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NATURE 



\Oct. 27, 1887 



Although it may be admitted that evidence of a more 

 conclusive kind than any which has been offered by Dr. 

 Schiavuzzi is required to establish the truth of his infer- 

 ence, yet there seems to be good reason for thinking that 

 he has approached much nearer to a solution of the 

 question than any of his predecessors. J. B. S. 



" NOTES. 

 At the meeting of the Academy of ScienceSj Paris, on the 

 17th inst., Admiral Mouchez spoke of the preparations which 

 are being made for executing the photographic charts of the 

 heavens. Ten of the photographic telescopes, seven by MM. 

 Henry and Gautier, of Paris, and three by Sir H, Grubb, of 

 Dublin, are expected to be finished by the end of 1888 and 

 forwarded to various observatories in France, Spain, South 

 America, and Australia. With the promised co-operation of 

 England, the United States, and Russia, it is hoped that a good 

 beginning will be made in 1889, and that the vast undertaking 

 will be completed within the time anticipated by the Interna- 

 tional Congress of last April. 



Profs. Cayley, F.R.S.,andM. J. M. Hill retire from the 

 Council of the London Mathematical Society. The new names 

 selected by the Council for submission to the Society at its 

 annual meeting (November 10), are those of Mr. A. Buchheim 

 and Dr. J. Larmor. The De Morgan Medal, which we have 

 already announced as awarded to Prof. Sylvester, F\R. S., will 

 be presented to him at the aforesaid meeting. 



On December 8 next, Herr Friedrich Traugott Kiitzing will 

 be eighty years of age, and a good many men of science in 

 Germany are anxious to give emphatic expression on the occasion 

 to their respect for his character and their appreciation of his 

 labours. Herr Kiitzing was one of the first to recognize that the 

 best material for the study of cells and their life is provided by the 

 simplest plants ; and the results of his researches are well kn )wn 

 to all biologists. It is propojed that a gift of some kind shall be 

 presented to him on his eightieth birthday, and an influential 

 Committee has been appointed to make the necessary arrange- 

 ments. If any English students of biology would like to 

 associate themselves with their German colleagues in this 

 matter, they should communicate with the secretary of the 

 Committee, Herr Otto Muller, 44 Kothenerstrasse, Berlin, W. 



M, Nolan, student at the Geological Laboratory of the Sor- 

 bonne, has been intrusted by the French Ministry of Public 

 Instruction with a mission to study the geology of the Balearic 

 Islands. 



A notification in the Calcutta Gazette states that the 

 Maharanee of Cossimbazar has given twenty thousand rupees 

 for the promotion of technical education in the Moorshedabad 

 district. The donor of this munificent sum proposes that five 

 thousand rupees shall be spent in purchasing the necessary 

 apparatus and instruments. The interest on the remainder is 

 to be devoted to endowing a class in the Berhampore Collegiate 

 School, and establishing classes in connexion with the college 

 class in some of the neighbouring elementary schools. The 

 Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal accepts the gift, and approves of 

 the scheme proposed by the Maharanee. 



An interesting address on English and foreign technical educa- 

 tion was delivered last Saturday by Prof. Silvanus Thompson, 

 at the Aldingham Institute, a school of technical education in 

 Goldington Crescent, St. Pancras. In the course of his address 

 Prof. Thompson drew attention to the fact that in Berlin there 

 is a great State-aided institution in which every known industry 

 is taught. This institution he described as a large building — as 

 big as Buckingham Palace, if not quite so beautiful— standing 



on a site of about 12 acres. It had something like 500 roo.ns 

 for technical teaching, and, in fact, was a perfect college, with 

 a good library. He believed that the entire cost of that estab- 

 lishment had been about ;,^96o,ooo. It was a building which 

 had cost about the same amount as one of our ironclads. The 

 entire maintenance of the institution was about ;^38,ooo per 

 annum ; but that expenditure and the original outlay were re- 

 couped by the well-to-do character of those who had passed 

 through its teaching, and thus had become useful members of 

 society instead of drags upon the country. For such a country 

 as England a site not of 12 acres but of 40 acres would be 

 required. It might cost ;^4,ooo,ooo to build and ;^ 100, 000 a 

 year to maintain, and from the results which would follow it 

 would be cheap at the price, for it would enable us to obtain 

 every possible requirement of life from our own handicraftsmen, 

 instead of having to go to foreign countries for what we need. 

 It would do more, for the superiority of English workmanship 

 would cause fresh demands to be made from us, not only 

 throughout our own colonies, but from foreign countries also. 



The Geodynamical Committee of the Italian Meteorological 

 Society held meetings at Aquila from September 6 to 8. A pre- 

 liminary meeting had been held at Florence in May last to 

 prepare the work of the present one. The object was to formu- 

 late practical and uniform directions for the seismological re- 

 searches undertaken by the Society, and to deduce from our 

 actual knowledge rules to be followed in the construction of 

 houses, so as to diminish the risk of damage in earthquakes 

 and undulatory motions. M. Bertelli, of Florence, explained 

 the theory of his new bifilar instrument for determining the 

 least tremors of the earth, and he was invited to prepare direc- 

 tions for its construction, erection, and use, to be added to the 

 report of the discussion. He also^described his apparatus for 

 the protection of telephones from lightning. The choice of a 

 type of seismograph was the subject of a long discussion, and a 

 Committee was nominated for the study of this very important 

 question. The consideration of the best mode of collecting, 

 discussing, and publishing the seismic and micro-seismic obser- 

 vations now being made in Italy was referred to the same Com- 

 mittee. On the consideration of the rules to be followed in the 

 construction of buildings, M. de Rossi, of Rome, indicated the 

 further observations which ought to be made. MM. Denza, De 

 Giorgi, Roberto, Bertelli, and Galli also took part in the dis- 

 cussion. The resolutions adopted will be printed, and distributed 

 to the various municipalities for the instruction of the persons 

 concerned. This meeting of students of seismology is the first 

 that has been held in Italy. The Secretary of this enterprising 

 Society is Dr. O. L. Bianco. 



The other day the Committee of the Chester Society of 

 Natural Science passed a resolution, which was entered in their 

 minutes, expressing their deep sense of the loss the Society had 

 sustained through the death of Mr. John Price, which took place 

 on Friday, the 14th inst. He had reached the ripe age of eighty- 

 four. Upwards of forty years ago, when residing at Birkenhead, 

 Mr. Price occupied himself with the fauna of the Birkenhead 

 shore, and the value of his researches was recognized b 

 various scientific investigators of acknowledged eminence. Th( 

 last of his observations on the shore were embodied in a pape 

 on the pluteus of the starfish, read before Section D of the 

 British Association meeting at Liverpool in 1852. To the Pro 

 ceedings of Section D of the British Association he contribute 

 papers from time to time at subsequent meetings. Havin 

 settled at Chester in 1858, Mr. Price was soon the means of eS' 

 tablishing in the city a Society for the study of natural history; 

 Ten years later, after the appointment of the late Charlei 

 Kingsley to a canonry in the Chester Cathedral, this Associatio: 

 was merged in the present Society, founded by Mr. Kingsley, 

 who was one of Mr. Price's intimate friends. Mr. Price accepted,. 



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