March 24, 1870] 
on the largest scale will open a vast field to the activity of 
his successors. 
TuHE African traveller, Dr. Nachtigal, writing from Mursuk 
to the Cologne Gazette, on the 29th January last, gives some 
further particulars relative to the murder of Miss Tinné. He 
says that Sultan Omur, of Bornu, has sent a meferi (courier) 
to Mursuk, in order to make inquiries respecting the murder. 
The deceased lady’s effects and servants have at length been 
despatched to Tripoli, though the former have not yet arrived. 
Yehenouchen, the Tuareg chief, has written to Europe, dis- 
claiming all responsibility for the murder, as he had not promised 
his protection to Miss Tinné, or urged her to undertake the 
journey to Rhat. He is ninety years old, says Dr. Nachtigal, 
and has a great reputation for uprightness in his own country, 
but on the other hand, it is a fact, that his own nephew, Hadji 
el Schich, who attacked the unfortunate lady and her caravan, 
and murdered her after receiving her presents and other marks 
of friendship, is still living with Yehenouchen, and that the 
latter had directed the Marabout Hadji Ahmed Bu-Slah, who 
witnessed the murder without attempting to prevent it, either 
by word or deed, to provide Miss Tinné with an escort to 
Rhat. 
THE chair of chemistry at Konigsberg has been accepted by 
Dr. Grabe of Leipzig, known through his papers on chinone 
and alizarin, 
WE regret to announce that Professor Magnus of Berlin has 
been suffering for several months from a painful disease, which 
will, most likely, oblige him to interrupt his lectures for some 
time to come. 
WE learn from the Fournal of the Society of Arts that by the 
death of Mr. William Gibbs, which took place on the 28th ult., 
the South Kensington Museum acquires the collection of Roman 
and Anglo-Saxon antiquities collected by him. 
Miss GARRETT has been admitted as a member of the medi- 
cal staff of the East London Hospital for children, and was 
appointed one of the physicians on Wednesday last. This is the 
first hospital in Great Britain which has recognised in this man- 
ner the female medical movement. 
-In the Monthly Microscopical Fournal for March is an obituary 
notice by Mr. Joseph Lister, F.R.S., Professor of Clinical 
Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, of his father, the late 
Mr. J. J. Lister, F.R.S., to whom science is so much indebted for 
improvements in the microscope. 
THERE is a project for the establishment of a Scientific 
College at Perth, intended to combine, on a small scale, the 
advantages of the Ecole des hautes Etudes and Lcole Normale 
Supérieure of Paris. 
THE thirty-seventh session of the Congrés Scientifique de 
France will be held at Moulins in August next. 
THE Society of Arts Fournal reports that an International 
Exhibition of Agricultural Machines will be held at Arnheim, 
in June, July, and August. 
THE Scientific American calls attention to an excellent im- 
provement applied to the passenger car of the Beach Pneu- 
matic Transit Company. The car, in size, is about the same as 
an ordinary street car, and a single zircon light, illuminates its 
interior with brilliancy. Two small cylinders of compressed 
oxygen and hydrogen are carried on the car, from which pipes 
extend to a small burner that supports a piece of zircon, not 
more than a quarter of an inch long and one-eighth of an inch 
in diameter. Against this little piece of zircon the two gases 
impinge, and heat it so intensely as to make it glow with a clear 
and steady light. Those who fancy that underground railway 
riding in New York is likely to be a dark and dismal affair will 
receive new impressions on the subject when they enter the pre- 
NATURE 
Se) 
mises connected with the Broadway tunnel. One of the great 
advantages of the zircon light is that it burns like any other 
light without requiring adjustment. The light carried on the 
car before mentioned, burns steadily for seven hours without 
being touched. The zircon pencil lasts for three months, and 
is, in effect, the wick of the light. 
THE annual meeting of the Cotteswold Naturalists’ Field 
Club was held at Gloucester on Feb. 23rd. It was stated that 
the forthcoming volume of the ‘‘ Transactions” would contain a 
most valuable and elaborate paper by Mr. Lucy, F.G.S., which 
attempts to unravel the intricate history of the distribution of 
the erratic boulders, boulder drift, quaternary gravels, &c., of 
the Severn valley, over a given area ; acontribution of the highest 
value to science, and one full of facts of the greatest importance, 
in elucidating the old physical geography and geology of the 
Severn valley since the close of the Pliocene epoch. The Trans- 
actions would also contain an admirable paper from the pen of 
Dr. Wright, F.R.S.E., on the ‘‘ Correlation of the Jurassic beds 
of France and Switzerland with those of Gloucestershire and 
Wilts.” These papers, both splendidly illustrated by maps and 
woodcuts, many of which were exhibited to the meeting, were 
highly eulogised by the president, and referred to as fully main- 
taining the already high scientific reputation of ‘the “ Transactions 
of the Cotteswold Club.” The field meetings for the year 
have been fixed to take place at Cirencester, Ross, Pains- 
wick Hill, Moreton-in-Marsh, and a “ foreign meet” at Watchett 
in Somerset, later in the season, if the weather permit. 
A SOMEWHAT violent shock of earthquake was felt at Trieste 
on the 28th of February, at 12°20 p.m, The oscillatory move- 
ment from east to west lasted from two to three seconds. The 
following day at 8°56 p.m. the motion was repeated with greater 
violence. There was a loud rolling noise, and articles of furni- 
ture were thrown down in the houses. 
Dr. WILHELM HAMM, an official of the Austrian Ministry of 
Agriculture, and well known as author of the ‘‘ Weinbuch” 
(Leipzig, J. Weber), has constructed a Weinkarte, published by 
Costenoble, Jena, exhibiting at a glance the topography, clima- 
tology, and statistics of wine-growing in Europe and the islands 
of the Atlantic. The habitats, climates, and quantities produced; 
the various growths and qualities of each; and the wine mea- 
sures, &c., are all indicated in this map. 
Sir WILLIAM THOMSON, having had his attention directed 
to the very great differences that exist in the conducting 
quality of copper wire professing to be of the ‘‘highest conduc- 
tivity,” had a large number of specimens carefully tested and 
the following are some of the results obtained—the quality is in- 
dicated by the resistance of a metre length weighing one gramme. 
The best specimen was one supplied by M. Bréguet, Paris, of 
which the resistance was “153 of an ohm per metre weighing one 
gramme. Specimens from English manufacturers varied as fol- 
lows :—"165, "169, “171, ‘178, ‘206, ‘213, ‘221. Seven specimens 
labelled ‘‘highest conductivity,” stood as follows :—156, ‘182, 
"201, ‘205, ‘223, and ‘258. As itis to the interest of all scientific 
men that the copper wire used in electrical instruments shall be 
of the best quality, there should be general co-operation to dis- 
courage as much as possible the use of inferior copper. Variations 
in conductivity like those in the samples of copper mentioned 
above would produce instruments varying to the extent of 4o 
per cent. 
THE publishers of the Canadian Naturalist announce that the 
periodical is in future to appear quarterly instead of six times a 
year as heretofore, but the quantity of matter, 480 pages, is not 
to be diminished. Another and an important particular is, 
that ‘‘the basis of the magazine has been so extended as to in- 
clude a larger field of popular scientific scope than formerly. 
Especially with regard to the technology of geological, mining, 
