NATURE 



\A7tgust 9, 1877 



are still, indeed, driving madder out of the market. Attention 

 will, no doubt, be centred upon other and more profitable 

 plants. With regard to the routine work of the gardens, that is 

 tlie distribution of seeds and plants, it does not compare badly 

 with botanic gardens of greater pretension, for we learn that 

 nineteen Wardian cases were dispatched during the year, 

 containing about 800 stove and greenhouse plants, besides which 

 1,500 packets of seeds were also distributed to all parts of the 

 world. 



There is in the valley ot the Maota in Switzerland, a grotto 

 penetrating the mountain, and called the Lauihc/i. It had not 

 been explored beyond the Gorge du Loup, but recently some 

 venturesome young people of Illgau have traversed this passage, 

 and have penetrated, it is said, two whole leagues into the 

 mountains, crossing various cavities where human foot had never 

 trod before. They came at last to a deep fissure, which they 

 could not explore, being without cords or ladders. A society 

 has been formed for further exploration of the region, and the 

 results will be published shortly. 



In a paper recently read to the Franklin Institute, Prof. Ennis 

 gives the excellent advice to teachers that every day when the 

 last half-hour of school-time arrives, the pupils should take their 

 seats closely in front of the teacher's table, and he should then 

 perform some scientific experiment, or exhibit some object of 

 natural history, and tell all that can well be told about it. The 

 pupils will make the more rapid progress in all their primary 

 studies in consequence. The enjoyment of these scientific 

 lectures is like dessert after dinner. 



A PECULIAR kind of industry, that of breeding maggots, has 

 lately been tried in Paris. Over the soil were spread large 

 quantities of stale fish, dead lobsters, odorous poultry, and other 

 refuse of the markets, as much as half a ton of large fish being 

 taken on the premises in a single day. The maggots, which 

 soon became abundant, were carefully picked out and packed in 

 casks of galvanised iron, and finally were sold for fish bait and 

 chicken food. The remaining refuse was converted into manure. 

 Proximity to such an establishment could not have been very 

 pleasant, and exposed provisions in the neighbourhood suffered 

 largely from the visits of numberless flies. The police stepped 

 in and suppressed the manufacture. 



The inhabitants of the Upper Engadine, one of the most 

 attractive sites in Switzerland, have passed an order forbidding 

 to sell or destroy a local wild-flower, which is called Edelweiss, 

 and well-known to botanists. The destruction was so active 

 that Edelweiss was fast disappearing. 



The three-yearly session of the International Congress for 

 measuring the figure of the earth will take place at Stuttgart in 

 the last days of September, under the presidency of Gen. Hanez, 

 a Spaniard. The vice-president is Prof. Bauemfeind, late 

 director of Munich Polytechnic School. It is said that France 

 for the first time will join the Congress, and will be represented 

 by Capt. Mouchez and Lcewy, two members of the Bureau des 

 Longitudes. 



The following list of candidates successful in the competition 

 for the Whitworth Scholarships, 1877, has been publisheil by 

 the Science and Art Department. William I. Last, Mecha- 

 nical Engineer ; F. Ogden, Mechanic ; W. F. How, Engineer ; 

 W. S. M'Kenzie, Engineer ; A. D. Ottewell, Draughtsman ; 

 D, A. Low, Engineer. 



The laboratories of the experimental farm at Vincennes, be- 

 longing to the French National School of Agriculture, were 

 inaugurated the other day by the Minister of PubUc Instruction 

 of the French Republic. 



The Report of the Royal Society of Tasmania contains among 

 other papers of interest several Important papers on Tasmanian 

 shells by the Rev. ]. E. Tenison-Woods. 



The bones of the bird hitherto known as Ttthornis emuinus 

 recently found at Sheppey, have enabled Prof. Owen to conclude 

 that it was one with enormous wings, closely allied to, and much 

 larger than, tlie albatross. The Professor, who has a paper on 

 the subject in preparation, proposes to substitute a more 

 appropriate name than the one given by Bowerbank. The bones 

 are in the private collection of Mr. W. H. Shrubsole, of 

 Sheerness-on-Sea, by whom they were found. 



Prof. Langley contributes to the American Journal of 

 Science and Arts for July, an interesting paper "On the possi- 

 bility of transit observations without personal errors."' 



The Committee Report on the annual prize distribution of the 

 French Societe de Geographic appears in the Society's Jiulktin 

 for June. The recipients (to whom medals, &c., were awarded 

 in April) are Lieut. Cameron, M. Roudaire, MM. de Folin and 

 Leon Perrier, and M. Gravier ; an account is given of the 

 work of these investigators. 



We notice the appearance of a most interesting Russian work 

 in the Bulletin of the Moscow Society of Friends of Natural 

 Science, being a " Description of the various Zoological Gardens 

 of Europe." The work is a collection of reports upon the most 

 important zoological gardens, made by zoologists ^specially sent 

 for that purpose, during 1876, by the Society above mentioned 

 and by the Society of Acclimatisation, in order to find the best 

 scheme for the organisation of the Zoological Gardens oi 

 Moscow. The introduction to the work is written by Prof. 

 Bogdanoff". 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Grivet Monkey ( Ccrcopitlucus griseo-viridis 

 from Africa, presented by Mr. J. Harvey ; a Weeper Capuchin 

 {Cebus capticinus) from Brazil, presented by Mrs. Cameron ; a 

 Wood Brocket (Cervus nemorivagus) from Caura, presented 

 by Mr. C. C. Berington ; an Oil Bird (Sleatornis caripensis) 

 from Trinidad, presented by Mr. W. G. de Voeux ; a White 

 Goshawk {As/iir ncnw hollandiii), a Berigora Hawk {Hiiracidea 

 berigora) from Australia, presented by Major Spicer ; a Harpy 

 Eagle ( Thrasaclus harpyia), a Great-billed Rhea {Rhea macro- 

 rky'^icha) from Soutli America, received in exchange ; an Axis 

 Deer {Cen>!is axis) bom in the gardens. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Science at King's College, London. — We understand 

 that the Council of King's College have established a Science 

 Course, including those subjects which, according to the new 

 regulations, are required of candidates for the First B.Sc. or 

 for the Preliminary Science Examinations of the University of 

 London. Candidates for the Indian Civil Service, for the Home 

 Civil Service, for the Indian Public Works Department, for the 

 Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and for otlier public 

 examinations, will find in the course the scientific subjects which 

 are required for those examinations. The course of study is 

 under the direction of Prof. W. G. Adams. In addition to 

 teaching and lectures in the several subjects, there will be in- 

 cluded in the course Demonstrations and Practical work in the 

 Physical, the Chemical, and the Biological Laboratories. The 

 subjects for first year students in this course will be Mathematics, 

 Elementary Mech.anics, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, and 

 Botany, with practical work in each of the three laboratories. 

 The second year's course will include these subjects with 

 Geology. 



Edini'.urgh. — The Summer Session has just closed. In 

 point of numbers the session 1876-77 has been the most pros- 

 perous the university has ever enjoyed, there being no fewer than 



