128 



NATURE 



{Dec. 7, 1876 



Mr. A'Court Smith writes to us from Gurnet Bay that he 

 has recently found two celts about a mile to the westward of the 

 one referred to in Nature, vol. xi. p. 466. They are both of 

 dark flint, one is very rough, and though apparently used, seems 

 unfinished. The other is curved, and chipped very evenly, the 

 flat surface still showing the weathering of the old flint. 



We are glad to see that the North of England Institute of 

 Mining Engineers has at last been incorporated by Royal 

 Charter. This institute was founded in 1 852, and has done 

 good work in its own important department. 



Mr. Herbert Spencer's new volume, the sixth of the 

 Synthetic Philosophy, comprising the first of his " Principles of 

 Sociology," is now ready and in the hands of the binder. 



It is intended to issue from the press of the University of 

 Dublin a series of works, chiefly educational, by members of 

 that University. It is expected that the earliest volumes of the 

 series will be the following: — "Lectures on Physical Geo- 

 graphy," by Rev. Samuel Haughton, M.D., F.R.S., Professor 

 of Geology ; a treatise on * ' The Morphology of the Vertebrate 

 Animals," by Alexander Macalister, M.D. , Professor of Zoology 

 and Comparative Anatomy ; and the first portion of a com- 

 plete edition of the " Letters of Cicero," with a Commentary, 

 by Robert Y. Tyrrel, A.M., Professor of Latin. 



A Belgian Geographical Society has been established, with 

 M. Liagre as president. Judging from its rules, it is founded 

 on a comprehensive basis, and is likely to do good work. It 

 will publish a journal. 



A NEW Geographical Society has been founded in Denmark. 

 The Society proposes to organise lectures, and has invited Prof. 

 Nordenskjold to speak on the Kara Sea and Jenissei, and Prof. 

 Bergrren on New Zealand, where he stayed during a number of 

 years. The Society will issue a geographical magazine. 



The deep boring at Rheinfelden, on the Swiss shore of the 

 Rhine, as seen from a report of Prof. Desor, was stopped at a depth 

 of 1,422 feet, after having pierced 2Cxd feet of granite and diorite, 

 and without meeting with the coal-measures which were ex- 

 pected. It was carried out on the system which has already 

 proved successful in the 2,200-feet boring in Bohemia, i.e., by 

 the process of cutting out of the rock a cylinder by means of 

 a diamond crown. The diameter of the bore, which was, until a 

 depth of 660 feet, only 5 centimetres, was afterwards enlarged 

 to 12, being thus the largest diameter used until now in this 

 kind of boring. In a more or less coarse sandstone the boring 

 advanced at an average rate of 15 metres (49 feet) in twelve 

 hours, and proved altogether most successful. A complete col- 

 lection of cylinders, cut out of the rocks pierced, which are 

 mostly dyas, is now deposited at the Museum of Aarau. 



Messrs. Bickers and Son have just published a new edition 

 of Mr. J. E. Harting's "White's Selborne," containing in an 

 appendix the ten letters from Gilbert White to Robert Marsham 

 which first appeared, with notes by Mr. Harting, in the Trans- 

 actions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. A 

 detailed notice of these letters will be found in Nature, vol. xii. 

 p. 481. They possess great interest, and add materially to the 

 value of Mr. Harting's beautiful edition of "The Natural 

 History and Antiquities of Selborne." 



Mr. R. E. Bartlett, of Chelmsford, has sent us an inter- 

 esting relic of Mr. Robert Marsham, F.R.S., a well-known 

 observer and recorder of natural phenomena of last century. It 

 is a table containing indications of spring, observed by Marsham 

 at Stratton, Norfolk^ read befove the Royal Society in 1789. 

 The indications consist of observa'dons on birds, insects, flowers, 

 treey, &c., as to the times when first they appeared, or sang, or 

 leafed, &c. The observations extend over from thirty to sixty 

 years, and are neatly and clearly arranged. 



A BED of pink coral has been discovered by the captain of the 

 U.S. steamer, Gettysburg, on her passage from Fayal to Gibraltar, 

 in lat. 36° 30' N., long. 11° 38' W. The least depth found 

 was 30 fathoms, but the captain has no doubt that the coral 

 comes to the surface at some point near the anchorage. Twenty 

 miles west of the bank a depth of 16,500 feet was found. Be- 

 tween this and Cape St. Vincent, 12,000 feet. The bank is 

 rich in valuable coral of light pink shades. Full details of the 

 discovery have been sent by the commander of the Gettysburg 

 to the Navy Department, Washington, by mail. 



Telegrams have been i-eceived from Bahia (Brazil) stating 

 that the Frigorifique had crossed the Atlantic successfully with 

 the methylic ether refrigeiating apparatus, which worked ad- 

 mirably through the torrid climate of the equator, meat brought 

 from Europe having been found excellent by the Brazilians. 

 More details are sent by letter. 



The French scientific papers publish a letter signed by 

 MM. Jacquet, Hovelacque, Mortillet, and others, engaging 

 to give by will their brain, or any part of their body, to the 

 laboratory of the Anthropological Society, so that experiments 

 may be made and useful observations collected. A special club 

 or society has been established for that purpose. 



We have received a highly satisfactory Report for 1875-6, of 

 the Dundee Free Library, perhaps one of the best managed insti- 

 tutions of the kind in the kingdom, thanks to its able librarian and 

 curator, Mr. Maclauchlan. An unusually large proportion of 

 the books consulted and lent were scientific, a decided increase 

 being attributed to the University Science Classes in connection 

 with St. Andrews University. In connection with the library a 

 fine museum is being gradually collected, Arctic fauna and flora, 

 as might be expected, being largely represented. We have also 

 received the Twentieth Annual Report on the Sheffield Free 

 Public Libraries and Museum. The libraries are evidently largely 

 taken advantage of, and a very large proportion of the books 

 in demand belong to the department of Arts and Sciences. 

 The Sheffield Museum, which was established some twelve 

 months ago as a Free Public Museum, has lately received the 

 very fine collection of antiquities known as the Bateman Collec- 

 tion, formed by the late William and Thomas Bateman of Derby- 

 shire, and previously stored in Lomberdale House, near Bake- 

 well, where it was almost entirely hidden away, and known by 

 little more than the printed catalogue of it compiled by Mr. 

 Thomas Bateman, and published in 1855. The collection 

 consists chiefly of British antiquities ranging from the Celtic to 

 the Old English period, and is especially rich in Celtic and 

 Roman remains. It also contains many Etruscan, Greek, and 

 Egyptian antiquities of considerable rarity and interest. The 

 public of Sheffield and lovers of antiquities generally, are in- 

 debted to Mr. W. T. Bateman of Middleton Hall, Derbyshire, 

 for the opportimity of inspecting and studying this interesting 

 and instructive collection. 



At the meeting of the Mathematical Society of November 9 

 Prof. Smith was chairman only in the early part of the meeting ; 

 before the reading of the papers, the new president, Lord Ray- 

 leigh, took the chair. 



Thk distribution of prizes and certificates obtained by the 

 students of the Science and Art Classes of the Belfast Working 

 Men's Institutes took place on November 28. These classes are 

 attended by hundreds of persons of the very kind to whom they 

 are likely to do most good, and yearly carry off a large per- 

 centage of the prizes of the department. Dr. Andrews distri- 

 buted the prizes and gave a short address. 



The inauguration of the French National School of Agricul- 

 ture took place at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers on 

 Wednesday, December 6. There are about fifty pupils, all of 



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