Nov. 23, 1882] 
NATURE 
89 
as may permit the attendance of members of the British Asso- 
ciation, either before or after their gathering at Montreal. We 
have assurances that the Government of the Dominion of 
Canada will make a liberal grant of money to defray the 
expenses of members of the British Association in crossing the 
ocean, and that the various railroad and steamboat lines in 
Canada and in the United States will offer most liberal arrange- 
ments to our guests. The Grand Trunk Railway will arrange 
for an excursion of members of the Association to the Great 
Lakes and Chicago, while the Canadian Pacifie Railroad wil] 
give an excursion to the provinces of the North-West, as far as 
the Rocky Mountains. It is believed that the British Associa- 
tion may count upon a large attendance of local members and 
associates both from the provinces of the Dominion and the 
United States. In any case, the Finance Committee are pre- 
pared to guarantee that the revenue from this source shall not 
fall below that ordinarily received by the Association. Members 
of the British Association in coming to Canada may be assured 
of a most cordial welcome and generous hospitality, not only 
from the citizens of Montreal, where every facility will be fur- 
nished for their meeting, but from the people throughout the 
country. It is hoped by the Invitation Committee that these 
assurances, and the above statement of the advantages and facili- 
ties offered them, may secure a large attendance of the members 
of the British Association at Montreal in 1884,” 
IN the sitting of the Academy of Sciences of November 20, 
M. Dumas read an arrété from the Minister of Public Instruction, 
regulating the competition for the Volta Prize, which will be 
delivered in 1887. It is expressly decreed that the competition 
be open to every nation. A report will be made by the Com- 
mission ad hoc, and published 7 extenso in the Fournal Officiel. 
At the meeting of the Paris Academy on Monday M. Dumas 
stated that at the very beginning of its work, the Academical 
Commission for the destruction of the Phylloxera proposed to 
arrange for the immediate destruction by fire of each plant 
proved to be infested. Objections were made to this scheme 
grounded on the state of French legislation on rural property, 
and the Academical Commission desisted. M. Dumas states 
that he has in hand an official report from Switzerland esta- 
blishing the soundness of the views taken by the Academy 
on this important question. The cantons of Geneva, Vaud, and 
Lucerne having resorted to the destroying process, all the vines, 
of which the value exceeds 40,000,000/., had been saved at the 
expense of a few thousand pounds. A special tax had been 
imposed on the proprietors of vines for compensation to the 
owners of the destroyed plants. 
A FIRST application has been made of the resolutions of the 
last Congress of Electricians proposing that regular observations 
should be made on earth currents during magnetical perturba- 
tion. The perturbations of November 17 have been accompanied 
in France by strong earth currents principally in the south-north 
direction. We may state, moreover, that others were observed 
on November 20, exhibiting a very great force. 
LarGE electrical disturbances have been observed in Sweden 
and Norway during last week. On Friday last all tele- 
graphic communication became for a time suspended, and at 
Stockholm and Jonk6ping central telegraph stations several 
instruments were destroyed. In Norway the electric storm was 
accompanied by thunder, a phenomenon almost unknown at 
this time of the year. 
A LARGE and enthusiastic meeting was held on Saturday 
evening last, in Trinity College, Prof. Moseley, F.R.S., in the 
chair, when the following resolution was carried unanimously :— 
‘* That it is desirable that a society should be formed for the 
purpose of bringing together the Undergraduates and Bachelors 
of Arts of the University, who are engaged in the study of 
Natural Science, for the frienaly discussion of scientific and 
other topics.” The officers and members of the new club were 
elected, Mr. Bond, B.A., being elected president, and the first 
meeting will be held in the course of next week. 
Tue Rey. T. W. Webb writes to the Zimes as follows on the 
comet :—‘‘ As it must be universally admitted that the magnifi- 
cent comet now receding from our sight is the most interesting, 
in a popular as well as scientific point of view, of any that have 
appeared for many years, will you allow me to add the record of 
a very remarkable phenomenon to the somewhat scanty details 
respecting ils aspect which have as yet been laid before the 
public? In an extremely valuable letter received by me this 
morning from a very able and careful observer, Mr. J. T. Ste- 
venson, of Auckland, it is stated that on October 6 and ro an 
‘anomalous’ tail was feebly but distinctly visible, pointing 
towards the sun. Your astronomical readers will remember that 
a similar ‘glowing wake’ attended the returning course of New- 
ton’s great comet in 1680, distinguished, like the present, by its 
close approach to the surface of the sun, and a few more cases 
might be cited. It is, however, of such infrequent occurrence, 
that another instance forms a valuable addition to our stock of 
information as to these mysterious bodies. 1 ought to mention 
that Mr. Stevenson’s letter was despatched immediately after his 
last observation, so that we may hope that, with a climate and 
position of the comet giving him great advantage over northern 
astronomers, he may have been able to trace this singular 
appendage on subsequent occasions.” 
Tue German Society for the Prevention of the Pollution of 
Rivers, the Soil, and the Atmosphere, held their fifth annual 
meeting at Brunswick on October 19 and 20 last, under the 
presidency of Prof. Reclam (Leipzig). The number of papers 
read was considerable and the attendance very large. Among 
the speakers were Burgomaster Kittmeyer (Branswick), Prof. 
Miiller (Berlin), Dr. Blasius (Brunswick), Dr. Engler (Stuttgart), 
Herr Knauff (Berlin), Dr. Gerson (Hamburg), Dr. Petri (Berlin), 
and Dr. Beckurts (Brunswick). 
WE have received from Mr, J. P. Walker, C.E., Stirling, a 
communication on the Forth Bridge, but we can hardly venture 
to insert in our columns the descriptions of Mr. Walker’s and 
other plans for such a bridge. The peculiarities of the plan 
drawn by Messrs. Fowler (chief engineer) and Baker, and the 
circumstance that it had been accepted by Commissions of Par- 
liament and of the Board of Trade, gave it great claims on our 
attention, which can scarcely be recognised as applying to any 
other proposal. 
THE Glasgow Evening Times has the credit of being the first 
daily paper, so far as we know, to introduce into its pages star- 
maps showing the aspect of the heavens at stated times. On 
November 11 it started with four such maps, and the series will 
be continued. There are full instructions as to the meaning and 
use of the maps, and we have no doubt they will be the me uns 
of leading many people to form a practical acquaintance with 
astronomy, 
Tue first number of the American Fournal of Forestry bearing 
date October last has just reached us. It is edited by Franklin 
B. Hough, Ph.D., Chief of Forestry Division U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, and has as contributors an array of well known 
names connected with forestry matters in America, The journal 
in size and shape corresponds with the Fournal of Forestry pub- 
lished in this country, and edited by Mr. F. G. Heath. It is 
not, however, so tastefully got up, though the printing and the 
character of the art cles are very similar. The contents of the 
number before us, for instance, are, after the Editorial 
“ Announcement,” a paper on ‘‘ Forestry in Michigan,”’ one on 
“Larch Wood,” one on the ** Forestry of the Future,” by the 
Editor, on ‘‘ Forest Fires,” on the ‘‘ American Forest Congress, 
and the usual ‘ Miscellany.” The forests in America are so 
