Fan. 13, 1870] 
NATURE 
291 
“including the names of the two Murray scholars, the chief 
prize now given for general proficiency in the university.” 
WE have received the report of the Council of the Birming- 
ham Midland Institute, presented at the annual meeting on Mon- 
day last. It is altogether of a satisfactory character. Addi- 
tional accommodation is required, and an appeal to the town is 
about to be made, which we hope will be heartily responded to. 
The following statistics of the use made of the Science Classes 
by students, will show the gradually increasing utility of this 
single side of the Institution :—1857, 578 students; 1862, 717 
students ; 1866, 1,371 students; 1869, 1,538 students. 
WE learn from the British Medical Fournal that the follow- 
ing courses of lectures will be given at the Royal College of 
Surgeons during the present year :—r. Six Lectures ‘* On Der- 
matology,” by Prof. Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S., commencing on 
the 31st inst. 2. Eighteen lectures by Prof. Flower, F.R.S., 
*©On the Anatomy of the Mammalia,” commencing February 
14th. 3. Six lectures ‘‘On the Nature and Treatment of New 
Growths,” by Prof. Birkett. 4. Three lectures ‘‘On the Minute 
Anatomy of the Eye,” by Mr. Hulke, F.R.S. Professors 
Wilson and Flower will lecture on Mondays, Wednesdays, and 
Fridays, at 40’clock. The third and fourth courses will be given 
in the month of June. . 
THE following course for the Experimental and Natural Science 
Gold Medals in Trinity College has been agreed on for 1870. 
Physics: Jamin, Cours de Physique; Lloyd, Elementary Treatise 
on the Wave-Theory of Light. Chemistry: Regnault, Cours 
de Chimie; Naquet, Principles of Chemistry, Second Edition 
by Cortis; Fresenius, Chemical Analysis, Fourth Edition. 
Mineralogy and Geology: Dana, System of Mineralogy; Rose, 
Elements de Crystallographie, Edit. par Regnault ; Dana, 
Manual of Geology, Parts I. u. and Iv. Botany, Zoology and 
Paleontology : Henfrey, Elementary Course of Botany, Parts I. 
and 111.; Lindley, Descriptive Botany, 1858; Bentham, British 
Flora; Haughton, Three Kingdoms of Nature, Part ITI. ; 
Greene, Manual of Protozoa and of Ccelenterata; Huxley, 
Lessons in Elementary Physiology; Dana, Manual of Geology, 
Part 11. 
Tue Erasmus Smith Professorship of Natural and Experi- 
mental Philosophy in Trinity College, Dublin, is now vacant. 
The second half of the examination for candidates will be held 
on the 21st. The examiners are the Provost (Dr. Lloyd) and 
Professors Apjohn, Galbraith, and Jellett. The emoluments of 
the office are, to a Fellow, if elected, about 600/. a year; to the 
Professor not being a Fellow, 200/. a year. 
THE Horticultural Society of Cologne is about to extend its 
original scheme so as to include a school for the scientific teach- 
ing of horticulture. It is stated that a range of buildings, to in- 
clude halls, lecture-rooms, chemical laboratory, dwelling-rooms, 
&c., is to be immediately erected ; and that the society intends 
to enlarge or rebuild the present orangeries, conservatories, and 
forcing-houses. 
Tue Pall Mall Gazette of Monday last reports at great length 
a lecture ‘‘ On the Forefathers and Forerunners of the English 
People,” given by Professor Huxley, at a meeting held on the 
preceding evening, under the auspices of the National Sunday 
League. The lecturer, referring to the arguments now com- 
monly brought forward, upon the assumption that the Irish and 
English nations belong essentially to different races, denied that 
there was sufficient proof of the existence of any difference what- 
ever between Celt and Anglo-Saxon, except that of language. 
He thinks it probable, moreover, that Ireland as a whole con- 
tains less Teutonic blood than the eastern half of England, and 
more than the western half. Our readers may remember that 
the question of the amount of the Celtic element in the existing 
English nation was prominently brought before the public in a 
recent Chancery suit. The claims to originality put forward by 
the plaintiff in that suit are now disputed by Dr. Daniel Wilson, 
of Toronto, who communicates to the last number of the Caza- 
dian Fournal a somewhat verbose article pointing out that the 
results obtained by the plaintiff from craniological investigations 
were anticipated in all essential particulars in earlier writings of 
Dr. Wilson’s. 
THE pressure on our space is so great that we have been 
unable to lay before our readers the communications on the 
Suez Canal, presented to the Royal Society by Mr. Bateman, 
and to the Geographical Society by Lord Houghton; they have, 
however, been given at some length in the daily press. One 
point of great scientific interest came out in the discussion at 
the Geographical Society. Mr. Fowler stated that the evapora- 
tion from the Bitter Lakes would require a supply of 250,000,000 
cubic feet daily, #¢., a flow in the Canal of 14 miles per hour, 
On all hands the Canal is acknowledged to be a complete 
success, and its probable influence on the trade of Mediterranean 
ports may be estimated from the fact mentioned by Lord 
Houghton, that the Emperor of Austria said that ‘he was there 
to represent Trieste.” 
WE are glad to learn from the Architect that it has been 
decided to establish a School of Science and Art at Dover. 
THE Swiss are about to supplement, or supersede, their great 
“Dufour” Map, by another upon a much larger scale. The 
“Dufour” Map, on a scale of yygypa (about 2 of an inch toa 
mile), is in twenty-five sheets, and is printed in black only ; but 
the new map is to be on a scale of ss4oq for the plains, and x5455 
for the mountainous districts. It is to be printed in three colours, 
and will contain no less than 540 sheets. Roads, towns, and 
trees are inserted in black, and rivers and glaciers in blue: the 
third printing, in red, is devoted to contour lines. The distance 
between each contour line expresses a height of 100 Swiss feet in 
the mountains, and 33°3 Swiss feet-in the plains. It was 
intended at first to have a fourth printing, in green, for the 
forests, but this has been abandoned on account of the expense. 
Several sheets of this map, all admirably executed, have already 
been issued. At the same time they are reducing the ‘* Dufour” 
Map to the scale of ssgigy- This reduction will be in four 
sheets, and for tourists or for general use will be much more 
handy than the larger map. It is said that it will be even 
superior to the original map in the picturesque relief, for which 
the latter is so remarkable. Three years more will be required 
to finish the reduced map, of which two sheets are already 
published. 
M. Bouts has been appointed Professor of Toxicology at the 
Upper School of Pharmacy in Paris. 
WE cull the following notes from the last number of the 
Journal of the Society of Arts :— 
The Royal Agricultural Society has been giving its attention 
to the adulteration of manures and feeding cakes, and is conduct- 
ing some analyses. 
The oxy-hydrogen light is now largely used in Paris for illu- 
minated advertisements and theatrical purposes. Carts with 
metal reservoirs containing the compressed oxygen for the supply 
of customers may be seen in the streets. At the Gaieté Theatre, 
which is one of the largest consumers, cylinders of magnesia or 
zirconia take the place of the lime cylinders ordinarily used for 
this light. 
In connection with the systematic destruction of timber in 
Australia, it is mentioned that in the Ballarat district this 
destruction has been accompanied by a corresponding diminution 
in the rainfall, and that since 1863 there has been a more or less 
regular reduction from 37°27in. in 1863 to 14°23in. in 1868. 
The Government has recently appointed an Inspector of State 
Forests, whose duty it will be to prevent the waste of timber, and 
establish nurseries of forest trees in various parts of the colony. 
