Dec. 13, 1883] 



NATURE 



159 



school officers of 144 towns of less than 7000 inhabitants, and 

 196 larger cities, as to the good or evil result therefrom. There 

 is an almost uniform reply in its favour. Only 19 out of the 

 \\hole number separate the sexes, and only 12 out of these 

 speak decidedly against it. The general morality and tone of 

 society in America prevent its having any mischievous effect, 

 while their innumerable small schools necessitate a large supply 

 of female teachers ^^•h 1 are the better qualified by their early 

 competition and parallel education with boys. The Bureau, 

 however, calls attention to the fact that both advantages may be 

 absent in an older and more thickly populated country where 

 concentration and divisiin of labour is more practicable. 



The Report of the Manche-ter Public Free Libraries i-; a 

 very saiisfaclory one, showing that since 1876-77, when the 

 issues of books had been decreasing for several years, a steady 

 revival has set in and their circulation has increased more rapidly 

 than the population. Nothing also speaks so well for the suc- 

 cessful work, jjresent as well as prospective, of both central and 

 district libraries as the new cataloi^ues of first one and then 

 another which have followed each other at aver, ge intervals of 

 six months only. 



On November 22, at aboutg a.m., a remarkable phenomenon 

 was observed at Alfia in the province of Helsingland. The 

 weather was mild and calm, and the sky clear, when from the 

 north the rays of an aurora be^an to deve'op, and soon bathed 

 the northern heaves s. Down by the eastern horizon a heavy 

 dark cloud rested, from which a magnificent meteor suddenly 

 darted forth. It traversed almost the entire heavens, spreading 

 a deep lurid light over every object, before which even the 

 aurora paled. The simultaneous observation of a starlight sky, 

 a flaming aurora, and a splendid meteor in the depth of winter 

 is described as very striking. 



The Revue Positive, which has been edited by the late M. Littre 

 and latterly by M. Wirouboff, has published its last number. The 

 reason alleged is the want of intere;t no.v felt in F'rance for 

 merely theoretical qne-tions, and the success obtained in a number 

 of special directions by the principles of positive philDSophy. It 

 has lived fifteen years. 



Part hi. Vol. ii. of the Memorie delta Socielu Geografica 

 Ilaliana is entirely occupied with the w irking out of the zoologi- 

 cal collections made during the Italian Expedition to Equatorial 

 Africa. Signor Vinciguerra treats on the freshwater fishe?, M. 

 A. de Bormans on the Orthoptera, M. C. Oherthiir on the 

 Lcpidoptera, and M. Lethierry on the Hemiplera ; in all cases 

 there were new forms to describe, and the rao.^t interesting 

 Lepidoptera are ilhrstrated on a large folded plate. These 

 memoirs appeared originally in the Annaii dil Aliiseo Civico di 

 Storia Nalurale di Genma, but will be useful in their collected 

 form. 



EarthquaIvES are- reported (i) fi'om Steinbruck (Styria), 

 where a severe shock was felt on November 7 at 3 p.m., and a 

 second one six minutes later, both in a vertical direction ; (2) 

 from Kalienbach, near Miillheim, where a loud subterranean 

 noise was heard, accompanied by a shock on November 11 at 

 9 p.m. The phenomemn was als5 observed in the surrounding 

 villages, and was preceded in the daytime by a severe thunder- 

 storm ; (3) from thenei^hbourhaod of Trawnik (Bosnia), where, on 

 November 15 at 9.45 p.m., a violent undulatory earthquake was 

 felt, accompanied by subterranean noise. The phenomenon 

 lasted five seconds, and its direction was from north-west to 

 south-east. An earthquake is also reported from Patra (Greece), 

 where a violent shock occurred on November 14 at 3.40 a.m. 



In connection with the Quekett Microscopical Club, six 

 demonstrations upon elementary subjects connected with micro 



scopy will be given at University College, in Class Room No. 8, 

 at 7.30, on the following evenings : — December 14, 1883, 

 Cutting Sections of Hard Tissues, by T. Charters White, 

 M.R.C.S. ; January 11, 18S4, Microscopical Drawing, by J. 

 D. Hardy ; February 8, the Sponge Skeleton as a means of 

 recognising Genera and Species, by J. G. Waller ; March 14, 

 How to Work with the Microscope, by E. M. Nelson ; May 9, 

 Polarised Light, by Charles Stewart, F.L.S. ; June 13, Staining 

 Vegetable Tissues, by W. H. Gilburt. 



On the Zuiderzee interesting experiments were recently made 

 with fog-horns of a novel construction. They are sounded by 

 steam, and are worked after the fashion of Morse telegraphs with 

 long and sh ni sounds. Two ships were provided with the fog- 

 horns ; on each there were telegraphists working the horn, and 

 the signals were distinctly heard and under.^^tood even if the 

 distance between the ships was such that they lost sight of each 

 other. 



A German Meteorological Society was founded at Hamburg 

 on November 18 last, when many eminent men of science 

 were present. Dr. Neumayer was elected president; the object 

 of the Society was defined as — " The cultivation of meteorology 

 as a science and in its relations to practical life." The Society 

 will support meteorological research and publish a meteorological 

 serial. At the first meeting I,)r. Hellmann spoke on twilight 

 phenomena. Dr. van Bebber on barometrical minima with erratic 

 movement, and Dr. Koppen on his metho I of testing the results 

 of weather forecasts. 



The addition, to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Lesser White-nosed Monkeys {Cerco- 

 pithectis petaiiristci) from West Africa, presented respectively by 

 the Rev. W. C. Willoughby and Mr. S. E. Sims ; twenty 

 Barbary Turtle Doves {Turlur risoriiis) from India, presented 

 by Mr. A. T. Hirsch, F.Z. S. ; two Bearded Titmice {Panuriis 

 biarmicus), European, presented by Mr. H. D. Astley, F.Z.S. ; 

 a Water Rail (Rallus aquatieiis), British, presented by Mr. E. 

 G. B. Meade Waldo ; an Indian Crocodile (Crecoddus palustris) 

 from India, presented by Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., F.Z.S. ; 

 two Scaly-breasted Lorikeets ( Triclioglossus chlorolepidotus), from 

 New South Wales, a St. Thoiias's Conure [Coniiriis xniilho- 

 h^inus) from St. Thomas, West Indies, four West African Love 

 Birds {Agapornis pullatia) from West Africa, two Undulated 

 Grass Parrakeets {Mdopsittacus iindiilatus), a Cockateel (Colo- 

 psitla nozhe-hollandia:) from Australia, two Indian Crocodiles 

 [Crocodihis palustiis) from India, deposited ; a Hairy Porcupine 

 (Sphingurus villoius) from Brazil, on approval ; tw o Cirl Buntings 

 {Emieriza cirlus), British, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Encicl's Comet. — di Octuber 16 M. Otto Struve presented 

 to the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg a new 

 memoir on the motion of Encke's comet, by Dr. Backlund, of 

 the Observatory at Pulkowa, who has continued the researches 

 commenced by the late Dr. von Asten. Shortly before the 

 decease of the latter, in August, 1S78, he had completed a 

 memoir upon this comet, in which it was proved that the appear- 

 ances between 1819 and 1858 might be co.nprised, so to say, 

 under a single formula, adopting one value for the effect of a 

 resisting medium ; or an acceleration of o"'i04 in the mean 

 motion in each revolution. Nevertheless the observations at the 

 different returns were not repre-ented with such a degree of pre- 

 cision as to exclude a probable error of 9" o for each co-ordinate 

 of a norinal position, and for certain appearances the agreement 

 with the formula was so little satisfactory that a suspicion arose 

 of the existence, besides gravitation and a resisting medium, of 

 other agents which had affected the motion of the comet. The 

 su-picion was further incre.ised when it was found by Asten that 



