456 



NATURE 



[April 6, 1876 



Hills, have already expressed their cordial approval of the move- 

 ment, and consented to be placed on the Committee now in 

 course of formation ; Prof. Attfield and Messrs. Carteighe and 

 Bremridge are acting provisionally as secretaries. 



Lieut. Cameron arrived at Liverpool in the Congo on 

 Sunday, and as might be expected, was received with the 

 greatest enthusiasm. Besides his relatives there were present 

 the Liverpool municipal authorities, and Mr. Tinne, as repre- 

 sentative of the Royal Geographical Society. Lieut. Cameron 

 was attacked by scurvy on reaching the west coast of Africa, but 

 is now to all appearance quite recovered, and looks strong and 

 well. On Monday he was quite the lion of Liverpool, where he 

 was feted and toasted and justly treated as a hero who has accom- 

 plished a great and useful work. He gives a glowing account 

 of the interior of Africa, and hopes that his journeyings will lead 

 to its commercial development. There is no doubt that at the 

 meeting of the Geographical Society next Tuesday, in St. James's 

 Hall, he will meet with a warm reception. On Tuesday he met 

 with a hearty welcome on his return to Shoreham, near Sevenoaks, 

 of which place his father is vicar. 



A Commission of the Geographical Society of Paris has 

 awarded the Society's Great Medal to Dr. Nachtigal, the 

 German North African explorer. It is stated that owing to the 

 arrival of Lieut. Cameron, steps will be taken by the Society to 

 award extraordinary honours to the British explorer who has 

 done so much for African discovery. The anniversary meeting 

 of the Geographical Society is to take place on the 9th of April. 



A DISCOVERY of great importance to prehistoric archaeology 

 has just been made in France. On March 2, while some work- 

 men were excavating in a quarry of Jurassic limestone, near 

 the little commune of Cravanche, about three kilometres N.W. 

 of Belfort, at the base of a hillock, they came upon a small open- 

 ing which was found to lead into a cave of large dimensions. On 

 entering the cavern its floor was found to be covered with human 

 bones, so disposed as to lead to the belief that the cave formed a 

 prehistoric place of sepultare. Magnificent stalagmitic columns 

 rise from the floor, but without corresponding stalactites. It 

 would seem as if these columns were partly natural and partly 

 artificial, as they appear to be disposed in a sort of systematic 

 method, after the form of dolmens. It is in these cavities that 

 the multitude of bones have been found. The skulls are raised 

 slightly above the level of the rest of the bodies, which appear 

 to be in a somewhat bent position. Several polished flint 

 weapons have also been found, three beautiful ornamented 

 vases in the form of urns, polished stone bracelets, and a 

 mat of plaited rushes. The cave itself is calculated to be about 

 36 metrei long and about 12 in breadth and height ; and numerous 

 galleries, or side-caverns, run off the main one. Immediately on 

 the discovery of the cavern, the authorities of Belfort took 

 measures to guard it and the treasures it contains in the interests 

 of science, and M. Felix Voulot, who has given great attention 

 to the subject of prehistoric archaeology, has been charged with 

 carrying on the researches. M. Voulot hopes to be able to dis- 

 engage from the stalagmitic covering at least one entire skeleton. 

 There is no doubt that we have here important remains of the 

 polished stone period, but it is confidently expected that further 

 research will bring to light relics of a much older period ; indeed 

 the writer in the Revue Scieniijique, of April i, from which the 

 above details are taken, hopes that remains will be found not only 

 belonging to the Tertiary, but even to the Cretaceous period. 

 The cavern is situated in a bed of one of the lower strata of the 

 Jurassic period (lower oolite), " on \he exact limit oi the shore of 

 the ancient Jurassic sea." 



The following arrangements of the Royal Institution lectures 

 after Easter have been announced : — Prof. P. M. Duncan, 

 F.R.S. : Four lectures on the Comparative Geology and former 



Physical Geographies of India, Australia, and South Africa j on 

 Tuesdays, April 25 to May 16. Prof. Tyndall, D.C.L., LL.D., 

 F.R.S. : Seven lectures on Voltaic Electricity; on Thursdays, 

 April 27 to June 8. Prof. W. K. Clifford, F.R.S. : Two lec- 

 tures on the Present Relations of Science and Philosophy ; on 

 Saturdays, April 29 and May 6. Prof. W. G. Adams, F.R.S.: 

 Three lectures on some of Wheatstone's Discoveries and In- 

 ventions ; on Tuesdays, May 23 to June 6. Frederick J. Furni- 

 vall: Two lectures on Chaucer ; on Saturdays, May 13 and 20. 

 J. A. Symonds : Three lectures on the Medici in relation to the 

 Renaissance ; on Saturday?, May 27 to June 10. The Friday 

 evening meetings will be resumed on April 28, at 8 p.m., when 

 Prof. Gladstone will give a discourse on Methods of Chemical 

 Decomposition illustrated by Water. Discourses will probably 

 be given by G. J. Romanes, W. Froude, C. T. Newton, J. F. 

 Moulton, Sir John Lubbock, and Prof. Tyndall. 



In the Mauritius Overland Commercial Gazette of March 3, 

 Mr. Meldrum refers to a small but violent cyclone which swept 

 over the island on Feb. 19. Although its approach was an- 

 nounced by the Observatory on the previous day, it was only on 

 the evening of the i8th that it was known with certainty that a 

 gale was imminent. The wind was at its strongest between 

 2 and 7 A.M. on the 19th, and during that interval it had a velo- 

 city of 66'5 to 77 '5 miles per hour. The lowest barometric 

 pressure was 29'i02 at 4 a.m. on the 19th, and during the night 

 the mercury oscillated considerably. Between 3 and 4.30 A.M. 

 several flashes of lightning were observed. The rainfall at the 

 Observatory was only 2*94 inches. The chief interest of this 

 cyclone is an unusual rate of progression, and the suddenness 

 with which it came on. Its centre passed N. and N.W. of tlie 

 island at a distance of forty to fifty miles. On the 23rd and 24 th 

 it was evident that another cyclone was approaching; fortunately, 

 however, after approaching from the N,E. to about 160 miles of 

 the colony, the storm recurved to the southward, otherwise the 

 colony would have suffered severely. Mr. Meldrum mentions, 

 as an interesting coincidence, that from the lotli to about the 

 22nd a large sun-spot was visible. 



At the concluding Gilchrist Lecture to the Students of 

 the St. Thomas Charterhouse School of Science, Mr. W. E. 

 Forster, M. P., occupied the chair, and spoke of the importance of 

 teaching science in elementary school?, and of the ungrounded 

 apprehension that thereby rudimentary education would be 

 neglected. Pie believed it was the duty .of the country to give 

 children in elementary schools as much learning in science as 

 they could obtain while they remained there, and should not be 

 afraid to teach them science because their station in life was 

 humble. He believed that if science were substantially and 

 practically taught it would do nothing but good. He was well 

 aware that some of those who had taken part in the education 

 movement thought that if science were taught in elementary 

 schools there would be increased danger of the neglect of good 

 elementary teaching ; but he did not think there was any ground 

 for such apprehensions ; on the contrary, he thought it would be 

 found that, generally speaking, where science was taught best 

 there was the best teaching of such elements as reading, writing, 

 and arithmetic. 



We regret to hear of the death, at the age of sixty years, of Dr. 

 Letheby, the well-known analyst, for many years Medical Officer 

 of Health for the City of London, and Lecturer on Chemistry 

 at the London Hospital. Dr. Letheby was a Fellow of the 

 Linnean and Chemical Societies. 



The death is announced of Signor Severino Grattoni, the 

 Itahan engineer, who, amid great obstacles, carried out the 

 execution of the Mont Cenis Tunnel. 



The Iron and Steel Institute concluded its London Meeting 

 last Friday; the papers read were all of a purely technical 



