;22 



NATURE 



\Feb. 6, 1879 



dissociation of the shocks which are produced under the 

 influence of cold, all these seem arguments in favour of 

 the theory which considers muscular contraction as the 

 result of very frequent shocks ; but the complexity of 

 the voluntary discharge of the torpedo, the manner in 

 which the waves composing it succeed each other and are 

 added together, forms a very important confirmation of 

 the numerous presumptions already made. 



Francois Franck 



SCIENCE IN LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE 



A T Liverpool the annual associated soiree of the 

 ■^~*- Literary, Scientific, and Art Societies, eighteen in 

 number, of which twelve are scientific, held at St. 

 George's Hall on the 31st, was a marked success, and 

 will tend much not only to foster scientific tastes in 

 this district, but inculcate an element of scientific co- 

 operation, in the various institutions of the town, that 

 will be of the highest practical value. The fourteenth 

 Winter Course of Free Lectures for the People, given 

 at the Free Library and Museum, by order of the 

 Corporation, commenced on the 6th of last month. 

 Amongst the forty-one lectures announced, thirteen are 

 on scientific subjects, given by the Rev. W. H. Dal- 

 linger, Mr. Moore (Curator), Mr. De Ranee, Rev. H. 

 H. Higgins, and others. The Liverpool Geological So-:, 

 ciety is also doing good work ; a valuable paper on 

 the carboniferous limestone of Denbighshire was lately 

 read by Mr. Morton, and a short but important minera- 

 logical paper was given by the President, Mr. Semmons. 

 Geological knowledge has been increased by a boring at 

 Bootle, sunk to determine the watsr-bearing properties 

 of the new red sandstone at great depths, by Messrs. 

 Mather and Piatt, for the Liverpool Corporation, who 

 were urged to this course by Alderman Bennett. The 

 boring has reached a depth of 1,300 feet, is 25 inches 

 in diameter, is filled with water up to a height of 50 feet 

 from the surface, and, according to Messrs. De Ranee 

 and Morton, has proved the pebble beds of the Bunter to 

 reach the extraordinary thickness of 1,200 feet, and the 

 existence of the lower mottled sandstone beneath. The 

 pumps not yet being fixed, it is impossible to judge 

 how far the well will add to the supply of 6,000,000 

 gallons a day at present pumped from the corporation 

 wells. 



At Wigan, in addition to the ordinary course of lectures 

 given at the Mining and Mechanical School, a special 

 course has been arranged for candidates for colliery 

 managers' certificates, and gives to the teaching of the 

 school a special technical direction. The extension 

 s:heme for turning the very numerously attended evening 

 classes of this school into a Mining Collegiate Centre for 

 Lancashire, has necessarily languished under the un- 

 exampled and continued depression in the coal trade, 

 though from the number and extent of the promised sub- 

 scriptions and donations to the building-fund, there can 

 be little doubt that, when better times again visit this 

 country, this school will develop into an important 

 centre of technical education. The town has lately had 

 the good fortune to have presented to it a magnificent 

 library, stored in a handsome building erected for the 

 purpose, the former being the bequest of the late Mr. 

 Winnard, the latter the gift of Mr. Thomas Taylor. 

 The reference library is well stored with standard scien- 

 tific works in all branches, and the selection reflects great 

 credit on the industry and acumen of Mr. Gerrard Finch, 

 barrister-at-law, who selected them, under the terms of 

 the will. Some important works are of course conspicuous 

 by their absence, but doubtless this will soon be remedied. 

 The reference portion of this library will henceforth be 

 opened on a Sunday to readers who have asked for special 

 tickets, the extra cost of assistants being defrayed for 

 three years by Mr. Taylor, the donor of the building. 



This town has also now a flourishing Literary and Scien- 

 tific Society, with Lord Lindsay as president ; it is 

 divided into botanical, microscopical, and other sections, 

 at which papers are read by the members, and discussed, 

 and, in addition, special lectures are given to the united 

 sections ; amongst those delivered have been " Spectrum 

 Analysis," by Lord Lindsay, and " Local Geology," by 

 Mr. de Ranee : others are announced by Prof. Mc Kenny 

 Hughes and Prof. Rudler. 



At Southport there is at present little done for fostering 

 a taste for either technical or scientific education, but the 

 very fine aquarium is maintained in great efficiency, the 

 contents of the table tanks, to which we have previously 

 referred, being especially beautiful. 



At Preston, meetings of the Scientific Society have 

 been numerously attended, and the president, Dr. Armin- 

 son, and others, do good microscopical work. The 

 meetings are held at the Avenham Institution, which is 

 well filled with scientific works, including the natural 

 history library of a defunct Naturalists' Society, and it is 

 a matter of regret that the town, in adopting the Free 

 Libraries Act, should not have carried out an amalgama- 

 tion scheme, instead of running a new and inefficient 

 library in opposition to the existing useful and self-sup- 

 porting institution. The Gilchrist Trust lecturers here and 

 at Burnley have been listened to with much interest by 

 large audiences ; and at the latter place Prof. Boyd Daw- 

 kins has inoculated his hearers with his taste for cave- 

 hunting investigations, and searches have been organised 

 into the wild hills which fringe the county boundary of 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire, and form the backbone of 

 England, a district which for the most part appears to 

 be above the level of the glacial sea deposits. 



At Chester the flourishing Natural Science Society that 

 looks back with pride to Kingsley, its founder, and for- 

 ward with hope to its president. Prof. McKenny Hughes, 

 is divided into several sections like a small British Asso- 

 ciation. The most noticeable paper read was one by Mr. 

 Shrubsole, on the Fenestellas of the carboniferous lime- 

 stone, which was an important and valuable contribution 

 to our knowledge of this group, proving from perfect 

 specimens that several supposed species are, in fact, por- 

 tions of the same organism. General lectures have been 

 given to the united sections by Prof. Judd and Mr. De 

 Ranee, who opened the winter session. The Society pos- 

 sesses a very good local museum, but unfortunately it is 

 exhibited in the disused ball-room of an ancient hotel in 

 an out-of-the-way part of the city, and is known to few 

 of the scientific visitors of Chester, and is but seldom 

 visited by the inhabitants. The collection would, how- 

 ever, form an admirable nucleus of a museum for teaching 

 purposes, should the Corporation ever recognise the 

 need of technical education in this town, and erect a 

 building to hold a library, museum, and science and art 

 schools by the side of their fine town hall. Towards 

 filling museums of this class, great advantage would 

 accrue if the duplicate specimens at the British and 

 Jermyn Street Museums were either given, or allowed to 

 circulate, in the same manner as the art treasures from 

 South Kensington Museum. For valuable as are local 

 collections for the scientific specialists, no one can doubt 

 the importance of giving wide and varied knowledge to 

 the general public, such as, perhaps, can only be imparted 

 by the inspection of typical specimens of the natural and 

 artificial products of all countries. Such a collection 

 may be seen on a small scale in the admirable little 

 museum at Castleton, in Derbyshire, formed by Mr. 

 Rooke Pennington, which at once furnishes the visitor 

 with all that can be collected for forming a mental local 

 picture of the past, and affords the inhabitants of the dis- 

 trict an opportunity of knowing something of the world 

 around them. 



At Manchester the museum at Owens College now 

 includes the entire collections of the Manchester Natural 



