158 



NATURE 



[June 12, 1890 



journal itself not only serves them as a catalogue, but 

 as a medium for publication of investigations into struc- 

 ture, such as the officers of our own National Museum 

 are in the habit of contributing to the Proceedings of our 

 Learned Societies and to other private journals. The 

 authorities of the Austrian Museum might, at first sight, 

 appear to be ahead of us in the possession of their re- 

 cognized official Annalen ; and there are those among 

 us who would desire the founding of a similar official 

 journal with its attendant restrictions for our own National 

 Museum. We are very doubtful of the advisability of 

 such a step, supposing the trustees were willing to under- 

 take it. As matters stand, the excellent official cata- 

 logues which emanate from the building in Cromwell 

 Road fulfil the public demands, and suffice for all pur- 

 poses of nomenclature which it is a leading function of 

 its authorities to control. The supplementary work, with 

 the publication of which the members of its staff have 

 so long honoured outside bodies, is voluntary. The pro- 

 gress of science in Britain is unique in the extraordinary 

 degree to which it has been furthered by private enter- 

 prise ; in contributing to the work of our Learned Societies 

 and of those self-supporting institutions to which we have 

 ajluded, our Museum officials are encouraging an essen- 

 tfally national system, and foUering a love of science for 

 its own sake. For these if for no other reasons, we 

 would not desire the extension of the Austrian system 

 to our own land. 



We cannot close this notice without commenting upon 

 the growing desire to found journals in connection with 

 departments of our native Universities and Colleges. 

 From what we have said, we could hardly be expected to 

 approve of this movement, especially as the interests of 

 such journals are apt to centre in individual aggrandize- 

 ment, and as the necessity for their continuity may lead 

 to the publication of that which the literature of the 

 sciences might well be spared. We have journals 

 ample for our needs, provided sufficient care be exer- 

 cised in the selection of their contents. Better far to 

 improve and to extend these, than to tolerate that which 

 in them may be least desirable, adding thereto a " litera- 

 ture " which can only ill compare with that of the last 

 generation of British naturalists. 



We note that the Viennese have as yet succeeded in 

 effecting an interchange of publications with but few of 

 our leading Societies, and that their Annalen are not yet 

 to be found in a large number of our University and 

 other leading libraries. With respect to this, comparison 

 with foreign countries does not redound to our credit. 

 We can strongly recommend the journal on its merits ; 

 and, if the standard of its early volumes be maintained, 

 no working scientific library will be ere long complete 

 without it. G. B. H, 



NOTES. 



The programme for the Leeds meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation has been issued. The first general meeting will be held 

 on Wednesday, September 3, at 8 p.m., when Prof. W. H. 

 Flower will resign the chair, and Sir Frederick Abel, Presidetit- 

 Elect, will assume the Presidency and deliver an address. On 

 Thursday evening, September 4, at 8 p.m., there will be a 

 soirSe ; on Friday evening, September 5, at 8.30 p.m., a dis- 

 course on "Mimicry," by Mr. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. ; on 

 Monday evening, September 8, at 8.30 p.m., a discourse on 

 "Quartz Fibres and their Applications," by Prof. C. Vernon Boys, 

 F.R.S. ; on Tuesday evening, September 9, at 8 p.m. a soiree ; 

 and on Wednesday, September 10, the concluding general meet- 

 ing will be held at 2.30 p.m. The Vice-Presidents are the Duke 

 of Devonshire, the Marquis of Ripon, the Earl Fitzwilliam, the 

 Lord Bishop of Ripon, Sir Lyon Playfair, the Right Hon. W. 

 L. Jackson, M.P., the Mayor of Leeds, Sir James Kitson, and 

 NO. TO76; VOL. 42] 



Sir Andrew Fairbairn. The following are the Presidents of the 

 various Sections: — A. — ^Mathematical and Physical Science, 

 Mr. J. W. L. Giaisher, F.R.S. B.— Chemical Science, 

 Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S, C— Geology, Prof. A. H. 

 Green, F.R.S. D.— Biology, Prof. A. Milnes Marshall, 

 F.R.S. E.— Geography, Lieut.-Colonel Sir R. Lambert Play- 

 fair. F. — Economic Science and Statistics, Prof. Alfred 

 Marshall. G. — Mechanical Science, Captain A. Noble, F.R.S. 

 iL— Anthropology, Mr. John Evans, V.P.R.S. The local 

 secretaries are Mr. J. Rawlinson Ford, Mr. Sydney Lupton, 

 Prof. L. C. Miall, and Prof. A. Smilhells, and the local 

 treasurer, Mr. E. Beckett Faber. 



The annual meeting for the election of Fellows of the Royal 

 Society was held at the Society's rooms in Burlington House, 

 on June 5, when the following gentlemen were elected : — Sir 

 Benjamin Baker, Robert Holford Macdowall Bosanquet, Samuel 

 HawkesleyBurbury, Walter Gardiner, John Kerr, LL.D., Arthur 

 Sheridan Lea, D.Sc, Major Percy Alexander MacMahon, R. A. , 

 Rev. Alfred Merle Norman, Prof. William Henry Perkin, Prof. 

 Spencer Umfreville Pickering, Isaac Roberts, David Sharp, 

 M.B., J. J. Harris Teall, Richard Thorne Thorne, M.B., 

 Walter Frank Raphael Weldon. 



Last Saturday the Royal Observatory was inspected by the 

 Board of Visitors. By invitation of Sir G. G. Stokes, the 

 chairman, about 250 ladies and gentlemen interested in astro- 

 nomy attended to see the instruments and methods employed in 

 the Observatory. 



In the House of Commons, on Tuesday, Mr. A. Acland 

 moved that the sum of ;^350,ooo, which the Government pro- 

 pose to use for the extinction of the licenses of public-houses, 

 should be applied in England for the encouragement of agri- 

 cultural, commercial, and technical instruction, and in Wales 

 for like objects. This ingenious scheme did not commend itself 

 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Government, he said, 

 "admired the enthusiasm of the hon. gentleman, but could not 

 assent to his proposal." 



It is announced that the Committee of Council on Education 

 have decided, with the sanction of the Treasury, to allocate a 

 fixed sum every year, in the vote for the Science and Art 

 Department, for grants in aid of technical instruction given 

 under the Technical Instruction Act. The sum allocated 

 for the financial year 1891-92 will be ^5000. A grant 

 in aid will not necessarily be equal to, and in no case will it 

 exceed, the amount contributed by the local authority out of the 

 rates. Each grant will be computed, as far as possible, on the 

 basis of the amount of the rate spent on subjects of technical 

 instruction other than those for which the Science and Art De- 

 partment gives aid under the Science and Art Directory. The 

 application from the local authority, which must be sent in before 

 the end of April in each year, should therefore give a certified 

 statement, with the necessary extracts from the accounts of the 

 preceding year, showing how the rate raised has been expended, 

 and especially how any portion may have been applied to 

 instruction in subjects for which grants are not made under 

 the Science and Art Directory. 



In the course of the discussion on Mr. Acland's proposal, 

 Mr. Mundella commented severely on the fact that the sum 

 to be allocated under the Technical Instruction Act for the 

 financial year 1891-92 would be only ;^5ocx3. There was not a 

 canton in Switzerland, he declared, that would not be ashamed 

 of such a paltry provision for technical education. Mr. Goschen 

 replied that he had himself been struck by the smallness of the 

 sum, "but it was the result of the comparatively small demand 

 made by the local authorities. There was every disposition on 

 the part of the Government to meet to the full the requirements 

 under the Act." 



