Jan. ]4, 1875] 



NA TURE 



21'J 



The number of French Academicians is strictly limited, and no 

 new member is appointed except to fill a vacancy. There is a 

 special section open to members who may have no sufficient 

 scientific qualifications ; they are called Acaiianicicns Hbres, and 

 belong to no special section, but cannot vote in the election of 

 members, and are not paid. 



Experiments have been fried on some French railways 

 for warming passenger cars by a stove, which is placed outside. 

 It is said a single stove is sufficient for a whole car, and the 

 expense is very small indeed, twenty-six pounds of coal keeping 

 up the fire for about 2CX) miles. The warmed air circulates 

 inside the car. 



Attention has been drawn in France by the news of the burn- 

 ing of the Cospatrkk to the proper means for extinguishing fire on 

 board ships. M. de Parville advocates in the Dibats the obliga- 

 tory use of signal-thermometers in the hold ; each elevation of 

 temperature being notified by the ringing of an electric bell. 

 Others advocate the use of extinguishers. These are large 

 bottles full of compressed carbonic acid, which may be of im- 

 mense use in limited spaces, perhaps more valuable than water. 



We notice to-day the sailing of the Timarit, from Glasgow, 

 with a consignment of salmon eggs for Otago, New Zealand. 

 The ship Tiiitern Abbey has also recently sailed for New Zealand, 

 having onboard no less than 1,130 living birds, viz., black- 

 birds (Turdiis niciula), thrushes [Tiirdiis muskus), starlings 

 (Slunius vulgaris), redpoles (Linola rufcsceiis), of each 100; 

 hedge-sparrows (Accentor moitularis), 150; \\m\e.ii (Linota canna- 

 bina), 140 ; goldfinches (Fringilla carduelis], 160 ; jellow- 

 hammers (Ember iza ciirtmlla), 1 70 ; and, lastly, partridges 

 (Perdix cinerea), 110. When the birds arrive in New Zea- 

 land they will be let fly urder proper authority. There is, 

 we understand, a heavy penalty enforced against shooting at 

 or injuring these birds in New Zealand, and it is hoped that they 

 will do well at the Antipodes. The New Zealand farmers can- 

 not get on without them, for they keep down the insects that 

 ravage the crops. The Acclimatisation Society of Canterbury, 

 New Zealand, we understand, have begun and are now perse- 

 vering in this good public work. 



The weather has been extraordinarily warm and genial in 

 Paris, as in London, and in the whole of France, for some days, 

 but almost all the rivers have been swollen to a dangerous height 

 owing to the rapid melting of immense quantities of snow. 

 Disasters have been experienced along the banks of many 

 streams, principally the Rhone. At Lyons the disasters were 

 increased by a stockade ox barrage erected suddenly across^the 

 stream. All the ice collected and produced an immense iceberg 

 at a point called lie Barbe. It was (eared for a while that this 

 stupendous mass of ice would force its way above the stockade 

 and destroy everything below, and great efforts were made unsuc- 

 cessfully to get rid of it. But the continuance of the genial tem- 

 perature has gradually destroyed the obstruction. Never was 

 the theory of regelation, as propounded by Tyndall, submitted 

 to the tett of a larger experiment. 



Messrs. H. S. King and Co. have in the press, and nearly 

 ready for publication, the following works relating to science : — 

 " Mankind : a Scientific Study of the Races and Distribution of 

 Man," considered in their bodily variations, languages, occu- 

 pations, and religions, by Dr. Peschel. — Translations of two 

 new works by Prof. Ernst. Hreckel : viz., "The History of 

 Creation," edited by E. Ray Lankester, M.A. This book 

 will be illustrated by coloured plates and genealogical trees of 

 the various groups of both plants and animals. — "The 

 History of the Evolution of Man," translated by E. A. Van 

 Rhyn and L. Elsberg, M.D., with various notes and other 

 additions sanctioned by Dr. Hseckel. Also the following new 



volumes of their International Scientific Series: — "Fungi;" 

 their nature, influences, uses, &c., by M. Cook, M.A., LL.D. 

 edited by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S. "The 

 Chemical Effects of Light and Photography in their application 

 to Art, Science, and Industry," by Dr. Hermann Vogel, of 

 Berlin ; and a treatise on " Optics," by Prof. Lommel, of the 

 University of Erlangen. These three books will be profusely 

 illustrated. 



Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co. will publish, in a few days, 

 a work called " The Cremation of the Dead," by Mr. William 

 Lassie, C.E., who is well known for his work in sanitary 

 matters. 



The cultivation of oysters has been attempted by the United 

 States Commission of Fisheries in the Great Salt Lake of Utah, 

 where numbers of tlese bivalves from California have been 

 placed with the view of testing the possibility of their thriving 

 there. Some beds were choked by mud brought down some 

 small streams, but in other parts the oysters promise to succeed. 

 Shad have also been placed in the lake and have been seen in 

 good health, and a lot of salmon fry from the Sacramento, arti- 

 ficially hatched out, have been placed in the Jordan and other 

 rivers running into the Great Salt Lake. So far, in the fresh 

 waters, they have done well, and at ten months old were from 

 four to six inches long. It remains to be seen whether they will 

 thrive as well in the salt waters of the lake as in the sea itself. 

 The experiment is a most interesting one, and opens up some 

 curious questions in the natural history of the salmon and the 

 other fish under experiment. 



The Council of the Society of Arts have passed a resolution 

 to the effect that it is desirable that the Cantor Lectures pro- 

 gramme be from time to time, as far as may be found practicable, 

 arranged to further the scheme of the Society's Technological 

 Examinations, and that steps be taken for getting such lectures 

 published in a special form as guide-books. 



The third number has been sent us of \he Journal of the 

 Society for the Promotion of Scientific Industry, whose head- 

 quarters is at Manchester. The yoiirnal, which is of consider- 

 able size,'contains reports of the meetings of the Society, at which 

 a number of good practical papers have been read. One of the 

 most scientifically important of these is on " The Chemistry of 

 Calico Printing and Dyeing," by Mr. Charles Dreyfus. 



We have received from the author, M. E. Mailly, a very 

 interesting " Essai sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de M. L. A.J. 

 Quctelet," poet, liltcraleiir, geometer, physicist, astronomer, 

 and statistician, doubtless one of the most remarkable men 

 Belgium has produced. As we gave some account of M. 

 Quetelet's life and work shortly after his death, we need not 

 further notice ]\L MaUly's book, which we recommend to all who 

 desire to know further about this notable man. The publisher 

 is llayez, of Brussels. 



We are glad to see that Mr. J. E. Taylor's lectures in Ipswich 

 on "Plants, their Structure, and their Uses," have been so suc- 

 cessful that it has been found necessary to engage a larger hall 

 than that in which the course was begun. 



The Bulletin of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences 

 for 1874 contains a report on the birds and a list of the mammals 

 of Minnesota. There are also geological notes from early ex- 

 plorers in the Minnesota Valley, arranged by Mr. N. U, 

 Winchell. 



"The Safe Use of Steam, containing. Rules for the Guid.ince 

 of unprofessional Steam Users," by an Engineer, seems a book 

 likely to be of practical use to many persons. It is published by 

 Lockwood and Co. 



