476 



NATURE 



[Sept. 15, 1 88 1 



from October 24 to November 26. Gold, silver, and bronze 

 medals and certificates of merit will be awarded upon the report 

 of a special committee. Regulations and forms of application 

 for space may be had on application (by letter) addressed to 

 Mr. Gilbert R. Redgrave, Superintendent of the Exhibition, 

 Exhibition Buildings, Queen's Gate, South Kensington ; or to 

 Mr.W. R. E. Coles, Hon. Secretary to the Smoke Abatement 

 Committee, 44, Berners Street, W. 



The Parkes Museum is closed until the end of September. 

 In October it will again be opened free to the public on Tuesdays, 

 Thursdays, and Saturdays, and dnring the winter lectures on 

 sanitary science will be given in the Museum. The lectures will 

 be illustrated with the sanitary appliances deposited in the 

 Museum, which now include many new contributions sent from 

 the recent Medical and Sanitary Exhibition at South Kensington. 

 We believe it is intended to distribute the awards to the exhi- 

 bitors at the Exhibition, at the second public annual meeting of 

 the subscribers to the museum in Octobei or November. 



A NEW College of Practical Engineering has been opened at 

 Muswell Hill, near London, under the auspices of a number of 

 eminent practical engineers, among whom we may mention Sir 

 John Anderson, late chief engineer at Woolwich, Sir Henry 

 Bessemer, Sir R. M. Stephenson, Sir Joseph Whitworth, Bart., 

 and Mr. Charles Manby, honorary secretary of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers. The principal of the College is Mr. John 

 Bourne, C.E., author of several works on the Steam Engine and 

 other kindred subjects. The instruction it is stated will combine 

 ihe best theory with the best practice. 



As a special number of the Journal of the Society of Tele- 

 graph Engineers, a valuable Guide-Boak to the British Section 

 at the Paris Electrical Exhibition has been issued, edited by 

 Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. 



The success of the Siemens electrical railway in Paris is very 

 great, and the mode of locomotion veiy highly prized by 

 Parisians. It is certain that steps will be taken after the Exhi- 

 bition for rendering it a permanent feature of the French capital. 



During the recent meeting of the British Association a con- 

 ference of delegates from scientific societies was held, and the 

 chair was occupied by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.G.S., Norwich 

 Geological Society. The follow ing resolution was adopted :— 

 "That a committee be appointed, consisting of Sir Walter 

 Elliot, F.R.S., Mr. H. George Fordham, Mr. John Hopkinson, 

 Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S. , and Mr. W. Whitaker, to airange 

 for a conference of delegates from scientific societies to be held 

 at the annual meetings of the British Association, with a view to 

 promote the interests of the societies represented by inducing 

 them to undertake definite systematic work on a uniform plan ; 

 that Mr. Fordham be the secretary, and that the sum of 5/. be 

 placed at their disposal for the purpose." An interesting con- 

 versation followed as to the best methods of stimulating the 

 local societies to more active work. Mr. John Hopkinson, 

 F.L.S., F.G.S., gave a most interesting account of the opera- 

 tions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society. He had 

 induced several members to take up the registration of the rain- 

 fall, and they had now twenty-eight ohservers of rainfall in their 

 small county. Every one did not care about such observations, 

 but there were plenty of other matters needing attention. Other 

 members had been induced to take up the recording of the 

 migration of birds, the flowering of plants, the appeararce of 

 iasects, and other periodical phenon.ena ; and the club furnished 

 about one-third of the entire phenological obervers of the 

 Meteorological Society. They were also preparing lists of the 

 fauna and the flora of the county, and one ornithologist was col- 

 lecting a record of all the birds that are, or have been, observed 

 in Hertfordshire. A resolution was unanimously adopted 



appointing Sir Walter Elliot and Messrs. Fordham, Hopkinson, 

 Symons, and Whitaker a committee to arrange for the next 

 Conference, and to send out a circular to the local scientific 

 societies pointing out the work of the various committees of the 

 British Association to which they miglit render aid, and other 

 scientific work of a systematic character that they might usefully 

 undertake. 



At a recent meeting of the Banburyshire Natural Histcry 

 Society Mr. E. A. Walford read a note " On the Occurrence of 

 a Fire-ball at Watergall" on August 23, In answer to Mr. 

 Walford's queries, Mr. Fessey, jun., had sent an account as fol- 

 lows, dated " Watergall, Leamington, August 30 : — As re- 

 gards the fire-ball, I was about 200 yards from it, in a waggon 

 hovel. I saw it directly it left the sky, as I was looking in that 

 direction at the time. When I first saw it, it looked like a ball 

 of fire, about as large as a dinner-plate. It slow ly descended, 

 and I have no doubt I could have run twenty yards from the 

 time I first saw it until it struck the ground ; but when about 

 fifteen to eighteen feet from the ground, it exploded wiih a 

 loud cra>h, quite as loud as a cannon, distinctly before the 

 thunder, which v\as very loud also. The explosion shook the 

 whole building-. I certainly thought the slates were falling in, 

 but when it exploded one part struck the hedge, making a hole 

 in the ground about a foot deep, and laying all the roots bare, 

 but not damaging them. For some time the plrce looked all on 

 fire, and there was a considerable quantity of smoke when it 

 hit the ground, lasting for a second or two. It was seen by my- 

 ■self and four men. They also agree with me that this is as rear 

 as possible a correct explanation of it. We dug the hole out 

 yesterday, but found nothing. The soil was blackened for 

 several inches deep." 



Dr. C. S. Minot, in a paper read at the Cincinnati meeting 

 of the American Association, recommended the following 

 method of mounting chick embryos whole. 1 he blastoderm is 

 removed and cleaned in the usual manner, and then floated out 

 on a glass slide, where it remains permanently. It is carefully 

 spread out and allowed to dry until the edges become glued to 

 the slide. It is then treated with a 0*5 per cent, osmic acid 

 solution, until a slight brownin;j occurs. .Stain with picro- 

 carmine. The next step is particularly important, because it 

 prevents the further darkening by the osmium, which other\vise 

 injures or ruins the specimen. Puur Miiller's fluid, or o'5 per 

 cent, chromic acid solution, on the slide, and leave it over night. 

 The next morning the blastoderm is ready for dehydration by 

 alcohol, and mounting in the usual manner in balsam or Dammar 

 lac. Embryos prepared in this manner make particularly 

 beautiful specimen ;. 



The winter session of the Chaiterhouse Science (the largest in 

 the United Kingdjm) and Art School and Literary Institute 

 will, under the presidency of the Rev. Henry Swann, M.A., 

 con mence on September 24. During the late :es ion about 700 

 students attended this institution ; and of this number nearly 500 

 presented themselves for examination, and were successful in 

 obtaining no less than 100 Queen's prizes. At a nominal fee 

 instruction of a practical character is given in mast of the sciences. 

 Chemical students have the opportunity of working in a well- 

 fitted laboratory capable of holding sixty students. During the 

 session Mr. W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S., will deliver a course 

 of lectures on physinlogy, to which teachers will be admitted 

 free. This will prove a great boon to the teachers of the metro- 

 polis. Dr. Gladstone, F.R.S., Prof. Farrar, Mr. Sydney B. J. 

 Skertchley, F.G.S., and others will lecture during the session. 



The Berlin Museum is now the fortunate possessor of archaeo- 

 logical treasures which are perfectly unique. They are the long- 

 expected sculptures from the Central American field of ruins at 



