34« 



NATURE 



[Feb. 13, 1890 



We have already (p. 207) called attention to the fact that a 

 committee has been formed in Paris for the purpose of making 

 arrangements for the erection of a statue of the late M. Boussin" 

 gault. His work marked an era in the history of the agricultural 

 sciences, and we have no doubt there vi^ill be a prompt and 

 liberal response to the committee's appeal for subscriptions. 

 M. Pasteur is the honorary president of the committee. The 

 acting president is M. Schloesing, and the following are the 

 vice-presidents : MM. Berthelot, Duchartre, Laussedat, Peligot, 

 Risler, and Tisserand. MM. Miintz and Sagnier are the secre- 

 taries, and M. Liebaut is treasurer. 



The death of M. Sebastien Vidal, Director of the Botanic 

 Garden at Manilla, is announced. He was well known for his 

 researches on the flora of the Philippine Islands. 



The scheme of the Senate of the University of London, 

 drawn up in accordance with the recommendations of the 

 recent Royal Commission, does not at all commend itself to 

 the authorities of* the provincial Colleges. They are convinced 

 that it would be most injurious to the interests of places of 

 education outside the capital. This view was strongly expressed 

 last autumn at a meeting of representatives of the provincial Col- 

 leges at Birmingham, and yesterday (Wednesday) it was pressed 

 upon the attention of Lord Cranbrook by a deputation which 

 waited upon him at the Privy Council Office. 



To-morrow afternoon (Friday), at the Royal United Service 

 Institution, Mr. H. Dent Gardner will read a paper on "The 

 Ship's Chronometer — its History and Development." The 

 paper will be divided into four parts: (l) historical, (2) 

 "historical-descriptive (the building up of the chronometer), 

 (3) the chronometer of to-day, and (4) methods of testing and 

 lating chronometers. 



The Ben Nevis Observatory Monthly Report for January is 

 of more than usual interest. The rainfall during the month 

 amounted to29"42 inches, being 15TO inches above the mean of 

 the month since the Observatory was opened in 1883. A mea- 

 surable quantity fell every day, and on 1 1 days over an inch was 

 recorded each day, while on the 14th, 3*88 inches fell. The total 

 bright sunshine amounted to only 4 hours, being the smallest num- 

 ber hitherto recorded. Lightning occurred on 5 days. The storm 

 of the 5th was peculiarly severe, on which occasion the tele- 

 graph cable was damaged and communication stopped. St. 

 Elmo's Fire was seen on the 21st and 25th, under the same re- 

 lations to the cyclones then passing over North- Western Europe 

 as described recently in Nature. 



We have received from Mr. C. L. Wragge, Government 

 Meteorologist of Queensland, his first Annual Report of the 

 Meteorological Branch of the Post and Telegraph Department 

 for the year 1887. It is divided into three sections. Section i 

 gives an account of the organization, inspections, &c. , containing 

 a list of the recommendations originally made by Mr. Wragge, 

 and a general statement as to how far each of them has been 

 carried out. This synopsis shows that, while he has accom- 

 plished much during the year 1887, more still remains to be 

 done. Section 2 contains abstracts of reports for each month 

 from the rainfall stations, with climatological and other tables 

 from the stations which are supplied with instruments. These 

 abstracts contain very interesting data upon the state of 

 the country, and will become more valuable in proportion as 

 the number of verified instruments to be supplied year by year 

 increases. As Mr. Wragge himself points out, any conclusions 

 from so short a series of observations would be premature. 

 Section 3 contains a graphic record of the chief meteorological 

 elements for Brisbane, with seasonal wind charts and cloud 

 charts for Queensland, and specimen wind charts for Austral- 



asia. These form the most interesting portion of the Report, 

 and give promise of valuable materials for scientific study. 

 In Western Australia, however, the weather charts show that 

 there are vast tracts of country with apparently no meteorological 

 stations. 



The last issue of the Memoirs of the Tashkent Observatory 

 (Part 3) contains a most valuable magnetical map of part of 

 Central Asia, based on the recent measurements of MM. 

 Sharnhorst and Schwarz. 



We have already mentioned some of the conclusions as to the 

 secular upheaval of the coasts of Finland which may be drawn 

 from the accurate measurements made since 1858 under the 

 direction of the Finska Vetenskaps-Societeten. We have now 

 an elaborate paper on this subject, contributed by A. R. Bonsdorf 

 to the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society (vol. xxv. 5). 

 It appears from the mathematical analysis to which the measure- 

 ments have been submitted that the average upheaval of the 

 coasts of South- West Finland is 55 centimetres per century ; 

 and that the rate of upheaval increases from Ut-o (in the 

 Aland Islands) towards the north, and towards the east as far as 

 Porkala (not far from Ilelsingfors), whence it decreases again 

 towards the east. The interpolation formulae better correspond 

 to actual measurements if the changes of the level of the Baltic 

 Sea resulting from the changes of atmospheric pressure are 

 taken into account. 



Globus reports that the Russian Geographical Society has 

 presented a memorial to the Minister of Marine urging that 

 scientific investigations of various kinds should be undertaken 

 in connection with the Black Sea. Amongst other things, the 

 Society points out that more exact soundings are needed in 

 several parts of that sea, and that it is especially desirable they 

 should be taken in the western part between Odessa and Con- 

 stantinople. 



One of the problems presented by the frightful eruption of 

 Mount Bandai in Japan, two years ago, was the manner in which 

 a large number of holes in the earth in the neighbourhood of the 

 mountain were formed. It was suggested that they owed their 

 existence to the falling of rocks and stones cast up the eruption, 

 while another theory was that they were formed by forces 

 beneath the surface. At the last meeting of the Seismological 

 Society of Japan, Dr. Knott read a paper on the first theory, in 

 which he demonstrated that it was quite insufficient to account 

 for the phenomena. Prof. Milne, it may be added, has expressed 

 the same view from the beginning. 



Last Friday a valuable paper on " The Utility of Forests and 

 the Study of Forestry" was read before the Indian Section of the 

 Society of Arts by Dr. W. Schlich, Professor of Forestry at the 

 Royal College of Engineering, Cooper's Hill. In the course of 

 his remarks Dr. Schlich gave an account of the instruction in 

 forestry at Cooper's Hill, and mentioned that the authorities 

 were thinking of appointing a second professor of the subject, 

 and thus doubling the amount of instruction now given. After 

 the reading of the paper Major-General Michael, C.S. I., who 

 presided, made some interesting observations. No one, he 

 said, who had visited the great forest regions of Germany, 

 Austria, and France could fail to be impressed with the visible 

 effects of good management, and to wish they were more generally 

 apparent in England and Scotland. There were signs that the 

 education and practical training of foresters were being more 

 thought of at the present time in England, and he ventured to 

 predict that Dr. Schlich would shortly have a good many 

 students under him who were destined for home employment and 

 not for India only. Personally he knew more about the value 

 of forestry and the life of a forester in India, having spent seven 

 or eight of the happiest and perhaps the most useful years of 



