May 2, 1878] 



NATURE 



21 



scientific exhibits ; the British Department will be nothing more 

 than a trade show. Let us hope that the British Commissioners 

 and British visitors generally will return from Paris ashamed of 

 their shoppy display, and filled with a sense of the vast national 

 importance of science, which in the case of France, it will be 

 seen, tnily "exalteth a nation." 



The large fresh-water and salt-water aquariums in the Troca- 

 dero Gardens at the Paris Exhibition were stocked last week. 

 A regular service of barges is engaged in bringing daily 

 quantities of sea-water from the; coast to supply the second 

 aquarium. 



The amount proposed- to be spent "upon the building of the 

 new Natural Histoiy Museum at South Kensington for the pre- 

 sent financial year (1878-79) is, according to the Civil Service 

 Estimates, 80,000/., being 10,000/. more than last year. Of 

 this sum, 60,000/. is for the building, which is now verging 

 towards completion, and 20,000/. for internal fittings. We are 

 pleased to see that the authorities are already turning their 

 attention to the last subject, but should they not also begin to 

 think about a library t As regards scientific work, the natiu-al 

 history collections in their new house will be absolutely useless 

 without a library. Our readers may possibly think that a scien- 

 tific library may be got any year by the use of a certain quantity 

 of money, but they will find themselves very much disappointed 

 when they attempt to try this experiment. The fact is, such a 

 library as is required for the use of a great national museum can 

 only be picked up by slow degrees, and so soon as it was deter- 

 mined to move the collections away from the great public library 

 in Great Russell Street, steps should have been taken to form a 

 new one for the collections in their new site. This, however, 

 does not appear to have been thought of yet. 



Our readers will be glad to hear that Prof. Clifford, who 

 is at present at Gibraltar, is somewhat better. 



There was a convetsazione at the Royal Society last 

 evening. 



The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University has appointed 

 Prof. Clerk Maxwell Rede Lecturer for the ensuing year. 



An agreeable variation on the daily news from Constanti- 

 nople is the report of the completion of the Museimi of Anti- 

 quities in the Turkish capital. In 1875 Arifi Pacha, the Minister 

 of Instruction, ordered the renovation for this purpose of an 

 old kiosk on the Seraglio Point, built in 147 1 by the conqueror 

 of Constantinople, and the work has been pushed steadily for- 

 ward, even despite the war, until now a spacious edifice, richly 

 decorated with marble, is ready to receive the archaeological col- 

 lection of the city. Visitors at Constantinople who have found 

 their way to the dark, dusty hall in the arsenal, where quantities 

 of valuable antiquities were crowded together in chaotic confu- 

 sion, will appreciate the value of this ample provision for their 

 exhibition, especially for the extensive collections resulting from 

 Schliemann's excavations at Troy. A school of archseology is 

 to be established in connection with the museum. 



We have variety enough of Associations, learned and other- 

 wise, in this country, but none corresponding to that which met 

 on April 24 and subsequent days at the Sorbonne, composed of 

 the delegates of the various learned societies throughout France, 

 and founded by Leverrier many years ago. We have the 

 elements for such an association in abundance ; and, indeed, 

 concretions of greater or less extent have begun to form in 

 different parts of the countiy. There is, for example, the 

 Cumberland Association, which met last week, and which, if not 

 founded by our national astronomer, like the French Association, 

 had the honour of listening to what he describes as probably 



his last public lecture. Then there is that extensive association 

 of societies and field-clubs in Yorkshire, which publishes a 

 journal of its own ; and most recent of all, there is the Midland 

 Union, with head-quarters at Birmingham, extensive ramifica- 

 tions, and " running " an excellent magazine, the Midland 

 Naturalist. But there is room for something more national and 

 more universal than any of these, and not interfering with their 

 action at all ; and as a preliminary step we would suggest that a 

 general meeting of delegates from the various local societies 

 throughout the ^kingdom should be held at some central city. 

 Such a meeting might be useful in many ways, leading as it 

 might do to united action with regard to common interests, as 

 useful, indeed, in respect to our local societies, as the recent 

 Conference of Librarians has been to the libraries of the world. 

 If properly organised we believe the meeting would become an 

 annual institution. 



The President of this year's meeting, the sixteenth, of the 

 French Learned Societies, was M. Milne-Edwards, who devoted 

 his opening address mainly to the memory of the Association's 

 founder, Leverrier. The number of delegates was smaller than 

 in former years, many of them having postponed their visit to 

 Paris till the Exhibition was opened, and the discussions seem to 

 have lacked the keenness and impressiveness which always cha- 

 racterised them when Leverrier presided. The first two days 

 were devoted to sectional meetings, and on the concluding day 

 the distribution of prizes took place, as usual under the chair- 

 manship of the Minister of Public Instruction. An immense 

 crowd had been attracted in the hope of hearing from M. Bar- 

 doux himself what was the intention of the Government with 

 regard to education ; but he postponed any definite statement 

 to the month of October, when the association will hold a supple- 

 mentary meeting after having taken part in the several scientific 

 congresses and lectiu-es held at the Trocadero. He reviewed all 

 the improvements realised last year in the educational system of 

 France. ** Soon," he said, "everjrwhere when the want will 

 become manifest, libraries, laboratories, and collections will be 

 established exhibiting the passionate zeal of Government for 

 everything which touches the superior interest of instruction. A 

 time will soon arrive when every hamlet will have its o^vn school 

 and when the tools of intellectual work will be at the disposal 

 of every seeker." There can be no doubt of the sjon- 

 pathy of the present French Government for every form of 

 scientific effort. Some important scientific papers were read 

 during the meeting, but we cannot at present do more than 

 mention the fact. In the scientific section gold medals were 

 assigned to M. Cailletet for the liquefaction of gases. Dr. 

 Armand for explorations in Cambodia and Laos, General de 

 Nansouty, founder of the Observatory on Pic du Midi ; Prof. 

 Terquem for physical researches, and Prof. Houel for mathe- 

 matical works. 



Although no allusion was made by M. Bardoux in his 

 address at the Sorbonne to the contemplated improvements 

 meditated for French meteorology, we can state that he will 

 ask from the French Parliament a credit of 10,000/., and 

 2,000/. for five successive years, in order to organise in France 

 ten large meteorological observatories, possessing each a com- 

 plete set of registering instruments. The contemplated institu- 

 tions, some of which have been already created, will be located 

 at Lille, Paris (Montsouris), where M. Marie Davy will be 

 continued superintendent, at the country seat of Mr. Herve- 

 Mangon in the department of La Manche, where a private 

 observatory has already been organised, at Bordeaux, Toulouse, 

 Marseilles, Lyons, Besan9on, and the three elevated observa- 

 tories, Pic-du-Midi, Pny-de-D6me, and Mont Ventoux. 



The Annual Meeting of the Cumberland Association for the 

 Advancement of Literature and Science may now be regarded 



