Ang. 18, 1870] 
NADLORE, 
aot 
what branches of science? 1. Health. What is the best method 
of disposing of sewage and excreta? 2. What modifications are 
desirable in the existing sanitary laws and administration? 3. 
What legislative measures ought to be taken to prevent the 
adulteration of food, drink, and drugs? 
THE British Medical Association will meet next year at Ply- 
mouth, under the presidency of Mr. Whipple, consulting surgeon 
to the Plymouth Infirmary. 
WE have received the report of the Scottish Astronomer 
Royal to the Board of Visitors read at their visitation on the 
29th of June. The report, in Mr. Piazzi Smyth’s most curious 
style, refers to so many additional ‘‘facilitations ” in the observa- 
tory that we may soon hope for some work to be done there, and 
to so many questions which have nothing to do with the ob- 
servatory that we may possibly return to it. 
Ar the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, on the roth inst, 
Mr. J. P. Gassiot, D.C.L., F.R.S., distributed the prizes 
awarded, and certificates granted to students who have passed ex- 
aminations on courses of Educational Lectures delivered during the 
pastsession. Inthe examination connected with Prof. Guthrie’s 
course on Elementary Physics, Edmund Strode gained the first 
prize, while T. Lyon, Miss Esther Greatbatch, and Miss Annie 
Piper obtained prizes of the second order. In the examination 
on Professor Bloxam’s chemical lectures, A. J. Richardson ob- 
tained the first prize, Isidore Harris and Miss E. M. Hutton 
taking second prizes. In the examination on Prof. Bentley’s 
botanical course, Miss Emma Ball took the first prize; and A. 
J. Wallis and Miss Ellen Benham second prizes. Mr. Gassiot 
stated that the Educational Lectures of the London Institution 
were commenced in the spring of 1869, by Prof. Huxley, and 
that the attendance of students from the leading metropolitan 
schools had fully justified the belief of the managers that increased 
facilities for scientific education were needed. In distributing 
the prizes, which consisted of standard scientific books, hand- 
somely bound, Mr. Gassiot referred to the early days of some 
of the eminent authors and discoverers who had been connected 
with the London Institution. He stated that arrangements for 
developing the educational powers of the institution were in pro- 
gress, and delighted his audience by the announcement that 
Professors Odling and Huxley would deliver courses of lectures 
early in the coming session. 
WE have had from time to time to record evidences of the in- 
creased interest in science felt in the United States. We have just 
received the first number of the American Scientific Monthly, 
published at Iowa City, and edited by Prof. Gustavus Hinrichs. 
It contains articles of a popular rather than a deeply scientific 
character, on various branches of science, chemistry, geology, 
physics, physiology, &c. 
THE Sars subscription fund has now been closed, th2 total 
amount received being 12,283 francs. 
M, DavAUNE states, in a recent number of Cosmos, that the 
proposal to raise a subscription on behalf of M. Niepce de St. 
Victor has met with a warm and hearty response. 
_ REFERRING to the note in our issue of July 28, L’Abbé 
Moigno makes the following reply in Zes AZondes :—‘‘ Le journal 
NATURE a émaillé de points d’exclamations notre petit article sur 
les silex du Sinai. Il s’étonne que nous nous soyons fait fort de 
" prouver jusqu’a l’évidence que ces silex sont plus vieux que ceux 
des grottes d’Aurignac et autres. M. Louis Buchner, dont la 
NAvTuRE devrait bien reproduire les propres paroles, 1’a dit avant 
nous. I] s’étonne plus encore de notre confiance dans le progrés, 
et rappelle de notre appel 4 M. Sorby :—attendons; le spectro- 
scope jugera entre nous, En tout cas, c’est déja quelque chose 
que des silex ou couteaux en pierre, vieux de 3,350 ans,” 
c 
Mr. Exnesr Harr has been unanimously elected Editor of 
the British Medical Journal, in the place of Mr, Jonathan 
Hutchinson. 
THE death is announced, at the age of 75, of Baron Charles 
von Hiigel, one of the founders of the Horticultural Society at 
Vienna, and a collector, on a large scale, of new Australian 
plants. He was the author of several botanical works, and held 
the office of Austrian plenipotentiary at the court of Brussels. 
Ir is hoped that the Cornell University will be able to form 
the nucleus of a museum, as Professor C, Fred. Hartt, with a 
professor of botany and nine students, intends exploring a portion 
of the valley of the Amazon and the Brazilian coast southward to 
Bahia, and to collect objects in natural history and geology. 
Professor Hartt proposes to take stereoscopic views of interest 
along his route. 
THE Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium offers a prize of 
800 francs for an essay on the Affinities of Zycofodiacee. The 
essays should be written in Latin, French, or Flemish, and 
forwarded to M. Ad. Quetelet, the secretary of the Academy, at 
Brussels, before June 1, 1871. 
THE practical examination of workmen and students for the 
Whitworth Scholarships has been fixed by Sir Joseph Whitworth 
to take place at his works at Manchester, on the 30th August and 
Ist September next. 
THE Engineer gives a plan and section of a proposed tunnel 
under the Bosphorus, planned by Mr. J. Haddan, one of the chief 
engineers to the Turkish Government. Unlike Messrs. Bateman 
and Révy’s proposed Channel railway, the idea is to suspend the 
tunnel at about thirty-five feet below the surface of the water, and 
fix it to the bottom by means of holding chains. 
Mr. GEORGE Fawcus, of North Shields, has contrived an 
equilateral triangular drawing-board for isometrical drawing. 
An ordinary T square applied on the edges of an equilateral 
triangle draws tangents that meet each other at angles of 120°, 
and other lines drawn parallel to these radiating ones form with 
them angles of 60° and 120°, which are the exact angles of the 
apparent squares of isometrical cubes. The inventor believes 
that the use of this new drawing-board will make the teaching of 
isometrical drawing both simple and easy. The practice of 
isometrical drawing is strongly urged in the science and art 
drawing classes. 
A REMEDY has been found for the ‘‘borer” that ravages 
Indian and Ceylon coffee plantations, by applying carbolic acid 
before the eggs are hatched. 
” 
THE curator of the Botanical Exchange Club has just issued 
his Report for the year 1869. Dr. Boswell-Syme takes the 
opportunity of recording all the observations which have come 
under his notice respecting new forms or varieties of British 
plants, or new localities of the rarer species. 
Pror. CHANDLER, chemist to the Metropolitan Board ot 
Health, New York, gives, in the American Scientific Monthly, 
his analysis of fifteen different kinds of fashionable hair-tonics, 
restoratives, &c., in all of which he finds lead varying in amount 
from one-ninth of a grain to sixteen grains in the ounce. He 
states that they owe their action to this metal, and are, cons*- 
quently, highly dangerous to the health of persons using them. 
Lotions for the skin he found to be free from lead or other in- 
jurious metals, with the exception of one containing corrosive 
sublimate. The enamels examined consisted of either carbonate 
of lime, oxide of zinc, or carbonate of lead, suspended in water. 
The latter kind are highly dangerous; the two former are ‘‘<s 
harmless as any other white dirt when plastered over the skin 
to close the pores and prevent its healthy action.” The white 
powders for the skin are harmless to the same extent. 
