March 2, 1871 | 
NATURE 
353 

town, and one, a collection of European Lepidoptera, belonging 
to the Taxidermist of the museum, was scattered into dust. 
WE learn with great regret that the Société d’ Acclimatation 
of Paris has thought it necessary to pass a resolution erasing 
“from the list of its members all sovereigns and princes of German 
States engaged in the late war against France, ‘‘ considérant que 
la maniére dont le bombardement de Paris a été effectué par les 
armées allemandes constitue un acte contraire au droit des gens, 
ainsi qu’aux plus simples notions de I’ humanité,” 
AMONG the experiences of the Mount Washington winter 
party may be mentioned an exposure to perhaps the greatest cold 
ever recorded in the annals of science, The temperature of 40° 
below zero was not in itself unusual ; but to this was added a 
hurricane blowing at the rate of ninety miles an hour. The 
combination of such a wind with the temperature indicated 
would probably have been entirely unsupportable but for the 
means of protection enjoyed by the party in the dwelling which 
had been fitted up expressly for their accommodation, 
Pror, J. YounG has recently brought the question of the 
education of the mining engineers before the Institution of Engi- 
neers for Scotland. His proposals for its amelioration are as 
follows :—‘‘ 1, Great improvement in secondary schools, especially 
in teaching arithmetic, geometry, elements of natural philosophy. 
2. The establishment in some large towns, such as Liverpool and 
Birmingham, of colleges on the Scottish model, or on that of 
Owens College—fairly well endowed—giving chiefly general 
scientific training, with a few special technical chairs. 3. The 
practical recognition of the value of scientific training by engi- 
neers who take pupils. (a) By giving free pupilships or valuable 
scholarships ; (4) By admitting as pupils only those who have 
passed certain recognised examinations ; (c) By co-operating 
with colleges as examiners ; (a) By inserting in agreements with 
their pupils that during winter they shall attend certain classes ; 
({e) By giving some privileges, in connection with engineering 
societies, to graduates.” 
WE regret to learn that the fine specimen of Pandanus odora- 
zissimus in the Botanical Gardens at Glasnevin, near Dublin, has 
teen completely destroyed by the attacks of a fungus, in all 
probability the same that has destroyed the Screw Pine in the 
Breslau Gardens, as referred to by Prof. Oliver in a late number 
of this journal, The Glasnevin plant was nearly fifty years old. 
Messrs. BELL “AND DALpy will shortly publish ‘‘ Outlines 
of Magnetism and Electricity for Public Schools and Science and 
Art Examinations,” being notes of acourse of lectures delivered 
at the Royal School of Naval Architecture, with an introduction 
on the First Principles of Physics, by W. F. Barrett. 
WE learn from the British Medical Journal that Dr, Thorne 
Thome, who has been very successfully engaged for several years 
as an occasional inspector under the Privy Council, and who 
more especially led to the exposure of the causes of the Terling 
epidemic, has been appointed to a permanent position under the 
Privy Council. 
TuE British Medical Fournal states that the rumour that Dr. 
Liebreich, the distinguished ophthalmologist of Paris, was likely 
to be appointed ophthalmic surgeon and lecturer at St. Thomas’s 
Hospital, is likely to be realised. The reputation of Dr. Lieb- 
reich is more than European, and his services to ophthalmo- 
scopic science and practice are such that he may fairly claim to 
be considered as almost the founder of our present school of 
ophthalmoscopy. ‘lhe services which he has rendered to science 
are cosmopolitan, and we feel assured that if, under the existing 
state of affairs in Paris, Dr. Liebreich elects to take up his resi- 
dence in London, his services, reputation, and personal charac- 
ter will secure for him that welcome which the English profes- 


sion has always been wont to extend to distinguished men ot 
science of eyery nation, and which well becomes the members 
of a liberal profession in a country proud of its freedom and 
hospitality. 
Two natives of the Garrow Hills in Madras are to be trained as 
vaccinators to practise in their tribe, which suffers severely from 
small-pox. On the other hand the villages in Kunnool oppose 
the entrance of vaccinators by force, and hide their children in 
the jungle. 
THE Siam papers report the fortunate news of the capture of 
an albino or white elephant. He had been brought to the 
capital in state, and will in due time succeed to the highest dig- 
nities of state, the chief white elephant ranking next the Queen, 
and the heir apparent coming next only to this elephant. 
Mr. W. Kino, of the Indian Geological Survey, reports from 
Ballary, in Madras, that he doubts the reported discovery of coal 
in that district. 
THE Homeward Mail states that the cold has been so intense 
at the Mullier in Scinde lately, that on January 24th icicles were 
found on the works connected with the viaduct in that place. It 
is hardly possible to believe this phenomenon were it not com- 
municated by a reliable eye-witness. 
A PAPER, read to the Academy of Sciences, Paris, during the 
siege, gives some very interesting information about the great 
cold experienced there, and its occurrence in former years. In 
the fifty years from 1816 to 1866, the average temperature of the 
month of December has been 3°54° Centigrade above zero, bitt 
December, 1870, gave an average of 1'07°C. delow zero, thus 
showing how far below the average the cold of last year was. In 
the Annales de la Société Metéorologigque, vol. v., 1861, isa paper 
by M. Renou, ‘‘ On the Periodicity of Great Cold.” In this he 
shows that about every forty years there comes round a series of 
cold winters, in general five or six together, of which the; central 
one is the coldest of all. His researches extend back to the 
fifteenth century, but to take recent times he notices the great 
frosts and cold winters which group themselves round the years 
1709, 1748, 1789-90, and again in 1829-30. From these facts 
he predicted in 1860 that there would be a group of severe 
winters round the winter of 1870-71, 
In furtherance of the British Guiana Local Exhibition to be 
held in that Colony during the present year, the Committee of 
Correspondence has issued an address to the ‘‘ Farmers and 
other Proprietors of the Soil,” calling upon them energetically 
not only to aid the Exhibition by simply sending specimens of 
the products of the Colony to be seen, passed by, and forgotten, 
but to bear in mind how many useful products are lost to com- 
merce through lack of continued exertions in the cultivation of 
the plants and the supply of the home market, and pointing out 
how that Exhibitions ‘‘ can never be regarded as entirely satis: 
factory until additions are permanently made to the stock of 
commodities which are in daily use at home, as well as to the 
list of such as make the resources and the importance of the 
Colony known and esteemed in the markets of the world.” 
British Guiana is a colony rich in natural productions, and it is to 
be hoped that the pamphlet will be read and digested by those 
to whom it is addressed, 
ANOTHER tigress is récorded as dead in India, at the hands of 
Major Daires, of the Madras Presidency, and none too soon. 
She had, in seven years, killed above 140 persons in a few 
villages, so that many families had left, and a great part of the 
land had gone out of cultivation, 
On the 28th October two shocks of earthquake were felt a: 
Shikarhera, in Upper Scinde. On the 1st November a severer 
shock was felt in the Tinnevelley district than ever had been 
known in the memory of man, The shocks were undulatory, 
