July 15, 1875] 



NATURE 



219 



would be invaluable for laboratories. Few of the outside public 

 arc aware what a fine collection of mechanical apparatus the late 

 Professor of Mathematics, Dr. Ball, made in the College, and 

 how highly d«sirable it is that these should be turned to active 

 and good use by his successor. 



The Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the 

 Advancement of Science have held their final sitting and ap- 

 pended their signatures to the Sixth Report on Science Teaching 

 in Tublic and Endowed Schools ; the Seventh Report on the 

 Universities of London, Scotland, Dublin, and the Queen's Uni- 

 versity in Ireland ; and the Eighth and Final Report on the 

 Advancement of Science and the relations of Government to that 

 branch of study. 



For the Paris International Geographical Exhibition an im- 

 mense number of photographs have been received from the 

 Palestine Exploration Fund, which will afford a good idea of the 

 work done by British explorers. The Russian and Austro- 

 Hungarian Governments have erected, each at its own expense, 

 an elegantly fitted pavilion on the terrace dit bord de V Ean, 

 where their exhibits will find ample room. M. Esler, the 

 Dnnish delegate, has brought with him a complete collection of 

 the dresses used by the natives ©f Greenland. All the original 

 mifs of Paris, from the celebrated tapestry carpet up to the 

 latest published by M. Haussmann, will be exhibited by the 

 French Government. A special section has been arranged for 

 alimentary preparations useful for travelling purposes, and an- 

 other for inventions relating to salvage. 



Session 1875-6 of the Teachers' Classes oi St. Thomas 

 Charterhouse School of Science will commence on Sept. 25 

 next. A public meeting will be held on some Saturday early in 

 October, when an address will be delivered by Dr. Carpenter. 

 Tlie managers of the Gilchrist Trust have made a grant for 

 the delivery of a course of lectures, on alternate Friday 

 evenings, during the session. The arrangements are in the 

 hands of Dr. Carpenter, secretary to the Trust, who is in active 

 communication with Professors Huxley and Tyndall and 

 other eminent lecturers. The lectures will be delivered in the 

 Foresters' Hall, Wilderness Row, near the Charterhouse 

 Schools. 



The Committee of the French Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, which meets at Nantes on August 19, have 

 issued invitations and a list of some of the French men of science 

 expected; to be present. Among the subjects which will be 

 brought before the Association are Researches on Prussic Acid, 

 by M. Claude Bernard ; an important paper by M. Pasteur on 

 Beer ; an account of the work relating to the Meridian of France, 

 by Commandant Perrier ; and a new rhinoplastic process, by Dr. 

 Oilier. Among those expected to be present are, MM. Dumas, 

 Claude Bernard, Pasteur, H. St. Claire Deville, De Quatrefages, 

 I^evasseur, P. Broca, E. Caventou, L. Lefort, E. Moreau, 

 Trelau, Vemeuil, and other eminent scientific Frenchmen. 



At the half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteoro- 

 logical Society on Tuesday last two interesting papers were 

 read ; one on " The Mortality of the Large Towns of the British 

 Islands in relation to Weather," by Mr. Buchan ; and the other 

 on " Weather and Epidemics of Scarlet Fever in London during 

 the past thirty-five years," by Dr. Arthur MitchelL We hope 

 to be able to give a notice of these papers in our next number. 



On the 7th of July an extraordinary hail and thimder storm 

 raged over a large part of France, many towns having been 

 deluged in succession. At Geneva, where the phenomenon was 

 more satisfactorily observed than elsewhere, it was found that 

 the hailstones fell on a belt at first only four kilometres in 

 breadth, but enlarging, when near the lake, to about thrice that 



breadth. The path of these thunderstorms will be investi- 

 gated by the Meteorological Boards of the different departments, 

 but it will take some time before they are correctly mapped. 

 M. Dumas, at Monday's sitting of the Paris Academy, 

 read a letter from M. Calladon, of Geneva, stating that hail- 

 stones of 300 grammes each had been collected ; and a letter 

 from M. W. de Fonvielle, describing the icicles observed by M. 

 Duruof on his balloon in his last ascent, about ten days ago. 

 M. Dumas directed the attention of the Academy to the import- 

 ance of that observation, in order to explain how gigantic 

 hailstones can be generated during abnormal atmospheric per- 

 turbations. 



There is nothing particularly noteworthy in the Report pre- 

 sented by the Radcliffe Observer to the Board of Trustees on 

 June 29. The work of the Observatory has been steadily pur- 

 sued, interrupted only by an unusual amount of unfavourable 

 weather. A great advance has been made in the reduction and 

 printing of the observations during the past year. 



A LIVELY interest in science seems to have been awakened 

 in Aberdeen, by means of lectures on anatomy and physio- 

 logy, delivered gratuitously by Prof. Struthers on Saturday 

 evenings in Marischal College. They have been very largely 

 attended by both sexes, and particularly by that portion of the 

 community, comprising all classes, whose opportunities for in- 

 struction in scientific subjects have been necessarily restricted. A 

 beautifully illuminated and handsomely mounted address was 

 recently presented to Dr. Struthers by the Dean of Guild of the 

 city on behalf of a large number of subscribers, as a mark of their 

 appreciation of his disinterested labours. The Aberdeen School 

 Board had been stimulated to resolve to introduce some physical 

 science into the Grammar School. They propose to have a course 

 of Elementary Chemistry and Elementary Physics, and also one of 

 Botany. The Mechanics' Institution of Aberdeen, now aided by 

 a munificent bequest from the late Dr. Neil Amot, himself an 

 Aberdonian, is also doing valuable work in the way of dissemi- 

 nating systematic knowledge in various branches of physical 

 science. ' 



The Halifax Geologists' Field Club now consists of ninety 

 members, and during the past year many papers have been read 

 and a considerable number of excursions made. The president, 

 Mr. J. W. Davis, in his address on May 19, gave an inte- 

 resting sketch of the work done at the Settle Caves. Mr. L. C. 

 Miall gave a lecture on the 2nd June on the Construction of 

 Geological Maps ; and on the i6th, Prof. A. H. Green lectured 

 on the General Structure of the Central Part of Yorkshire Coal 

 Field. The Club seems to be in a healthy condition. 



We are glad to see from the " Reports and Proceedings" for 

 1874 and part of 1875 of the Miners' Association of Cornwall 

 and Devon, which carries on its work to some extent in connec- 

 tion with the Science and Art Department, that notwithstanding 

 the present great depression in mining, this exceedingly useful 

 Association has been able to continue its good work among the 

 class for whose benefit it has been founded. The report of the 

 lecturer, Mr. B. Kitto, F.G.S., is very satisfactory, and is fol- 

 lowed by a number of valuable papers on various subjects con- 

 nected with mining. 



The Revue Scientifique {ox }v\y 10 contains M. J. Bertrand's 

 valuable account of the hfe and work of the late M. Elie de 

 Beaumont, recently read before the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



Principal Dawson has sent us an interesting paper, being 

 the Presidential Address to the Natural History Society 

 of Montreal for 1875, entitled "Recollections of Sir Charles 

 Lyell," containing among other things some personal remi- 

 niscences of the great geologist's visits to America. 



