480 



NATURE 



[Sept. 14. 1882 



and lectures on sanitary and other matters connected with the 

 health of the people, which were only occasional while the 

 museum was at University College, will form a permanent 

 feature of the institution when it is reopened in Margaret Stree*. 

 It is expected that the museum will be reopened before 

 Christmas, in the meantime communications may be addressed 

 to the Secretary and Curator, Mr. Mark H. Judge, at S, Park 

 Place Villas, Paddington, \Y. 



In the Report of the Executive Committee to the General 

 Committee of the Great International Fisheries Exhibition at 

 the meeting on the 7th inst., it was stated that since the date of 

 the last meeting of the General Committee the arrangements for 

 the preparation of the Gardens of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society for the reception of the Exhibition have been greatly 

 advanced. The plans of the proposed buildings have been 

 determined upon, and the details of construction are so arranged 

 as to be economical and effective, and can with ease be extended 

 in the event of mere space being required. The total amount of 

 space at present provided for by the existing and new buildings, 

 will amount to 220,300 square feet. A sub-committee has been 

 appointed to superintend the construction of tanks and aquaria, 

 and all the necessary arrangements for the piscicultural depart- 

 ment. Since the date of the la>t meeting the Committee have 

 received highly encouraging notices of adhesion from several 

 additional governments and colonies, one of the late-t received 

 being a highly satisfactory telegram, through the Foreign Office, 

 from the Imperial Government of China. From several parts of 

 France also the process of oyster cultivation, carried to great 

 perfection in that country, w ill be well represented ; and the 

 exhibits promised from Hungary, Italy, and Germany, are such 

 as the Committee feel will be in the highest degree interesting, 

 whilst from Norway and Sweden, the Netherlands, and other 

 countries, including the Chilian Republic, which enjoy the 

 advantage of local committees sanctioned by the governments, 

 the collective exhibits sent will of course approach perfection. 

 The International Meteorological Committee, who recently held 

 their Annual Conference at Copenhagen, agreed to forward to 

 the Exhibition from their respective countries representa' ions of 

 the system of forecasting the weather. From the colonics, for 

 the most part, very satisfactory replies have been received, and 

 official arrangements have been organised in nearly all the 

 colonies connected in any way with the fishing interest. In the 

 list of special prizes the Committee have made large and im- 

 portant additions, notably the prize of 600/. for the best life 

 boat, and have received from private individuals donations to 

 cover a certain amount of the expenditure thus involved. 

 Among the more scientific subjects for prize essays are. the fol- 

 low ing:— The Natural History of Commercial Sea F"ishes of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, with special reference to such parts 

 of their natural history as bear upon their production and com- 

 mercial use. This would include natural history, food, habits, 

 and localities fish frequent at different seasons, and artificial 

 propagation— 100/. (This will not include Salmonidae). On 

 Improved Facilities for the Capture, Economic Transmission 

 and Distribution of Sea Fishes, 100/. On Improved Fishery 

 Harbour Accommodation for Great Britain and Ireland, indi- 

 cating the localities most in need of such Harbours, the general 

 principles on which they should be constructed, and the Policy 

 the State should adopt in aiding and encouraging Harbour 

 Accommodation for fishing purposes, 100/. The best Ap. 

 pliances and Methods of Breaking the Fore? of the Sea at the 

 Entrance to Harbours and elsewhere, icoi On the Food of 

 Fishes both in Fresh and Salt Water, accompanied by illustra- 

 tions and Preparations, 50/. On the Introduction and Acclima- 

 tisation of Foreign Fish, 25/. On the Propagation of Fresh- 

 water Fish, excluding Salmonidae, 25/. On the Propagation of 

 the Salmonidte, 25/. On Salmon Disease : its Cau e and Pre- 



vention, 25/. On Oyster Culture, 25/. On the best Method 

 which has been practically tested of cultivating Crustacea, 25/. 



Thanks mainly to the exertions of Baron Miclucho Maclay, 

 the Biological Station at Sydney has now been completed. It 

 consists of a six-roomed cottage erected on the jutting point of 

 land between Watson's Bay and Camp Cove. The building is 

 of wocd on a stone foundation with an iron roof. In the stone 

 basement part of the space has been walled in, and when more 

 funds are available other portions will be partitioned off as rooms 

 for the carrying on of rough dissections and other operations 

 which cannot well be carried on in the rooms above, and for 

 the storage of bottles, spirits of wine, chemicals, dredges, nets, 

 and other collecting gear. The rooms above are six in number, 

 in three suites of two rooms each, so that biologists wishing to 

 live close to their work may use one room as a bed-room, and 

 the other as a laboratory. The laboratories are 15 feet by 12, 

 with a lofty ceiling ; the windows are large, with an easterly 

 aspect, and large skylights permit of the entry of a certain 

 amount of additional light from above. The partitions between 

 the rooms are double— the interspace being filled with sawdust 

 to deaden noises. A verandah 6 feet in depth runs round the 

 whole building. Considerable additions require to be made to 

 the appliances of the institution before it can be regarded as 

 efficiently equipped for the purposes for which it is intended. 

 Aquaria and other appliances are still wanting ; and it is very 

 desirable that a house should be erected for the accommodation 

 of a paid caretaker, who should attend to the aquaria, dredge 

 for specimens, and in other ways assist the biologists working in 

 the stations. The Royal Society of New South Wales has 

 granted the Biological Station the sum of 25/. f.om its funds, 

 and il is expected that this grant will be repeated from year to 

 year. The Royal Society of Victoria have also promised an 

 annual sum, and the Australian Biological Association will also 

 probably be in a position to grant an annual sum to the Sydney 

 Station. Further subscriptions, however, are still required, 

 and will be thankfully received by the treasurer. The station is 

 open to biologists of the male sex, irrespective of nationality, on 

 payment of a small weekly sum to meet the expenses of 

 service, &c. 



WE find some notes on the recent meeting of the American 

 Associati Ml at Montreal, in the New York Nation. This year the 

 well-known geologist, Principal Dawson, was the presiding officer. 

 The attendance was large, especially from the United States. 

 Among the men of note from across the ocean the most con- 

 spicuous are Dr. W. B. Carpenter, and the Rev. Dr. Haughton, 

 of Trinity College, Dublin. Besides these may be mentioned 

 Dr. Valdemar Kovaleski, Professor of Geology in Moscow, Dr. 

 Kcenig, of Paris, the inve^liguor in sound, and Mr. Fitzgerald 

 of Dublin. The most liberal hospitalities of a prosperous city 

 were extended to the guests from a distance. The re- 

 tiring president, Prof. Brush, of New Haven, selected for his 

 address a theme in his own department, and treated it like a 

 master. His discourse was a good illustration of the tendency 

 of scientific men to limit their work to a special line, and to 

 avoid general observations upon the fields which they have not 

 personally tilled. According to the Nation, there was nobody 

 in the Congress, and not more than one person in all the land, 

 so competent as he to review the history of American mineralogy, 

 and to point out the requisites for the further prosecution of the 

 science. A marked feature of American minerals, said Mr. 

 Brush, is the grand scale upon which crystallisation has 

 taken place— common mija in sheets a yard across, feldspar 

 where a single cleavage plane measured ten feet, prisms 

 of beryl four feet long— and so in general much larger crystals 

 than those obtained from European localities. Another note- 

 worthy fact is the occurrer.ee, in abundance, of some of the rarer 



