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NATURE 



[February 9, 1893 



We greatly regret to have to announce the death of Mr. G. 

 M. Whipple, Superintendent of ihe Kew Observatory, He 

 died on Tuesday night after a long illness. 



The Journal of Botany records the death, on January i8, 

 at Brighton, of Dr. Benjamin Carrington, the highest authority 

 on British Hepaticas. 



Dr. H. J. Johnston- Lavis has been appointed Professor 

 of Vulcanology in the University of Naples. A chair of 

 vulcanology existed for some time at Catania, but was abolished 

 on the death of Prof. Silvestri. 



Some important work with regard to technical education in 

 London was done by the London County Council on Tuesday. 

 The Council began the consideration of the recommendations of 

 the special committee appointed to investigate the subject, and 

 adopted the following proposals — that the Council should de- 

 vote to technical education some portion of the funds from time 

 to time recoverable under the Local Taxation (Customs and 

 Excise) Act, 1890 ; that, in order to promote efficient and 

 united action, it is desirable that the Council should delegate, 

 so far as is permitted by law, its powers in respect of technical 

 education to a composite bqdy, to be called the Technical Edu- 

 cation Board, to be appointed by the Council, partly from its 

 own members and partly from other persons whose co-operation 

 is desired ; and that the Board should be appointed for a term 

 of three years. It was agreed that the City Companies should 

 be asked to contribute to the funds for technical instruction a fair 

 proportion of their corporate income as distinguished from their 

 trust property. 



On Saturday the overhead electric railway at Liverpool was 

 opened by Lord Salisbury, who afterwards delivered a very 

 effective speech on the great things which are likely to be 

 achieved for mankind by electricity. 



The London Amateur Scientific Society will hold its annual 

 general meeting on Friday, February 10, at 7.30 p.m., at the 

 Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street. The president will deliver 

 an address, and the officers and council for the ensuing year will 

 be elected. At the conclusion of the annual general meeting 

 the ordinary meeting will be held, when objects of interest — 

 botanical, zoological, and geological — will be exhibited. 



A CONVERSAZIONE was held the other evening at Firth College 

 to celebrate the completion of the additional building. The 

 addition comprises new physical and biological laboratories, 

 workshop and class rooms, and considerably increases the ac- 

 commodation available for teaching purposes. The cost, 

 ;^5,5co, has been wholly raised from local subscriptions. 



Another disastrous shock of earthquake occurred at Zante 

 on Friday last. It was followed by a terrific thunderstorm, ac- 

 companied by rain and hail. All the ovens in the island 

 wrere destroyed by the successive shocks, so that no bread 

 or biscuits could be made. Thousands of the inhabitants have 

 been made homeless. On Monday there were three further 

 shocks. The King and Queen of Greece have visited several 

 of the villages, and have been deeply affected by the scenes of 

 utter ruin and desolation which have everywhere met their 

 eyes. On Tuesday they visited the naphtha springs of the 

 island, which are believed to be the centre of the disturbance. 

 The mayor of the village of Deme Elatia, some distance from 

 the town of Zante, telegraphed that a large chasm, from which 

 smoke was constantly issuing, had been discovered near that 

 place. 



During the first part of the past week the weather in these 

 islands was under the influence of barometrical depressions 

 situated in the north-west. Rain fell in most places, and the 

 temperature exceeded 50° in the south and west, and even 

 reached 56° in London. On Friday an anticyclone which lay 

 over the Baltic, spread westwards, and under its influence the 

 NO. 12 I 5, VOL. 47I 



temperature became much lower, sharp frosts occurring at night 

 over England, the readings on the grass in the southern part 

 falling as low as 17°, but in the north and west the day tem- 

 peratures were between 45° and 50°. The weather in the 

 southern parts of the country became bright and fine, with local 

 fogs, which extended as far as central England. During the 

 early part of this week depressions from the Atlantic again 

 skirted our western coasts in a north-easterly direction, causing 

 south-westerly gales in the north and west, and a considerable 

 increase in temperature, the maxima on Monday exceeding 50° 

 in Ireland and the extreme south-west of England. The de- 

 pression rapidly increased in intensity, and by Tuesday the warm 

 south-west winds had spread over the whole country, the rise of 

 temperature amounting to over 20° in the south-east of England. 

 A bright aurora was observed in the north-east of Scotland on 

 Sunday night. The Weekly Weather Report of the 4th instant 

 shows that the temperature exceeded the mean in all districts 

 during that week. Bright sunshine did not differ materially 

 from the mean in any district, the percentage of possible 

 duration ranged from twenty- five in the south-west, to twelve in 

 the east of England. 



Tw.'e. American Meteorological Journal for January contains 

 an article by Prof. D. P. Todd bearing upon the selection of 

 stations for observing the total eclipse of April 16 next, together 

 with a map showing the entire region of visibility. He has 

 gone to considerable trouble in collecting data, especially cloud 

 observations for the month of April, for the last three years, 

 together with particulars respecting the stations and the best 

 means of reaching them. The utility of a systematic examina- 

 tion of the cloud conditions of the eclipse localities is apparent. 

 It is only in this way that the best observing stations can 

 be selected. 



The meeting of the American Psychological Association at 

 the University of Pennsylvania on December 27 and 28 seems 

 to have been very successful. According to a writer in the New 

 York Nation, no one who attended the meetinsj failed to be 

 impressed with the quite unusual enthusiasm of the members and 

 the still more unusual peace and serenity that prevailed in all 

 the discussions. This writer is of opinion that, apart from Dr. 

 Sanford's observations on dreams, the paper of most general 

 interest was President Hall's account of the history and pros- 

 pects of experimental psychology in America. A "breezy 

 stimulus " was brought to the meeting by Prof. Hugo Miinster- 

 berg, of Harvard, who has recently gone from Freiberg to be 

 director of the Harvard Psychological. Laboratory. He stirred up 

 a vigorous discussion upon the very foundations of experimental 

 research. This discussion, as well as others, was enriched by 

 the contributions of Prof. Titchener, of Cornell. The next 

 meeting of the association is to be held at Columbia College, 

 New York, during the Christmas recess, 1893. 



The Annual Report of the Botanical Department, Jamaica, has 

 just been published. The Director, Mr. W. Fawcett, F.L.S.,has 

 a good deal to say about the work of his Department, one of the 

 oldest and most successful in the colonies. It was started as 

 long ago as 1777, and ever since, as Mr. Fawcett recalls, it has 

 successfully "introduced valuable exotics, and the productions 

 of the most distant regions to the West Indies," and laid the 

 foundations of the present prosperity in place of the 

 poverty which followed the abolition of slavery. The work of 

 establishing the Hope Gardens as the headquarters of the 

 Department near Kingston is still kept in view, although the 

 amount allowed for this purpose appears much less than the 

 Director considers desirable, taking into account the present im- 

 portance of the island. A hill garden is looked upon as essential 

 to the development of the high lands in Jamaica, and Mr. 

 Fawcett shows that as about one-half of the total area of the 

 island is above 1000 feet elevation, it is impossible to ignore the 



