June i6, 1881] 



NATURE 



147 



cal Science ; Sec. E. Geology and Geography ; Sec. F. Biology; 

 Sec. G. Anthropology; Sec. H. Economic Science and Sta- 

 tistics. Also I. A Permanent Subsection of Microscopy, which 

 shall elect its own officers and be responsible directly to the 

 Standing Committee. Several excursions will be arranged for 

 by the Local Committee, and will be announced on their circu- 

 lar. Special excursions will be arranged for the Anthropological 

 Section to Fort Ancient, Madisonville, and other places of 

 interest. The Permanent Secretary of the Association is Prof. 

 F. W. Putnam, Salem, Mass. 



The Paris Academy of Sciences elected, on June 13, M. 

 Fouque, Professor of Mineralogy to the College de France, a 

 Member of the Section of Mineralogy, to fill the seat vacated by 

 the death of M. Delesse. 



At the first General Meeting of the Members and the Honorary 

 Council of the Sanitary Assurance Association on Friday last, 

 Prof. Corfield (Chief Sanitary officer) and Mr. Judge (Surveyor) 

 related to the meeting the progress of the Association, and re- 

 ported on the work of sanitary inspection that had been done. 

 The property which had been placed on the Assurance Register 

 varied in value from houses rated at 60/. a year, in which the 

 total fee to subscribers for report, supervision of work, and 

 certificate, is two guineas, to houses rated as high as 700/. a year, 

 with proportionately increased fees. The Association undertakes 

 the inspection of the smalle-t class of property, and no fee is 

 charged to subscribers for a single house rated at 20/., while the 

 fee is only half a guinea for houses rated at 40/. In the discus- 

 sion which followed, Sir Richard Temple, Capt. Douglas Gallon, 

 and Mr. Whichcord spoke strongly in support of the objects of 

 the Association, and the Council were requested to take steps to 

 make the Association a- widely known as possible, and particu- 

 larly to call the attention of the proprietors of large building 

 estates to the advantages which would accrue if the certificate of 

 the Association was made essential to the granting of leases. 



The prize programme of the Belgian Academy of Sciences 

 for 1882 consists of the following subjects (briefly stated): — 

 Distribution between acids and bases, in mixture of solutions of 

 salts which, by their mutual reaction, do not produce insoluble 

 substances ; exposi of present knowledge of torsion and improve- 

 ment of it ; extension of knowledge of the relations between the 

 physical and chemical properties of simple and compound bodies ; 

 description of Belgian Tertiary strata of the Eocene series ; in- 

 fluence of the nervous system on regulation of temperature in 

 warm-blooded animals ; relations of the pollinic tube to the 

 ovum in one or more Phanerogams. Medals of the value of 

 600 francs are offered in connection with each question, except 

 the third, for which the medal is valued at 1000 francs. The 

 time-limit is August I, For 1883 the following three question; 

 are adopted; — I. Establish by new experiments the theory of 

 reactions presented by substances in the nascent state. 2. Prove 

 the truth or falsity of Fermat's proposition : To decompose a 

 cube into two other cubes, a fourth power, and generally any 

 power, into two powers of the same name, above the second 

 power, is impossible. 3. New spectroscopic researches are 

 required, showing especially whether or not the sun contains the 

 essential constituents of organic compounds. A gold medal of 

 800 francs value is offered for solution of any one of these. The 

 time-limit is August i, 18S3. Memoirs must be written in 

 French, Dutch, or Latin, and sent in with motto and sealed 

 envelope to the secretary. 



We learn that M. Plante, the inventor of the electrical accu- 

 mulator, intends to organise a factory for the sale of his instru- 

 ments. M. Plante considers himself obliged to take this .step in 

 order to show that the principles of his original apparatus are 

 sufficient to work them with advantage. It appears that the 



Faure accumulators with oxide of lead cannot be loaded except 

 by a battery, and that the original lead can be worked by a 

 magneto-electric machine, by taking some precautions which will 

 be described shortly. M. Plante is constructing for M. Tissandier 

 an accumulator on his original system, which will be used to 

 direct a small elongated balloon. It is intended to exhibit it 

 in the nave of the Palais de ITndustrie in August next. 



Our Paris Correspondent writes: On June loan interesting 

 experiment took place in Paris. A little after midnight a tram- 

 car belonging to the Omnibus Company conveyed forty persons 

 from the Place du Trone ^o the Boulevard Richard Lenoir and 

 back at [a velocity of six miles an hour. The motive power 

 was supplied by 160 Faure accumulators, weighing 18 lbs. each. 

 An interesting feat was accomplished, but not quite such as was 

 anticipated. The work could have been done by two horses. 

 The experiment lasted about one hour, and the power of the 

 motor, although not exhausted, was much diminished. 



M. Jose Custodio, Marinha Grande, I-eiria, Portugal, writes 

 to say that the centenary of the death of the great Portuguese 

 Minister, the Marquis of Pombal, is to be celebrated on May 8 

 of next year. In connection therewith it is desired to obtain 

 information'about Williams Stephens, who founded the first royal 

 manufactory of glass in Portugal, under the patronage of 

 Pombal. Any information whatever concerning Stephens will 

 be welcomed. 



We would draw the attention of our readers to the announce- 

 ment of the first general meeting of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry on the 28th and agth inst., at the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, with Prof. Roscoe in the chair. 



The Portfolio of Drawings of Living Animals and Plants 

 issued by Mr. Thomas Bolton for June, 18S1, is a very creditable 

 production, and we are glad to call our readers' attention to the 

 opportunity there is afforded to them by the labours of Mr. 

 Bolton, of investigating fresh and living specimens of very many 

 interesting forms of animal and vegetable life — for the most part 

 of quite microscopical size — and at the same time of having, by the 

 drawings which accompany these forms, an excellent sketch of 

 what they are to expect to find, and a short but authentic history 

 of what is known about them. 



M. MasCARt, the director of the French Meteorological 

 Service, is devising a new registering magnetometer, which is 

 intended to have all the indications recorded on one roll of 

 paper. 



An earthquake shock was felt in Switzerland on Thursday 

 morning last. The shock occurred at 12.35 ^•™- The direc- 

 tion was south-w est to north-east at Geneva, and north-east to 

 to south-west at Lausanne, Martigny, and Bex. Prof. Morel 

 of Merges describes it as having been for one region very 

 intense ; it was felt from Martigny and Bex, in the Valais, to the 

 valley of Joux, in Vaud ; at Geneva, Chamounix, and aU round 

 Lake Leman. Its centre was probably in the valley of the 

 Upper Rhone, where seven or eight oscillations were distinctly 

 perceived, accompanied in many places by subterranean thunder, 

 bells were rung, walls cracked, slates dislodged, and chimneys 

 overturned. Itwa^ also felt at Osmondo, notwithstanding the 

 great height of the village above sea-level. A second shock 

 was felt some hours later in the same locality. 



Intelligence received at Constantinople on June 9 from Van 

 states that an earthquake has devastated thirty-four villages in 

 that district. Another shock of earthquake occurred at Chios 

 at half-past nine on Saturday morning, causing the fall of 

 a Turkish minaret and of several ruined houses in the town. 

 Oscillations of the ground are constantly noticed in Croatia. 

 Thus on May 19 at 2 a.m. a violent shock, lasting three seconds, 

 and accompanied by subterranean noise, was observed at Glina, 



