May 4. 1882] 



NA TURE 



17 



c order), J. B. Nias. Department of Anthropology .—Prof. W. 

 Boyd Hawkins, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. (Vice-President), 

 will preside. Secretaries: G. W. Bloxam, M.A., F.L.S.) 

 (Recorder), T. W. Shore, jun., B.Sc. E— Geography :— Pre- 

 sident : Sir R. Temple, Bart, G C.S.I. Vice-Presidents: H. 

 \V. rates, F.R.S., Lieut. -Col. II. H. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S. 

 Secretaries : E. G. Ravenstein, F.R.G.S., E. C. Rye, F.Z.S. 

 (Recorder). B— Economic Science and Statistics :— President : 

 Right Hon. G. Sclater-Booth, M.P., F.R.S. Vice-Pi 

 W. E. Darwin, F.G.S., R. H. Inglis Palgrave, F.S.S. Secre- 

 taries: G. S. Baden-Powell, F.S.S. , Prof. H. S. Foxwell, 

 F.S.S. , A. Milnes, M.A., F.S.S., ConstanHne Molloy (Re- 

 corder). G— Mechanical Science :— President : John Fowler, 

 C.E., F.G.S. Vice-Presidents: A. Giles, C.E., \Y. II. 

 Preece, C.E., F.R.S. Secretaries: A. T. Atchison, M.A., 

 F. Churton, II. T. Wood, P..A. (Recorder). The First General 

 Meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 23, at 8 p.m. 

 precisely, when Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., will 

 resign the Chair, and C. W. Siemens, D.C.L., F.R.S., Pre- 

 sident elect, will assume the Presidency, and deliver an address. 

 On Thursday evening, August 24, at S p.m., a soirk; on 

 Friday evening, August 25, at S.30 p.m., a Discourse on 

 Pelagic Life, by Prof. H. N. Moseley, F.R.S.; on Tuesday 

 evening, August 29, at 8 p.m., a soiree; on Wednesday, August 

 30, the concluding General Meeting will be held at 2.30 p.m. 



It may be useful for some of our readers to be informed that 

 the following arrangements have been made by the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science for reduced fares 

 from Europe to Montreal, for those attending the meeting on 

 August 23 next :— The Allan Line will grant ten tickets at $100 

 each from Liverpool to Quebec and return ; the Dominion Line 

 will grant twenty-five tickets at SSo each from Liverpool to 

 Quebec and return ; the Beaver Line will grant tickets from 

 Liverpool to Quebec and return at SSo each. 



The eleventh meeting of the French Association for the 

 Advancement of Science will take place at Rochelle, commencing 

 August 24. The General Secretary is Prof. Gariel, 4, rue 

 Antoine Dubois, Paris. 



The honorary degree of LL.D. has been conferred on Mr. J. 

 R. Hind, F.R.S., by the University of Glasgow. 



The death is announced, at the age of forty-eight, of the 

 well-known physicist Prof. Zollner, of Leipsic. 



Lady Thomson, widow of Sir Wyville Thomson, is to receive 

 a grant of 400/. from the Royal Bounty Fund. 



The French Eclipse Expedition has arrived at Alexandria. 



On April 27 the French Academy received M. Pasteur, who 

 has been nominated to fill the chair vacated by the recent death 

 of M. Littre. The ceremony attracted an immense concourse 

 of people, including the ititt among French savans and politi- 

 cians. M. Pasteur delivered an eloquent address against the 

 opinions of his predecessor, who was partly defended by M. 

 Renan. The two speeches are among the most interesting and 

 elaborate that have been delivered under such circumstances. 



We have received, as specimens of the seismological literature 

 of Japan, reprints of certain translations which have appeared in 

 the Japan Gazette newspaper. The first is the narrative of an 

 earthquake shock at Osaka, accompanied by a high wave, in 

 1707 ; the second, a similar narrative of a great earthquake in 

 the province of Echigo in 1S29 ; and the third an earthquake 

 chronology. The editor, Prof. Milne, speaks of the first as little 

 more than a series of anecdotes of various events which took 

 place at the time of the disaster ; and although the seismologist 

 may not be able to glean many facts of value, the paper will at 



least give him a specimen of the kind of literature through which 

 he will have t*> wade in searching for facts of scientific import- 

 ance. He adds that he is acquainted with sixty-five Japanese 

 works on the subject, and that in Japan there is a literature on 

 earthquakes comparable with that of any other country, and 

 although much of it may be of interest only to the general 

 reader, much of it has a value scientifically. The second mono- 

 graph is interesting, on account of the many references it contains 

 to pi 'J ular beliefs respecting the connection between earthquakes 

 and other natural phenomena. Thus, an unusual warmness in 

 the weather, a change in the colour of the moon, mirage, falling 

 stars, &c, are all referred to as being connected with the ap- 

 proach of an earthquake. The third paper is a translation of an 

 earthquake Calendar, commencing at 295 B.C. and ending with 

 the widespread and destructive earthquakes of 1 854. This work 

 shows that, notwithstanding the frequency of these phenomena in 

 Japan, the native chroniclers have always carefully recorded them. 

 Probably nowhere else in the literature of the world can we find 

 so long and complete a record of the recurrence of various 

 natural phenomena — for eclipses, great waves, volcanic erup- 

 tions, &c, are also noted — than in this work. 



A series of three excursions has been arranged by the 

 Geologists' Association, to afford members an opportunity of 

 becoming acquainted with the physiography and geological cha- 

 racter of the Weald. The first excursion, on May 6, will be to 

 Redhill and Crawley ; the second, May 30, to Tilgate Forest, 

 Cuckfield, and Hayward's Heath ; and the third, May 29 and 

 30, to the Isle of Purbeck. 



The annual general meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 will take place on May 10, II, and 12. The papers to be read 

 are : — On certain physical properties of iron and steel, by Mr. 

 Edn aid Richards, Hematite Steel Works, Barrow-in-Furness ; 

 On the use of brown coal in the blast furnace, by Prof. Ritter 

 Peter von Tunner, Leoben, Austria ; On the Bilbao iron ore 

 district, by Mr. William Gill, M. I.C.E., Luchana, Bilbao, 

 Spain ; On a new method of getting coal, by Mr. Paget Mosley, 

 London ; On the compression of fluid steel, by Mr. William 

 Annable, Govan, Glasgow ; On the chemical composition and 

 testing of steel rails, by Mr. G. J. Snelus, F.C.S., A.R.S.M., 

 Workingtoa ; On the consumption and economy of fuel in iron 

 and steel manufacture, by Mr. J. S. Jeans, London ; On the tin 

 plate manufacture, by Mr. Ernest Trubshaw and Mr. E. S. 

 Morris ; On the relations of carbon and iron, by Mr. Geo. E. 

 Woodcock, Atlas Works, Sheffield ; On a new centre crane for 

 Bessemer plant, by Mr. Thomas Wrightson, M.I.C.E., 

 Stockton-on-Tees. 



On April 30 M. Carlier, one of the most active members of 

 the Academie d'Aerostation Meteorologique, made an ascent at 

 the La Villette gasworks, Paris, in order to try if it is possible 

 to steer a balloon by using in the car a large oar composed of a 

 plane fixed perpendicularly to a solid handle worked wish two 

 hands. The dimensions of the plane are one metre by two, and 

 the handle is about three metres long. The weight of the sails 

 is counterpoised when worked, and the weight of the whole 

 system is about 10 kilograms. It is the second time that M. 

 Carleer has ascended with this apparatus. Although the air was 

 in a state of great agitation the motions of the balloon were 

 easily seen from the ground. M. Carlier intends to make a 

 series of ascents in order to learn how to make the best of this 

 system, which is to be used only for partial direction, as in the 

 case of Thames barges, which, although they must follow the 

 run of the tides, can be directed to some extent by means of 

 the oars. 



The May number of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical 

 Society contains a paper of much interest by Mr. L. K. Rankin, 

 B.A., on "The Elephant Experiment in Africa." Mr. Rankin 



