| August 26, 1886] 
birds. 
porters, 
The new Society evidently has many friends and sup- 
Amoncst the great number of publications which are received 
from time to time from the Smithsonian Institution, two 
which have lately been issued help better perhaps than any- 
thing else to show the magnitude of the work of the Institution 
asa disseminator of scientific knowledge—a work, moreover, 
the sphere of which is limited only by the civilised world. The 
first of these is the list of institutions in the United States re- 
ceiving the Smithsonian publications. The latter ‘‘are so dis- 
_ tributed as to be accessible to the greatest number of readers,” 
and the rules for distribution are accordingly of a very elastic 
kind, giving abundant discretion to the authorities, The pub- 
lications are divided into three classes: (1) the reports ; (2) the 
miscellaneous collections ; (2) the contributions to knowledge. 
Of these, one, two, or all classes are distributed according to 
the demands of the neighbourhood to which they are sent, and 
all that is required in return is that they be ‘‘duly acknow- 
ledged, be carefully preserved, be accessible to any person who 
may wish to consult them, and be returned to the Smithsonian 
Institution in case the establishment at any time ceases to exist.” 
The list of institutions in the United States receiving the pub- 
lications under these conditions fills a pamphlet of about seventy 
pages, and numbers nearly 2000. They include various classes 
of schools and colleges, literary and scientific institutes, learned 
societies, public libraries, hospitals, &c., in wonderful variety. 
In looking through the list it is impossible not to recollect the 
trouble with which a few of our own public institutions suc- 
ceeded last year in getting some of the Parliamentary papers 
ublished by the Government. 
THE second publication to which we have alluded is the 
Smithsonian list of foreign correspondents, in other words, of 
institutions outside the United States to which the Institute’s 
publications are sent. These reach the enormous number of 7969, 
every country on the globe with any pretence to civilisation 
being represented. It thus appears that an ordinary Smithsonian 
Report has a free circulation of about 10,000, and is spread all 
over the globe, from Pekin to Valparaiso, from Iceland to New 
Zealand. The exchange department of the Smithsonian is 
certainly not the least marvellous part of a marvellous institu- 
tion. 
CCORDING to the latest consular report from Newchwang, 
in Manchuria, Seoul, the capital of Corea, is now in telegraphic 
communication with Pekin, and so with the outer world. The 
line runs through Moukden. Six years ago no European was 
allowed to visit Corea, and those who ventured to disregard 
Corean seclusion generally paid for their temerity with their 
lives: to-day a merchant in London might telegraph direct to 
_ the capital of the Hermit Kingdom. 
A SHOCK of earthquake was experienced on Friday evening 
at Kilsyth, a mining town situated in Stirlingshire, about thirteen 
miles from Glasgow. About 9 o’clock a sharp rumbling noise 
ot a few moments’ duration was heard over the greater part of 
the town. Much vibration was noticed in many houses at the 
same time. People ran immediately into the s'reets, not know- 
_ ing what had occurred, and many rushed off to the Craig Ends 
and Haugh pits, situated to the east and west of the town, 
thinking that one or the other must haye been the scene of a 
great disaster. The shock was most distinctly felt in the north- 
east portion of the burgh. The weather at the time was close 
and dull. 
ANOTHER slight shock of earthquake was felt at Malta at 
8.30 a.m. on August 19. The captain of a steamer 
which arrived there on the 18th, officially reports that at 
NATURE 397 
something like a blaze of fire coming out of the water. It 
was about 30 feet wide and rose to roo feet above the water, 
and disappeared at once. The position of the steamer at the 
time was about 200 miles eastward of Malta. The blaze was 
observed at the head of the ship, and those on board were cer- 
tain that it was not lightning. 
A CURIOUS result of the volcanic eruption in New Zealand 
(according to the Colonies and India) is alleged to have been 
found in the sudden breaking up of the drought in Australia. It 
is said that the great Java earthquake of 1883 was the immediate 
forerunner of a long spell of dry weather in Queensland in that 
year, and that a welcome fall of rain in the same colony followed 
immediately upon the eruption of Mount Tarawera. 
Mr. F. W. Purnam’s last report of the explorations which 
he is conducting with Dr. Metz in Ohio for the Peabody Museum, 
deals with what is called the Marriott Mound, No. 1, forming 
part of the Turner group in the Little Miami Valley. The 
report describes with great minuteness the various objects found 
in this mound, of which numerous illustrations are given. The 
find was a rich one. The mound, though it had been ploughed 
over, was 2 feet high and 60 feet in diameter at the time of the 
examination. In the centre was found a mass of burnt clay in 
the shape of a basin, 2 feet in diameter, containing ashes, char- 
coal, burnt bones, pottery beads, and various shells used as 
ornaments. About 600 fragments of pottery, from 2000 to 3000 
broken and split pieces of bones of animals (chiefly the deer and 
bear), shells of river clams, several objects in bone and stone, 
and some human remains, were amongst the objects found in the 
mound. Of the latter the principal were a perforated skull, 
yarious bones belonging to a different skeleton, a third skeleton, 
partly| covered by a large hammered copper plate, and a fourth. 
which was apparently that of a woman, with numerous personal 
ornaments near it. Mr. Putnam’s report is confined to a bare 
description of all these and other objects found, and of their 
precise situations in the mound with regard to the basin in the 
centre and to each other. 
Ar the annual meeting of the Royal Society of Queensland, 
held at Brisbane on July 2, the President, Mr. L. A. Bernays, 
delivered an address in which he gave a brief rés4vé of the work 
of the Society during the past year, its meetings, and the publi- 
cation of the papers read on these occasions, the endeavour to 
assist in the exploration of New Guinea by organising a fund for 
the benefit of the Forbes Expedition ; the efforts to encourage 
special scientific pursuits amongst the members by the admission 
of Sections into its constitution. Finally, having dwelt on the 
importance of the conduct by the State of systematic instruction 
with the immediate object of fostering numerous industries which 
the marvellous range of soil and climate of the colony is capable 
of calling into existence, occasion was found to dwell on the 
value of technical and industrial botany, and the importance of 
its recognition in the plan and management of the colonial 
botanical gardens, and in the selection generally of objects 
publicly displayed for educational purposes. With regard 
to the Forbes Exploration Fund referred to by the Presi- 
dent of the Queensland Royal Society, in December last 
Mr. H. Tryon suggested to the Council of the Society that 
such a fund should be opened in Queensland. This was 
done, and at the time it was closed 94/. was raised. Subse- 
quently a further appeal was received on behalf of Mr. Forbes, 
whose operations had been suspended. This led to the fund 
being reopened, with the result of additional subscriptions being 
received, raising the total to 1452. 10s. For a Society which is 
quite young, and the total income of which is but little over 
roo/. per annum, this is a considerable donation to Mr. Forbes’s 
work, even though Queensland has a special interest in New 
about 9 o’clock on the evening of the 17th inst. he observed | Guinea. 
i 
