Sept. 7, 1876] 



NATURE 



419 



guests on behalf of the Hungarian Government. The President 

 of the Congres?, Herr Pulszky, then gave an address, in which 

 he enlarged on the prehistoric periods of Hungary. The secre- 

 tary also read an address treating on the development of prehis- 

 toric studies in Hungary, and commenting on the fine collection of 

 prehistoric articles now exhibited. There are over one hundred 

 foreign guests of all nations. Among them are Mr. Franks, of 

 the British Museum ; M. Broca, delegated by the French Govern- 

 ment ; Signor Pigorini, by the Italian Government ; and Herr 

 Virchow, of Berlin. 



Mr. Willktt has published his fourth and final Report to 

 the British Association on the Sub-Wealden Exploration. After 

 giving a brief history of the enterprise, he states that he resigned 

 the hon. secretaryship on May i, when Major Beaumont, M. P., 

 chairman of the Diamond Boring Company, offered to take his 

 place and raise funds to continue the work, which had been 

 carried to 1,894 f'^et. Mr. Willett then says : — " Four months 

 have elapsed. No committee have been summoned. No fresh 

 funds have been raised, and, in my opinion, it is quite time that 

 the whole affair be wound up, and that the exploration be finally 

 abandoned in this locality." His reasons for this conclusion we 

 shall give when his Report comes up at the British Association 

 meeting. 



Letters received from Baron A. von Hiigel announce his 

 arrival in Fiji, where he has already made considerable collec- 

 tions of birds. A full account of his work in New Zealand, 

 with details of his future plans, has unfortunately been lost in 

 transmission to England, but it would appear that he still intends 

 to visit some more of the Pacific T'^lands, and perhaps New 

 Guinea, before commencing his work in Western Australia. 

 The investigation of the natural history of the latter country was 

 his principal object on leaving England. 



The Iron and Steel Institute commences its autumn meeting 

 at Leeds on the i8th inst. 



It has been observed by M. Jeannel that certain sonorous 

 vibrations cause rotatory movement in the radiometer. In half 

 obscurity, three radiometers were placed on the interior tablet of 

 a chamber organ. The bass notes, those of the three first 

 octaves, produced rotation, the most bass acting most, but 7^ and 

 fa sharp of the lower octave (especially with the bourdon stop) 

 produced more rapid rotation than ut, re, and mi, though these 

 are more grave. Radiometers do not all act in the same manner, 

 as to rapidity and direction of their rotation. Thus, to the low/a 

 or fa sharp radiometer A, the less sensitive to light, made about 

 one turn per second. The black faces first (j..e. a direction 

 opposite to that produced by light), whilst radiometers B and C, 

 which were more sensitive to light, turned more slowly and in 

 the direction of the movement produced by light. M. Jeannel 

 explains these effects by circular or angular vibrations of the 

 supporting needle transmitted from the tablet of the organ. By 

 applying the finger to the top of the radiometer, one may prevent 

 the vibration and also the rotation. The board of a piano pro- 

 duces similar effects, but in less degree. If the experiments 

 indicated be made where the diffuse light is nearly sufficient to 

 drive the radiometer, grave sounds, even the weakest, cause 

 rotation in the ordinary direction (bright surfaces first) ; the 

 rumble of a vehicle will suffice. Here the light is at first 

 insufficient to overcome the friction, but when the vibrations 

 intervene, friction is lessened during certain intervals, and the 

 apparatus is thus rendered more sensitive to light. 



M. Fron has given, in the Bulletin International of Aug. 12, 

 a short note of the thunderstorms in France on June 9, 1875, on 

 which day they occurred in forty-three departments. The baro- 

 metric depression accompanying this remarkable development of 

 thunderstorms amounted to 0"630 inch at Valentia, 0*472 inch in 

 Brittany, and 0*276 inch at Paris. An illustration is given 



showing that the barometer fell to its lowest point at Paris at the 

 time the thunderstorm broke over the city, and that at the same 

 time in the centre of this depression the barometer suddenly rose 

 and as suddenly fell through about 0*033 inch, the whole of this 

 brief-continued oscillation occupying less than an hour. It 

 would be a valuable piece of work if the French meteorologists 

 could, from an examination of the changes in the direction and 

 force of the wind, the aqueous precipitation, the electrical and 

 other meteorological phenomena which occurred at the time, 

 trace this singular barometric fluctuation to its physical causes. 



The number of visitors to the Loan Collection of Scientific 

 Apparatus during the week ending Sept 2 was as follows : — 

 Monday, 3,200; Tuesday, 2,977; Wednesday, 468; Thursday, 

 355 ; Friday, 332 ; Saturday, 3,925 ; total, 11,257. 



A prof OS 'oi the meeting of the British Association, Sdetice 

 Gossip for September contains an interesting article on the 

 Geology of Glasgow and the neighbourhood, by Mr. R. L. Jack, 

 F.G. S., of the Geological Survey. 



The first number of The Mineralogical Magazine andyournal 

 0/ the Mineral0gical Society of Great Britain and Ireland has just 

 been issued. It contains eight papers on subjects of mineralogical 

 interest. Lake and Lake of Truro are the publishers. 



The General Meteorological Council of the Gironde have 

 passed a resolution asking the French Government to establish 

 the Meteorological Service on the basis adopted in the United 

 States ; other general councils will do the same, and the result 

 will very likely be an increase in the sums voted for the me- 

 teorological service. 



M. Waddington has published a curcular organising an 

 improved system for obtaining school statistics in France. 

 The number of pupils admitted into primary schools has 

 been, up to the present time, determined merely by the names 

 of children hiscribed on the school register, though the attend- 

 ance of many is merely nominah The roll will be called hence- 

 forth twice a-day, morning and afternoon, so that the real state 

 of things may be known, and no compliment paid to national 

 pride. 



The Municipal Council of Perpignan voted, at its last sitting, 

 a sum of 15,000 francs for the purpose of erecting a statue to 

 Fran9ois Arago, who was bom in the department of Pyrenees 

 Orientales, of which Perpignan is the chief town. His native place 

 was Estagel, a small village, where a monument has already 

 been erected to him. 



The City of Grenoble inaugurated, on August 14, a statue 

 in honour of Vaulanson, a celebrated mechanician bom there in 

 the beginning ot the eighteenth century. 



The programmes for admission to the newly-created French Na- 

 tional School of Agriculture have been officially published. The 

 examination will take place very shortly, and the first promotions 

 will be announced in the beginning of next year. The ex-imperial 

 Vincennes farm has been devoted to the new establishment, 

 which, besides those who have passed examinations, will admit 

 a number of pupils free. No charge will be made for education. 



After repeated efforts an agricultural experimental station in 

 Connecticut was successfully established, under the charge of the 

 trustees of the Wesleyan University. The preliminary report of 

 less than half a year's labours has just been published, and shows 

 the enterprise to have been a legitimate one in view of the 

 amount and character of the work accomplished. The establish- 

 ment is in charge of Prof. W. O. Atwater, an agricultural 

 chemist of eminence, under whose direction a considerable 

 number of analyses of fertilisers have been made. The result 

 of the labours of this experimental station has already been to 

 define with precision the percentage of nitrogen to the ton in the 



