380 
NATURE 
| Sept. 8, 1870 
the present moment such that he is likely soon to demand relief 
from the pressure of those duties which he has hitherto per- 
formed with so much credit. 
BEFORE our next number is printed, the annual meeting of 
English savands will haye commenced at Liverpool under the 
presidency of Professor Huxley, whose inaugural address we’ 
hope to give in our next issue. The meeting is likely to be one 
of great interest, and various circumstances will combme to 
bring together an unusual number of the representatives of 
every branch of science, including not a few of our foreign 
confréres, who we trust will enjoy the peaceful retreat from the 
turmoil on the Continent. Atomists and Non-atomists, Cata- 
clysmists and Uniformitarians, Darwinians and Anti-Darwinians, 
will, for the moment, take the place of Gauls and Teutons— 
would that ¢eir differences could be as peacefully discussed ! 
Some useless talk there doubtless will be, but we trust much 
earnest search after truth for truth’s sake, and much evidence 
of real scientific work accomplished during the past year. We 
shall endeavour to give areport of the proceedings in the various 
sections, and to this end we must ask, and confidently expect 
to receive, the hearty co-operation of the Association itself, not 
only of the officers of sections, but of every individual member 
who takes part in the meeting. 
THE result of the experiments at Woolwich in reference to 
war balloons is that it has been found that a height of roo 
fathoms at horizontal distance of 600 fathoms from the enemy 
would enable observers to secure the widest expanse of view. It 
is ascertained that captive balloons attain stability. The balloon 
having taken a stationary position, eight cameras and lenses 
spread round the country at equal distances enable the country to 
be photographed. The inclination and length of the cord to 
‘keep the balloon in the same stratum of air was found to be 
easily calculable. By the new system of military telegraphy for 
field service telegraph wires can be carried through the air from 
terra firma to a balloon, and the wire can be paid out as fast as 
the balloon sails; and two or more balloons can be kept in 
communication with each other, so that telegraphic operations 
can be made from the balloon to head-quarters and thence to the 
base of operations. It is believed that war balloons will be 
manufactured at the Royal Arsenal, and that officers of Royal 
Engineers will be trained in their use. 
THE Mew York Technologist for September describes a pocket 
rifle invented by Mr. Stevens. It is said to be capable of 
doing very accurate work, and the price is moderate. The method 
of loading is so simple that the weapon can be fired five times 
in a minute. By simply touching a spring the muzzle of the 
barrel drops down, leaving the breech exposed; a cartridge is 
then inserted, the barrel returned to its place, and the weapon is 
ready for use. For all light game they cannot be surpassed, and 
their penetration is considerable, driving the ball through three 
one-inch boards. 
Mr. W. G. SmirH has recently called attention to the great 
amount of heat generated by fungi, confirming Dutrochet’s ob- 
" servation that it is greater in the case of Boletus eneus than of 
any other plant except the Arum, Mr, Smith believes that it is 
common to all o/etz, especially after decomposition has set in. 
Three large and beautiful specimens of Boletus colapus packed in 
a box were found by Mr. Smith to raise the temperature of the 
air from 70° to 75° Fahr., the heat evolved being apparent to the 
hand. 
WE gain some notion, says the Gardener's Chronicle, of what 
a siege means when we learn from Paris that the veteran director 
of the Jardin des Plantes, the well-known chemist, Chevreul— 
aptly called, from his researches into the nature of fatty substances, 
“*the king of the fatty acids,”—has placed himself at the head 
of a brigade composed of employés of the Museum, and betaken 
himself to the fortifications. M. Delaunay, the Director of the 
Observatory, and M. Milne-Edwards, have marched to the 
scene of action at the head of nearly the whole of the ‘officers 
and servants of the Academy of Sciences and the Museum. 
What should we think here in London if the chief librarian of 
the British Museum, with Professor Owen and Mr. J. J. Bennett 
as his a¢des, took the field with their subordinates and occupied 
Shooter's Hill, or if the director at Kew, with his staff, took 
upon themselves the defence of Richmond Hill? And yet this 
is what it has come to in Paris. 
A SANITARY council for Bohemia has been formed, consisting 
of Professors Jaksch, Halla, Kaulich, Town-District Surgeon 
Dr. Grosse of Prague, and District-Surgeon Dr. Hosier of Karo- 
linenthal. : 
Mr, G. FARRER RODWELL has succeeded Dr. 
Lecturer on Natural Science at Clifton College. 
Debus as 
THE Yale College Courant states that Prof. Silliman has re- 
signed his position as instructor of chemistry in that institution. 
WE are authorised to state that there is no foundation for the 
statement which appeared recently in one of the daily papers, 
that the London Institution in Finsbury Circus is likely to be 
removed in order to make room for a railway station. 
THE preparations for the Argentine National Exhibition at 
the city of Cordoya are in active progress. The building is 
approaching completion, and the tramway to connect it with 
the railway station has been commenced. The tramways in 
the city have experienced great success, and caused an amount 
of building speculation in the suburbs beyond the available 
supply of labour. Several important railway proposals, in- 
volving prospective loans of magnitude, are under discussion 
in Congress, 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY (for a notice of which see NATURE, 
August 11) has recently acquired a fine and valuable collection of 
fossils from one of its many admirers in England. The educa- 
tional value of such a collection in America, as illustrating the 
English geological works, is very great, and Cornell University 
may well be proud that it has so speedily received such a valu- 
able gift. 
Ir is proposed to found a Museum of History, Antiquities, 
and Arts, in the Central Park, New York, This movement is 
under the auspices of the New York Historical Society, and a 
grant of land has been given by the Government for that purpose. 
The plan embraces the erection of suitable buildings where his- 
torical relics and treasures of local and national interest may be 
deposited for preservation and exhibition. 
Sic. LARANJA E OLIVEIRA forwarded to a recent meeting 
of the French Academy of Sciences an account of a very re- 
markable electric shock experienced at Porto-Alegre, Brazil, on 
the 9th of June. A thunderstorm was progressing at the time, 
and large drops of rain falling, with a light south breeze. At 
100 metres from his own house, as a flash of lightning without 
thunder appeared over his head, one of Sig. Oliveira’s servants 
felt a remarkable tingling through the whole of his body, 
ascending upwards from the soles of his feet, succeeded by a 
violent trembling ; his hair stood on end, so as almost to throw 
off his hat. At the same time, at the distance of about two 
metres, white smoke ascended from the ground, accompanied by 
small consecutive flashes of lightning, but the whole lasting only an 
instant. A door key, which he had in his pocket, attracted for 
two days afterwards a needle suspended by a thread. 
MM. KABUTEAU and Peyre have been experimenting with 
the root of a plant in use at the Gaboon as an ordeal poison, 
and locally known as m’boundou or icaja. It will be remem- 
bered that it was from this source that the highly valuable 
Calabar bean was obtained and utilised in medicine. The 
