222 



NA TURE 



[J*fyh 1884 



between 700/. and 800/. The meeting agreed "that it would be 

 very desirable to commemorate the distinguished character and 

 attainments of the late Sir William Siemens by erecting to his 

 memory a window in Westminster Abbey." It was determined 

 to limit the subscription in the first instance to one guinea. A 

 committee was appointed to cany out the project. 



The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the building 

 which is to be erected, under the name of Alexandra House, at 

 the 1 harge of Mr. Francis Cook, as a home for 100 of the female 

 students attending classes at the Royal College of Music, the 

 South Kensington Museum, and other art and science schools in 

 the neighbourhood, was performed on Monday afternoon by the 

 Princess of Wales in the presence of a large assemblage of 

 gentlemen and ladies. Mr. Cook deserves all credit for his en- 

 lightened liberality, and we have no doubt the home which he 

 has founded will be a valuable aid both to the South Kensington 

 classes and the College of Music. At the same time we may 

 remind our readers that a similar institution has been success- 

 fully at work for a considerable time in I'.yng Place for female 

 students attending University College and other institutions for 

 the higher education of women. 



We hope to be able in an early number to consider at length 

 the report of the City Companies Commission. Meantime, 

 among other suggestions of the Commission, we may note their 

 rei ommendation to appoint by Act of Parliament a Commission 

 to undertake (1) the application of a portion of the corporate 

 incomes of the Companies respectively to objects of ai knowledged 

 public utility ; (2) the better application of the trust incomes of 

 the Companies ; (3) should it prove practicable, the reorganisa- 

 tion of the Constitution of the Companies. The Commission 

 moreover recommend that by the terms of such Act "objects 

 of acknowledged public utility." be defined as scholastic and 

 scientific objects, i.e. elementary education, secondary education, 

 classical education, scientific research. 



The International Forestry Exhibition was opened on Tues- 

 day afternoon at Edinburgh by the Marquess of Lothian, in 

 the presence of a large company. Many foreign Governments 

 were represented, ami the Lord Provost and magistrates of Edin- 

 burgh attended in their official capacity. The Marquess of 

 Lothian, in opening the Exhibition, said that a special object 

 was the better forestry education of the country. The United 

 Kingdom had more property in the world than any other nation ; 

 but in this particular it was behind other nations. We were the 

 only country that had not a school of forestry, and we had to 

 send our young men abroad to gain the necessary knowledge. 

 That, surely, was not right, ami he hoped that out of that Exhi- 

 bition there would come a school for forestry which might pos- 

 sibly be located in Edinburgh. They had every possible ad- 

 vantage there; they had the Botanic Gardens, the Arboretum, 

 the University, and the Highland Society. All these bodies 

 took an interest in the matter, and it only required that oppor- 

 tunity should be given for the practical part of the work. It was 

 not too much to hope that before long, if the money were got, 

 they might see a school of forestry in Scotland. He appi aled 

 to the public to make the enterprise a success, and, amid hearty 

 cheers, declared the Exhibition open. 



The Anniversary Meeting of the Sanitary Institute of Great 

 Britain will be held in the Theatre of the Royal Institution, 

 Albemarle Street, on Thursday, July 10, at 3 p.m. The chair 

 will be taken by the Right Hon. Earl Frrtes:ue, and an address 

 will be delivered by H. C. Bartlett, Ph.D., F.C.S., entitled 

 " Some of the Present Aspects of Practical Sanitation," and the 

 Medals and Certificates awarded to the succe sful exhibitors at 

 the Exhibition at Glasgow, in 1883, will be presented. 



The Society of Chemical Industry will hold its annual meeting 

 at Newcastle-on-Tyne on July 9 and following days. The 

 meeting at Newcastle is looked forward to with great interest by 

 the members of the Society throughout the country, forTyneside 

 is associated more closely than any other district with the birth 

 and development of the chief of our great chemical manufacturing 

 industries, and the committee of the Newcastle section, under 

 the chairmanship of Mr. J. C. Stevenson, M.P., are doing 

 their utmost to render the visit of the members to Newcastle in 

 every way a memorable one. 



Mr. Sidney Lupton, Assistant Master at Harrow School, 

 has recently compiled and published some numerical tables and 

 constants in elementary science which » e can fairly recommend 

 to our readers. It is a little book of about 100 pages, which of 

 course possesses no claim to originality, the whole skill of the 

 compiler being shown in the selection of materials which he has 

 made. The book deals with numbers and measures, heat, light, 

 sound, electricity, chemistry, and physiography ; the latter divi- 

 sion being wide enough to include tables of logarithms. 



We have received from the Bureau des Longitudes their 

 " Annuaire" for the present year, which seems thicker and more 

 complete than any of its predecessors, well worth the money it 

 costs {is. 3d.) even to the English reader, on account of the 

 very valuable tables which it contains touching astronomical and 

 geographical subjects. We notice in the present edition a very 

 complete table of the different comets, which alone would make- 

 it a necessity in any astronomical establishment. The semi- 

 popular article published in the "Annuaire" for this yeai is 

 entitled " Sur les Grands Fleaux de la Nature"; it is by M. 

 Faye, and is well worth reading. 



M. Month, NY has recently published a pamphlet on the 

 influence of the atmosphere in the apparition of colours seen 

 in the scintillation of stars. In it he draws attention to the 

 possibility of there being some connection between the-e colours 

 and the coming weather. He has previously noticed that there 

 is a great predominance of blue in the scintillating colour when 

 rain is approaching, and he is now so convinced of the accuracy 

 of this forecast that it is included among others in the Bulletin 

 Mitiorologijue published by the Observatory of Brussels. He 

 gives the following forecast for the coming years :— " We may 

 hope that we are happily quit of the period of wet years which 

 commenced in 1876, and that we have already entered a series 

 of fine years, or rather of more regular years as far as ram is 

 concerned." Nous verrons ce qui nous verrons. 



OUR botanical readers maybe interested to know that Heir 

 F. Soacha of the Biirghschule, Deutschbrod, Bohemia, is pre- 

 paring for publication a Flora of Austria-Hungary, which will 

 contain specimens of the plants described. Those desiring to 

 know the terms of subscription should communicate with Heir 

 Soacha. 



The following are some of the special questions which have 

 been arranged for discussion at the next Social Science Congress, 

 which is to be held at Birmingham on September 17-24 :— How 

 far are the requirements of the country for well-trained teachers 

 in elementary schools met by the pupil-teacher system and the 

 existing training colleges? In testing the efficiency of schools 

 should processes or "results" be chiefly regarded? Health— 

 1. What is the best method of dealing with [a) town sewage, (&) 

 the products of house and street scavenging, and (,) the products 

 of combustion? 2. What are the best means, legislative or 

 other, of securing those improvements in the dwellings of the 

 poor which are essential to the welfare of the community? 3. 

 How far may the average death-rate of a population be considered 



