6oo 



NATURE 



[Oct. 18, 1888 



We have received the tenth volume of the third series of the 

 Memoirs, and the first volume of the fourth series of the 

 Memoirs and Proceedings, of the Manchester Literary and 

 Philosophical Society. 



The University College of Liverpool, and the University 

 College of Wales, Aberystwith, have each issued a calendar 

 for the session 1888-89. 



Messrs. Longmans and Co. have in the press the follow- 

 ing works : — " A Hand-book of Cry progamic Botany," by A. W. 

 Bennett and George R. Milne Murray; "A Text -book of 

 Elementary Biology," by R. J. Harvey Gibson; " Force and 

 Energy : a Theory of Dynamics," by Grant Allen ; and Part 1 

 of "Graphics; or, the Art of Calculation by Drawing Lines, 

 applied to Mathematics, Theoretical Mechanics and Engineering, 

 including the Kinetics and Dynamics of Machinery, and the 

 Statics of Machines, Bridges, Roofs, and other Engineering 

 Structures," by Prof. Robert H. Smith. 



Messrs. Chapman and Hall will shortly publish " Thirty 

 Thousand Years of the Earth's Past History," by Major-General 

 A. W. Drayson ; and "Marine Engines and Boilers," by Mr. 

 George C V. Holmes. 



Among the works announced by Messrs. Sampson Low and 

 Co. are the following : — " Metallic Alloys ; a Practical Guide for 

 the Manufacture of all kinds of Alloys, Amalgams, and Solders 

 used by Metal-workers, especially by Bell-founders, Bronze- 

 workers, Tinsmiths, Gold and Silver Workers, Dentists, &c, 

 &c, as well as their Chemical and Physical Properties," edited 

 chiefly from the German of A. Krapp and Andreas Wildberger, 

 with many additions by William T. Brannt ; " The American 

 Steam Engineer : Theoretical and Practical, with Examples of 

 the latest and most approved American Practice in the Design 

 and Construction of Steam-Engines and Boilers," for the use of 

 engineers, machinists, boiler-makers, and engineering students, 

 fully illustrated by E. Edwards, C.E. ; "Science and Geology 

 in Relation to the Universal Deluge," by W. B. Galloway, 

 M.A., Vicar of St. Mark's, Regent's Park; "Technology of 

 Textile Design : being a Practical Treatise on the Construction 

 and Application of Weaves for all Textile Fabrics, with minute 

 Reference to the latest Inventions for Weaving," containing also 

 an appendix showing the analysis and giving the calculations 

 necessary for the manufacture of the various textile fabrics, 

 by E. A. Posselt, Head Master, Textile Department, Pennsyl- 

 vania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Dr. Birkbeck Hill, the editor of Boswell's "Johnson," 

 has nearly ready for publication through the Clarendon Press a 

 collection of letters from David Hume to William Strahan, 

 hitherto unpublished. In the preface he recounts the circum- 

 stances under which Lord Rosebery purchased the originals 

 when the authorities of the Bodleian and of the British Museum 

 had declined them. A " Life of Hume " has been prefixed, and 

 the letters have been fully annotated. 



We have received a copy of a pamphlet entitled "The 

 Technical Education of Engineers," a course of technical study 

 recommended by the Manchester Association of Engineers to 

 youths engaged in engineering workshops and other mechanical 

 trades. There are practical hints as to the course to be pursued 

 in each subject, and the names of books recommended by the 

 Association are given. The little work, which only costs two- 

 pence, should be in the hands of all those for -whose aid it was 

 compiled. 



The Botanical Exchange Club of the British Isles has issued 

 its Report for 1887. Mr. Arthur Bennett indicates the new 

 county records in the plants contributed. 



Mr. Saville-Kent, at present engaged in officially in- 

 vestigating and reporting upon the fish and fisheries of various 



of the Australian colonies, has accepted an invitation from 

 Captain the Hon. F. C. Vereker and other officers of H. M.S. 

 Myrmidon, to join that ship at Port Darwin and to take part in 

 the marine natural history exploration of the northern and north- 

 western Australian coast in association with the survey work 

 now being conducted. Mr. Saville-Kent proceeds via Brisbane 

 and Thursday Island, taking with him trawls, dredges, and other 

 apparatus suited for the projected work. 



The Committee of the Sunday Lecture Society have decided 

 that during the winter a course of twenty-one lectures shall be 

 given in St. George's Hall, London, on Sunday afternoons, at 

 4 p.m., as in former years, beginning on October 21. 



The next ordinary general meeting of the Institution of 

 Mechanical Engineers will be held on Wednesday, October 24, 

 and Thursday, October 25, at 25 Great George Street, West- 

 minster. The chair will be taken at 7.30 p.m., on each evening, 

 by Charles Cochrane, Esq., Vice-President, in the absence of 

 the President, Edward H. Carbutt, Esq., who is travelling in 

 America. The discussions will be resumed on the following 

 papers read at the last two meetings in May and August : 

 description of Emery's testing machine, by Mr. Henry R. 

 Towne, of Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. ; description of 

 the compound steam turbine and turbo-electric generator, by 

 the Hon. Charles A. Parsons, of Gateshead. The following 

 papers will be read and discussed, as far as time pe rmits : de- 

 scription of the Rathmines and Rathgar township water- works 

 by Mr. Arthur W. N. Tyrrell, of London ; supplementary 

 paper on the use of petroleum refuse as fuel in locomotive 

 engines, by Mr. Thomas Urquhart, Locomotive Superintendent, 

 Grazi and Tsaritsin Railway, South-East Russia. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Macacus rhesus <j) from 

 India, presented by Miss Kate Marion Pope ; a Brush-tailed 

 Kangaroo {Petrogale penicillata 6), a Laughing Kingfisher 

 {Dacelo giganted) from New South Wales, presented by Captain 

 Philp ; a Gazelle {Gazella dorcas Q) from North Africa, pre- 

 sented by Mrs. Eugenio Arbib ; a Brazilian Hangnest {Icterus 

 jamaicai) from Brazil, presented by Mr. T. R. Tufnell ; five 



— — Francolines {Francolinus 2 cJ 3 9) from South Africa, 



presented by Captain Larmer ; a Laughing Kingfisher ( Dacelo 

 gigantea) from Australia, presented by Mr. H. Butler ; two 

 Slowworms (Anguis fragilis), British, presented by Mr. Cecil 

 L. Nicholson ; two Alpacas {Lama pacos) from Peru, two Upland 

 Geese {Bernicla magellanica £9) from the Falkland Islands, 

 three Crested Pelicans {Pelecanus crispus), South European, de- 

 posited ; four Esquimaux Dogs {Cants familiaris, var.), a 

 Bennett's Wallaby {Hahnaturus bennetti 9 ), a Vulpine Phalanger 

 {PJialangista vulpina), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Solar Parallax from Photographs of the Last 

 Transit of Venus.— A preliminary value of the solar parallax, 

 as obtained from the measurement of the photographs of the sun 

 taken at the different American stations during the transit of 

 Venus, of December 1882, has been recently published. This 

 value is based upon the measured distances of the centres of the 

 sun and of Venus on 1475 photographs, taken at ten stations, 

 six in the United States, two in South America, and the remain- 

 ing two at Wellington, South Africa, and Auckland, New 

 Zealand. It compares as follows with the values deduced from 

 the American and French photographs respectively of the transit 

 of 1874 : — 



American 1882 

 American 1874 

 French 1874 



7r = 8-847 =•= 0012 

 ir - 8-883 ± 0-034 

 it = 8'8o 



The value now found, though probably a close approximation 

 to that which will be afforded by the complete discussion of all 



