April 2^, 1876] 



NATURE 



531 



The Physical Society of Paris held its Anniversary Meeting 

 last Thursday. 



On Saturdar, the Times states, there was exhibited in Wolver- 

 hampton a mcteorolite weighing S lb?. It is beUeved to have 

 fallen on Thursday afternoon in a turf field in a meadow near the 

 Wellington and Market Drayton Railway, about a mile north of 

 the Gradgington Station. It is stated that about ten ncinutes to 

 four, within a seven miles' radius of the Wrekin, the villagers 

 were alarmed by an unusual rumbling noise in the atmosphere, 

 followed immediately by an explosion resembling the discharge 

 of heavy artillery. Rain was falling heavily throughout the 

 afternoon, but there was neither lightning nor thunder. About 

 an hour after the report what proved to be a mass of meteoric 

 iron was found in the meadow referred to at a depth of 18 inches, 

 having passed through 4 inches of soil and 14 inches of clay. It 

 rested upon the gravel underneath these. The hole is almost 

 perpendicular, and the meteorolite is assumed to have fallen in a 

 south-easterly direction. It is stated that the meteoric stone 

 when found was quite hot, although nearly an hour had elaps<^ 

 from the time of the explosion being heard. 



The more imp<irtant articles in the Quarterly Journal of the 

 Meteorological Society (London), April, 1876, are the President's 

 Address, the Report of the Council for 1875, a paper by the 

 Hon. Ralph Abercrombie on an improvement in aneroid baro- 

 meters, and another by Colonel Puckle on Meteorology in India 

 in relarion to Cholera. The work of establishing stations begun 

 by the Society in 1874 proceeds . satisfactorily, and the Council 

 deserve all praise for the ample details given regarding the 

 twenty-two stations they have now established, and particularly 

 for the valuable addition to this part of the Report, consisting in 

 the lithographed ground-plans of the individual stations, which 

 show the positions and surroundings of the different instruments. 

 We regret, however, to see that the mistake in science regarding 

 the height of the thermometers above the ground, pointed out by 

 us (vol. xu p. 446) still remains to be rectified, for while exact and 

 minute directions are given respecting the various instruments, 

 each observer is apparently left to his own discretion as to the 

 height at which he places his thermometers. The president's re- 

 marks on lightning-rods wiU be read with interest ; and Mr. Aber- 

 crombie's improvement on aneroids may be oriced as likely to 

 lead to a more satisfactory observation of small barometrical 

 fluctuations, on a correct knowledge of which so much depends. 



We have received the Programme for Easter, 1876, of the 

 Realschule of Lippstadt. Besides a carefully arranged pros- 

 pectus of the studies of the school, from the lowest to the 

 highest class, which, in the number and nature of the subjects 

 taught, would make most English teachers stare with wonder, 

 there is an admirable paper by our contributor. Dr. Hermann 

 Miiller, who is a master in this school, on the system of teaching 

 Natural History at Lippstadt. 



In a four-page monthly journal published at Laurence, 

 Kansas, U.S., called The Observer of Nature, the first five 

 numbers of vol. iii. of which have been sent us. Prof F. H. 

 Snow gives a, catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Eastern Kansas. 

 It is published by the Natural History Society of the Kansas 

 State University, the Vice-President, SecreUry, and Treasurer 

 of wluch are ladies, and which has on its list an officer known as 

 " Critic" 



What seems to have been an interesting and successfiil con- 

 versazione was given by the University School Naturalists' Field 

 Club, Hastings, on Saturday week. A number of papers on 

 subjects connected with natural history were read by the boys. 



Professors Jordan and Copeland, of Indianapolis, Indiana, 

 U.S., are organising a scientific excursion for next summer for 

 the benefit of those wishing to study practically the botany and 



zoology of the United States. They think that possibly some 

 young Englishmen visiting the American 'continent during the 

 Centennial, might wish to join such an expedition. 



Thk degree of LL.D. has been conferred upon Prof, Stanley 

 Jevons, F. R. S., by the University of Edinburgh. 



To-morrow evening, at the Royal Institution, the discourse 

 will be given by Mr. G. J. Romanes (on the Physiology of the 

 Nervous System of the Medusae) instead of Prof. Gladstone, 

 who will give the discourse on May 5th, 



The time-honoured New York Lyceum of Natural History 

 has lately changed its title to that of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences, and has published a circular explanatory of its object lb 

 so doing, referring to the fact of having published eleven volumes 

 of its Annals. The circular proceeds to state that the limita- 

 tion of the Society to the subject of natural history is at present 

 unwise, and that if it desires to take a position among the first 

 institutions of the kind at home and abroad, its scope should be 

 greatly enlarged and its title altered to correspond. Although 

 for many years past attention has been paid to chemistry and 

 physics, this is not indicated in its name, and misapprehensions 

 are likely to arise in consequence. Under the new constitntion, 

 the direction of the affairs. of the Academy is placed in the hands 

 of a body of Fellows chosen for their attainments in science, and 

 four sections have been established, into one or the other of 

 which all members are to be placed. These are first, zoology, 

 botany, and microscopy ; second, chemistry and technology ; 

 third, geology and mineralogy ; fourth, physics, astronomy, and 

 mathematics. Each of these has its own special administration, 

 and is charged with the scientific work of its department. The 

 Annals will be continued under the title of Anmals of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences, four numbers being issued every 

 year. 



A New Zealand correspondent states [that he met with a 

 curious instance of tenacity of life in the eel lately in Tasmania. 

 Seven years ago a man placed an eel which had been slightly 

 injured along with others in a tank from which he was in the 

 habit of removing them fur use constantly as required. The box 

 in which they were kept was perfectly tight and fitted with finely 

 perforated zinc at each end, through which nothing but the most 

 minute organisms could pass. A few days afterwards, when the 

 others were all taken out, the injured eel was left, and so again, 

 when the next supply was put in and removed. It had got very 

 thin, and so he left it, he said, "just to see how long it would 

 live on nothing." It is still in the tank, perfectly transparent 

 and quite white, and is to all appearances healthy and lively 

 enough. 



Parts 3 and 4 of Mr. J. Clifton Ward's paper on the Gran- 

 itic, Grainitoid, and Associated Metamorphic Rocks of the Lake 

 District, has been reprinted separately for the Quarterly Journal 

 of the Geological Society. 



A FOSSIL cockroach and earwig {Lalndura) from South Park, 

 Colorado, is described by Mr. S. H. Scudder in the Sixth 

 Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey of the Terri- 

 tories. 



A " School of Science Philosophical Society" has been for 

 some time established at Gloucester. The members seem bent 

 on real work, and have already formed the nncleus of a good 

 scientific library. 



The Fifteenth Annual Report of the Manchester Scientific 

 Students* Association for 1875 is a very satisfactory one. It 

 contains an account of the excursions made during the year, and 

 also reports of several very good papers read by the members. 



