276 



NATURE 



[July 21, i 



through the Timor and Tenimber groups of islands to the Aroos 

 and Ke Islands and thence to Banda or Amboina, a total distance 

 by the route selected of about 2500 English miles. The second 

 section, starting from Banda or Amboina, will pass between 

 Halmaheira and Celebes through the chain of islands leading up 

 to the Philippines, and then return to Java by the channel between 

 Celebes and Borneo, making a traject of some 3000 miles. 

 Looking to the advantages derived from Prof. Weber's previous 

 experience in exploration of this nature and his well-known 

 devotion to the subject, there can be little doubt that this expedi- 

 tion will result in large additions to our knowledge of the fauna, 

 flora, and physical structure of the East Indian Archipelago. 



Mr. A. P. Low, of the Geological Survey of Canada, has gone 

 to Labrador for the purpose of studying the geological formations, 

 and to make a map of the region. He expects to be absent for 

 eighteen months. 



The second Huxley Lecture on " Recent Advances in 

 Science, and their bearing on Medicine and Surgery " will be 

 delivered at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School on 

 Monday, October 3, by Prof. Virchow of Berlin. It will be 

 remembered that the first Huxley lecturer was Prof. Michael 

 Foster, F.R.S., and that his discourse was printed in these 

 columns. Prof. Virchow's lecture will, it is stated, be delivered 

 in English. 



The summer session of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will take place at Derby, commencing on Tuesday, 

 July 26. The following papers have been offered for reading 

 and discussion, not necessarily in the order here given : — Manu- 

 facture of aluminium articles, with description of the rolling 

 mills and foundry at Milton, Staffordshire, by Mr. Emanuel 

 Ristori ; water softening and purification by the Archbutt- 

 Deeley process, by Mr. Leonard Archbutt ; mechanical testing 

 of materials at the locomotive works of the Midland Railway, 

 Derby, by Mr. W. Gadsby Peet ; electric current for lighting 

 and power on the Midland Railway, and driving direct by 

 electric motor without shafting, by Mr. W. E. Langdon ; 

 narrow-gauge railways, 2 feet and under, by Mr. Leslie S. 

 Robertson ; results of recent practical experience with express 

 locomotive engines, by Mr. Walter M. Smith. 



The summer meeting of the Institution of Junior Engineers 

 will be held at Liverpool, from August 8 to 13. The president- 

 elect of the Institution is Sir W. H. White, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



The summer assembly of- the National Home-Reading 

 Union will be held at Exeter during the last week of the present 

 month. The inaugural address will be delivered by Sir George 

 W. Kekewich, K.C.B., Secretary of the Education Depart- 

 ment, who will take as his subject "The National Home- 

 Reading Union in its Relation to Elementary Education," and 

 short courses of lectures upon the architecture, botany, and 

 geology of the district will be given by Mr. Francis Bond, 

 Prof. Baldwin Brown, Mr. A. W. Clayden and Prof. Weiss. 

 Copies of the full programme may be obtained from the ojiSce 

 of the Union, Surrey House, Victoria Embankment. 



Science announces that the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia has received from Miss Anna T. Jeanes a gift of 

 20,000 dollars to be invested and known as the Mary Jeanes 

 Museum Fund, the income to be used for general museum 

 purposes. 



The Hayden Memorial Geological Award for 1898, consisting 

 of a bronze medal and the interest of the endowment fund, has 

 been conferred upon Prof. Otto Martin Torell, the director of 

 the Geological Survey of Sweden, by the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. 



NO. 1499, VOL. 58] 



The Belgian Government, setting an example to those of larger 

 and wealthier nations, has offered a premium of 50,000 francs to 

 the inventor of a paste for match-heads free from yellow phos- 

 phorus, and capable of igniting upon any dry surface. The 

 conditions under which the competition will take place have 

 been determined by the Ministry, who have agreed that it 

 shall be international, and remain open until January i, 1899. 



As will be seen by a reference to our advertisement columns, 

 a prize of 500 guineas is offered by the Sulphate of Ammonia 

 Committee for the best essay on the subject of " The Utility of 

 Sulphate of Ammonia in Agriculture," treated from a practical 

 and scientific point of view. All essays sent in must be written 

 in the English language, on one side of the paper only, and 

 bear a distinguishing motto or 7tom de plume, and reach the 

 Chairman of the Committee not later than November 15 of the 

 present year. 



Prof. O. C. Marsh has transmitted from New Haven to the 

 Director of the United States Geological Survey the fourth large 

 instalment of vertebrate fossils secured in the West in 1882-92, 

 under his direction, as palseontologist of the United States 

 Geological Survey in charge of vertebrate palaeontology. The 

 collection, which is packed in one hundred boxes and weighs 

 over thirteen tons, will, in accordance with law, be deposited in 

 the National Museum. The collection includes twelve skulls 

 and other remains of the gigantic Ceratopsia from the Cretaceous ; 

 various Dinocerata fossils from the Eocene ; a series of rare 

 specimens of Brontothermm, Elotherium, Miohipptis and other 

 genera from the Miocene ; a very extensive collection of 

 rhinoceros and other mammals from the Pliocene, as well as 

 various interesting fossils from more recent deposits. Other 

 collections at present at New Haven will be sent to Washington 

 as soon as their scientific investigation, now in progress, has 

 been completed. 



A circular letter on the subject of railway passenger com- 

 munication has been issued by the Board of Trade to the 

 general managers of the different railway companies, calling at- 

 tention to the recently issued report of the Departmental Com- 

 mittee, which unhesitatingly condemns as inefficient the outside 

 cord system of communication, and does not regard as satis- 

 factory existing methods of communication by pulling a cord or 

 wire passing inside the carriages. The views expressed by the 

 Committee as to the inefficiency of the outside cord com- 

 munication are fully shared by the Board of Trade, who have for 

 years refused to approve it. It is recommended that the law 

 should be extended so as to require the provision of means 

 of communication on all passenger trains, irrespective of the 

 distance run without a stop. The letter states that the Board 

 attach great importance to the conclusions of the Committee, 

 and that they hope the companies by whom the cord system is 

 still used will at once take steps to substitute for it a proper 

 means of communication, and that the companies will, as a 

 whole, extend the provision of such a means to all passenger 

 trains without waiting for an alteration of the law. It is to be 

 sincerely hoped that the railway companies, to whom the sug- 

 gestions contained in the letter apply, will set to work to remedy 

 what has been, and still is, a crying evil on many lines of 

 railway. 



Some time ago the Public Control Committee of the London 

 County Council received from the Departmental Committee of the 

 Home Office, which is at present considering the questions of the 

 manufacture and supply of water gas, an inquiry as to the opinion 

 on the subject of the Public Control Committee. This opinion has 

 now been communicated, and is as follows : (i) That consider- 

 able danger arises from the introduction of water gas in the 

 process of the enrichment of coal gas ; (2) that non-carburelted 



