i8 



NATURE 



[May 7, 1891 



Science and Art Department at the end of March last, it 

 appeared that of the fifty county councils and sixty county 

 boroughs in England, sixteen of the former and twenty-five of 

 the latter had already decided to apply the whole of their share 

 of the residue under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) 

 Act of 1890 to science and art and technical education. Nine 

 county councils and two county boroughs had made grants vary- 

 ing from "nearly the whole" to a smaller proportion of their 

 share to the same purpose. Twelve county councils and seven 

 county boroughs had the matter under consideration ; that is 

 to say, they had appointed committees, and in many cases the 

 committees had recommended the allocation of the whole or the 

 greater part of the residue fund to technical instruction, but their 

 reports had not yet been confirmed by the county or borough 

 councils. With regnrd to Wales, the question was complicated 

 by the fact that the Welsh Intermediate Education Act included 

 technical instruction, but it appeared that four county councils 

 and one county borough had applied the whole of their share of 

 the residue under the Intermediate Education Act ; while two 

 county councils and one county borough had divided their quota 

 between that Act and the Technical Instruction Act. The re- 

 maining six county councils had either made no return, or else 

 had the matter under consideration. 



The Council of University College, Bangor, having resolved to 

 make provision in the physical department (Prof. A. Gray) 

 for the study of applied electricity, an 8 horse-power (nominal) 

 compound engine, working up to 24 horse-power, has just been 

 installed by Messrs. Robey and Co., Lincoln. On Saturday 

 last a satisfactory trial of the engine and boiler was made. The 

 equipment includes a special educational Victoria dynamo 

 (capable of being converted at will into a shunt, com- 

 pound-wound, or series dynamo, without impairing its use- 

 fulness for general work), by the Brush Electrical Engineering 

 Co., an alternating dynamo, and a large secondary battery. 

 The electrical measuring instruments are of the latest design, 

 and include a fine composite balance, and electrostatic voltmeter 

 of Sir William Thomson's invention. The equipment forms a 

 valuable addition to the resources of the College for the teaching 

 of pure and applied physical science, and will render it possible to 

 give a very complete course of instruction in electrical engineering, 

 as well as in the general theory of electricity. 



The Philosophical Society of Berlin offers a prize of 1000 

 marks for the best essay on the relation of philosophy to the 

 empirical science of nature. The essays may be written in 

 German, French, English, or Latin, and must be sent in before 

 April I, 1893. 



The Italian Meteorological Society has celebrated its twenty- 

 fifth anniversary by erecting a memorial tablet in the mediaeval 

 castle of Turin. The founder of the Society, Father Denza, 

 and various notabilities and ladies were present. Father Denza 

 gave a resume of the history of the Society, which now possesses 

 no less than 250 observatories and stations. The ceremony 

 vras terminated by the transmission of a telegram to the King, 

 ■as Honorary President of the Society. 



The Chief Signal Officer of the United States has published 

 Part III. of " Bibliography of Meteorology," comprising titles 

 relating to the general motions of the atmosphere, or "winds,"' 

 while the important division of " storms " is being prepared for 

 issue as Part IV. The present volume, like its predecessors, is 

 a lithographic reproduction of a copy prepared by means of a 

 type-writer, as funds were not forthcoming for printing the work, 

 and it contains a total of 2000 titles of books and papers dating 

 from the origin of printing to the close of 1881, with a supple- 

 ment to the close of 1889, and an author index. The work is 

 quite unique, and will be an invaluable aid to the study of the 

 subject treated of. 



NO. II 23, VOL, 44] 



An account of the Birmingham School of Medicine, written 

 originally for the information of those members of the medical 

 profession who attended the Birmingham meeting of the British 

 Association in 1890, has now been published separately. The 

 authors are Dr. B. C. A. Windle and Mr. W. Hillhouse, Their 

 intention is to show — and this they do most effectually — that the 

 centre of the Midland district possesses one of the best equipped 

 schools of medicine in the provinces. The interest of the 

 descriptions is greatly increased by reproductions of some 

 photographs. 



A Fish and Game Commission, taking evidence on behalf 

 of the Ontario Government, has received many complaints 

 as to the destruction of deer and other depredations by wolves ; 

 and all the witnesses agree that the present bounty of ;^i 

 paid for each wolf killed should be raised to £2 \os. or £1. 

 It has also been shown that, if the game laws are not more 

 strictly enforced, many birds and fur-bearing animals will 

 probably be exterminated. 



The preliminary returns of the recent census operations in 

 India show that the population in British territory is 220,400,000, 

 as against 198,655,600 in the forhier census, an increase of 

 nearly 22,000,000. The Feudatory States, omitting incomplete 

 returns, which may be taken at about 90,000, have a popula- 

 tion of 61,410,000, making a total of 281,900,000, as against 

 250,700,000 for the same areas at the last census. The returns 

 give Bombay 8o5,ooo, Madras 449,000, Calcutta municipal 

 area and port 674,000, and including the suburbs Howrah and 

 Bally, 969,000, At the last cenFus the total for the same area 

 was 847,000. Calcutta municipal area shows an increa-e of 

 92,000, and Howrah and Bally an increase of 24,000, The 

 returns from Burmah show that the population of the whole 

 country, excluding the Shan States, is 7,507,063, or 48-8 per- 

 sons to the square mile. The population of Lower Burmah 

 alpne is 4,526,432, or an increase of about 790,000 since 1881. 



The Boston Society of Natural History has issued a pamphlet 

 announcing the completion of the general plans for the forma- 

 tion of zoological gardens and aquaria in Boston, and appealing 

 to the American public for support. The pamphlet is prettily 

 printed and illustrated, and sets forth very effectively the argu- 

 ments which may be advanced in favour of the scheme. 



The new number of the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society contains a full report of the Dahlia Conference, held at 

 the Chiswick Gardens on September 23 last ; and of the Grape 

 Conference, held in the same Gardens on September 24, The 

 number also contains valuable papers on various other subjects 

 interesting to horticulturists. 



The Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, have issued an 

 interesting and instructive Report, by Mr, E. C. Cotes, on the 

 locust of North-Western India ' {Acridiuin peregrinuni). The 

 RepoYt sums up the results of an investigation conducted in the 

 entomological section of the Museum. It seems to be estab- 

 lished that most of the flights of this locust i<;sue from the region 

 of sand hills in Western Rajpulana. Others, however, invade 

 India from breeding-grounds which probably lie along the Suli- 

 man Range, or even, perhaps, in some cases, beyond India's 

 western frontier, in the sandy deserts of Baluchistan, Southern 

 Afghanistan, and Persia, though the reports received from these 

 regions, Mr. Cotes says, are so fragmentary that no very definite 

 conclusions can be formed from them. 



The New Zealand Jotirnal of Science, the publication of 

 which was suspended in 1885, has been revived. The first two 

 numbers of the new issue have been sent to us, and if the same 

 general level of excellence can be maintained in future numbers, 

 there ought to be no doubt as to the success of the enterprise. 

 The following are among the papers : on the history of the 



