v4 
Feb. 20, 1873] 
NATURE 
311 
of this regulation will be, that while those who are in- 
tending to proceed to degrees in Arts will continue to take 
Greek at the matriculation, as a matter of course, it will not be 
required from those who are going on to degrees in Science or 
Medicine. 
Mr. A. W. BENNETT, M.A., B.Sc., F.L.S., has been elected 
Lecturer in Botany at St. Thomas’s Hospital School of Medicine, 
in the place of the Rey. J. W. Hicks, A vacancy is thus caused 
in the Lectureship on Botany at the Westminster Hospita 
School. 
THE following new candidates for the Professorship of Geology 
at Cambridge are announced :—Mr. William King, Professor of 
Mineralogy and Geology, Queen’s College, Galway ; and Mr. P, 
Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., of Emmanuel College, and Vicar of 
Rowington, 
_ THE office of Chief Assistant in the Observatory, Cape of 
Good Hope, will be filled up by open competition on March 18 
next, and the following days. Candidates must be between 
eighteen and twenty-five years of age, and the salary com- 
mences at 320/., rising 10/. a year to 450/, 
WE are really sorry to hear that the much-talked-of Arctic 
expedition of M. Pavy, who was recently fabled to have dis- 
covered an Arctic Continent, has vanished into worse than ‘‘ thin 
air.” It is perhaps unprecedented in the annals of science that 
the funds meant to be devoted to a noble and heroic purpose, 
should be literally wasted in riotous living.. We hear, on too 
good authority, alas, that M. Pavy’s explorations have been 
confined to certain not unknown phases of “‘life” in San 
Francisco, 
Coat has been discovered on the railway from Mollendo to 
Arequipa in Peru. The seam is four yards thick. The coal 
has been reported as of good quality, and it is already being 
used on the railway.. 
Dr. Reiss, one of two German ‘travellers in Ecuador, has 
succeeded not only in ascending Sotopax, but in entering the 
crater. 
A GERMAN from Berlin has been for some time at Panama 
butterfly hunting. His first remittance was one hundred pounds’ 
worth of butterflies. 
On December 28, 1872, a slight shock of earthquake was felt 
at Goalpara in Northern India, and again on January 3. 
On December 28, 1872, a strong earthquake was felt at 10 
A.M., doing much damage at Chinameca, Salvador, Central 
America. It is attributed to the volcano of San Vicente, now 
in eruption. 
On January 1 there was a slight shock of earthquake at 
Guayaquil. 
THE Times of Jndia reports a sharp shock of earthquake 
which was felt on January 7, about 4 P.M., at the camp between 
Sultanpore and Fyzabad, in Oudh., 
THE great shock of earthquake in Samos on Jatfuary 31 hap- 
p-ned at 1.10 A.M., and lasted 10 seconds, Several houses were 
thrown down, and many damaged. ; 
Tue French authorities at Tahiti report in their official journal 
that, in consequence of changes in the coast line and reefs, new 
rules for navigation have been issued. They announce, also, that 
the island placed in 21° 50’ S., and 152° 20” W., does not exist, 
as the place has been sailed over by three vessels. Captain 
Truxton, of the U.S. ship 7: Yamestown, has informed them that 
he has passed over the position of a reef assigned to 24° 45'S. 
and 150° 40’ W., without seeing any token of danger. 
M. DE FONVIELLE has been authorised by the French 
Academy to make a series of experiments on a new lightning 
conductor which he has devised. 
THE Report of the Marlborough College Natural History 
Society for the half year ending Christmas, 1872, contains much 
that is of considerable interest and value, though we are sorry 
to see from the very honest preface, that the Society is not in so 
satisfactory a condition as it ought to and might be. While 
admitting that a fair amount of work has been done, the preface 
complains of the lack of interest in the work of the Society, 
and the comparatively small amount of energy displayed by many 
of the members. With regard to nearly all the sections, 
the tone of the preface is desponding, though hopeful that 
a change for the better may take place next year. The 
Society contains some excellent workers, who have shown no 
disposition to relax their efforts, and we earnestly hope that 
their example will be largely contagious, and that the next report 
will be written in a very different tone. It is a pity thata society 
so favourably situated in many respects as this is should not pro- 
duce more abundant and more valuable results. The geological 
section, we are sorry to see, is nowhere, mainly for want of a 
permanent head. The society is also very much cramped for 
want of a suitable. building for the museum. We hope this 
report will stimulate all the members to renewed activity; let 
them take to heart the very excellent advice given in the paper 
on ‘‘ An Ideal School Natural History Society,” by Mr. E. F, 
im Thurm, who deserves great praise for his efforts on behalf of 
the society. Appended are reports of the out-door work done 
in entomology and botany during the half year, and a long and 
ve1y interesting paper by the Rev. J. A. Preston, describing 
what he saw on a recent visit to Brazil. The concluding article 
of the Report is Part I. of a carefully compiled descriptive 
Catalogue of the Archeological Collection of the Society, by 
Mr. F. E. Hulme, which is accompanied with a beautifully 
executed illustration of some of the articles in the collection. 
AT the first meeting of the Sheffield Naturalists’ Club held a 
few days ago, Mr. H. C. Sorby, the president, delivered a very 
excellent inaugural address, in which he gave his views as to the 
objects of the formation of such a society. Such a society as 
this, he said, had two characters. First of all, the subjective 
influence it had on the members who composed it. The study 
of natural history was most desirable in many ways. Man had 
a certain amount of energy ; it must be expended in some way 
or other, and the examination into natural history furnished 
them with a study which was advantageous to both body and 
mind. By being joined together in a society they might greatly 
help one another. With regard to the objective value of such a 
society as this, he thought they ought not to limit their efforts to 
the mere making out of accurate lists of flora and fauna which 
occurred in the district. The efforts of naturalists also ought to 
be devoted to the discovery of general philosophical principles, 
as applied to both animals and plants. He thought they coula 
learn a great deal more by the careful study of the commonest 
things than by looking for rarities, They could not hesitate in 
saying that a great deal remained to be done in the study of 
natural history in every district. The following, he thought, 
were some of the points which such a society should inquire into: 
—What is life, and how have the various species of animals and 
plants originated ?_ Why do particular plants grow in particular 
localities? The determination of that question would have a 
most important bearing on geological theores. Another problem 
for study was what was the effect of dry or wet seasons on cer- 
tain plants? _If that question were settled, they might know 
the effect that must have been produced in bygone ages—by the 
alteration of climate—on certain plants and animals, Another 
most interesting subject for investigation was the influence of 
