3i6 



NA TURE 



\Feb. 17, 1876 



the temperature was — 25". She reached the top on Jan. 31 at 

 three o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun lighted up an 

 immense panorama. The thermometer marked at the Grand 

 Mulcts — 13° and the Grand Plateau — 19°. The lady had with 

 her several guides, and slept at the Grand Mulcts on the 

 evening of Jan. 31, returning by La Vallee on Feb. i. She 

 was enthusiastically welcomed by [the inhabitants of Cha- 

 mounix. 



One of the Exhibitions granted to Cambridge University by 

 the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers to be awarded to 

 Non-Collegiate Students for proficiency in Physical Science, has 

 bsen gained by Alexander Scott, educated at the University of 

 Edinburgh. It is of the annual value of 50/., and is tenable for 

 three years. 



An open scholarship in Natural Science, of the yearly value 

 of 90/., tenable for five years, will be competed for at Queen's 

 College, Oxford, on April 25, and follow ing days. Candidates 

 should signify, as early as may be in March, to the Provost, 

 their intention of standing. 



There are 616 boys now on the school-list at University 

 College School. 



We are glad to see that an influential movemen t is on foot to 

 form a Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. Such 

 a society will have a fertile field for varied work in Gloucester- 

 shire, and we have no doubt, from the names which are identified 

 with the movement, that the Society, when formed, will produce 

 valuable results. The inaugural meeting will be held some time 

 during the Easter holidays. 



It is proposed to open a school for field and laboratory in- 

 struction in Geology early in July, under the auspices of the Cornell 

 University, at Ithaca, New York. The methods of instruction will 

 be essentially the same as heretofore successfully employed at Peni- 

 kese, Cleveland, and Peoria in the study of zoology and botany. 

 The first and last quarters of the session will be spent at Ithaca, in 

 laboratory work in connection with frequent lectures. About one- 

 half of the session (second and third quarters) will be devoted to 

 field work, with headquarters in an encampment in a mountainous 

 region chosen for its fitness in illustrating geological structure. 

 Prof. Theo. B. Comstock will have charge of this school. Similar 

 schools with local field work where required are being organised 

 under the direction of the professors in charge of the departments 

 of physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and free-hand drawing in 

 Cornell University. 



The following College Lectures in the Natural Sciences will 

 be given at Cambridge during the Lent Term : — Gonville and 

 Caius College : On Anatomy and Physiology, by Dr. Bradbury ; 

 On Non-Metallic Elements, by Mr. Apjohn. — Christ's College : 

 On the Physiology of the Senses, by Mr. H. N. Martin. — St. John's 

 College : On Elementary Chemistry, by Mr. Main ; Instruction 

 in Practical Chemistry will also be given ; on Palaeontology (the 

 Annuloida and Annulosa), by Mr. Bonney ; on Physical Geo- 

 logy, by Mr. Bonney ; on Elementary Geology, by Mr. Bonney. 

 — Trinity College : On Sound and Light, by Mr. Trotter ; on 

 Electricity and Magnetism (Elementary Course), by Mr. 

 Trotter ; Practical Physiology and Histology, by the I'rinity 

 Praelector in Physiology (Dr. Michael Foster). — Sidney Sussex 

 College : On Botany (Vegetable Histology and Physiology), by 

 Mr. Hicks. — Downing College : On Physiology (Papers and 

 Catechetical Lectures, with special reference to the Natural 

 Science Tripos and the Second M.B. Examination), by Dr. 

 Bradbury. On Chemistry (Papers and Catechetical Lectures), 

 by Mr. Lewis. 



A LAUDABLE scheme is on foot to unite the local societies of 

 Cumberland into an Association for the Advancement of Science 

 and Literature, having for its objects the spread of culture, 

 mutual assistance in the organising of lecture courses, &c., 



wholesome emulation among the constitutent societies in the pro- 

 duction of original papers, a yearly union in some town of Cum- 

 berland for the reading of original papers and discussion of 

 subjects affecting the scientific and literary welfare of the com- 

 munity, and the publication, at the expense of the Association, 

 of those original papers brought before the various societies 

 which may be considered worthy by the Council. 



The loiva IVeathn- Rruie^v, No. 3, gives a brief resume of the 

 weather during each of the six decades of October and 

 November last. Among the more interesting points noted are 

 the occurrence of the Indian summer from the 1 8th to 24th 

 October ; the entire absence of snow or rain from the greater 

 part of the State during November, and a rapid fall of tempera- 

 ture with a N.W. wind on the afternoon of the 28th November, 

 amounting to upwards of 40° in twelve hours. The meteoro- 

 logical year, ending with November, was 3° "8 colder than the 

 average, and Dr. Hinrichs, judging from the sequences of the 

 weather during the past thirty-five years, ventured to predict a 

 mild winter in Iowa. It appears from an examination of cyclones 

 traced over Iowa that electrical phenomena manifest themselves 

 at a considerable distance from the centre of the cyclone, a point 

 of some interest to meteorologists, and deserving of further exami- 

 nation. A table showing the rainfall at sixty-five stations in the 

 state, and another table giving the various meteorological 

 averages at Iowa City during the past four years, complete this 

 very interesting number. 



Iowa being the only state in the Union having a meteorologi- 

 cal system of its own reporting to a central office and furnishing 

 state reports to the press, it has been resolved to exhibit at j^the 

 Philadelphia Exhibition specimen schedules, books, postal cards, 

 manuscript weather maps, publications, and diagrams of the 

 cUmate of the State, in order to show the working of the Iowa 

 Volunteer Weather Stations. It being manifestly beyond the 

 resources even of the munificently supported meteorological 

 system of the United States to undertake the investigation of 

 many important inquiries, other states will probably be induced 

 to follow the example of Iowa when the system there pursued is 

 fully brought under their notice at Philadelphia. 



In a report to the Secretary of the Board of Regents, the erec- 

 tion of a physical observatory at the Iowa State University has 

 been recommended. The detailed drawings on which the esti- 

 mate of the sum required is based, show that the'difTerent]storeys 

 of the buildings are to be appropriated to a magnetic observa- 

 tory, optical observatory and laboratory, self-registering meteoro- 

 logical instruments, and the keeping of records of observation, 

 and a meteorological observatory, while on the roof will be 

 placed a wind-vane, an^anemometer, rain and snow gauges, and 

 radiation thermometers. 



The Science and Art Department has issued a Catalogue of 

 Apparatus for instruction in Practical Plane and Descriptive 

 Geometry, Machine Construction and Drawing, Building Con- 

 struction, Theoretical Mechanics, Applied Mechanics, and 

 Steam, to the purchase of which the aid of 50 per cent, is 

 given. 



According to letters received from Ternate by Prof. 

 Parlatore, dated September last, from Dr. Beccari, we learn 

 from the Gardener's Chronicle, that that adventurcJus traveller had 

 discovered on Mount Arfak, in New Guinea, a Balanophora and 

 an Araucaria, besides species of Vaccinium, Rhododendron, 

 Podocarpus, Umbelliferae, and a Drimys. We have merely these 

 names to tantalise us, but they suggest a very interesting flora. 

 From the same source we glean the following : — A School of 

 Horticulture has been established at Copenhagen. There will 

 be a national horticultural exhibition at Rome from May 6 to 

 14, the first of the kind that has taken place in that city. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include three Burrowing Owls {Pholeoptyrx cunicu- 



