130 



NA TURE 



\_fune 5, 1884 



A correspondent writes : — " Last week you had occasion 

 to refer to the little attention which is given in our schools to 

 the study of geography, and the consequent withdrawal of certain 

 medals which were awarded by the Royal Geographical Society 

 to the most proficient candidates from the public schools. The 

 superiority of our Continental neighbours in this matter will be 

 apparent to any one who visits the Educational Section of the 

 International Exhibition, which has been so well organised in 

 the new Technical Schools by Mr. R, Cowper. Here a society 

 of teachers, known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools, 

 exhibit a number of hypsometrical wall maps and physical atlases 

 admirably calculated to give correct notions of the real con- 

 figuration of the earth's surface. There is also a collection of 

 small models in relief, some of local topographical interest, and 

 others of general utility as illustrating the definitions and leading 

 facts of physical geography. These maps and reliefs were all 

 made by a member of the Society — Brother Alexis — who has 

 successfully striven, in France and Belgium, to introduce rational 

 methods into the teaching of political and physical geography. 

 The interest taken in this subject by students in the schools and 

 colleges of the Brothers in France is shown by a large number 

 of albums of maps sent in by them. It is interesting to notice 

 that many of the local maps were drawn from .surveys made by 

 the students under the direction of their teachers. Such field- 

 work is decidedly the best for advanced students, and is sure to 

 be done con amove. A second collection sent from the Colle- 

 giate Schools of the same Society in Belgium will be found in 

 the Belgian Court. The teachers of those of our public schools 

 from which geography has not been absolutely ostracised will do 

 well to carefully examine the physical maps and reliefs of the 

 Brothers, as well as the cartographical work of their students. 

 The result must be an improvement in our methods. If the 

 Educational Exhibition does no more than raise the standard 

 of geographical teaching throughout the country, it will have 

 served a useful purpose." 



It is worthy of note that the General Assembly of the Free 

 Church of Scotland have approved of the establishment of a 

 Chair of Natural Science in their Glasgow 'Iheological College. 



The Council of the Hartley Institute, Southampton, have 

 issued a circular with reference to the Geological Survey of 

 Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The Council think that it 

 would be of great service to the landowners and inhabitants of 

 the county that the Geological Survey should now be revised on 

 the map of the 6-inch scale. This revision of the work pre- 

 viously carried out on the old I -inch map would enable many 

 errors in detail in the former work to be corrected, and would 

 give the county a much more valuable and detailed geological 

 map, the sheet of which relating to any parish could be had 

 separately by paying the cost of the map and the cost of colour- 

 ing. At present this is not to be obtained, nor is it likely to be 

 obtainable unless the Government can lie induced to survey the 

 county, geologically, on the map of the 6- inch scale as some- 

 other counties have been surveyed. This work, taking the old 

 Survey as the basis, would not lie expensive. The Hartley" 

 Council intend to request the members of the House of Lords 

 connected with the county, and the representatives of the 

 county and boroughs of Hampshire in the House of Commons, 

 to urge the Government to revise the County Geological Survey 

 upon the 6-inch map. We trust the Government will readily 

 accede to the request ; a minute revision of this geologically 

 interesting district would be of great service to science. 



One afternoon, Science states, during the recent cruise of the 

 Albatross in the Caribbean Sea, several boobies were flying 

 around the ship, and finally one of them alighted on the fore- 

 castle, when he was caught by one of the men, who, after 

 amusing himself and his shipmates a while, tossed it overboard, 



expecting it would take itself off as quickly as possible ; but, to 

 their surprise, it returned immediately, alighting on the rail, 

 where nearly every man of the crew had congregated to watch 

 its performance. It did not seem to be distressed in any way, 

 and went deliberately to work rearranging its plumage, which 

 had been somewhat ruffled by handling, calmly surveying the 

 noisy crowd of men gathered around it. They tried to feed it, 

 offering everything that could be found, but nothing seemed to 

 suit its taste. It would not submit quietly to being handled, but 

 made no attempt to fly away ; and, although tossed overboard 

 six times during the afternoon, it returned as often, invariably 

 alighting in the same place among the men, where it finally took 

 up its quarters for the night, remaining till six o'clock the next 

 morning, when it left without ceremony, and was not afterwards 

 seen. 



The Esposizione Generale Italiana was opened at the end of 

 April in Turin, and at the end of May the inauguration of the 

 International Electrical Exhibition took place. Prof. Ferraris 

 is the director of the International Department. A good display 

 of meteorological instruments has been made in a tower belong- 

 ing to the front monumental entrance. An inscription states that 

 the Italians having inaugurated meteorology in the world are 

 anxious to show the progress which this department of know- 

 ledge has made in its native country. The extent of the exhi- 

 bition is about I kilometre by 450 metres on the banks of the 

 Po, in the old gardens of Valentino Castle, where Beccaria exe- 

 cuted his celebrated experiments on thunderstorm phenomena 

 about 100 years ago. 



A violent shock of earthquake occurred on the night of May 

 19 at the Island of Iyishm, near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. 

 No less than twelve villages were destroyed. Two hundred 

 people were killed, and many others injured. Kishm is the 

 largest island in the Persian Gulf, and is Mirrounded by many 

 smaller islands. It is seventy miles long, and averages twelve 

 miles broad. The population, chiefly Arabs, number about five 

 thousand. 



The latest news from the Sagastyr Meteorological Station on 

 the Lena, published by the St. Petersburg Jzvest/a, is dated 

 November 25. The expedition remained to winter a second 

 year, and will continue its observations until the present month. 

 Last summer M. Eigner made the survey of two branches of the 

 Lena, from the place where Capt. He Long landed on his sad 

 journey. Dr. Bunge revisited the place where the Adams mam- 

 moth was found, and mapped also the place where De Long 

 pel ished with his companions. The summer was altogether very- 

 cold, the average temperature of the three summer months being 

 only j -25 C. The sky was cloudy throughout, and fogs were 

 nearly continuous. The lowest temperature observed last winter 

 was on February 7, when the thermometer fell to - S 2 "'3 C. 



The East of Scotland Union of Naturalists' Societies holds 

 its first annual meeting at Dundee to-morrow and Saturday. 



Mr. Archibald Barr, B.Sc, C.E., "Young'' Assistant to 

 Dr. James Thomson, F.R.S., Professor of Civil Engineering 

 and Mechanics in the University of Glasgow, has been appointed 

 Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering in the Yorkshire 

 ■ 



MR. W. Phillips, F.L.S., of Shrewsbury, has in preparation 

 "A Manual of the British Discomycetes, with Descriptions of 

 all the Species of Fungi hitherto found in Britain, included in 

 the Family, and Illustrations of the Genera." 



The last volume of the Memoirs of the Ethnographical Section 

 of the Russian Geographical Society (vol. xii. ) contains a rich 

 collection of Russian folk-lore collected in the Samara province 

 on the Volga, by D. N. Sadovnikoff. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Plimalayan Bear {Ursus tibetamis) from 



