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Dr. CHARLES C, ABBorr has discovered in the river drift at 
Trenton, New Jersey, in gravel at great depth, and beneath 
undisturbed layers of fine sand, three chipped implements, of 
unquestionably human manufacture, lying close to each other. 
One hasa knife-like form, 9 in. long, made of a reddish-brown 
stone, compact, laminated, and susceptible of a high polish. 
‘The other two bear a considerable resemblance to common 
European forms: one is of opaque yellowish quartz, 5} in. long, 
and 12 ih. in greatest width ; the other isa flake of sand-stone 
rock, 63in. long, 3}in. wide. From the occurrence of such 
specimens so near each other, Dr. Abbott thinks that we must 
admit that the antiquity of American man is greater than the 
advent of the so-called ‘* Indian.” 
THE Royal Geographical Society have awarded the following 
medals for the present year :—In Physical Geography : Gold 
medal to W. C. Hudson, age 18, of Liverpool College ; bronze 
medal to W. A. Forbes, age 17, of Winchester College. In 
Political Geography : Gold medal to S. E. Spring Rice, age 
16, of Eton College; bronze medal to A, T. Nutt, age —, of 
University College School. 
Ar the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 
Monday, Sir Henry Rawlinson said despatches with reference to 
the East Coast Livingstone Expedition had been received from 
Sir Bartle Frere, dated March27. The English portion of the 
expedition had been recently materially augmented, for, instead 
of consisting as previously of Lieut. Cameron and Dr. Dillan, it 
had received the valuable services of Lieut. Murphy, an officer 
of Engineers, who had obtained permission from the Indian 
Government to join it. Mr. Moffatt, a nephew of Dr. Livingstone, 
had alsojoined the expedition, and there was every reason to expect 
that his assistance would be of the greatest use in time of need. 
Bergamoyo had been already reached, and by the latest accounts 
the march into the interior had been commenced. From the 
first camp, at a distance of twenty miles from Bergamoyo, com- 
munications had been received from Dr. Dillan, in which he 
intimated his expectation of being speedily joined by Lieut. 
Cameron, Lieut. Murphy, and Dr. Moffatt. They would, not- 
withstanding the fact that the rainy season was not yet over, at 
once proceed on their journey. 
Pror. THISELTON DYER announces a course of six lectures 
on the ‘‘ Aspects of Vegetation” at the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens; and Mr, Thomas Moore a course of six 
demonstrations on ‘* Medical Botany” in the Chelsea Botanic 
Garden. ere: 
A TWICE-MONTHLY scientific periodical, in Turkish, is to be 
brought out in Constantinople called the Do/ad, the Repository. 
ON Jan. 31 there wasa slight shock of earthquake at Rangoon 
in English Burmah. On Feb. 12 an earthquake was felt at 
Peshawur and Lahore in India. Slight earthquake shocks were 
felt on March 14, at 8 P.M., at Yanina (Janina) in Albania, 
Turkey. 
THERE is a report from Doncaster to the effect that shortly 
after two o’clock on Tuesday afternoon the town was visited by 
a smart shock of earthquake, which shook several houses to 
their foundations. In our correspondence this week will be 
found an account of an earthquake which occurred recently in 
the south of Scotland. 
THE French Association for the Advancement of Science, com- 
mences its second annual session at Lyons on August 21. We 
believe that there is every hope of a most numerous and in- 
teresting meeting. 
NATURE — Son 
THE New York Fournal of Applied Chemistry for February 
contains a very excellent article on ‘‘ The Promotion of Scien- 
tific Research,” by Prof. C. A. Joy, in which he animadverts 
severely on those so-called ‘‘ practical men” who test the value 
of all scientific investigation by the ‘* Whatis the use 2” standard, 
“Original research,” the writer says, ‘‘is the nervous fluid that 
furnishes strength to the muscle, The brawny arm is but 
dead meat unless the body is fed with nourishing food, Theo- 
dore Parker, in one of his discourses, alludes to the figure of a 
Chinaman in a shop window turning vigorously a crank ; upon 
investigation he found that it was the crank that turned the man, 
and not the man the crank. It is the same with practical appli- 
cations, The practical man applies the principle, and with 
great pomp and arrogance claims to turn the crank ; it is not 
true—a power higher than his is behind it all; the origi- 
nal investigation, the discovery of the principle upon 
which the movement rests, is really the engine that 
drives the man and makes him do its bidding.” Prof. 
Joy in speaking of the recent article in NATURE, in which 
Sir Benjamin Brodie calls attention to the enormous expenditure 
of money of the University of Oxford, in the way of subsidies to 
students and annuities to fellows, without any adequate results, 
counsels the Americans to forbear copying the English University 
system. He proposes the following plan of promoting scientific 
research :—Let there be incorporated a society for the promotion 
of scientific research, to consist of a small number of strictly 
scientific trustees, who shall hold the property and appropriate 
the income to such objects as they deem worthy of aid. It would 
not be, strictly speaking, a society, but a foundation for the 
purposes specified. The head-quarters of the corporation should 
be in New York City. If the wealthy citizens of New York, 
who “owe all they possess to the progress of science, would 
give money into the hands of such a board of trustees, they would 
be doing a most important work. Wherever and whenever any 
person was known to be engaged in the prosecution of some 
scientific research, the trustees could make him an allowance 
for conducting the inquiry, or to enable him to publish his 
results. Such assistance would often secure important dis- 
coveries. There are numerous professors scattered over the 
country whose salary is so small that they are obliged to add to 
it by outside work, or whose services at the college are so press- 
ing that they have no leisure for anything like voluntary labour. 
A little assistance and encouragement to such persons would go 
a great way. Any college would be flattered by having their 
officers thus singled out by the best judges of the country as 
worthy of a subsidy from a society founded to encourage research. 
This course is preferable to giving a fund to a college for educa- 
tional purposes, or to found a professorship, as the means for 
education are-very great in this country, and there is far less 
need of mere educational facilities than there is of men engaged 
in purely scientific study. It has often happened that money 
has been raised to found a professorship for a particularly able 
man ; after his death a person of inferior ability takes his place, 
and thus the object of the donor is defeated. It is therefore 
better to put the money into the hands of trustees selected for 
the purpose, and let them pay the income to those who are 
known to be worthy to receive it. The demands upon the 
fortunes of our wealthy men are constant and numerous, and 
they naturally give to such objects as are within their compre- 
hension. If they could be made to understand that the source 
of our presperity is science, and that the springs of discovery 
whence flow all the improvements of the day must be kept 
perennial, they would freely give of their substance, and we 
should soon see the watch-fires of original research kindled over 
the whole country. ; 
Tue New York Nautical School-ship AZrcury has spent the 
past winter in deep-sea research, as in a previous season, and, 
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