| Dec. 26, 1872} 
.: roved system or arrangements, not included in the foregoing, 
which shall efficiently and economically meet domestic require- 
ents, 
‘HE Council of the Society of Arts have resolved to offer the 
Society’s gold medal to that manufacturer who shall produce and 
. to the London International Exhibition of 1873 the best 
mens of steel, suitable for affording increased security in 
the construction of locomotive and marine engines and boilers, 
and for other engineering purposes. 
_ Mr. James McNaz, Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, 
Edinburgh, was unanimously elected President of the Botanical 
Society at their last meeting, in room of Prof. Wyville Thomson. 
The Society was founded in 1836, and Mr. McNab is one of the 
original twenty-one members, only eight of whom are now alive. 
_ Ar the suggestion of Mr. Carruthers, the time ot competition 
for Lord Cathcart’s prize for the best essay on the cause of and 
mode of preventing the potato disease, has been extended to 
November 1, to give candidates an opportunity for pract ical re- 
search on the subject. 
_ Mr. EMMANUEL DeEurTscu has obtained six months’ leave of 
absence on account of his health. He intends to spend the 
time in Egypt. 
_ WE hear that the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph have 
placed an unlimited sum at the disposal of the Society of Biblical 
-Archzeology, toenable Mr. Smith, the author of the paper on 
the Chaldee account’of the Deluge, to proceed to the East for the 
purpose of further investigation among the Assyrian ruins. 
WE understand that Mr. Cleminchaw and Mr. Jongstaff, who 
were placed in the first class in Natural Science at Oxford, and 
who are mentioned as having been educated at Rugby School, 
were students in Natural Science at King’s College, London. 
_ Tue Berlin Geographical Society has opened subscriptions for 
the contemplated Congo Expedition. Dr. Giissfield, the glacier 
explorer, who is to be the leader of the enterprise, has himself 
contributed nearly 1,000/., and there is every prospect that the 
full amount necessary will be forthcoming. 
Mr. Epwarp D. Cops, of the Academy of [Sciences, Phila 
delphia, has just returned to that city from a geological expedi- 
tion in the territories of Wyoming and Nevada, during which 
he has explored a large area of Eocene and Cretaceous strata, 
and made some fine discoveries. Remains of over fifty new 
_ Vertebrata have been obtained, amongst which is anew Divo- 
saurian allied to Cetiosaurus. Amongst the mammals are some 
_ new Prodoscideans, which appear to have been furnished with 
horns, and to form a transition towards the Perissodactyle Un- 
gulates. 
_ Mk, J. P. Gasstor, F.R.S., has presented to the Royal Insti- 
_ tution a marble bust of the late Mrs. Somerville by M‘Donald, 
_ the sculptor, of Rome. 
_ WE learn from the British Medical Fournal that Dr. Apjobn 
of Dublin has been appointed to the Przlectorship of Chemistry 
_in Caius College, Cambridge. 
_ Tue Birmingham and Midland Counties branch of the British 
Medical Association has decided to take steps to form a micro- 
_ scopical section. 
THE Clifton College Scientific Society has just issued the third 
_ part of its “Transactions,” wherein the officers speak fayour- 
- ably, and apparently not without warrant, of the present position 
of the Society, The list of members is always full and the at 
_ tendance at the meetings most satisfactory. The amount of 
b practical work done by the members is still a weak point, but 
' 
b 
NATURE 
151 
signs of improvement are not wanting. Among the papers pub- 
lished in this volume the two which appear to show the largest 
amount of original observation are both geological—‘‘ Aust 
Cliff,” and ‘* The Oolite at Minchinhampton,” both by H. Wills, 
and both illustrated by sections. The museum of the college has 
acquired many valuable additions during the past year, Alto- 
gether, we cannot doubt that the Society is doing a most useful 
work in fostering a taste for natural science. 
THE last part of the Proceedings of the Bath Natural History 
and Antiquarian Field Club is more concerned with the latter 
than the former portion of their programme, There are, how- 
eyer, one or two short papers on subjects connected with 
Natural Science, and an interesting sketch of the biography of 
early geologists connected with the neighbourhood of Bath, by 
Mr. W. S. Mitchell. A summary of the Proceedings of the 
Club for the year 1871-72 is appended, together with the Address 
of the President, the Rev. Leonard Blomefield (late Jenyns) after 
the anniversary dinner. 7 
WE have before us the eleventh Annual Report of the Lower 
Mosely Street (Manchester) Schools Natural History Society. 
The meetings of the society have been held weekly throughout 
the year. The number of communications to the Society during 
the year in the form of lectures and papers has been twenty- 
three, on a great variety of subjects in the various branches of 
natural science. All of them were well illustrated, some by 
means of the microscope, others by diagrams and objects com- 
bined. We cannot too highly commend the labours of a society 
doing its work in this quiet and unobtrusive way in the midst of 
one of our most crowded cities. 
WE have received from the Hydrographer to the Admiralty 
a series of Physical Charts of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian 
Oceans, 
Tue scheme for establishing a Technical College in Glasgow is 
now assuming a somewhat tangible shape. A subscription list 
has just been issued, in which we find that thirty subscribers have 
among themselves contributed no less than 11,0507. Subscrip- 
tions of 1,000/. each have been given by the firm of Robert N apier 
and Sons, the eminent shipbuilders and engineers ; Mr. W. Mon- 
gomerie Neilson, of the Hyde Park locomotive works, and son of 
the inventor of the hot-blast ; and Mr, John Tennant, the head 
of one of the oldest and largest chemical firms in the world. Of 
the thirty subscribers, twenty-two are members of the general 
Committee. It is proposed, when 20,000/. is subscribed, to begin 
the actual organisation of the Technical College, establishing, in 
the first instance, chairs for—(1) naval architecture and marine 
mechanical engineering ; (2) the theory and practice of weaving ; 
it ( 3) the theory and practice of dyeing and printing on textile 
abrics. 
WE learn from the San Francisco Morning Bulletin that there 
is in course of construction at Woodward’s Gardens a salt-water 
aquarium of modest dimensions, yet designed to be complete in 
all its parts. A year ago the proprietor of the Gardens sent 
Charles Schumann to Europe to examine the sea aquaria of 
Paris and other cities. After much time spent in investigation, 
Mr. Schumann determined to draw his plans on the model of the 
Berlin aquaria, though on a smaller scale. The building now 
in progress is the result. The aquarium will be mainly under 
the surface of the ground, in order to secure an even temperature. 
There are fifteen tanks in all, one of which is for freshwater 
specimens. The tanks vary in size from 300 to 1,000 gal. 
lons capacity, the largest containing eight thousand pounds 
of water. Several of the tanks are fitted up with sea-worn rocks 
obtained at the cliff-house, and some at Santa Cruz. There will 
be room for marine plants, shells, corals, &c. It is the intention 
to obtain deep-sea animals and other rare denizens of the deep, 
with a live shark or two, a devil fish, &c, 
