localities in which this sand is found, 

 especially that of the Isle of Eigg. He shows that 

 the musical sound is probably due to the grains, 

 which are smooth, round, and nearly the same size, 

 rubbing together. If any dust or water, or in fact 

 anything which would in any way interfere with this 

 rubbing together, is added the sound is at once lost. 

 Starting on these data, Mr. Carus-Wilson set to 

 work to make an artificial musical sand. Up to the 

 time of reading his paper he had only succeeded in 

 making a sand, which, on being struck "gave out 

 the same characteristic ' swish ' that we get from all 

 musical sands when they become mule." 



We have received Numbers viii., ix., and x. of 

 the "Illustrated Manual of British Birds," by 

 Howard Saunders. The illustrations are exceedingly 

 truthful, and very artistic, and the letter-press is all 

 that could be desired. 



The experiment of founding a centre of University 

 Extension in Chelsea has proved very successful. 

 Mr. Lant Carpenter's lectures on " Electricity in the 

 Service of Man " have proved extremely satisfactory. 

 The Committee have arranged for a course on 

 "Astronomy," with lantern illustrations, by Mr. 

 J. D. M'Clure, on Friday evenings. There will 

 also be an evening course on Tuesdays on "^Yealth 

 and Industry," by Mr. Llewellyn Smith. Dr. S. R. 

 Gardiner will continue his Monday afternoon lectures 

 on "Modern History." 



The Rev. Arthur C. Waghorne has in preparation 

 a complete list of the flora of Newfoundland and 

 Labrador, as far as it is known, to be published the 

 coming summer. Hitherto the most compete list has 

 been that of Mr. Reeks, which only comprised 37s 

 species, besides varieties. Mr. Waghorne's contains 

 about 900 species of flowering plants, about 50 ferns, 

 and over 250 mosses and lichens. His list will give 

 the common English, and, as far as it is known, the 

 common Newfoundland names. It will also include 

 the flora of St. Pierre and Miquelon. 



The January number of " Research " contains a 

 capital portrait and biographical sketch of Mr. J. W. 

 Davis, F.L.S., F.G.S., the now famous ichthyologist. 

 Mr. Davis is only forty-three years of age, and he has 

 had much work to do in his own commercial busi- 

 ness, as well as public, municipal, and other work. 

 Nevertheless, he has found time for original research 

 of the most accurate and valuable kind, and "Re- 

 search" is perfectly justified in according to this 

 genial and hard-working Yorkshire amateur scientist 

 that high meed of praise which those who know him 

 best also know he best deserves. 



B. B. Le T. will find an account of Lord Bute's 

 beavers in "Notes and Jottings from Animal Life," 

 by Frank Buckland. 



The " Echo " states that Dr. Kruss, a celebrated 

 chemist of Munich, has succeeded in decomposing 

 cobalt and nickel — substances hitherto believed to be 

 elements. There is one constituent common to both. 

 Can readers afford further information ? 



Mr. Alfred C. Haddon writes from Thursday 

 Island (Torres Straits) to " Nature," describing the 

 employment there of the sucker-fish (Echeneis), in 

 fishing for turtles. The natives make a hole in the 

 caudal fin, or tail, of the fish, and fasten a cord to it, 

 so as to make the fish secure. Another cord is passed 

 through the mouth and out by the gills. By means 

 of these two cords the fish is retained, while slung 

 over the sides of the canoe, in the water. When a 



