Oct. 30, 1879] 



NATURE 



641 



found ; most of them had been shattered by the penetration of 

 roots of trees and other causes, so that some of their contents 

 only could be rescued. However, three large and t^vo smaller 

 urns were saved, quite uninjured, and two other large ones 

 were taken up much shattered. The contents of the urns con- 

 sisted chiefly of a sort of glass beads, rings, and needles of 

 bronze and some small fragments of bronze wire. One iron 

 needle and two iron rings were also found. All the things saved 

 have been handed over to the Pomeranian Historical and 

 Antiquarian Society. 



Several German newspapers strongly deprecate the un- 

 dignified tone which seems to have reigned amongst the 

 participators in the recent celebration at Pompeii. It appears 

 that the majority of the visitors treated the whole matter as an 

 excellent joke, and behaved very much as they would have done 

 at a fair or at some other Neapolitan file. Many of the archreo- 

 iogists who had come long distances to be present at the 

 celebration, left the dead city in disgust at the behaviour of the 

 multitude, long before the proceedings were half over. One of 

 the articles referred to expresses the hope that in the year 1979 

 the NeapoUtans will have sufficiently improved in manners as 

 well as gained in seriousness, to render a repetition of the 

 disgraceful scene impossible. 



The London correspondent of the Scotsman, who is usually 

 particularly well informed, slates the Treasury has definitely 

 decided not to ask Parliament for the cost of fitting up the new 

 Natural History Museum at South Kensington and for the removal 

 of the Natural History Department of the British Museum thereto 

 til] 1881. We are glad to be assured, however, that this statement 

 should only be received as a rumour, and is not yet sufficiently 

 authenticated. Let us trust that it will not be authenticated 

 at all. 



We have received vol. iv. of the Entomologische A^achrichten, 

 edited by Dr. F. Katter, Gymnasiallehrer am k. Padogogium ru 

 Putbus, Insel Riigen (Quedlinburg : Vieweg). We believe this 

 magazine was started a few years ago as a monthly publication ; 

 but it is now issued fortnightly. It supplies a want that doubt- 

 less was long felt amongst German entomologists, affording a 

 medium for constant intercommunication, and containing, more- 

 over, many biological and other notes of much more than 

 ephemeral value, notices of interesting excursions, discussions on 

 the best means of preparing insects for scientific study, some 

 good notices of new books, useful general bibliographic infor- 

 mation, &c. We imagine most working entomologists in this 

 country who can read German already see it, those who do not 

 will find it to their advantage to possess it. 



The death is announced of Dr. Eugen Diihring, the well- 

 known author of the "Kritische Geschichte der allgemeinen 

 Principien der Mechanik " and " Privatdocent " in Berlin, He 

 was born in 1833 in Berlin. 



The Committee appointed by the Royal Irish Academy to 

 investigate the rocks of the districts of the Curlew Mountains 

 and about Fintona, have discovered in the supposed " Old Red 

 Sandstone " fossils of Silurian types. 



The thirteenth session of the Whitehaven Scientific Associa- 

 tion was opened on the evening of Tuesday, October 21, when 

 a (onvtrsatione was held in the Town Hall, which was largely 

 attended by the members of the Apsociation and their friends. 

 The president for the year, Mr. A. Kitchin, F.C.S., delivered 

 an address eulogistic of the labours of Dalton, with reference 

 specially to the atomic theory. Crookes's tnbes illustrating the 

 properties of "radiant matter" were exhibited, and many 

 objects of interest in science and ml were also displayed in the 

 room. The Association, which now numbers nearly 300 



members, has been of considerable benefit in popularising 

 science, mainly in the direction of series of lectures. It has 

 formed the nucleus of a museum intended to represent local 

 natural history, and has also established a library of scientific 

 works. It is to be regretted that classes, in connection w ith the 

 Association, have not hitherto been successful ; further efforts in 

 this direction are desirable in order that the work of the society 

 may have the pernianent value which systematic teaching alon^ 

 can give. 



A LOCAL anthropological exhibition is to be opened at Kazan 

 by the local society of naturalists. W'e wish success to this 

 young society, which displays a remarkable activity, and the 

 publications of which contain many most valuable scientific 

 papers. 



In consequence of tte great efforts recently made for the im- 

 provement of the several Electrical specialties, a Chambre 

 Syiidicale of Electricity has been established in Paris. The 

 number of subscribers is seventy-five, and the first meeting took 

 place on October 27. 



M. Broca has presented] to the Anthropological Society of 

 Paris the head of Atai, the principal mover of the great Kanaki 

 rebellion in New Caledonia, and of a native enchanter who was 

 killed in the same battle as the chief. These two heads had been 

 cut off by a soldier, preserved in spirit and brought to Paris by 

 him as a curiosity. They will be submitted to a thorough scientific 

 examination. 



For the first time perhaps in the history of electric lighting 

 two rival magneto-electric machines are illuminating the same 

 hall. The Lontin and Siemens generators and lights are exhi- 

 bited at about 120 yards from each other in the large hall of the 

 Palais de I'lndustrie, at Paris. Each electrical machine is 

 worked by steam, and consumes a certain amount of horse- 

 power. The competition is too recent to offer yet any definite 

 opinion on the respective merits of the apparatus confronting 

 each other. 



Telegrams from Murcia state that the city and celebrated 

 Muerta were inundated by an immense waterspout which was 

 formed in the sea at a distance from the coast on the night 

 of October 14-15- Salt water was discovered at a distance of 

 45 kilometres from the sea. Another great atmospherical com- 

 motion was experienced three days afterwards. A night snow- 

 storm enveloped the whole of Austria and Switzerland, and in 

 Vienna the thickness of the snowfall was several inches. It is 

 the first time since 1852 that snow has fallen so early in Vienna, 

 but not the earliest time on record, as in 1 769 it fell on October 1 2. 



A Ceylon paper states than an illustrated work on the Lepi- 

 doptera of the island is to be published at the expense of the 

 Colonial Government. 



Recent intelligence from Victoria states that coal has been 

 found on the Murray River near its confluence with the Murrum- 

 bidgcc. 



The Phylloxera has appeared in the district of Geelong, 

 Victoria. 



A BRILLIANT meteor was observed at S p.m. on the 13th at 

 Belluno, Italy. It was first bright red and then greenish white, 

 and moved from east to west, at an angle of 45 deg. with the 

 horizon. 



The Soci^t^ fran^aise de Physique commences its meetings for 

 the approaching session of 1879-80 on November 7. 



We would call attention to a very useful Index which has been 

 begun in the Gardeners' Chronicle of October 1 1. It is intended 

 to comprise references to the more important plants mentioned 

 in the Chronicle from 1841 to 1S78, including nnmerous original 



