458 
formation of an Academy similar to that planned by Napoleon I. 
for Egypt. M. Bert has now issued a decree establishing the 
‘*Tonquinese Academy.” The preamble sets out that it is 
desirable to revive in the country, which has been disturbed for 
so long a time, the taste for literature and science, and to pre- 
serve to the people the vestiges of its glorious past ; as well as 
to collect the scattered evidences of its ancient splendour. The 
decree then goes on to provide that the seat of the Academy 
shall be at Hanoi, and that its functions shall be to investigate 
and collect everything of interest, from any point of view, relating 
to Tonquin, to preserve ancient monuments, to initiate the 
people into the knowledge of modern sciences and civilisation, 
by translating and publishing in the Annamite language részmes 
of European works, to translate into French extracts from the 
more important dynastic annals of Tonquin, as well as other 
works to be selected by a Commission, to aid in forming public 
libraries in the principal towns, and a national library at Hanoi, 
to publish a monthly bulletin in which scientific and other ques- 
tions shall be treated, and to put itself in relations with other 
Oriental Societies in Europe and Asia. The Academy is to 
consist of forty members and an unlimited number of corre- 
spondents. The dignity of am-lam is to be conferred by the 
Resident-General. Various degrees are to be given to Ton- 
quinese, and these are to be marked bya medal or emblem 
to be worn on the dress. Political questions are not to be 
discussed. 
WE regret to learn that difficulties arising out of the re- 
organisation of the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokio, 
have resulted in the loss to the new University of Japan of the 
services of Prof. T. Alexander. 
Mr. R. JASPER Mork, writing to the 7imes, from the House 
of Commons, on the subject of ‘* Science for the Masses,” inquires 
why some of the 600 papers which are not read before the British 
Association should not be delivered as lectures at the schools or 
public rooms of the West Midland district, where “large and 
appreciative audiences would have been found, and a foundation 
laid for the objects of the British Association.” ‘A few words 
spoken,” he says, ‘‘in a familiar manner to working-men and 
others by members of the British Assuciation would tend to 
make that taste for natural science the absence of which Sir 
John Lubbock deplores.” 
AT the last meeting of the Entomological Society of London, on 
the Ist inst., Mr. C. O. Waterhouse called attention to the various 
reports which had lately appeared in.the newspapers of the dis- 
covery of the Hessian Fly (Cecédomyia destructor) in Britain, and 
inquired whether any communication on the subject had reached 
the Society. The Rey. W. W. Fowler stated that he had been in 
communication with Miss Ormerod on the subject, and that she 
had informed him that neither the imago nor larva of the species 
had been seen, and that the identity of the species rested on the 
supposed discovery of the pupa. 
Pror, BruN has published in the Archives de Genéve an 
interesting study on the so-called lightning holes to be found in 
the High Alps. He and other investigators have found them at 
heights of from 3348 to 4000 metres, or between 11,000 and 
13,000 feet above the sea-level. Usually they are found on 
summits. Sometimes the rocky mass, which has been vitrified 
in the passage of the electric fluid, presents the appearance of 
small scattered pearls, sometimes of a series of semi-spherical 
cavities only a few millimetres in diameter. Sometimes there 
are vitrified rays going out from a central point to a distance of 
4 or 5 inches. Sometimes a block detached from the mass 
appears as if bored through by a cannon-ball, the hollowed 
passage being quite vitrified. The thickness of this vitrified 
coating or stratum never exceeds a millimetre, and is sometimes 
NA TORE 
. in 
[Sep?. 9, 1886 
not more than the quarter of that depth. The varying colours 
which it presents depend on the qualities and composition of the 
rock. The same may be said as to its transparency. On the 
Rungfischhorn the glass thus formed by the lightning is black, 
owing to the quantity of actinolite which the rock contains. It 
is brown on La Ruinette, the rock consisting of feldspar mixed. 
with gneiss containing chloride of iron. Under the microscope 
these lightning holes disp!ay many interior cavities, which must 
be attributed to the presence of water in the rock at the momen! 
of melting by the electric discharge. This vitrified material has 
no influence on polarised light. 
THE captain of the steamer 7¥essaly, belonging to the Houston 
Line, writing to the owners of that vessel, notes a strange expe- 
rience on his last voyage from Liverpool to Monte Video. On 
Thursday, July 1, at 11.35 p.m., the ship, which at the time 
was in lat. 0° 55’, long. 29° 34’ W., was suddenly and violently 
shaken and bumped, the shaking being accompanied by a loud, 
rumbling, metallic kind of noise. The first impression was that 
the ship was tearing the bottom out over hard rock, but know- 
ing there was nothing in the neighbourhood she could touch, 
save St. Paul’s rocks, and as they could not see land, the captain | 
concluded the machinery was going to pieces. A report received 
from the engine-room, however, stated that there was nothing 
wrong there. The engineer had slowed down instantly, under 
the impression that something had gone wrong. The carpenter 
reported the wells all free. The shock lasted about a minute ; 
no disturbance was visible on the water. About 8 minutes after 
the first shock, a second, not quite so severe, stopped the ship, 
which in the meantime had been going slowly. Subsequently 
they experienced a third shock—a slight one. The lead indi- 
cated 60 fathoms with no bottom. Being now satisfied that the 
shocks were caused by some submarine disturbance, the captain 
proceeded on his course. After steaming about 15 minutes, he 
experienced a fourth shock, only inferior to the first in severity 
and duration. After this all was quiet. During the shocks the 
compass cards were much agitated. 
WE have received a pamphlet by Prince Albert of Monaco 
describing the investigations which he has made during the past 
year in his yacht, the Wirondelle, into the Gulf Stream, and its: 
relations with the coast of France. After referring to the 
interest which the Gulf Stream possesses for various branches of 
science, the Prince describes. the knowledge of it possesse 
by the ancients, and the various investigations of modern times. 
The stream has been carefully studied by the Americans along. 
their coasts, but our knowledge of it farther out in the Atlantic 
is more doubtful. Its influence on the French coasts has never 
been experimentally studied, and to this particular point the 
work on the Hirondelle was directed. 179 floats were thrown 
out at various places to the north-west of the Azores. These 
were of three classes—hollow copper balls, oak barrels, and 
ordinary bottles, there being ten balls, twenty casks, and 149 
bottles. The various places of immersion formed a line about 
170 miles in length. The conclusion which the Prince draws 
from the results so far is that as far as 300 miles to the north- 
north-west of the Azores, the Gulf Stream shows no tendency to 
flow towards the north-east, and even its tendency towards the 
east is scarcely pronounced. The pamphlet contains two charts, 
—one of the places of immersion of the floats, with the dates and 
hours, the other of the voyage of the Hivondelle from the time it 
left Lorient until its return. ; 
THE session 1886 of the University College, Bristol, will 
begin on October 5. Lectures and classes are held every day 
and evening throughout the session. In the Chemical Depart- 
ment lectures and classes are given in all branches of theoretical 
chemistry, and instruction in practical chemistry is given daily 
the chemical laboratory. Excursions to some of the 
