172 ; 
NATURE 
[Dec. 29, 1870 

Dr. Russet, Lecturer on Chemistry at St. Mary’s Hospital, 
has been appointed to the Chair of Chemistry at St. Bar- 
tholomew’s Hospital, lately occupied by Dr. Matthiessen ; who 
also, up to the time of his appointment at St, Bartholomew’s, 
filled the Chair at St. Mary’s. 
Dr. HENRY E. ARMSTRONG has been appointed Professor of 
Chemistry at the London Institution, an office once held by Mr. 
W. R. Grove, Q.C., F.R.S., and subsequently by Mr. J. Alfred 
Wanklyn. Dr. Armstrong studied chemistry under Professors 
Hofmann, Frankland, and Kolbe, and has been associated with 
Dr. Frankland and the late Dr. Matthiessen in original researches. 
The Pharmaceutical Fournal states that this appointment is con- 
nected with a project for establishing practical chemistry classes 
in the laboratory of the London Institution. 
Tue American scientific journals record the death, in his 
twenty-ninth year, of Edward W. Root, Professor of Chemistry 
in Hamilton College, a pupil of Schneider, Rose, and Bunsen ; 
From his grasp of mind, power of organisation, and clearness of 
enunciation of scientific truths, he was one of the most promising 
of the rising generation of chemists in America. 
THE days named for the reception of the different classes of 
objects at the Annual International Exhibition for 1871 are as 
follows :—Machinery, February 1, 2, 3, 4; scientific inventions, 
Feb, 6 and 7 ; educational works and appliances, Feb. 8 and g ; 
pottery and raw materials, Feb. 10 and 11 ; woollen and worsted 
fabrics and raw materials, Feb. 13 and 14 ; sculpture not applied 
to works of utility, Feb. 15 and 16 ; paintings applied to works 
of utility, Feb. 17 ; sculpture applied to works of utility, Feb, 18 
and 20; engraving, lithography, photography, &c., Feb. 21; 
architectural designs, drawings, and models, Feb. 22 ; tapestries, 
carpets, embroideries, &c., Feb. 23 ; designs for all kinds of 
decorative manufactures, Feb. 24 ; copies of pictures, mosaics, 
enamels, &c., Feb. 25; paintings not applied to works of utility, 
Feb. 27 and 28. 
THE Royal Horticultural Society’s meetings and shows at 
South Kensington for 1871 are fixed to take place on the follow- 
ing days, namely, on Wednesdays, January 18, February 15, 
March 1 and 15, April 5 and 19, May 3 and 17, June 7 and 21, 
July 5 and 19, August 2 and 16, September 6 and 20, October 
4, November 1, and December 6. The date of the great pro. 
vincial show at Nottingham, originally fixed for June 13—17, 
has been altered, and it is now arranged that it shall commence 
on June 27, and continue till July 1. The principal meetings 
at South Kensington will be those on March 15, April 19, May 
17, June 7, and July 5, the latter being the National Rose Show 
THE days fixed for the Exhibitions of the Manchester Botanical 
and Horticultural Society, in the gardens at Old Trafford, next 
season, are, we understand, as follows :—The National Show, 
now become one of the most important events of the year, will 
commence on May 26, and continue till June 2 ; this will include 
the Royal National Tulip Society’s Show on May 26, 27, In 
addition to this, a great Exhibition of American plants will be 
made by Mr. Anthony Waterer, of Knap Hill, the period ex- 
tending from May 26 to June 17, and an Exhibition of Roses 
and Fruits will take place on July 7, 8. 
THE Royal Botanic Society has just issued schedules for its 
two spring shows in 1871, which are each to be of two days’ 
duration, and are fixed to take place on March 22, 23, and April 
12, 13. As usual, new plants and plants of economic interest 
are admissible, though not scheduled. The Society’s summer 
shows are announced for May 25, 26 (Thursday and Friday), 
June 14, 15, and July 12, 13 (Wednesday and Thursday). 
A DISCUSSION having been carried on in the French Institute 
on ‘‘ Winds,” M. de Fonvielle sent to the Secretaries a quotation 
from the works of the celebrated philosopher, M. Mariotte, the 

author of the ‘ Law for the Expansion of Gases,” explaining the 
fall of pressure noticed during the south-western winds by the 
direction of the aérial stream which blows from the lower parts 
of the atmosphere to the higher, He says, moreover, that winds 
coming from northern quarters descend instead of ascend, and he 
accounts in this manner for the augmentation of pressure. This 
note was published in the Compres Rendus at the time. 
M, GAUTHIER-VILLARS, the scientific publisher, has completed 
the publication of Father Secchi’s work on the Sun. It com- 
prises more than four hundred octavo pages, and will certainly be 
largely circulated when Paris is open, Father Secchi has written 
it in French, having secured the assistance of some learned 
Jesuits. It is not, however, merely a translation of his former 
Italian work on the same subject. 
A CORRESPONDENT of the Gardener's Chronicle has forwarded 
to that paper the following account of the condition of some ot 
the nurseries near Paris, dated ‘‘ Chatenay, Dec. 4, 1870.—I am 
sorry I have but sad news about the establishments ; they are all 
deserted, and the magnificent collections are perishing. In detail 
I can only report of the establishments of MM. Croux and 
Durand Fils; the others near Bagneux, Chatillon, and Bourg- 
la-Reine we only passed several times at night, when marching 
to the batteries in course of erection, for the staying there during 
the daytime is not very agreeable on account of the shells from 
Vanyres, Montrouge, and Bicétre. M. Croux’s principal es- 
tablishment at Chatenay is the quarters of the Staff of the 
Bavarian Artillery ; the large Palm-house, sixty to eighty feet 
long, is occupied by the horses, the flower-tubs being made use 
of for cribs; the magnificent Conifers (Wellingtonias, Pinus 
Pinsapo, &c.), of which we found numbers of fine specimens, 
have all been cut down to form a fence along the road to 
Fontenay-aux-Roses, to prevent the French from having a look 
into our batteries from their forts. But the most sad sight is 
offered by the Jardin pour les études pomologiques, * belonging 
to M. Croux, and situated near Aulnay. The beautifully trained 
fruit trees, after having been much broken by the pulling out of 
the wires, which were used for making gabions, are now com- 
pletely eaten down by the 2,000 sheep and 80 to 100 cows shut 
up inthe garden. Norhave the nurseries in the open field been 
spared ; the stems of the young trees had to serve as stakes for 
gabions, while the branches were used for fagots. A similar sad 
sight is afforded at the branch establishment of M. Durand Fils, 
near Clamart ; the greenhouses being, to a great extent, demo- 
lished by shot coming down here as thick as hail, and the plants 
they contain are dried up or frozen, for we had - 6° R. = 18°F. 
the day before yesterday, and yesterday morning a considerable 
fall of snow. It will be about the same with the other establish- 
ments not visited by me, and it may be taken for granted that 
the losses of these people are beyond replacement, and will 
bring many of them to the grave.” 
SILLIMAN’s American Fournal of Science and Arts will, after 
the close of the present year, becomea monthly journal, It was 
founded by Prof. Silliman in 1818, and now numbers 100 
volumes. From its commencement it has been the leading 
vehicle for the original papers of American scientists. 
BritisH botanists will be glad to learn from Messrs. Long- 
man’s lists that Mr. Watson’s ‘‘ Cybele Britannica ” may now be 
obtained from them at the reduced price of 5s, per volume. The 
three parts of the invaluable ‘‘Compendium” of the same work are 
also issued by them in one volume at 10s. The author considers 
that this ‘‘ must largely supersede the usefulness of the original 
work,” of which he still invites any possessor ‘‘to apply to him 
for a free copy of the Compendium as a necessary supplement 
thereto.” He has already sent a copy to all the possessors of 
the four volumes with whose addresses he is acquainted. 
