496 
NATURE 
| March 22, 1883 
art of Pheidias; Prof. Tyndall, three lectures on Count Rum- 
ford, originator of the Royal Institution; Mr. R. J. Poole, 
three lectures on recent discoveries in (1) Egypt, (2) Chaldza 
and Assyria, (3) Cyprus and Asia Minor; Mr. A, Geikie, six 
lectures on geographical evolution; and Prof, C. E. Turner, 
four lectures on historical sketches of Rus:ian social life. The 
discourses on the Friday evenings will be as follows :—April 6, 
Dr. Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., The Cajions of the Far West ; 
April 13, Dr. Waldstein, The influence of athletic games on 
Greek art; April 20, Prof. Bayley Balfour, The island of 
Socotra and its recent revelations; April 27, Dr. C. William 
Siemens, F.R.S., Some of the questions involved in solar 
physics ; May 4, Robert H. Scott, F.R.S., Weather knowledge 
in 1883; May 11, Prof. Huxley, V.P.R.S., Oysters and the 
oyster question ; May 18, Prof. C. E. Turner, of the University 
of St. Petersburg, Kustarnoe proiezvodstro: or, the peculiar 
system of domestic industry in the villages of Russia; May 25, 
Prof. Flower, F.R.S., Whales, present and jast, and their 
probable origin ; June 1, Frederick Pollock, LL.D., The sword : 
its forms and its history; June 8, Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. 
In reference to the course of ten lectures on physiological 
discovery, to be given at the Royal Institution on Tuesdays, 
beginnirg April 3, by Prof. J. G. McKendrick, we may say that 
the object of the course will be to trace the progress of physio- 
logical research from about the beginning of the sixteenth century 
to recent times, and more especially along those lines which have 
led to great results. Admitting that the deepest foundation of 
physiological science is 2 knowledge of structure, both of organ 
and of tissue, it will be the aim to show how physiology has 
gradually attempted to solve some of its problems by the 
methods of physics and of chemistry, and has thus become a 
branch of experimental science. The method followed will be 
to describe briefly the lives of the great discoverers, to indicate 
the influence of contemporary science on their ideas and opinions, 
and to show how their labours have brought us to our present 
position. As far as possible, the fundamental experiments of 
discoverers will be shown or illustrated, and these will be 
compared with present methods. 
Baron NoRDENSKJOLD, having inspected the Royal Mail 
Steamer Sofiia, which the Government have asked the Swedish 
Parliament to lend for his expedition to Greenland, finds that the 
vessel is not large enough to carry the quantities of coals and 
provisions required, although very suitable in other respects. He 
has therefore decided that a vessel shall be despatched from 
Denmark with these requisites, and depots established in con- 
venient places on the coast. ‘The SefAza will be overhauled and 
fitted for her voyage in Gothenburg, and as her commander 
Capt. Nilsson, of that city, has been selected. 
THE position of the Lena Meteorological Station is 73° 22’ 30” 
N, lat. and 126° 34’ 55” E. long. The house erected there for 
the observers is reported to be quite comfortable, and the health 
of the expedition is satisfactory. 
THE group of fishing Chukches, which Baron Nordenskjold 
has prepared from materials collected in the Vega expedition for 
the coming Fisheries Exhibition, is now on view in Stockholm. 
Wirth the completion of the buildings in which the varied 
collection of the great International Fisheries Exhibition is to be 
housed, the preparatory work of the executive committee is 
drawing to an end. Not much remains to be done to the build- 
ings which now almost cover the southern half of the Horticul- 
tural Society’s gardens, and the nature and distribution of the 
exhibits may now be approximately given. Before handing over 
to the care of representatives of the colonies and of foreign 
Powers the places allotted to their countries, the committee 
on Friday invited members of both Houses of Parliament 
and their friends to see the buildings. To add to the in. 
terest of the aquaria, Lord Walsingham has offered to let off a 
lake, of about seventy-two acres in extent, on-his estate at 
Merton, in Norfolk, and to send all the fish worth forwarding 
alive, and besides pike, perch, tench, and other coarse fish, he 
promises 10co specimens of the celebrated golden tench. Addi- 
tional value will be given to the natural history department by 
the exhibition in a building near the new Natural History 
Museum of the fine collection of fish preserved in spirit now to 
be brought from Bloomsbury. In order to make the exhibition 
as truly popular as could be desired, it will be kept open in the 
evening, and brilliantly lighted by electricity. 
AT the installation of Mr. Bright to-day as Lord Rector of 
Glasgow Univer-ity, the degree of LL.D. will be conferred on 
Dr. Joseph H. Gilbert, F.R.S., and Prof, Fleeming Jenkin. 
On February 26 there was discovered in the snow in several 
places in Trondhjem Amt, in North Norway, a fine dust, 
which, it was believed, originated from the Iceland volcanoes, 
such an occurrence having taken place in1876. Dr. H. Reusch, 
of the Mineralogical Faculty of Christiania University, having 
examined the samples forwarded to him, now states, however, 
that the dust is not of an eruptive nature, but consists of common 
sand, fine stones, quartz, hornblende, and talc, mixed with very 
fine particles of vegetable matter. The phenomenon is never- 
theless very remarkable, as the dust must have been carried a 
very long distance, the whole of the country having for months 
been covered with deep snow. The dust fell over a district of 
several degrees. The wind blew strongly from north-north- 
west. 
ON the night of the 4th inst. there was observed in Gestrike- 
land, in Sweden, a display of aurora borealis, the extent, vivid- 
ness, and magnitude of which, it is reported, has not been 
observed in that country for years. An interesting feature of 
the phenomenon was that the big clouds, which from time to 
time passed below the aurora, did not in the slightest degree 
affect the phenomenon. 
A TELEGRAM from Messina states that on the afternoon of 
March 20 a shower of small stones began to‘fall, proceeding 
from an eruption of Mount Etna, The atmosphere was thick 
and dark. 
Prog. VIRCHOw has started on a journey to Sicily, whither 
he goes for archzeological purposes. He contemplates returning 
in two months. 
A COMMUNICATION from Dr, Joule, F.R.S., was read at a 
recent meeting of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 
Society, on the use of lime as a purifier of the products of com- 
bustion of coal gas. The slaked lime is placed ina vessel the 
bottom of which, about one foot diameter, is slightly domed and 
perforated with fine holes. The vessel is suspended about six 
inches above the burner. It is found that a stratum of four or 
five inches of lime is sufficient to remove the acid vapours so far 
as to prevent them from reddening litmus paper, The lime 
seems in many respects to present important advantages over the 
zine previously recommended. 
Mr. Extis Lever has offered a prize of 500/. for a new 
miners’ safety lamp, and has requested the Council of the 
Society of Arts to appoinl! one of the judges to award the prize. 
In accordance with this request, the Council have appointed 
Prof. F. A. Abel, C.B., F.R.S. 
AN enormous aérolite fell on February 16, a little before 
3 p-m., in a ploughed field near Alfianello, between Cremona 
and Brescia, sinking more than one metre in the ground, and 
producing a rumbling noise, heard twenty kilometres off, and a 
