May 



1895] 



NATURE 



83 



The munificent gift made by Mr. Seth Low, ex-Mayor of 

 Brooklyn, and now President of Columbia College, to that 

 college, at a meeting of the trustees a few days ago, places him 

 in the front rank of the world's benefactors. One million dollars 

 for a library building, twelve scholarships for Columbia College 

 for Brooklyn boys, and twelve to Barnard College for Brooklyn 

 girls, eight university scholarships and a university fellowship, 

 make a list of gifts rarely equalled. At the same meeting, Mr. 

 C. Schermerhorn presented 300,000 dollars for a new build- 

 ing. Then the Townsend library, a complete compilation 

 of all the printed matter relating to the American Civil War, in 

 eighty-nine volumes of 600 pages each, larger than an ordinary 

 ledger, which was begun six months before the war, and is the 

 result of thirty-three years of unceasing labour liy Thomas S. 

 Townsend, was formally presented to the college, together with 

 an encyclopaedia of reference to it, and 4000 dollars to complete 

 the encyclopedia. 



The trustees at the same meeting, following the recommenda- 

 tion made by the National Academy of Sciences at their recent 

 meeting, awarded the Barnard medal to Lord Rayleigh for the 

 discovery of argon. This gold medal, which has a val'ie of 200 

 dollars, is awarded every five years to the investigator who 

 makes within the jjreceding five years the most valuable dis- 

 covery in ])hysics or astronomy, in accordance with the will of 

 President Y. A. P. Barnard, who died in 1889, and was the 

 immediate predecessor of Mr. Seth Low. 



The Brooklyn Institute has just sustained a great loss in the 

 retirement of C.eneral John B. Woodward, who has l)een presi- 

 dent for eighteen years, covering the entire epoch of the great 

 development and expansion of the Institute. He will be suc- 

 ceeded by Mr. A. Augustus Healy. 



Sir William Dawson has sent us a printed statement, in 

 which he traverses the arguments against the organic nature of 

 Eozoon Canadensc, brought forward by Dr. J. W. Gregory and 

 Prof. Johnston-Lavis, in a recent paper entitled " Eozoona! 

 Structure of the Ejected Blocks of Monte Somma," noted in 

 our issue of January 10 (p. 251). He states a number of facts 

 which indicate " that the specimens of Eozoon found in the 

 Laurentian limestone of Canada in no respect resemble in their 

 associations and mode of occurrence the banded forms from 

 Mount Somma described in tlie |)aper in question." 



A STRO.Nc; earthquake disturbance of about five seconds' 

 duration occurred at Florence at nine o'clock on the evening of 

 Saturday last, and was felt at Bologna four minutes earlier. 

 Two hours later another shock was felt. Many of the houses in 

 Florence were injured by the movements, but the damage ap- 

 pears to have been greater in the surrounding villages — Gr.issina, 

 Lapaggi, and .San Martino, where the church was destroyed. 

 At Orezzo the earthquake is said to have lasted ten seconds, and 

 there were two distinct shocks at Siena. The movement was 

 strongly marked at Parma, and to a less degree at Pisa and 

 Placentia. Keuter's correspondent at Spoleto reports that severe 

 shocks were also felt there on Monday evening. 



A GENERAL meeting of the Federated Institution of Mining 

 Engineers will lie held in London on Thursday, May 30, and on 

 Friday, May 31. The presidential address will be given by Mr. 

 W. N. Atkinson on the Thursday. The papers to be read on 

 the same day are : — Notes on bauxite in County Antrim, &c., 

 and its uses, by .Mr. George G. Blackwell ; sampling, l)y Mr. T. 

 Clarkson ; blasting explosives, by Prof. N'ivian B. Lewes ; and llie 

 gold-milling process at Pestarena, by Mr. A. G. Charleton. At 

 the meeting on May 31 the following pajxjrs will be read, or taken 

 as read :— Remarks on the Ijanket formatitm of Johannesburg, 

 Transvaal, by Mr. A. R. Sawyer; the composition of the extinctive 

 atmospheres produced by various flames and by respiration, liy 



NO. 1334, VOL. 52] 



Prof. Frank Clowes ; the composition of the limiting explosive 

 mixtures of various gases with air, by Prof. Frank Clowes ; the 

 mineral oils of Lower Elsass, by Dr. L. van Werveke ; copper- 

 mining in India, by Mr. Robert Oates ; the recent magnetic 

 survey of the United Kingdom, by Prof. A. W. RUcker ; the 

 MacArthur-Forrest process, by Mr. John McConnell. 



Ix consequence of the renewed attacks upon the Con.>crvators 

 of Epping Forest, another large and influential meeting of the 

 Essex Field Club was held on Saturday last, under the conductor- 

 ship of Mr. Edward North Buxton, Prof. Boulgcr, Prof. 

 Meldola, and the hon. secretaries. More than 100 members 

 and visitors were present, among them being many residents ia 

 the district and lovers of the Forest, as well as such well-known 

 experts as Prof. W. R. p'isher, of Cooper's Hill, and Mr. Angus 

 D. Webster. The districts visited were those about which 

 complaints had been made by a certain class of newspaper 

 correspondents, viz. Bury Wood, the so-called Clay Ride, and 

 Monk Wood. Beyond a few personal discussions between the 

 conductors and experts and one or two of those who had been 

 criticising the action of the Conservators, no public ventilation of 

 views was permitted, as the conductors were of opinion that a 

 mere inspection of the places named would enable the members 

 and their friends to form their own conclusions. The party 

 assembled at the King's Oak at High Beach for tea, after which 

 an ordinary meeting of the Club was held, the President, Mr. 

 David Howard, taking the chair. Mr. E. N. Buxton explained 

 a scheme which he had been carrying out for the purpose of 

 affording protection to the birds of the Forest district. By en- 

 listing the sympathies and securing the co-operation of the 

 surrounding landowners, he had succeeded in obtaining a pro- 

 mise that a total area of some 20,000 acres, including the 6000 

 acres of Forest, should constitute a sanctuary within which no 

 rare or interesting birds should be destroyed. The President 

 indicated that such an organisation as the Essex Field Club was 

 well calculated to enforce l)y examj^le and precept the desirability 

 of protecting both animals and ])lants. Mr. F. C. Gould, in 

 reply to those correspondents who had stated that the birds were 

 becoming rarer in Epping Forest, said that this was quite con- 

 trary to the facts. Birds were never so plentiful in the Forest 

 as they had been during the past few years, and Mr. Gould gave 

 a list of species which had been observed by his son in the course 

 of one day. After tea the party proceeded to the more northern 

 part of the Forest, and inspected Epping Thicks. Although no 

 formal division on the question of the management of the Forest 

 was taken, the majority could not help expressing their admira- 

 tion at the skill and judgment with which this year"s thinnings 

 had been effected. Many of those present also expressed some 

 anxiety that the Conservators might be influenced by the news- 

 paper correspondence, and allow the Forest to degenerate by 

 acceding to the request recently made by a deputation to the 

 Committee that no further thinning should be allowed: for a 

 period of five years. 



.\ SPELT, of very cold weal her for the time of year «as ex- 

 ])erienced last week over the entire area of the British Isles, 

 owing to a depression which, at the time of our last issue, lay 

 over Denmark, and caused strong gales from north and north- 

 west over the North Sea. The temperature fell about 30" over 

 the inland parts of England, while snow and hail were reported 

 from many places. On several nights the sheltered thermometer 

 fell to within a few degrees of the freezing-]X)int, and actually 

 reached it in the east and west of Scotland, on the morning of 

 the 17th instant ; while the highest day readings have in many 

 parts failed to reach 50', a temjierature which is fully 10^ below 

 the average. During the first part of the present week a 

 depression which had spread westwards from Germany, caused 

 a continuation of cold, gloomy weather over our islands. 



