284 



NA TURE 



[Jan. 19, 1888 



of a large portion of its exotic plants is due to them ; and the 

 improved systems of cultivation are in a great measure attributable 

 to their efforts. 



The French Government has commissioned Count Horace de 

 Choiseul, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, to proceed on 

 a voyage of botanical research to Asia and the United States. 

 He will visit the Botanical Gardens at Ceylon,Calcutta, Shanghai, 

 Japan, San Francisco, &c., to collect botanical specimens not 

 indigenous to France. 



The Royal Physical Society, of Edinburgh, seems to be doing 

 much good work. At the second meeting for the present 

 session. Sir William Turner in the chair, Mr. Hoyle read a note 

 discussing the function of the Laurer-Stieda canal in the 

 Trematoda ; Mr. J. Arthur Thomson submitted an elaborate 

 paper entitled "A Synthetic Survey of the Influence of the 

 Environment upon the Organism " ; the Secretary, Dr. Traquair, 

 communicated a paper on an ornithological visit to the Ascrib 

 Islands, by Mr. John Swinburne ; and Mr. Brook gave some 

 valuable note? on the marine Crustacea of the Clyde Estuary. 



Capt. Wiggins, who successfully performed the sea voyage 

 from Europe to Siberia last autumn in the steamer Pkcenix, is 

 shortly expected back in this country. He states that at the 

 time of his leaving Yeniseisk, in Siberia, in October, the cold 

 varied from 70° to 80° below zero, and that the mercury was 

 frozen in the bulb. 



At the annual meeting and distribution of prizes at the School 

 of Science and Art at Bromley, Kent, on Tuesday, Sir John 

 Lubbock delivered an interesting address on technical education. 

 He referred to a recent statement of Mr. S. Smith, one of the 

 Commissioners on Technical Education, to the effect that it was 

 not so much the longer hours and lower wages of Continental 

 workmen, nor the tariffs, which were having such objectionable 

 influence on our industries, but rather, in nearly all instances, the 

 great attractiveness of the goods themselves, which had been 

 made by workmen who had received special training in schools. 

 Sir John Lubbock went on to say that if we had spent one tithe 

 of the treasure which we sent abroad every year to buy the pro- 

 duce of the skill of other countries on the training of our own 

 people, we should have been making these goods ourselves and 

 shipping them to the East and West and to every country under 

 the sun- We were constantly crying out for new markets, while 

 there was a new market in every house in the country. We were 

 apt, indeed, to forget how much we owed to science, because 

 many things which were in reality scientific discoveries had 

 become so familiar to us that we looked upon them almost as a 

 matter of course. The electric light was still felt to be a triumph 

 of science, but we forgot sometimes that the common candle was 

 the result of a whole series of chemical discoveries. The 

 Chinese were said to have examined candidates for the army 

 until lately in the use of bows and arrows. We saw the 

 absurdity of this ; but we were not free from the same error our- 

 selves. 



In a recent Consular Report there is a complete description 

 of the Technical University of Belgium, which was founded in 

 1852, as well as a general sketch of the system of commercial 

 and technical training prevailing in that country. Formerly the 

 education in Belgian public schools {Athenees) was in the main 

 classical, but in recent years a section prnfessionelle (commercial 

 and scientific) has been added, and now takes its place as an 

 integral portion of the public-school system. Here youths 

 intended for commercial pursuits, from the fourth class upwards, 

 receive special instruction, and then pass on to the Institui, or 

 University, where the course lasts two years. The number of 

 pupils is 150, a number which would be largely increased, but 

 for the difficult entrance examination, the inability of many 



parents to keep their children so long at school, and the prevail- 

 ing idea that a youth intended for commerce cannot enter a 

 counting-house too soon. The course at the Institut includes, 

 besides languages, book-keeping, and the ordinary practical 

 work of a merchant's office, a technical description of the 

 ordinary articles of commerce, political economy and statistics, 

 commercial and industrial geography, maritime and Customs' 

 legislation, and the building and fitting out of ships. The fees 

 range from ;^ii for the second year at the Institut, \o £1 <^s. 

 per annum at the public schools. An extensive commercial 

 museum, a chemical laboratory, and a commercial library are 

 attached to the Institut. At the end of the course diplomas are 

 given to the successful candidates, entitling them to the degree 

 of Licencie en Sciences Comnierciales. The rules, and a pro- 

 gramme and syllabus of the lectures, are appended to the Report. 

 The new language, Volapiik, has been added as an experiment, 

 mainly, it would appear, because of its possible utility for 

 telegraphic communication. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Mexican Deer {Cariacus niexicanus 9 ) from 

 the Island of Dominica, presented by Mr. George Anderson ; a 

 Water Rail {Ralhis aquatic us), British, presented by Mr. 

 G. J. Payne ; two Black-headed Gulls {Larus ridibundus), 

 British, presented by Mr. Thomas A. Cotton ; two Common 

 Peafowls (Pavo cnstatus<} <}) fi^om India, presented thy Mr. 

 Richard Hunter ; sixty-six Skylarks (Alauda arvensis), British, 

 purchased ; an Egyptian Vulture {Neophron percnopterus) from 

 North Africa, received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Mauritius Observatory. — Thereport of the Director 

 of the Royal Alfred Observatory, Mauritius, for 1886, shows 

 that the activity of the institution continues to be exhibited in 

 two directions, viz. meteorological and magnetic observations, 

 and the photographic record of the state of the solar surface. 

 The meteorological observations have been extended during the 

 year by the addition to the daily routine, of observations of the 

 duration of bright sunshine, commenced October i, of maximum 

 and minimum dry and wet bulb thermometers in screens, begun 

 November i, and of an earth thermometer at 10 feet below the 

 surface of the ground, begun the same day, the necessary instru- 

 ments having been received from England. The year 1886 was a 

 particularly dry one, the rainfall being below the average in 

 every month, and the annual fall the smallest on record. No 

 hurricane visited the colony ; indeed, the last took place so long 

 ago as March 21, 1879 ; but several cyclones occurred in the 

 Indian Ocean, some of which passed near the island, and storm 

 warnings were issued. Dr. Meldrum gives considerable im- 

 portance in his report to the connection between the meteorology 

 of the island and its health. It appears that wet years give 

 specially high fever and death rates, the greatest mortality usually 

 following the maximum rainfall by about two months. At the 

 same time there has been a persistent increase in the death rate of 

 late years, which appears to be independent of meteorlogical 

 causes. 



The photoheliograph was in constant operation, 533 photo- 

 graphs having been obtained on 353 days, but the sunspots were 

 much fewer and smaller than in 1884 and 1885. Two photo- 

 graphs were also obtained of the solar eolipse of August 29, 

 which commenced at Mauritius a little before sunset. 



OCCULTATIONS OF STARS BY PLANETS. — The following lis 

 of possible occultations of stars by planets is in continuation of 

 that given in Nature, vol. xxxvii. p. 234 : — 



P'-«'- [unabn in rT Star. Mag. PI. - *, S- 



h. m. , m. 



9 Jan. 25... 18 30'o...AOe2 No. 17179 ...8-5 -0-39... 5'o 

 9 Z\...\1 30-S...S.D. -21" No. 4933...9-3-t-o-58... 47 

 h Feb. 5... II 18 ...D.M. -f-20°No. 2073...9-5-0-88... 108 

 h ■ 16... 7 27 ...D.M. -f 20° No. 2o62...9-5-)-o-38 .. 121 



