Dec. 21, 1882] 
NATURE 
18t 
THE annual meeting for the distribution of prizes and certi- 
ficates in connection with the Institute for the Advancement of 
Technical Education was held on Thursday night in the hall of 
the Goldsmiths’ Company, Foster Lane. After the presentation 
of the prizes, Dr. Siemens said that Sir Frederick Bramwell had 
prevailed upon him to present the prizes on this occasion, and 
had urged that he wasa fit personto doso. The distinction 
made betwen ordinary and honour prizes, marking the addition 
of some scientific knowledge to proficiency in applied science, 
was worth the attention of all students. It was not sufficient for 
after-life to be efficient in a craft or calling. Unless the work- 
man also mastered entirely the scientific principles underlying 
that calling, he might, in consequence of some invention changing 
the modus operandi in an occupation, be left high and dry, 
whereas with a knowledge of fundamental principles he could 
adapt himself to changed circumstances. With regard to the 
school in Cowper Street, he might say, having recently visited 
it, that the lecture rooms and the laboratory for physical science 
and chemistry were the most perfect he had seen, and he con- 
trasted them with those in which he had himself received scien- 
tific instruction. He remarked upon a deficiency he had noticed 
in the Finsbury School—the indifferent accommodation and pro- 
vision for the study of drawing, both artistic and mechanical. 
He hoped that art and literature would not be neglected in this 
scheme of education. Dr. Siemens said he hoped that through 
the dissemination of pure and practical science a higher spirit 
would take possession of the artisan, and that he would work 
with the object of attaining higher results and higher ends 
instead of discussing with his employer questions of hours and 
wages. 
THE American papers have been devoting con iderable space 
to Prof. Henry Draper, whore comparatively early death is 
regarded as a great loss to American Science. The 77zdune has 
a long and interesting biographical article. 
Mr. A. E, GArrop has published, through Parker and Co., 
his able and elaborate paper, re-written, on ‘‘ Nebulz,” which 
gained the Johnson Memorial Prize (Oxford) in 1879, 
ONE of the largest avalanches ever known in Western 
Switzerland fell a few days ago near Ormons Dessus in Canton 
Vaud. It carried away several houses, piled up a mass of ice 
and snow 200 feet thick, and covered three square kilometres of 
ground, Some of the ice blocks were 18 feet long. The 
inmates of the houses struck were got out safely. 
NEAR Tabiana (Italy) the remains of a fossil elephant have 
been discovered. Two enormous tusks, two teeth, and several 
bones from the skull were found. The objects found were 
submitted to scientific investigation by Prof. Strobel and Dr. 
Mariotti of Parma, They declared them to belong to Elephas 
(Loxodon) meridionalis, Falconer. The tusks measure 3°2 metres 
in length, and 0°28 metres in diameter at the thickest part. The 
skull bones were so much decayed that they could not be removed. 
It was resolved, therefore, to cover up the remains with earth 
until next summer, when it is hoped that warmer weather will 
be more favourable to further excavations. 
DuRING a stay near the Suez Canal last winter, Prof. Keller 
of Zurich made a study of the animal migrations due to the 
opening of this means of communication. These are very 
positive, though certain causes quite stop some species, or at 
least retard their movements, especially (1) the too sandy nature 
of the ground; (2) the large lakes; (3) the currents; (4) the 
passage of ships, which derange the ova and larve ; (5) the too 
great saltness of the canal water. From the Mediterranean to 
Suez have passed since 1870, Solen vulgaris, Umbrina cirrhosa, 
Labrax lupus, Balanus miser, Ascidia intestinalis, Some Medi- 
terranean species are now on their way through (So/ea vagina, 
Cardium edule, Spheroma), several fishes (Pristipona stridens, 
Crenidens Forskali, &c.), and some molluscs (Cerithium sca- 
bridum, Mactya olorina, Mytilus variabilis) have passed from the 
Red Sea to the Mediterranean, while quite a numerous ‘‘cara- 
van” is now resting in the basins of the great Bitter Lakes. 
The fauna of the canal is still too poor for large carnivorous 
species to find a living in it; hence rays, cuttlefishes, &c., 
do not migrate, Red Sea corals also have not passed into the 
canal. 
THE Overland China Mail gives an account, taken from the 
Manila papers, of the typhoon which visited the Philippine 
Islands on October 20, The typhoon began at eight o’clock in 
the morning, and continued with unabated fury until about two 
o'clock in the afternoon. Not a house in Manila escaped injury. 
During the storm it was utterly impossible to walk in the streets, 
owing to the force of the wind, which was rolling carriages 
along like playthings, and keeping sheets of iron roofing floating 
in the air like pieces of paper. It is said that during the 
typhoon several shocks of earthquake were felt. No such de- 
structive typhoon has visited the islands since 1831. The record 
taken at the Observatory says that the greatest velocity attained 
by the anemometers reached 144°4 English miles per hour; 
nothing could resist this force of wind, The vortex was 
touched at 11°40 a.m., when the minimum barometer reached 
727 60 willimetres. The greatest vi.lence of the hurricane 
could not be indicated, because all the anemometers were ren- 
dered useless before the severest gusts came. 
THE eleventh annual soi7ée and exhibition of the Lambeth 
Field Club and Scientific Society will take place on Monday 
evening, January 1, 1883, at St. Philip’s Schools, Kennington 
Road, S.E. 
Pror. GUSTAV VON HAYEK, an eminent Vienna naturalist, is 
editing a large Atlas of Natural History. Five parts have 
appeared, and the work will be complete in fifteen. Each part 
contains eight plates folio size. Moritz Perles, of Vienna and 
Leipzig, is the publisher. 
“MyTHOLOGIE und Civilisation der Nordamerikanischen 
Indianer”’ is the title of a little work just completed by Herr 
Karl Knortz, and published by Paul Frohberg of Leipzig. 
A VIOLENT shock of earthquake was felt at Siders (Canton 
Valais) on December 5 at 3.40 p.m. ; the direction of the shock 
was from east to west. 
THE French Lower House has adopted the project of sub- 
terranean telegraphic lines, which had elicited some criticism. 
ON the 2nd inst. Dr. Finsch, who recently returned to Berlin, 
after an absence of over three and a half-years, reported upon 
his travels before the Geographical Society of Berlin. He first 
proceeded to Micronesia in order to study the ethnology of the 
rapidly disappearing natives of those groups of islands, From 
Honolulu he proceeded to Oahu, where he visited the old burial- 
grounds. At Maui he succeeded in obtaining a specimen of a 
bird that is very nearly extinct, and from the scarlet feathers of 
which formerly the royal mantles were made. In March 1880 
he accompanied the German Consul, Herr Hernheim, to the 
Caroline group, and saw the ruins of the celebrated colcssal 
edifices there. In July Dr. Finsch proceeded to New Britain. 
He stayed there for eight months, and then went to visit the 
Maoris in New Zealand. At the beginning of 1882 he pro- 
ceeded to New Guinea, in August he left for Batavia and then 
for Europe, having travelled over 30,000 miles. THis collections 
comprise 4000 ethnological objects from 43 localities, 290 skulls, 
200 samples of hair, 200 casts of faces taken from living 
individuals in 66 different places, 6000 vertebrata, 30,000 in- 
yertebrata, 1000 plants, numerous minerals, 400 photographs, 
and 200 sketches. 
