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NA TURE 



{jfiily 21, )88i 



retain her proud pre-eminence as a manufacturing 

 nation." Among the articles deposited in the stone 

 were copies of the Times, Nature, and the City Press. 



NO TF.S 



The Gialnm medal, instituted \\ con iie>;ti mi with the Philo- 

 sophical Society of Glas^cv (Chemical Section), for the en- 

 couragement of chemical research, and open to com.ielition to 

 all chemi-ts, has, on the recommendation of Prof. Williimson, 

 F.R.S., the adjudicator in the competitiin, been awarded to 

 Mr. James Mactear, F.C.S., F.I C, for a paper entitled "Some 

 Researches on the Reactions involved in the Leblanc Process of 

 Alkali Manufacture." 



Thk fifty- fo.irth meeting of the Ge,-raan Association of Natu- 

 ralists and Physicians will be held at Salzburg on September 18 24 

 next. From the list of addresses \\e note the following : — Dr. vjn 

 Pettenkofer (Munich), on the soil and its connection with the health 

 of man ; 1 lerr Meynert (Vienna), on the laws which govern hum m 

 thoughts and actions ; Dr. von Oppilzer (Vienna), on the ques- 

 tion : Is Newton's law of gravitation .sufficient for the explani- 

 tion of the motion of heavenly holies, and are there reasons to 

 designate it only as approximately true ? Herr Mach (Prague), 

 on natural history teaching. All these addresses (besides one by 

 Herr Weismann (Freilmrg-im-Bresgau), the subject of which is 

 not yet fixed) will be delivered at the general meetings. For 

 the entertainment of visitors sufficient preparations will be made ; 

 the programme etuimerates social gatherings, concerts, aid 

 excursions into the charming neighbourhood of Salzburg. 



The German Society for Anthropology, Ethnology, and Pre- 

 historic Research will meet this year at Ratisbon on August 

 8-10 next. The programme of the meeting is a very varied one. 

 In the first place the members will visit the curiosities and col- 

 lections of the ancient city itself and the numerous Roman anti- 

 quities in the neighbourhood. At the Roman necropoli. n -ar 

 Kumpfuiiihl some excavations will be made. Addresses will 

 be delivered on the Roman period in Germany, on the period 

 of serial tombs, on the pre-Roman metal age, on the stone 

 period, and on anthropological questi 3ns generally. 



On Saturday the Prince of Wales opened, at South Ken- 

 sington, the Internati jnal Medical and Sanitary Exhibiti m 

 which is being held in connection with the forthcoming Medi- 

 cal Congress. Up to the present nearly 2000 members of the 

 medical profes ion have signified tlieir intenti n of atiending the 

 Congress. 



At the Annual General Meeting of the Society o"^ Arts 

 medals were awarded as follows for papei-s read at the meetings 

 of the Society :— Prof. A. Graham Bell, E. P. Edwards (o' the 

 Trinity House), Mr. Alex. Siemens, Sir Birlle Frere, Mr. J. V. 

 Buchanan, Prof. Perry, Sir Richard Temple, and Mr. J. M. 

 Maclean. 



Among recent valuible additions of models of ships to the col- 

 lection now being exhibited in the galleries south of the Royal 

 II )rticuUural Gardens is a v\hole m 'del of the Livadia, showing 

 in miniature all the details of that noted yacht. It is lent by 

 the builders, Messrs. John Elder and Co. The London and 

 Glasgow Shipbuilding and Engineering Company have lent half- 

 block models of three of their steam hips, and by an ingenious 

 use of mirrors in mounting these the whole of each vessel is 

 represented, and fore and aft views can be conveniently studied. 

 There are many other admirable models. 



The geological distribution of ender ic goitre in England has 

 been made the subject of a recent japer by Prof. Lebour of 

 Neivcastle. lie shows that there is on the whale a striking 



sameness in the distribution in this country and in France, where 

 Dr. de St, Lager of Lyons has fully investigated the facts. 

 One important point only he con.4ders to be established as 

 common to those rocks on which goitre does not occur — the 

 absence of limestone together with th.at of me'allic im,)urities. 

 In both countries the rocks which support mo:t goitre are such 

 as are bjth calcareous and metalliferous. But there are plenty 

 of facts to show that metalliferous impurities alone cannjt be 

 credited with the origin of the disease, eLe the Devonian and 

 the granite would surely not be free from it. Neither will the 

 absence of limestone alone be sufficient to check the growth of 

 the disease, else the lignitiferous beds of France and the ferru- 

 gin lus sandi of the Weald would not support it. (Dr. de St. 

 Lager's conclusion is that endemic goitre coincides with metalli- 

 ferous deposit-, iron pyrites being in the first rmk.) 



The Handbook of the Vertebrale Fauna of the County of York, 

 by W. E. Clarke and W. D. Roebuck, the secretaries of the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, is expected to appear about the 

 beginning of August. The work will show what species are, or 

 have been, within historical p;riods, found in Yorkshire. The 

 authors are e labled to enumerate, as such, 508 species out of a 

 total British list of 756, a fauna superior in numerical extent to 

 that of any other county in the British Isles. The list includes 

 46 mammals, more than 300 birds (doubtful species being ex- 

 cluded), 12 reptiles and amphibims, and upwards of 150 fishes. 

 For comparison, the British species «<?/ found in Yorkshire are 

 aUo enumerated. Application should be made to the above- 

 namj 1 gentlemen, 9, Commercial Buildings, Park Row, Leeds. 



The Marine excursion of the Birmingham Natural History and 

 Microscopical Society to Oban thi> year, which extendel from 

 July I to July 12, proved s. great success, and fully answered the 

 expectations of its promoters. Thirty-two Members joined the 

 excursion, includin- Dr. Thomas Wright, F. R.S., the President 

 of the Midland Union of Natural History Societies, and Mr. E. 

 1). Hamel, Ex-President of the Tamworth Natural History 

 Society. There were also several ladies. A little steamer — the 

 Curletu — of about twenty-five tons burthen, \\as chartered for a 

 week. Dredging operati >n, we e carried on daily in the Bay of 

 Oban and the neighbourhood in depths v.rrying from fifteen to 

 fifty fathoms, under ihe superintendence of Mr. Edmund Tonks, 

 B.C.S., and Mr. W. R, Hughes, F.L S. A most intere ting 

 and beautiful collection of animals was taken. Ihe speci- 

 mens included fine examples of the Alcyonarian zoophytes. The 

 Echinoderms embraced many genera from Anledon (Comaiula) 

 through the group to IlolotJiuria. The MoUusca were not very 

 numerous, but they included several rare forms. A few in- 

 teresting fihes were taken, including the Lump-Sucker. The 

 specimens will be examined by specialists and reported to the 

 Society in due course. Those Memberr. who did not engage in 

 the dredgings had good opportunities of botanising and geolo- 

 gising, the indefatigable honorary secretary, Mr. Morley, having 

 arranged a series of excursims to the principal places of interest 

 in the district. On Sunday evenings July 3 and July 10, Dr. 

 Wright also gave by request addresses " On the Basaltic Forma- 

 tiins of Staffa and lona," and "On Glaciation," which afforded 

 great gratification to the Members. In the evenings demonstra- 

 tions were given by the microscope and otherwise on the more 

 interesting forms of life taken, by Prof bridge, Mr. W. P. 

 Marshall, Mr. W. R. Hughes, and Mr. G. W. Tait. By the 

 courtesy of Mr. R. H. Scott, of the Meteorological Office, tele- 

 grams were received daily, giving the weather forecasts for the 

 morrow, which enabled the members to make their arrange, 

 ments. At the termination of the excursion votes of thanks were 

 accorded to the leaders of the party, who rendered assistance in 

 various ways, and a resolution was passed selecting the Channel 

 Islands as the place for the next marine excursion. 



