Oct. lo, 1889] 



NATURE 



577 



water gas belonged, could be advantageously used for heating by 

 •contact ; as, for instance, in incandescent gas-lamps, for heating 

 up refractory material to the temperature of incandescence, as the 

 flame struck upon the material which had to give the light. But 

 it would never do to heat high-temperature furnaces with a non- 

 luminous gas, because it radiated very little light or heat, and, 

 as he had proved some years ago, large furnaces must be heated 

 by radiation to work economically and efficiently. Although it 

 was proposed to mix water gas and producer gas, he thought 

 that this would not be very easily effected, the one being 

 supplied at a pressure, and the other without pressure. He had 

 no doubt, however, that, if so mixed, they could be advant- 

 ageously employed. 



The Report of the Manchester Technical School, presented 

 at the annual meeting of the life members last week, is a very 

 satisfactory document, and as a record of the year's work it is 

 highly encouraging to all who are interested in the extension of 

 technical instruction. The number of students has increased 

 during the year from 2371 to 3328, and the amount paid in 

 students' fees from £'2^']o to ;i^37ii, and the financial position 

 is otherwise hopeful. The details of the work carried on in the 

 school and in the recently-established spinning and weaving 

 department, afford abundant evidence that the Council take a 

 very comprehensive view of the sphere of technical education. 

 The opening of this new department was the most important 

 extension made during last year, and though at present the number 

 of day students enrolled is small, there can be no doubt that, as 

 the advantages it offers become better known, it will be more 

 and more resorted to by those who wish to gain practical in- 

 struction in the chief textile industries in combination with the 

 study of the scientific laws which regulate them. A considerable 

 number of students are already attending the evening classes in 

 the department. The Report refers to the proposal to establish 

 a technical school in connection with the Whitworth Institute, 

 and the prospects are considered promising by the Council. 

 The negotiations between the Council and the Governors of the 

 new institution will probably result in the foundation of a 

 technical college on the scale, and with all the appliances, of the 

 best schools of the kind in Germany and Switzerland. The 

 growth of the school during the past six years is well shown in 

 the following short table : — 



The grotto lately discovered near the caves of Adelsberg was 

 said to be superior to these famous caverns. According to the 

 Burgomaster of Adelsberg, who has written on the subject to 

 the Vienna Correspondent of the Times, this is a mistake. The 

 new grotto, he says, is very far from equalling the Adelsberg 

 caves. It is a little more than a kilometre in length, and is 

 believed to be a continuation of the Adelsberg caves. Its en- 

 entrance is half an hour's walk from the latter, between the 

 villages of Gressotak and Zagon. It is rich in stalactites, but 

 most of these have the appearance of being covered with white 

 chalk. 



The Boston Society of Natural History is at present much 

 interested in a scheme for the establishment of natural history 

 gardens in that city, and it has authorized its Council to proceed 

 with the work as soon as the sum of 200,cxx> dollars shall have 

 been raised for the purpose. Mr. A. Hyatt, Curator of the 

 Society's Museum, is sanguine enough to write, in his latest 

 Annual Report, that "it is perfectly feasible to establish a series 



of natural history gardens which shall co-operate with the 

 Museum and other public work of the Society, and to form, 

 perhaps, the most effective apparatus for public culture in natural 

 history that has ever been planned before for any city in the 

 world." 



Last week we noticed (p. 549) the work done, under the 

 supervision of Prof. Giglioli, at the stations established in 

 Italy for ornithological observations. Similar stations were 

 created in Saxony, in accordance with the decisions of the 

 Ornithological Congress held at Vienna in 1884, and we have 

 now received the fourth annual Report relating to the results 

 achieved by the observers. The Report, which is accompanied 

 by a map, is by Dr. A. B. Meyer and Dr. F. Helm, and pre- 

 sents a great mass of information, clearly arranged. The first 

 Report, issued in 1885, contained the facts noted in Saxony by 

 43 observers, at 35 stations, regarding 180 species of birds. In 

 the present Report there is a record of what 122 observers at 

 III stations have to tell about 213 species of birds. 



A FULL report of the Apple and Pear Conference held at Chis* 

 wick from October 16-20, 1888, is presented in the tenth volume 

 to the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. The report 

 opens with the address delivered by the President, Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, after which come the following papers : apples for 

 profit, by Mr. GeorgeBunyard ; fruit culture for profit in the 

 open air, by Mr. W. Paul ; dessert pears, by Mr. W. Wildsmith ; 

 on pruning, by Mr. Shirley Hibberd ; canker in fruit trees, by 

 Mr. Edmund Tonks ; canker, its cause and cure, by Mr. James 

 Douglas ; enemies of the apple and pear, by Mr. J. Fraser ; 

 apples for Sussex, by Mr. J. Cheal ; orchards in the West 

 Midlands, by Mr. W. Coleman ; apples and pears for Scotland, 

 by Mr. Malcolm Dunn ; cultivation in Jersey, by Mr, C. B. 

 Saunders ; production and distribution, by Mr. F. J. Baillie ; 

 compensation for orchard planting, by Mr. W. F. Bear ; the 

 railway difficulty, by Mr. D. Tallerman. The volume includes 

 statistical and other information, compiled by Mr. A. F. 

 Barron, as to the cultivation of apples in Great Britain and 

 Ireland ; and a descriptive catalogue, also by Mr. Barron, of 

 apples exhibited in 1883 and 1888. 



A SECOND edition of Prof. Lloyd Morgan's " Animal Biology " 

 (Rivingtons) has been issued. The author has revised the text, 

 substituted in several cases improved woodcuts, and added a 

 brief classification of the types, and a glossary. 



The Royal Geographical Society has issued the sixth edition 

 of the well-known " Hints to Travellers," edited for the Society 

 by Mr. Douglas W. Freshfield and Captain W. J. L. Wharton, 

 R.N. The work has been revised and enlarged. 



M, A. Vayssi^re has just completed the publication of his 

 " Atlas d' Anatomic comparee des Invertebres," in 60 quarto 

 plates. This atlas, accompanied by concise and clear explana- 

 tions, has been received with much favour in the zoological 

 laboratories. 



M. R, Blondel has published a pamphlet of 150 pages, with 

 plates, on the odorous properties of the rose, and the methods 

 used in industry for the extraction of its perfume. 



Mr. William Jordan has issued a pamphlet entitled 

 "Instructions to Inventors as to obtaining Letters Patent and 

 registering Trade Marks and Designs." Reference is made to the 

 latest patent laws of Great Britain, our colonies, and foreign 

 countries. 



Mr. R. H. Porter has sent us his October catalogue of new 

 and secondhand books. It includes many works of scientific 

 interest. 



Prof. G. Pouchet, Director of the Laboratory of Con- 

 carneau, has published, in a large quarto volume of eighty-one 



