ee ow ee 
August 5, 1886} 
NATURE 
323 
exceptional advantages for the preparation of a treatise of this 
character, arising from his own field experience, as well as his 
connection with the National Museum, and the free access which 
has been granted him to various other public and private collec- 
tions of birds, both in this country and Europe. The work is to 
contain some 425 illustrations suitably executed, and will conform 
to the geographical limits, classification, numeration, and nomen- 
clature adopted by the American Ornithological Union. 
ACCORDING to an official notification of the trustees of the 
**Schwestern Frohlich Stiftung” at Vienna certain donations 
and pensions will be granted from the funds of this charity this 
year in accordance with the will of the testatrix, Miss Anna 
Frohlich, to deserving persons of talent who have distinguished 
themselves in any of the branches of science, art, or literature, 
who may be in want of pecuniary support either through acci- 
dent, illness, or infirmity consequent upon old age. The grant 
of such temporary or permanent assistance in the form of dona- 
tions or pensions is, according to the terms of the foundation 
deed, primarily intended for Austrian artists, literary men 
and men of science, but in which however foreigners of 
every nationality—English and others—may likewise partici- 
pate provided they are resident in Austria. Donations will 
be granted to artists and men of letters and science for the 
purpose of completing their studies, and for the execution or 
publication of a certain specific work, and also in cases of sudden 
inability to work. Pensions are being granted to artists and 
men of letters and science who, in consequence of old age, illness, 
or other misfortunes, have been placed in a position of want. 
The applications addressed to the trustees (das curatorium) must 
be transmitted to the president’s office of the Common Council 
of the City of Vienna (an das Prasidial-Bureau des Wiener 
Gemeinderathes Neues Rathhaus) before August 31, 1886, through 
the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in London, 18, Belgrave Square, 
S.W., where also further particulars of the terms and conditions 
of the foundation deeds, &c., can be obtained. 
THE fifth Circular of Information for 1885, published by the 
United States Bureau of Education, is a very exhaustive treatise 
upon physical education. It directs attention to the four dif- 
ferent ideas of manly excellence: the Greek, or zesthetic ; the 
monkish, or ascetic ; the military, or knightly ; and the medical, 
or scientific. The recent war popularised the third in America, 
and reports of work of that class are accordingly to be found 
here. The teachings of the fourth, down to the most recent 
day, are of course the essence of the paper, and more than once 
attention is called to the great tendency of such teaching to 
return to the old standards of the first. In England, and still 
more in America, the oldest colleges and schools were founded 
with the principal object of educating a clergy, and accordingly 
were imbued with the spirit of the second—an important result 
of which has been that the games which occupy so much of the 
thoughts and the time of the students have hardly ever been 
recognised by the authorities, who have quite recently been 
forced to take them under their control to prevent abuse. It is 
felt now how important it is that games and exercises should be 
supervised and made a part of education, to be carefully con- 
trolled by a competent M.D., who shall be one of the Faculty 
on a par with the other masters. Rugby football is condemned 
by the great Harvard University as a ‘‘ brutal and dangerous” 
game. 
games are recounted, and many careful restrictions on games 
generally have been agreed to by the highest authorities, both 
scholastic and medical. The code and the books of Mr. 
Maclaren, of Oxford—a prophet too little honoured in his own 
country—are highly praised, but Germany carries the palm for 
science and laborious thoroughness. The manual labour which 
has been so successful in the lower-grade schools is naturally 
Many strong objections to much that attends public |, 
not found popular in the colleges. A warning voice is raised 
against the high pressure at which girls live both at work and 
pleasure, and the necessity of more regular rest and exercise is 
insisted upon. A large part of the Circular consists of plans 
and elevations of gymnasiums, useful to both schoolmasters and 
architects. 
THE labours of a curator who undertakes the first setting in 
order of the raw material of a museum in a new building are 
fully disclosed in the Report of the Nottingham Free Natural 
History Museum, which published the works of Mr. J. F. Blake, 
the Superintendent. And it can be no small labour to which 
he has devoted himself, even though extending over five years ; 
comprising, as it does, the naming and re-naming of I1,400 
specimens of every class of natural production hitherto kept 
with very little care; the supplementing them, as opportunity 
offered, with important desiderata till the total number of objects 
exhibited has increased to 21,950; the preparation of maps 
showing the geographical distribution of the animals near which 
they are placed ; the pictorial mounting of specimens of birds 
and of birds’ nests ; and the specially important duty of a local 
museum of getting together as complete a local collection as 
possible. At the same time we regard it as a most wholesome 
symptom in the case that Mr. Blake is by no means satisfied 
with his achievements, and we wish him more rapid progress 
in all his present and future undertakings on behalf of the 
Museum. 
AMONG recent contributions to natural-history literature, 
attention is due to an interesting work by the eminent Nor- 
wegian naturalist, Leonhard Stejneger, published in the United 
States under the title of ‘‘ Results of Ornithological Explora- 
tions in the Commander Islands and Kamtschatka.” In this 
work, which is illustrated by coloured plates, the author de- 
scribes upwards of 140 species, all of which were collected or 
observed by himself during his various visits to Behring’s Sea 
and the neighbouring coast-lands and islands. The main results 
of these expeditions had previously appeared in the Budletins of 
the U.S. National Museum, in the Ornithological Department 
of which institution Mr. Stejneger holds the post of Assistant 
Curator, while he has also from time to time supplied Maturen 
with pleasantly-written popular reports of his voyages and ob- 
servations, and to these we have more than once had occasion 
to make favourable reference. As, however, both these sources 
are inaccessible to the general reader, we welcome with great 
satisfaction the present comprehensive English exposition of 
Mr. Stejneger’s most recent contributions to the branch of 
science which he so successfully cultivates. Within his own 
province he has, moreover, been doing good service to popular 
science as compiler of the ornithological portion of the American 
“ Standard Natural History,” published at Boston by Messrs. 
Cassino and Co. In Mr. Stejneger’s original contributions to 
this work, which claims to be based on the most recent results 
of science, he has been able by his own observations to make 
various additions to, and corrections of, the statements of 
Brehm, who has hitherto been trusted as our principal authority 
regarding North European and American ornithology. 
DuriNG a severe thunderstorm which passed over Central 
Norway last week a remarkable example of the power of light- 
ning was witnessed. In a field at Loiten a fir-tree 80 feet in 
height was struck by lightning some 12 feet from the ground, 
with the effect that the tree was cut in halves and the upper 
portion—about 60 feet in length—thrown a distance of several 
yards. The most curious part, is, however, that the surface of 
the detached part is as smooth as if the tree had been sawn 
through, whilst that of the stump remaining in the ground is 
jagged, charred, and splintered to the root. The ground around 
the tree is furrowed in all directions, one being several feet in 
