l82 



NA TURE 



IDec. 24, 1885 



Davis, of Harvard College. The National Academy, which 

 constitutes the trustees of the Bache fund, has granted 

 200 dollars for this work. Upwards of 400 observers are 

 co-operating in the inquiry, and as regards one thunder- 

 storm reports from 203 observers were received. The 

 discussion of the important results already obtained 

 will by and by appear in the Bulletin. A thorough in- 

 vestigation of thunderstorms, including the falls of rain, 

 snow, and hail, with their successive propagation over the 

 New England States, will be a highly important contri- 

 bution to meteorology ; and for the results of the investi- 

 gation as it advances we shall look with much interest to 

 the proceedings of this Society, which is among the very 

 youngest but most active of the meteorological societies. 



NOTES 



We much regret to record the death of Sir Frederick J. 



O. Evans, R.N., K.C.B., F.R.S., late Hydrographer of the 



Admiralty, in his seventy-first year. Ne.xt week we liope to 



give a notice of Sir Frederick's career. 



His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and 

 Commerce in Italy, in order to favour and facilitate the applica- 

 tion of remedies in solution, powder, or mixture against the 

 cryptogams and parasites of cultivated plants, and especially the 

 use of milk calx against Peronospora (mildew) of the vines, by a 

 decree of November 9 will open an International Exhibition 

 with prizes for pumps, watering and pulverisation implements. 

 The Exhibition will take place at Conegliano in the Royal 

 School of Vine-Culture and Qinology. The following prizes 

 will be awarded : — i gold medal and 500 lire ; 3 silver medals 

 with 150 lire each ; 5 bronze medals. The Ministry of Agri- 

 culture will also purchase prize implements to the value of 

 1000 lire for distributing to the Agrarian Government depots, 

 practical and special agriculture schools. Exhibitors must apply 

 for admission to the " Direzione della R. Scuola di Viticoltura 

 ed Enologia in Conegliano" not later than February 22, 1SS6. 

 The demand must contain a short description of the instruments 

 and the price of each object to be exhibited. 



It is stated that the Mexican Government are about to 

 establish a meteorological station among the highest mountains 

 in Mexico, at an elevation of nearly 20,000 feet above the sea- 

 level. Access to such a place must be always precarious, and 

 frequently impossible for a long time together, hence it is neces- 

 sary to make exceptional provision for rendering the instruments 

 almost independent of human attention and supervision. The 

 necessary apparatus is being constructed by Hottinger, of Zurich 

 and, as far as possible, all the instruments are being made to go 

 for a year without stopping. 



At the monthly meeting of the Council of the Sanitary Assur- 

 ance Association arrangements were completed for the series of 

 free lectures to be given by the Association at the Parkes Museum 

 during January and February next. The first lecture is to be 

 by Prof. Roger Smith, on " A Damp House," on Wednesday 

 evening, January 20, and on the following Wednesday Mr. 

 F. B. Jessett, F.R.C.S.Eng., will lecture on " Preventible 

 Diseases." 



The science certificates and prizes obtained by the students 

 attending evening classes established by the Birmingham School- 

 Board were distributed by Prof. Lapworth, LL.D., F.G.S., in 

 the large hall of the Icknield Street School, on December 14. 

 The report of the year's work, by the Board's demonstrator, 

 Mr. W. J. Harrison, F.G.S., showed that some 5000 children 

 are now receiving elementary instruction in science in the day- 

 schools, while 500 teachers attend the evening classes. Prof. 

 Lapworth afterwards delivered a very able and scholarly address. 



In consequence of the rapid growth of the system of science 

 teaching, the Board has just resolved to enlarge the chemieal 

 laboratory at a cost of about 700/. 



The Clothworkers' Company have promised to raise their 

 annual subscription to the City and Guilds of London Institute 

 from 3000/. to 4000.'., provided the Corporation and Associated 

 Livery Companies raise the total of their annual subscriptions 

 to the Institute from 24,500/., the present amount, to 30,000/. 

 This is probably the first step in response to Lord Selborne's recent 

 appeal to the City Companies, on the double ground of public 

 duty and self-interest, to add still further to their already munifi- 

 cent contributions to technical education. The capital expendi- 

 ture on the building and equipment of the Central Institution, 

 Exhibition Road, the Finsbury Technical College, and the 

 South London School of Technical Art has been nearly 

 140,000/., but, as the late Lord Chancellor pointed out, the 

 Companies cannot be said to have discharged their obligations to 

 technical education, until the Institute wants no more pecu- 

 niary support and moral countenance. Until this distant goal 

 is reached, said Lord Selborne, they remain in its debt, notwith" 

 standing their already vast donations. 



The statement, according to Science, that one of the chief appli- 

 cations of composite photography will be in the direction of pro- 

 ducing more reliable portraits of representative men by com- 

 bining the testimonials of individual artists, will probably be 

 accepted by all who have followed the short but interesting 

 career of this new invention. The suggestion that, by com- 

 bining the individual conceptions of several artists, one would 

 obtain a more reliable portrait than any of the components, was 

 near at hand. The first such application was made by Mr. 

 Galton himself He made a composite of six medallion heads 

 of Alexander the Great, and naturally claimed for the composite 

 the combined authority of all the artists. In this way Science has 

 recently come into pjssessioii of a new Shakespeare. In the 

 case of Shakespeare the diversity amongst the several originals 

 is strikingly evident, and thus a composite was needed to give a 

 characteristic, individual, natural face. This suggested to Mr. 

 W. C. Taylor the application of the same process to Wash- 

 ington's portraits. He has grouped the several portraits into 

 three groups, owing to the differences of position of the 

 portraits, and the accuracy of the work is well shown by the 

 fact that the agreement amongst the resulting three composites 

 is very close, while the originals show every shade of individual 

 differences. These portraits were first published in the Journal 

 of the Franklin Institute, and are given on a new and enlarged 

 plate in the number oi Science for December ii. 



In pursuance of a resolution passed at the Medical Congress 

 on Brain Diseases, held during the past summer at Antwerp, by 

 which it was suggested that local conferences should be held to 

 draw up trustworthy international tables of statistics on insanity, 

 a Conference of Austro-Hungarian specialists will be held at 

 Vienna on the 26th and 27th inst. , with the object of revising 

 and extending the nomenclature of mental disorders. Invita- 

 tions to the Conference have been issued by four leading doctors 

 of Vienna. 



The work of spawning Salmonidae at the establishment of the 

 National Fish-Culture Association at Delaford Park has com- 

 menced, and it is expected that a large number of ova will be 

 obtained. The establishment, which was opened in the early 

 part of the present year, is now in excellent order, and all the 

 fish that have been reared are doing well. It has been found 

 necessary to increase the number of breeding-ponds in view of 

 the extensive nature of the operations to be carried on next 

 year. 



The new aquarium for the Indian and Colonial fish at South 

 Kensington is now in course of construction and will be on view 



