112 



NATURE 



\May 29, 1879 



determined by M. Tresca that one-half of the motive power 

 generated by steam was really transferred to a distance of above 

 one kilometre from the furnace. The motive power which has 

 been utilised for farming land can be employed for excavating, 

 or executing any description of work. 



The carrier-pigeon service is now in full operation in France, 

 and has been placed under the direction of the head of aerial 

 communication. The number of birds fed by the Government 

 is 6,cxx). These pigeons are located in Paris and twelve other 

 large fortified towns. A number of soldiers and officers have 

 been taught the art of pigeon breeding, and carriers are con- 

 stantly sent from place to place. The Minister of Public In- 

 struction and the Minister of Agriculture have established prizes 

 for pigeon races. 



The strong interest recently awakened in Owens College, 

 Manchester, has been shown in a desire on the part of some of 

 his admirers to do honour to the founder. This has taken the 

 form of a memorial window, which is to be erected in St. John's 

 Church, near the College ; and the donors have commissioned 

 Mr. W. G. Taylor, of Berners Street, to carry out the work, 

 which will be completed towards the end of next month. At 

 the foot of the three lights are the words "Ars, Religio, 

 Scientia," symbolised by subjects illustrating music, charity, 

 and astronomy. The arms of the College and of John Owens 

 occupy the bases of the side lights. 



One of the new Cardinals, Haynald, Archbishop of Kalocsa 

 in Hungary, is eminent as a botanist, as we learn from the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, and is probably the first botanist who has 

 ever held so exalted a rank. 



The Sanitary Institute of Great Britain has issued a very 

 satisfactory second Annual Report. 



We note that Dr. W. G. Farlow, for the past five years 

 Assistant Professor of Botany at the Bussey Institution, Harvard 

 University, has been appointed Professor of Cryptogamic Botany 

 in the University proper. This is the first professorship in this 

 important and difficult department established in the United 

 States. The laboratory for instruction and research in the lower 

 cryptogamia is now established at Cambridge. 



For the schools of California, " A Popular Califomian Flora ; 

 or Manual of Botany for Beginners," has (in part) been lately 

 published by Mr. Volney Rattan, teacher in the Girl's High 

 School, San Francisco. A second part will complete it. It is 

 restricted to plants of the San Francisco region, extending north 

 to Mendocino County, south to Monterey, and west to the foot 

 hills of the Sierra Nevada. 



" Cinchona Culture- in British India " is the title of a 

 useful pamphlet by Surgeon-Major G. Bidie, Superintendent of 

 the Madras Central Museum, being one of the Museum Popular 

 Lectures of the season 1878-9. — We have received a separate 

 copy of a paper "On Pollen," by Mr. M. S. Evans, read before 

 the Natal Microscopical Society on November 18 last. — The 

 Fifth Report of the Boulder Committee of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh contains notes on a considerable number of 

 boulders in Scotland, with numerous illustrations. — West, 

 Newman, and Co. publish a monograph by Mr. P. H. Gosse, 

 F.R.S., on "The Great Atlas Moth of Asia (Ailacus alias, 

 Linn.)," with a coloured plate of its transformations. — We have 

 received a very favourable Report of the Condition and Progress 

 of the Davenport (U.S.) Academy of Natural Sciences, which is 

 now in its eleventh year, and doing good and varied work. — 

 "On the Lancashire Coal Fields," is the title of a paper by Mr. 

 C. E. De Ranee, reprinted from the Proceedings of the Geolo- 

 gists' Association. — A fourth edition of Bloxam's " Laboratory 

 Teaching" has been issued by Messrs. Churchill. The most 

 important alteration is the introduction of the formulae repre- 



senting the various chemical compounds described in the notes in 

 the tables. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Grey-cheeked Monkey (Cercocebus alMgena) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mr. Robert Surry ; a Patagonian 

 Sea Lion (Otaria jubaia) from the Falkland Islands, presented 

 by Mr. F. E. Cobb j a Roseate Cockatoo (Cacatua roseicapUla) 

 from Australia, presented by Mr. Head ; a Blue-winged Green 

 Bulbul (Phyllornis hardwickii) from India, presented by Mr. A. 

 Jamrach; two Horned Lizards (Fhrynosoma cornutum) from 

 Texas, presented by Mr. E. Loder ; a Javan Fish Owl (Ketupct 

 javanensis) from Java, a Ceram Lory (Lorius garrulus) from 

 Moluccas, three Abyssinian Guinea Fowls (Numida ptilorhyncha") 

 from Abyssinia, a Nicobar Pigeon (Calanas nicobarica) from the 

 Indian Archipelago, a Victoria Crovraed Pigeon ( Goura victoria) 

 from the Island of Jobie, a Mace's Sea Eagle {Haliaetus leuco- 

 ryphits) from India, two Black- tailed Godwits (Limosa melanura) 

 twelve Common Widgeons {3Tareca penelope), European, pur- 

 chased; a Cheetah (Felis jubata) from Africa, two Bactrian 

 Camels (Camelus bactrianus) from Central Asia, deposited; two 

 Black Swans {Cygnus atratus) from Australia, received in ex- 

 change ; two Chinchillas (Chinchilla /a«!^ira), a Black-necked 

 Swan {Cygnus nigricollis), bred in the Gardens. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



From No. 6 of the University College School Magazine (Lon- 

 don) we see that the editor's post is not altogether a pleasant 

 one, though the number is very creditable. The U.C.S. 

 Scientific Society seems in a healthy condition. In connection 

 therewith we notice that a series of sixteen lectures are to be 

 given during this term on the Science of Daily Life. We trust 

 they will be well attended. 



From the Report for 1878 of the Rugby School -Natural 

 History Society we learn that it is fairly flourishing. The ento- 

 mological, geological, and archreological sections have been 

 vigorous, though the workers in each are fewer than they should 

 be. Altogether there does not seem to us to be that hearty in- 

 terest in the Society among the boys that conduces to complete 

 success; all the more reason, therefore, for the real working 

 members keeping up their work with unflagging zeal and doing 

 their best to enlist the sympathy and help of the indifferent. A 

 satisfactory observatory Report from Mr. Seabroke is appended. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, May i. — " On the Origin of the Parallel 

 Roads of Lochaber, and their bearing on other Phenomena of 

 the Glacial Period." By Joseph Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S., 

 F.G.S., &c.. Professor of Geology in the University of Oxford. 



Of the various hypotheses that have been brought forward 

 since the time of Macculloch and Dick-Lauder in 1S18, to 

 account for the origin of the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, the 

 one so ably propounded by Mr. Jamieson, in 1S63, has been 

 most generally received and adopted. "^ It is a modification of 

 the views originally expressed by Agassiz, to the effi:ct that the 

 barriers of the lakes — to the shore action of which both the 

 above-named geologists attributed the "roads," but were at a 

 loss to account both for the formation and removal of barriers — 

 had been formed during the glacial period by glaciers issuing 

 from Glen Treig and Glen Arkaig, supplemented by others from 

 Ben Nevis. The subsequent determination, by the Scotch geo- 

 logists, of an intermediate milder period succeeded by a second 

 cold period, led Mr. Jamieson, with whom the pre-glacial and 

 glacial deposits of Scotland had been a subject of especial investi- 

 gation, to conclude that the extension of these two places took 

 place during the second cold period, which he thinks was of 

 little less intensity than the first, and that, while the glacier from 



' Darwin's well-known paper, in which he considered the "roads" to be 

 old sea-beaches, appeared in the Philosophical Transactions for 1839. This 

 marine hypothesis was afterwards earnestly advocated by R. Chambers and 

 Prof. Nicolt but is no longer held by its distinguished author. 



