Oct. lo, 1872] 



NATURE 



NOTES 



Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, F.R.S., for more than twenty-live 



years an officer of the Geological Survey of Canada, has re- 



. y signed his position there, and goes to Boston to the Massachusetts 



^ Institute of Technology, where he is to fill the chair of Geology, 



left vacant by the resignation of Prof. William B. Rogers. He was 



to enter upon his new duties on October 7. 



The examination which has been held in common by Mag- 

 dalen and Merlon Colleges, Oxford, for scholarships in Natural 

 Science, terminattd on Saturday, when the following elections 

 were made : — To demyships at Magdalen College, value 95/., 

 for five years : Mr. W. J. V. Wood, Clifton College ; Mr. C. H. 

 W.ide, The Owens College, Manchester. To a postmastership at 

 Merlon College, value So/., for five years: Mr. W. II. Jones, 

 Ilerliy. 



The centenary of Linna:us's death will be celebrated at Stock- 

 ^ holm on the loth of January, 1873, when a statue of the great 

 Swedish naturalist will be unveiled. 



The Meteorological Congress will meet next year at Vienna, 

 and the meeting will be a very important one, for which the 

 one recently held in Leipzig was only a preparation ; the con- 

 dition of the Continental observatories and. of the large British 

 ones will then form a grave subject for discussion. 



We learn from Lis Mondcs that the construction of meteoro- 

 logical observatories on the summit of the Puy-de-D6me is now 

 about to commence. Two observatories, connected by a tele- 

 graphic wire, the one in a pavilion of the faculty at Clermont, 

 the o her on the summit of the mountain, 1, 160 metres above the 

 lower one, will show every moment the difference of meteoro- 

 logical condition between the plain and the upper regions of the 

 atmosphere. The money allotted to this purpose is 100,000 

 francs, one half being furnished by the town and department, the 

 other half by the Stale. 



The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Works and Public 

 Buildings intend to distribute this autumn, among the working 

 classes and the poor inhabitants of London, the surplus bedding- 

 out plants in Battersea, Hyde, the Regent's, and Victoria Parks, 

 '~' and in the Royal Gardens, Kew. If the clergy, school com- 

 mittees, and others interested, will make application to the 

 Superintendents of the Parks nearest to their respective parishes, 

 or to the Director of the Royal Gardens Kew, in the cases of 

 persons residing in that neighbourhood, they will receive early 

 intimation of the number of plants that can be allotted to each 

 applicant, and of the time and manner of their distribution. 



The Annual Fungus Exhibition was held in the Council Room 

 of the Royal Horticultural .Society, on Wednesday the 2nd inst. 

 There were several extremely good collections, Isoth of the edible 

 and poisonous kinds, many of the rarer edible species being well 

 represented, while some of the commoner ones were almost 

 entirely absent. Prizes for the best collections were given by 

 Mr. W. W. Saunders, F.R.S. 



A.N e.\hibition of useful insects and their products, and also of 

 noxious insects, with samples of the injuries caused by them, or- 

 ganised by the Central Society of Agriculture, and under the 

 jialronage of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, will be 

 held during this month in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. It 

 will comprise silkworms and their cocoons of every species, with 

 samples of thrown and raw silk ; .npparatus for silk culture ; 

 wilh the manufacture and raw product of bees, and apparatus 

 for bee culture ; a collection of noxious insects, and apparatus 

 suited for their destruction ; other useful insects ; collections of 

 mammals, insectivorous birds, and reptiles,!^ &c. The pro- 



gramme of the exhibition'may be obtained of the Secretary of 

 the Society of Agriculture, 59, Rue Monge, Paris. 



The younial of Botany recoris the death, after a short illness, 

 of a well-known Continental botanist, Andreas J. Oersted, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany in the University of Copenhagen. He had ,y 

 travelled and collected largely in Central America, and had 

 written much, especially on cryptogamic botany. 



Dr. F.ichler, of Gratz, editor of Martius's " Flora Bras- 

 ilii-nsis" has accepted the appointment of Professor of Botany at 

 Kiel, Holstein. No change will be involved in the publication 

 of the great Flora. 



Aquaria seem to be quite the rage at the present time. A 

 new large aquarium is to be built at Great Yarmouth on the 

 north beach. A space of seven acres has been granted by the 

 Corporation a short distance to the left of the Britannia Pier, 

 and here, in addition to the aquarium, gardens will be laid out, 

 and a museum and gymnasium built. 



The fine new Guildhall Library is almost completed, and will 

 be open free to the public very shortly. In addition to the 

 Library proper, the basement will be used for carefully storing 

 the old charters and records belonging to the Corporation, and 

 a handsome room, So ft. long Ijy nearly 50 ft. wide, will be de- 

 voted to the Museum, and it is hoped will become a receptacle 

 for all the objects of antiquarian interest found in the City of 

 London. Above the Museum is the Library proper, a noble 

 room, 120 ft. long by 50 ft. broad, and nearly 60 ft. in height. 

 The open oak roof will be highly ornamented and enriched, and 

 the windows will be filled with stained glass, the two chief win- 

 dows being presented by the London and Middlesex ArcliKO- 

 logical Society, and by the inhabitants of the Ward of Alders- 

 gate. 



The first session of the New University College of Wales at 

 Aberystwyth was to open to-day (Thursday). The educa- 

 tion.al staff will at present consist of the Principal, a Pro- 

 fessor of Classics, a Professor of Mathematics and Natur.il 

 Philosophy, and a Teacher of Modern Languages. Arrange- 

 ments will be made as soon as practicable for lectures in Geology, 

 Chemistry, and other cognate subjects. The Principal is the 

 Rev. Thomas Charles Edwards, M. A., to whom application for 

 admission must be made. An examination will be held at the 

 beginning of the session, when several exhibitions of 20/. each 

 will be awarded. 



We have received the prospectus of The Owens College, 

 Manchester, for the session 1872-73. The most important new 

 arrangement is the separation of Geology and Pala-'ontology from 

 Natural History, and the establishment of a separate Chair, 

 which is filled by Mr. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. Animal Physio- 

 logy and Zoology, and Vegetable Physiology and Botany, re- 

 main under the charge of Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S. The 

 Manchester P.oyal School of Medicine is incorporated with The 

 Owens College. 



The courses of lectures in connection with the Franklin In- 

 stitute for the winter session 1872-73, to be held in the Hall of 

 the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, will comprise Experimen- 

 tal Chemistry, Mineralogy, Metallurgy, Hygiene, Pliysics, Tech- 

 nical Chemistry, Fire, and Photography. 



It is proposed to incorporate the courses of evening lectures on 

 scientific subjects delivered at the Polytechnic Institute into an 

 institution to be called the Polytechnic College. They are 

 largely attended by young men, many of them engaged during 

 the day in shops. 



