May 9, 1872] 



NATURE 



33 



Wb referred recently to Tilghman's ingenious process for cut- 

 ting hard substances by means of a jet of sand. The Committee 

 on Science and the Arts, constituted by the Franklin Institute of 

 the State of Pennsylvania, for the promotion of the mechanic 

 arts, 10 whom the process was referred for examination, report 

 that they have seen the operation, and that the invention seems 

 capable of extensive use in the arts. Some of the products of the 

 invention appear to present new and valuable features. Glass 

 ornamented by this process can only be compared with that 

 etched by powerful acids, yet the entire al)sence of all undercut- 

 ting, no matter how deeply the glass is cut, renders it superior. 

 The great merit of the invention consists in its extended utility. 

 By means of this sand-blast efl'ects have been produced which 

 would be hard to imitate by any other known mechanical pro- 

 cess, and with an ease and precision truly remarkable. They 

 consider the invention original and of the highest utility, and 

 deem it worthy of any mark of approbation it may be thought 

 fit to bestow upon its originator. They therefore recommend the 

 bestowal on the inventor of the Elliott Cresson medal of the 

 Franklin Institute, in accordance with the rules governing such 

 award. 



Prizes to the amount of 25/. are offered by the proprietors of 

 the Ganhiiers' AJa^'iiziiie for dinner-table decorations in fruit and 

 flowers, or flowers only, arranged for effect in artificial light. 

 The competition is to take place in connection with the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's Exhibition in Birmingham, in June. 



Prof. Hull, head of the Geological Survey of Ireland, has 

 in the press a work designed to render practical service to 

 builders and architects by information about the varieties of 

 stone and their respective advantages for building purposes. 

 " In arranging the matter treated in this work," says Prof. Hull, 

 " I have not followed any very definite order, but rather that 

 which the subject seemed to indicate." Regretting the incorrect 

 nomenclature which is employed in the architectural classifica- 

 tion of natural building materials, and yet feeling that the adop- 

 tion of the mineral basis of rocks as the principle of arrange- 

 ment would render his book less useful for reference by architects, 

 the author has followed the plan drawn out on his fourth page. 

 "Commencing with the noblest of all rocks, granite, I have been 

 naturally led onwards to the allied rocks, such as syenite, por- 

 phyry, and from those to other plutonic or volcanic rocks. After 

 these the metamorphic serpentines and marbles form a transition 

 series through the simpler and rarer ornamental stones into 

 those adapted for building, and of aqueous formation." The 

 woik will be published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. 



Our readers will be glad to learn that Dr. Bastian's "Begin- 

 nings of Life " will be published shortly after Whitsuntide. This 

 book will be a complete exposition of those views of its author 

 upon vital phenomena, and the conditions of their appearances, 

 which have already excited so much interest and discussion. 



The Rugby Council for Promoting the Education of Women 

 has just published a very useful Calendar of women holding Uni- 

 versity certificates and engaged in teaching. It contains also all 

 the needful information for those intending to try for the exami- 

 nations for women and girls conducted by the Universities of 

 Oxford, Cambridge, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Durham, and 

 the Queen's University for Ireland, and will thus be of essential 

 aid, not only to these, but also to those who are seeking the ser- 

 vices of women who have slioNvn themselves capable of obtain- 

 ing the highest educational honours as yet open to them. It 

 m.Ty be obtained of Mrs. F. E. Kitchener, Rugby. 



The Report of the Rugby School Natural History Society for 

 1S71 lies before us. The preface refers with modest pride to 

 several subjects of congratulation by the Society : — nearly all the 

 I)ublished papers, some of them of considerable merit, are 

 written by actual members of the school ; a meteorological and 



astronomical section was begun in 1S71, in consequence of the es- 

 tablishment of the Temple Observatory, and has been heartily 

 carried out by those members of the school who were competent 

 to serve ; a large entomological section is springing up ; the 

 members of the Society have doubled during the year ; and during 

 the present spring each section has begun fortnightly meetings, 

 from which all but real workers are to be excluded. Every year 

 shows more and more the important place which the Natural 

 History Societies of our public schools are taking in the scientific 

 education of the country. 



The Report of the Marlborough College Natural History 

 Society, now eight years old, for the half-year ending Christmas, 

 1871, contains no paper bearing directly on the natural history 

 of the district. That good local work is being done by members 

 of the Society is, however, evidenced by the excellent list of ento- 

 mological notices appended. We cannot unite with the sentence in 

 the Preface that " it is an almost utter impossibility to get .any 

 original matter from beginners, and it would be unreasonable to 

 expect any." It ought to be the special aim of school Natural 

 History Societies to cultivate original work rather than mere col- 

 lecting ; the opportunities for it, even for beginners, ate endless ; 

 and there is no over-estimating the value to the observer of the 

 least morsel of such original work. The papers printed in this 

 Report are excellent in their way; Mr. Babington's on "The 

 Malay Archipelago and its Inhabitants," is a model of what 

 such a paper should be. The Report is illustrated by an admir- 

 able plate of Ciavaria ftisiformis, drawn by Mr. F. C. Hulme. 

 We would venture to suggest to the Committee the propriety of 

 excluding in future from a published report personal matters, 

 which, though of great importance to the Society itself, do not 

 interest the outside public. 



The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society has published its 

 thirty-ninth Annual Report for 1 87 1. Among the more im- 

 portant lectures and papers contained in it may be mentioned 

 "On the Comparative Health and Longevity of Cornish Miners," 

 containing a large number of very valuable statistics, by Mr. R. 

 Blee; and the "Meteorology of West Cornwall and the Scilly 

 Islands for 1871," by Mr. W. P. Dymond, besides descriptions of 

 a number of mechanical inventions and applications especially 

 valuable to those engaged in mining operations. 



The first excursion of the Geologists' Association to Watford 

 took place on April 13, under the guidance of Messrs. W. 

 Whitaker and J. Hopkinson. The first section visited was a 

 fine one of the Glacial Drift now exposed by the side of the rail- 

 way near Watford to a depth of 30 feet. The drift is the 

 " Middle Glacial," and consists of sand and sub-angular gravels 

 with pebbles of various rocks, some of which are evidently from 

 very distant localities. After jiassing through Cassiohury Park, 

 the party proceeded to Eushey Heath, at which place the " Base- 

 ment Bed " of the London Clay is exposed, with the upperportion 

 of the Woolwich and Reading series. This section was de- 

 scribed by Mr. Whitaker, as was also one at Bushey Heath Kiln, 

 where the Woolwich and Reading series is again seen. The 

 formation is, however, represented by beds of sand at the former 

 place, and by pebble beds at the latter. The next excursion 

 was to Hampstead on April 27, directed by Messrs. J. R. 

 Pattison and C. Evans. The party assembled at the Swiss 

 Cottage station, and crossed the fields to Hampste.ad ; but before 

 the village was reached the structure of the hill was described, 

 and the indications of the junction of the London Clay and the 

 Bagshot Sands were observed. The summit of the hill consists 

 of an outlier of the Bagshot Sands overlying the uppermost 

 sandy beds of the London Clay, containing rccttiiuuli<s dems- 

 satiis and Vcluhi nodosLi. The Conduit spring was visited, and 

 the line of junction of the two formations, indicated by springs 

 and pools, was followed as far as the Vale of Health pond. 

 The highest point of the Heath was then soon gained, and 



