Dec. 1 8, 1884] 



NA TURE 



157 



and chemistry ; of geology, where the exposures made by local 

 railway cutting^ are carefully studied and recorded; of biology 

 (combining botany and zoology) .: and of zoology, specially 

 directed to the study of the animals of the county, a list of 

 which will be published as it approaches completeness. Some of 

 these productions are not among the abstracts at the end of the 

 Report, being reserved for publication in "another place." 

 These papers are read in a new lecture-hall adjoining the 

 Museum, another institution which, though not very extensive, 

 is in a most active state of growth and improvement. A new 

 curator has led to a thorough rearrangement of the zoological 

 collection in such cases and surroundings as show the specimens 

 in their Datura! habitats, with index sketches attached to each 

 supplying names, &c, hanging near. So large an outlay 

 ha- been made upon these cases, that only 4 per cent, of the 

 nditure has been devoted to fresh objects. A large increase 

 in the number of visitors has followed these reforms, and nothing, 

 we venture to say, would so increase the attendance at a museum 

 as the introduction of variation instead of rigid order, and the 

 contributions from South Kensington can best assist in this 

 " movement." It seems hardly possible than an institution like 

 this should be frequented by persons engaged in business when 

 the hi iurs of opening it are only the middle hours of the business 

 day, viz. from ten till four, and the fact that on a holiday like 

 Whitsun Monday 97 persons per hour were admitted during the 

 daytime, and 353 persons per hour were admitted in the evening, 

 shows that, here at any rate, the latter hours are the favourite 

 hours also. Why, on the same ground, should a series of 

 " popular " lecturettes be given at three o'cloek in the after- 

 noon ? 



Dr. A. PENCK has recently studied the old glaciers of the 

 Pyrenees in detail, and has found remarkable differences 

 between them and the Alpine glaciers of the Ice period. Even 

 at that remote period the Pyrenean glaciers were of far smaller 

 extent than those of the Alps — in the western part of the 

 Pyrenees indeed there existed not a single one. Wherever 

 traces of glaciers could be found they were accompanied by lake 

 beds ; these have by now been filled up for the greatest part, at 

 least in the lower altitudes, the only lakes still existing being 

 situated in altitudes of between 1500 and 3000 metres. 



We have received a pamphlet on the climatic conditions of 

 Luxor and Egypt, with especial reference to invalids, by Dr. 

 Maclean (H. K. Lewis). The author spent three years as an 

 invalid and also in the practice of his profession in Egypt. 

 There are several meteorological tables and diagrams, and very 

 much information of all kinds for the traveller, although the 

 traveller who wants to escape the English winter is the special 

 object of the writer's solicitude. 



Prof. LindstroM, the keeper of the palaeontological col- 

 lections at the Stockholm Museum, has made an interesting 

 discovery amongst a number of petrefacts obtained from the 

 Island of Gothland. It is an air-breathing crustacean from the 

 Silurian period, the first specimen of the kind yet found. 



Prof. Gustav von Hayek, the author of the well-known 



"Atlas of Natural History" (published by Perles of Vienna), 



has received the gold medal for arts and sciences from the 



or of Austria, in recognition of the excellence of the work 



referred to. 



WE learn from Science that Commander Bartlett's annual 

 report on the operations of the U.S. Hydrographic Office makes 

 a good showing for activity and enterprise. Li-ts of light-houses 

 and " Notices to Mariners," in which bearings are given in 

 degrees from true north, instead of magnetic bearings in points, 

 as formerly, have been liberally published ; the official corre- 



spondence with other hydrographic offices has been increased ; 

 and a complete set of the charts issued by all nations is kept on 

 file, and is always at the service of the public for the determina- 

 tion of any questions relating to hydrography. The only vessel 

 engaged in making surveys during the year was the Ranger, on 

 the west coast of Mexico and Central America ; but it is strongly 

 recommended that new surveys be undertaken in several regions 

 where they have long been wanted. The charts of the northern 

 coast of South America are mostly based on old Spanish surveys 

 dating back to 1794. "Watson's Rock," latitude 40 17' N., 

 longitude 53" 22' W., in the path of North Atlantic traders, has 

 been reported so many times that its existence ought to be 

 definitely settled or unsettled. The recommendation of previous 

 hydrographers with regard to surveys of the Caroline and Mar- 

 shall Islands, in the equatorial Pacific, should no longer be 

 neglected ; they lie in the belt of the trade-winds and westerly 

 current, the natural highway of vessels crossing the ocean to 

 Japan, China, and the East Indies, and require immediate exa- 

 mination. In the North Pacific alone there are over 3000 

 reported dangers that need decisive observation. In many cases 

 the same island has half a dozen different positions, with as 

 much as fifty miles between the extremes. It is urged that every 

 naval vessel be provided with modern sounding-apparatus, by 

 which even deep-sea measures can be quickly made, and required 

 to sound wherever the charts show no depths reported « ithin 

 twenty miles on any side ; and it is desired that a ship should 

 be fitted out expressly to make investigations into ocean tem- 

 peratures at all depths, and thus obtain data necessary to com- 

 plete the determination of the actual oceanic circulation. 



M. Guinet, a rich burgher of' Lyons, having spent some 

 years of his life and 200,000/. of his money in the erection and 

 furnishing of a museum, recently opened in his native town, 

 intended to illustrate the religions of the East, has further 

 applied to have the establishment transferred to Paris, where it 

 would be likely to interest and instruct a larger number of 

 visitors. He has, in addition, offered to consign the whole into 

 the hands of the Government under certain conditions, an offer 

 which has been accepted. A number of priests belonging to the 

 Buddhist and Brahmanic religions* are to be brought to Paris, 

 and at fixed salaries employed in translating historical and 

 liturgical books connected with their respective faiths. 



The French Government have bestowed fresh honours on the 

 officers of the Meudon steering balloon, one of them having had 

 his name put down on the list for the distinction of a " Chef de 

 Bataillon," while another has been made a knight of the " Legion 

 d'Honneur," and a third, who was wounded in preparing the 

 hydrogen gas, has had the same distinction awarded him. At 

 the same time that we observe the services of these gallant 

 officers so well appreciated, we learn that the steering balloon 

 has been dismantled without undergoing any new experiments, 

 nor do we hear that the Commission appointed by the Academy 

 of Sciences to report on the balloon has published any verdict 

 respecting it. 



The Municipal Council of Paris having been called on to 

 vote on the question of a site for the Centennial Exhibition of 

 1889, have selected the Champ de Mars, the ground on which 

 former exhibitions were held. This unexpected vote on a matter 

 to which in the circumstances of the case great importance was 

 attached has caused a considerable amount of sensation. 



"Celsus and his Works" was the subject of the first of a 

 course of lectures during the current session, delivered at the 

 Faculty of Medicine in Paris, by M. Laboulbene. The course 

 is to be devoted to a history of the principal discoveries in 

 medicine and surgery, and the lectures are to appear in the 

 Revue Si ientifique. 



