A. ay 9, 187S j 



NATURE 



49 



sive building containing many magnificent rooms for sections. 

 For all inquiries relating to the Paris meeting letters must be 

 directed to M. Gariel, Secretary of Council, 76, rue de Rennes, 

 Paris. 



i At the general monthly' meeting of the Royal Institution 

 of Great Britain, the Secretaiy announced that the managers 

 had granted the use of the lecture-theatre to the Sanitary 

 Institute of Great Britain for their anniversary meeting on July 

 3 at 3 o'clock, when an address would be given by Mr. Frank 

 Buckland, M.A., on "The Pollution of Rivers, and its EflFects 

 upon the Fisheries and the Supply of Water to Towns and 

 Villages." 



Messrs. Blackwood have published a fifth edition of Prof. 

 H. A. Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology." While the plan of 

 the work is essentially the same as in former editions, the entire 

 work, the author states, has been submitted to careful revision, 

 and large portions of it have been almost entirely rewritten. 



A COMMITTEE has already been formed in Holland, tinder the 

 presidency of Prince'Alexander_of the Netherlands, to celebrate, 

 in a fitting manner, the 300th anniversary of the eminent philo- 

 sopher and statesman, Hugo de Groot, who was born on April 

 10, 1583. 



A MEDALLION representing M. Thenard, the celebrated pro- 

 fessor of chemistry, who was during a long time Dean of the 

 Faculty of Sciences and Chancellor of the Paris University, has 

 been sculptured on the walls of the Sorbonne courtyard. It 

 was inaugurated on the occasion of the meeting of the Societes 

 Savants. It bears the'date'of 1877, the centennial year of M. 

 Thenard's nativity. M. Thenard died in 1857. 



The Jardin d'Acclimatation at Paris has just succceeded in 

 obtaining an East Indian tapir, an animal rarely found in 

 European collections, although the South American variety is 

 comparatively common. 



An interesting work has just appeared in Stuttgart from the 

 pen of Dr. R. Andree, on " Ethnographic Parallels and Com- 

 parisons." The author has chosen over twenty various subjects, 

 and has gathered together on these topics an enormous amount 

 of material from all the races on the globe. Among these 

 subjects are constellations, cairns, "measures of value, mothers- 

 in-law,- the vampyre, skull worship, the umbrella as mark of 

 dignity, &c. In view of the rapid invasions of European 

 culture in every direction, the author considers it of the utmost 

 importance to complete as rapidly as possible the collection of all 

 objects necessary to preserve a complete picture of the material 

 and intellectual condition of the uncivilised peoples now existing, 



Mr. Lugger, the curator of the Maryland Academy of 

 Sciences, left Baltimore on April 4 for the purpose of prose- 

 cuting explorations in the West Indies and in Demerara in be- 

 half of the Academy. In the course of his mission he will en- 

 deavour to prociure living plants for the conservatory of Druid 

 Hill Park and material for the zoological investigations of the 

 Johns Hopkins University. 



Despite numerous misfortunes, Berlin still continues to sur- 

 pass all other European cities in its collection of anthropoid 

 apes. The Zoological Gardens have just received from Borneo 

 a healthy pair of orang-outangs, which, added to the one already 

 in their possession, make an exhibition of rare interest. 



On the evening of April 23 Vesuvius showed signs of internal 

 disturbance, sending up a column of flame at short intervals 

 from the crater. 



A French physician. Dr. Quimus, has lately made an elabo- 

 rate study of a new disease, prevalent among telegraphic 



employees, and closely resembling writers' cramp. It is more 

 common among the female operators. 



From the last quarterly list of the members of the Institution 

 of Civil Engineers, we gather that this increasing body now con- 

 sists of 1,033 members, 1,759 associates, and 16 honorary 

 members, together 2,808 ; besides a class of ^students attached 

 numbering 520. 



The German Fischerei-Verein, of the activity of which we 

 have made frequent mention, is engaged now in introducing the 

 Californian salmon extensively into German waters. Of 

 300,000 eggs sent across the ocean, 25,000 arrived in good con- 

 dition, and the resultant fish have been divided between the 

 rivers of the Danube valley and_ those of the Rhine. 300,000 

 young eels from Normandy are being introduced into the Prussian 

 streams. 



Amongst the few halls of the Paris Exhibition which can be 

 considered as quite ready we must notice the excellent school 

 exhibition of the City of Paris, which is situated in the central 

 part of the palace. 



A NEW remedy for diarrhoea in men and animals is said to 

 have been discovered in New Zealand, where it has long been 

 in use among the Maories. It consists in a decoction made by 

 pouring boiling water on the green leaves of a shnib called 

 roromiko by the natives. The liquid, though slightly bitter, is 

 said to be not unpleasant to the taste. It is asserted that two 

 doses of this decoction will always effect a cure even in bad 

 cases. 



A Japanese (native) paper states that a resident at Osaka 

 has been endeavouring to manufacture oil from cnide camphor, 

 for which purpose he has built a large factory in that town. 

 The oil he makes is described as being cheaper and better for 

 piu^poses of illumination than kerosene. 



One of the curiosities of industr}', according to the yapan 

 Herald, is the manufacture of boots by the Japanese for sale in 

 the United States, a trade which is of quite recent origin, but 

 has already attained considerable proportions. Oddly enough 

 most of the leather used is imported into Japan from the United 

 States. 



A product of the South Sea Islands, "copra" which is the 

 dried kernel of the cocoa-nut, is being turned to a new account. 

 Hitherto it has only been used for making oil, but now it has 

 been discovered that the residue, after that process, is valuable 

 as food for cattle and sheep. 



There have been not a few signs recently that Spain is awaken- 

 ing from her long lethargy with regard to progress of all kinds, aiid 

 one more comes to us in Nos. 6 to 25 (with the exception of No.. 

 13, which has not come to hand), of the Boletin de la Inshtiicion 

 Libre de Ensenanza (Madrid), which make us acquainted with the 

 Proceedings down to February 28. These recent numbers give 

 us information as to the rules and objects of the Institution. By 

 Article I the Institution is "Consagrada al cultivo y propa- 

 gacion de la ciencia en sus diversos ordenes." By Art. 3 the 

 number of Fellows is unlimited. By Art. 15 "La Institucion 

 es completamente ajena a todo espiritu e interes de comunion 

 religiosa, escuela filosofica 6 partido politico ; proclamando tan 

 solo el principio de la libertad e inviolabilidad de la ciencia y 

 de la consiguiente independencia de su indagacion y exposicion 

 respecto de cualquiera otra autoridad que la de la propria 

 conciencia del Profesor, unico responsable de sus doctrinas. 

 Art. 16 : La Institucion establecera, segun lo permitan las circum- 

 stancias y los medios de que pueda disponer : i , Estudios de 

 cultura general (6 de segunda Ensenanza) y prof esionales, con los 

 efectos academicos que les concedan las leyes del Estado ; 2. 



