= University of Aberdeen certainly is not disposed to 
elect science in looking out for a Lord Rector ; among those 
oken of to be put up for the next election, are Mr. Darwin, 
. Huxley, and Dr. Lyon Playfair. 
WE are glad to call attention to the fund now being raised for 
the education and maintenance of the family of Mr. John Cargill 
Brough, subscriptions to which may be paid at Messrs. Robarts 
and Lubbock’s bank. We understand that a considerable 
amount has already been received. 
_ THE winter course of lectures at South Kensington Museum 
for the instruction of women in science and art was opened on 
Monday by Prof. Duncan. The course is to consist of three 
series—the first by Prof. Duncan, on ‘‘Cosmogony and the 
- World as a Planet ;” the second by Prof, Carey Foster, on 
“Physics ;” and the third by Prof. Rutherford, on “ Physi- 
ology.” There was a large attendance of ladies. 
{ THE Committee of Directors of the Crystal Palace have 
resolved to extend the uses of that_Institution by ¢stablish- 
ing practical engineering classes, in connection with their 
School of Art, Science, and Literature, under the Principalship 
_ of Mr. J. M. Wilson, Assoc. Inst. C.E. Such a preparatory 
course will render pupils on entering an engineer's office at 
once useful to their employers, and will enable them to take 
__ advantage of the opportunities offered to them during the time 
_ they are articled. These classes have been established for the 
purpose of affording to students of civiland mechanical engineer- 
ing the advantage of thorough practical instruction in the rudi- 
ments of either profession, and in the manipulation of materials. 
The classes are also available for gentlemen anxious to become 
_ engineering draughtsmen, or to compete for the Whitworth 
Scholarships, or to enter the Steam Mercantile Marine. The 
course of instruction will consist of three terms extending over 
welve months. One term will be spent in the drawing office, 
one in the pattern shop and foundry, and one in the smith’s 
fitting and erecting shops. The students will be engaged in 
_ mechanical drawing, estimating and calculating, pattern-making, 
and constructing machinery for the market. Lectures will be 
_ delivered from time to time by the Principal, or by some eminent 
_ professor, on subjects connected with theoretical and practical 
engineering, and the students will be required to pass an exami- 
nation upon such lectures at the expiration of each term. Con- 
venient and extensive shops and offices, supplied with the best 
engineering machinery, have been fitted up for the purposes of 
the institution, The shops will be finished and the teaching 
‘commenced on January I, or within a few days of that date. 
The premium forthe year’s instruction will be fifty guineas. The 
Crystal Palace is in many respects most suitable for such a pur- 
- pose; for, irrespective of its being central and easy of access, it 
contains so many engineering models, works of science and art, 
hydraulic, pumping, and other machinery, that illustrations of 
important works in great variety are always accessible. 
Lorp F, Cavenpisu, M.P., presided on Monday at a meet- 
ing of the committee appointed to consider the proposed plans 
for establishing a College of Science at Leeds. The cost ori- 
ginally estimated was 61,000/.; but the funds are not forth- 
coming, and a committee was appointed to reconsider the 
subject. 
Sir H. C. RAwLinson, in his inaugural address on Monday 
_ night to the Geographical Society, referred to two contemplated 
African expeditions—one, got up by Livingstone’s friends, and 
called the ‘‘ Livingstone Congo Expedition,” is to ascend the 
Congo from above the rapids, and endeavour to penetrate to the 
equatorial lake where Livingstone’s rivers are lost, and in the 
vicinity of which it is expected the great traveller will be found 
at the close of next year. Livingstone’s close friend, Mr. J. 
Young, of Kelly, has taken upon himself the expenses of the 
of 
NATURE 
"33 
expedition to the amount of 1,5007. or 2,000/. A rival German 
expedition has been officially announced as in preparation for 
the same reason. 
Tue following numbers are stated to have been sold of 
Mr. Murray’s scientific books at his annual ‘‘sale” Jast week :— 
6,200 of Mr, Darwin’s new work on the “ Expression of the Emo- 
tions in Man and Animals ;” 1, 1000f Darwin’s ‘‘Origin of Species” 
and other works ; 350 of Lyell’s ‘‘ Principles of Geology,” 2 vols. ; 
goo of Lyell’s ‘‘ Students’ Elements of Geology ;” 1,500 of Kirk’s 
‘* Handbook of Physiology ;” 300 of Sir Roderick Murchison’s 
‘Siluria ;” 1,200 of Prof. Newth’s ‘‘ Natural Philosophy ;” 380 
of Whymper’s ‘‘ Scrambles on the Alps.” 
A TELEGRAM from Copenhagen states that Mr. Edward 
Whymper has arrived there from his second journey of explora- 
tion in North Greenland. He brings with him rich collections 
of curiosities, among which are some very singular specimens of 
fossil wood, 
Tue Conversazione of the Photographic Society was held on 
Tuesday evening last, and the Annual Exhibition of Photographs 
will be open at the rooms of the Society, No. 9, Conduit Street, 
till the 3oth inst., from nine till dusk, and on Monday and 
Saturday evenings. 
THE members of the Hunterian Society were received by their 
President, Dr. Herbert Davies, on Monday evening last, at 23, 
Finsbury Square. In the course of the evening some original 
experiments were performed by Prof. Norris, of Birmingham, 
showing some hitherto unnoticed manilestations of the attraction 
of cohesion, with a view to explain the possibility of the passage 
of blood corpuscles through the capillaries in certain morbid 
states of the body, without the capillaries themselves being 
destroyed. 
ON the evening of November 5 two new planets were dis- 
covered at the Paris Observatory. The first, discovered by M. 
Paul Henry, about 9 o'clock, is of the 11th magnitude; the 
second, discovered by M. Prosper Henry, is in magnitude 11°5. 
Pror. WINLOCK communicates to 1,909 of Astronomische 
Nachrichten carefully tabulated ‘‘ Results in Right Ascension 
of Observations of 156 Fundamental Stars observed with the 
Meridian-Circle of Harvard College University ” (in English). 
Ir may not be generally known, says the Astronomical Register, 
that amongst other works translated of late years into the Chinese 
language are the following :—Herschel’s ‘‘ Outlines of Astro- 
nomy,” by Wylie, 3 vols., sm. folio, China, 1859 ; De Morgan’s 
‘¢ Algebra,” by the same, 8vo., 1859; Mac Gowan’s “‘ Law of 
Storms,” China, 1853; Milner’s ‘‘ History of England,” 
abridged, by Muirhead, Shanghai, 1856. There is also a 
Treatise on Arithmetic, in Chinese, by Wylie, 1853. 
THE committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund have just 
received a first instalment of the work of surveying the Holy Land. | 
It consists of the first three sheets of an Ordnance map of the 
country, on the scale of one inch to a mile, based on an accurate 
trigonometrical survey, and including the district between Jaffa 
and Jerusalem, and the country north of Jerusalem towards 
Nablous, and embracing an area of 560 square miles. The survey 
has been already completed over an area of about 1,000 square 
miles, and further sheets may be expected about the beginning of 
the new year. 
THe Ninth Report, just issued, of the Belfast Naturalists 
Field Club, speaks of continued activity and enterprise on the 
part of the Society. A considerable portion of the report is 
oceupied by accounts of the various excursions, and short abstracts 
are also given of a number of papers read at its meetings, many of 
them having a chiefly local interest, 
