170 



NATURE 



{June 27, 1872 



Class lectures for pcacticil instruction and laboratories have also 

 been in operation. 



The circular of the University of Wasliington for the current 

 year contains a catalogue of the officers and students, and a 

 programme of the course of studies required in the different de- 

 partments. In these the Pliysical and Natural Sciences hold a 

 conspicuous place. 



The Deutscher Universitiits-Kalender, by Dr. F. Aschersen, 

 published half-yearly, contains a mass of valuable information 

 respecting all the German universities, including the names of 

 the professors in the several faculties, the subjects for the acade- 

 mical prizes, &c. 



We have on our table the Reports of the Mining Surveyors and 

 Registrars for the Colony of Victoria for the quarters ending 

 June 30, Sept. 30, and Dec. 31, 1871. 



The Report of the Chief Commissioner ol Mines for tlie 

 Province of Nova Scotia for the year 1871 is printed. A 

 report is appended of the Provincial Museum, recently estab- 

 lished, and designed to be a permanent exhibition of the indus- 

 trial resources of the province, combined with a Museum of 

 Science and Art. The mineralogical and zoological departments 

 appear to be well represented. 



We have received the Monthly Record for January of Results 

 of Observations in Meteorology, Terrestrial Magnetism, &c., 

 taken at the Melbourne Observatory, under the superintendence 

 of Mr. R. J. Ellery. 



The American Palestine Exploration Society has, we learn 

 from Harper s XVcekly, lately received paper squeezes of two 

 basaltic stones inscribed with Phcenician characters similar to, 

 and perhaps companions of, the celebrated Moabite stone of 

 which we have heard so much. The acquisition of the stones 

 themselves has bsen a subject of much rivalry between the 

 British and American societies ; in consequence of which the 

 Arabs, believing them to be extremely valuable, have hidden 

 them, although it is hoped without destroying them, as was 

 done with the Moabite stone. These squeezes were obtained 

 by two well-known Americans, the Rev. D. Stuart Dodge and 

 Frederick S. Winston, and have been forwarded by them to 

 New York. Pen-and-ink copies have already been received, and 

 have lately been lithographed and distributed among American 

 scholars. It is not certain that the stones from which these 

 squeezes were taken are genuine antiquities, the Orientals being 

 unfortunately too well versed in the art of manufacturing such 

 objects, so as to meet any demand. There is, however, a strong 

 pro'jability that they are what they profess to be. At any 

 rate, they will probably before long be subjected to such an 

 examination by experts as will determine their true character. 



The Report just issued of the Proceedings of the Geologists' 

 Association includes detailed accounts of the visits and excursions 

 made by the association during March and April 1871, and 

 Messrs. R. and A. Bell's paper on "The English Crags and their 

 Stratigraphical Divisions." 



The ninth Annual Report of the Wigan Field Naturalists' and 

 Scientific Society contains an important paper by Mr. J. Perrins, 

 on "The Duration of the Wigan Coalfields," illustrated by a 

 coloured section. The Report is otherwise chiefly ^occupied by 

 accounts of the different excursions of the society. 



The Bury Natural History Society has issued its first Report 

 for the time from its foundation, in Januiry 1S6S, to December 

 1871. Its object has been chiefly the investigation of the natural 

 history of the district, which has been pursued with vigour ; and 

 the Report contains more or less complete lists of the flowering 

 plants and ferns, lepidoptera, birds, mollusca, fishes, reptiles, 



and mammalia of the neighbourhood of 3ury (the last four classes 

 being somewhat oddly classified as the "animals " of the district). 



The " Verhandlungen der k.k. Zoologisch-botanischen Gesell- 

 chaft in Wien," for 1871, contains a number of valuable 

 papers. Among th5 more important are : — -Contributions to a 

 knowledge of the Territelarins, Thorell (or Mygalidre), by A. 

 Ausserer ; Enumeration of the Cryptogams of Venetia, lay Baron 

 V. Ilohenbiihel-IIeuller ; Synopsis of the Fishes of the Red 

 Sea, Part II., by Dr. C. B. Klunzinger ; Monograph of the 

 genus Certhiola, by Dr. O. Finsch ; Monograph of the genus 

 Hykicus, by Prof Forster. 



A PERIODICAL, called the Economisla di Rsma, is 'now pub- 

 lished in Rome, and contains papers upon finance, agriculture* 

 commerce, trades, public works, and statistics. 



The following reprints lie on our table, which we commend 

 to the notice of those interested in the various suljjects : — " How 

 Fishes Bieathe," by Mr. John C. Galton, from the Popular 

 Science Revieia ; " An Account of some Experiments relating to 

 the Influence exercised by Colloids upon the Forms of Inorganic 

 Matter," by Dr. W. B. Ord, from the "St. Thomas's Hospital 

 Reports ;" and "Non-existence of Projectile Forces in Nature," 

 by Mr. J. A. Parker, a paper read before the American Institute. 



In a lecture on " The Influence of Human Progress on Medi- 

 cal Education," delivered at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, 

 Dr. W. Aitken gives an interesting sketch of the causes which 

 have led to the improvements in the condition of medical educa- 

 tion which have taken place especially within the last fifty 

 years. 



An important ornithological work is announced from America 

 as in the press, to be published by the Naturalists' Agency, 

 Salem, Mass. — " A Key to North American Birds," by Dr. Elliott 

 Coues, to be illustrated by seven steel plates and ujjwards of 250 

 woodcuts, and designed as a manual or text-book of the birds of 

 North America. 



We learn from the Garden that Dr. Asa Gray, of Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts, the author of " How Plants Grow," and of many 

 important works and papers on botany, hns lately brought out 

 another little book, entitled " How Plants Behave," which 

 deals with the climbing and other habits of plants, and is as 

 likely to prove as valuable as the first-mentioned work. 



Messrs. W. and A. K. Johnston have issued " The Edin- 

 burgh Sixpenny Quarto Atlas," a marvel of cheapness. It con- 

 tains sixteen coloured maps, which, though small, are executed 

 in the style with which we are so familiar in the productions of 

 this house. 



iVs an illustration oi the success which generally attends well 

 conducted zoological gardens [and aquaria, we may state that, 

 although quite recently organised, the receipts from 216,000 

 visitors to the aquarium at Berlin for the )'ear 1871 amounted to 

 nearly 40,000 dollars. 



With reference to the alligator story which we recently printed, 

 Mr. W. C. Easton, who found the nest containing sixty- 

 seven eggs on Eighteen Mile Island, Fitzroy River, on the 31st 

 January last, informs the Rockhampton Bidlelin that he at that 

 time placed four eggs under a hen, and on visiting the hen's 

 nest on March 14, found two young alligators had broken their 

 shells, and were alive and doing well. They were then of 

 slender form, about ten inches long. Mr. East.n, who is well 

 acquainted with the habits of the alligator, expects his young 

 saurians will be strong enough to bring into Rockhampton for 

 exhibition in the course of a month or six weeks. 



