OCTOBEK 18, I894J 



NA TURE 



6m 



Musa basin may be is at present unknown, but the lower part 

 appeared to be of little value. Several villages occupy the 

 flooded country on the banks of the river ; the houses are built 

 on stilts a few feet above the water. The natives were friendly, but 

 naturally shy and suspicious. They excel in making native cloth, 

 many specimens of which were obtained. Their dead are interred 

 in the villages, the graves being covered with a neatly thatched 

 cage. They use palmwood spears, stone clubs, and adzes of 

 jade. Both sexes wear a native cloih. The men wear the hair 

 long, hanging down the back. They cook their food in clay 

 pots, and eat lime and betel nut. The men were fairly strong 

 and of good physique, but many were suffering from ring- 

 worm and hydrocele. They were anxious to trade, and offered 

 adzes, clay pots, and sago for plane-irons. Some very remark- 

 able pottery was obtained on the north-east coast. The 

 examples are bowl-shaped with outside raised designs, not pre- 

 viously seen in any other part of British New Guinea. Besides 

 these explorations the discovery of Pennegwa Harbour in the 

 extreme north-east of Rossell Island, and a safe anchorage at 

 Mabudaun, which very greatly increases the value of the western 

 portion of the Papuan territory, were described. Mr. Thomson, 

 by means of a map, indicated the territory dealt with in his 

 paper, and at its conclusion a few pictures appropriate to the 

 occasion were thrown on to the screen by Dr. Thomson. 



In the course of some remarks, .Sir William MacGregor 

 sugge5ted that Mr. Thomson might follow up his paper with 

 another. The one he had just read did not embrace all the 

 latest work that had been done. His (Sir William's) c'ispatches 

 had not all been printed ; in fact, he questioned whether some 

 of them had yet reached his Excellency the Governor. There 

 was a great deal of information which might be included in such 

 a paper. For instance, Mr. De Vis had been examining a 

 number of new and interesting native birds ; Baron Von Miiller 

 had got a lot of new plants ; but perhaps the most interesting, 

 because the most practical, was the work being done by .Mr. 

 Jack and Mr. Rands. The geological specimens he had brought 

 from the Purari River indicated a very large district in which 

 there were very rich coal formations. The fossils that were 

 under examination would show very clearly, he thought, the 

 age of the deposit. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



O.XFORD. — In the lists of lectures announced for the present 

 term, the most noteworthy feature is the removal of the subject 

 of Anthropology from the list of the Faculty of Natural Science, 

 and its insertion under that of Literse Humaniores. The titles 

 of the Anthropological lectures are " The Intellectual Develop- 

 ment of Mankind," by Dr. Tylor ; " The Elements of Physical 

 Anthropology," by Prof. .\. Thomson ; and " Primitive Musical 

 Instruments," by Mr. H. Balfour. There does not appear to 

 be any adequate reason for considering that these subjects should 

 belong to letters rather than to Natural Science, but perhaps 

 it is a sign that a day is approaching when all the subjects of 

 Natural Science will be recognised as forming as much a part of 

 litera humaniores, that is, of indispensable culture, as Philosophy 

 and Ancient History. In the departments of Natural Science 

 there is no change of importance to chronicle. Professors, 

 Lecturers, and Demonstrators are the same as in the past 

 academical year, and the subject-matter of the lectures refers in 

 each case to the examinations in the Honours School of Natural 

 Science. Mr. R. T. Giinther is in residence at Magdalen 

 College as Science Tutor, and .Mr. W. Garstang is in residence 

 at Lincoln Colleije, and will deliver a course of lectures as 

 Lecturer in Natural Science to the College. 



The examination for the Burdett-Coutts Scholarship will be 

 held in the week beginning October 21. 



The Vice-Chancellor has appointed Mr. William Holman 

 Hunt the Romanes Lecturer for the year 1S95, 



A COPY of the report of the Minister of Public Instruction 

 in New South Wales, for the year 1893, has reached us. The 

 work of the Technical Education Board for that year was carried 

 on under very dillerent conditions from those of previous years. 

 The scheme for retrenchment of expenditure in the public 

 service led to the reduction of the vote for Technical Education 

 from ^49,800 ill 1S92, to ^25,367 in 1893. The tield of 

 operations had therefore to be confined within comparatively 



NO 1303. VOL. 50] 



narrow limits. Only 187 classes were carried on throughout 

 the whole year, and the total number of students was 7096. 

 In additi in to the ordinary class work, popular lectures on 

 variius subjects were given at different centres throughout the 

 colony. The success of these lectures may be judged from the 

 fact that the Rev. J. Milne Curran lectured in Geology and 

 Mineralogy to audiences agijregating 13,360 persons, or an 

 average of over 300 persons at each lecture. 



'^n't Record of Technical and Secondary £duca/ii}n complelei 

 its third volume with the current number. The journal was 

 only started tentatively, but the experience gained during the 

 last three vears has shown that it is warned, so it will be con- 

 tinued. The present number is full of information of use to 

 promoters of technical education. It includes the reports of 

 the technical instruction committees of Somerset, Hampshire, 

 Isle of Wight, Staffordshire, and Worcestershire. Mr. W. K. 

 Urwick gives a description of primary and secondary education 

 in France, first tracing the progress of an imaginary boy from 

 the primary school upward, and then detailing the means of 

 transition from one school to another, the help offered by the 

 Stale, and the method of procuring it. So many committees 

 have had to confess that their schemes of agricultural education 

 have, to say the least, been unsuccessful, that an article on the 

 promotion of such instruction in Great Britain should be widely 

 read. It is pointed out that elementary agricultural education 

 must be founded definitely on science, though this may be ele- 

 mentary. The subjects likely to be of most use are chemistry, 

 botany, and zoology. .Mathematical subjects should, if only as 

 a matter of education, engage earnest attention, and it is sug- 

 gested that elementary physics, leading up to the construction 

 of the steam engine, might replace botany or zoology in the 

 curriculum. There must always be stations for field demonstra- 

 tions and experiments, and this class of work is of a threefold 

 nature. " First, there is the demonstration of the known action 

 of certain elements of plant food when used in manures ; it is 

 this which is truly educational. Next comes what may fairly be 

 called experiment, viz. the testing in each locality of the action 

 of different manures on different crops or typical soils. Lastly, 

 there is jmre research into the unknown, a matter which can 

 only be successfully carried out at special places, thoroughly 

 well-equipped for this particular purpose. While, however, it 

 is to be hoped that Rothamsted will always form the premier 

 research station for the kingdom, there would seem to be no 

 reason why stations such as that which the Royal Agricultural 

 .Society have at Woburn might not, within limits, be multiplied." 

 In addition to the articles already referred to, the Record 

 contains an illustrated description of the tine Technical College 

 at Bradford. 



The " Guide to Technical and Commercial Education," first 

 issued by the Dundee and District .\ssociation for the Promotion 

 of Technical and Commercial Kduca:ion some five years ago, 

 and the third edition of which has recently been published, has 

 done good service. The object of the guide was to indicate the 

 lines along which apprentices might with advantage be urged 

 to a systematic continuance of their education in subjects bearing 

 on their particular occupations. In point of fact, the aim of the 

 Committee was to do for the apprentice architect, engineer, 

 mechanic, or o her craftsman, in the Technical School, what 

 long ago in the Universities has been done for the professions 

 by the institution of definite lines of study. Several Technical 

 Instruction Committees have drawn up similar courses of study 

 to be followed by young artisans in order to become efficient 

 workmen ; and when such schejies are properly drafted, they 

 serve a very useful purpose. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Quarterly Journal of Microicopical Science, vol. xxxvi. part 

 4, .•'LUgust. — In the first of a series of " Studies on the Nervous 

 System of Crustacea," Mr. Edgar J. .\llen gives the results of 

 a careful investigation of the structure of the brain and gan- 

 glionic chain in lobster embryos. By the employment of 

 Ehrlich's methylene blue method he has been able to demon- 

 strate the course of the constituent nerve-fibres, both co-ordin- 

 ating, motor, and sensory, with remarkable success. The 

 author's observations agree with those of Retzius, Koiliker, and 

 other recent investigators, as to the absence of any lorm of 

 anastomosis between the fibres of different elements. Nervous 

 discharges must, however, pass from one element to another by 



