262 



NATURE 



{July 4, 1878 



usually vexing questions of locomotion and commissariat care- 

 fully attended to. The gentlemen of the Excursion Committee 

 are sparing neither time nor trouble to work out the exceedingly 

 ■difficult task they have undertaken in a thoroughly satisfactory 

 manner. A report from Professors M'Nab and Macalister, 

 editors of the "Guide Book," was read, and shows that the 

 little volume will be a most interesting one. It will consist of 

 sixteen parts, embracing every subject of scientific interest, and 

 will have the following maps : — The six-inch map of the City of 

 Dublin, the ten mile to the inch map of the province of Leinster, 

 and a geologically coloured map of the country, on a scale 

 of a quarter of an inch to the mile. The maps are being prepared 

 under the direction of Major "Wilkinson, chief of the Ordnance 

 Survey in Ireland. 



Among the excursions arranged for in connection with the 

 approaching Paris meeting of the French Association are the 

 following : On August 24, to Fecamp and Etretat ; 28th to 

 Tancarville Chateau, the Roman remains at Lillebonne, and the 

 manufactures of Bolbec;_on the 31st to Rouen, returning by 

 steamer to Paris. 



The following is a list of the scientific conferences still to be 

 held in connection with the Paris Exhibition : — Demogjraphy, 

 July 5-9 ; Ethnography, July 15-17 ; Means of Transport, July 

 22-27 > Hygiene, August l-io ; Civil Engineering, August 

 5-14; Anthropology, August 15-21; Commerce and Industry, 

 August 16-22; Meteorology, August 24-28; Geology, Sep- 

 tember 2-4. 



The distribution of the medals of the Paris Geographical 

 Society at the Sorbonne on Friday was witnessed by an 

 immense crowd which had gathered to hear Mr. Stanley, who 

 was received with tremendous enthusiasm. His address, in 

 which he carefully expounded the state of African exploration 

 when he began his work, was delivered in English, and a transla- 

 tion read in French by M. Maunoir, the general secretary of the 

 Society. gThe meeting was presided over by Admiral La Ronciere 

 ie Nourry, who spoke in English when he handed over the gold 

 medal to the great African explorer. Stanley returned thanks 

 in English. These two addresses were not translated as it 

 became evident a large number of the audience understood the 

 proceedings. The other medals to M. Vivien De St. Martin 

 and Dr. Harmand were then delivered. 



At the Paris /^/<f of' June 30 the part played by electricity 

 was smaller than anticipated. The number of electric lamps 

 was large, but the effect not particularly good. The Jablokhofif 

 candles, although superior to gas-lamps, were not sufficient to 

 overcome all the mass of light which surrounded them. A large 

 number of Bunsen elements had -been put into requisition, but 

 the regulators were wanting in regularity, and much of the effect 

 was consequently lost. Competent persons say that the result 

 would not have been so poor if previous successes had not 

 raised too ambitious expectations in the public and too much 

 <:onfidence in the operator. 



The position in the physical section of the French Academy of 

 Sciences, rendered vacant by the death of Becquerel in January 

 last, has been filled by the election of M. A. Cornu. The re- 

 •cipient of this honour is best known by his investigations into 

 such fundamenta as the density of the earth and the velocity of 

 light. Among his other researches of more recent date we might 

 mention those " On the Experimental Determination of the Prin- 

 -cipal Elements in an Optical System," and " On the Optical 

 Polarisation due to the Reflexion on the Surface of Transparent 

 Bodies." M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran has been elected a Corre- 

 sponding Member in place of the late M. Malaguti. 



Prof. A. W. Hofmann, of Berlin, has passed through a 

 ■severe attack of fever during the past month, and, although 



now out of danger, will be for some time unable to fulfil the 

 active duties of his position. A handsome brochure has lately 

 appeared, commemorating the grand commers given in honour 

 of his sixtieth birthday, by the students of Berlin, last March. 



At the general meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society 

 to-morrow Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Buchan will read a paper com- 

 paring the weather and health of New York with London ; and 

 Mr. Buchan another on the influence of the physical configuration 

 on the seasonal distribution of the Scottish rainfall. 



Mr. Edwyn C. Reed, well known to many English zoolo- 

 gists from the collections he has from time to time forwarded 

 from Chile, and author of several papers on the entomology of 

 that country, has left his post in^the Museum of Santiago and 

 accepted the appointment of Professor of Zoology in the 

 " Liceo " of Valparaiso, and Director of its Museum. Mr, 

 Reed sends us copies of two papers which he has recently 

 published at Santiago, one on the Diurnal Lepidoptera of Chile, 

 the other on the Mammals and Birds of the hacienda of Cau- 

 quenes, in the province of Colchagua. Both of these deserve 

 the attention of European naturalists. 



The completion of GifiFard's large captive balloon has 

 been postponed owing to the bad weather which prevailed in 

 Paris during the greater part of June, but the recent fine 

 weather has enabled the works to be resumed and the balloon 

 will be completed in a few days. On the occasion of the fite 

 of June 30, a balloon of 17,000 cubic feet was sent up with two 

 aeronauts. It was filled in forty minutes with hydrogen gas 

 generated with M. GifTard's continuous apparatus, which con- 

 trivance is in perfect order, and will be used this week to fill, in 

 about two days, the monster of 25,000 cubic feet. 



The Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society 

 have decided Jo_have this year again a marine excursion to Arran. 

 Facilities will be afTorded both for dredging excursions in Lam- 

 lash and Brodick Bays and elsewhere in the vicinity ; and for 

 land excursions to investigate the botany and highly interesting 

 geolc^ of the island. During the summer season a most 

 interesting series of observations may be made on the microscopic 

 larval forms of marine life (hydroids, echinoderms, crustaceans, 

 annelids, &c.) which abound in the sea, and may at this time 

 readily be taken by the tow net. The late season of the year 

 when the previous excursions have been made precluded much 

 attention" to this most interesting branch of marine zoology, 

 which will be ^specially studied on this occasion. Should a 

 sufficient number join the excursion it is hoped that a small 

 steamer may be chartered, which will economise time and add 

 to personal comfort. The time for the excursion will be from 

 about the 19th to the 27th of July, but the days will be posi- 

 tively fixed at a meeting of those who are desirous of joining the 

 excursion. The expense will be very moderate, and the Bir- 

 mingham Society deserve every credit for their enterprise. 



The committee who are charged with the arrangements for 

 the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of 

 University College desire to make known that ladies will be 

 admitted to the festival on the same terms as gentlemen. Many 

 ladies have already obtained tickets, and others, who may desire 

 to do so, will find full particulars in the advertisement now 

 appearing in our columns. Among those who have accepted 

 the invitation of the committee are the Earl and Countess of 

 Granville, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Northbrook, the 

 Earl Fortescue, Lord and Lady Ebury, Lady Belper, Mr. and 

 Mrs. Goschen, Sir John and Lady Lubbock, &c., &c. 



" The aforesaid Martin was one of those unfortunates who 

 were at that time of day (and are, I fear, still) quite out of their 

 places at a public school. If we knew how to use our boys, 

 Martin would have been seized upon and educated as a natural 



