4oo 



NA TURE 



^August 23, 1883 



and it is generally much regretted that so few exhibits 

 have been sent from England, which has played a leading 

 part in the development of applied electricity. 



A special feature of the Vienna Exhibition is the building 

 itself — the Rotunda, built by Scott Russell, the eminent 

 engineer, in 1S73, covering with its annexes and courts a 

 space of 33,000 square metres. The vast dome is 79 m. 

 in height, and three galleries, the highest — the hntern 

 gallery — being 66 m. above the ground, make it well 

 adapted for illumination by electric lamps. Everything 

 has been done to make the Exhibition as interesting and 

 attractive as possible. Between the Rotunda and the 

 Praterstern an electric tramway will run. The Rotunda 

 is brought into telephonic connection with the Opera. A 

 gallery of the Exhibition building contains a model 

 theatre lighted by incandescent lamps, where ballets will 

 be performed and scientific lectures given by eminent 

 specialists, while another gallery contains beautifully 

 arranged and furnished interiors and the picture gal- 

 lery. In the machine rooms the great boilers make a 

 gigantic impression ; they will supply the various motors 

 with 1400 horse-power to drive the electric machinery 

 for lighting and transmission of motive power. In 

 the nave are arranged the exhibits of different railway 

 companies and also various scientific apparatus, of 

 which further details will be given in subsequent com- 

 munications. 



Vienna, August 16 



NOTES 



We understand that Her Majesty's Government having 

 through the Foreign Office been invited to appoint delegates to 

 the International Geodetic Congress to be held at Rome in 

 October next, at which the adoption of an international common 

 meridian and common lime for railway and telegraph purposes 

 is to be discussed, the Lords of the Committee of Council 

 on Education appoin'ed a Committee to report on the subject. 

 The Committee consisted of the Astronomer-Royal, General 

 Cooke, C.B., R.E. (late Director-General of the Ordnance 

 Survey), General Strachey, C.S.I , R.E. (Member of the India 

 Council), and Col. Donnelly, R.E. (Secretary of the Science 

 and Art Department). In consequence of their Report, the 

 Treasury have consented to provide the travelling and personal 

 expenses of two delegates. We are glad to say that the Science 

 and Art Department, in concert with the Foreign Office, have 

 appointed the Astronomer- Royal and Col. A. R. Clarke, C.B., 

 R.E., F. R.S., to represent this country, and that they have 

 consented to act. 



The local secretaries at Southport have been exerting them- 

 selves to make the visit of the British Association a success. Excur- 

 sions are arranged for Saturday the 22nd and Thursday the 27th of 

 September. The Association has not met in Lancashire since the 

 meeting at Liverpool in 1S70 under the presidency of Prof. 

 Huxley, and it is believed that the indns'ries of the county have 

 since then so developed and expanded as to open up fresh sources 

 c.f interest to the chemist, the engineer, and the economist. It 

 is believed that ample and convenient accommodation for a full 

 meeting of the Association has been secured. The Winter Gar- 

 dens have been engaged for the exclu ive use of the Associatio i, 

 and in them will be given the Presidential Address and evening 

 lee ures, and in them will also be held the conversazioni. The 

 spacious assembly room in the Cambridge Hall will be devoted 

 to the purposes of a reception room, and suitable halls have 

 been acquired for the use of the various sections. Numerous 

 excursions are in process of arrangement. Among these is a 

 visit to Stonyhurst College, the oh ervatory, museum, library, 

 collection of ecclesiastical vestments, and grounds, which are 

 extremely interesting. The Abnm Colliery, near Wigan, »ill 

 be open to inspection, as will also the Wigan Coal and Iron 



Company's pits and ironworks. Messrs. Piatt Brothers and Co. 

 have offered to show a party of members of the Association over 

 their extensive machine works at Oldham, and certain large 

 cotton mills in the same town will be open to visitors on the 

 same day. A geological excursion will be made to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Clitheroe and the Victom Caves, which it is hoped 

 will be personally conducted by Mr. R. H. Tiddeman, M.A., 

 F.G.S., who made the geological survey of the district. Another 

 party will visit Furness Abbey and the Lake Distr'ct. The 

 Earls of Derby, Crawford and Balcarres, and l.athom, and Mr. 

 Weld-blundell of Ince Blundell, will throw open their grounds 

 to members of the Association, and at some of these places 

 garden parties » ill be given. There is abundant hotel accom- 

 modation of the be-t Kind, as well as good hydropathic establish- 

 ments and numerous excellent lodging houses. A list of all these 

 has been prepared and published in pamphlet form. 



The French Association began its meetings at Rouen on 

 Thursday last, when the pre-ident, M. Frederic Passy, gave an 

 address on the history of political economy. The revenue of 

 the Assochtion during the past year amounted to 85,677 francs, 

 of which 13,900 francs were devoted to purposes of research. 

 The capital of the Association reaches the large sum of 454,526 

 francs. On Friday evening M. Hatt, hydrographer to the 

 French navy, lec'ured on the transit of Venus in December, 

 1882, while another lecture on the transmission of force was 

 given by Prof. Comberousse. Considerable time was devoted 

 on Saturday in the Engineering Section to proposals for improv- 

 ing the navigation of the Seine. Various excursions have been 

 made during the week, and will be continued to irorrow and 

 Following days. 



Mr. Belt has been commissioned by the cniployls of the late 

 Mr. William Spottisw oode, Pre-ident of the Royal Society, to 

 execute a monument to hi s memory, and the sit" for its erection 

 will be in front of Her Majesty's Printing Office. 



Vienna papers announce the death at Botzen, in the Tyrol, 

 on August 10, of the Austrian Vice-Admiral, Par in von Wiil- 

 lerstorf-Urbair, one of the most learned and scientific officers 

 that die Austrim navy has ever possessed, and who has con- 

 tributed greatly to its professional improvement. He was not 

 originally intended for a naval life, and was educated in the 

 engineering officers' school at Tulla, where he acquired a great 

 reputation, especially on account of his mathematical talents 

 and proficiency. But a combina ion of circumstances led to 

 his being transferred to the navy at the age of eighteen. He 

 was almost at once allowed leave of absence to continue his 

 scientific studies at Vienna, where he pursutd a-tronomy and 

 meteorology under Littrow, at that time director of the Vienna 

 Observatory. In 1839, when only twenty-four ye rs of age, 

 Wlillerstorf was appointed to organise the marine observatory, 

 and from that time till 1848 he acted as director of that institu- 

 tion, and as professor of astronomy and navigation at the 

 Naval Academy in Venice. In 1848 he returned to active ser- 

 vice, becoming commodore in 1S57, when he took command of 

 the Novara on the celebrated expedition around the world, the 

 first of the kind undertaken by the Au-trian Government. In 

 1S61, being then rear-admiral, he became commander at the 

 Venice station, and in 1864, during the Danish war, he was 

 appointed to the command of the combined Austrian and 

 Prussian squadron in the North Sea. In 1865 he became 

 Minister of Commerce, a position which he held till 1867, when 

 failure of health compelled him to retire from active life at the 

 early age of fifty-two. He was a member of the Austrian 

 Academy of Sciences, and of many other scientific bodies. He 

 was sixty-eight years of age when he died. 



The liberality of Finland to science is exemplary. The 

 Senate has voted a sum of about 8000/. for hydrographical 





