46: 



NA TURE 



[Man/i i8, il 



burnt at a white heat are leather-coloured, and have a 

 silver-gray appearance. 



The second layer (No. 2) is divided into two varieties, 

 a and /', the former of which is black from the presence 

 of lignite, and yields lemon-yellow bricks ; this colour is 

 due to the conversion of the cerium oxide Ce.,03 into the 

 lower oxide Ce304 by the action of the carbon which is 

 present. The b variety is blackish-gray, and yields orange- 

 red to orange-j'ellow bricks. 



The third layer contains less cerium than the other 

 two, and the bricks made from it are of a fiinter orange 

 colour. 



The amount of glucina present is very characteri,stic of 

 the H.iinstadt clay. Ammonium chloride, which occurs 

 only in traces in so.nie portions of the clay, exists in 

 quantity in others ; and in one piece which crumbled to 

 pieces a crystal of sal-ammonia was found measuring 

 about 2 centimetres in length and I '5 centimetres in 

 thickness. 



It will be seen from the above that the oxides of cerium 

 ■which were hitherto of only theoretical interest, are now 

 of technical importance. They have long served as 

 colouring substances in building materials without the 

 fact having been known, and from the large amount 

 present in the Hainstadt clay there are prospects of their 

 being brought into use as paints. 



The variation in the colour of the bricks, already men- 

 tioned as being produced according to the degree of heat 

 to which they are submitted in the process of burning, 

 does not appear to be due to any action of the silicate on 

 the eerie oxide, as the latter substance can itself be made 

 to assume either colour by igniting it at a suitable tempe- 

 rature. The small amount of iron present in the clay is 

 found to have no influence on the colour of the bricks, 

 which however is aftected by the admixture of larger 

 quantities of iron. Dr. Strohecker mentions a number of 

 streets in Frankfort in which houses constructed of the 

 dift'erent sorts of cerium bricks are to be seen ; the 

 leather-coloured bricks occur in Palmstrasse, Berger- 

 strasse, .Schleidenstrasse, .Schillerplatz, Goetheplatz, &c. ; 

 the orange-red bricks at the police-station, the law-courts, 

 and in the walls of the zoological garden, &c., and the 

 lemon-yellow bricks at a villa near the west station at 

 Hanau, and at a house in the Verlangerte Zeil at Frank- 

 fort. The houses of the peasants near Hainstadt are 

 built of lightly-burnt bright flesh-coloured and yellow 

 bricks. 



The somewhat remarkable fact that chemists have so 

 long failed to recognise anything other than ferric oxide 

 as the cause of the colours in these bricks may probably 

 be explained by the large number of shades of colour pro- 

 duced by iron in its various stages of oxidation, by the 

 presence of manganese, and by the employment of mixed 

 clays containing the oxides of both cerium and iron. 



HARVARD COLLEGE MUSEUM REPORT 



PROF. AGASSIZ' Report, dated October 1S85, has 

 just reached us, and, as usual, it presents several 

 topics of interest. .Since the first section of the Museum 

 was inaugurated in November i860, the establishment 

 has passed through many changes, and from being, at its 

 origin, a State institution, it has gradually assumed that 

 of an independent department of the Harvard College. 

 While it has thus lost the immediate support of the 

 State, it has gained the good will and interest of the 

 students of the College, the class upon whom it must in 

 a very great measure depend not only for its maintenance, 

 but for its being a source of intellectual and scientific 

 good. 



During the first decade of its existence the resources 

 of the Museum v.-ere spent in forming collections which, 

 in some branches of science, have made it a great scien- 

 tific centre. During this period of ingathering the teach- 



ing powers of the place were interfered with. Now this 

 period has so far passed that the resources of the place 

 will be chiefly expended on its teaching, its original 

 investigations, and its publications. 



The foundation of this Museum dates from the public- 

 ation of the " Origin of .Species." The powerful movement 

 effected by this work on the scientific thought of the age 

 has not failed in modifying the problems which this in- 

 stitution was intended by its original founder to illustrate 

 and to solve ; and rightly does the son write that, if the 

 synoptic, systematic, faunal, or palajontological collec- 

 tions should cease to bear the interpretation given to 

 them by his father (the founder), their interest and im- 

 portance for the advocates of the new biology would 

 not be one whit lessened. 



It is pleasant to note that the plans of Prof Louis 

 Agassiz — the founder of the Museum — have been, it is 

 known, realised, and indeed beyond his most sanguine 

 expectations, and that his son and successor now sees the 

 establishment of a prosperous School of Natural History, 

 amply provided with laboratories, connected with a Uni- 

 versity, and recognising in the administration of its trusts 

 the claims of the College and of the advanced students, 

 as well as those of the original investigator, and giving to 

 both the latter ample opportunity of publishing their 

 theses or researches. It has not even forgotten the 

 specialists, for whom it has collected vast stores — stores 

 in every way available, as most of the specialists in Europe 

 will gladly testify. 



Very truly writes Prof. .'\. Agassiz in reference to 

 original investigation, that such is always best promoted 

 in connection with educational institutions, and we would 

 that the fact were more recognised in these countries; and 

 in regard to museums belonging to such he suggests that 

 they should grow so fast, and no faster, as the demand for 

 such growth arises, otherwise they become mere unwieldy 

 and meaningless accumulations. We may add that in 

 countries where large museums are kept up by the State, 

 University or Colle,ge Museums on an extensive scale 

 are a vast mista'^e. The college student's needs are very 

 limited, and the money spent on adding to and keeping 

 up collections would be infinitely better expended as aid 

 to original research. .All experienced teachers know how 

 small is the stock of material required for their demon- 

 strations, and how comparatively easy nowadays it is to 

 procure such. 



Prof. Agassiz hints that it would be desirable if, in con- 

 nection with the Laboratory of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission, the Universities of the United States should found 

 a sea-side laboratory, which would render unnecessary, 

 unless for special work, the various establishments already 

 being established along the American coast. The hint 

 should not be lost on our own Universities and Colleges, 

 which should be urged to assist in the establishment of 

 the British Biological Station. A long list of donations 

 and purchases, an account of the work done, meiaioirs 

 published or assisted by the loan of collections, conclude 

 this very interesting Report. 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN NEW SOUTH 

 WALES 



THE progress of technical education during the last 

 few years in this country has been watched with 

 great interest by some of our more important colonies 

 which are desirous of not lagging too far behind the mother 

 country in their arrangements for giving special instruc- 

 tion to artisans in subjects allied to the industries in 

 which they are engaged. The Report of the Minister of 

 Public Instruction of New South Wales recently issued 

 contains some interesting particulars as to the estabUsh- 

 ment of a Technical College in Sydney and the organisa- 

 tion of trade classes in the colony. The present 



