Dee: 15, 1881] 
NATURE 
161 
was not much past -thirty at the time of his death, It 
was his intention to return to Japan so soon as he was 
called to the English bar. The main characteristics of his 
work—which was but an earnest of what might have been ex- 
pected from him had he been spared—were tharoughness and 
care. It will be difficult to fill the important, and in some sense 
peculiar, position which he occupied in the field of Japanese 
scholarship. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, 
and of numerous native and foreign societies in Japan. 
TuHE Brighton Health Congress and Domestic and Scientific 
Exhibition are being held this week. The Exhibition, over 
which Lord Chichester presided, was opened on Monday. The 
Congress, over which Dr. Richardscn, F.R.S., presided, was 
opened on Tuesday evening by the delivery of his inaugural 
address. Dr. Richardson spoke on the ‘‘ Seed-time of Health,” 
pointing out the perils that beset youth in the present condition 
of hygienic education, and empirical and unscientific prac- 
tice. The sittings of the Congress will be continued until 
to-morrow. The Congress is composed of three sections. The 
first, presided over by Mr, Edwin Chadwick, C.B., relates to 
the Health of Towns ; the second, presided over by Mr. J. R. 
Hollond, M.A., M.P., relates to Food; and the third, presided 
over by Dr. Alfred Carpenter, C.S.S., relates to Domestic 
Health. A large number of important papers are down for 
reading and discussion, including, amongst others, essays on 
slaughter-house reform, by Mr. H. T, Lester, B.A. ; food-plant 
improvement, by Major Hallett; sanitation in decoration, by 
Mr. Robert Edis, F.S.A. ; food preservation by cold, by Mr. T. 
b. Lightfoot ; recreation spaces in large towns, by Dr. Fussell ; 
bread reform, by Miss Yates ; cheap food and longevity, by Dr. 
Drysdale; rational feeding, by Mr, Wynter Blyth; diet in 
public institutions, by Dr. Whittle ; home sanitation, by Mr. H. 
H. Collins; a comparison of English and foreign watering 
places, by Mr. H. S. Mitchell, M.A. ; health lessons in schools, 
by Mr. Charles Cassal, B.A. ; clothing and health, by Mrs. E. 
M. King; and papers by Sir Antonio Brady, Dr. Browning, 
Edward Easton, C.E., Ellice Clarke, C.E., Messrs. Stephens, 
E. Bailey Denton, and others. Yesterday the Mayor and 
Mayoress held a reception in the Pavilion. To-day, Dr. Taaffe, 
Medical Officer of Health for Brighton, delivers a public lecture. 
On Saturday, excursions will be made to various places of inte- 
rest in and about Brighton, and in the evening of Saturday, the 
proceedings of the Congress will be brought to a close by a 
lecture to the working classes from Mr. Brudenell Carter, 
F.R.C.S., on the subject of Eyesight. The Exhibition is on a 
most extensive scale, including objects relating to food ; domestic, 
labour-saving, and educational appliances ; house sanitation; 
industrial dwellings ; lighting, electrical and kindred inventions; 
decorative art, such as photography, painting on china; horo- 
logy ; and a very extensive loan collection of great value from 
the South Kensington Department. 
AT the meeting of the Sanitary Institute on December 7, Dr. 
Alfred Carpenter in the chair, the adjudicator, Dr. W. Farr, 
F.R.S., and Dr, Richardson, F.R.S., reported that the Wyatt- 
idgell prize of 2007, for an essay on the Range of Hereditary 
Tendencies in Health and Disease was awarded by them to the 
essay bearing the motto ‘‘ The subtlety of nature far exceeds the 
subtlety of reason.” On the sealed envelope accompanying the 
essay being opened the chairman announced the author to be 
George Gaskoin, of 7, Westbourne Park. ‘The prize will be 
presented by the Rev. E. Wyatt Edgell at the next ordinary 
meeting, February 8. The inaugural address was delivered by 
Dr. A. Carpenter, vice chairman of the Council. 
ALL the members of the Royal Commission on Technical 
Instruction have returned to England. The chairman, Mr, 
Samuelson, M.P., remained at Paris for some days in order to 
obtain additional information on the general policy of the De- 
partment of Public Instruction. The selection of the members 
of the Commission, on account of their acquaintance with dif- 
ferent branches of the inquiry, has proved very useful, Dr. Roscoe 
having been able to devote his attention more particularly to 
chemical technology, Mr. Philip Magnus to school organisation, 
and Mr. Slagg, M.P., Mr. Woodall, M.P., and Mr. Swire 
Smith to the bearing of technical instruction on the branches of 
industry with which they are familiar. It is proposed to take 
the evidence of experts in this country in February, and to visit 
Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium in the spring. 
M. PASTEUR has been elected to one of the vacant seats in 
the French Academy. 
PROF, FLOWER has just been appointed by the President and 
Council of the Royal Society a trustee of Sir John Soane’s 
Museum in the vacancy occasioned by the death of Sir Philip de 
Malpas Grey Egerton, M.P. 
WE have received from Messrs. De la Rue and Co. their 
pocket and desk diaries for 1882, together with beautiful cards 
and almost microscopic registers for use during the coming year. 
If possible all these are more beautiful examples of the printer’s 
art than those produced in past years, and especially interesting 
from NATURE’s point of view, at all events in the fact that the 
amount of scientific facts packed into the closely-printed page is 
greater thanever. The mechanical equivalent of heat, the present 
magnetic elements, the mean distance of the sun, and such like data, 
are all to be found in their proper place, while the astronomical 
portion is so full that the amateur astronomer wil] be spared 
many references to his Vawtical Almanac. ‘ 
On Friday last took place the first distribution of prizes and 
certificates to the successful students in the various schools con- 
nected with the City and Guilds of London Institute. The 
Report showed the rapid increase of candidates at the examina- 
tions of the Institute, and Sir F. Bramwell gave an address, 
explaining what was meant by technical education, and the great 
benefit which must accrue to the various industries by the appli- 
cation to them of the scientific principles on which they were 
based. 
SoME severe shocks of earthquake, accompanied by loud 
detonations, are reported by the Valais Gazette to have occurred 
at Sion and Sierre on Sunday the 4th inst. 
WE learn on good authority that M. Cochéry is preparing a 
project for the protection of cables and the general regulation of 
telegraphy. It will be laid before the French Chamber of 
Deputies after the end of the recess, which will begin in a very 
few days. 
A ‘‘soLaR” locomotive has been placed on the French 
Northern Railway. It is so called owing to an electric light 
which is placed in front and fed by the engine itself, and in- 
tended to illuminate the way for a long distance in front. 
A GEOGRAPHICAL and Natural History Exhibition has re- 
cently been opened at Gotha, It will close on the 2oth inst. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Pomatorhine Skua (S¢ercorarius pomate- 
rhinus), British, presented by Mr. George H. Baxter; two 
Kestrels (Zranenculus alaudarius), British, presented by Mr. F. 
Usher; a Horrid Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) from Brazils 
presented by Dr. A. Stradling, C.M.Z.S. ; a Dwarf Chameleon 
(Chameleo pumilus) from South Africa, presented by Major Hunt ; 
a Common Jay (Garrulus glandarius), British, presented by Mr. 
J. Young ; two Cape Crowned Cranes (Balearica chrysopelargus) 
from South Africa, a Giant Toad (Bufo agua) from Brazil 
deposited ; a Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus), two Mocassin 
Snakes (77opidonolus fasctatws), born in the Gardens. 
