ca) 
% 
74 

culturists, and practical foresters of Scotland. In the present 
volume are a number of practical essays on various points of tree 
cultivation, and for the current year no fewer than nineteen prizes 
are offered, the competition for some being limited to working 
foresters and woodmen. 
REFERRING to the statement of the disappearance of Aurora 
Tsland (one of the New Hebrides group), recently printed in the 
American newspapers, Mr. Tryon exhibited to the Conchological 
Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, at 
their meeting on January 5th, two species of shells from the 
collection, supposed to be peculiar to this island, remarking that 
in the event of the reported submergence of the island being con- 
firmed, these must be classed among the lost species. In his 
report on the mollusca collected by Wilkes’s U.S. Exploring 
Expedition, we learn from the American Naturalist, Dr. Gould 
gives the following account of Aurora Island :—“ The little island 
of Metia, or Aurora Island, to the northeastward of Tahiti, is 
one of peculiar interest. It is a coral island which has been 
elevated two hundred and fifty feet or more, and has no other 
high island near it. On it were found four small land shells 
belonging to three genera, viz., Helix pertenuis, Helix Dedalea, 
Partula pusilla, and Telicina trochlea. None of these were found 
upon any other island. They seem to have originated there, after 
the elevation of the island, and have a significant bearing upon 
the question of local and periodical creations in comparatively 
modem times.” 
Tn these high-pressure days, it is astonishing what a saving in 
money and temper results from an exact punctuality. One would 
have thought that in every town which possesses a railway station, 
precise London time would be kept by the public clocks. This, 
however, appears to be by no means the case. To remedy this 
inconyenien-e, we notice that the Rev. H. Cooper Key i; urging 
on the authorities of Hereford the importance of a daily time 
signal, preferring a time-gun to the dropping of a ball, as more 
certain to arrest attention. Certainly every town of the size of 
Hereford ought to have some means of keeping correct time. 
A sLiGHT shock of earthquake was felt in Salvador in 
Central America on the 24th March, rm 45™. On the night 
of the 3oth there were two shocks, with the sky clear and 
the moon bright. The Salvador earthquake very nearly coincides 
with two very severe shocks felt all over the Republic of Chile 
on the 25th March. Since then other shocks have been felt. 
In Valparaiso the first earthquake occurred at 11.5 A.M. and 
lasted about a minute, there being no previous noise. A little 
after 12 a slight shock was experienced, another shortly after 1, 
and at 5.30 P.M., a shock asstrongas that of the morning ; walls 
were cracked. 
ON the 26th March there were slight shocks of earthquake at 
Arequipa, in Peru. 
WE have been favoured by the president of the Halifax (Nova 
Scotia) Institute of Natural Science with a report of their most 
recent meetings, which will be found in another column. We 
congratulate the Institute on the good work done by its mem- 
bers in illustrating the natural history, past and present, of the | 
colony. 
THE Jioneer of Allahabad contains a communication on 
snake bites. The writer is inclined to believe 
About three years ago he saw a bullock which had been bitten 
by a snake and was lying prostrate on the ground retching. 
Having heard from an old Brahmin that aniseed soonf was a 
remedy, he was induced to try it. He mixed aniseed 2 chittacks, 
pepper 4, aniseed leaves 1, aniseed bark 1. This was 
administered internally with great difficulty down the bullock’s 
throat and externally. Ina few minutes the bullock lifted his 
ead, in an hour he stood up and began to chew, and in two hours 
gent. 
oa 
there is no | ingly 
antidote, but he thinks it useful to put on record an experiment. | Palcex 
NATURE 
| boundless interest—the Science of Palzontology. 

[May 25, 1871 
PROF. WYVILLE THOMSON’S INTRODUCTORY 
LECTURE AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY * 
T is too often the first duty of a professor on taking office, to 
lament the loss of a predecessor who has lately left a blank 
in the ranks of literature or of science. I am happily relieved 
from this sad task, for although my friend, Dr. Allman, has 
found it necessary to retire from the active duties which he has 
performed so well for many years, his retirement may be looked 
upon as in a certain sense a gain to science, since he now enjoys 
a greater amount of leisure to carry on those admirable researches 
in one of the most difficult and obscure provinces of biology, 
which have already placed his name high on the roll of those 
who have added to the store of human knowledge. Although I 
sincerely trust it may be long before the inevitzble time arrives 
for summing up the labours of George Ailman, I believe I may 
be pardoned if I say a few words about the nature and method 
of his work, for there is no sounder example which I can cite for 
your emulation and my own. While keeping pace with the 
rapid advance of knowledge, and contributing to the general 
literature of biology the intelligent commentaries and criticisms 
of an accomplished teacher, Dr. Allman has steadily pursued for 
many years one special line of research. Whatever he takes up 
he works out thoroughly and well. His results are fearlessly 
quoted in all languages as entirely reliable. His straightforward 
statements and exact descriptions are warped by no preconceived 
theories, and need no revision or corroboration, and his beautiful 
drawings are as true to nature as the objects themselves. 
No one appreciates more than I do the value of well-founded 
generalisations. They are the silken threads on which the pearls 
of truth are strung, and without them we could never realise the 
full beauty of the gems, their relative value, and their subtle 
harmonies in form and lustre and tone of colouring ; but the first 
thing is to dive for the pearls, and a good pearl-diver is im- 
mortal ! 
There is another matter to which I wish to refer, and I do so 
with unmixed pleasure—the appointment of my friend Prof. 
Geikie to a separate Chair of Physical Geology and Mineralogy 
in the University. You are all aware that it is to the munifi- 
cence of Sir Roderick Murchison that this most valuable addi- 
tion to our teaching staff is due. Sir Roderick Murchison is a 
Scotchman who has done more to advance the knowledge of 
geological and geographical science than any other man living. 
It is needless for me to speak in terms of eulogy of this last 
benefit which he has conferred upon the cause of scientific in- 
struction in his native country, but I could not from feelings of 
personal gratitude allow this opportunity to pass of saying that it 
is to Sir Roderick Murchison that I owe my first encouragement 
and assistance in Natural Science ; and, like all who have re- 
ceived favours at his hands, I have found him a kind and steady 
friend through life. 
We have now in the University three distinct departments of 
Natural Science, and as it taxes any man’s energies to the utmost 
to keep up with the rapid advance of any one of them, it is of incal- 
culable advantage that their teaching should be in different hands. 
Broadly speaking, Prof. Geikie now takes the inorganic king- 
dom of Nature, while Dr. Balfour and I divide biological 
science between us—Dr. Balfour taking the vegetable kingdom, 
and I the animal kingdom chiefly. The three subjects, however, 
meet and inosculate at every point, and the more one branch 
derives illustration from the other the better. This is especially 
the case with reference to Physical Geology, and the two de- 
partments of biology go between them, and demand full 
illustration from each. A mass of facts has of late years been 
developed, which group themselves into a special science of 
Still there 
can be no doubt that Paleontology is simply the biology of the 
present carried back continuously into the past. I will accord- 
with Prof. Geikie’s full concurrence, incorporate pure 
Palzeozoology with my Zoology course, and my colleague, Prof. 
Balfour, will doubtless do the same by Palzeophytology ; and 
we ‘shall both materially trespass upon the domain of Prof, 
Geikie for the necessary illustration which his special subject 
affords, fully aware that he must make even heavier requisitions 
upon us. 
Gentlemen, I have already alluded to the division of the 
Natural Science group of subjects into three—the study of inor- 
ganic nature from a natural history point of view, and the study 
* Introductory Lecture to the Natural History Class, By Prof. Wyville 
Thomson, LL D., D.Sc., F.R.S. 
