Jan, 31, 1884] 



NATURE 



on 



The Cambridge University Press announces for publication 

 "A Treatise on the General Principles of Chemistry," by 

 M. M. Pa;tison Muir, M. A. This book is intended to give a 

 fairly complete account of the present state of knowledge re- 

 garding the principles and general laws of chemistry ; it is ad- 

 dressed to those students who have already a considerable 

 acquaintance with descriptive chemistry, and it is hoped that by 

 such students the book will be found complete in itself. An at- 

 tempt is made to treat the chief tlieories of modern chemistry 

 to some extent from an historical point of view, and to trace 

 the connection between the older theories and those which now 

 prevail in the science. Full references are given to all memoirs 

 of importance. The first part treats of the atomic and molecular 

 theory, and the application thereof to such objects as allotropy, 

 isomerism, and the classification of elements and compounds ; 

 fairly complete accounts are also given of the methods and more 

 important applications of thermal, optical, and other parts of 

 physical cheuistry. The second part is devoted to the subjects 

 of chemical affinity, relations between chemical action and los'^es 

 or gains of energy, and the various questions suggested by the 

 expression "chemical equilibrium." 



At the weekly meeting of the Society of Arts on Wednesday 

 last week, under the presidency of Sir John Lubbock, a paper 

 was re.id by Mr. W. L. Carpenter, on " Science Teaching in 

 Elementary Schools." The chairman said the -ubject under 

 consideration was one of very great importance. The Duke of 

 Devonshire's Commission had reported that the neglect of science 

 and modern langu.ages in our schools was a national miifortune; 

 and though, no doubt, there was some improvement since that 

 time, almost the same might be said now. Considering how 

 much science had done, and was doing for 'us, the general, 

 though happily now not universal, neglect of it in our schools 

 was astonishing. If we did not avail ourselves to the utmost of 

 the resources of nature, our great and growing population would 

 become more and more miserable, and they would be distanced 

 in the race by foreign nations. Mr. Carpenter said his object 

 was not merely to draw attention to the crying need for element- 

 ary scientific instruction in our primary schools, but also to point 

 out how such instruction could best be given, and to show that 

 that could he done, and had been done on a large scale, with 

 extraordinarily beneficial results to the children thus taught, with- 

 out any more expenditure of time than at present. The one 

 great mistake which vitiated the whole organisation of English 

 education was the conception of intellectual training as the 

 acquisition of information rather than as the development of the 

 f.rculties. He pointed out the enormous value of science teaching 

 in quickening the intelligence, as well as the very great practical 

 value of the knowledge imparted. The special feature of the 

 Liverpool School Board system was that the science demonstra- 

 tions and experiment> were given not by the ordinary staff of the 

 school, but by a specially-appointed expert, whose sole duty it 

 was to go round from school to school, giving practically the 

 same lesson in e.ach one until all had been visited, and abandon- 

 ing altogether the u-e of text-books by the scholars. The results 

 of that system were (l) the general quickening of the i.tellec- 

 tual life of the school ; (2) the sending of a large number of 

 lads to science classes after leaving school ; (3) the finding out 

 of lads of exceptional scientific ability, and setiing them on their 

 r lad ;'(4) the attracting the attention of the ordinary teachers to 

 science and to the results of teaching it. He concluded by 

 urging that instruction in some branch of elementary science, 

 preferably mechanics or physics for boys, and domestic economy 

 for girls, should form a necssary part of the education of every 

 child who remained in a public elementary school above Stand- 

 ard IV., that such instruction should be oral, that such teaching 

 should be given during the ordinary school hours, and that such 



alterations should be made in the scale of grants under the new 

 Code as should encourage the teaching of elementary science. 



Our readers may remember that some years ago Lieut. Julius 

 von Payer, one of the discoverers of Franz Josef Land, gave up 

 the sea for the brush ; but he has carried his Arctic enthusiasm 

 into art. He has for years been engaged on a series of four 

 pictures illustrating the last expedition of Sir John Franklin, 

 and according to the Times Paris Correspondent, the last of 

 them, entitled "Starvation Cove," is just completed. Lieut. 

 Payer has taken the greatest pains to acquaint himself with the 

 minutest details of the expeditions of the Erebus and Terror, 

 their formation and equipment, and the pictures will at least be 

 interesting. We hope they may be exhibited in this country. 



The catalogue of the scientific books in the Reference De- 

 partment of the Nottingham Free Library spins a list of about 

 750 titles out into a catalogue of nearly 40 pages, with between 

 50 and 60 entries upon each, and among them .are a good collec- 

 tion of the most important yournals and Transactions. To a 

 library the wide circle of whose frequenters forbids its shelves 

 being thrown open to them all, it is doubtful whether a small 

 collection of works widi a full subject-catalogue is not of greater 

 advantage than a large accumulation of books of which the 

 librarian only is aware. But instead of giving any reference at 

 all to the subjects treated in these books and papers, there is only 

 given here the name of each -writer and the heading under which 

 his production may be found. This can be of little use to any 

 student and none at all to the majority of those using a free 

 library. A supplement of something less than 200 titles is added 

 now, but the collection is so small at present that it is beneath ' 

 criticism as to its deficiencies. 



A TELEGRAM from Constantinople, Jan. 23, states that during 

 the previous fortnight shocks of earthquake, varying in .severity, 

 have been felt throughout the district of Kalah-Jik, in the pro- 

 vince of Castambul. Some of the minarets of the mosques have 

 fallen in. Shocks also continue to be felt in Central Asia. One 

 occurred at Tashkend a few days ago. A correspondent, writing 

 from Vierno to the Turkestan Gazette, states that they have been 

 lately very frequent, and somewhat severe at Cosh. Several 

 shocks have also been recently experienced at Tiflis. 



The Naples Correspondent of the Standard writes : — "Prof. 

 Silvestri, Director of the Observatory on Mount Etna, reported 

 on the 15th inst. that frequent movements of the soil had taken 

 place at Nicolosi and all the other villages near the site of the 

 eruption of last March. Beides this, within a zone of about 

 60 km. in extent, the villages of Riancaritta, Aderno, Bronte, 

 Maletto, Randazzo, Linguaglossa, and Piedimonte have experi- 

 enced during the last few days subsultory and undulatory shocks ; 

 the most remarkable occurring on the evenings of the loth and 

 14th inst. The oscillations moved in a north-easterly direction, 

 along the mountain chain of Pilori, and were distinctly but 

 slightly felt at Castiglione, Rovara, Castroreale, a'ld as far as 

 Messina. No damage was done, but at Randazzo and Lingua- 

 glossa, where the shocks were stronger, the people were much 

 alarmed. At Catania, only the instruments of the Observatory 

 registered the perturlmtion coincident with the alove-mentioned 

 shocks." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include three Bonnet Monkeys (Macacus siniciis 

 6 9 9) from India, a Toque Monkey (Macaeus pileatus) from 

 Ceylon, an Arabian Baboon {Cynocephalus hamadryas 6 ) from 

 Arabia, an Indian Gazelle (Gazella bennetti i India, pre- 



sented by Capt. Spencer Stanhope ; two Bonnet Monkeys 

 {Macaeus sinicus i 9 ) from India, presented by Mrs. St. John 

 Mi'chell ; a Huanaco {Lama huanacos ? ) f o 1 Peru, presented 



