i8o 



NATURE 



[/line 19, 1884 



completion of the Observatory in the manner now explained will 

 be 800/., which is, however, irrespective of a heavy item of 

 charge for conveying on horseback the materials to the top of 

 the hill. It is understood that the cost of equipment and main- 

 tenance of the Observatory heretofore has been heavier than was 

 anticipated. The directors intend shortly to make a fresh appeal 

 for funds to the public, which will no doubt be as liberally 

 responded to as was their last. 



The first annual conference of the National Association of 

 Science and Art Teachers will be held in the Liverpool Institute, 

 Mount Street, Liverpool, at half-past two on Saturday, June 21. 

 Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, D.Sc, will preside. The follow- 

 ing arrangements have been made for the day's proceedings : — 

 Meeting in the vestibule of the Free Museum, William Brown 

 Street, at 10.30 a.m. The members and delegates will view the 

 museum, library, and art gallery. At 12.5, train to Bootle from 

 L. and V. station, for Alexandra Dock, to view the National 

 Liner Anuria. Return per train to Liverpool, for refreshments 

 and inspection of Liverpool Institute and School of Art. Business 

 meeting at 2.30 p.m. Paper by Prof. Thompson at 7 p.m. 



Prof. Stricker of Vienna has in the press a work on which 

 he has been engaged for some time. Under the title " Physio- 

 logic des Rechts " he has applied modern scientific methods to 

 the investigation of ethical problems. The aim of the book is 

 to examine the correlative conceptions of right and law in the 

 light which is cast on them by the conceptions of development 

 and of society as something more than a mechanical aggregate of 

 independent units. The first part of the inquiry is psychological. 

 The second treats of the relations of ethics to jurisprudence, 

 dealing with the question of connection of right with might as 

 part of the general problem of evolution. The third discusses 

 the question of punishment and responsibility. The book is to 

 be published by Toeplitz and Deutirke of Vienna. 



We have on several occasions drawn attention to the good work 

 which is being done by the Royal Victoria Coffee Hall, Waterloo 

 Bridge Road. The entertainments provided are healthy, in- 

 structive, and popular ; among other items in the programme 

 are lectures by some of our best known men of science. The 

 undertaking is in want of funds to further extend operations, and 

 those willing to contribute to a really good cause should commu- 

 nicate with Miss Cons at the Hall. 



The death is announced of the eminent scientific geographer. 

 Dr. G. von Boguslawski ; his " Handbuch der Oceanographie " 

 has only just been published. 



Tortoises and snakes are intimately associated together in 

 Chinese mythology and records of natural history, and hence one 

 of the commonest emblems current in China, and a very 

 favourite ornament, is a tortoise encircled by a snake. During 

 the Chow Dynasty (B.C. 1122-255) these animals were chosen as 

 emblems of martial security against attack, from the defences 

 which nature has given them in the shell of the one and the 

 scales of the other, and to the present day flags bearing a device 

 in which they both appear as emblematic of this idea are usually 

 carried by troops in the field. But it is further commonly stated 

 as a fact that the greatest affection exists between these two 

 creatures. Is there any ground for this last assertion ? A passage 

 in a letter lately published in the China Mail from a correspondent 

 in Shanse seems to give a certain colour of probability to it. He 

 says that one evening as he was walking on the bank of a certain 

 river he saw a tortoise swimming across the current. Having 

 his rifle with him he fired at the creature, upon which the tortoise 

 dived under water, and a snake, cut in two by his bullet, floated 

 on the surface. From the writer's account the snake appears to 

 have been crossing the river on the back of the tortoise. 



We trust that the effort being made by the Sunday Society to 

 obtain the opening of the Health Exhibition on Sundays will be 

 successful. In the memorial of the Society to H.R.H. the 

 Prince of Wales and the Executive Council of the International 

 Health Exhibition, a letter is given from Sir Joseph Hooker to 

 Prof. Tyndall, in which the former insists strongly on the bene- 

 ficial results to the working-classes of the opening of Kew 

 Gardens on Sunday. In this letter Sir Joseph Hooker says : — 

 " If there is one matter that gratifies me more than another in 

 respect of the administration of the Kew Gardens and Museums 

 by the Government, it is the opening them to the public on Sun- 

 days. On no day of the week have we more interested visitors 

 or more of that class which we should wish to see profiting by 

 the instructive contents of this Institution. The Museums 

 especially are crowded, and when it is considered that the ex- 

 hibits in them are not of articles that strike the eye or gratify the 

 senses of colour or form, the interest they excite is almost to be 

 wondered at. The artisan classes are great frequenters of these 

 Museums with their wives and families, and it is pleasing to see 

 the delight with which the children recognise such articles as 

 the sugar-cane, the coffee-plant, and its products, and the various 

 implements used in their preparation, manufacture, &c. I 

 should add that this interest in the instructive character of the 

 Gardens is largely on the increase, and is manifest to the most 

 careless observer. It is further accompanied by a marked im- 

 provement in the conduct of certain classes which were formerly 

 troublesome in many ways and a nuisance to quiet visitors. It 

 speaks volumes for the moral effect of the Sunday opening when 

 I add that such classes no longer exist at Kew. Whether it is 

 that such no longer come, or that coming they now behave 

 themselves, is immaterial : the moral gain is great. During the 

 last two years we have had in each year a million and a quarter 

 of visitors, of whom the greater proportion are Sunday after- 

 noon arrivals from every quarter of the Metropolis and its sur- 

 roundings. Let the numbers speak for themselves: — 18S2, 

 Sunday visitors, 606,935 ! week-days, 637,232 ; 1883, Sundays, 

 616,307; week-days, 624,182." Equally beneficial results, we 

 are convinced, would follow the opening of the Health Exhibi- 

 tion on Sundays. 



The World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, 

 sanctioned by an Act of Congress of February 1883, and to be 

 opened at New Orleans, December 1, proposes to bring together 

 a magnificent international collection of plants and shrubs, in the 

 largest conservatory ever erected, 600 feet in length, 194 feet in 

 centre, with glass tower 90 feet in height, where Mexico and 

 Central America will be the principal exhibitors. Six lakes 

 will be contained in the grounds, round which will be groves of 

 cedar, pine, pomegranate, magnolia, lemon, palm, orange, 

 cocoa-nut, banana, &c. But the United States Bureau of Edu- 

 cation in a preliminary circular calls attention to the very large 

 and varied collection which will be found there of educational 

 appliances of every description ; plans of schools and methods 

 of teaching all classes of scholars from the deaf and dumb or 

 imbecile to the technical or university student ; books in all their 

 parts and stages ; stationery, and materials for drawing, extend- 

 ing to photography ; maps ; instruments and apparatus mathe- 

 matical, medical, and musical. The Bureau gives the managers 

 of the Exposition credit for considering the improvement of 

 schools as among the most beneficial results to be gained by 

 their efforts. 



The Presidency of the Social Science Association for the 

 ensuing year has been accepted by Mr. G. J. Shaw-Lefevre, 

 M.P., First Commissioner of Works. The preparations for the 

 Annual Congress, which is to take place at Birmingham from 

 September 17 to 24, are being vigorously pushed forward by the 

 different Local Committees, and a largely attended and success- 



