August 3, 1 88 2 J 



NATURE 



3 2 9 



necessary for the purpose are of the simplest kind ; 

 indeed, so far as mere training is concerned, the engi- 

 neer's level, transit, and theodolite can be made to serve 

 most of the purposes of the astronomical student. What 

 the latter really wants is that training of the eye and the 

 mind which will enable him to understand the theories of 

 instruments, the methods of eliminating the errors to 

 which they are subject, and the mathematical principles 

 involved in their application. In this, as in nearly every 

 department of professional education, we may lay it down 

 as a rule that the wants of a liberal and of a professional 

 education are, so far as the foundation is concerned, 

 identical. We are too prone to lead the student into the 

 minute details of a subject without that previous training 

 in first broad principles which, though it may not imme- 

 diately tell on his progress as a student, will be felt 

 throughout his life to whatever field of work he may 

 devote himself. Such a transit instrument as Hipparchus 

 might have made — a wooden level mounted on an axis 

 and supplied with slits to serve the purpose of sights — 

 properly mounted in the meridian, could well be made to 

 take the place of the transit instrument for purposes 

 of 'instruction. Scarcely any higher skill than that of a 

 cabinet-maker would be required in its construction. The 

 object at which the student should then aim would be, 

 with the aid of this instrument, to determine the error of 

 his clock or watch within a few seconds. If he is really 

 acquainted with the principles of the subject, and has his 

 eyes properly trained, he will have no difficulty in soon 

 learning to do this. SIMON Nky. 



NOTES 



The following details regarding the sad accident by which 

 Prof. Balfour lost his life have been received since Prof. Foster's 

 article was written. It appears (from a letter from Mr. C. D. 

 Cunningham to the Times) that on the 14th ult. Mr. Balfour crossed 

 the Col du Geant, and on descending on the Italian side the 

 idea first occurred to him of attempting the Aiguille Blanche de 

 Penteret, or, as it is sometimes called, the Aiguille de la Belle 

 Etoile, a peak which is one of the buttresses of Mont Blanc, to 

 the massif of which it is joined by an extremely steepsnow ante. 

 Mr. Cunningham's guide, Emile Rey, had previously attempted 

 the peak, and was able to give Mr. Balfour many details as to the 

 probable line of ascent. Having failed, however, to persuade Mr. 

 Cunningham and the guide Rey to accompany him, Mr. Balfour 

 started from Courmayeur on Tuesday, the iSth, with the guide 

 Johann Petals, for Aiguille, accompanied by a porter to carry 

 blankets and wood as far as their sleeping-place on the rocks. 

 It was thought, the ascent being new and difficult, he might be 

 absent two nights, and return to Courmayeur on Thursday. As 

 he did not reappear, it was th jug! t he must have crossed to 

 Chamounix, or gone down to the Chalets de Visaille for more 

 provisions. On Friday Mr. Bertolini and Mr. Baker, at the 

 hotel in Courmayeur, became serf msly alarmed, and finding the 

 party had not been heard of either at Chamounix or at the 

 Chalets de Visaille, they sent out a search party, which, early on 

 Sunday morning, on reaching the rocks between the Glacier de 

 Brouillard and the Giacier de Fre-ny, found the bodies of Mr. 

 Balfour and Petrus, both partly covered with snow, at the fuot 

 of the steep snow arete. As there was little fresh snow about 

 the place, it was probably not an avalanche that caused their 

 death. One may have slipped, and the other not bad suffi- 

 cient strength to hold his compani n. The provisions at the 

 sleeping-place having been untouched, the accident must have 

 taken place on Wednesday, the 19th. But it is not certain 

 whether they fell in descent or accent. Means were taken on 

 the 25th to have the remains brought to the hotel. 



The three missions designated for observation of the Venus 

 transit in Patagonia left on the 20th ult. in the Messageries 



steamer from Bordeaux, for Buenos Ayres. The arrangement is 

 as follows : — Rio Negro (41 S.), M. I'errotin, director of Nice 

 Observatory, accompanied by Lieutenants Tessier and Delacroix, 

 and M. Guenaire, photographer to the Observatory; Ciuibi.: 

 (43 S.), M. Ilatt, hydrographic engineer, assisted by Lieut. 

 Leygue and M. Mion, engineer ; Santa Cruz (50 S.), Capt. 

 Fleuriais, assisted by Lieutenants Le l'ord and de Royer de Saint 

 Julien, and M. Lebrun, naturalist. Arrived at Monte Video, the 

 first two missions will probably embark in the advice boat La 

 Bourdonnais, the third in the advice boat Le I'olage. In the 

 course of observations, detachments from the Volage will try to 

 ascend the Rio Santa-Cruz at least to the point reached by 

 Darw in in the Beagle expedition. The Chili mission, composed 

 of Lieut, de Bernardiere, assisted by Lieut. Barnaud and Ensign 

 Favereau, embarked on the 15th ult. in an English steamer going 

 by the Straits of Magellan. 



UNDER the name of a "North German Museum for Natural 

 Science " Dr. G. Haller and Cie have opened at Putbus, on the 

 island of Riigen, a storehouse of natural objects and aids to 

 teaching, whence schools, museums, and private individuals may 

 obtain specimens and collections, representing all the three king- 

 doms of nature. An institute for investigation of the Baltic 

 forms part of the scheme, and a few students have been enrolled, 

 we learn, for the current summer. Dr. Haller was formerly a 

 privat-docent of zoology in Berne. With the aid of a well-known 

 entomologist, collections of insects of all kinds (exotic included) 

 are furnished ; also biological collections of caterpillars, larva, 



rasites, c\x. It is intended, later on, to supply collec- 

 tions of the insect pests of agriculture. The utensils of entomo- 



id other apparatus are also provided. Of European 

 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibia, fishes, &c, many specimens 

 are kept, preserved in the usual way ; also preparations for the 

 stu iy of embryology and comparative anatomy, and for varied 

 microscopical work. A variety of live animals for aquaria and 

 terraria are provided. The dry preparations of frogs and other 



itained by a modification of Semper's method have 

 received special commendation, also the series of embryos and 

 parasite-. 



Free libraries do not increase in number so rapidly in England 

 as in America, where they have now reached to 4000. Vet a 

 pamphlet or circular issued by the Bureau of Education must be 

 of conside able interest to any who are engaged in starting or 

 working libraries. It points out the disadvantages of the 

 arrangements of existing library buildings, and gives a general 

 plan by which they may be avoided. The chief Americau 

 libraries consist of large halls open from floor to roof and sur- 

 rounded by galleries five or six one over another like a theatre. 

 The author of this paper (Mr Poole of Chicago) objects to this 

 general plan, on account of (I) the waste of this central space, 

 or if this central space is used for reading, for its publicity and 

 noisiness ; (2) the difficulty of getting any uniform temperature 

 over the whole of such a building, for while the lower floors are 

 kept at a mild warmth the upper floors become so intensely hot 

 that not even an attendant can work there, and the bindings 

 perish from heat ; (3) the wasteful expenditure of the physical 

 strength and time of attendants in going upstairs and round Irom 

 one part of the library to another; (4) the special convenience 

 for catching fire where all communicate with one centre instead 

 of being divided into fireproof compartments; (5) the difficulty 

 of enlarging such a circular building, as the principal American 

 libraries already require enlarging ; and (6) its great expense. 

 In the plan which Mr. Poole suggests ten rooms surround a 

 square space equal to only two of the rooms. Each room should 

 be about 16 feet high, thus easily warmed uniformly. Books 

 should be classified, and in a feu cases duplicate copies kept so 

 that a student should find all the books on the subject he wanted 



