lyo 



NATURE 



\yune 2 2, 1876 



hitherto connected, and be 'taught as^a separate science on its 

 own merits and usefulness, and extent of practical application. 

 It is therefore proposed that meteorology might constitute a 

 separate course of lectures, theoretical and practical, at our col- 

 leges, where might be expounded its bearings on navigation, 

 agriculture, human health, and engineering. To it might also 

 be attached the sciences of ventilation of buildings, as barracks, 

 factories, and mines, and hydrology, or a knowledge of ocean 

 and sea currents, and ice drifts. 



The foundations for such a professorship in scientific materials 

 have, it is suggested, now reached a sufficient weight and bulk 

 as to furnish ample occupation, and to be of universal interest 

 and general application. 



Weather observatories, now numerously established, will 

 require superintendents and assistants, captains of ships would 

 be benefited by some scientific knowledge of the winds and 

 waves, and fanners would find meteorology useful for the suc- 

 cessful tillage of the soil. 



Again, overseers of mines would derive some good from a 

 knowledge of the mechanism of the currents of the air they have 

 to regulate in ventilation, and engineers of waterworks would 

 require to know the variability and extent of rainfall for the sites 

 and construction of their reservoirs. 



Finally, the science of the weather is of most importance 

 of all to those who have to fulfil the duties of health officers in 

 our gieat towns, and climatology is more than ever studied by 

 the physician having to give advice to the numerous invalids 

 who now travel abroad for the sake of restoration of health by 

 change of air and scene. 



In order to facilitate the accomplishment of this object, it is 

 suggested that some means should be taken to originate a fund 

 to defray the expenses of such a course of lectures, either in 

 London or Edinburgh, t)0th of which cities have meteorological 

 societies which might lend their influence to promote such 

 schemes of scientific development. 



The class of men to whom resort might be suggested for 

 patronage of this proposition would most likely be shipowners, 

 landowners, and boards of health, either for the study of their 

 self-interest or for the benefit of the public. SPES 



Edinburgh, June 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION— GLASGOW 

 MEETING 



I^HE arrangements for the reception of the British 

 Association are fast progressing towards completion. 

 The Executive Committee met on Tuesday, and the fol- 

 lowing is a brief sketch of the work which has been 

 done : — 



Finance Contmittee. — The total sum subscribed to the 

 Guarantee Fund amounts to ^6,559 \os. 



Mtisetim Cominlitce. — This Committee|has arranged as 

 follows :— The Geological Exhibition will be accommo- 

 dated in the Corporation Galleries, Zoology and Botany 

 in the lower Queen's Rooms, and Archaeology, &c., at the 

 University. These exhibitions will be large and complete, 

 and arrangements havebeen made for keeping them open, if 

 desired, for some time after the meeting of the Association, 



Local Industries Committee. — This Committee has 

 three sub-committees — one for Machinery, one for Che- 

 micals, and one for Textile Fabrics — and the materials 

 for a highly instructive exhibition are being collected, 

 which will be held in Kelvingrove Museum, where there 

 is already a general museum of considerable size and 

 variety. 



Beception Cominittee. — Already a number of distin- 

 guished persons have been invited and have accepted 

 invitations. Among these are the President-designate, 

 Prof. Andrews, of Belfast, who will be the guest of Sir 

 William Thomson, the present President, Sir John 

 Hawkshaw, who, with Lieut. Cameron, the African ex- 

 plorer, will be the guest of the Lord Provost. The Duke 

 of Argyll, one of the Vice-Presidents, will be the guest of 

 Prof. Blackburn. 



Arrangements have been made with all the leading 

 railway companies in England and Scotland to facilitate 

 the visits of strangers and their stay in Glasgow. A 



guide and handbook for Glasgow and the West of Scot- 

 land is being prepared under the general editorship of 

 Dr. Blackie. 



The following places have been secured for the use of 

 the Association : — The University, where, as at present 

 arranged, all the Sections except the Geographical and 

 Ethnological Section (Section E) will meet, Section E 

 meeting in the large upper hall of the Queen's Rooms. At 

 the University, also will be the Reception and Refreshment 

 Rooms. Kelvingrove Museum. — This will be the recep- 

 tacle for the exhibitions of machinery, of chemicals, and 

 textile fabrics. Queen's Rooms. — Here will be held an 

 exhibition of the zoological and botanical collections of 

 the district, and here also the meetings of Section E will 

 take place. The upper Corporation Galleries will be filled 

 with a geological exhibition, there being no room at the 

 museum at the University to accommodate more than the 

 Archaeological Section, in addition to the permanent and 

 temporary exhibits already arranged there. The City 

 Hall and the Botanic Garden Palace have also been 

 secured for the use of the Association. The Chambers 

 of the Association, where all inquiries may be made, will 

 be found at 135, Buchanan Street. 



A great many of the citizens have indicated their wish 

 to receive guests, and a list is being drawn up of expected 

 visitors, from which guests may be selected. Notice of 

 its completion will be given by advertisement in the news- 

 papers. 



Excursion Committee. — It has been arranged that ex- 

 cursions will take place on Saturday, the 9th, and Thurs- 

 day, the i4ih of September, to the following among other 

 places : — Arran, Lochlomond, Loch Fyne, and the Holy 

 Loch, Coatbridge, and Paisley. Mr. A. 13. Stewart has 

 placed his yacht at the disposal of the Association, as has 

 also Mr. Duncan of Benmore, for dredging expeditions. It 

 is intended that there will be at least one dredging excursion 

 to the Firth of Cl)de, or other suitable place. Mr. 

 Duncan will also receive at Benmore a party of 100, who 

 go the round by Loch Fyne, for whom he has arranged a 

 delightful excursion. Mr. Martin of Auchendennjn will 

 receive a party at dinner there, and Mr. Campbell of 

 Tulliechewan and Mr. Matheson of Cordale have also 

 intimated their desire to show hospitality to members of 

 the Association visiting Dumbartonshire. Mr. Ellis will 

 entertain a party at luncheon at Coatbridge after inspec- 

 tion of the North Biitish Wireworks, and Sir Peter and 

 Mr. Thomas Coates are expected to do the same at Paisley. 



ABSIRACT REPORT TO ''NATURE" ON EX- 

 PERIMENTA TION ON ANIMALS FOR THE 

 ADVANCE OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE^ 

 II. 

 Experimentation with the for7ns 0/ Lycoperdoti gigan- 



teum, or common Ptiff-Ball. 

 TN 1853, while the study of the att of producing safe 

 ^ anaesthesia was fresh upon me, my attention was 

 directed by my friend, Mr. H. Hudson, to the fact that in 

 the country the owners of bees rob the bee-hive of its con- 

 tents of honey and wax after they have stupefied the bees 

 by driving into the hive the smoke of the common puff- 

 ball — lycoperdon giganteum. It struck me at once that I 

 ought to ascertain whether the stupefying agent which is 

 given off in the smoke would act as an anesthetic on the 

 higher animals and on man, and whether a new and 

 safer anassthetic than chloroform was contained in it. 

 The results of this research, seme of which I published in 

 the Association Medical Journal in 1853, showed that the 

 narcotic agent present is indeed a true anaesthetic, and 

 that all animals may be narcotised by it, but that owing 

 to the mode in which it has to be administered, it cannot 

 conveniently be applied to man. All the lower animals 

 about to be subjected to operations of any kind, surgical 



I Continued from p 152. 



