206 



NATURE 



[June 26, 1890 



electricity, who was born and died at Colchester. A visit will 

 be made to Gilbert's house and tomb, and Prof. Silvanus P. 

 Thompson will lecture on "The Early Magnetic Experiments 

 of Gilbert of Colchester." The chair at the public luncheon 

 will betaken by Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., Vice-President of the 

 Essex Field Club and the Gilbert Club. Any persons wishing 

 to attend the meeting may obtain full particulars on application 

 to Mr. W. Cole, Hon. Sec, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. 



There is no foundation for the report that Dr. G. J. 

 Romanes is a candidate for the Linacre Professorship of Human 

 and Comparative Anatomy, Oxford. 



The Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom is now 

 holding its annual meetings at Chester. The series of meetings 

 was opened on Monday, and will not be concluded until 

 Saturday. At the official welcome of the Convention by the 

 mayor, on Monday, Mr. A. Pringle, the retiring President, in- 

 troduced his successor, Mr. C. H. Bothamley. In the course 

 of his address, the new President said that the events of last 

 year contained nothing of first-rate importance in photography ; 

 no discoveries of far-reaching influence had disturbed the 

 photographic world. But a good deal of interest had been ex- 

 cited by the announcement that advances had been made towards 

 the solution of the problem of photographing objects in their 

 natural colours. Coloured photographs, more or less imperfect, 

 had been made several times, but whether they should ever get 

 a chromatic negative process was at present entirely a matter of 

 conjecture, and so far even the direction in which the solution 

 was to be looked for was not apparent. Photo-mechanical 

 printing had not presented any new feature during the past year, 

 but the processes already in operation had been taken much 

 greater advantage of. The applications of photography to 

 science were becoming every day more and more numerous, 

 and he did not hesitate to say that it was here that photography 

 had won, and probably would win in the future, its greatest 

 triumph. 



The Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund, which has been 

 established by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, of Stamford, Conn., 

 "for the advancement and prosecution of scientific research 

 in its broadest sense," now amounts to 26,000 dollars. As 

 accumulated income will be available in December next, the 

 trustees desire to receive applications for appropriations in aid of 

 scientific work. This endowment is not for the benefit of any 

 one department of science, but Science says it is the intention of 

 the trustees to give the preference to those investigations which 

 cannot otherwise be provided for, which have for their object 

 the advancement of human knowledge or the benefit of mankind 

 in general, rather than to researches directed to the solution of 

 questions of merely local importance. Applications for assist- 

 ance from the fund, in order to receive consideration, must be 

 accompanied by full information, especially in regard to the 

 following points : (i) precise amount required ; (2) exact 

 nature of the investigation proposed ; (3) conditions under 

 which the research is to be prosecuted ; (4) manner in which 

 the appropriation asked for is to be expended. All applications 

 should reach, before December 1890, the Secretary of the Board 

 of Trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 

 Mass., U.S.A. It is intended that new grants shall be made at 

 the end of 1890. The trustees are disinclined for the present to 

 make any grant exceeding 300 dollars : decided preference will 

 be given to applications for smaller amounts. 



The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is [considering 

 whether it might not be expedient to divide its membership into 

 classes. The following classification has been proposed : 

 mathematics, physics, astronomy, geodesy and mechanics, 

 chemistry, geology, botany, zoology, anthropology, and political 

 NO. 1078, VOL. 42] 



economy and statistics. The Amei-ican Naturalist, commenting 

 on this list, suggests that a special place should be reserved for 

 psychology. It also expresses a hope that the division into 

 classes will. not be made a pretext for increasing the membership 

 to above one hundred persons. 



Last week Mr. Mundella asked the Vice-President of the 

 Council of Education whether he had received remonstrances 

 from the principal educational authorities and managers of 

 higher elementary schools in England and Scotland against 

 Article 40 of the Science and Art Department, which excluded 

 scholars in public elementary schools from being henceforward 

 examined or earning grants in science ; whether he had seen the 

 statement of the National Association for the Promotion of 

 Technical Education, which described this circular " as one of 

 the most serious blows which had been struck for some years at 

 the development of scientific and technical education " ; and 

 whether, having regard to the feeling with which the circular 

 had been received, he would cause it to be withdrawn. Sir W 

 Hart Dyke replied that the matter was under consideration ; 

 and he has since issued an official letter, stating that the De- 

 partment had anticipated the objection which had been made, 

 and had decided to substitute a provisicin which would not in 

 any way interfere with the present system of science instruction 

 so admirably carried out by many School Boards. With 

 reference to a complaint that in another circular dealing with 

 the question of manual instruction in public elementary schools, 

 a proviso had been inserted requiring such instruction to be 

 given out of school hours. Sir W. Hart Dyke states that a 

 supplementary circular will be shortly issued in order to remove 

 the doubts which exist on the subject. Sir William believes 

 there will be no difficulty in continuing the plan now adopted, 

 providing the time devoted to manual instruction by any scholar 

 for the purposes of the grant is outside the minimum period re- 

 quired to constitute an attendance under Article 12 of the Code, 

 which does not prevent any further time from being given to the 

 subject within the ordinary school hours. 



The Keiv Bulletin publishes every year a complete list of the 

 garden plants annually described in botanical and horticultural 

 publications, both English and foreign. In Appendix II., which 

 has just been issued, there is a list of all the introductions re- 

 corded during 1889. It is pointed out that these lists are indis- 

 pensable to the maintenance of a correct nomenclature, especially 

 in the smaller botanical establishments in correspondence with 

 Kew, which are, as a rule, only scantily provided with horti- 

 cultural periodicals. Such a list will also afford information 

 respecting new plants under cultivation at the Kew establish- 

 ment, many of which will be distributed from it in the regular 

 course of exchange witji other botanic gardens. 



The Botanical Gazette informs us that the first Annual Report 

 of the Director of the Missouri Botanic Garden has been issued. 

 It contains a statement of the changes that are being made ii> 

 the Gardens, or that are in immediate prospect ; and a map of 

 the grounds on a large scale is being prepared. The Director 

 requests from authors copies of their publications for the 

 library, from collectors specimens for the herbarium, and pro- 

 mises all feasible assistance in work calculated to promote 

 botanical knowledge. 



The first number is published of a new quarterly journal, 

 Le Diatomiste, specially devoted to the natural history and 

 literature of diatoms. It is published at 168 Rue Saint-Antoine, 

 Paris, under the editorship of M. J. Tempere, assisted by MM. 

 Brun, Bergon, Cleve, Dutertre, Grove, and Peragallo. The 

 present number (quarto, with two plates) contains descriptions- 

 of a number of new species, and a bibliography of recent 

 diatomological literature. 



