June 15, 1876] 



NATURE 



157 



to be composed of spores, parts of animalculae, and even 

 living infusorias. Amonjest the metallic salts we must 

 mention particles of meteoric iron, evidently of cosmic 

 origin. It is contemplated by the city of Paris to estab- 

 lish similar observations in several parts of the city, 

 and the careful comparison of these analyses will prove 

 invaluable for establishing a number of most interesting 

 facts having a bearing on the welfare of inhabitants, as 

 well as on the elucidation of important scientific problems. 



It is also contemplated to make use of aeronautical 

 ascents to test the air at any altitude accessible to a 

 balloon with horizontal glass plates covered with glycerine. 

 The moisture of the clouds is to be condensed on glass 

 tubes which will be refrigerated. 



The ozone testing and measuring has produced also 

 startling facts. Although the quantity of ozone is very 

 minute, amounting to only a few milligrams per i,ooo 

 cubic metres, it has been proved that on Feb. 27, the 

 day of the ozone maximum, a quantity of 900 kilog. was 

 floating over Paris, if we suppose that the quantity was 

 the same as at Montsouris in the whole stream of air 

 passing above up to the altitude of 1,000 metres. 



These results are only a sample of those which may be 

 expected from the constant application of the magni- 

 ficent system which is now brought into operation for the 

 first time, and of which it will be possible to say. Vires 

 acquirit eundo. W. DE FONVIELLB 



NOTES 



The following are the arrangements for the Free Lectures in 

 connection with the Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus for 

 the next if^ weeks. The lecture hour is eight p.m. Saturday, 

 June 1 7, Mr. W. H. Preece on Telegraphic Instruments ; Monday, 

 June 19, Mr. Kempe on the Application of Linkages to Machinery ; 

 Saturday, June 24, Capt. Abney, F.R.S., on Photographic 

 Printing Processes ; Monday, June 26, Dr. Schuster on Ampere's 

 and Faraday's Instruments ; Saturday, July I, Mr. W. C. 

 Roberts, F.R.S., Graham's Apparatus and what he did with it; 

 Monday, July 3, The Right Hon. Dr. LyonPlayfair, C.B.,F.R.S., 

 Otto von Guericke's and Black's Instruments ; Saturday, July 8, 

 Dr. Gladstone on the Instruments lent by the Royal Institution. 



On the ist inst. the Society of Arts of Geneva celebrated the 

 first centenary of its existence. Founded in 1776 by H. B. De 

 Saussure and some of his friends, it has continued ever since to 

 render real service to Switzedand in the departments of Arts, 

 Industry, Commerce, and Agriculture. Without having any 

 direct connection with science, it has always, however, been 

 associated with it, and all the scientific men of Geneva have 

 from time to time taken a share in its proceedings ; the Pictets, 

 De Candolles, De la Rives, and other well-known names, have 

 at various times been presidents. A prize founded by Aug. De 

 la Rive, to be awarded to the discovery most useful to Gene- 

 vese industry, is intrusted to the care of the Society. In order 

 v/orthily to celebrate the centenary, the Society had announced 

 various competitions in the different branches with which it is 

 connected, and which appealed to all manufacturers of horolo- 

 gical instruments. The nature and terms of this competition 

 we announced last October (vol. xii., p. 525). It was an inter- 

 national competition in chronometry, in which there was a 

 large number of competitors, and of which the results have been 

 now made known. A Prize of Honour was awarded to M. 

 Ulysse Nardin, of Locle, Neuchatel ; six equal First Prizes 

 were awarded to M. H. R. Ekegrin, of Geneva, Messrs. Parkin- 

 son and Frodsham, of London, Messrs. Badollet and Co., Geneva, 

 Predard et Fils, Geneva, M. Ed. Perregaux, of Locle, and M. 

 Fritz Piguet, of Geneva ; other awards were likewise made. 

 After the general meeting and the distribution of prizes, a ban- 

 quet was held, at which about four hundred members of the 



Society were present ; this was followed by a conversazione on 

 the terrace of M. Th. De Saussure, grandson of the celebrated 

 naturalist, the founder of the Society, on the very pi ace where 

 the first meeting was held a century ago. 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Monday, 

 Sir Rutherford Alcock, the new president, in the chair, a paper by 

 Mr. E. D. Young, R.N., was read, on a journey to the northern 

 end of Lake Nyassa. The cruise round Lake Nyassa had occu- 

 pied a month, and the area was much larger than Dr. Living- 

 stone thought, the north end extending to 9*20 S. lat. In most 

 parts it was very deep, and in several places no bottom coold be 

 found with loo fathoms of line. A range of mountains nearly 

 100 miles in length, extended above the lake, some reaching an 

 elevation of 10,000 or 12,000 feet. There were also numerous 

 rivers running into the lake, but none navigable for any dis- 

 tance. At some parts there were numbers of villages built 

 on piles in the lake ; many people in other parts living on barren 

 rocks. Mr. Young added that he intended to be back to 

 England in a few months, and would in the meanwhile make a 

 more perfect survey of the lake and give the results to the Geo- 

 graphical Society on his return, A paper on "The Valley of 

 the Tibagy, in Brazil," by Mr, T. B. Wither, C. E., was also read. 

 The author of the paper was engaged in conjunction with others, 

 in August, 1 87 1, in exploring that section of the Ivahy Valley 

 which lies between Colonia Theresa and the Corredeira de Ferro, 

 or " Iron Rapid," 



The University of Oxford proposes to confer the degree of 

 D. C. L. upon the following, among others : — Prof. W. H. Miller, 

 F.R.S., Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell, F.R.S., Dr, Samuel Birch, 

 and Lieut, V. L, Cameron. 



The Oxford University Bill was read a second time in the 

 House of Commons on Monday. In the debate which followed 

 there was nothing worthy of comment. 



The annual conversazione of the Society of Arts will be held 

 at South Kensington Museum on Friday, the 23rd inst. 



In a recent issue of the Itahan medical journal Vlmparziale 

 laments that the unjust and ridiculous accusations of a number of 

 strangers resident in Florence and of an exceedingly small 

 minority of the inhabitants should have induced Prof. Schilf to 

 accept the chair which has been offered to him at Geneva. The 

 loss to physiology in Italy will be so great that, according to a 

 communication in the Daily News, the Bersagliere believes that 

 the Minister of Public Instruction will use every endeavour to 

 make the illustrious physiologist withdraw his resignation. 



Excellent accounts have been received from the German 

 North Asiatic Expedition, which^has arrived as far as Semi- 

 palatinsk, in Siberia, and has obtained living specimens of the 

 large Argali sheep {Ovis ammon) of Linnaeus. 



The veteran ornithologist, Dr, Hartlaub, has in preparation 

 a new work upon the Ornithology of Madagascar and the adja- 

 cent islands. Since Dr. Hartlaub's original memoir on this 

 subject was published in 1861, since which time Pollen, Van 

 Dan, Crossley, Grandidier, and others, have done much to 

 increase our knowledge of the avifauna of Madagascar. 



We hear from Sidney that the sum of 800/. had been raised 

 towards Signer D'Albertis' expedition up the Fly River, New 

 Guinea ; and that he was intending to start from that city on 

 the 19th of April with the steam-launch loaned to him by the 

 Government of New South Wales. 



We regret to hear that the strife at Sidney about the dismissal 

 of Mr. Krefft from the post of Curator and Secretary of the 

 Australian Museum is not over. The subject came before the 

 Legislative Assembly on the 6th of April, and provoked an 



