64 



NATURE 



[November 19, i I 



the bewildering possibility of telegraphy without wires, 

 posts, cables, or any of our present costly appliances. It 

 is vain to attempt to picture the marvels of the future. 

 Progress, as Dean Swift observed, may be too fast for 

 endurance. Sufficient for this generation are the wonders 

 thereof. 



GEOLOGICAL PHOTOGRAPHS. 



AT the meeting of the British Association in 1889, 

 ■^"^ a Committee was appointed for the purpose of 

 arranging for the collection, preservation, and systematic 

 registration of photographs of geological interest in the 

 United Kingdom. Since its formation, the Committee 

 has succeeded in obtaining a number of photographs, 

 588 of which were received and registered up to August 

 last ; and in its second report, presented at the Cardiff 

 meeting of the British Association, the Committee was 

 able to state that, in the choice of subjects, greater care 

 had been taken during the year to include the most typical 

 views. As yet, only about half of the British counties 

 are represented in the collection, while some are still 

 represented inadequately. The work is one of great in- 

 terest and importance, both from a scientific and an 

 educational point of view, and it may be hoped that 

 local Societies and Field Clubs, whose co-operation the 

 Committee is particularly anxious to secure, will every- 

 where associate themselves with the scheme, and do what 

 they can to bring it to completion. The Committee, in a 

 circular just issued, suggests that these Societies and 

 Clubs might materially aid the scheme by mapping out 

 their districts under the direction of a local geologist, 

 and drawing up a list of sections and localities of which 

 photographs would be desirable. New sections and 

 exposures of strata should be noted. This preliminary 

 work could be done during the winter session, and 

 arrangements made for the use of the camera in the 

 ensuing spring, or when opportunity offered. 



In its report, the Committee refers especially to the 

 work accomplished by the Geological Photographic Com- 

 mittee of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. Among the 

 photographs of this Society are many relating to sections 

 which cannot be reproduced — as, for instance, fossil trees 

 laid bare in quarrying and in excavations for the founda- 

 tions of buildings now covered over. The Hertfordshire 

 Natural History Society and the East Kent Natural 

 History Society have also organized schemes for the 

 photography of local geological features ; and the Com- 

 mittee has already received from them views which, it 

 is hoped, will be supplemented by a further series next 

 year. 



Of course it is not always easy to obtain the services 

 of a professional photographer, but few Societies should 

 have much difficulty in securing the help of amateur 

 photographers, so many of whom are now to be found 

 in all parts of the country. In order that there may be 

 unity of action, the Committee has drawn up a set of 

 instructions, copies of which may be obtained on applica- 

 tion to the secretary, Mr. Osmund W. Jeffs, 12 Queen's 

 Road, Rock Ferry, Cheshire. It is pointed out that 

 the photographs should illustrate characteristic rock ex- 

 posures, especially those of a typical character or tem- 

 porary nature ; important boulders ; localities affected 

 by denudation, or where marked physiographical changes 

 are in operation ; raised beaches ; old sea-cliffs and other 

 conspicuous instances of marine erosion ; characteristic 

 river-valleys or escarpments, and the like ; glacial pheno- 

 mena, such as roches inotito7tnees, moraines, drums, and 

 kames ; or any natural views of geological interest. Photo- 

 graphs of microscopical sections and typical hand-speci- 

 mens of rocks are also admissible. 



Detailed lists of photographs officially received are 

 published in the report of the Committee, which also 



NO. I 15 I, VOL. 45] 



states where the photographs may be obtained. Lists 

 for insertion in the third report will be received up to 

 June 15, 1892. 



It is satisfactory to find that geological photographic 

 schemes similar to that of the British Association are 

 being adopted in other countries. The Committee, in its 

 second report, alludes to the action taken in the matter 

 by the Soci^td Gdologique de Belgique, and to the Com- 

 mittee of Photographs appointed by the Geographical 

 Society of America. The American Committee proposes 

 to prepare lists for international exchange. 



NOTES. 



After a rather prolonged delay, the Commission for the 

 delimitation of the Anglo-French frontier in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sierra Leone, in accordance with the West African 

 agreement between Great Britain and France of August 10,1889, 

 has been appointed. Captain Kenney, R.E., the British Com- 

 missioner, with his party, proceeded to Sierra Leone by the 

 steamer of November 14 last. The Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies permitted the Director of Kew to nominate a botanist 

 to accompany the expedition, and the Government Grant Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Society made a grant to meet his expenses, 

 part of which will also be borne by the Government of Sierra 

 Leone. The mission has been undertaken by Mr. G. F. 

 Scott- Elliot, M.A. Camb., B.Sc. Edinb., F.L.S., who has 

 recently published in the Journal of the Linnean Society an 

 account of the new species of plants found by him in a journey 

 through a little known part of Southern Madagascar. The 

 botany of the interior of Sierra Leone is very little known, but 

 is believed to be of great interest. The Commission will be 

 absent about six months. It will proceed in the first instance to 

 Falaba, and then proceed to the point of intersection of the 

 loth parallel of North latitude and the 13th meridian (French) 

 of West longitude. 



We understand that Prof. Hennessy, F.R.S., will shortly 

 resign the Chair of Applied Mathematics and Mechanism in the 

 Royal College of Science, Dublin. The salary of the post is 

 ^{^400, rising to ;^SOo, a year, with a share of the fees. The 

 appointment rests with the Lord President of the Council, and 

 applicants should address themselves to the Secretary, Science 

 and Art Department. 



The arrangements to be made for the Crystal Palace Electrical 

 Exhibition are to be discussed at a meeting of the honorary 

 council of advice and of the special committee appointed by the 

 Electrical Section of the London Chamber of Commerce. The 

 meeting will be held at the Mansion House on Wednesday, 

 November 25, at 3 o'clock. The Lord Mayor will preside. 

 The whole of the space is now practically allotted, extra build- 

 ings having been erected for certain large installations which 

 could not otherwise have been accommodated. 



A Committee has been appointed by the American Institute 

 of Electrical Engineers to suggest plans for the International 

 Electrical Congress to be held in Chicago in 1893, in connec- 

 tion with the World's Fair. A local Committee, with Prof. 

 Gray as President, is being formed at Chicago for the purpose 

 of making preparations for the same Congress. The Chicago 

 journal Electricity sees no reason " why a perfectly harmonious 

 arrangement should not be made between the Institute and the 

 local Committee, whereby both will work together to promote 

 the success of the Congress." 



The Spanish Government intend to open two Exhibitions in 

 September 1892 in celebration of the fourth centenary of the 

 discovery of America. One of these will be at Madrid, and will 

 be called the Exposition Historique Americaine de Madrid. The 



