56 
NATURE 
[Mow 11, 1869 
sued by the wave-fronts. It will be found by those who 
care thus to apply Professor Airy’s results, that the follow- 
ing estimates by Professor Hochstetter are approximately 
correct. 
He makes the mean depth— 
Fathoms. 
Between Arica and Valdivia (x) . 1,190 
= ni the Sandwich Isles (3) 2,565 
2 Opara (6). . 1,933 
5 a5 the Chatham Isles (8) 1,912 
ay 4 Lyttelton (10) . 1,473 
A W Newcastle (Aust.) (11) 1,501 
These results are the more valuable, because the Pacific 
Ocean has not been so carefully sounded as the Atlantic 
has. And though the progress of the tidal wave has long 
afforded similar evidence, yet a certain amount of doubt 
necessarily rests over conclusions drawn from the progress 
of a wave which is acted upon throughout its voyage 
across the Pacific by the attractions which gave it birth. 
We may add, in conclusion, that on December 23, 1854, 
a wave trav ersed the Pacific from Japan to San Francisco 
and Diego, or from (4) to the neighbourhood of (2), whose 
progress, dealt with according to Professor Airy’s numbers, 
showed the mean depth of the sea between Japan and 
San Francisco to be 2,149 fathoms, and between Japan 
and Diego 2,034 fathoms. These results agree fairly with 
those which have been deduced by Professor von Hoch- 
stetter. R. A. PROCTOR 
A NEW FORM FOR SCHOOLS 
T the first blush this may seem a trivial subject, but 
when we consider the immense floating multitude of 
children who frequent schools, spending at least some 
6,000 hours on forms during the time that they are at 
school, and that their health may be injuriously affected 
by the use of unsuitable ones, the importance of the sub. 
ject becomes evident. 
Dr. E. H. Schildbach states, in the Gartenlaube, that 
amongst more than a thousand children whom he ex- 
amined in several schools at Leipsic, he found only a few 
who did not show some lateral curvature or deviation of 
the spinal column, traceable to the use of improper forms. 
The chief defect in the construction of these forms was 
the great space between the seat and the table. Seats 
without backs soon tire out even robust children ; they 
cannot sit upright for several hours together, and after 
much shifting from side to side, they are constrained to 
obtain relief by sitting on the very edge of the bench, and 
resting their arms on the table before them. The position 
into which they are thus forced is anything but a salutary 
one. The back is curved, especially in its lower half ; the 
thorax sinks between the shoulders, and chest and stomach 
suffer a not. inconsiderable pressure. To write in this 
position, one shoulder is raised much higher than the 
other, and the whole body is twisted unnaturally. With 
young and growing people the assumption of constrained 
positions, even for a few hours day by day, soon becomes 
habitual, and in many cases may lead to real deformity. 
Our illustration represents the model form recom- 
mended by Dr. Schildbach, invented by Mr. E. Kunze, of 
Chemnitz, in Saxony, and will scarcely require a detailed 
description. It will be seen that the table forms an 
inclined plane without the usual level projection at its 
upper part. It is divided by cross bars into separate desks, 
and the boards which form the desks are movable and 
can be drawn out. A metal button with a lateral motion 
holds each board in its place, and also fixes it when 
drawn out. At the top in front are places for inkstands and 
writing materials, covered by the board when pushed home. 
Each seat has its separate back, of a shape best calculated 
to give proper support with the least possible pressure, 
while it allows the pupil to leave his place by stepping 
back over the seat without disturbing his neighbour. 
Underneath the table is a shelf for books, slates, &c., and 
beneath this there is a foot-board, an important provision 
against cold. The inexpensive character of this form 
and simplicity of its construction will be apparent to 
everyone. 
THE NOVEMBER SHOOTING-STARS 
al HE earth is rapidly nearing the band of cosmical bodies 
to which the November star-showers owe their occur- 
rence. Whether we are to witness a display or not depends 
wholly on the nature of that portion of the band through 
which we are to pass this year. The portion which gave 
the great display of 1866 has now passed many millions of 
miles away on its course towards the orbit of the distant 
planet Uranus. Nearer to us, but still many millions of 
miles away, is the part which we traversed in 1867, when 
(in America) there was a short but brilliant display of 
meteors, which would have afforded a yet more striking 
exhibition but for the full moon which dimmed their 
splendour. In 1868 meteors were seen in every part of 
the earth, and even, in America, on two successive 
nights. It is clear, therefore, that the portion of the 
band then traversed was very much wider than the part 
through which the earth had passed in the two former 
years. But even the part traversed in 1868 is more than 
five hundred millions of miles away from us now ; and it 
is difficult indeed to say what may be the character of the 
portion we are approaching. Most probably it is even 
wider than the part we passed through in 1868; in which 
case we are sure (if the weather be but fine) to see a display 
of the November shooting-stars, though the same process 
of wide-spreading would of course tend to make the dis- 
play so much the less brilliant. 
It must be remembered that it will be absolutely useless 
to look for the meteors much before midnight of November 
12—13 and of November 13—14. England does not come 
round to the exposed hemisphere of the earth—that is, 
to the hemisphere which is bearing directly through the 
meteor-band—much before ten o’clock in the evening ; 
and she does not turn her full face, so to speak, towards 
the meteors before midnight. From that time until ten in 
the morning the rain of meteors is directed upon England 
without intermission, though no sign of the falling stars 
can be noticed after sunrise. 
Our neighbours across the Channel propose to send 
observers to the shores of the Mediterranean, there to 
watch the meteors under more favourable circumstances 
than in more northern latitudes. Although we already 
know the principal conditions under which the meteors 
move, yet all observations directed to the determination 
of the size, colour, and constitution of these interesting 
bodies, will be well worth the making. The comet-nucleus 
