14 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[November 1, 1888. 



Full particulars are given in a prospectus which can be 

 obtained by application to the Registrar. 



Science and Art Department Classes. — There are about 

 twelve classes in geology held in London in connection with 

 the Science and Art Department. Of these we may name 

 the Polytechnic, Regent Sti-eet ; Birkbeck School. Cambridge 

 Road, Bethnal Green ; the Working Men's College, 45, 

 Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury ; the Birkbeck Insti- 

 tute, Chancery Lane; Onslow College, 183, King's Road, 

 Chelsea ; St. Thomas' Charterhouse, Goswell Road ; 

 City of London College, Moorfields, &c. These classes 

 usually meet one evening per week from September to May. 

 The fees are generally so moderate as to be nominal, but 

 the students are expected to sit at the annual Government 

 examination in May, as grants are paid by the Department 

 for those who pass. These classes are spread all over the 

 United Kingdom, and those who wish for details should send 

 six stamps to the Secretary, South Kensington, for the 

 " Directory " of the Science and Art Department. 



University Culleije, Gower Street. — Professor Bonney is 

 here the " Yates-Goldsmid Professor "of Geology and Miner- 

 alogy. Professor Bonney stands in the very front lank of 

 British geologists. His special line of work is the micro- 

 scopical investigation of igneous and metamorphic rocks. 

 The course in geology extends from January to June, and 

 includes lectures, practical work on the rocks and fossils in 

 the College Museum, &c. The fee is four guineas. 



Kim/s College, in the Strand, owns Professor Wiltshire as 

 its Professor of Geology. Mr. Wiltshire's forte Ls paleon- 

 tology, and as Secretary of the Palreontographical Society 

 (established for the purpose of figuring and describing all 

 the British fossils) he has brought out a series of magnificent 

 volumes at a comparatively small expense. 



Detiiiled prospectuses are i.<sued by the authorities of both 

 University and King's Colleges. 



.^SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES FOUNDED FOR THE STUDY OF 

 GEOLOGY. 



The Geological Societi/ of London is one of the great 

 scientific societies for whom our Government provides 

 splendid accommodation in Burlington House, Piccadilly. 

 Although the society is styled as " of London," its members 

 are recruited from every part of the British Empire. Ever 

 since its foundation in 1807 the society has steadily in- 

 creased in numbers and influence, and the letters F.G.8. 

 appended to a man's name have always been accepted as a 

 guarantee of some knowledge of geology on the part of the 

 possessor. Candidates for membership must be nominated 

 by three fellows of the society, to one at least of whom 

 they must be personally known. The names are read out at 

 three meetings of the society, and a ballot is then taken. 

 The entrance fee is six guineas, and the annual subscription 

 two guineas. The present number of members is about 

 1,450. The meetings are held at Burlington House at 

 eight P.M. on the first and third Wednesdays of each 

 month from November to June inclusive. All our 

 great geologists have held ofBce in connection with the Geo- 

 logical Society ; and the present President, Professor Judd, 

 is a worthy successor of the great men who have preceded 

 him. The society has an admirable library and ujuseum, 

 which ai-e open to fellows and their friends from ten to five 

 daily. The " Quarterly Journal " of the Geological Society 

 contains the papers read before the society, and is a well 

 edited and illustrated periodiciil. It is so'd to non- members 

 at five shillings per number. Mr. W. S. Dallas, Burlington 

 House, is the able and courteous A.ssistantSecretary, Libra- 

 rian, and Curator. 



The Geologists' Association was founded in 1869. Its 



object is, in addition to the reading of papers on geological 

 subjects, to instruct its member.s by Saturday afternoon 

 excursions to museums and places of geological interest near 

 London. At holiday times places more distant are visited, 

 and in this way the association has covered most of Eng- 

 land, and has even crossed the Channel to examine the 

 rocks of France and Belgium. The head-quarters are at 

 University College, Gower Street, where there is a good 

 library of geological books at the disposal of the 

 members. The entrance fee is ten shillings, and 

 the annual subscription is of the same amount. Tlie number 

 of members is nearly 500, and the Secretary is Dr. Fouler- 

 ton, F.G.S., 44 Pembridge Villas, W. The " Proceedings" 

 of the society are published quarterly, and are sold to non- 

 members at Is. 6d. each. This is a society which has done, 

 and is doing, excellent work. The leaders of the excursions 

 are always geologists of high standing, while the curators of 

 the museums and other places visited seem always anxious 

 to further the objects of the association. 



Perhaps, in conclusion, a word may be said on the text- 

 books of geology suitable for the student. For young people 

 — and indeed for oldsters too — there is no better introduc- 

 tion to geology than Professor A. Geikie's two little 

 " Primers " of geology and physical geography, published 

 by Macraillan. These should be followed by Professor 

 Huxley's " Physiography," in which a most admirable and 

 detailed account of the physical features of the Thames 

 Valley is given. Then Professor A. Geikie's larger "Class- 

 book of Geology " may be mastered ; and the same author's 

 great " Manual of Geology " with Lyell's " Student's Ele- 

 ments " and Professor A. H. Green's " Physical Geology " 

 will complete our list. 



Those who desire to study the geology of any particular 

 spot in England oi- Wales will find my " Geology of the Coun- 

 ties," published b)' Kelly & Co., useful as a book of reference. 

 The special books and papers treating of the strata under 

 and around London will be mentioned in my next article. 



STAR-BORN METEORS. 



By Riciiaed A. Proctok. 



HEN Copernicus had shown the sun to be the 

 true centre of the planetary motions, Tycho 

 Brahe pointed out that, if this is so, a result 

 of the most startling kind must be accepted, 

 a result which he for one rejected altogether. 

 His own observations, which eventuallj' 

 proved the very basis of the new theor}', he 

 bequeithed to the world with the express injunction that 

 they should not be used in its support. He reasoned that 

 if the earth really moves around the sun, the unchanging 

 aspect of the constellations cannot but mean that the stars 

 are thousands of times farther from us than the sun ! It is 

 not merely, he argued, that the eye sees no change; the 

 great quadrant of Ui'anienberg, by which I could detect a 

 displacement of less than a minute of arc, shows no dis- 

 placement at all in the position of any star as the earth 

 sweeps round her immense orbit. If this preposterous theory 

 — this unholy theory — is true, we shoiild have to set the 

 stars at such distances that each would be a sun — which is 

 altogether inadmissible. 



We know how even the vast stellar distances thus indi- 

 cated were found to be as nothing compared with the dis- 

 tances indicated when more exact instruments were made. 

 The estimated distance of the sun has been increased about 

 thirty-fold ; the heavenly arcs measurable by modern instru- 

 ments have been reduced a hundred-fold. Each change 



