40 



NATURE 



[May 14, 1891 



Boston, on Europe during and after the Ice Age. The course 

 began on March 13 and ended on April 10. 



A SHOCK of earthquake was felt at Athens on Monday 

 evening. 



The fourth summer meeting of University Extension and other 

 students, to be held at Oxford in August, will be divided into 

 two parts. The first part of the meeting will begin with an 

 inaugural lecture by Mr. Frederick Harrison on Friday evening, 

 July 31, and will end on Tuesday evening, August 11. The 

 second part of the meeting will begin on Wednesday morning, 

 August 12, and end on Monday evening, August 31. In natural 

 science fifty-nine lectures will be delivered, and there will be 

 classes for practical work in the University laboratory and ob- 

 servatory, &c. Among the scientific lecturers will be Mr, E. B. 

 Poulton, Prof. A. H. Green, Mr. W. E. Plummer, and Mr. 

 C. Carus- Wilson. Scholarships to the value of ;i^i20 have been 

 offered by various gentlemen for the purpose of enabling Uni- 

 versity Extension students, who would not otherwise be enabled 

 to afford it, to study for a short time at Oxford. 



A GLASS case just placed in the Mammal Gallery of the 

 British Museum contains a series of specimens of two of the 

 largest species of Asiatic Wild Sheep, collected and presented 

 to the nation by Mr. St. George Littledale, the well-known 

 sportsman. Three of these represent Marco Polo's Sheep {Ovis 

 poll) from the Pamir Range, and three of them the Ammon 

 {Ovis ammon) of the Altai. These are, we believe, the first 

 perfect specimens of Ovis poll, the finest and largest of all the 

 Asiatic Sheep, that have yet been brought to England, the species 

 been generally known only by its horns, which are remarkable 

 for their enormous size and width. 



The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 

 has published the Report of its second meeting, held at Mel- 

 bourne in January 1890. The volume is edited by Prof. W. 

 Baldwin Spencer. No one who glances over the volume can 

 fail to recognize that the Association is likely to exercise a most 

 important influence on the development of scientific research 

 and thought among our kinsfolk in the Australasian colonies. 



The Ealing Microscopical and Natural History Society, of 

 which the Rev. G. Henslow is President, has issued its Report 

 and Proceedings for 1890. The Committee are able to record 

 that the work of the Society proceeded quietly but steadily on 

 the lines laid down in previous years ; the evening meetings, 

 the excursions, and the conveisazione having all been held in 

 their appointed seasons, and having had a full measure of 

 success. Among the subjects brought before the evening meet- 

 ings were " Adventures in Siberia," by Mr, H. Seebohm ; 

 "The Natural History of Malta," by the Rev. G. Henslow; 

 "Diatoms," by Mr. E. M. Nelson; and "A Gossip on Mush- 

 rooms and Toadstools," by Dr, M, C. Cooke. 



During the last fortnight, according to the Cairo corre- 

 spondent of the Times, there have been in Upper and Lower 

 Egypt large swarms of locusts, which have caused much alarm, 

 as it is believed that they originate from eggs laid in the country 

 last year. The damage done to the young maize, sugar, and 

 cotton is as yet insignificant, though some individual growers 

 have had to re-sow cotton patches which had been devastated. 

 The provincial Mudirs have received orders to do everything in 

 their power to secure the extermination of the locusts. The 

 correspondent says that this is the most serious reappearance of 

 an old Egyptian plague that has been recorded for about forty 

 years, 



A CIRCULAR relating to certain alterations in the Science and 

 Art Directory for the session 1891-92 has been issued to 

 NO. II 24, VOL. 44] 



managers of schools of science and art by the Lords of the Commit- 

 tee of Council on Education. The following is an outline of the 

 alterations, so far as they refer to science, or to science and art 

 together: — (i) Subject 6 — Theoretical Mechanics — will be treated 

 in two subdivisions : {a) the mechanics of solids, and {b) the 

 mechanics of fluids — liquids and gases — payments being made 

 on each subdivision as a separate subject. Subject 8 — Sound, 

 Light, and Heat — will be treated in three subdivisions in the ad- 

 vanced and honours stages, which may be taken, and will be 

 paid upon, separately. The elementary stage will still include 

 all three subjects, but the syllabus will be curtailed and rendered 

 easier, especially in "Sound." (2) These subdivisions will not 

 be considered as separate subjects in the interpretation of the 

 rule which limits the number of subjects on which payments 

 may be made on a student in any one year. (3) The number of 

 National Scholarships in science to be competed for each year 

 will be increased from 14 to 22. (6) In both science and art, 

 the prizes of books, as distinguished from certificates, will be 

 largely reduced in number, and only given in competition ; those 

 prizes which are now awarded simply on the student attaining a 

 certain standard of excellence in the examinations being abo- 

 lished. The time has passed when such prizes from a central 

 authority, which entail a disproportionate cost and delay in 

 administration, were justified by the necessity for stimulating 

 science and art schools ; and the Lords of the Committee of 

 Council on Education are of opinion that the scholarships which 

 will be substituted for them will be more useful. They trust 

 that those interested in education in the several localities will 

 themselves provide prizes of books for deserving students which 

 may be useful to them in their studies. 



According to the Indian papers, a persistent effort is being 

 made by the Geological Department of the Government of India, 

 in association with the Burmah Government, to explore the tin 

 resources of Tenasserim. The flourishing condition of the 

 almost adjacent Malay States of Perak and Selangor, which 

 are under British protection, is mainly due to the income derived 

 from tin royalties. A year ago an expert was borrowed from 

 the Straits Settlements and placed ia Tenasserim under Mr. 

 Hughes, of the Geological Department. The party has this year 

 been joined by Dr. Warth, the officer who did very good work 

 for the Government in the Punjab salt mines ; and Dr. King, 

 the Director of the Department, has left Calcutta for an inspec- 

 tion of the survey operations which have been conducted during 

 the last twelve months. It is now two years since the Chief 

 Commissioner of Burmah sent a special officer to report on the 

 tin mines of the Straits Settlements, and the present explora- 

 tions are being conducted in pursuance of the recommendations 

 then made. 



A PASSAGE in the correspondence of Leibnitz and John Ber- 

 noulli, to which Prof. Hellmann has recently called attention 

 in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift, indicates that Leibnitz con- 

 ceived the idea of the aneroid barometer, which was first practi- 

 cally realized by Vidi in 1847, 1 Bernoulli, early in the eighteenth 

 century, was considering the phosphorescence of mercury in the 

 barometer, and the possibility of making a new instrument 

 which would give the variations of air-pressure on'a larger scale ; 

 also the idea of a barometer for travellers ; and Leibnitz tells him 

 he had thought of a portable barometer, without mercury, in 

 which a metallic case should be compressed by the weight of 

 the air. A bladder, or leather case, which he also suggested, 

 Bernoulli considered would be too hygroscopic. 



Messrs, Macmillan and Co. have just published " Natural 

 Selection and Tropical Nature — Essays on Descriptive and 

 Theoretical Biology," by Mr, Alfred Russel Wallace, The 

 volume consists mainly of a reprint of two well-known volume 



