^6 



NATURE 



[Nov. 26, 1S74 



of Government with regard to an Arctic Expedition, stated that 

 he had that day heard that Col. Gordon was in Gondokoro on 

 Sept. 5, and that he then had the sections of his steamer des- 

 tined to navigate the Albert N'yanza at Mount Regiaf, below 

 the falls, having full confidence of getting them transported to 

 the smooth waters of the Upper Nile, beyond the falls, in a fort- 

 night from that time. 



We are glad to hear that 420 teachers have this year joined 

 the classes of the Charterhouse Teachers' School of Science. 



Mr. Bellamy, F.R.C.S, commenced his course on Artistic 

 Anatomy, at South Kensington, on Tuesday the 17th inst. 



The Royal Irish Academy has just published No. 9, vol. i., 

 Ser. ii. of its Proceedings, which concludes the volume. This 

 number contains eighteen papers read before the Academy during 

 the last session, among which are several by Prof. Macalister on 

 the myology of the gorilla, the civet, the tayra, and on the 

 anatomy of the rare Chieiopsis libernensis and Aonyx h-ptonyx ; 

 by Mr. Mackintosh, on the myology of the genus Bradypus ; by 

 Messrs. Draper and Moss, on the forms of selenium ; and by 

 Mr. Hardman, on a substitution of zinc for magnesium in 

 minerals. It is proposed for the future to publish the Scientific 

 Proceedmgs of the Academy three times each year. The part 

 to appear January 1S75, to contain the Proceedings for November 

 and December 1S74 ; that in April 1875, the Proceedings for 

 January, February, and March 1S75 ; and that in July 1S75, the 

 remaining portion of the business for the session 1874—75. The 

 Minutes of the Proceedings, to be pubUshed, each month during 

 the session, wiU contain the titles;of papers read, list of dona- 

 tions, &c. 



We have just received an important memoir on the embryo- 

 logy of the Ctenophoroe, by Prof. Alexander Agassiz. Although 

 read before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 

 November 1S73, this memoir was only published at Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., early in September last, giving a risuinc oi what 

 was known on the subject, and calling attention to the import- 

 ance of Allman's contributions to this subject, which, from the 

 want of figures, have been too frequently overlooked. Agassiz 

 describes the different stages in the development of Idyia roseola, 

 and when discussing the systematic position of the Ctenophorte, 

 which can now, from our greater knowledge of their embryology, 

 be treated of more intelligently, he proceeds to criticise "the 

 special interpretation of fanciful affinities and homologies exist - 

 ing only in forms conjured up by Ernst Hasckel's vivid imagina" 

 tion," and concludes that HiEckel's " assumptions, which form 

 the basis of his Gastraea theoiy, are totally unsupported, and the 

 theory must take its place by the side of other physio-philoso- 

 phical systems." 



The great success of the season in the theatres of Paris is the 

 "Tour du Monde in Eighty Days," a scientific play, written by 

 M. Jules Verne, well known as the author of several fantasti- 

 cal scientific productions. Boxes are let many days in advance 

 and sold at more than double the usual price. 



The Journal of t!ie Society of Arts states that M. Mege 

 Mouries, after analysing butler, has succeeded in making it syn- 

 thetically. This imitation butter, recognised by the Conseil 

 d'Hygiene as indistinguishable from real butter, is finding its way 

 into the Paris markets at half the present price of real butter. 



We have received Part II. of vol. vii. of the Transactions of 

 the Scottish Arhoriculliiral Society, which contains a number of 

 valuable papers connected with arboriculture. 



M. Alix has taken his degree of Doctor by sustaining a thise 

 on the Vol des Oiseaux (the flight of birds). The thise is a 

 large 8vo volume of 3S0 closely-printed pages, with many plates, 

 and will be published by Victor MoUaux. 



Mr. a. W. Chase communicates an interesting fact in con- 

 nection with an account of the destruction of fish on the Oregon 

 coast by means of the explosion of nitro-glycerine. In this he 

 remarks that some of the fish are killed outright by the explo- 

 sion, while others appear to be simply stunned ; and that in 

 several instances, after having fish apparently dead for half an 

 hour, scaled, the intestines taken out, and prepared for cooking 

 (the head, however, remaining on the body), they began to flop 

 around £is briskly as if just taken from the water. 



The Municipal Council of Paris has voted that a commemora- 

 tive medal be given to each aeronaut who conducted a balloon 

 out of Paris during the siege. 



The number of adult pupils who are attending the evening 

 lectures established by the Municipal Council of Paris is 14,000, 

 and it is expected that the number will rise to 20,000, in 1875. 

 Tne number of candidates for the diploma of teacher or keeper 

 of Salle d'Asyle is also rapidly enlarging. L?st year it was 

 2,564; this year it is 3,100, both numbers including females. 

 The nmuber of candidates for a certificate of itiuies priniaires 

 (honours of primary course of education) was 5,028. 



Private letters from America aimounce that the proprietors 

 of the Great Eastern are engaged in discussing a most extra- 

 ordinary proposal. The great ship, it is said, is to be anchored 

 in Philadelphia Harbour during the Centennial Exhibition, and 

 to be made a great floating hotel, ^where 5,000 persons can be 

 comfortably accommodated. 



SiKGE balloons have been given by the Postal administration 

 to the French War Office, which lias established a Balloon Com- 

 mittee. The head of that institution is Col. Laussedat, of the 

 National Engineers. The balloons are now being repaired at 

 the Hotel des Invalides, by Jules Godard, the youngest member 

 of the celebrated Godard aeronmautical family, 



M. Oppolzer has been appointed an Officer in the Legion ol 

 Honour for his share in the determination of the Vienna and 

 Bregenz longitude. Two astronomers of the Paris Observatory 

 have been promoted to |the Francis-Joseph Order for the same 

 work, one of them having been knighted, and the other, who 

 was already a knight, having been made an Officer. 



At the special meeting of the Council of the Victoria (Philo- 

 sophical) Institute, held preparatory to the commencement of the 

 session in December, Mr. C. Brooke, F. R.S., in the chair, the 

 election of twenty-five members took place. It was stated that 

 papers by the following authors would be announced in a few 

 days: — Professors Challis, Birks, Palmer, Nicholson, andj. W. 

 Dawson; Mr. C. Brooke, F.R.S., Mr. J. Howard, F.R.S.,Dr. 

 C. B. Radcliffe, and the Rev. Dr. Irons. 



Principal Tulloch, of St. Andrew's University (N.B.), the 

 British MeJical Journal states, in a recent conference with 

 Provost Cox and Mr. Henderson of Dundee, on a proposal to 

 erect a College for that town, to be affiUated with the University, 

 decided that, for the present, the scheme was impracticable on 

 account of the enormous expense which it would entail, 150,000/. 

 at least. In the meantime, courses of lectures under the auspices 

 of the University were airanged to be delivered in Dundee. 



We are pleased to see that the Feuille des Jeunes Naturalistes, 

 a little scientific serial which was noticed in the^e columns on its 

 first appearance in 1S70, has entered on its fifth year of existence. 

 Founded by M. Ernest DoUfus, of Mulhouse, an enthusiastic 

 young naturalist of eighteen, it has been maintained with un- 

 flagging spirit, has met with fair commercial success, and has 

 carried a love lor natural history into many French schools, 

 eliciting from some of the older pupils very creditable papers. 

 The number before us contains a touching biography of M. 

 Ernest DoUfus, who died last year. We heartily wish success 

 to a practical and persevering enterprise. 



