9. i875] 



NA TURE 



319 



presided over by Drs. Rollet and von Tebal of that Uni- 

 versity, who have issued the following programme: Sept. 17, 

 8 P. M.— Preliminary Meetinjr. Sept. 1 8, 10 A. M.— First General 

 Meeting; 1 p.m.— Sectional Meetings; 8 p.m.— Reunion ; 

 Sept. 19.— Exxursionto the Castle, Sectional Meetings, Evening 

 Concert at the Theatre, Sept. 20.— Sectional Meetings and 

 Excursions. Sept. 21.— Second General Meeting, Sectional 

 Meetings, Festive Performance in two Theatres. Sept. 22.— 

 Excursions. Sept. 23.— Sectional Meetings, Banquet. Sept. 

 24.— Third and Concluding General Meeting, Ball. The 

 Sections will be divided as follows : (i) Mathematics and Astro- 

 nomy. (2) Natural Philosophy and Meteorology. (3) Che- 

 mistry. (4) Mineralogy, Geology, and Paleontology. (5) 

 Botany. (6) Zoology. (7) Anatomy and Physiology. (8) 

 ;Medicine. (9) Surgery. (10) Ophthalmology and Otiatry. 

 (II) Midwifer)'. (12) Psychiatry. (13) Public Health. (14) 

 Military Surgery. (15) General Pathology. (16) The Teaching 

 of Science. (17) Agriculture. 



A CONGRESS has been held at Nancy on the history, archreology, 

 and languages of the American continent. The city was illumi- 

 nated, and a banquet was given by the municipality to the foreign 

 members of the Congress. A most interesting exhibition took 

 place, principally of American stone implements, Peruvian 

 mummies, Columbian idols, and skulls of a number of the 

 aborigines. The Congress discussed the questions relating to 

 the discovery of America before Columbus, by Norwegians, 

 Phoenicians, and Buddhists, and did not appear inclined to be- 

 lieve in the reality of any of the traditions. There were also dis- 

 cussed at some length the relations of Esquimaux tribes with 

 those of Northern Asia, traditions as to white men, the monu- 

 ments of the Mississippi Valley, and the rock inscriptions, with- 

 out coming to any definite conclusions. 



The observation of meteors has been organised in France 

 by the Association Scientifique under M. Leverrier ; this 

 organisation numbers more than 6,000 members, but has no 

 annual meeting. About forty stations keep watch on critical 

 nights. The results of the observations during the time of 

 the August shower have been unusually good. At Rochefort 

 and Rouen alone more than 160 tracks were mapped during the 

 nights of the 9th and loth of August, mostly connected with 

 the Perseus radiant. 



The preparations for the Scientific and Agricultural Congress 

 at Palermo on the 29th inst. are proceeding with unabated 

 activity. Many savanls, particularly from Germany, have inti- 

 mated their intention to assist at the proceedings. Father Secchi 

 will preside in the department of Astronomy. 



From observations made upon the Manatee living in the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, the Society's Prosector has 

 had the opportunity of presenting a paper to be read during the 

 next session of the Scientific Committee of the Society, on the 

 peculiar prehensile power of the upper lip of that animal, by 

 which it seizes its food between the two lateral bristle-covered 

 pads with which that organ is provided, and which it can move 

 laterally. 



The Journal of Analemy and Physiology, which till now has 

 done much service to biologists under the able editorship of 

 Prof. Humphry, of Cambridge, and Prof. Turner, of Edin- 

 burgh, is to be further strengthened in the Physiological Section 

 by the extra editorial assistance of Dr. Michael P^oster, of Cam- 

 bridge, and Prof. Rutherford, of Edinburgh. The journal is 

 also to appear quarterly, not half-yearly, as heretofore. 



The Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. ix. Part iv., 

 just issued, comprises a memoir, by Mr. Sclater, F.R.S., "On 

 the Curassows now or lately living in the Society's Gardens." 

 It is illustrated with thirteen coloured quarto plates from the 



pencil of Mr. Smit, and forms a complete monograph of all the 

 known species of true curassows. 



M. E. MuLSANT, Conservator of the Library of the City of 

 Lyons, is on a visit to this country for the purpose of examining 

 Messrs. Salvin and Godman's, as well 'as other collections of 

 birds, in order to render more complete his "Histoire Naturelle 

 des Oiseaux-Mouches," now in course of publication. 



Capt. Burton and party have just returned from Iceland. 

 The immediate object of the visit was to examine the extensive 

 sulphur mines which were worked in the north-eastern part of 

 the island about the beginning 'of the present century, and for 

 the reopening of which a company has recently been formed. 

 The result of the visit seems in this respect to have been satis- 

 factory. Mr. W. L. Watts met Capt. Burton's party, just after 

 he had performed the remarkable feat of crossing the Vatna 

 Jokul, an immense snowy table-land in the S.E. comer of the 

 island. Mr. Watts has been the first to accomplish this feat. 



In the note concerning a shower of hay in Denbighshire in 

 last week's Nature, p. 298, we omitted to say that the year in 

 which the occurrence took place was 1857. 



This year's meeting of the British Archaeological Association 

 was opened at Evesham on Monday by the President, the 

 Marquis of Hertford, who reviewed the several points of interest 

 which the Association intended to visit in Warwickshire and 

 Worcestershire. 



The most important paper in the July number of the Bulletin 

 of the French Geographical Society is on the geography of the 

 Athabasca-Mackenzie region, by the Abbe E. Petitot, who has 

 spent twelve years as a missionary in that inhospitable portion of 

 North America, making many journeys to all parts of the district 

 indicated, lying between the Coppermine River and the Rocky 

 Mountains, and the Great Slave Lake and the Arctic Ocean. 

 The Abbe gives a brief rSsumf of discovery in this region, and a 

 short sketch of the various journeys he himself made, to be fol- 

 lowed by further details. An excellent map accompanies the 

 narrative, and although the explorer's instruments were rather 

 scanty, it is evident that he has added largely to our knowledge 

 of the geography of the district of country referred to. 



Another interesting paper in the same number is on the 

 Lyssous off Lin-tze-Kiang, by another missionary, the Abb(i 

 Dubemard. It is notable how large a number of French ex- 

 plorers have been missionaries. 



A RETURN has been presented to Parliament giving a state- 

 ment of all the weather telegrams issued by the Meteorological 

 Office, and also of all the storms experienced on the coasts of 

 the British Islands during 1874, from which it appears that of 

 the warnings issued, 78*2 per cent, were justified by subsequent 

 gales or strong winds, and that i6"4 per cent, were not justified 

 by the subsequent weather. This percentage of success in the 

 warnings issued, which is slightly in excess of the last two years' 

 of Fitzroy's management, considerably in excess of 1870 and 

 1871, and about equal to the results for 1872 and 1873, is per- 

 haps as good as may reasonably be expcc^ied until the system bp 

 further extended and developed. 



We have received a circular~calling attention to the success 

 attending the working of Dr. Herman Sprengel's improvement 

 in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The process was 

 patented in 1873, and consists in injecting water in the form of 

 spray into the chambers instead of steam. To effect this a jet of 

 steam escapes from a platinum nozzle at a pressure of about two 

 pounds, and blows through the centre of a flowing jet of water 

 by means of an apparatus similar in principle to Herap^th's 

 blow-pipe. These jet^ are let into the side of the c}i4mber at 

 distances of 40 feet. The advantages gained are economy of 



