May II, 1876] 



NATURE 



35 



Prof. Goodeve, M.A.— Solid Measurement. 



Prof. Kennedy, C.E. — Kinematics. 



Mr. W. Hackney.— Furnaces. 



Prof. Sir W. Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S.— Electrical 

 Measurement. 



Mr. Westmacott. — Hydraulic Transmission. 



Prof. Tilser (Bohemian Polytechnic Institute, Prague). 

 — His new Method of Descriptive Geometry. 



In the Section of Physics (including Astronomy), the 

 fcl lowing arrangements have been made provisionally :^ 



May 16.— Address by the President, Mr. Spottiswoode ; 

 Mr. Norman Lockyer, Capt. Abney, and Mr. Huggins — 

 Spectroscopy ; Prof. Clifton — Interference ; Professors 

 Adams and Stokes, and Mr. Spottiswoode — Polarisation ; 

 Mr. Sorby, or Dr. Royston Pigott — Microscopes ; M. 

 Becquerel and Prof. Stokes — Fluorescence ; Sir W. Thom- 

 son — Electrometers. 



May 19.— Prof. Tyndall — Reflection of Sound ; Prof. 

 Adams — Wheatstone's Researches ; Prof. Guthrie — Heat ; 

 Mr. De la Rue — Astronomical Photography ; and M. 

 Leverrier. 



May 24. — Prof. Clerk-Maxwell, Prof. Andrews, and 

 M. Tresca — Molecular Construction of Matter ; Mr. De 

 la Rue — Electric Batteries ; Prof. Carey Foster— Galvan- 

 ometers ; Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel — Voltameters ; 

 M. Viandel — Gramme's Machine; and M. Helmholtz. 



The conferences in Chemistry will be held on the i8th 

 and 23rd May, and the following communications have 

 been promised : — 



Address by the Chairman, Dr. Frankland, F.R.S., 

 generally on the objects exhibited in this section, and 

 specially on the instruments used for the investigation of 

 gases. 



Dr. J. H. Gilbert, F.R.S., on some points in connec- 

 tion with vegetation. 



Mr. Donkin, Demonstrator of Chemistry in the Oxford 

 Museum, on Sir B. Brodie's apparatus used in the inves- 

 tigation of ozone. 



M. Fremy, Membre de I'lnstitut de France, on the 

 preservation of animal food. 



Prof. Roscoe, F.R;S., on Vanadium and its compounds. 



Prof. Guthrie, F.R.S., on Cryohydrates. 



The conferences in Biology will be held on May 26 and 

 29, and will relate chiefly to the following subjects, viz. : — 



(i) The methrds of measurement and registration which 

 are applicable to the vital phenomena of plants, animals, 

 and man ; (2) the methods and instruments employed in 

 physiological optics and acoustics ; and (3) the modes of 

 preparing the tissues of plants and animals for micro- 

 scopical examinaiion. Explanations of apparatus and 

 instruments will be given by the President, Professors 

 Donders, Hering, Marey, Crum Brown, M. Foster, 

 Flower, M'Kendrick, Thiselton Dyer, Messrs. Liebreich, 

 Pritchard, Mosso, Gaskell, and others. 



The Conferences in Physical Geography, Geology, 

 Mineralogy, and Meteorology will be held on May 30, 

 and June i and 2, and the following gentlemen have pro- 

 mised to take part : — 



Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., general address on the objects 

 exhibited in the section. In Meteorology, Prof. Roscoe, 

 Mr. T. Stevenson, Mr. R. H. Scott, Mr. G. J. Symons, 

 Dr. Mann, and Mr. Galloway. In Geography, Major 

 Anderson, Lieut. Cameron, Mr. Clements Markham, Col. 

 Walker, Professeur Forel, Prof. Wyville Thomson, and 

 Mr. Francis Galton. In Geology and Mining, M. Daubree, 

 Prof. Ramsay, Mr. Ranee, Baron Von Ettinghausen, and 

 Mr. Topley. In Mineralogy, &c., M. des Cloiseaux, and 

 the Rev. N. Brady. 



NOTES 

 The Eighth Annual Report of the Geological and Geogra- 

 phical Survey of the Territories, under the direction of Prof. 

 F. V. Hayden, has just been issued from the U.S. Government 



Printing Office. It is a report of progress of the explorations, 

 mainly in Colorado, for the year 1874, and contains twelve 

 articles in 500 octavo pages, and eighty-eight illustrations, in- 

 cluding maps and sections. It commences with an introductory 

 letter to the Secretary of the Interior, under whose auspices the 

 survey is conducted, which contains a general account of the 

 organisation of the various field divisions, and the progress of 

 the work. Following this is the part devoted to geology, mine- 

 ralogy, and mining industry, containing the leports of Prof. 

 Hayden, Wm. H. Holmes, Dr. A. C. Peale, Dr. F. M. Endlich, 

 and Samuel Aughey, Ph.D. Dr. Hayden's report is devoted to 

 the special geology of the eastern part of the Rocky Mountains 

 in Colorado, the Arkansas Valley, and portions of the Elk 

 Mountains. The report of Wm. H. Holmes is devoted to the 

 geology of the north-western portion of the Elk Mountains. The 

 report of Dr. A. C. Peale gives the general and special features 

 of the district assigned to the middle division of the survey, viz., 

 the country lying between the Grand and Gunnison rivers west 

 of the 107th meridian. Dr. F. M. Endlich reports on the San 

 Juan country, giving chapters on the metamorphic, volcanic, and 

 sedimentary areas and mines of the region. All these reports 

 are abundantly illustrated with woodcuts, sections, and geological 

 maps. Dr. Samuel Aughey has. an interesting and practical report 

 on the superficial deposits in Nebraska. The second paper is 

 devoted to palaeontology, and contains papers on the flora of the 

 lignitic formations of North America, by Mr. Leo Lesquereux. A 

 large number of new fossil plants are described and illustrated in 

 eight plates. Following the palceontology is the report of Mr. 

 W. H. Jackson on the ancient ruins of South-western Colorado. 

 Eightfplates of the cliff-houses, cave-dweliings, and other ruins 

 of the Mancos, McElmo, and Hovenweep rivers accompany the 

 report. Following Mr. Jackson's interesting report is an article on 

 the zoological work for 1874. It contains descriptions and figures 

 of several new species in conchology. The last division of the 

 volume comprises the portion devoted to topography and geo- 

 graphy, containing the following reports : — Mr. Henry Gannett's 

 on the middle district, Mr. S. B. Ladd's on the northern district, 

 and Mr. A. D. Wilson's and Franklin Rhoda's on the San Juan or 

 southern district. These reports give the general topographical 

 features of the areas surveyed, the means of communication and 

 elevations of principal points. A complete table of contents 

 and exhaustive indexes accompany the report There is a general 

 index of systematic names. 



Orders have been given by the French Minister of Public 

 Works for entering into a contract for the construction of the 

 large refractor, whose length will be seventeen metres. A sum 

 of 210,000 francsj is to be paid to M. Eichers when the 

 work is completed. The huge instrument is to be deUvered 

 two years hence. It wiU not be placed under a movable 

 shade like the great reflector, but a cupola of requisite dimen- 

 sions is to be constructed. All these arrangements have already 

 been devised by M. Leverrier. 



Ix a lecture on the Geographical Distribution of Birds, the 

 first of a course delivered by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, on the 2nd 

 inst., at the St. John's Wood Assembly Rooms, the lecturer ex- 

 hibited, by the oxycalcium light, a large series of maps of the 

 world, about fifty in number, each coloured in that part only 

 where the bird he was speaking of is distributed. A carefully, 

 painted sUde of the bird, from the pencil of Mr. Keulemans, 

 was also introduced with the description of the plumage of each 

 species, and in association with the map of its distribution. 



A PLAGUE of Field Voles (Arvoricola agrestis) has recently 

 visited some of the pastoral farms of Upper Teviotdale and the 

 adjoining districts, which has led to the appointment of a com- 

 mittee of the Farmers' Club of the Locality for the purpose of 



