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NATURE 



{Dec. 5, 1878 



*' The Logic of Architectural Design ; " February 7, Rev, H. R. 

 Haweis, " Bells ; " February 14, Prof. G. Johnstone Stoney, 

 "The Story of the November Meteors;" February 21, Prof. 

 Roscoe, "A New Chemical Industry;" February 28, Sir 

 Wm. Thomson, " The Sorting Demon of Maxwell ;" March 7, 

 Prof. Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S. ; March 14, Mr. E. B. Tylor, 

 *'The History of Games;" March 21, Prof. Abel, C.B., 

 F.R.S., " Recent Contributions to the History of Detonating 

 Agents ; " March 28, Sir Henry C. Rawlinson, K.C.B., D.C.L., 

 "The Geography of^the Oxus, and the Changes of its Course at 

 different Periods of History ; " April 4, Mr. Warren de la Rue, 

 D.C.L., F.R.S. 



The Smithsonian Institution of Washington, U.S., has issued 

 a catalogue of their valuable publications, and a list of various 

 societies, journals, &c., with which they exchange publications. 

 The Institution is anxious to add to this list any societies with 

 which they have not hitherto been in'communication, and also the 

 names of specialists in all parts of the world. Communications 

 should be addressed to Dr. Spencer F. Baird, at the Institution. 



The Rev. S. J. Whitmee writes us with reference to reports 

 which hate lately reached this countr}' of violent volcanic erup- 

 tions in the Society Islands, and also in the neighbourhood of 

 New Britain. "These," he says, "have not, however, been 

 confirmed, and from private information received from Tahiti, I 

 Iiear that nothing has occurred in the Society Islands like what 

 has been reported. From an Australian paper I saw a month 

 ag®, that the master of the brigxntine Matautu had found a vast 

 quantity of pumice-stone about the Ellice Islands. This is now 

 confirmed by the captain of the missionary barque John 

 Williams, who visited these islands in May and June last. 

 From his account, a brief notice of which appeared in the T%mes 

 last Friday, we learn that the pumice has reached the Ellice 

 group from another locality, and that there has been no eruption 

 in those islands. I give the following quotation from a notice 

 of the J-ohn Williams' voyage which appears in the Samoa 

 Times for July 27 : — ' In the Gilbert group, although the 

 currents were somewhat irregular, the old strong easterly set 

 seems to prevail again. In fact, sometimes it was running at 

 the rate of thirty-six to forty-eight knots in the twenty-four 

 Jhours. . . . On the outward voyage {from Samoa), when 

 about 120 miles to the east of Nukulaelae, vast quantities of 

 pumice-stone were passed, and the shores of all the Ellice 

 Islands from Nukulaelae to Nintao and Nanumea are thickly 

 covered with it. It is no exaggeration to say that hundreds of 

 tons have been thrown up on every island. Stumps of trees and 

 thick bamboos with roots attached have been thrown up on 

 some of the islands. Early in May the brig Isabella, Everts, 

 master, from Sydney, called at Vaitupu, and there left a report 

 that there had been some volcanic eruption in the Society group. 

 One report even says that Raiatea and Borabora have been 

 ■destroyed, and 2,000 lives lost. There were also passed while 

 beating back (to Samoa) between Nukulaelae and Fakaofo, one 

 mdlili tree about eighty feet long, one cocoa-nut tree, and four 

 other gigantic forest trees, all evidently proofs that the story of 

 Capt. Evers is probably only too true. The pumice-stone began 

 to arrive on the Ellice Islands about the middle of April, and 

 continued till the middle of June. When first noticed there 

 was no seaweed growth on the pieces, and no barnacles, but by 

 the beginning of June this began to be plainly noticeable. 

 There is no trace of the pumice-stone in the Union or Gilbert 

 Groups, and the time of its arrival in the Ellice group will be 

 interesting to those who study the question of ocean currents.' 

 From the above remarks it ■ would appear that the pumice is 

 supposed to have arrived from the east, and it is taken for 

 granted that it has come from the Society Islands. But it is at 

 least doubtful whether any eruption has taken place there. And, 



at a date later than that given as the time when the pumice ceased 

 to reach Vaitupu, the John Williams met with trees far to the 

 east of that island. If it had come from the east, surely some 

 would have been seen also about the Union or Tokelau Islands. 

 We must wait for further information as to where the eruption 

 took place ; but I am inclined to think it must have been to the 

 west of the Ellice Islands.' ' 



We hear that M. Mannheim is engaged upon the preparation 

 of a work entitled " Geometric Cinematique." Hitherto our 

 acquaintance with this important subject has been derived from 

 Italian and German works, or these translated into French. M. 

 Mannheim's ability as a geometer leads us to expect he will 

 produce an elegant treatise on this branch of geometry. 



According to the report for 1877 recently issued, made by 

 Dr. Corfield, the Medical Officer of Health for St. George's, the 

 death-rate for the parish in that year was as low as I7'46, Of 

 the three sub-districts into which the parish is divided Hanover 

 Square had a rate of i6'58, Mayfair of I3'04, and Belgravia of 

 l8*70. The rate for the whole parish (i7'46), with a calculated 

 population of 91,037 is compared with some of the twenty-two 

 "other large towns of the United Kingdom." Portsmouth has 

 the lowest rate (17*4), which is therefore just under, Brighton 

 with 187 coming next. No foreign town has so low a death 

 rate as St. George's parish, the nearest known approach being 

 Philadelphia (i8*8). Dr. Corfield has calculated the mean dura- 

 tion of life in the parish and in each of the sub-districts for 1877. 

 For the whole parish it was 49*52 years, for Hanover Square 

 sub-district 56*63, for Mayfair 62*66, and for Belgravia 45*53. 

 The mean duration in the 22 towns on which the Registrar- 

 General reports was (including London) 34*2. 



Prof. E. Morren's useful " Correspondance Botanique " is 

 continually increasing in size. This year it occupies 150 pages^ 

 against 92 last year. The principal increase is in the American 

 department, which is much fuller and more complete than it has 

 been before. But in Europe also there is an increase in the 

 number of names, partly due no doubt to more accurate informa- 

 tion, but partly also, we may hope, to an actual increase in the 

 number of workers in botanical science. It is a significant fact 

 that while second and third class university towns in Germany or 

 Italy number their six or eight working botanists, mostly attached 

 to the university, the number of names given under the heads ot 

 Oxford and Cambridge together is five. 



The Golos publishes the following telegram from Tiflis, dated 

 November 27: — "Telegraphic intelligence received to-day 

 states that this morning at two o'clock a severe earthquake wai 

 experienced at Suram and Borjom. A frightful rumbling noise 

 was heard during the earthquake, accompanied [by a shock so 

 severe that people were thrown from their beds. Nothing 

 similar has occurred in the district before." 



Yesterday M. Bardoux, Minister of Public Instruction, laid 

 the first stone of _the ,new practical school of the Faculty of 

 Medicine in Paris. 



The Commission for the reception of the great reflector at 

 the Paris Observatory have assented to its reception, although 

 the mirror cannot be used in its full breadth without being dia- 

 phragmised at the circumference. It is stated, moreover, that 

 the instrument can be used only on a very few days in the year 

 in the atmosphere of Paris, and that reflectors are decidedly 

 unmanageable except under special circumstances. It remains 

 to be~explained, then, how Lord Rosse and the great Herschel 

 could manage to make so many interesting discoveries with 

 instruments declared so unsuitable for celestial observations. 



The Paris Observatory being no more intrusted with the care 

 of publishing the International Bulletin of Meteorology, which 

 has been taken over to the rue de Grenelle by the Central 



