2 6o 



NA TURE 



\yuly 20, 1876 



L. C. Miall, F.G.S., be appointed profes<!or being also agreed 

 to. Mr. Miall will also deliver a short course of lectures 

 annually at Bradford. 



We rejoice to hear that V Explorateur was mistaken in 

 announcing the death of Dr. Petermann. The French journal 

 seems to have been led astray by the death of Prof. A. H. 

 Petermann, the distinguished orientalist. 



On Saturday, July 8, the French and Swiss Alpine Clubs met 

 together at Giromagny, to ascend a number of mountains in the 

 French Vosges ; a number of interesting observations were 

 made. 



The Awards made by the Council of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers for original communications during the Session 1875- 

 76, have just been announced. Fifteen out of twenty-three 

 communications have been rewarded, including a Telford medal 

 and premium for "Motion of Light Carriers in Pneumatic 

 Tubes," by Prof. W. C. Unwin, B.Sc. Telford premiums have 

 been bestowed for "Movement of Air in Pneumatic Tubes," by 

 C. Bontemps ; " Pneumatic Transmission of Telegrams," by 

 R. S. Culley and R. Sabine; "Floods in England and 

 Wales in 1875," by G. J. Symons ; " Evaporation and Percola- 

 tion," by C. Greaves ; " Tidal Changes in the Mersey," by J. N. 

 Shoolbred, B.A. The Miller Scholarship of the value of 40/. a 

 year for three years was gained by the Hon. R. C. Parsons, B. A., 

 for an inquiry into the " History and Theoretical Laws of 

 Centrifugal Pumps." 



Mr. W. Vivian, of Mwyndy, Llantiissant, Glamorganshire, 

 sends us the following instance of a joint-stock concern in the 

 poultry yard. Two hens sat on, or by, one nest, and thus 

 between them hatched one chick. They have since, for some 

 weeks been parading the yard, each clucking and manifesting all 

 the anxiety and care of a true mother over this one. The hens 

 never quarrel, or show the least appearance of jealousy or 

 rivalry. 



A MEETING of the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic 

 Society was held at Settle on Wednesday week. The meeting 

 was well attended, and Mr. Tiddeman gave an excellent address 

 on the history, method of working, and the results that have 

 been brought to light by the exploration of the Victoria Cave, 

 Settle. 



Further particulars have been published concerning Gessi's 

 circumnavigation of Lake Albert Nyanza. He found it 140 

 miles broad by 50 wide. No river of importance enters it, the 

 south end is shallow, and the lake seems subject to violent 

 storms. The true Nile, after leaving the lake south of Dufle 

 about 100 miles, splits into two branches, one of which goes to 

 Dufle and Gondokero, the other, the natives say, goes far 

 inland. Colonel Gordon had no news of Stanley on May 2, but 

 expects he went across from Victoria Lake, saw the south end 

 of Albert Lake, and has got into a nest of lakes, which. Colonel 

 Gordon thinks, exist between the Albert and the Tanganyika. 



We have received the Proceedings of the American Oriental 

 Society for May and November, 1875, and May, 1876. At 

 these meetings many valuable papers on the department with 

 which the society is connected, were read; among these is 

 one by Prof. W. D. Whitney replying to some criticisms of his 

 work by Prof. Max Miiller. 



The Paris Society of Agriculture and Insectology has asked 

 from the Municipal Council of Paris, whose zeal for instruction 

 is laudable, the grant of a piece of ground at Montsouris for 

 the purpose of establishing a model apiary, a botanical col- 

 lection of all plants likely to be of use in feeding bees, a model 

 establishment of sericiculture, and a collection of all trees likely 

 to be of use in feeding silkworms. The request is to be granted 



on condition that the establishment be open free to the pupils of 

 the several municipal schools. 



Satisfactory accounts are given of the boring of the shaft 

 for the Channel Tunnel. A depth of 80 yards has been 

 reached, and no fault has been observed from which any diffi- 

 culty may be expected in the execution cf the Tunnel. 



Violent shocks of earthquake were felt again on the 5th 

 inst. at Corinth and the surrounding district. The direction of 

 the motion was east to west. Shortly after noon on Monday an 

 earthquake occurred in Vienna. Three violent shocks, lasting 

 two seconds, were felt. A panic ensued. Several houses are 

 damaged, and a portion of the old walls has been split. 



We have received the Forty-second Annual Report of the 

 York School Natural History, Literary, and Polytechnic Society. 

 This must surely be the oldest School Society in the kingdom. 

 The Report, of only four pages, shows that a considerable 

 amount of work has been done in the various departments with 

 which the Society deals, and we should think that the Society 

 is an important element in the educational means of the school. 



The Twelfth Annual Report of the Lewes and East Sussex 

 Natural History Society states that the Society is numerically 

 and financially in good condition. The Society is doing a fair 

 a'T^onnt of good field-work, and contemplates the publication of 

 lists of the fauna and flora of East Sussex. 



The Geographical Magazine for July contains a paper, with 

 maps, by Mr. Ravenstein, exhibiting some interesting conclusions 

 as to the birthplace and migrations of the populations of the 

 British Isles, drawn from the census tables. The magazine also 

 contains some important statistics on Danish Greenland, furnished 

 by Dr. Rink, a paper on the Andaman Islands, an account of 

 Schweinfurth and Giissfeldt's recent journey into the Arabian 

 Desert of Egypt, and a vindication of genuineness of Verrazano's 

 narrative, by Mr. R. H. Major. 



The Municipal Council of Paris has voted, in accordance with 

 the suggestion of M. Leverrier, a sum of 30,000 francs for the 

 purpose of constructing precision clocks at the Exchange, Tribunal 

 de Commerce, and Hotel de Ville. A competition will be 

 opened between the clock-makers. All these clocks are to be 

 connected together electrically, and will distribute the time to 

 the several parts of the city. The perplexing discrepancy 

 between the different public clocks in Paris will be abolished 

 entirely. 



A meeting was held on Tuesday in connection with the pro- 

 posal to establish a Museum of Hygiene at University College, 

 London, as a memorial to the late Dr. E. A. Parkes, F.R.S. 

 Subscriptions to the amount of 675/. were announced. 



Mr. Prescott G. Hewitt, F.R.S., has been elected Presi- 

 dent of the Royal College of Surgeons for the ensuing year, in 

 room of the retiring President, Sir James Paget. 



At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy, M. Woillez de- 

 scribed an apparatus which he calls a spirophore. It is for the 

 resuscitation of asphyxiated persons, especially those who have 

 been in danger of drowning, and newly-born infants. It con- 

 sists of a sheet-iron cylinder, closed at one end. The body of 

 the individual is introduced up to the neck, the aperture round 

 which is then closed by a diaphragm. A strong bellows, con- 

 taining more than 20 litres of air, situated without the case, com- 

 municates with this by a wide tube, and is worked by a lever, 

 the descent of which causes the air to be drawn off from the 

 case, while the return motion restores the air. Through a piece 

 of glass in the cylinder, the chest and abdomen of the patient 

 can be seen, and a rod, movable in a vertical tube, rests on the 

 sternum. When a vacuum is made about the body by depressing 



