Sept. 6, 1877] 



NATURE 



417 



upwards of 140,000 gallons of water. The plan adopted is the 

 circulation system, which has proved so successful in the main- 

 tenance of aquatic life at the Crj'stal Palace, Naples, and else- 

 where. Special arrangements are being made for the culture of 

 salmon and trout, and in conjunction with the Aquarium, but 

 out of doors there will be an enormous seal-pond, into which a 

 supply of sea-water will be pumped direct when required. Mr. 

 E. Howard Birchall has been appointed curator. 



Mr. Alexander 13i;chan, the well-known secretary to the 

 Scottish Meteorological Society, has been sent to Upsala as 

 representative of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, at the 

 celebration of the 400th anniversary of that University. 



The autumn meeting of the Institute of Naval Architects in 

 Glasgow was brought to a conclusion last Thursday, and seems 

 to have been altogether successful. A large number of papers 

 were read and discussion raised on the technical subjects with 

 which the Institute deals, and much of the time was devoted to 

 visiting several of the most important Clyde establishments. 

 The ne.\t autumn meeting of the Institute will probably be at 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



On August 29 the Dorset Field Club met at the romantic spot 

 of Lulworth Cove. One section gave themselves to the geology 

 of the district in which the " Purbecks " are so finely exhibited. 

 After some opening remarks by Mr. Mansell Pleydell, the 

 president of the Society, Mr. Damon, F.G.S., gave an address 

 bearing on the geology of the cove and neighbouring strata, 

 followed by Prof. Buckman. Other sections directed their 

 attention to entomology, botany, &c. 



A SUMMER school of practical mining for the instruction of 

 t)ie student in the details of miner's work has recently been 

 added to the curriculum of the School of Mines of Columbia 

 College, U.S. This summer school has been put in the charge 

 of Henry S. Munroe, a former graduate of the school, who was 

 recently elected by the trustees to the position of Adjunct Pro- 

 fessor. It is proposed that the students of the school shall visit 

 mines in different parts of the country worked for coal, iron, 

 copper, lead, precious metals, &c. , and spend a month or si.x 

 weeks at each, making a careful and detailed study of the mine, 

 and actually engaging, under the instruction of skilled miners, 

 in all the details of mine work. The first experiment was made 

 this summer at the mines of Coxe, Bros., and Co., Drifton, Pa., 

 and with very remarkable success. A dozen students, volunteers 

 from the class of '78, made a stay there of five weeks from July 

 2. Half of the students worked in the morning and the other 

 half in the afternoon, one squad at a time with each miner. The 

 times of going and coming to and from work were so arranged that 

 each student spent from four to four and a-half hours in the mine 

 each day. On coming out of the mine each squad was required 

 to make a written report of the work done, with sketches 

 showing the location, direcdon, depth, &c., of each shot fired, 

 and the effect produced. While in the mine they assisted the 

 miner to load his car, thereby learning readily to distinguish 

 "slate" and "bony" from good coal, even in the uncertain 

 light afforded by their mine lamps. They were also instructed 

 in the use of the drill and pick, boring themselves the blast 

 holes, judging the quantity of powder required, making up the 

 cartridge, tamping, and firing the shot. After the students had 

 spent in this way about twenty days at different kinds of work 

 underground and in the "breaker," subjects for more detailed 

 study and investigation were assigned them. Each student, 

 having chosen his theme, spent the remainder of his time in 

 collecting material for a memoir. The experiment has, in fact, 

 been in every way a success. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society of New South Wales on 

 June 6, Mr. Russell exhibited an improved form of bichromate 

 battery, by wliich the current of, electricity generated is kept 



quite constant so long as it may be required. This is accom- 

 plished by allowing the bichromate solution to drop in slowly, 

 and flow out at the same rate through a pipe which commences 

 at the bottom of the cell and passes through the side at three- 

 quarters of an inch from the top. When the supply tap is 

 turned, the solution collects in the cell until it rises to the level 

 of the pipe, and it then begins to pass out as fast as it comes in. 

 As the bichromate solution passes down the cell its active 

 properties are made use of, and when it reaches the bottom it is 

 waste, and passes out as described. In use it is found that the 

 zinc and solution are more economically used than in the 

 ordinary bichromate cell. The Society held its annual con- 

 venaziom on May 16. About 600 members and their friends 

 were present. Amongst the exhibits were some very rare and 

 choice plants from New Guinea. Mr. Russell, Government 

 Astronomer, was most successful in showing large smoke vortex 

 rings, which blew out a spirit-lamp flame at a distance of fifty 

 feet. 



The Report of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical 

 Society speaks satisfactorily of its progress. A year ago the 

 society took possession of new buildings, and its main work as a 

 society is carried on by its six sections, which include the various 

 departments of science. The number of members now exceeds 

 300. 



We have received a very useful Russian brochure by M. 

 Bogdanoff, " A Review of Expeditions and Natural History 

 Researches made in the Aralo-Caspian Region from 1720 to 

 1874," being the first fascicule of a large work. In 1874 Prof. 

 Barbot-de-Marny, geologist, with MM. Bogdanoff and But- 

 leroff, jun., zoologists, explored vast tracts of land between the 

 Caspian and the Aral lake, and MM. Grimm and Alenitzin 

 studied the fauna of these two interior seas. Preliminary 

 reports by the explorers have been already pubhshed. M. Bogan- 

 doff's paper is intended to give, in a very condensed form 

 (52 pages), an introductory review of scientific work in the 

 Aralo-Caspian region during the 150 years before this expedition. 

 It has been visited and explored by no fewer than sixty men of 

 science. Yet the great problems so vividly and skiliully deve- 

 loped and discussed by Humboldt and his followers — the ]3ro- 

 blems of the former extension of the Caspian, of its junction with 

 the Aral and the Balkash, of the geological time when this 

 immense interior basin existed, of the causes which determined 

 its dryuig up and the change of bed of the Amu-darya — all 

 remain as open a field of inquiry as ever. We find immense 

 gaps in every department even in the description of the country. 

 The hydrology of the Caspian and Aral is sufficiently well 

 known, but the third great basin, the Balkash, and a great 

 number of smaller lakes remain unexplored. The flora is well 

 known, and the great work of Borshioff sums up numerous local 

 accounts, but the zoology is very unequally advanced ; the lower 

 organisms and the amphibise are all but totally unknown. 

 The insects, and still more the vertebrates, are well described, 

 but even in this branch the fishes have been neglected. Prof. 

 Kessler finds many unknown forms even among those of the 

 Caspian, which have been best explored, and the fishes of the 

 Aral and Balkash promise to present plenty of most interesting 

 new forms and varieties. As to the much-debated question of the 

 former bed of the Amu-darya, M. Bogdanoff points out that this 

 remarkable geological phenomenon remains unexplained. We 

 nmst hope that the labours of the Aralo-Caspian expedition, and 

 oi other explorers in the same region, will finally throw some 

 light on the problems involved in the study of this depression 

 of the old continent. 



In an interesting pamphlet on "The Work of Mechanics* 

 Institutes in our Towns," by Mr. Swire Smith, the author con- 

 tends that the work of mechanics' institutes in towns consists on 

 the one hand in supplymg the deficiencies of the day school. 



