638 



NA TURE 



[October 31, 1S95 



more with eloquent words to wish prosperity to literature, 

 art, and science. And as if all this were not enough in 

 the midst of his other busy official engagements, we found 

 him just after breakfast at the unveiling of the Meissonier 

 statue in the Louvre (hardens, where he made an admirable 

 speech, summing up the characters of Meissonier's work. 



An Englishman might be forgiven if he ventured to ex- 

 press openly his opinion that such things as these could 

 not, or at least would not, be done in his own countr)'. 

 We suppose our A'ice-President of the Council is the 

 Minister who most nearly corresponds here to the 

 Minister of Public Instruction in France. But when had 

 we ever a \'ice- President who thought it worth his while 

 to show, outside of his otTicial duties, so much active 

 interest in the cause of science, art, and literature ? 



While this recognition from the State and its func- 

 tionaries was extended to the Institute, the latter showed 

 in several ways how well it realised its representative 

 character as the outward sjTnbol of the higher intellectual 

 progress of France. One was especially impressed by 

 the way this feeling was exhibited at the opening gather- 

 ing in the great hall of the new Sorbonne. Behind the 

 academicians and correspondants, the best seats in the 

 building were allocated to representatives of education, 

 law, justice, &c. The chief schools and colleges had 

 places allotted to them, legibly marked out by large 

 labels affixed to them. Lawyers, judges, and professors 

 rame in their robes to take part in the proceedings. 

 Every section of the programme appeared to have been 

 most carefully thought out. There was a well-trained 

 orchestra, which began by playing a composition of the 

 first composer who became a member of the Institute of 

 France, and afterwards gave a fragment of Mors et Vita, 

 by Gounod — the last composer who had passed away 

 from the Academy of the Beaux-Arts. Good care, indeed, 

 was taken in the celebrations to show that music and the 

 drama were included within the range of the Institute's 

 activities. An afternoon "gala" performance at the 

 Thditre Fran^ais included parts of Corneille's Ciii and 

 Moli^re's ^coledes Femmcs and Fcmmes Savanlcs, wherein 

 the chief members of this incomparable company showed 

 once more what perfect acting should be. 



I-astly, a stranger could not but be pleased with the 

 numerous facilities offered to him to meet his old friends, 

 and to make new ones. At the evening receptions and 

 dinners, at the daylight gatherings in the Institute build- 

 ings, and in the foyer of the Thditre Fran^ais, but most 

 of all in the excursion to Chanlilly, and the rambles 

 through the rooms and grounds of that princely chateau, 

 he had opportunities of seeing everybody that he wished 

 to converse with. No one who went to Chantilly will be 

 likely to forget the success of that concluding day of the 

 proceedings — the autumnal woods with their long vistas, 

 the magnificent castle, the endless treasures of art and 

 literature within the rooms, bul above all, and as the centre 

 and soul of thc" whole scene, the figure of the Duke 

 d'Aumalc, who has gifted all that estate to the Institute. 

 Sitting in his bath-chair wrapped up in black velvet, 

 hardly recovered from his last attack of gout, he showed 

 himself the most vivacious talker in the company, shaking 

 hand^ with his guests, discoursing to them of pictures, 

 travel, and incidents of his life with the urbanity and 

 dignity of the old f;ranii seigneur. 

 so, 11557, VOL. 52I 



There was one special source of gratification to English 

 visitors in the remarkable band of men who went to 

 represent Great Britain at the Centenary. The French 

 members of the Institute seemed to feel the compliment 

 paid to them by the attendance of so many illustrious 

 men of science, literature and art. .And the strength of the 

 English contingent drew forth the admiration of visitors 

 from other countries. It was pleasant, in these days of 

 political rivalr)-, to see human culture linking men in a 

 brotherhood which stands above nationality and politics, 

 and more especially to note that nearly thc whole of the 

 Englishmen who have been so generously recognised 

 by the Institute of France should have attended its 

 Centenary. 



THE GOLD MINES OF THE RAJVD. 

 The Gold Mines of ilie Rand ; being a Description of tlte 

 Mining Industry of Witiuatcrsrand, Soutli Africiin 

 Republic. By F. H. Hatch and J. .\. Chalmers. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., 1895.) 



AFRICA is proverbially a land of surprises. It is not 

 likely, however, that more startling surprises can 

 be in store than those witnessed by the present genera- 

 tion. We have seen a great city spring up, in what, before 

 the discovery of gold in thc Witwatcrsrand, was a desert, 

 a city with over eighty mines, the workings of which 

 extend east and west from Johannesburg for 45'S miles. 

 The mines have been worked with regularity, and thc 

 augmentation of dividends has attracted the attention of 

 capitalists in all parts of the globe, resulting in the 

 Russian Government commissioning Mr. Kitaeffto report 

 on the gold-field, and in the Prussian Government de- 

 spatching Mr. Schmeisser for the same purpose. The 

 output of gold from the Witwatcrsrand has risen from 

 23,000 ozs. in 1887 to 2,023,198 ozs., valued at nearly 

 ^7,000,000, in 1894, whilst the return for the first nine 

 months of the current year was 1,711,337 ozs. The 

 Transvaal now produces one-fifth of the world's sup- 

 ply. It is calculated that at thc present rate of 

 progress the output of the Witwatcrsrand mines will 

 have reached by thc end of the century a value of 

 ^20,000,000. 



To the already ample literature relating to the 

 Transvaal gold mines, this handsome and profusely 

 illustrated volume of three hundred large octavo pages is 

 the most valuable contribution that has yet appeared. The 

 authors possess special iiualilications for the important 

 task they have undertaken. Mr. J. .A. Chalmers is an 

 .Associate of the Royal School of Mines, and his brilliant 

 career as a student has been followed by many years 

 successful practice as a mining engineer in South .Africa : 

 whilst Dr. F. H. Hatch's scientific attainments and 

 literary skill are well known from his im|)ortant pclro- 

 graphical researches carried out previously to his retire- 

 ment in 1892 from the (leological Sur\ey of England and 

 Wales, and from his useful manuals on mineralogy and 

 petrology. 



The authors divide their subject-matter into lwcl\e 

 chapters. The first deals with the history of the gold 

 discoveries and of the development of thc mining 

 industry, whilst the subsetiuent chapters deal respectively \ 

 with the geology, the auriferous conglonuratcs, the || 



^k 



