March 30, 1882] : 
NATURE 
319 
161 of which ceased, only one was prc hibited by the Govern- 
ment. In addition to those above-mentioned, we find in the list 
works on etiquette, accounts, naval and military works, diction- 
aries, encyclopedias, &e. The total number of works publi: hed 
during the year was 4910 again:t 3792 last year. Very many of 
these books are translations or adaptations of European or 
American works, Among such bcoks recently ‘‘ conveyed” 
we find Smiles’s ‘‘ Character,’’ Roscoe’s ‘‘ Chemistry,” Leone 
Levi's ‘‘ International Commercial Law,” Bouvier'’s ‘‘ Law 
Dictionary,” Palyrave’s ‘* Chairman’s Handbook,” Lord Chester- 
fieli’s ‘‘ Letters,” ‘‘Every Man his own Lawyer,’’ Taylor’s 
** Medical Jurisprudence,” Thompson's ‘‘Social Science and 
National Economy,” Haxter’s ‘‘ London Statistics,” ‘‘ The 
Science of Familiar Things,” Mill’s ‘Three Essays on Ke- 
li_ion,”” Draper’s ‘‘Confl:ct of Religion and Science,’’ portions 
of Buckle’s ‘‘ History of Civilisation,” Thompson’s ‘‘ Outline of 
the Necessary Laws of Thought,” &c. As to the price of these 
works, we may in tance Smiles’s ‘‘ Character,” the translation 
of which by Nakamura, a well-known English scholar, in two 
volumes, costs only 50 sez, or abc ut a shilling at the present rate 
of the paper currency. The figures and facts here recorded 
show at least that the path of western progress which the 
Goverument is pursuing, is one in which the people desire to 
take a part. 
WeE have received from the President of the University of 
Tokio a copy of the calendar of that Institution for the pat 
year. It is printed in Japanese and English, and thus appears 
somewhat more bulky than its actual contents would warrant, 
In the preface, a brief account is given of the growth of this 
large and apyarcntly flourishing e tabliihment from its first 
sraall commencement as a bureau for transiating foreign books, 
We have heard so much recently of the changes in the fersane/ 
of the Jajanese ecucational in titutions from foreign to native 
teachers, that we turn with some interest to the list of pr. fessrrs. 
In the department of law we find one foreign and ei_ht native 
teachers (including in this term professors, Jecturers, instructors, 
&c.). This subject is exceptional, as there are five profes- 
sors of ‘apanese law. In science, of the twenty-six teachers, 
eighteen are natives, and we believe this num!‘ er has increased 
recently ; and in literature three o* the fourteen teachers are 
foreigners. Judging simply by the degrees which they 
have obtained in western universities, mo t of the Japane e 
gentlemen seem well qualified for their work. This great and 
rapid displacement of foreign instructors is certainly a delicate 
experiment, and we can only hope that it may le succes ful. 
Chi va piano va sano is a motto which may be ccmmended to 
Japanese attention in this respect as in many others. The 
students can hardly com, lain of exces:ive charges, The tuition 
fee for each term (of which there are three in the year) is only 
four yer, nominally 16s., but at the ; re ent rate cf the currency 
rather less than 9s. ; while the co:t for a term of living, fire, 
light, &e., is only feurteen yer, or abcut 325, The total number 
of students atter.ding the college is 205. The examination 
papers, which are given in full, seem to be quite up to the 
standard for :imilsr examinations in this country, We are glad 
to observe that Japanese literature and hi: tory are not neglected 
in the study of more western subjects. A large number of 
teachers have | een provided for these subjects. 
Pror, CIVIALE is preparing a large photographie work on the 
Alps. For t'nyea's, from 1859 to 1868, the author travelled in the 
Alps with his camera, constantly taking panoramic and smaller (de- 
tailed) views. The latter, some 600 in number, principally show 
the glaciers y iti their crevasses, moraines, and the rocks forminz 
their banks, the mcuntains, valleys, glen:, n¢ural geological 
sections, the rocky eminences groved, polished, or ground by 
forner glaciers, and the course of various rivers. The panoramic 
views, forty-one in number, are taken from the summits, and 
comprise all the large Alpine chains, Each consists of a number 
of plates, and twenty include the whole circle of view. These 
valuable plates are accompanied by two maps in I : 600,coo, 
one is specially orograph‘cal, the other shows the curves of the 
panoramic views. Thirteen years were necessary to put the 
material collected into pr: per order, to replace the photographic 
plates by printed one, to draw and engrave the maps, and to 
write the text. 3 
THE recent remarkably low level of nearly all the Swiss lakes 
has encouraged the scientific circles of Switzerland to make fresh 
researches with regard to pile-dwellings. The societies of the 
Canton cf Thurgau have investigated the Untersee (the lower 
part of the Lake of Constance), near Steckborn, in the vicinity 
of the former monastery of Feldkirch. The Untersee was sur- 
rounded by a complete circle of pvile-dwellings, and the present 
investigations have yielded valuable results, in the shape of a 
long lit of the most varied objects which have been brcught to 
light. 
THE Russian Scciety of Painters has started a new publica- 
tion, which will be of interest, not only for lovers of the Fine 
Arts, but also for science. It is a peri: dical, ‘f Art in Central 
Asia,” being a collection of well printed drawings of Central 
Asian architectural ornaments, carpets, paintings, and so on, 
publiched under the supervision of M, Simakoff and of the 
above named society. 
We learn with pleasure that a special “ Geological Committee” 
has been in tituted in Russia, at the Department of Mines, for a 
systematic geological exploration of Russia, and for the prepara- 
tion of a detailed geological map of the country. The Govern- 
ment has allowed an annual grant of 3000/. for the expenses of 
the Committee and for its publicativ ns. 
Dr. RAE points out that, according to the Royal Geographi.al 
Society’s ¥ournal, the late Pundit Nain Singh was awarded not 
the Royal Medal, but a gold watch. 
WE have been requested to state that the late Dr. T. Romney 
Robins-n was born in the year 1792, and not in 1793, as stated 
errcneously in the obituary notice which recently apreared in 
our cclumns. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include two Bonnet Monkeys (A/acacus radiatus 2 & ) 
from India, presented re=pectively by Mr, Henry Worth and 
Mrs. Nichols n; three Herring Gulls (Zarustargentatus), British, 
presented by Mr, Rowland Ward ; a Herring Gull (Lavas argen- 
talus), British, presented by the Chevalier Da Costa Ricci; a 
Sclater’s Curassow (Crax sclatert ), a King Vulture (Gyfasus 
papa) from the Province of Alagoas, Brazil, ; resented by Mr. 
Frederick Youle; a Puffin (Fratercula arctica), British, pre- 
sented by Mr, H. M. Upcher; two Grey Ichncunons (erpestes 
griseus 6) from India, two Tayras (Calictis barbara) from 
Brazil, a Wild Boar (Svs scrofa), European, deposited. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
Tue GREAT Comet or 1$81.—In the Monthly Notices of the 
Royal Astronomical Society for January there are published two 
letters addressed to the secretaries by Dr. W. Bone of Castle- 
maine, Victoria, referring to an object seen rear the great comet 
of last year, on the evening of June 10. Ina telegram which he 
sent to the Melbourne Observatory the same night, he described 
it as di coid and like acircular comet, and states it had travelled 
south 6! in thirty-four minutes; its place at 6h. 45m. in R.A. 
sh. 18m 30s., Decl. —14° 24’. He asked that search might be 
made at Melbourne, but mentions that his telegram was not 
answered, In his first letter he writes: ‘‘On June ro, 1881, 
whilst measuring the position of the comet, then visible here at 
5h. 52m. mean ti-e of place, I noticed a peculiar discordance in 
each succeeding measure, and at length found that the star (2) 
from which I was measuring was a rapidly-moving body.” He 
found it ‘*somewhat di-coid, but its light, although bright, was 
