80 NEWS [suLY 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. 
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 hydrocephalous 
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. 
