424 



NATURE 



\August 15, 1878 



The British Medical Association concluded its meeting at 

 Bath on Friday. The Association meets next year at Cork, 

 Dr. O'Connor being the president elect. 



Experiments have been made at Paris with the telephone 

 between the Exhibition building and Versailles, and they proved 

 very successful. It is intended to make use of the telephone 

 during the great military manoeuvres. 



The Paper Exhibition which we intimated some time ago was 

 to be held in Berlin is now opened, and an instructive and 

 interesting account of the variety of objects exhibited — from 

 flimsy to paper carpets, chairs, and even boats — will be found in 

 the Times of the 13th. Both the articles manufactured and the 

 materials, chemical and other, connected with the manufacture 

 of paper, are exhibited, and judging from the description, the 

 exhibition althogether must be at least as attractive as the 

 Caxton Exhibition of last year. .One of the principal exhi- 

 bitors is Prince Bismarck, who is a partner in a large firm at 

 Varzin ; one of his specialties is paper slips for the Morse 

 telegraph apparatus. The following interesting statistics are 

 given by the Times' Correspondent from the Catalogue : — 



Number of Kilos Kilos 



Inhabitants. consumed. per head. 



United States ... 39,000,000 ... 535,000,000 ... 14 



Germany 43,000,000 ... 244,000,000 ... 6 



England 33,000,000 ... 168,000,000 ... 5 



France 37,000,000 ... 138,000,000 ... 3*6 



Austria-Hungary... 36,000,000 ... 92,000,000 ... 2*5 



Russia 27,000,000 ... 67,000,000 ... 0*9 



Italy 28,000,000 ... 38,000,000 ... 1*4 



Scandinavia 6,000,000 ... 3,000,000 ... 0*5 



Belgium 5,500,000 ... 27,000,000 ... 5'i 



Switzerland 2,500,000 ... 17,000,000 ... 6'3 



According to inscriptions put up in the hall and illustrated by 

 paste-board cubes of different size, 600,000,000 men employ 

 Chinese paper, while 366,000,000 use the European and 

 130,000,000 the Arabian article ; 24,000,000 write on leaves, 

 bark, and wood, 280,000,000 dispensing with writing and 

 reading, and consequently taking no interest in this enlightened 

 exhibition. 



The excursionists who went to the Boulonnais last week 

 under the auspices of the Geologists' Association, led by Prof. 

 Morris, seem to have had a good time of it. Their inten. 

 tion having been communicated to M. A. Huguet, Senator, 

 Maire of Boulogne, he convoked the local geologists, the 

 members of the Societe Academique de Boulogne, the Societe 

 Medicale, the committees of the Public Library and of the 

 Museum, and invitations were at the same time sent to the 

 Presidents of the Geological Societies of Paris, Lille, &c., to 

 meet their scientific brethren from across the Channel and give 

 them a proper welcome on this the first occasion of English 

 geologists in any number visiting France. Among those 

 assembled to meet the excursionists on their arrival at Bou- 

 logne were M. Edmond Pellat, ex-president of the French 

 Geological Society, Dr. Ch. Barrois, Vice-president of the 

 North of France Geological Society, Prof. Giard of the Zoo- 

 logical Laboratory at Wimereux, the British Vice-Consul and 

 other persons of note. The Maire bade the party welcome, 

 and hoped he would have the pleasure of welcoming other 

 deputations of scientific inquirers. Indeed the occasion seems 

 to have assumed somewhat of an international character, and 

 we ^should not be surprised if the Maire of Boulogne has to 

 welcome many such deputations. Perhaps, should the North of 

 France Geological Society organise an excursion to the London 

 Basin, the Geologists Association may succeed in getting the 

 Lord Mayor to return the pleasant compliment paid the English 

 geologists by the civic chief of Boulogne ; a Mansion House 

 dinner might even be possible. 



M. BisCHOFSHEiM, the well-known generous Parisian banker, 

 having recently visited Montsouris Naval Observatory, and 



found the canvas roof of the equatorial house in wretched con- 

 dition. Admiral Mouchez told him, in answer to his inquiry, that 

 the budget of the observatory was not rich enough to meet an 

 expense of 50/. required for the constniction of a comfortable 

 zinc cover. Next morning Admiral Mouchez received a cheque 

 for 120/. from his visitor of the previous evening. 



We believe it is deeply regretted in France that M. Andre 

 and M. Angot, the two French astronomers sent out to America 

 to observe the recent transit of Mercury, did not stay to oTiserve 

 the solar eclipse of July 29, although the two phenomena 

 were visible from the same place. M. Andre is now in Lyons, 

 and M. Angot arrived in Paris almost on the day when the tele- 

 gram announced the detection of Vulcan by Prof. Watson. 



The new hotel of the Paris Geographical Society is fast 

 approaching completion, and the date for the opening will be 

 determined soon. 



We regret to state that M. Cochery, the director of the French 

 Postal Telegraph Department, has announced his intention of 

 charging the several communes receiving the daily telegrams of 

 the Agricultural Service a sum of 4/. a year. :M. Mascart, 

 the new director of the Central Bureau, has obtained the post- 

 ponement of this step for a month. If M. Cocheiy carries his 

 resolution into effect it is pretty certain that the greater 

 number of rural communes will refuse to pay, and the organisa- 

 tion which M. Leverrier had so well organised will be thrown 

 into a state of disorganisation less than a year after his death. 

 It is certain that the Meteorological Congress, which is to meet 

 at the Trocadero ten days hence, will interfere and lay the case 

 before the public. 



M. Bardoux has sent to the prefects of the several depart- 

 ments of France a circular, asking them to collect information on 

 the resources, working, and composition of the meteorological 

 commissions established by Leverrier. The minister intends to 

 give to thes e boards a uniform organisation. 



It is stated in the French papers that Mr. Edison is to have 

 no reward whatever at the Paris Exhibition for his phonograph. 

 The reasons alleged for this apparent denial of justice are some- 

 what amusing. The jury of the class of instruments of precision 

 declared that the phonograph could not be considered as at all 

 an instrument of precision, but merely a toy ; consequently they 

 sent it to the class of telegraphy to be rewarded. But the 

 telegraphists replied that it was of no use whatever in telegraphy, 

 and refused to examine it. The consequence is that the most 

 wonderful invention, probably, in the Exhibition, will be passed 

 by unmentioned and unrewarded. 



On Friday, August 9, the Societe Fran9aise d'Hygiene held 

 a banquet at the Continental Hotel, Paris, for the reception of the 

 Sanitary Institute of Great Britain. Dr. Ricord was in the chair, 

 assisted by M. de Lesseps and Anatole de la Forge, the Director 

 of the Press Department in the Home Office. The toast of the 

 Sanitary Institute was replied to by Mr. Chadwick, who handed 

 to the Societe Frangaise d'Hygiene a diploma of affiliation 

 signed by the Duke of Northumberland and Dr. Richardson. 

 Some members of the English Ladies' Sanitary Association were 

 also present at the banquet. 



It is not generally known, we are told by the China Mail of 

 Hongkong, that official rank is, to a certain extent, hereditary 

 in China. Thus, when an officer of the first rank dies — the 

 four grand secretaries, viceroys, and chief presidents of the 

 "boards "at Peking, for instance— his sons inherit the "full 

 fifth " rank, and are entitled to commence their public career 

 as Langchung, or junior lord, of one of the boards. The sons 

 of officers of the "full-second" rank— such as vice-presidents 

 of the boards and governors— may enter public life as assistant 



