290 
NATURE “yt 
“ 
[7ed. 13, 187 
e 
earthquake, which on December 15 was felt at Lehree in Eastern 
Cachi and Zehri and the Scinde frontier of India, was also felt 
at Dadur, Suawan, Shikarpore, and Jacobabad, within British 
territory, 
In the beginning of January a sharp shock of earthquake was 
felt inthe island of Imbros, opposite the Dardanelles. Several 
small works were destroyed, and other damage done. This 
was, perhaps the same as the earthquake felt on January 
13 at Gallipoli, and Chanak, Kalehsi (Dardanelles), at about 
10.30 A.M. The oscillation was from S.toN. This earthquake 
was slightly felt at Constantinople, but not at Smyrna, 
TuE Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction met on Tues- 
day and Wednesday of the present week. 
WE learn, from the British Medical Fournal, that Dr. Stru- 
thers, Professor of Anatomy at Aberdeen, gives free evening 
lectures on this subject to students of Divinity and Arts, and to 
all who take an interest in Natural science. 
WE have received an “Extract from the Science Directory, 
revised to November 1872,” showing the nature and amount o! 
assistance afforded by and through the Science and Art Depart- 
ment to Instruction in Science. This gives all the information 
needed both by pupils or teachers who are desirous of quali- 
fying themselves to participate in the various grants, scholarships, 
exhibitions, prizes, &c., by which Government se:ks to encourage 
scientific education. Since the publication of the last directory, 
several alterations have been made in the administration of this 
department. One is that grants are given to encourage the con: 
struction of special laboratories in Schools, and collec ions of 
apparatus adapted to teaching will be sent on loan to schools 
under certain conditions. For the year 1873 arrangements will 
probably be made to enable a certain number of teachers to stay 
about six weeks in London, to undergo a course of instruction 
in teaching certain special subjects, Several improvements haye 
also been made in the course of instruction for s'udents who have 
completed their course at the ordinary Elementary School. 
These alterations all tend in the direction of greater stringency 
and thoroughness, and an attempt has been made so to frame 
the course, as to lay the foundation of a systematic scientific 
‘training. 
WE with pleasure notice that a new local scientific society has 
been started at Kensington, under the title of the Kensington 
Entomological Society. There are now a considerable number 
of similar societies in the London suburbs, and we hope this one 
will meet with encouraging success, and produce some work of 
lasting value. We hope next week togive a paper read to the 
Society by Mr. A. Murray, 67, Bedfcerd Gardens, Kensington, 
who, we have no doubt, will be glad to iurnish information to 
anyone desirous of joining the Society. 
WE are glad to see one more provincial paper devote some of 
its space to Science. <A copy of the Leighton Buzzard Observer 
sent us devotes a whole column to scientific jottings, selected 
with considerable judiciousness. 
Mr. G. St. CLarR, in reference to his letter of last week, sends 
us a letter from the Manchester Guardian, of February 5, which 
says that the writer and two friends were walking down Oxford 
Street, Manchester, about 10 P.M., when suddenly the place was 
illuminated with a bluish light equal to the light of mid-day, and 
right over their heads burst, as it were, a ball of fire ; instantly 
it shot through space, when it burst again, and final'y disap- 
peared. After a few seconds more they distinctly heard the 
sound of a report like thunder, The course of the meteor ap- 
pearcd to them to be from east to west; the time was about 
seven scconds, 
A MeEpIcaL Society has been formed at Smyrna, on the basis 
of the Imperial Medical Society at Constantinople. 
_ Tue Abbé Moigno, after all, has brought his Sed/es du Progrés 
to a termination ; not, however, we are gladjto learn, because his 
praiseworthy scheme of popular education has turned out a 
failure, but because he has found another means of accomplishing 
his “great object of intellectual regeneration by true science, 
good and beautiful.” The founders of the Catholic Circle of 
Workmen—a scheme apparently meant for the elevation of the 
French working classes—have proposed to make use of the 
Abbe’s services, his educational staff and matériel, to carry out 
their educational plans both in Paris and in the provinces. He 
has, we think wisely, accepted the offer, and, although he has 
been compelled to terminate his own particular scheme, he will 
be in a much better position for accomplishing the admirable end 
he has in view. 
Mr. W. B. GAMLEN, M.A., of Exeter College, has been 
elected Secretary to the Curators of the Oxford University 
Chest. 
Tue following information has been sent us by the scientific 
editor of Harper's Weekly :— Prof. Powell has returned from the 
exploration of the Colorado River of the West, having completed 
the examinations of the wonderful series of cafions along the 
course of this river about October 1 last. He then visited a 
group of volcanic mountains north of the Grand Caiion, com- 
posed of about sixty basaltic cones, to which he has given the 
name of Uinkaret Mountains (the Indian name, signifying 
“Where the pines grow”). An extensive series of faults has 
been examined by the party this year. These run in a northerly 
and southerly direction across the Grand Cajion, and north into 
the plateaus at the head of the Sevier, and some as far as the 
Wasatch Mountains. They are from 50 to 200 miles in length, 
and the drop from 100 to 3,000 ft. The fissures of these faults 
have been vents for volcanic eruptions, and along their courses 
vast floods of lava have been poured out and cones built up. A 
number more of the ruins of ancient communal houses have been 
discovered, making in all more than a hundred so far found by 
the party in the valley of the Colurado, One of these was situ- 
ated on the crater of a volcanic cone, The collection of picture- 
writings (etchings on the rocks) has been much enlarged ; and 
the seven ancient towns, called by the Spaniards the Province 
of Tusayan, have been revisited for ethnological purposes. The 
professor has also continued his studies of the Ute Indians. He 
has discovered among them an extensive system of mythology 
and a great number of rude songs, and brought with him a large 
collection of articles illustrating the state of the arts among the 
people who inhabit the valley of the Colorado, composed of stone 
implements, pottery, basket-ware, clothing, implements for 
hunting and entrapping animals, musical instruments, ornaments 
of featuers, bones, teeth, and claws, and various miscellaneous 
articles. Prof, Thompson remains in the field for the purpose of 
extending the exploration north, toward the Wasatch Moun- 
tains. 
AN article by Herr von der Wengen, on the artificial breed- 
ing of salmon in Silesia during the season of 1871 and 1872, 
published in the circular of the Deutsche Fisherei-Verein, con- 
tains some very interesting facts in reference to this fish. As 
the result of four successive years of observation, he remarks 
that he finds salmon generally descend to the sea in the second 
year, and remain there not one year, as is so generally assumed, 
but more nearly two, before returning to the river and home of 
their youth. The establishment at Hammel, which has already 
done so much to increase the stock of salmon in the Upper 
Weser, has determined, from numerous observations, that a 
period of four years elapses between the birth of the salmon and 
| its first return from the ocean. 
ay 
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