138 



NATURE 



\yune 8, 1876 



NOTES 



The first of the series of the free science lectures in connec- 

 tion with the Loan Collection of Scientific Instruments was given 

 on Saturday evening at eight o'clock. The notice issued was 

 but short, yet the room was not only as full as it could be, but 

 the crowd was such that if space for 1,000 had been provided, 

 all the places would have been occupied. The lecturer, as we 

 announced, was Prof. Roscoe, and his subject was "Dalton's 

 Instruments, and what he did with them." The following 

 gfntlemen have already volunteered to give their valuable assist- 

 ance for future lectures, which will take place on Monday, 

 Tuesday, and Saturday evenings at 8 o'clock : — Prof. F. A. 

 Abel, F.R.S., President of the Chemical Society, Capt. Abney, 

 R.E., F.R.S., Prof. Roscoe, F.R.S., Dr. Warren De la Rue, 

 F.R.S., Prof. G. Carey Foster, F.R.S., President of the Physical 

 Society, Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S., Prof. Guthrie, F.R.S., 

 Mr. J. Baillie Hamilton, Mr. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., Rev. 

 R. Main, M.A., F.R.S., the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigb, 

 F.R.S., Dr. W.J. Russell, F.R.S., Mr. W. Spottiswoode, M.A., 

 F.R.S., Dr. W. H. Stone, Rev. S. J. Perry, F.R.S., the Right 

 Hon. Lyon Playfair, M.P., F.R.S., the Right Hon. the Earl of 

 Rosse, F.R.S., Mr. C. V. Walker, F.R.S., Mr. W. C. Roberts, 

 F.R.S., Mr. W. H. Preece. The next lecture will be given on 

 Saturday evening by Prof. Guthrie, On Cold ; on Monday the 

 Rev. S. J. Perry will lecture On the Transit of Venus Instru- 

 ments. It is proposed to give the following demonstrations on 

 Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday next: — il A.M., Marine 

 Engines in Motion ; ir.30. Fog Horns, Electric Light, Spectrum 

 of Electric Light ; 12.45 P.M., Time Gun ; 1.30, Radiometers ; 

 2 to 5, Pictet's Ice-making Machine ; 2.30, Orreries ; 3, Sir J. 

 Whitworth's Millionth Measuring Machine and True Planes 

 (Monday only) ; 3.30, Electric Light, Musical Instruments 

 (Monday only). Ancient Musical Instruments (Tuesday only) ; 

 4.30, the Times Type-Composing Machine; 7.30, Telegraphic 

 Apparatus (Monday and Tuesday only) ; 8, Sir J. Whitworth's 

 Machines (Monday only) ; 8 to 9, Little Basses' Lighthouse ; 

 8, Lecture in Conference Room (Saturday and Monday). In 

 the list of papers read on Tuesday week we omitted to mention 

 those of Dr. C. B. Fox, "On the Employment of Aspirators 

 in Atmospheric Ozonometiy," and Mr. J. Allan Broun "On 

 Barometiic Variations and their Causes." On Thursday, besides 

 the papers already mentioned, Dr. Rae made a communication 

 on Arctic Maps. On Friday Mr. W. S. Mitchell read a paper 

 on the MS. tables and maps of William Smith. On Whit 

 Monday 11,964 people visited the Collection; on Tuesday the 

 number was 5,656. 



At the meeting of the American Academy of Science, on 

 March 8, the president, Hon. Charles Francis Adams, presented 

 the Rumford medals (in gold and silver) to Dr. John W. Draper, 

 for his researches in radiant energy. In presenting the medals, the 

 president alluded, among other matters, to Dr. Draper's discovery, 

 in 1840, of the peculiar phenomena commonly known as Moser's 

 images, to his method of measuring the intensity of the chemi- 

 cal action of light, afterwards perfected and employed by 

 Bunsen and Roscoe in their investigations, and especially to 

 his elaborate investigation, published in 1847, in which Dr. 

 Draper established exferimentally several important facts in 

 spectrum analysis. 



On Thursday, June I, M. Dumas, the eminent chemist, 

 delivered his inaugural address, as the new member of the 

 Academic Fran9aise. M. Dumas read in a clear and im- 

 pressive tone. His task was to deliver an eloge on M. 

 Guizot, whose career touched science at very few points. 

 M. Dumas accomplished his duty with perfect tact, and used 

 language which his hero would have wholly approved. 



At a meeting recently held, in Sydney it was resolved to obtain 

 subscriptions to enable Signor D' Albertis to carry out a scheme for 

 the exploration of New Guinea. This well-known naturalist and 

 explorer proposes to ascend the Fly river to the centre of the 

 island, where very probably the river has its sources, and to find 

 his way back by land to Yule Island or Port Moresby. The 

 journey altogether will probably last from eight to twelve months, 

 and he would require a steam-launch, 35 or 40 feet long, with 

 furnaces for burning wood, besides a small contingent of men. 

 He will obtain all possible information as to the geography, fauna, 

 flora, and mineralogy of the district traversed. Signor D'Albertis 

 offers himself to subscribe at least 200/. to the expedition. The 

 New South Wales Government, we are glad to see, has put the 

 steam-launch Nroa at Signor D'Albertis' disposal, and we have 

 no doubt that by this time the very moderate sum required has 

 been subscribed. 



Sir Joseph Whitworth was on Thursday last presented 

 with the freedom of the Turners' Company. 



At the last meeting of the Lisbon Commercial Association it 

 was proposed to ask the Government to send an expedition to 

 carry out Lieut. Cameron's projects, starting from Angola. 

 The suggestion was made that scientific men should accompany 

 the expedition. 



The President and Council of the Geological Society hold a 

 reception on Saturday evening at the Society's rooms, Burlington 

 House. 



Among the passengers in the mail steamer Artuasus, which 

 sailed from Leith on the 2nd inst. for Iceland, are Prof. Jonstrup, 

 M. Fieldberg, surveyor, and M. Gronlund, botanist. On arriving 

 at Iceland these gentlemen are to be joined by Lieut. Njdal, of 

 the Danish gunboat on the station, and an expedition is to be 

 formed to proceed to the scene of the recent volcanic eruption. 



On Saturday afternoon the annual meeting of the Board of 

 Visitors of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, was held, at which 

 the report of the Astronomer Royal, Sir G. B. Airy, was read. 



Regular courses of lectures have been established at the 

 Naval Observatory, Montsouris, for the officers of the French 

 national navy attached to the establishment. The general 

 principles of Astronomical Observations are lectured upon by 

 M. Loewy ; Special Naval Methods, by Capt. Turquet, the 

 Director of the establishment ; Terrestrial Magnetism, by M. 

 Marie Davy, Director of the Montsouris Observatory ; Spec- 

 troscopy, by M. Comu; Photography in its Application to 

 Astronomy, by M. Angot, of the National Observatory of Paris. 

 All the observations made by the pupils are submitted to cor- 

 rection, and will be utilised as far as possible for the improve- 

 ment of Connaissance des Temps, 



The Municipal Council of Paris voted some time since money 

 for organising a number of meteorological observatories, to be 

 modelled after the Montsouris pattern, and to be located in 

 the several districts of Paris. The Prefect of the Seine has 

 appointed a Commission, to organise these observatories on the 

 top of several public buildings, divided as far as possible from 

 amonp the several districts. 



A TESTIMONIAL was recently presented at Wisbech to Mr. 

 S. H. Miller, F.R.A.S., F.M.S. The testimonial, subscribed 

 for by a large number of gentlemen in the district, is of the value 

 of about 100/., and the inscription on the plate states that it 

 is " presented as some acknowledgment of the value of the 

 services he has rendered to the interests of education, science, 

 and agriculture." 



