Oct. 9, 1884] 



NA TURh 



56; 



her power, to the advancement of our knowledge of the forces 

 of Nature. Appreciating the unity of energy, whether displayed 

 as heat or light or electricity, Mrs. Thompson gave the money 

 for researches as to the nature and sources of light and heat, in 

 the hope that more may be learned of the connection which may 

 exist between heat and light and electricity. 



Prof. Cussar Ewart has sailed for the United States on a 

 semi-official mission connected with the Fishery Board. He is 

 to make full inquiry into the fishery regulations of the United 

 States, to examine the fish hatcheries there, and otherwise to 

 gather all possible information on the subject upon which he was 

 engaged at home during last winter and spring with so much 

 energy and success. 



The death is announced of Dr. Leopold Fitzinger, formerly 

 custodian of the Zoological Court Cabinet at Vienna. 



The latest news from the Lena Meteorological Station at 

 Sagastyr appeared in the last issue of the St. Petersburg Izvestia, 

 dated January 3 and February 14. /The small-pox, brought 

 last year from Yakutsk, has made great ravages among the 

 already scarce population of the delta. Nearly all (seventy) 

 Yakuts living at Bouloun have died f om the epidemic ; and in 

 the three settlements at Cape Bykoff forty persons died from it ; 

 even at Kytakh, clo^e to the Meteorological Station, a Yakut 

 who had fled from small-pox died in December last. The staff 

 of the Observatory were quite well in February, and, with their 

 provisions of fresh meat, were not afraid of scurvy. The mag- 

 netic storms were not so strong nor so frequent as last winter. 

 The greatest cold witnessed in December was - 48° C, and, 

 on the whole, the winter was far milder than last year. Frosts 

 below - 40° were rare, and temperatures as low as — 52° were 

 not witnessed this winter. The average temperature of February 

 was only - 33°, instead of - 41°, as it was in 1S83. On the 

 contrary, strong winds were more frequent than last year. 



The new astronomical Observatory in Hong Kong appears to 

 be now in full working order under Dr. Doberck. We have 

 received its usual monthly weather reports, containing copious 

 observations on the barometric pressure, temperature, tempera- 

 ture of evaporation and radiation, relative humidity and tension 

 of aqueous vapour, duration of sunshine, rainfall, duration and 

 velocity of the wind, &c, — in all, fifteen tables. The meteoro- 

 logical work, especially when taken in connection with that of 

 the Observatories at Siccawei, Manilla, and Tokio, and the 

 observations at the various Chinese Customs stations and light- 

 houses must be of great value. For the benefit of shipmasters 

 the Astronomer publishes daily a China Coast Meteorological 

 Register, giving a summary of the atmospheric circumstances 

 along the coast of China. 



At the same time as the German Association the German 

 Meteorological Society met at Magdeburg and held a public 

 meeting on September 20. Prof. Neumayer spoke on the deve- 

 lopment of meteorology and its importance in the life of nations. 

 The following gentlemen were elected honorary members of the 

 Society :— Profs. Buys-Ballot (Utrecht), W. Farrel (Washing- 

 ton), J. Hann (Vienna), G. Mohn (Christiania), A. Muhry 

 (Gottingen), and E. E. Schmid (Jena). 



Phylloxera has made its appearance in the Pomological 

 Institute of Proskau (Silesia). It is hoped, however, that the 

 spread of the disease may yet be prevented. 



The Russian University of Kief has elected Profs. Kolbe, 

 Helmholtz, Kirchhoff, Pettenkofer, and Hoppe Seyler as 

 honorary members. 



A Committee has been formed at Lucerne with a view of 

 erecting what is called a " universal column." It is to measure 

 300 feet in height, and is to contain in its interior relief portraits 



of all the celebrated men and women of the present era on 

 bronze tablets. Another pr ject of the Committee is the build- 

 ing of a "museum of the nineteenth century," to. be dedicated 

 to art, science, inventions, commerce, and industry, and to con- 

 tain the busts and statues of all distinjuished persins in these 

 domains. The cost is estimated at seven to eight million 

 francs (280,000?. to 320,000/.), and is to be met by subscription, 

 lotteries, &c. 



The old lighthouse erected by Smeaton upon the Eddystone 

 rocks 125 years ago, recently replaced by a new lighthouse, has 

 been re-erected upon the Plymouth Hoe. It was opened on 

 September 24 with appropriate ceremony. 



Professors and teachers of mechanics and mechanical 

 engineering have the greatest difficulty in getting suitable models 

 to illustrate the different machines, and combinations of parts, 

 under discussion in their classes ; diagrams go a long way as a 

 means of illustration, but appear sometimes very complicated, 

 more especially when the piths of the moving parts are driwn. 

 Take, for. instance, the link motion of the locomotive, — the 

 diagram of the motion showing the relative positions of the 

 different parts, when one of the cranks is placed in eight different 

 positions in its path, is very complicated ; when a model is used 

 all this vanishes, the action being very simple, and perfectly 

 plain to the average student. Then again the various arrange- 

 ments of spur-driving gear, nest-gearing, and similar appliances, 

 are very soon understood when illustrated with a model ; with a 

 diagram, or drawn on a blackboard, they look complicated and 

 confusing. Perhaps the best and simplest form of demonstrating 

 mechanics is by means of scale models, saving the teacher many 

 long descriptions, and giving the student at once the best possible 

 opportunity of understanding the construction as well as the 

 motion of the different parts. We have before us an Illustrated 

 Catalogue of Apparatus for Technical Instruction, &c. (manu- 

 factured by James Rigg, engineer, Queen Victoria Street), 

 issued to meet the demand for appliances required in the 

 various branches of technical education. The grouping of the 

 several subjects is similar to that adopted by the Science and 

 Art Department, the corresponding number of the Government 

 list of 1S83 is given side by side with the catalogue number, and 

 the selection of models is decidedly good. The index includes 

 all the subjects generally taught in technical classes. The models 

 are constructed to secure strength and durability, without un- 

 necessary finish, thus placing before the public a valuable series 

 of models for the advancement of technical education at a 

 moderate cost. 



The Japanese Government nominated Mr. Kikuchi Dairoku 

 to attend the Meridian Congress at Washington. This gentle- 

 man is a Cambridge Wrangler, and at present fills the Chair 

 of Mathematics at the Tokio University. It says not a 

 little for the scientific advance of the Japanese that they can find 

 one of themselves qualified to represent them at such a scientific 

 meeting as that now being held at Washington. 



We have received from the Commissioner for Japan to the 

 Health Exhibition a catalogue, with explanatory notes of the 

 exhibits of the Japanese Education Department now at South 

 Kensington. It is not, we believe, generally known that the 

 Japanese section was intended to have been much larger, and 

 the articles were actually shipped from Japan ; but owing to a 

 fire on board the steamer by which they were being conveyed, 

 they were spoiled. The loss was chiefly among the appliances, 

 designs, &c, relating to art education, silk-weaving and em- 

 broidery by girls at the industrial schools, and specimens of 

 work in bronze by the deaf-and-dumb. The pamphlet before us 

 is much more than a bare catalogue ; it is much more a long 

 series of notes on Japanese education and educational appliances 

 past and present, those dealing with the past being by far the 



