35- 



NA TURE 



[August 9, 1883 



NOTES 



The meeting of the French Association for the Advancement 

 of Science will take place this year at Rouen on the i6ih inst. ; 

 extensive preparations are being made for the reception of the 

 members. The electric light is to be a prominent feature of 

 the meeting, owing to the project entertained by the municipality 

 of lighting part of the city by the motive power of the Seine 

 at Pont de l'Arche, as we mentioned in a recent note. 



The Lords of the Committee of Council on Educatio'i have 

 sanctioned the addition of Hygiene to the list of sciences towards 

 instruction in which aid is afforded by the Science and Art 

 Department. The following is the syllabus of the subject: — 

 Elementary stage : (1) food, diet, and cooking; (2) water and 

 beverages ; (3) air ; (4) removal of waste and impurities ; (5) 

 shelter and warming ; (6) local conditions ; (7) personal hygiene ; 

 (8) treatment of slight wounds and accidents. Advanced stage : 

 ( 1 ) food and adulterations ; (2) water and beverages ; (3) exam- 

 ination of air — chemical and microscopical ; (4) removal of 

 waste and impurities ; (5) shelter and warming ; (6) bcal con- 

 ditions ; (7) personal hygiene ; (8) prevention of disease. 

 Honours : — In addition to the topics enumerated under the 

 elementary and advanced stages, questions will be set in the 

 following subjects : trades nuisances, vital statistics, sanitary 

 law. 



The new portion of the University of Indiana, at Bloomington, 

 in that State, was set on fire by lightning during a thunderstorm 

 on the night of July 12, the electricity travelling along a tele- 

 phone wire which served the institution. The laboratory, 

 museum, and library were completely destroyed. The museum 

 contained a collection of fishes, made by Dr. Jordan, which was 

 thought to be the largest and most valuable in the United States. 

 There were 15,000 volumes in the library, besides the so-called 

 Owen collection, the loss of which is believed to be irreparable. 

 The general loss is estimated at §200,000, of which only §30,000 

 is covered by insurance. 



The U.S. bureau of education has, we learn from Science, 

 just published a circular of information, containing the results of 

 an inquiry into the effects of co-educating the sexes in 340 cities 

 and large towns of the Union. Of these, 321 practise co-edu- 

 cation throughout the public-school course, 17 co-educate for 

 part of the c iurse, and 2 separate the sexes entirely. A careful 

 analysis of the reasons adduced for co-education enables the editor 

 to formulate them as follows : co-education of the sexes is pre- 

 ferred where practi ed, because it is (1) natural, following the 

 usual structure of the family and of society ; (2) customary, 

 or in harmony with the habits and sentiments of every-day life 

 and law ; (3) impartial, affording to both sexes equal opportuni- 

 ties for culture ; (4) economical, using school funds to the best 

 advantage ; (5) convenient both to superintendent and teachers 

 in assigning, grading, instruction, and discipline ; and (6) bene- 

 ficial to the minds, morals, habits, and development of the 

 pupils. The pamphlet concludes by observing that "both the 

 general instruction of girls, and the common employment of 

 women as public-school teachers depend, to a very great degree, 

 on the prevalence of co-education, and that a general di con- 

 tinuance of it would entail either much increased expense for 

 additional buildings and teachers, or a withdrawal of educational 

 privileges from the future women and mothers of the nation." 



In an article entitled "Cholera and Our Water-Supply," in 

 the current number of the Nineteenth Century, Dr. Percy F. 

 Fraukland draws attention to the vital connection between 

 water-supply and the diffusion of zymotic disease. He points 

 out how, in consequence of the terrible epidemics of Asiatic 

 cholera to which the metropolis has been subjected in the past, 

 the companies supplying London « ith water from the Thames 



have been obliged to remove their intakes to a distance which 

 shall insure the freedom of their supply /rom contamination with 

 the London sewage, and thus at any rate to put an end to their 

 f jrmer practice of " rapidly restoring to the inhabitants of London 

 the drainage matters which the sewers had discharged." But 

 although the Thames at Hampton is free from this source of 

 pollution, yet it is similarly fouled, although in a less degree, 

 w ith the sewage of a population estimated at upwards of half a 

 million which enters the river above the intakes of the water 

 companies. In extenuation of this obviously revolting state of 

 things, many theories have been started : of these the most 

 popular and fallacious is that which, under the title of "the self- 

 purification of river-water," announces that noxious organic 

 matters present in river-water are rapidly destroyed in the course 

 of a few mile^' flow. This doctrine, unsupported as it is by any 

 facts or accurate observations, is wholly dogmatic and in com- 

 plete opposition to all previous knowledge concerning the pro- 

 perties of organic substances in general. The late Rivers Pollu- 

 tion Commissioners, moreover, conclusively proved that water 

 once polluted with sewage is only very slowly purified, and more 

 recent research shows the great tenacity of life possessed by the 

 lower organisms which are believed to be allied to those capable 

 of communicating zymotic disease. Chemical analysis further 

 proves that the Thames water reaches the intakes of the London 

 Water Companies with a but slightly diminished proportion of 

 organic matters. In the face of the now well known fact that 

 London possesses within easy reach water of the purest quality 

 and abundant in quantity, it is inexcusable that such manifestly 

 impure sources should still be resorted to. Hitherto only one of 

 the eight metropolitan water companies has entirely abandoned 

 the polluted rivers and substituted them by the pure water 

 obtained from deep wells sunk into the chalk. London should 

 follow the example of other large towns in Great Britain ; thus 

 Glasgow now drinks the waters of Loch Katrine, Manchester is 

 bringing a supply from Cumberland, whilst London, with water 

 of the best quality much nearer at hand, is still compelled to 

 drink the waters of the Thames and Lea. 



Three addresses will be delivered at Annonay by members of 

 the Academy of Sciences on the occasion of the forthcoming 

 inauguration of the Montgolfier statue. M. Dupuis de Lome 

 will speak on the general history of ballooning ; M. Tisserand, 

 in the name of the Paris Observatory, on the scientific prospects 

 of ballooning ; and Col. Perrier, the representative of the Pre- 

 sident of the Republic, on the results of ballooning in 

 warfare. M. Laussedat, the director of the Conservatoire des 

 Arts, who was the first director of Meudon Chalet Aeronautical 

 Establishment, will speak on the career of the brothers Mont- 

 golfier. The aeronautical ascents will be made with a Mont, 

 golfier by Eugene Godard, and with a gas balloon by M. Brissonet, 

 _fils, of Paris. We believe that M. Tisserand will recommend the 

 use of balloons for certain astronomical observations. 



The Trustees of the Australian Museum (Sydney) have issued 

 their twenty-ninth Annual Report for 1882. The increasing 

 importance of the Australian Museum, and the growing interest 

 of the public in it, are shown by the remarkable increase of 

 18,446 visitors during the past year ; the attendance being 81, 596 

 on weekdays as against 73,995 in 1S81, and 52,505 on Sundays 

 as against 41,660 in 1881, the increase on weekdays being up- 

 wards of 14 per cent., and on Sundays upwards of 26 per cent. 

 Application has been made to the Government to consider the 

 necessity of enlarging the Museum buildings. More room is 

 urgently required, not only for purposes of exhibition, but for 

 the office staff and workmen. A catalogue of Australian stalk- 

 and sessile-eyed Crustacea, prepared by Mr. Wm. A. Haswell, 

 M. A., B.Sc, has been printed and distributed extensively among 

 various museums and natural history societies ; and the work of 



