HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



65 



OUR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORY. 



[It is our desire to bring out a Scientific Directory in the 

 monthly pages of Science-Gossip, feeling certain that it would 

 be very useful for our readers to know what scientific societies 

 had been formed in their own neighbourhoods. We shall there- 

 fore fee! very much obliged if Secretaries of any kind of 

 Scientific Society, in anv town or part of the country, will send 

 us the full name and title of each Society, together with the 

 names of the President and Hon. Secretary.] 



ryiRMINGHAM Microscopists' and Naturalists' 

 JD Union. President, M. C. Beale, C.E. ; Hon. 

 Secretaries, Messrs. H. Insley, 15 Mansfield Drive, 

 Mansfield Road, Aston ; and P. T. Deakin, 46 Prin- 

 cess Road, Edgbaston. 



Bury Natural History Society. President, Rev. 

 Douglas Walmsley ; Hon. Secretary, Thomas K. 

 Holden, Blackford Bridge, Bury, Lancashire. 



Cirencester Microscopical and Naturalist Society, 

 President, E. J. E. Creese, Esq., F.R.M.S. ; Hon. 

 Secretary, Joseph Matthews. 



Derbyshire Natural History and Philosophical 

 Society. President, Rev. J. M. Mello, M.A., 

 F.G.S. ; Hon. Secretary, Mr. F. Beddow, Nor- 

 man ton Road. 



Dorset A r atural History and Antiquanan Field 

 Club (established in 1875). President, John Mansel 

 Pleydell, Esq. ; Treasurer, Rev. O. P. Cambridge ; 

 Secretary, Morton Stuart, Esq. 



East London A r atural History and A/icroscopical 

 Society. President, E. I. Lyndall, Esq. ; Hon. 

 Secretary, A. Dean, M.Q.M.C, 57 Southborough 

 Road, South Hackney. 



El Toro Cycling and Naticralists'' Club, Barking 

 Side, Essex. President, J. W. Williams, D.Sc, 

 B.A. ; Hon. Secretary, F. W. Halfpenny, F.C.S., 

 2 Fern Villas, Park Road, West Ham Park, Essex. 



Greenhithe Naturalists' and Archaeological Society. 

 President, A. B. Farn, Esq., Fair Lome, Stone ; 

 Hon. Secretary, Miss S. Martin, 7, The Terrace, 

 Greenhithe. 



Highbury Microscopical Society (founded 1878). 

 President, James Smith, F.L.S., F.R.A.S. ; Hon. 

 Secretary, Bernard H. Woodward, 80 Petherton 

 Road, N. 



ILuddersfield Naturalists' Society. President, A. 

 Clark ; Hon. Cor. Secretary, Mr. S. L. Mosley, 

 Beaumont Park Museum ; Financial Secretary, J. 

 Tindall, 25 Union St. 



Leeds Y. M. C. A. Naturalists' Club. President, 

 Mr. E. Hawkesworth. ; Hon. Secretary, Mr. Joseph 

 Motley. 



Liverpool Microscopical Society. President, Rev. 

 II. H. Higgins ; Hon. Secretary, Isaac C. Thomp- 

 son, Woodstock, Waverley Road, Liverpool. 



Metropolitan Scientific Association. President, J. 

 D. Hardy, F.R.M.S. ; Secretary, Grenville A. J. 

 Cole, F.G.S. Meetings, second Tuesday in the 

 month at 7 p.m. ; City of London College. 



New Cross Microscopical and Natural History 

 Society (instituted 1872). President, W.J. Spratling, 



B.Sc, F.G.S. ; Hon. Secretaries, M. J. Lindsey, 

 jun., and L. M. Biden, 11 Leadenhall Street, E.C. 



Sidcup Literary and Scientific Society. President, 

 W. Law Bros ; Hon. Secretaries, T. S. Stacy and 

 W. Short. 



South London Microscopical and Natural History 

 Club, Brixton Hall, Acre Lane. President, T. 

 Sebastian Davis, F.C.S., F.R.M.S. ; Hon. Secre- 

 taries, Henry Groves and Robert Briant. 



Tunbridge Wells Natural History and Antiquarian 

 Society, Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells. President, R. 

 Norton, Esq., M.P. ; Hon. Secretary, Geo. Abbott, 

 M.R.C.S. 



Youth. Scientific and Literary Society of London. 

 Hon. Presidents, Prof. H. A. Nicholson, M.D., 

 D.Sc, F.R.S.E. ; Dr. J. E. Taylor, F.L.S. ; Thomas 

 Edward, A.L.S. ; President, Alex. Ramsay, F.G.S., 

 F.R.G.S. ; Vice-Presidents, J. W. Williams. D.Sc, 

 B.A. ; Rupert Garry, F.S.Sc ; Hon. Secretary, 

 R. A. Neville Lynn, 42, Chalcot Crescent, Regents 

 Park, N.W. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The water-plaintain is used in Russia as a 

 remedy for hydrophobia. The roots are dried and 

 grated, then spread on bread and butter, and a good 

 dose taken night and morning. Two or three doses 

 are said to be sufficient to effect a cure. 



The old-fashioned theory about the formation of 

 dew, originated by Dr. W T ells, has received a severe 

 attack from Mr. John Aitkin, the distinguished 

 physicist, who has just read a paper before the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh in which he contends that 

 dew does rise, and that it is not distilled from the 

 surrounding atmosphere. From experiment he 

 concludes that the dew rises as vapour from the 

 ground. The ground was found to be actually 

 hotter than the air above it ; and Mr. Aitkin thinks 

 that so long as the excess is sufficient to keep the 

 temperature of the surface of the ground above the 

 dew-point of the air, it will, if moist, give off 

 vapour ; and that it will be this rising vapour which 

 will condense on the grass and form dew. But this 

 theory will hardly explain why dew is generally 

 formed on the upper surface of leaves, instead of 

 the Imver. If it always came from the ground, it 

 ought to form on the lower surfaces of leaves rather 

 than the upper. That the moist soil gives off vapour 

 no one doubts ; but is this fact sufficient to establish 

 a new theory of dew ? 



A BILL to propagate a contagious disease among 

 rabbits, with a view to exterminate them, is to be 

 introduced into the South Australian Assembly. The 

 experiment is to be tried on Torrens Island. 



