Aug. 4, 1870] 
the Queen’s University, Ireland; and 2,915/. for the Queen’s 
Colleges, Ireland. The total educational estimate for the year 
was stated by Mr. Forster to be 914,721, being a net increase 
of 74,010/. over that of last year. ‘The day scholars in average 
attendance have increased from 1,082,000 to 1,200,000. There 
are 223 more male and 104 more female teachers than last year. 
Since 1868 the number of Science schools has increased from 300 
to 810, and the number of scholars is now nearly 30,000 ; the 
number of scholars in Art has increased since last year from 
123,562 to 157,198. The increase in the number of scholars in 
the regular schools is stated to be in excess of the increase of 
‘population. ‘These statistics are interesting, as showing that the 
increased desire for education in the country at least keeps pace 
_ with the advance of opinion among the goyerning classes in favour 
of a truly national system of education, The query whether pre- 
vention is better than cure is forcibly suggested by three other 
votes which were passed on the same night :—315,627/. for con- 
yict establishments in England and the colonies, 203,880/. for 
the maintenance of juvenile prisoners in reformatories, and 
643,070/. for the constabulary force in Ireland. When shall we 
arrive at the pitch of civilisation of one of the Swiss Cantons, 
where the expenditure for educational purposes exceeds that for 
all other purposes put together ? 
"ae 
WE learn from the last report of the Geological Survey of 
Italy (R. Comitato Geologico) that that body will publish a 
geological map of Italy on the scale of 1 to 600,000 during the 
course of next year. The map is that which was compiled by 
Professor I. Cocchi in 1867 and sent tothe Universal Exhibition 
in Paris. It was a hand-coloured map, the Ordnance map of 
Upper and Central Italy in six sheets being used as a basis. In 
compiling this map Professor Cocchi made use of all the pub- 
lished and unpublished materials that he could find. The most 
southern provinces of the Peninsula and Sicily were not however 
represented, for although notes and papers on their geology were 
not wanting, that part of the kingdom had not been mapped 
geologically. ‘The new map will be divided into four sheets, and 
new plates will be engraved copying the topography of the 
“Ordnance map, and introducing such modifications and improve- 
_ ments as may be deemed necessary for the new object to which 
} the map is to be applied. The colouring will be done by chromo- 
lithography. Accompanying the map there will be a short 
_ descriptive memoir and two geological sections, one along the 
length and the other across the breadth of the country. 
' 
> 
M. DrAMILLaA-MULLER calls upon all directors of magnetical 
observatories to observe the declination and inclination every ten 
minutes from midnight 29th of August (Paris time), to the next 
midnight, and send the results to him at the bureaux of the 
Association Scientifique de France. He adds, ‘On croyait 
generalement que le soleil agissait indirectement par suite des 
changements de température qu'il produit a la surface de la terre. 
Javais déja présenté Vhypothese, basée sur les observations 
d’Arago, tendant 4 établir que Vaction directe du soleil sur le 
magnétisme est absolument semblable a l’action d’un aimant sur 
le fer. Cette thcorie est confirmée par les observations faites 
dans les Colonies anglaises, ott l’on remarque l’opposition de 
signe que le changement de deéclinaison du soleil imprime aux 
courbes qui représentent la variation magnétique dans les pays 
tropicaux. Il est nécessaire de constater, par une observation 
directe, que cette loi d’opposition, en rapport avec la déclinaison 
solaire, s’exerce dans toutes les régions du globe.” 
Pror. LioNEL BEALE’s inaugural lecture to the course of 
Pathological Anatomy, delivered at King’s College, May 5th, 
1870, is issued as a separate publication, with the title ‘‘On 
‘Medical Progress ; in memoriam R. B. Todd.” 
_ “HE third part is published of Dr. Manzoni’s ‘‘ Bryozoi fossili 
Italiani,” accompanied by four plates. 
NATURE 
283 
ANOTHER contribution to astronomical literature lies on our 
table, in the shape of the second volume of ‘‘ Astronomical 
Observations taken during the years 1865-69, at the private 
Observatory of Mr. J. G. Barclay, of Leyton.” 
Mr. KEITH JOHNSTON, jun., publishes, in his usual ad- 
mirably clear style, a map of the Lake Region of Eastern Africa, 
showing the sources of the Nile, recently discovered by Dr. 
Livingstone ; with notes on the exploration of this region, its 
physical features, climate, and population. 
ON VOLCANOES* 
JOLCANOES are but so many existing proofs of the activity 
of internal forces at the present moment, and, as a geologist, 
I may be almost pardoned if I regret that we do not in our happy 
isles possess even a single example of an active volcano. 
As regards the geographical distribution of recent volcanoes, 
a glance at the geological map of the world will suffice to show 
that they are in reality scattered all over its surface, yet, it may 
be added, more rarely occurring at any great distance from the 
sea, although exceptional instances are met with inland, in all the 
four quarters of the globe. 
In the North we find the volcanoes of Iceland, Jan Meyen, 
Kamskatca, Alaska, and others ; whilst the Antarctic voyages of 
Ross proved that the mountains of the land nearest accessible to 
the South Pole were also active volcanoes. 
At the equator, all but innumerabie volcanoes are seen in the 
islands of the Indian and Polynesian Archipelagos, as well as in 
the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and on the main land of South 
America. Midway between the Equator and the Poles are 
situated the volcanoes of New Zealand, the Canaries, Cape Verde, 
Azores, and Sandwich Islands, as also those of Arabia, Eastern 
Africa, Mexico, Central America, and the volcanoes of the whole 
range of the Andes down to Terra del Fuego. Nearer home, 
Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli, Santorin, and numerous others in the 
Mediterranean, if not so grand in their dimensions as some of 
those previously referred to, still present on the large scale all 
the various aspects of voleanic phenomena, both submarine as 
well as terrestrial. 
If now, however, we take a broader view of volcanic pheno- 
mena, and, in addition to the before-mentioned still existing 
proofs of the general distribution of volcanic centres, as they have 
been termed, we also take into consideration the occurrence of 
eruptive rocks of similar origin which are everywhere found 
disturbing and breaking through the strata of even the oldest 
rock formations, it will be seen, as least as far as the geology of 
the earth’s surface is at present known to us, that there is scarcely 
a single area of any magnitude, of either the land or sea, which, 
at some period or other, has not been broken through or dis- 
turbed by what may be termed volcanic forces acting from within 
the mass of the earth itself; and it is impossible to come to 
other than the conclusion that these agencies must have played a 
most important part in determining the main features of ‘the 
earth’s external configuration as well in our times as throughout 
all periods of its history. 
If now the question be asked, what is a volcano? the simplest 
reply would be ‘‘a hole in the ground deep enough to reach such 
portions of the interior of the earth as are in a molten 
condition.” 
In ordinary language, however, the appellation of volcano is 
usually restricted to those cone-shaped mountains, from the 
hollow summit of which flames, smoke, and vapours are at 
times seen to asceid, and which occasionally break out into 
more imposing activity by vomiting forth showers of ashes and 
fragments of incandescent rock, or by pouring out torrents of 
molten stone, to deluge and devastate the unfortunate country in 
the vicinity. 
It haying always been admitted that volcanoes owed their 
origin to forces operating from below, it was suggested by Von 
Buch, and supported by Humboldt and others, that volcanic 
cones must be formed by some portion of the surface of the earth, 
weaker than the rest, being forced out, or, as it were, thrown up 
like a soap-bubble by the pressure of the vapour and gases con- 
fined below, the strata being thereby elevated, fractured, and 
tilted up on all sides, so as to produce a conical eleyation, the 
central fissure in which became a crater or vent for the escape 
and passage of the gaseous and liquid emanations from below. 
* Outline of a Lecture delivered at St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, 
goth June, 1870, by David Forbes, F.R.S. 
