July 19, 1888] 



NATURE 



277 



* mi c peculiar process as yet but little investigated^ beld life as a 

 possession, and to this faculty he applied the term " The 

 age of Life." The problem which the lecturer placed before 

 the society was stated as follows : — Certain proofs of the power 

 of the human body to lay or store up life to a prolonged period 

 are admitted. What are the conditions which favour such 

 storage, and how can we promote the conditions which lead to 

 it ? He stated the conditions in the following order, here- 

 ditary qualification, the virtue of continence, maintenance of 

 balance of bodily functions, perfect temperance, and purity from 

 implanted or acquired diseases. In estimating the value of 

 temperament as connected with life storage, he maintained that 

 the bilious and sanguine temperaments are best for long life, the 

 nervous and lymphatic the worst. In dealing with what he 

 called all-round temperance, he showed that whatever 

 quickened the action of the heart beyond its natural speed and 

 force was a stimulant, and in proportion to the unnatural tax in- 

 flicted by stimulation there was a reduction in the storage of life. 

 Dr. Richardson spoke also of the prevention of the damaging 

 diseases, where the art of the sanitarian comes into most effective 

 play. A vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer. 



The annual meeting of the Liverpool Astronomical Society 

 was held at Liverpool on the 9th inst., when the report of the 

 Council for the past year was read. It appears that since the 

 last annual meeting more than 200 new members have been 

 elected, and that the work carried on by the Society has increased 

 in a commensurate degree. The balance sheet shows a small 

 sum in the hands of the treasurer, so that the financial condition 

 is satisfactory, though there has been a large outlay for printing 

 the Journal. Mr. T. G. E. Elger succeeds Mr. Denning as 

 President, and Mr. Rowlands is appointed Secretary in the place 

 of Mr. W. H. Davies, who has resigned. In commenting upon 

 the withdrawal of Mr. Davies, the Council refer to the earnest- 

 ness, zeal, and ability displayed by him in performing the 

 arduous duties of his office during a long period, and attribute 

 the rapid development of the Society to his untiring efforts 

 on its behalf. 



The thirty-fifth General Meeting of the German Geological 

 Society will be held at Halle from August 13 to 15. 



We regret to announce the death of M. Jean-Charles 

 Houzeau de Lehaie, Honorary Director of the Royal Observa- 

 tory of Brussels, member of the Belgian Royal Academy of 

 Sciences. He died at Schaerbeck on the 12th inst. M. 

 Houzeau was in his sixty-eighth year. 



The death is announced of Dr. Johann Odstreil, an eminent 

 mathematician and physicist of Vienna. 



A Lower Thames Valley Branch of the Selborne Society 

 has been formed. Its operations will extend on both sides of 

 the river from Hampton to Putney inclusive. The inaugural 

 meeting was held on Monday in the coffee-room of the Star and 

 Garter Hotel, Richmond, the Duke of Cambridge in the chair. 

 The objects of the Selborne Society are to sequre the preserva- 

 tion from unnecessary destruction of such wild birds, animals, 

 and plants as are harmless, beautiful, or rare ; to discourage the 

 wearing and use for ornaments of birds and their plumages, 

 except when the birds are killed for food or reared for plumage ; 

 to protect places and objects of interest or natural beauty from 

 ill-treatment or destruction ; and to promote the study of natural 

 history. It is proposed that the new branch of the Society shall 

 devote a part of its funds to the purchase of works on natural 

 history for the free libraries of Richmond, particularly such as 

 throw light upon the natural history of the Thames Valley, and 

 encourage a love of nature in the young. 



The first Annual Report of the National Association for the 

 Promotion of Technical Education has now been issued. It 



contains a full account of the objects and work of the Association. 

 Its main work up to the present may, according to the Report, 

 be roughly divided as follows: — (1) the publication of leaflets, 

 pamphlets, addresses, and other papers, and the circulation of 

 this literature throughout the country ; (2) the holding of public 

 meetings and conferences, and the delivery of lectures and ad- 

 dresses on subjects connected with the work of the Association ; (3) 

 Parliamentary work 5(4) formation of an agricultural section ; (5) 

 commercial education ; (6) the organization of branches and 

 local committees to co-operate with the Central Association. 

 Besides the work falling under these heads, the Association has 

 been the means of supplying much information to inquirers on 

 various subjects connected with technical education, and has 

 promoted the movement in other ways. The committee are 

 strongly of opinion that there is a wide field for the future opera- 

 tions of the Association. They urge that branches should be 

 started in all large towns which are now without them, and that 

 every opportunity should be taken by conferences, and in various 

 other ways, to spread sound information on the question of 

 technical education, on which, as the Report truly says, in spite 

 of the great increase in public interest, much lamentable ignorance 

 still remains. 



The Indian Government has adopted an important resolution 

 on the subject of State education. It recommends that wherever 

 possible Government schools should be substituted for private 

 ones, and that the education staff should be strengthened by the 

 engagement of specialists in Great Britain. The resolution deals 

 largely with the question of technical education, and urges that 

 as a beginning an industrial survey should be made of each 

 province. 



Having been charged with the supervision of a new and 

 complete edition of the "Works of Galileo," to be shortly 

 undertaken at the expense of the Government and under the 

 patronage of the King of Italy, Prof. Antonio Favaro, of the 

 Royal University, Padua, earnestly begs all librarians, curators 

 or trustees of museums, collectors of old manuscripts and auto- 

 graphs, and all those engaged in researches touching the history 

 of science, to give him any information in their power respecting 

 any Galileian documents, which may assist him in carrying out 

 this difficult undertaking. 



At the meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society on July 10, the plague of caterpillars, &c, 

 was one of the subjects discussed. Mr. O'Brien alluded to the 

 abundance of earwigs (Forficula) this season. Mr. Wilson drew 

 attention to the local distribution of the caterpillars. In one 

 garden in his neighbourhood none of the pests were found, while 

 in others there was scarcely a leaf left on the trees. At Wisley 

 Mr. Wilson had found that exposure to east wind was associated 

 with the presence of the insects. Thus the trees in one line of 

 plums, fully exposed, were stripped of their foliage, while in 

 another line of the same variety close by, on the same description 

 of soil, but where the trees were sheltered by a furze fence, not 

 a leaf was injured. 



The Kew Bulletin for July opens with a paper containing 

 much information on Bhabur grass, which closely approaches 

 esparto in habit and in the possession of the technical qualities 

 necessary for paper manufacture. In another paper there is an 

 interesting extract from a letter by Mr. William Fawcett, giving 

 his first impression of the vegetable resources of the Cayman 

 Islands, which are situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 200 

 miles to the west of Jamaica. In association with the Governor 

 of Jamaica Mr. Fawcett lately visited these lonely and little- 

 known islands for the purpose of investigating a disease which 

 has existed for some time among the cocoa-nut palms at Grand 

 Cayman. Valonia in Cyprus and prickly pear in South Africa 



