April If), 1875] 



NATURE 



515 



cones had been formed, capable of containing two or three 

 barrels inside. Explosions occurred at inter\'als in the crater, 

 and lava, earth, and stones were thrown up to a height com- 

 puted at 160 yards. The distance from My-vatn to the craters 

 is calculated to be from forty to fifty English miles. 



In connection with the above, it is interesting to note that 

 reports from Sweden and Norway state that during the night of 

 March 29-30 last, a heavy rain of ashes or sand took place from 

 the west coast of Norway to the Swedish frontier ; the whole of 

 the country was covered wilh grey dust to such an extent that 

 from a pint of snow more than a tablespoonful of residue was left 

 after the snow had melted. Some chemists of Christiania have 

 examined the ashes, and one of them, Prof. Waage, states that 

 the dust consists of little, irregular, but sharp-edged grains, almost 

 all colourless — some few are of brown colour — and they consist 

 principally of silicates. Acids extract some lime, iron, and alu- 

 mina from their powder. The professor thinks it likely that the 

 dust originates from an eniption in Iceland. This view is con- 

 firmed by a mineralogica! investigation made on another sample 

 of the dust at the Christiania University, by Profs. Kjerulf and 

 Feamley ; they recognised the dust to consist of fragments of 

 pumice-stone which is identical with the Hecla pumice-stone. 

 According to Swedish newspapers, some traces of the dust-fall 

 were observed even in the vicinity of Stockholm. Prof. Kjeruif 

 also thinks it highly probable that an eruption took place in 

 Iceland. The distance from the Iceland volcanoes to the 

 Swedish frontier is about the same as that from Mount Etna to 

 the Baltic. 



The following information regarding an eruption of the 

 Volcano of Temate (Moluccas) we have received from Dr. 

 A. B. Meyer : — Mr. van Musschenbroek, Resident of Temate, 

 having made an ascent to the volcano, writes under date 

 Feb. 5 ; "About fifty small new craters, or rather deep wells, have 

 appeared along the Walls of the large crater, and independent of 

 the proper cone of eruption ; they are all deep (but it is difficult to 

 say how deep), and about twenty feet in diameter. On some 

 spots, the ' Alang-alang ' green w as turned upside down. These 

 new, small craters were surrounded by still smaller ones, and by 

 stones thrown out from the interior. This ha;)pened at the same 

 time as a rather heavy eruption of the volcano Roeang, near 

 Tagoelanda." Tagoelanda, Dr. Meyer states, is an island in 

 the north of Celebes. He witnessed part of a heavy eruption of 

 (he Roeang in 1871 (see N.\ture, vol. iv. p. 286). This coinci- 

 dent action of the volcanoes of Temate and Roeang in January 

 1875 is interesting, because the same coincidence happened in 

 1871. Then the eruption of the Roeang was felt in the form of 

 earthquakes and thundrous sounds in the earth, as far as Goron- 

 talo in Celebes to the south, and as far as Temate (Moluccas) 

 to the east. At a former eruption of the Roeang, in August 

 1870, the ashes are said to have been thrown to the north as far 

 as Mindanao (Philippine Islands), about 200 miles distant. The 

 Roeang, therefore, appears to be still now a formidable centre 

 of volcanic action. 



During the present term at Oxford, Prof. Lawson and Prof. 

 Ray Lankester are conducting a class from 10 till 4 o'clock each 

 day, which presents features of special interest on account of its 

 novelty. The course is one of general biological instruction, 

 devised so as to give a survey of the leading features of plants 

 and animals. The practical work is preceded by a lecture. 

 Great pains has been taken to get the types required, some being 

 very difficult to procure, and quite novel as educational speci- 

 mens. Among these may be included /Ethalium, Gonium, 

 Cordylophora, and Amphioxus. We hope that Profs. Lawson 

 and Lankester will find that their enterprising attempt to raise 

 the standard of biological study will be sufliciently appreciated 

 to lead them to contimie the conrs« on the next seasonable 

 6pporttmity. 



The Cambridge Museum and Lecture-rooms Syndicate have 

 issued their Ninth Annual Report. They draw attention to the 

 insufficient accommodation for examination purposes and the 

 insufiiciency of space for the students in comparative ana- 

 tomy. Considerable use has been made during the past year 

 of the Cavendish Laboratory, which is being rapidly fitted at the 

 expense of his Grace the Chancellor, the Duke of Devonshire, 

 wilh the apparatus required for physical research. The want of 

 proper accommodation for Dr. M . Foster's classes in Physiology 

 is piiniully evident, as those rooms are neither sufficiently large 

 nor sufficiently well lighted for class rooms. The donations made 

 to the different collections have been numerous. 



In a Congregation at Oxford University on Tuesday, a statute, 

 the principal effect of which would be that the examinations in 

 the Natural Science Schools would be held only once a year, and 

 that honours might be obtained in different subjects at different 

 times — creating, in fact, independent Schools of Physiology, 

 Chemistry, and Physics — was thrown out, after a sharp debate, 

 by 25 votes to 23. 



The Council of the Senate of Cambridge University propose 

 to offer a grace early this term for the appointment of a syndicate 

 to consider the propriety of establishing a professorship of 

 Mechanism and Engineering. 



The High School at Newcastle-under-Lyne, which will open 

 after the summer, under Mr. Kitchener, is fortunate enough to 

 have already met with a liberal and wise friend in Mr. Mayer. 

 He has founded a 50/. exhibition from the school to the Univer- 

 sities, for Science and Mathematics, besides two minor exhibitions 

 for Art. 



We are informed that Mr. A. R. Wallace has in hand a work 

 on the Geographical Distribution of Animals, which will be 

 looked for with great interest. 



The Annual General Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 will be held in the rooms of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 

 25, Great George Street, Westminster, S.W., on Wednesday, 

 May 5, and two following days ; the president-elect being Mr. 

 William Menelaus. Among the papers to be read are the fol- 

 lowing: — Notes of a Visit to Mines and Ironworks in the United 

 States ; and on the Sum of Heat Utilised in Smelting Cleveland 

 Ironstone, by Mr. I. Lowthian Bell, F. R.S. The Estimation 

 of Small Quantities of Phosphorus in Iron and Steel, by 

 Spectrum Analysis, by Sir John G. N. Alleyne, Bart. The 

 Manufacture of Bessemer Steel in Belgium, by iM. J. Deby, 

 Brussels. The Summer Meeting will be held at Manchester 

 early in .September. 



Sir Henry Rawlinson, at Monday's meeting of the Royal 

 Geographical Society, in'.imated that the .Society had awarded 

 the two medals of the year to the two great Arctic explorers, 

 Lieut. Paver and Lieut. Weyprecht. With reference to the prizes 

 the Society offered to the public schools, the following are the 

 awards : — Physical Geography— Gold medal, Henry Alexander 

 Miers (Eton College) ; bronze medal, Archibald Edward Garrod 

 (Marlborough College). Political Geography — Gold medal, 

 Sydney H. B. Saunders (Dulwich College) ; bronze medal, 

 W. C. Graham (Eton College). 



The Paris Geographical Society held last week its annual 

 meeting in the great hall of the Sociiic d" Encouragement, Rue 

 Bonaparte ; more than 3,000 persons were present. The number 

 of members of the .Society has largely increased since MM. 

 Thiers and Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire joined it. Preparations 

 are being actively made for the forthcoming International Geo- 

 graphical Meeting, which is to be held at the Tuileries, as we 

 have already intimated, in August next. The offices of the 

 Congress are already opened in the Pavilion de Flore, bat aU 



