Feb. 24, 1870 | 
NATURE 
433 
THE Professorship of Medical Jurisprudence in the Royal 
College of Surgeons, Ireland, is vacant by the death of Dr. 
Geoghegan. The election by the Council was to take place on 
the 17th inst. 
DuRING the recent discussion on Easter Island at the 
Royal Geographical Society, it was stated that the layers of 
guano could be traced and the deposit of each twenty-four hours 
distinguished. It was calculated that it must have taken 4,000 
years to form the 20 feet deposits on the Chincha Islands. 
THE town of Dantzic having given a concession of the sewage 
to Messrs. Aird of Berlin and granted them land for its utilisa- 
tion, preparations are now being made for carrying out the work 
under the direction of Mr. Baldwin Latham. 
WE have received a report of the Birmingham Natural History 
and Microscopical Society, which appears to be actively at work, 
and we notice that Mr. Fiddian read a paper, of which he has 
sent us a copy, on a ‘‘ Screw Motion” to remedy the defects in 
the adjustment of compound microscopes. 
THE Bulletin de la Société d Acclimatation contains an article 
on the use of the skins of the Kangaroo for glove-making, which 
seems to promise a successful result in this respect, and as 
furnishing a new source of animal food, as these animals thrive 
well in Europe. 
Tue Warsop aero-steam engine has lately been much talked 
of, and was the other day prominently described in the Zimes. 
The invention consists essentially in mixing heated air with the 
steam before its admission into the engine, and results have been 
obtained which show considerable advantages in the case of 
certain engines and boilers. gineering referring to the sub- 
ject remarks, that it is to be regretted that those interested in 
the invention should not have afforded means of judging whe- 
ther its application to engines of an economical class would 
furnish results as satisfactory as those obtained with the defec- 
tive boiler of the Fox. 
A CORRESPONDENT in the Society of Arts Journal suggests the 
necessity of a new house for that body, with sufficient room for 
an extensive library and museum, and adds, that if a hundred of 
our trade magnates were to set down their names for 1,000/. 
each, the object would be accomplished, and they would be the 
Greshams of a New Exchange, where art and science would 
incessantly supplement and extend an ever-growing commerce, 
and lessen the sphere of human want. 
THE British Medical Fournal, referring to the general impres- 
sion that the mortality attending the larger operations performed 
in hospitals has diminished during the last two or three years, sug- 
gests that if this be due to really improved plans of treatment, the 
introduction and free use of carbolic acid may have been one of 
the measures most influential, and recommends the use of this 
material in hospitals for preventing accidental contagion. 
WE have received, from the Editor, the “ Year Book of Photo- 
graphy, and Photographic News Almanac for 1870,” containing 
a number of interesting and useful papers and memoranda. 
THE Fournal of the Society of Arts states that application has 
been made by the French Government for plans and statements 
relating to the organisation of the South Kensington Museum 
and Schools. Schemes based on the same principle and method 
haye, it is understood, been proposed in New York and Boston. 
CAPTAIN Hans Busk has issued a circular in which he 
expresses his conviction that much may yet be done to diminish 
loss of life by shipwreck, and suggesting the construction of an 
experimental steam life-ship of 80 to 100 tons and 50 horse- 
power, capable of keeping the sea in any weather. An institute 
has been established for this purpose, and Captain Busk offers 
a donation of 200/. on condition that 1,400/. be contributed by 
the public towards the cost of the vessel during the present 
month, Upwards of 7oo/. has already been received. Sub- 
scriptions are to be sent to the Hon. Secretary, Major Wallace 
Campbell, or Captain Busk, 3, Garden Court, Temple, or to 
Messrs. Coutts’ Bank. 
WE have received from the publishers the January number of 
the North British Review, in which we notice an admirable 
series of notices of contemporary literature, in which there are 
among the scientific works referred to Angstrom’s “* Researches 
on the Solar Spectrum,” Ladenburg’s “ History of Chemistry,” 
Mice’s “ Report on the Progress of Chemistry,” Odling’s ‘‘ Out- 
lines,” Foster’s “‘ Physical Geography of the*Mississippi Valley,” 
Sir J. Lubbock’s ‘‘ Pre-Historic Times,” and Newman’s ‘ Bri- 
tish Moths.” 
A METHOD of protecting iron from atmospheric influences 
has been proposed by Messrs. Macmillan and Macgregor, of 
Dumbarton and Glasgow. They bring melted sulphur into 
contact with the cold metallic surface to be coated. The sulphur 
chills and sets into a hard, thin, protecting covering. 
Mr. RuGGLEs states in his report to the International Statis- 
tical Congress held at the Hague that, in 1868, the extent of land 
under wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and maize in the 
United States was upwards of sixty-six million acres, the cereal 
crop amounting to more than four times as much as was needed 
for the population of the country. 
THE Secretary of State for India announces, at the request of 
the Goyernor-General of India, that the Government of India 
offers a prize of 5,000/. for machinery or a method suitable for 
the separation of the fibre and bark of the Rheea or China-grass 
from the stem and for separating the fibre from the bark. Dried 
stems and specimens of the fibre will be suppled on application 
to the Secretary to the Government of India in the Home 
Department. 
WE learn from a paper by Mr. Bartley in the Society of 
Arts Fournal, that Science classes, attended by artizans, were in 
active operation last year in Chelsea, Hampton, Knightsbridge, 
Nine Elms, and Wandsworth, the total number of students 
being 223. The Chelsea School has just been enlarged by the 
students themselves, working from six to eleven at night. It 
will accommodate 200, the outlay being 50/. for material. 
This school has now 206 students in all. They are taught by 
Mr. Bickerton—formerly a cabinet-maker in Gloucestershire— 
who has distinguished himself as a pupil at the Royal School 
of Mines. With the exception of a few prizes, no local aid 
of any kind has been given to the school. 
WE have received from Vienna the catalogue of a book-sale 
which is to take place during March, in which we notice the 
titles of many valuable works on Natural Science, History, 
Political Economy, Mathematics, &c., in yarious languages. 
Commissions for purchases are received by Messrs. Triibner in 
London. 
A course of eight lectures on English History, from the 
accession of Edward III. to the date of the Council of Constance, 
is now being delivered in the Pimlico Rooms, by Archibald 
Milman, Esq., under the auspices of the Committee for the 
higher education of women. 
A DEPUTATION from the Society of Arts waited upon Earl 
Grey and Mr. Forster at the Privy Council Office on Friday, to 
present a memorial representing in reference to the system of 
State aid to science classes, the hardship of the new orders which 
are looked upon by teachers as a breach of faith by the depart- 
ment. Lord De Grey promised to consider the matter carefully. 
IN consequence of the appointment of Mr. Dyer to the chair 
of Botany in the College of Science, Dublin, the Professorship 
of Natural History at the Royal Agricultural College at Ciren- 
cester is vacant, 
