84 



NATURE 



{Nov. 28, 1889 



reddish colour of the dentine ; while in M. humboldti the 

 whole of the crown is of a yellowish or white hue, with 

 darker roots. These distinctive colours are very noticeable 

 in many of the specimens in the British Museum, which 

 have been respectively referred to the two species in 

 question. 



The work concludes with descriptions of the remains 

 of two species of the remarkable Perissodactylate genus 

 Macrauchcttia, viz. the typical M. patachonica of Owen, 

 and M. paranensis, originally described by Bravard as 

 Palceotherium. Of the former species an entire skeleton 

 is figured, and the author concludes that the genus is, on 

 the whole, most nearly allied to PalcEotheriinn, although 

 the skull presents some remarkable resemblances to that 

 of the tapirs. It appears, moreover, from the presence 

 of muscular impressions on the cranial bones, that the 

 nose formed a short proboscis, as in the latter group. 

 The author also gives us an elaborate description of the 

 teeth, which are undoubtedly of a Palaeotherioid type. It 

 is further observed that in the author's opinion there 

 appear to be no grounds for generically separating M. 

 paranensis and the smaller M. inimita from the typical 

 genus ; and the author concludes his volume with some 

 remarks on the proposal of Dr. F. Ameghino to regard 

 the former as the type of the genus Scalibri7iitheriuin,2SiA 

 to adopt the name of Oxydon\to'\therium for the latter. 



The above appears to be the gist of Dr. Burmeister's 

 new contributions to our knowledge of the wonderful 

 Tertiary fauna of South America, which he has done so 

 much to enrich. And we congratulate him on the results 

 of this his latest work, and especially on the excellent 

 illustrations by which it is accompanied, since the want 

 of such aids to a right comprehension of the text forms 

 such a great drawback to the work hitherto published by 

 other contemporary South American writers on the same 

 subject. R- L. 



NOTES. 



In his speech at Nottingham on Tuesday evening Lord Salis- 

 Ijury made a most important reference to the subject of what is 

 called free education. He said: — " There is another question 

 which we have heard a good deal discussed, and that is with 

 regard to what has been, in my opinion, improperly termed free 

 education. I should rather call it assisted education, because I 

 do not know that anybody, however extreme his views, would 

 desire that all the inhabitants of this country, whether rich or 

 poor, whether capable of paying for the education of their children 

 or not, should enjoy free education for those children at the cost 

 of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the other hand, I have 

 before expressed the opinion — I expressed it four years ago, 

 before the two last general elections, at Newport — that by 

 making education compulsory, by forcing the people to send 

 their children to school whether they ask it or not, you were 

 incurring a certain obligation to relieve the burden of that com- 

 pulsion, where the circumstances of the parent were such that it 

 was too heavy for him to bear. We believe that considerable pro- 

 gress in that direction may be made. We have already introduced 

 measures to that effect in Scotland. I believe that with perfect 

 consistency with sound principle, and merely recognizing the 

 fact that where you enforce a duty upon a man you are bound to 

 make it as easy for him as you can — I believe that it will be 

 possible considerably to extend that principle in England, and 

 very greatly to relieve the difficulties of the working man in that 

 respect. But allow me to say that I consider the question as to 

 its rapidity, and as to its progress, to be a question for the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer. If he has got the money I have 

 no doubt he will do it, but if he has not got the money he will not. 

 But it is an object to which I believe a great deal of the money 

 of a Chancellor of the Exchequer may very fairly be applied." 

 The Government is to be congratulated on the pledge thus given 

 to consider the matter. 



The Royal Society will hold its anniversary meeting on 

 Saturday. After the meeting the Fellows will dine together. 



On Tuesday the degree of D.C. L., honoris cansA, was con- 

 ferred in Convocation, at Oxford, upon Mr. Alfred Russel 

 Wallace. Prof. Holland presented him for the degree, and 

 dwelt upon his labours as a naturalist in Brazil, the Malay 

 Archipelago, and elsewhere ; upon the now famous doctrines 

 elucidated by him, and upon the relations between him and Mr. 

 Darwin, reflecting equal honour upon both. 



A Conference, called by the National Association for the 

 Promotion of Technical Education, was held in the Manchester 

 Town Hall on Tuesday. About 300 delegates were present 

 from the different technical schools and associations throughout 

 the Kingdom. The chair was occupied at first l)y the Mayor of 

 Manchester, and subsequently by Mr. Rathbone, M.P. General 

 Donnelly was present to represent the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment, South Kensington. Sir Henry Roscoe, M.P., .sir Ed- 

 mund Currie, Mr. A. H. D. Acland, M. P., and Mr. Mather, 

 M.P., were among those present. The discussions related to 

 the question of the working of the Technical Instruction Act, 

 1889. A report was read by Sir Henry Roscoe, showing that 

 the Act was being adopted partly or wholly in a large number 

 of towns throughout the Kingdom. The meeting will do great 

 good, and we shall refer to it next week. 



According 1o a circular which has recently been sent to the 

 leading physicists, electricians, and others interested in the 

 history of English science, it is proposed to establish a Gilbert 

 Club, the inaugural meeting of which has been convened this 

 day in the rooms of the Society of Arts at 4.30 p.m. The object 

 of the Club is to do justice to the memory of the illustrious 

 President of the College of Physicians who was in the possession 

 of, and was actually carrying on, the true experimental method of 

 scientific inquiry at a time when Bacon was only talking and 

 writing about it. There can be no doubt that the claims of 

 William Gilbert, of Colchester, have been to a great extent over- 

 shadowed by the fame of the renowned Lord Chancellor, 

 and it is much to be regretted that we have not had handed 

 down to us more of the results of Gilbert's labours than are to be 

 found in his celebrated work " De Magnet e," published in the 

 year i6od. Such as it is, this work may, however, be justly 

 regarded as the earliest English scientific classic, and its author 

 must be recognized as the first truly philosophical investigator in 

 the now all-important subjects of electricity and magnetism. 

 The Club has been organized for the object of bringing out an 

 English edition of " De Magnete" as nearly as possible in the 

 style of the original folio edition, and to arrange for a befitting 

 celebration of the tercentenary of this work in the year 1900. 

 To quote the circular: — "The publication of ' De Magnete' 

 not only marked an epoch in the science of magnetism, but 

 constituted the absolute starting-point of the science of electricity. 

 It has been hitherto a reproach to British electricians that they 

 too little recognized the merits of the founder of the science." 

 The preliminary list of members already includes the names of 

 Sir William Thomson, Lord Rayleigh, Prof. Tyndall, Sir John 

 Lubbock, Prof Riicker, Prof Lodge, Mr. Preece, Prof. Reinold, 

 Prof Perry, Prof G. Forbes, Prof D. E. Hughes, Sir F. A. 

 Abel, Sir F, Bramwell, Sir Douglas Gallon, Sir H. Mance, 

 Colonel Festing, Captain Abney, Prof Carey Foster, Prof. W. 

 G. Adams, Prof J. C. Adams, Prof Roberts-Austen, Prof 

 Thorpe, Prof G. H. Darwin, Prof Liveing, Prof. Dewar, Prof. 

 W. N. Shaw, Prof Poynting, Prof Ray Lankester, Mr. Crookes, 

 Mr. J. Hopkinson, Mr. Glazebrook, Mr. G. J. Symons, Dr. J. 

 H. Gladstone, Dr. B. W. Richardson, Prof. Victor Horsley, 

 Mr. Latimer Clark, &c. 



Dr. Quesneville, the French chemist, died on November 

 14, at the age of eighty. He took his degree of doctor o 



