NA TURE 



[A/ay 29, 1884 



when most of the inhabitants were asleep, this earthquake was 

 recorded in all neighbouring villages and at Vera, on the south 

 of the Pyrenees chain. This contradicts the observations made 

 in Japan, where mountains seem to stop earthquakes. Taken 

 unawares at St. Jean de Luz, I did not note down how long the 

 sound lasted before and after the shock. This should be attended 

 to, if possible, in all similar phenomena, for we have as yet no 

 permanent self-recorder of sound. 



Although notable earthquakes are of rare occurrence in Europe, 

 slight ones frequently happen. I have observed two micro- 

 scopical ones near Hendaye. Our imperfect knowledge of their 

 times and causes would be improved if our meteorological obser- 

 vatories had proper seismometers telling their own tales. Perhaps 

 they should be of three kinds : for serious earthquakes, for slight 

 shocks, and for earth-tremors. Antoine d'Abbadie, 



Paris, May 26 de 1'Institut 



The earthquake was felt by an invalid in bed at Dudbridge, a 

 mile south-west of Stroud, Gloucestershire. The house stands 

 on the Middle Lias. It was also felt at Stonehouse, three miles 

 west of Stroud on the Lower Lias. The New Red dips under 

 the Lias, about seven miles west of Stonehouse, at the well- 

 known section at Westbury-on-Severn. It is presumed that the 

 Carboniferous Limestone exists under the New Red. It is 

 visible three miles to the west of Westbury. 



May 23 A. Shaw Page 



Instinct in Birds 



I read with special interest the letter signed " Wm. Brown " in 

 NATUREofthe 15th (p. 56). I regret I cannot see the letter to which 

 it refers. My excuse for intruding on your limited space is that I 

 have something to say about a magpie's nest. My text is words 

 in Mr. Brown's letter, "I have often seen the nest shot down." 

 Some years ago seeing a magpie lly from her nest I climbed the 

 tree to see what was in it. I found six eggs, but not magbieS '. 

 They were starlings' eggs on which the magpie was sitting. I 

 visited the tree several times, and always found the magpie 

 sitting on the starlings' eggs. To my great regret, on finally 

 coming to see how the magpie and her foster brood were getting 

 on, I found a shot-hole through the nest, and magpie and eggs 

 knocked to pieces. R. S. S. 



Edinburgh, May 21 



P. S. — My regret was the greater as I could easily have 

 prevented this by asking a neighbour's keeper to let the nest 

 alone. The magpie lays as a rule seven eggs. There were six 

 starlings' eggs in the nest. I saw no starling near the place, 

 and as it was in the middle of a dense fir wood, I was the more 

 astonished to see starlings' eggs there. 



A Remarkably Brilliant Meteor 



To-night, about 10.45 p.m., I was "stepping westward,'' 

 about half a mile east of my house. Suddenly the ground before 

 me was lighted up with noontide splendour by a luminary that 

 was above me and behind me. Looking back I saw a meteor a 

 good deal east of the Great Bear, and nearly as high in the sky. 

 It was about as big as Venus, and of the same hue. It was speeding 

 from north to south with a slight descent. Its course very soon 

 came to an end. It left behind it a streak of duller lustre : this 

 phosphorus-like trail vanished almost at once. The career of this 

 meteor while that body was visible here, lasted little, if at all, 

 longer than a minute, but its light was remarkably brilliant. 



John Hoskyns-Abrahai.i. 



Combe Vicarage, Woodstock, May 20 



Right-sidedr.ess 

 An unprofessional account of a case of paralysis lately in the 

 West London Hospital may be of interest as corroborating the 

 assertion of Mr. Wharton (in his letter of March 20) that in 

 paralysis of the left side it is the right eye which suffers, and 

 vice versa. The left arm and leg of a child in the above hospital 

 (whom I only knew as "Alice ") were in almost constant jerking 

 motion, and the left side of the face was motionless. The left 

 eye, however, was normal and bright ; while on the right side of 

 the face, which did all the talking and laughing, the eye was 

 half closed, and one could see under the drooping eyelid that the 

 pupil was dilated till but a narrow margin of iris was visible. 



E. H. 



MODERN TRAVEL— A SCIENTIFIC 

 EDUCATION 



"THE teaching of geography has come to rather a 

 -*■ sad pass in this country, as was evident from 

 the address of the President at the Anniversary of 

 the Royal Geographical Society on Monday. The 

 Society's examiner, Prof. Moseley, reports that it is 

 entirely neglected in our public schools ; and the Council 

 of the Society have withdrawn the public schools medals 

 which they have awarded for years, simply because there 

 are so few candidates for them. In our great public schools 

 geographical teaching has no recognised place ; if taught 

 at all it is only as a voluntary subject, which may or may 

 not be taken at the caprice of the boys. Some attempt 

 has been made to methodise the teaching of the subject 

 in schools under Government inspection, but so far the 

 result has not been very successful. No doubt the 

 Science and Art Department and the University exa- 

 miners have done much to improve the teaching of what 

 is known as physical geography in our middle-class 

 schools ; but at the very best we are a long way from 

 perfection in this important branch of education, which, 

 were it not for unintelligent teachers and dry text-books, 

 ought to abound with interest. One serious defect in our 

 system of teaching the subject is the want of proper appa- 

 ratus ; maps are good enough in their way, but it is not easy 

 to persuade the pupil that they represent anything more 

 than a flat surface. They are a poor substitute for the 

 models which we find in some Continental schools, sup- 

 plemented as these are by large-scale, well-executed 

 pictures of the leading natural and artificial features with 

 which geography deals. If Miss North's gallery of 

 pictures at Kew could be taken round the country at 

 intervals for exhibition to our schools, it would do more 

 for giving a real conception of what geography is than 

 many text-books. Let us hope that the step taken by the 

 Royal Geographical Society, in appointing an inspector 

 to visit Continental schools and report on the whole 

 subject, will lead to real reform. 



Of course the most effective and impressive method of 

 education in geography would be to take the pupil all 

 over the world, and let him see with his own eyes the 

 many wonderful and beautiful features of our earth, which 

 as lists of dry names weary his soul in his text-book. 

 This is a method recently followed to some extent in cer- 

 tain of the French high schools. The best pupils are 

 taken during the vacation to some important foreign 

 centre, like London or Berlin, Christiania or Stockholm, 

 from which excursions are made to the leading natural 

 and artificial features of the country. Every tourist is 

 indeed more or less of a practical geographer, finding 

 fresh energy, education, and interest in those very things 

 which when at school he abhorred. But we fear that many 

 tourists pass through a country, if not with their eyes 

 closed, at least without any training whatever as to what 

 they are to look for ; and unless the best-intentioned 

 tourists have been so far instructed, their travels will do 

 them little good. Hence the great educational value of a 

 carefully-compiled guide-book ; and how important such 

 a guide-book might be made as a means of geographical 

 and scientific instruction may be seen from the handsome 

 "Orient Line Guide" before us. 1 It is in most respects very 

 different from any of the volumes with which Murray and 

 Baedeker have made us familiar. It is meant neither for 

 knapsack nor pocket, but evidently for the saloon table. 

 It is a broad folio, handsomely printed and abounding in 

 fine large-scale illustrations and maps by Maclure and 

 Macdonald. Every one who has gone a long voyage 

 must have felt its tedium in spite of amusements of all 

 kinds ; but with the aid of the " Orient Guide " every day 

 ought to bring fresh interest and fresh means of instruc- 



1 "Illustrated Guide of the Orient Line of Steamships hetween England 

 and Australia." Issued by the Managers of the Line. (London: Maclure 

 and Macdonald.) 



