29S 



NATURE 



[Aug. 12, 1875 



Valentiner, chief of the German Astronomical Expedition to 

 Cheefoo, and first assistant at the Leiden Observatory, will 

 succeed Schonfeld at Mannheim. 



The biennial general meeting of the essentially International 

 Astronomical Society will be held at Leiden from the 13th to 

 the 1 6th inst. 



Tin Professorship of Natural History at the Newcastle Col- 

 lege of Physical Science, vacated by the removal of Dr. AUeyne 

 Nicholson to St. Andrews, has been filled by the appointment of 

 Mr, George S. Brady, of Sunderland. The chair has hitherto 

 been lield in conjunction with the Lectureship on Physiology in 

 the Durham University College of Medicine, in Newcastle, a 

 union which it has been found expedient to abolish. The appoint- 

 ment we now record will be regarded with satisfaction by every 

 one who is desirous of seeing the value of the labours of our 

 working naturalists duly recognised in the localities where they 

 have carried on their work. 



The Natural History Society of Newcastle, one of the best in 

 the kingdom, appears to be going through a crisis. At a recent 

 meeting, several of the honorary curators sent in their resig- 

 nations, including names so well known as PI, B. Brady, G. S. 

 Brady, PI. B. Bowman, Lebour, and Freire-Marreco, together 

 with both the secretaries. We understand that an informal 

 meeting has been held by a number of those interested in the 

 systematic teaching of natural history, to take steps for obtaining 

 specimens to form an independent typical collection for the use 

 of the professors of the College in their lectures. This is as it 

 should be. Collecting for mere collecting's sake is no part of 

 science ; as an adjunct to systematic teaching it is invaluable. 

 A great centre like Newcastle should possess such a collection 

 formed for such a purpose ; and the effort is worthy of support 

 and assistance from all friends of science teaching. 



At the distribution of prizes to the Taunton College School 

 by the High Sheriff of Somerset on July 29th, the headmaster, 

 Mr. Tuckwell, commented severely on the exclusion of science 

 from the competition of ttie Huish Scholarship, to which we 

 drew attention in these columns some weeks ago. The High 

 Sheriff said that he was one of the Trustees who had prepared 

 the scheme ; that, looking to the P'ounder's expressed desire to 

 forward the study of theology, they had wished so to shape the 

 examination as to carry out his views ; but that the Trustees 

 were not a bigoted body, nor unduly wedded to their first 

 opinion ; that Mr. Tuckwell's criticisms deserved attention ; and 

 that he promised on behalf of the Trustees to reconsider the 

 arrangements before another year. In thanking the High 

 Sheriff for the liberal tone in which he had met the questions 

 raised, Mr. Tuckwell protested against the belief that a divine 

 worthy of the name could be trained in the present day by any 

 system of education which should exclude a deep knowledge of 

 science. 



M. MouCHKZ, the new member of the Academy of Sciences, 

 has just organised a Practical School of Astronomy at Mont- 

 souris. Refractors, equatorial as well as meridian, and hori- 

 zontal telescopes will be placed at the disposition of any com- 

 petent person wishing to be instructed in astronomy. An astro- 

 nomer from the National Observatory will instruct the pupils 

 without fee ; the Minister of Marine has ordered that two 

 marine officers should always be in attendance for^ this purpose. 

 The course of instruction will embrace celestial photography and 

 spectrum analysis. No qualification of nationality will be required 

 for admittance, only general competency. 



M. WxjRTZ, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, 

 has been appointed Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, 

 . The French Association for the Advancement of Science 

 commences its sittings at Nantes this day week. 



M. Le Verrier has presented to the Prefect of the Seine a plan 

 for connecting, by means of a telegraphic network, all the public 

 clocks of Paris with the principal clock of the Observatory. 



The British Medical Association brought its Edinburgh meet- 

 ing, which has been a very successful one, to a close last Friday. 

 Brighton has been selected as the place of meeting for next year, 

 with Sir J. Cordy Burrows as President-elect. 



It turns out that in the recent attack on the Palestine Explor- 

 ing party, there were nine wounded, including Lieutenants 

 Conder and Kitchener. Measures have been taken to secure 

 the arrest and punishment of the assailants. 



It appears from' a letter in Friday's Times that that most inter- 

 esting relic of antiquity, " Ctesar's Camp " at Wimbledon "is 

 being deliberately levelled to the ground, effaced and destroyed 

 by its owner, Mr. Drax, the member for Wareham." It is diffi- 

 cult to believe in an act of such deliberate vandalism. Mr. Drax 

 is stated to have asked such an exorbitant price for the land 

 that negotiations were rendered impossible ; had Sir John Lub- 

 bock's " Ancient Monuments Bill " been passed this session, 

 this evidently doomed and unreplaceable monument of antiquity 

 could easily have been saved, and the owner would h_ave received 

 a fair price for his land. 



M. Wilfrid de Fonvielle made a successful night ascent 

 on August I, fgr the purpose of observing meteorites. From 

 10 P.M. to 4 A.M., forty-two meteorites were observed be- 

 tween Rheims and Fontainebleau. Some of these emanated 

 from Cassiopeia, others from Perseus, and as many as nine took 

 a vertical direction, descending from the part of the heavens 

 which was concealed] by the balloon. None of these were very 

 noteworthy, and it is probable that none would have been 

 observed at the surface of the earth. Eight persons were in 

 the car, and another trip was to be made last Sunday from 

 Paris. 



The International Geographical Exhibition is not the only one 

 of the kind now open in Paris ; as our readers no doubt know 

 another, has been established by M. Nicolle at the Palais des 

 Champs Elysees for Fluviatile and Maritime Industries, and is 

 attracting an immense number of visitors. It \vill continue up 

 to the month of November, when another will be opened for 

 Electrical Industries. The English Section in the Fluviatile and 

 Maritime Exhibition is very successful. The Board of Trade 

 has sent specimens of the apparatus in use for salvage and for 

 warnings at British seaports ; the contributions by private indi- 

 viduals also give a fair idea of British Maritime Industries. 



On Saturday last a deputation from the Royal Colonial 

 Institute waited upon Lord Carnarvon to urge upon Govern- 

 ment the propriety of establishing a Colonial Museum in London. 

 The Government, it seems, have been entertaining the idea of 

 establishing such an institution, and Lord Carnarvon spoke 

 hopefiilly of the possibility of accomijlishing the praisewortliy 

 object ; he thinks it would be well to place it contiguous to tlie 

 India Museum. 



A correspondent of the Illustrated London A'ews of Aug. i, 

 writes, July 25, from Pen-y-Gardden, Denbighshire, describing 

 a shower of hay similar to that referred to in last week's Nature, 

 p. 279, as having occurred at Monkstown, It passed over the 

 town of Wrexham, five miles distant from Pen-y-Gardden, and 

 in a direction contrary to that cf the wind in the lower atmo- 

 sphere. 



Mr. Magnusson, writing to yesterday's Times, reports the 

 continued outbreak of volcanic eruptions in various parts of Ice- 

 land, and makes an earnest appeal to the British public for help to 

 those, and they are many, who have been rendered quite desti- 

 tute—landless and homeless — by the calamity. No people ar§ 



