‘Aug. 21, 1873] 
® NOTES 
_ From a private lettcr just received from Prof. Wyville Thom- 
son, we learn that the Chalienger left St. Vincent, Cape Verde 
Islands, on August 2, for Bahia, for the purpose of making her 
F fourth section across the Atlantic. As it is now the middle of 
_ the rainy season, and as part of the course of the Challenger lies 
‘along the coast of Africa to the southward, the members of the 
__ expedition expect to be very uncomfortable for a time. On July 
y 15 a very successful month's cruise from Bahamas was com- 
_ pleted, some of the details of which we expect to be able to pub- 
lish next week. ‘‘ We are getting on first rate,” the letter 
says ; ‘‘the arrangements continue very complete and satisfac- 
tory.” 
Tue French Association for the Advancement of Science opens 
to-day at Lyons, under the presidency of M. de Quatrefages. 
Tuis year’s meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute opened on 
Monday at Liége, where the members received a most enthusi- 
astic reception. The first meeting was held at the Academic 
Hall of the University, when Mr. Lowthian Bell, the President, 
delivered a speech, in which he warmly thanked the Belgian iron- 
masters for their friendly reception, and then spoke at length on 
various technical matters. On Tuesday a second meeting was 
held, when several papers were read. It was announced that 
3 the members were invited to hold their meetings next year in 
4 the United States. Many fétes, receptions, and other entertain- 
_ ments have been got up for the members, who are also to visit 
the principal mines and iron foundries of the district, To-day 
- the members are to be received by the King of Belgium at the 
Royal Palace in Brussels. 
Tue British Archeological Association commenced its yearly 
meetings at Sheffield on Monday, under the presidency of the 
Duke of Norfolk, who entertained the members, and others, at 
dinner in the evening. The members received a hearty wel- 
come from the town, and have been visiting several places of 
interest in the neighbourhood. On Tuesday evening severa] 
papers were read in the Cutlers’ Hall on Yorkshire archzeological 
and antiquarian subjects. Among these was a paper by Mr. 
J. R. Planche, Somerset Herald, on “The Early Lords of 
Holderness,” and one by the Rey. Dr, Gatty, on “ The Town 
and Parish Church of Sheffield.” 
THE twenty-fi'th annual meeting of the Somersetshire Ar- 
chzological and Natural History Society commenced at Wells 
on Tuesday. The opening meeting was held at 12 o’clock at 
the Town Hall, the retiring president, Mr. W. A. Sanford, of 
Minehead Court, taking the chair. After a brief speech he re- 
signed the pre-idency to Lord Hervey, the Lord Bishop of the 
diocese. In the report of the Council, the following subjects, 
among others, were referred to :—The druidical circles of Stan- 
ton Drew, the chambered tumulus of Stoney Littleton and Cad- 
bury Camp have, through the influence of the Council, been 
enumerated in Sir John Lubbock’s Bul for the preservation of 
public monuments. It is proposed to purchase the castle of 
Taunton as a museum for the rapidly growing collections of the 
society; 3,000/. are wanted. Mr. Ayshford Sanford, in urging 
the purchase of Taunton Castle, mentioned that it is the oldest 
fortress of English origin in the west of which the date is cer- 
tain, It was built by King Ina, about the year 700, and has a 
Norman keep, and specimens of architectural additions of every 
date down to the Perpendicular. The earthworks are in good 
preservation, Mr, E. A. Freeman, D.C.L., in speaking on the 
question whether the next meeting should be held out of Somer- 
setshire, said the study of the Church architecture of the district 
was incomplete unless it included Sherborne Minster at one 
extremity and St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, at the other. Sher- 
borne, too, was the old bishopric out of which Wells was 
carved. After some routine business, the Bishop gave his ad- 
dress, He pointed out some peculiarities of Somersetshire as a 
q ee ee oe ae re 
NATURE 
333 
county, its many double-named places, its number of small 
holders, and the absence of any old baronial seats. 
THE Gazette d’ Augsbourg contains some interesting details in 
connection with the recent meeting at Copenhagen of the Scan- 
dinavian Scientific Congress. This is the oldest of the many 
northern societies, having been instituted at Gothembourg in 
July 1839. Among the original members are the names of 
E. H. Cérstedt, J. F. Schouw, Forchhammer, E. Fries, Nilson, 
Berzelius, Hansteen, all men of the highest eminence in their 
own departments. The meetings of this Association are held 
alternately at longer or shorter intervals, in each of the three 
Scandinavian kingdoms, at Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Chris- 
tiania, the kings of the countries always showing an active 
interest in the doings of the Association. At the recent—the 
eleventh—meeting at Copenhagen, the number of members was 
400, the President being M. Steenstrup, who delivered the 
opening address in the presence of the King and Crown Prince 
of Denmark. The meeting was divided into ten sections, in 
each of which many papers were read; general meetings were 
also held, and several excursions made to places in the neigh- 
bourhood. 
Mr. SMITH, the leader of the Daily Telegraph Assyrian Ex. 
pedition, gives in the Ze/egraph of Tuesday a number of inte- 
resting details of his work. He gives a translation of the tablet 
which relates the curious legend of the descent of Ishtar, the 
* daughter of Sin” (the moon-god), into the infernal regions. The 
boxes containing the more portable of the treasures exhumed by 
Mr. Smith have, after many hazardous adventures, safely reached 
this country. These, with several very valuable memorials pur- 
chased in Mesopo'amia by Mr, Smivh, and the expense of which 
the proprietors of the Z/egraph have very generously charged 
themselves with, are now safely lodged in the British Museum. 
The heavier articles are expected to arrive in this country very 
shortly. 
THE following among other exhibitors have received diplomas 
of honour at the Vienna Exhibition :—In the Mining Depart- 
ment : the Geological Survey Office, Calcutta. In Group 22: 
the South Kensington Museum, London, Educational matters : 
the National Educational Bureau, Washington ; Dr. Leitner, 
Lahore, India; the Government of Massachusetts; and the 
Smithsonian Institution, Boston, U.S. 
Mr. G. F. RoDWELL, Science Master in Marlborough College, 
has resigned the Lectureship on Natural Philosophy in Guy’s 
Hospital. 
WE should advise all connected “with Science teaching in 
schools connected with the Science and Art Department, to ob- 
tain a copy of the new syllabus in the following subjects, 
just issued by the Department :—Subject XIV., Animal Phy- 
siology ; XV., Zoology; XVI., Vegetable Anatomy and 
Physiology ; XVII., Systematic and Economic Bo'any, From 
the Syllabus it wiil be seen that (@) Subj-ct XIV, Animal 
Physiology, is altered in certain details. (4) Subject XV., has 
now become ‘‘ Elementary Botany,” being a modification of 
the former Subject XVII., Systematic and Economic Botany, 
(c) Subjects XVI. and XVII. together now form a new subject, 
Biology, into which the former subjects of Zoology and Vege. 
table Anatomy and Physiology are absorbed. The elementary 
stage is the same for both Subjects XVI. and XVIL., the ad- 
vanced stages of these subjects being respectively Animal Mor- 
phology and Physiology, and Vegetable Morphology and 
Physiology. As respects the existing qualifications of teachers 
for earning payments oa the results of instruction, the deduc- 
tions in those payments on account of the previous success of 
the pupil, and the prizes to the pupils—(a) Subject XIV., 
Animal Physiology, will be in no way affected by the change 
now made inthe syllabus. (4) Subject XV., Elementary Botany, 
will be treated as if it were the same as the former Subject 
