So NE WS [july 1899 



Mr. H. J. Mackinder, reader in geography at Oxford, has gone in charge of 

 an expedition to explore Mount Kenia, in British East Africa. 



We are glad to notice that the Technical Instruction Committee of the 

 Liverpool City Council has been enlightened enough to set a good example, in 

 arranging with Prof. W. A. Herdman to give a short course of lectures and 

 demonstrations to help teachers in schools towards imparting sound instruction 

 in natural science. 



A discovery of coal, to which much importance is attached by geologists as 

 bearing upon the coal seams pierced in Kent, is announced. The boring is 

 situated a few miles south-east of Calais, and is one of several which have been 

 put down, under the direction of Mr. Breton, the French geologist. The seam 

 struck is two feet six inches thick, and is pronounced to be equal to the best 

 quality of Welsh steam coal. 



The Scientific American notes Dr. Koeppe's contention that distilled water 

 is decidedly deleterious to protoplasm, absorbing from the same saline con- 

 stituents and swelling its tissue even to the extent of destroying the vitality of 

 the cells. Distilled water has a similar action on the cells of the stomach, 

 producing in some cases vomiting and catarrhal troubles. He concludes that 

 the toxic property of certain glacier and spring water is due to its absolute 

 purity, which also explains why the sucking of ice and drinking of glacier water 

 sometimes causes stomach derangement. 



*e v 



Dr. D. Hansemann has reported on the brain and skull of von Helmholtz. 

 The head was about equal to Bismarck's, the brain was about 100 grams heavier 

 than the average, the sulci were very deep and well marked especially in the 

 frontal convolutions. Like Cuvier, Helmholtz was somewhat hydrocephalus 

 in youth ; and it has been suggested by competent authorities that this state, 

 by enlarging the skull and allowing the brain more room to grow, may be rather 

 .an advantage than otherwise. 



