Oct. 13, 1881] 



NATURE 



565 



We regret to learn from the American NaturaHst of the death 

 of Mr. Carlile P. Patterson, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast 

 Survey. It is supposed that Mr. JuUus E. Hilgard, for a long 

 time second officer of the Survey, h ill be promoted to llie vacant 

 p3St. 



Mr. Etheridge, F.G.S., is, we are informed, leaving the 

 Geological Survey to be Assistant-Keeper of the Geological 

 Department at the British Museum of Natural History, South 

 Kensington. 



The meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute being held in 

 Lond 'n this week is probably the most interesting and important 

 since the Institute was founded. Representatives of nearly 

 every foreign Government are present, and the muster of foreign 

 members is unusually larje. Several of the papers, are of great 

 practical and even scientific interest, and are sure to attract much 

 attention and give rise to discussion. On Tuesday visits were 

 paid to Messrs. Siemens' works at Woolwich, and to the 

 Victoria Docks, and in the evening the L'.rd Mayor enter- 

 tained the Institute at dinner. Yesterday afternoon a visit 

 was made to Woolwich Arsenal, and in the evening the 

 annual dinner of the Institute was held at Willis's Rooms. To- 

 day the Small-Arms Factory at Enfield is to be visited, and the 

 Carriage Works of the Great Eastern Railway at Stratford, and 

 in the evening a conversazione \\\\\ be held at S.uth Kensington 

 Museum. To-morrow will be devoted to a visit to Newhaven 

 and Brighton. 



The scientific lecturers this winter at the London Institution, 

 Finsbury Circus, will be Mr. Grant Allen (" An English Weed") ; 

 I'rof. H. E. Armstiong, t.R.S. (" The Economical Use of Coal- 

 gas for Lighting and Heating"); Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. 

 ("The Storage of Power"); Prof. R. S. Ball, F.R.S. 

 ("Comets"); Dr. Lionel S. Beale, F.R.S. ("A Living Par- 

 ticle"); Prof. R. Bentley ("Materials used for Paper"); Pr. 

 James Geikie, F.R.S. (" The Ancient Glacier-systems of 

 Europe"); Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S. ("Are there Coal-fields 

 under London?"); Pruf. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. ("Scor- 

 pions, Terrestrial and Marine"); Prof. O. J. Lodge ("Elec- 

 tricity versus Smoke"); Mr. John Perry ("Spinning-tops"); 

 Dr. W. H. Stone ("Singing, Speaking, and Stammering"); 

 Mr. James Sully (" The Causation .and Phenomena of Dreams") ; 

 and the Rev. J. G. Wood ("The Horse's Hoof"). 



A LETTER was read at the recent Social Science meeting at 

 Saratoga from Mr. Charles Darwin to Mrs. Emily Talbjt, in 

 response to her inquiries as to the inve-tigation of the mental 

 and bodily development of infants. He specifies points of 

 inquiry V hich it seems to him possess some scientific interest. 

 " Does the education of the parent-', for instance, influence the 

 mental powers of their children at any age, either at a very 

 early or somewhat more advanced stage? This could perhaps 

 be learned by schoolmasters or mistressts, if a large number of 

 children were first classed according to age and their mental 

 attainmeiits, and afterwards in accordance with the education of 

 their parents, as far as this could be discovered. As observa- 

 tion is one of the earliest faculties developed in young children, 

 and as this power woidd probably be exerci-ed in an equal degree 

 by the children of educated and uneducated persons, it seems 

 not impossible that any transmitted effect from education would 

 be displayed only at a somewhat advanced age. It would be 

 desirable to test statistically, in a similar ma ner, the truth of the 

 often-repeated statement that coloured children at first learn as 

 quickly as white children, but that they afterwards fall off in 

 progress. If it could be proved that education acts not only on 

 the individual, but by transmission on the race, this would be a 

 great encouragement to all working on this all-important sub- 

 ject. It is well known that children sometimes exhibit at a very 

 early age strong special tastes, for which no cause can be 



assigned, although occasionally they may be accounted for 

 by reversion to the ta-te or occupation of some progenitor ; and 

 it would be interesting to learn how far such early tastes are 

 persistent and influence the future cireer of the individual. In 

 some instances such tastes die away without apparently leaving 

 any after effect ; but it would be desirable to know how far this 

 is commonly the case, as we should then know whether it were 

 important to direct, as far as this is possible, the early tastes of 

 our children. It may be more beneficial that a child should 

 follow energetically some pursuit, of however trifling a nature, 

 and thus acquiie perseverance, than that he should be turned 

 from it, because of no future advantage to him. I will mention 

 one other small point of inqu ry in relation to very young 

 children, which may possibly prove important with re pect to 

 the origin of language, but it could be investigated only by 

 persons | ossessing an accurate musical ear : children, even 

 before they can articulate, express some of their feelings and 

 desires by uoi-es uttered in different notes. For instance, they 

 make an interrogative noise, and others of assent and dissent iu 

 different tones, and it would, I think, be worth while to ascer- 

 tain whether there is any uniformity in different children in the 

 pitch of their voices under various frames of mind." 



In a letter to the Madras Mail of September 8 on the use of 

 gigantic sea-weed as a protective agent for ^shores, Capt. J. H. 

 Taylor, the Master-Superintendent of Madras, gives the following 

 interesting " sea-serpent " story : — " A notalile incident connected 

 with this sea-weed, is recalled to my recollection, by Dr. FurneU's 

 letter. About fifteen years ago, while I was m my ship at 

 anchor in Table Bay, an enormous monster, as it appeai-ed, was 

 seen drifting, or advancing itself round Green Pi int, into the 

 Harbour. It was more than one hundred feet in length, and 

 moved with an undulating snake-like mition. Its head was 

 crowned with what appeared to be long hair, and the keen- 

 sighted among the affrighted observers declared they could see 

 its eyes and distinguish its features. The military were called 

 out, and a brisk fire poured into it at a distance of about five 

 hundred yards. It was hit several times, and portions of it 

 knocked off. So serious were its evident injuries, that on its 

 rounding the point it became quite still, and boats went off to 

 examine it and complete its destruction. It was found to be a 

 specimen of the sea-weed above mentioned, and it- stillness after 

 the grievous injuries inflicted was due to its having left the 

 ground swell and entered the quiet waters of the Bay." 



Dr. B. W, Richardsom is about to continue the series of 

 lectures delivered by him in the spring at the instance of the 

 " Ladies' Sanitary Association," of Berners Street. The lectures 

 are devoted generally to the subject of " Dome.-.tic Sanitation." 

 In the forthcoming series, which will be commenced in the 

 Lower Hall, Exeter Hall, on Saturday, the 22nd inst, the 

 structure and functions of the nervous system, and the physical 

 and mental training of the young, n ill occupy a prominent place. 



The Phylloxera Congress, to which we have already referred, 

 was opened on Sunday at Bordeaux. 



The Rev. J. Hoskyns-Abrahall writes to the Times from 

 Combe, near Woodstock, October 3 ; — "On October 1, about, 

 8.42 p.m., when I was walking in a north-westerly direction, 

 about three hundred yards north-we.- 1 of Hanborough Station, 

 which is three-quarters of a mile north-\\est of Oxford, the 

 eastern sky w'as suddenly flooded with a light that vied with that 

 of the moon, which shone more than half full in the west. 

 Turning round, I beheld a magnificent meteor, of a pale yellow 

 hue, descending with a slow motion, vertically. It seemed larger 

 than Jupiter. When I first saw it it, had dropped about a third 

 of the distance from the zenith to the horizon; after travering 

 another third of that space it burst without scattering any 

 sparks." 



