Jan. 3, 18F9] 



NATURE 



231 



products. Afterwards he invented the refrigerating machine 

 which bears his name, a machine which has increased and 

 cheapened the available supply of fresh meat. 



On Tuesday, the 8th inst., the second of the series of one-man 

 photographic exhibitions at the Camera Club will be open to 

 visitors on presentation of card. The Exhibition will continue 

 for about six weeks. The object of this series of Exhibitions is 

 to bring together in turn representative collections of the work of 

 the best photographic artists. By the co-operation of Mr. Harry 

 Tolley, of Nottingham, the Camera Club is enabled to exhibit a 

 reprejentative set cf his photographs. These pictures are Large 

 direct work, and are printed in the permanent platinum process. 



A COURSE of six lectures on " The Science of Brewing " will 

 be given at the Fii shury Technical College by Dr. E. R. 

 Moritz, commencing Wednesday, January 23, and being con- 

 tinued on successive Wednesday evenings. Other courses of 

 special lectures will be given during the present term by Prof. 

 Ferry, on " The Differential Calculus and its .Application to 

 Probltms of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering"; by Prof. 

 S. P. Thompson, on "Optical Principles and Practice" ; and a 

 special laboratory course on " Electro-deposition " (plating and 

 typing), by Mr. Rousseau. 



According to the .S"/'a;/fl'ar(/ of December 29, 1888, Hamp- 

 shire was visited, at 11 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, 

 with what was believed to be an earthquake. There were, 

 it is reported, a severe subterranean rumbling and a concussion 

 in the neighbourhood of Emsworth Common. A horse and 

 cart passing at the time were visibly shaken, and two men were 

 nearly knocked off their legs. There was a violent rustling of 

 the trees in the neighbourhood, and the shock appeared to 

 extend over a wide area. 



O.N Sunday, December 23, a severe shock of earthquake was 

 experienced in Calcutta and throughout Bengal. In Rajshahye 

 large fissures opened, whence hot liquid mud was ejected. The 

 Calcutta Correspondent of the Times, reporting these facts by 

 telegraph on December 30, said no loss of life had been 

 heard of. 



Several severe shocks of earthquake were felt in Bosnia, 

 on December 18, especially at Rogatica, Cajnica, Pleolje, 

 and Poljancic. 



The University of Edinburgh continues to attract a very 

 large number of students. During: the past year, according to 

 the Edinburgh Correspondent of the Times, the total number of 

 matriculated students was 3532, as against 3459 last year, 2667 

 in 1878, and 1564 in 1868. Of this total, 1008 were enrolled in 

 the Faculty of Arts, ic8 in the Faculty of Divinity, 474 in the 

 Faculty of Law, and 1942 in the Faculty of Medicine, Of the 

 students of medicine 832 (or 43 per cent. ) belonged to Scotland, 

 705 (or fully 36 per cent.) were from England and Wales, 36 

 from Ireland, 79 from India, 247 (or nearly 13 per cent.) from 

 British colonies, and 43 from foreign countries. 



At the Bath meeting of the Briti>h Association, a Report was 

 presented by the Committee which had been appointed to con- 

 sider the advisability and possibility of establishing in other 

 parts of the country observations upon the prevalence of earth 

 tremors similar to those now being made in Durham. Consider- 

 ing that much is being done with the object of securing suitable 

 forms of instruments, and that these investigations are still 

 incomplete in many ways, the Committee felt that it would be 

 premature for them to select and recommend any special recorder 

 at present. They, however, emphasized the view that, whilst 

 carefully finished, highly sensitive, and necessarily expensive 

 seismoscopcF, made to record with as much accuracy as possible 

 the lime, form, and intensity of each set of tremors, are very 

 desirable, and indeed indispensable, yet only a comparatively 



small number of such instruments would be required in a general 

 scheme of seismographical observatories. Such instruments, 

 moreover, could only be used m ith effect in carefully selected 

 situations, and otherwise under very special conditions. On the 

 other hand, comparatively rough, cheap, and easily used instru- 

 ments, which could do little more than afford fairly accurate 

 time-records, would be required in large numbers, and mat 

 form a most important portion of such a scheme. The Committee 

 hoped that at the next meeting of the Association they might be 

 in a position to present a Report containing definite recom- 

 mendations. 



The Chief Signal Officer of the United States reports 

 that in the reorganization of the Record Division of the Signal 

 Office he found a large amount of valuable rainfall data, 

 furnished by voluntary observers prior to 1874. With a view of 

 making these records available, he has published them in an 

 atlas of rain charts of the United States, for each month of the 

 years 1870-74 ; these will be found especially useful in the study 

 of weather conditions over that country. He also states that an 

 examination of the records of the voluntary observers shows that 

 it will be possible to further utilize them in the preparation of 

 normal temperature charts, which he hopes to be able to issue 

 with the Monthly Weather Review at an early date. An 

 eighteen year normal monthly rain-chart is now being regularly 

 issued in this Review. 



In December 1877, Prof. F. E. Nipher established a volun- 

 teer weather service in Missouri, the object being primarily to 

 investigate the rainfall of that State, and he has now published the 

 results in a paper entitled "Missouri Rainfall." It contains 

 maps and tables showing the average monthly amounts for ten 

 years ending 1887, at thirty-one stations, together with the 

 maximum and minimum monthly and yearly falls. The yearly 

 averages vary from 31*4 inches to 457 inches. 



In a recent lecture on Bacteria, delivered at Brooklyn, Dr. 

 George M. Sternberg pointed out that the rapid progress of 

 bacteriology in Germany has been due, to a very considerable 

 extent, to the enlightened policy of the Government. Dr. 

 Sternberg is of opinion that if, during the past ten years, the 

 Americans had had a well-equipped laboratory, under proper 

 direction, the medical corps of the army and navy could 

 easily have supplied men who would have done good work in 

 this department of research. He thinks it is not creditable to 

 the United States as a nation that Americans have contributed 

 so little to the advance of bacteriology. "Let us hope, how- 

 ever," he added, "that we are entering upon a new era. Here 

 in Brooklyn private munificence has provided the means of 

 research which the National Government should have provided 

 long since ; and here, at least, the fault will rest with the pro- 

 fession, if active workers are not found to avail themselves of 

 the facilities provided for making original researches in bacterio- 

 logy, in physiology, and in experimental pathok^y." The 

 " private munificence" referred to is that of Dr. Hoagland, wh» 

 has equipped a laboratory at Brooklyn. This laboratory, which 

 has been organized in accordance with the best models, is to b^ 

 devoted exclusively to scientific research, and to instruction in 

 physiology, pathology, histology, and bacteriology. 



The tenth volume of the Proceedings of the United States 

 National Museum has been issued. The series to which this 

 volume belongs consists of papers prepared by the scientific 

 corps of the National Museum ; of papers by others, founded 

 upon the collections in the National Museum ; and of brief 

 records of interesting facts from the correspondence of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



The new number — the i\\\\\ — ol \!a.Q Internaiionales Archiv 

 fiir Ethnographie completes the first volume of this excellent 



