
Aug. 3, 1871] 

so. The chimera of one age is often the truism of the 
next. Let us only call upon our friends at Edinburgh, 
before they separate for another year, to take this great 
subject into consideration, and to weigh its claims on 
their activity. Many a solitary teacher will be cheered, 
many a half-abandoned scheme will be preserved and 
furthered, if not by the certainty of their support, yet 
at any rate by the knowledge of their sympathy. 

THE APPROACHING TOTAL SOLAR 
ECLIPSE 
E regret that we have, as yet, nothing very definite 
to announce in addition to what has been already 
stated with reference to the observations of the Total Solar 
Eclipse of the 12th of December next. We believe that 
an appeal is about to be made to Government, and if this 
be so, we may trust that anything that may be asked in 
the interests of Science will readily be granted by the 
Government. It is unfortunate that the Astronomer 
Royal’s official position prevents his joining in the request, 
for his experience in connection with the large expenditure 
(10,0007, has already been voted) incurred by him for the 
approaching observation of the Transit of Venus, would 
be valuable in showing the necessity for the sum now re- 
quired. This amounts only to a few hundreds in excess of 
the sum saved by the rigid economy practised by the 
Committee appointed to organis2 the arrangements con- 
nected with the late expedition. 
Wetrust that the proposed arrangements will be brought 
before the British Association, in order that the influence 
of that important body may be made to bear upon this 
matter. We have recently shown the important results 
obtained by the late observations. Itseems clear that the 
weather prospects for the approaching event are good, 
while recent calculations made by Mr. Hind show that the 
totality in Ceylon is much longer than had been at first 
imagined, amounting to as much as 2™ 11° for Trincoma- 
lee, and therefore longer in the central line a few miles 
tothe north. The accompanying map shows approxi- 
mately the shadow path over India, and gives us good 
ground for congratulating ourselves that there are already 
in that country such observers as Tennant, Pogson, Her- 
schel, Hennessy, and others, ready to occupy the best 
stations. The appeal made to Government includes funds 
for an expedition to Ceylon, under the charge of Mr. 
Lockyer, who has been requested by the Royal Astro- 
nomical Society to undertake spectroscopic observations 
there, while M. Janssen will probably take up his station 
in Java. We have already stated that a strong party 
from Melbourne and Sydney will observe in the north of 
Australia. All then is in order, provided our scientific 
leaders will put their shoulders to the wheel. 


NOTES 
Tuer American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
which meets a fortnight later than our own at Indianapolis, is 
modelled in most respects after the pattern of the parent insti- 
tution, but presents some features which the managers of our 
own Association may do well to take into consideration. The 
arrangements with regard to the opening address, sectional pro- 
ceedings, &c., are very similar, the following being the officers 
for the Indianopolis meeting :—President, Prof. Asa Gray, of 
NATURE 


259 
Cambridge ; Vice-president, Prof. George F. Barker, of New 
Haven ; Permanent Secretary, Prof. Joseph Lovering, of Cam- 
bridge; General Secretary, Mr. F. W. Putman, of Salem ; 
Treasurer, Mr. Wm. S. Vaux, of Philadelphia. Special con- 
venience will be provided for microscopists in relation to the 
exhibition and care of any instruments or apparatus, a suite of 
rooms having been secured in the State House for their special 
use. It will be remembered that the same thing was attempted 
at the Liverpool meeting, but in rather a private and unac- 
knowledged manner. Excursions are arranged to Terre Haute, 
a distance of seventy-three miles, including a visit to the cele- 
brated block coal field and blast furnaces of Clay county, and 
to New Albany on the Ohio river, where there are a number of 
interesting manufactories, among them the only finishing plate- 
glass works in the United States. Special arrangements have 
been made as to terms for the accommodation of the members of 
the Association at hotels and boarding-houses, and it is expected 
that all the railroads will carry the visitors at half fares. 
ALTHOUGH the Report of the Science and Art Department in 
the year 1870 is not yet published, we believe that the following 
chief results, taken from the Z/7zes, may be relied upon as accurate. 
The numbers who during 1870 have attended the schools, mu- 
seums, and other institutions receiving Parliamentary aid, con- 
siderably exceed those of 1869. There is a very large increase 
in the number of persons receiving instruct‘on in science applicable 
to industry, which has risen from 24,865 in 1869 to 34,283 
in 1870, or upwards of 37 per cent. At the Royal School of 
Mines there were 17 regular and 124 occasional students, at the 
Royal College of Chemistry 121 students, at the Royal School 
of Naval Architecture there were 40, and at the Metallurgical 
Laboratory 24. ‘The evening lectures at the Royal School of 
Mines were attended by 2,574 artisans, school teachers, and 
others ; and 243 science teachers attended the special courses of 
lectures provided for their instruction. At the Royal College of 
Science, Ireland, there were 17 associate or regular students and 
21 occasional students. The various courses of lectures delivered 
in connection with the department in Dublin were attended by 
1,152 persons, and at the Evening Popular Lectures, which were 
given in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art during the 
session 1869-70, there was an attendance of 1,195. The total 
number of persons who received direct instruction as studen’s or 
by means of lectures in connection with the Science and Art 
Department in 1870 was upwards of 254,000, showing an actual 
increase as compared with the number in the previous year of 
67,000, or nearly 36 per cent., and an increase in the rate of 
progress of 8 per cent.; the numbers in 1869 having been nearly 
28 per cent. higher than in 1868. The museums and collections 
under the superintendence of the department in London, Dublin, 
and Edinburgh, have been visited during the past year by 
1,847,929 persons, showing an increase of 49,087 on the number 
in 1869. As we have said before, it is impossible to over-estimate 
the importance of the work which is being done. 
THE correspondence between the Royal Commission on 
Scientific Instruction and the Adyancement of Science and the 
Science and Art Department on the subject of the transfer of the 
School of Mines to South Kensington, has been presented to 
Parliament. 
THE assertion made by a contemporary relative to the en- 
dowment at University College of a De Morgan professorship of 
mathematics, has given rise to the statement by Prof. T. 
Hewitt Key, to the effect that he now withdraws the proposal, 
not merely because it is said by the family to be at variance with 
the expressed wishes of the deceased, but more because it has 
been hinted that he has been unworthily ‘‘ using Prof. de Mor- 
gan’s name against such expressed wishes for the emolument of 
the college.” The endowment of a mathematical chair still 
remains as an object to which his best energies will be applied. 
