84 



NA TURE 



[May 26, 1892 



that the trustees decided some time ago to enlarge the building, 

 and a spacious new wing will be ready for use on July i. Various 

 courses of instruction in zoology, botany, and microscopical 

 technique will be given, as usual, during the season. Lecfuves 

 on special subjects will also be delivered by members of the 

 staff. 



The annual conversazione of the Society of Arts will take 

 place at the South Kensington Museum on Wednesday evening, 

 June 29. 



The German Anthropological Society will hold its general 

 meeting this year at Ulm, beginning work on July 31. Arrange- 

 ments have been made for some very pleasant excursions in the 

 neighbourhood. 



Major-General Noble, R.A., died on Tuesday, May 17, 

 in his fifty-eighth year. He was well known, not only as the 

 author of books on military subjects, but as the inventor of 

 various scientific instruments connected with the manufacture 

 of guns and gunpowder. 



The University of Heidelberg has conferred the degree of 

 Doctor of Natural Philosophy, honoris catisd, on the well- 

 known entomologist, Baron Osten Sacken. 



The beautiful illustrations contained in the Black and 

 White Hand-book to the Royal Academy and New Gallery 

 pictures are sure to be welcomed by those who have not already 

 seen them, while to those who have visited these Galleries 

 good reproductions of them will not be amiss. The different 

 coloured tints given to the pictures produce a pleasant variety 

 of impression, while the fidelity to the original details, which 

 is the chief feature of photographic processes, is here thoroughly 

 maintained. Not only the pictures, but the specimens of 

 sculpture, are reproduced in the same way, the results being 

 equally successful. As an introduction to the volume, a brief 

 but interesting account is given of the Royal Academy, together 

 with illustrated biographies of the present Academicians and 

 Associates. 



Part I, of Mr. G. J. Romanes's treatise, " Darwin and after 

 Darwin," was published a day or two ago by Messrs. Long- 

 mans, Green, and Co. It deals in a critical manner with the 

 distinctively Darwinian theory, or the evidences of evolution as 

 a fact, and of natural selection (with sexual selection) as a 

 method. It is copiously illustrated, for the most part with original 

 woodcuts, and runs to 450 pages. We gather from the preface 

 that Part II. is to treat in a similar spirit of " Post-Dar- 

 winian Theories" (heredity, utility, isolation, physiological 

 selection, &c. ) ; and understand that it will probably be ready 

 for publication in the autumn season. 



On April 29, Mauritius was visited by the most terrible 

 hurricane that is known to have ever devastated the island. 

 According to the official telegram from the Acting Governor to 

 the Secretary of State for the Colonies, one-third of Port Louis 

 was destroyed. The Royal College, twenty-four churches and 

 chapels, and many sugar-mills in the country were completely 

 wrecked. There were over 600 deaths in Port Louis ; over 

 300 deaths in the country and over 1000 wounded. " In Port 

 Louis district," the telegram continued, " returns incomplete ; 

 probably same amount. No loss among the military. Esti- 

 mated reduction of crop one-half. Destruction to property 

 enormous. No famine apprehended. All relief measures 

 taken. Relief committee appointed. Panic allayed. Order 

 and quiet reign, but, in presence of thousands of homeless 

 people, pecuniary assistance urgently needed." A public sub- 



NO. II 78, VOL. 46] 



scription in aid of the sufferers was at once opened by the 

 Lord Mayor. It is to be hoped that the Observatory at 

 Mauritius has been spared. It was thence that Dr. Meldrum 

 announced that at Mauritius the hurricanes and wrecks varied 

 with the sun-spots. We have again a maximum of sun-spots 

 and unprecedented devastation. 



The National Home Reading Society will hold two summer 

 assemblies this year, one at Weston-super-Mare, the other at 

 Bowness. The former will last from June 25 to July 2, the 

 latter from June 27 to July 2. At both meetings science will be 

 well represented among the subjects of study. At Weston- 

 super-Mare, Prof. Lloyd Morgan will lecture on " The Physical 

 History of the Mendip Hills," Sir Robert Ball on " How came 

 the Great Ice Age?", Dr. Dallinger on "Ants: a Study of 

 Sociology and Politics among Insects," Dr. C. \V. Kimmins on 

 "Flowers and their Insect Visitors," Mr. A. W. Clayden on 

 "Geological Structure and the Formation of Scenery." At 

 Bowness, Mr. J. E. Marr and Mr. G. Massee will give 

 geological and botanical lectures, but the chief work of the 

 classes in geology and botany will be done in the course of 

 excursions to the places ofscientific interest in the Lake District. 

 Both assemblies are likely to be of great service to all who 

 attend them. 



Mr. George Forbes arrived on May 6 at the Niagara Falls 

 in company with the executive officers of the Cataract Con- 

 struction Company. He is acting as the Company's adviser in 

 connection with the plans he submitted to them in 1890 for the 

 transmission of electrical power from the Falls to Buffalo. 

 When the Company appointed a commission of Sir William 

 Thomson, Mascart, Colonel Turrettini, and others to examine the 

 plans, Mr. Forbes gave them as his mature opinion the assur- 

 ance that they must use alternating currents, and for motors 

 either the ordinary alternator, as first used by Wilde, or the 

 rotating field (Drehslrom), as then used by Tesla, which Mr. 

 Forbes had tested at Pittsburg. These alternating currents 

 to be used with transformers for lighting, and coupled to motors 

 as described for general power, but for electric tramways and 

 some other purposes the alternating motors were to drive con- 

 tinuous current dynamos. These plans were not approved by 

 the commission, and a resolution was nearly passed saying that 

 alternating currents could not be used for the purpose. There 

 was only one dissentient voice, but in the end no resolution was 

 passed. Turrettini and Mascart are now both converted, and 

 Mr. Forbes's plans have been adopted. 



Much interest has been iexcited in Philadelphia by a loan 

 collection of objects used in worship, exhibited in the Museum 

 of Archaeology of the University of Pennsylvania. Most of the 

 leading religions of the world are represented in the collection. 

 The objects are arranged in accordance with the plan adopted at 

 the Guimet Museum, Paris, and the managers have tried to make 

 up for gaps by notes in the catalogue, which is a closely printed 

 octavo of 174 pages. One result of the exhibition has been that 

 it has brought to light many objects of scientific importance, the 

 significance and value of which were not formerly known by 

 the 



1 



Mr. John ,H. Cooke has made a valuable addition to 

 the Museum of the Malta University. The Mediterranean 

 Naturalist describes the gift as a suite of the Maltese fossil 

 Echinoidea, similar to those that have lately been presented by 

 the same gentleman to the British Museum and to the University 

 of Bologna. 



A writer in the May number of the Mediterranean 

 Naturalist, speaking of the colours of the waters of the Medi- 



