June 27, 1889] 



NA TURE 



207 



Dorsetshire and the Isle of Wight, will always possess a 

 special value and charm. It was among the earliest work 

 of its kind, and to this day may be taken as a model of 

 admirable geological cartography. His memoirs, too, 

 are remarkable for their lucidity of statement and clear 

 presentation of fact ; also for a certain literary and 

 antiquarian flavour thoroughly characteristic of the 

 author. 



In the last fifteen or twenty years of his official life 

 Mr. Bristow's time and thought were mainly given to the 

 duties of administration required by the high appoint- 

 ments to which he was promoted. Under Sir Roderick 

 Murchison he became one of the two district-surveyors 

 charged with the immediate supervision of the field-work 

 in England and Wales, and on the death of that chief and 

 the promotion of Sir Andrew C. Ramsay to succeed him, 

 Mr. Bristow was appointed Senior Director, an office 

 which he held until his retirement last summer. 



Yet in spite of the pressure of his official duties, which 

 grew greater as years advanced, Mr. Bristow contrived to 

 find leisure for various pieces of literary work. Perhaps 

 the best known and most useful of them was his 

 " Glossary of Mineralogy," — a volume which has long 

 been out of print, and in the preparation of a new edi- 

 tion of which he looked forward to employ himself 

 during the present year. He also edited translations of 

 Figuier's " La Terreavant le Ddluge " and Simonin's " La 

 Vie souterraine," besides furnishing mineralogical and 

 geological articles to Brande's " Dictionary of Science, 

 Literature, and Art," to Ure's " Dictionary of Arts, 

 Manufactures, and Mines," and to the geological journals. 

 But it is on his contributions to the Geological Survey 

 that his scientific reputation will mainly rest. His last 

 work was the revision of the proof-sheets of a new edition 

 of his classic memoir on the " Geology of the Isle of 

 Wight " — a volume which is now in the press. He did 

 not live to see its publication, and to receive the congratu- 

 lations of his friends on its appearance as the crowning 

 work of his scientific career. Mr. Bristow has carried 

 with him to the grave the affectionate regrets of his 

 colleagues and of all who ever came in contact with his 

 genial kindly nature. 



NOTES. 



Dr. Archibald Geikie has been elected a corresponding 

 member of the Physical and Mathematical Section of the Royal 

 Academy of Science, Berlin. 



On Thursday last, the 20th inst., a dinner was given in Paris 

 to Prof. Francis Darwin, by the members of Scientia, a group of 

 French men of science, who are accustomed to meet once a 

 month al a friendly dinner, and to invite a dis'inguished guest of 

 scientific renown. This dinner was the fourteenth since the foun- 

 dation of the Society, and among the guests have been MM. 

 Pasteur, de Lesseps, Eiffel, Renan, Janssen, Berlhelot, and 

 Chevreul. Mr. F. Darwin was the first foreign guest of the 

 Society. The dinner was attended by many eminent scientific 

 men, among whom were MM. Marey, the physiologist, acting 

 President, Eiffel, de Brazza, Richet, de Lesseps, Giard, and some 

 fifty others. Prof. Marey, in very appropriate terms, recalled 

 the great achievements of Charles Darwin, and spoke enthusias- 

 tically of the doctrine of evolution — a fact worthy of note, when 

 it is remembered that Prof. Marey is a member of the Institute. 

 Mr. Darwin expressed cordial thanks for the honour conferred 

 upon him, but, in the opinion of most of the members, adopted 

 too modest a tone. His "Life and Correspondence of Charles 

 Darwin " has won for him high rank in the esteem of the French 

 scientific public. 



This year the summer meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will be held in Paris. It will begin on Tuesday, 



July 2. The following papers have been offered for reading and 

 discussion : — Description of the lifts in the Eiffel Tower, by M, 

 A. Ansaloni, of Paris (this paper will be supplemented by 

 results of working to date, communicated verbally by M. 

 Gustave Eiffel, President of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils) ; 

 the rationalization of Regnault's experiments on steam, by Mr. 

 J. Macfarlane Gray, of London ; on warp weaving and knitting 

 without weft, by Mr. Arthur Paget, Vice-President, of Lough- 

 borough ; on gas-engines, with description of the Simplex 

 engine, by M. Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville, of Rouen ; 

 on the compounding of locomotives burning petroleum refuse in 

 Russia, .by Mr. Thomas Urquhart, I-ocomotive Superintendent, 

 Grazi and Tsaritsin Railway, South-East Russia ; description of 

 a machine for making paper bags, by Mr, Job Duerden, of 

 Burnley, communicated through Mr. Henry Chapman, honorary 

 local secretary. 



With reference to the proposed visit of geologists to the 

 volcanic regions of Italy next October — a scheme to which we 

 referred last week — Dr. J. Foulerton, Secretary of the Geo- 

 logists' Association, writes to us that the excursion will be under 

 the direction of Dr. H. J. Johnston -Lavis, of Naples, assisted 

 by eminent Italian geologists. Anyone desiring further informa- 

 tion on this subject should communicate as early as possible with 

 Dr. Foulerton, at 44 Pembridge Villas, Bayswater, W., send- 

 ing a stamped and addressed envelope for reply. 



At a meeting on Friday last of the Council of the University 

 College of North Wales, it was decided to open an Agricultural 

 Department at the College in October, and steps were taken 

 with a view to the appointment of a Lecturer in Agriculture. It 

 was stated that the proposal for the formation of dairy schools 

 in connection with the College had met with much support. 



From the Annual Report of the Principal of the O *vens College, 

 Manchester, read on Friday last, at the meeting for the distri- 

 bution of honours and prizes, it appears that the total number 

 of students has increased during the year from 1269 to 1297, 

 and of these no fewer than 380 are in the Medical School. The 

 number of associates elected during the year was 33 : the asso- 

 ciates, of whom there are now more than 300 on the roll, are 

 alumni of the College, and are only elected after taking a 

 degree at a University. It appears also that during the last 

 year 104 Otvens College students passed in arts, science, and 

 law, and 57 in medicine, at the Victoria University. In the 

 London University 51 Owens College students passed in arts, 

 science, and law, and 24 in medicine. Reference was naturally 

 made to the liberal gifts to the College by Sir Joseph Whitworth's 

 legatees. A considerable portion of the most recent extension 

 of the College buildings is devoted to the housing of the old 

 Manchester Natural History and Geological Museums, and the 

 additions made to them since they were handed over to the 

 College. In addition to the sum of ;,^3000 previously given, 

 the W'hitworth legatees extended their gift by the further 

 benefactions of;^25,ooo to the Museum Building Fund, and of 

 £\o,ooo in augmentation of the Museum Trust Fund. 



Prizes will be distributed at the Medical School, St. Thomas's 

 Hospital, on Tuesday, July 2, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, by 

 Sir Henry Dojlton, almoner of the hospital. 



A MEETING of the National Health Society is to be held on 

 Saturday, June 29, in the Town Hall, Westminster, when the 

 Society's certificates gained during the year for proficiency in 

 "domestic hygiene," "sick nursing," and "first aid to the 

 injured," will be presented to the candidates by the Duchess of 

 Westminster. 



The large herbarium of Fungi, transferred by Dr. M. C. 

 Cooke to the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew, is now for 



