
< 
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Sept. 21, 1871] 
NATURE 
417 

will be given on Geology, by Mr. J. Logan Lobley; on 
the Use of the Microscope, by Mr. J. Slade; and on Phy- 
siolozy, by Mr. J. Beswick Perrin. Students entering for the 
course on Geology will have the privilege of attending the ordi- 
nary and field meetings of the Geologists’ Association. Among 
the Saturday General Lectures one will be delivered by Prof. W. 
H. Flower, of the Royal College of Surgeons. No more useful 
work could be performed than that so generously offered by 
these gentlemen, who give up their time to the scientific instruc- 
tion of the working classes in London. We venture at least to 
predict that they will be rewarded by intelligent and appreciative 
audiences. 
Dr. ALLEYNE NICHOLSON, late Lecturer on Natural History 
in the Medical School of Edinburgh, has been appointed to 
the Chair of Natural History in the University of Toronto. 
A SPECIAL prize was established a few years ago by the French 
Academy, for the best translation delivered to that body. 
This prize was awarded in the sitting of the 17th of August 
to the author of a translation of Mr. Grote’s ‘History of 
Greece,” published by Lacroix. Mr. Grote was an associate 
member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. 
Letvrers from Switzerland state that M. Gerlach, a distin- 
guished Swiss engineer and geologist, was fatally injured on the 
7th in a fall from the mountains of the Upper Valais, and died 
next day in the village of Oberwald- The deceased gentleman 
was the author of several remarkable works relative to surveys 
and explorations in the Swiss Alps. 
THE 7imes of India, of August 22, asserts that news has been 
received from Zanzibar that Dr. Livingstone had again been 
heard of to the west of Lake Tanganyika, whence he had sent to 
Ujjiji, requesting his supplies to be forwarded. A young Ameri- 
carrying relief to the traveller. 
ever, to want confirmation. 
The intelligence appears, how- 
Tue Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers publish a 
list of forty-three special subjects, on which they invite communica- 
tions for the approaching session, as well as upon others ; such as : 
‘‘a Authentic details of the progress of any work in Civil 
Engineering, as far as absolutely executed (Smeaton’s Account 
of the Eddystone Lighthouse may be taken as an example). 0. 
Descriptions of engines and machines of various kinds. c. 
Practical essays on subjects connected with Engineering, as, for 
instance, Meta'lurgy. d. Details and results of experiments 
or observations connected with Engineeriny Science and Practice. 
For approved original communications, the Council will be pre- 
pared to award the premiums arising out of special funds devoted 
for the purpose. 
THE Maidstone Journal mentions that an educational effort of 
considerable promise is about to be made in that town, Several 
gentlemen have arranged to conduct junior classes during the 
evenings of the winter months, the subject being Physical 
Geography, Three hundred pupils from the senior classes of 
schools in Maidstone have already entered. The course will 
consist of thirty lectures, and the pupils will be educated up to 
the standard of the Educational Department at South Ken- 
sington. The lectures will be free. 
Pror. Hux ry has been lately engaged in rspecting and 
arranging the valuable reptilian and other remains from the 
Upper Elgin sandstones now placed in the Dundee Museum 
He has also been superintending some excavations at Lossie- 
mouth, ia order, if possible, to obtain materials for completing 
the structure of the huge Saurian, Stagonolapis Robertsoni, a full 
account of which is expected to appear before the Royal Society 
shortly, 
A FEW years ago the existence of anew Tapir on the Isthmus 
of Panama was first made known by American naturalists. 
| some very interesting discoveries. 
This animal departs so widely from the ordinary American 
Tapir in certain anatomical characters (particularly in the pos- 
session of a completely ossified septum between the nostrils, as 
in the Tichorhine Rhinoceros) that Prof. Gill (its describer) 
thought it necessary to make it the type of a new genus, call- 
ing it Llasmognathus Bairdi, after the distinguished assistant 
secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The Zoological Society 
of London have just added to their living collection a fine 
young male specimen of that animal, which has been placed 
in the elephant house along with an example of the Zapzrus 
americanus. 
Tue German surveying ship, the Pomerania, returned from 
her cruise in the Baltic on the 24th of. August, after making 
She crossed the Baltic in 
different directions several times, and during these journeys 
soundings were carefully taken, the bottom was dredged, and 
the surface and deep-water currents observed, and the tempera- 
ture of the water at the surface and at some depth was also 
carefully noted. These results will shortly be published in full, 
but a few details have already appeared. The greatest depth 
between Gothland and Windau was found to be 720 feet, and 
not 1,110 feet as formerly supposed. At the depth of from 600 
to 720 feet, at the latter end of July, the temperature was only 
from 0°5° to 2° R. No marine plants were met with in this cold 
area, and only afew annelids were dredged up. Life was very 
abundant to a depth of about 300 feet, whilst plants were seldom 
found at a depth of more than 30 feet. Both animal and vege- 
table life were found to be most abundant on the coasts of Meck- 
lenburg-Schleswig and Holstein and in the bay of Liibeck. 
As an addition to the list of exploring expeditions tending 
either directly or indirectly to develop a knowledge of the 
natural and physical features of the North American continent, 
Harper's Weekly states that a party of civil engineers has lately 
been organised at Victoria to survey a route for a proposed rail- 
road through British Columbia and the Red River country to 
Canada. This is stated to be provided with ample means forthe 
purpose of making a minute geographical reconnoissance of the 
country, and is expected to add much to our knowledge of the 
gencral geo!ogy of the continent. 
GreaT geological changes are reported from the districts 
adjoining the Caspian Sea and the nver Ural. Dumng the last 
ten years the surf.ce of the water in the river has sunk more 
han a foot, and many bogs on the North Eastern ccas: of the 
Caspian have en irely disappeared The delta of the Ural has 
diminished from nineteen to five bran-hes, and whereas it for- 
merly occupied one hundred versts, it now occupies only seyen. 
Many islands have become joined to the mainland, and large 
sandbanks have been formed at the mouth of the river. The 
town of Guryer, formerly on the sea coast, is now six versts in- 
land, 
WE have now full details of the severe cyclone which visited 
Antigua, St. Kitts, St Bartholomew, St. Martins, Tortola, St. 
Thomas, and Porto Rico, on the 21-t of August. The heaviest 
gusts of wind were felt at St Thomas between 4.30 and 5 P.m., 
ind about § o’clock there was a sudden calm; the centre of the 
cyclone then passing over the island, and by 7 the violence of 
the wind had ceased. The damage done in all these islands is 
excessive ; in St. Thomas the losses are returned at forty-two 
persons killed, seven-nine seriously injured, and 420 houses com- 
pletely destroyed. At Antigua the cyclone was very severe, 
cighty persons are reported ki led, and several hundred wounded. 
Scarcely a house or plantation in the island has escaped damage. 
Every place is ‘*bleak, bare, and desolate.” No confirmitory 
uecounts are gven of the earthquake shocks said in the first 
telegram to have accompanied the cyclone ; they are probably 
due only to exaggeration. 
