April 28, 1892] 



NATURE 



613 



situated on the flat roof of the building, the roof being skirted 

 by a low wall about 20 inches in height. Being near the wall, 

 and looking up at the anemometers, he was seized with a fit of 

 giddiness, such as he had lately been accustomed to, and fell to 

 the ground, breaking his neck. His sister-in-law, who saw 

 the sad accident, had previously been cautioned by him not to 

 go too near the wall when on the roof, for he considered it a 

 dangerously low one. Mr. Ilartnup was a member of the 

 Royal Astronomical and Liverpool Astronomical Societies, and 

 a Fellow of the Meteorological Society. He had succeeded 

 his father in 1885, so that he was thoroughly familiar with the 

 Observatory in which he had to work. 



Miss Amelia B. Edwards, whose death we have already 

 recorded, has in her will endowed a Chair of Egyptology. Her 

 library, which is very valuable, she has bequeathed to Somer- 

 ville Hall, Oxford. 



We regret to hear that the venerable Prof. Sven L.oven has 

 been compelled, as a result of the influenza, to retire from his 

 position as Senior Keeper in the State Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, at Stockholm, where he has been active for fifty-one years. 

 Prof Loven is now seeing through the press two important 

 works on Echinoderm morphology, one dealing with the young 

 stages of Echinoidea, the other with the Cystidea. We trust he 

 may long be spared to enrich the world with these and other 

 fruits of his wide knowledge and deep thought. 



The twelfth annual exhibition of natural history objects of 

 the South London Natural History Society will be held on 

 May 5 and 6 at the Bridge House Hotel, London Bridge, the 

 whole of which building has been secured for the occasion. 

 These exhibitions are growing in popularity, and several 

 thousand visitors have each year taken lively interest in the 

 exhibits. This year they will be exceptionally varied and novel. 

 Lectures will be delivered by Mr. F. Enock on "The Life- 

 history of the British Trapdoor Spider," by Mr. Step on 

 "Edible and Poisonous Fungi," and by Mr. George Day on 

 " Various Natural History Subjects." 



An Exhibition which will be interesting from a scientific as 

 well as from a popular point of view will be held this year in 

 the open ground near the Earl's Court railway station. It will 

 illustrate the development of horticulture, and as Mr. H. E. 

 Milner, F.L. S., is the chairman of the executive committee, we 

 may expect that the scheme will be admirably carried out. 

 There are to be examples of the gardens of all ages, including 

 restorations of the ancient gardens of Egypt, Greece, and Rome ; 

 copies of those in China and Japan, and types of the Baronial, 

 Italian, Tudor, Jacobean, Georgian, and Victorian eras. A 

 large sub-tropical garden will be laid out, and there will be re- 

 presentations of the tea gardens of India and Ceylon. Various 

 foreign countries — especially Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, 

 and Germany — will co-operate to show the progress they have 

 made in horticulture. 



In September a splendid Exhibition of fruit will be held in a 

 temporary building, which is to be erected on a site on the 

 Thames Embankment, near Blackfriars, lent for the purpose by 

 the City Corporation. The Exhibition will be held under the 

 auspices of the Fruiterers' and Gardeners' Companies, the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, the British Fruit Growers' Association, 

 and other kindred societies, and will last at least a week. In 

 connection with the Exhibition lectures and object-lessons will 

 be given on subjects relating to fruit culture and the planting 

 of fruit trees. 



The Technical Instruction Committee of the Essex County 

 Council appointed last year an organizing joint committee, 

 consisting of six members of their own body, and six members of 

 NO. I I 74, VOL. 45] 



the Essex Field Club. By means of the funds voted to this 

 joint committee, peripatetic courses of lectures on various scien- 

 tific and technical subjects have been carried on in different 

 rural centres with considerable success during the past year. 

 The principle on which the joint committee has carried on this 

 work has been to employ only thoroughly qualified lecturers, 

 and to insist upon the instruction being made as practical as 

 possible. In some cases the lectures have been followed by 

 practical work, in which the students have been taught how to 

 use the microscope, and to dissect plants, as a means of acquiring 

 a good working knowledge of vegetable physiology. This 

 practical work has been so much appreciated in the rural centres 

 that there has been an actual competition to gain admission to 

 the class, the number of students being necessarily limited by 

 the supply of apparatus and material. One of the most popular 

 courses given under the auspices of the joint committee has been 

 that on general science, a kind of elementary introductory 

 course showing the advantage of acquiring scientific knowledge 

 in its applications to daily life. There has been such a demand 

 for this subject that four lecturers have been engaged to meet 

 the wants of different parts of the county. Special courses on 

 marketable fish and oyster culture will shortly be commenced 

 for the benefit of the maritime centres. The organizing joint 

 committee has, we are informed, not been reappointed by the 

 new County Council, but that its labours have been appreciated 

 is shown by the fact that the Council has decided to merge the 

 joint committee in the main Technical Instruction Committee. 

 The latter will thus secure directly the co-operation of the six 

 representatives of the Essex Field Club, among whom are Sir 

 Henry Roscoe, Prof, Meldola, and Mr, G, J. Symons. Essex 

 is to be congratulated upon the wisdom which its Councillors 

 have displayed in securing the services of such well-known 

 scientific advisers. 



A VERY beautiful aurora was visible from Westgate-on-Sea on 

 Monday evening last. When it was first observed, about 9.30 

 p.m., the sky was brilliantly illuminated to a height of about 30° 

 above the horizon, extending laterally quite 50°. It seemed to 

 be decidedly of a pinkish colour, but to all appearance this 

 tint gradually disappeared. About ten minutes later, two fine 

 streamers were thrown out, their approximate positions on the 

 celestial sphere corresponding to the lines joining the stars ir- 

 Cygni, e Draconis, and a Lacertse, it Cephei, Their light was 

 considerably more intense than the aurora itself, the beams 

 reminding one rather of those produced by a strong search light. 

 East and west of these, two more beautiful bright streaks were shot 

 out, extending to a height not quite so great as the former two. 

 The west one became especially fine, its light exceeding that of 

 any of the others. Their positions, as near as could be gathered, 

 lay between the stars p Cygni and o Draconis for the west one, 

 and for the east one o Andromedze and t Cassiopeiae, Five 

 minutes later these vanished, and the two central ones merged 

 into one and also disappeared. At 12.30, only one streamer 

 was visible, while its light and that of the aurora itself was of a 

 very feeble nature. 



The weather during the past week has become on the whole 

 much more seasonable all over the country. Westerly winds 

 have prevailed during the greater part of the period, and the air 

 has been mild and genial ; but the temperature, although high 

 for the season, was lower than at the commencement of the 

 month. Rain has fallen very generally within the last few days 

 in all parts of the kingdom, and thunder, lightning, and hail 

 have occurred in many places. A brilliant aurora, to which 

 reference is made in the preceding note and in several letters, 

 was observed in Scotland and in several parts of England during 

 Monday night. The weather report of the Meteorological 

 Office for the week ending April 23, showed that bright 



