634 



NA TURE 



{Oct. 26, 1 ! 



same routine will be followed as on the occasion of the Congress 

 of Electricians, of which this Congress must be considered as 

 the sequel. The funds for conducting the experiments have 

 been voted, as we reported, by the French Houses of Parlia- 

 ment, to the extent of 90,000 francs, but practically to any 

 amount. 



The Congress on Cable Protection may be said to have 

 been established in furtherance of a deliberation taken un- 

 animously by the Congress of Ehctricians, but this deliberation 

 was not acknowledged as binding by the French Government, 

 and was not proclaimed at the time. The consequence is that 

 the French Foreign Office caused a special programme to be 

 drawn out after having consulted the Postal Telegraph Office 

 and foreign governments. The schedule for the direction of the 

 deliberation is divided into three parts: — I. The protection of 

 cables. 2. The protection of shipping laying cables. 3. The 

 right of property in the bottom of the sea, and rules for laying 

 cross or parallel lines and repairing them. Although a certain 

 number of delegates sit in both Congresses, the majority of 

 them belong to the legal or maritime profession. The two Con- 

 gresses will hold general meetings this week, and at the end of 

 each the Minister of Postal Telegraphy will hold a levee at his 

 official residence. The names of the British delegates are the 

 following : — Sir William Thomson, Prof. Carey Forster, Lord 

 Rayleigh, Prof. Fleeming Jenkin, Dr. Hopkinson, F.R.S. 

 Cable Protection : — Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Patley, Mr. Trevor ; Mr. 

 Farnall of the Foreign Office will act as the Secretary of the 

 British delegation. 



In a postscript to Mr. G. B. Bennett's letter to Sir J. H. Lefroy 

 on the comet (see p. 623), the writer says :—" Since closing 

 my letter, I have been informed that Miss North has left 

 Wynberg for the interior. She is bent on depicting the 

 Welwitschia. She will have to go into the Damara country to 

 find one. I can scarcely believe that she has gone to such a 

 distance." 



A DESPATCH from Montreal, dated October 9, states that the 

 Montreal City Council has been officially notified by the Secre- 

 tary of State of the Dominion that the British Association will 

 meet there in 1SS4, and has been asked that due arrangements 

 be made. 



The French Minister of Public Instruction presided on 

 October II at the inaugural sitting of a new commission created 

 by M. Ferry, to determine the best measures for the hygiene of 

 school children. The number of members of this commission is 

 forty-five, amongst whom are eight females, either professional 

 teachers or connected with the efforts made recently for pro- 

 moting female education in France. 



On October 10 the Swiss Universities celebrated the fiftieth 

 anniversary of the beginning of the scientific career of Dr. 

 Valentin. The five Swiss Universities and no less than twenty 

 foreign ones sent him diplomas of honour and congratulations. 

 The health of the eminent physiologist is, however, so bad that 

 he was confined to bed, at Geneva. 



The first provincial dinner of the Institute of Chemistry was 

 held at the Great Western Hotel, Birmingham, on Friday, the 

 20th hist., and was numerously attended, both by members 

 residing in and around this busy centre of chemical industry and 

 by members from Lcndon. In replying to the toast of the 

 evening, "Success to the Institute,'' the President, Prof. Abel, 

 briefly traced its history. It was established to supply the want, 

 keenly felt by the chemical profession, of an organisation to 

 protect their interests. Its fundamental objects were the pro- 

 motion of a thorough study of chemistry and the adoption of 

 whatever measures might be necessary to advance the interests 



of the profession. A suitable course of training had been laid 

 down after careful consideration and the attainment of the grade 

 of Member and Associate was gradually coming to be regarded 

 as a proof of fitness for election to technical, professional, or 

 official appointments. On Friday and Saturday the members 

 visited Earl Dudley's Iron Works, Messrs. Chance's Alkali and 

 Glass Works, the Mint, Gas Works, &c. 



Mr. Thomas Coats, of Ferguslie, Paisley, has handed over 

 to the keeping of the Paisley Philosophical Institute an observa- 

 tory erected on Oakshaw Hill, the total value of the gift being 

 12,000/. 



A subscription towards the English Darwin memorial 

 has been opened in Stockholm. The Swedish press warmly 

 supports the same, pointing out that it is not money which 

 England asks for, but the tribute of a cultivated nation to one of 

 her greatest savants. 



A LETTER dated September 22 has been received by the pro- 

 moter of the Danish Polar Expedition, Herr Gamel, from Lieut. 

 Ilovgaard, in which he states that the Dijmphna is frozen in 

 near Nuvaya Zembla, but he hoped to get free during the equi- 

 noctial gales and reach the Jenisei. All was well on board. 



The Captain-General of the Philippine Islands telegraphs 

 from Manila, October 21, that a tremendous hurricane had almost 

 entirely destroyed that town. In less than an hour from its com- 

 mencement not a single native house and not a single wooden 

 house was left standing. Almost all the stone buildings, even 

 those having iron rafters, were unroofed and made uninhabitable. 

 Comparatively few casualties had taken place among the popu- 

 lation. In a later telegram the Captain-General says that the 

 authorities of Balacan and the interior of the island report a 

 similar destruction as caused by the hurricane, and fifteen thou- 

 sand more persons are houseless. Singularly enough, on the 

 first day after the hurricane not a single case of cholera occurred 

 in Manila or the island. The tornado not only swept over the 

 entire Archipelago, but was felt many hundred miles out at sea, 

 especially to the south and west. It is believed that more lives 

 have been lost by shipwreck than on land. 



An interesting experiment has been made in Paris by M. 

 Mangin, a member of the Acade'mie d' Aerostation. A small 

 balloon, measuring about loo cubic feet, and filled with pure 

 hydrogen, was sent up, being held captive by a rope containing 

 two copper wires. A Swan incandescent light having been placed 

 in the gas and attached to the top of the balloon, was lighted, 

 and the whole aerial machine, which was quite translucent, was 

 splendidly illuminated. It was shown by systematic interrup- 

 tions that the dots and dashes of the Morse system could be 

 imitated for giving military signals at a great distance. 



News from Verona state? that the subterranean shocks con- 

 tinue. Houses have been destroyed by earthquakes at Cassone, 

 Brescia, and Verona, and between Campiore and Forbefice a 

 landslip occurred. A severe earthquake was experienced at 

 Silchar, India, and in other districts in a lesser degree on the 

 13th inst. 



The Corporation of the town of Sheffield having resolved to 

 api'ly to Parliament, under the Electric Lighting Act, for ex- 

 tensive powers for the illumination of the borough by electricity, 

 not only in the streets and public buildings, but also in the 

 private house=, Mr. Conrad \V. Cooke, who has been ap- 

 pointed consulting engineer to the Corporation, has been in- 

 structed to prepare and report upon a scheme to be adopted by 

 the Corporation. 



Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., M.A.I., will read a paper on 

 " Dene-Holes," at the meeting of the Essex Field Club to be 



