Jan. 6, 1887] 



NA TURE 



229 



neighbouring parts of the Pacific coast, where he has been 

 almost continuously resident since 1S33. Dr. Tohnie was a 

 native of Inverness, but in 1832 accepted an appointment as 

 medical officer to the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Van- 

 couver on the Cohimbia River, and subsequently became a chief 

 factor in the Company's service. Information supplied by him to 

 Mr. George Gibbsand other ethnologists has appeared in various 

 publications. In 1884 he published, in conjunction with Dr. G. 

 M. Dawson, a nearly complete series of short vocabularies oi 

 the principal langu.ages spoken in British Columbia. He has 

 had for many years a larger work in contemplation on the tradi- 

 tions and folk-lore of the same tribes, but the materials for it 

 were not complete at the time of his death. 



Charles Shaler Smith, the distinguished engineer, died 

 at his home in St. Louis, Mo., on December 19, 1886. He 

 had been suffering from the effects of a fall, which resulted 

 in serious injuries. From the first his case was considered very 

 grave, but his great vital powers enabled him to keep up lor 

 two years. 



Mr. Clement Wragge, late of Ben Nevis Observatory, and 

 now of Adelaide, is to be appointed Meteorologist to the 

 Government of Queensland. 



Yesterday Prof. A. W. Reinold, F.R.S., delivered at John 

 Street, Adelphi (the Society of Arts), the first of the u'ual short 

 course of lectures adapted for a juvenile audience. The subject 

 was "Soap Bubbles." The second lecture will be given on 

 January 12. 



The lectures founded by Sir Thomas Gresham will be read 

 to the public gratuitously on the following days, at Gresham 

 College, Basinghall Street, in the subjoined order, beginning 

 eacli evening at 6 o'clock : — Rhetoric (Mr. J. E. Nixon), 

 January 18, ig, 20, and 21 ; law (Dr. Abdy), January 25, 26, 

 27, and 28 ; geometry (Dean Cowie), February i, 2, 3, and 4 ; 

 physic (Dr. Symes-Thompson), February 8, 9, to, and 11 . 

 divinity (Dean Burgon), February 15, 16, 17, and 18; astro- 

 nomy (the Rev. E. Ledger), February 21, 22, 24, and 25 ; and 

 music (Dr. H. Wylde), March i, 2, 3, and 4. 



The complaint is frequently heard that natural science does 

 not get adequately encouraged in Oxford. Six weeks ago a 

 notice was issued by Queen's College that an examination 

 would be held on March i, 1887, for the purpose of filling up 

 various Scholar.-hips and Exhibitions, including one Scholarship 

 for mathematics and another for natural science. This notice 

 was inserted in various nevvspapers, of which copies were sent to 

 upwards of a hundred schools in England. The result is that 

 i»u candidate has signified his intention of offering himself for 

 examination in natural science. No doubt there will be at least 

 ten candidates for the vacancy in mathematics, and twenty for 

 each vacancy in classics. This certainly does not show a demand 

 for natural science scholarships in excess of the supply. 



On December 9 the Council of the College of Surgeons 

 adopted, and ordered to be entered on the minutes, a report 

 from the Committee, recommending that the Committee's powers 

 should be enlarged, with a view to the extension of the museum 

 and the library, and the addition of work-rooms. It was also 

 recommended that the Comojittee should receive power to take 

 other improvements into consideration, and to inquire to what 

 extent an increase of the staff would be rendered necessary by 

 the proposed changes. The improvements, it is believed, would 

 be paid for out of the Erasmus Wilson legacy. The scheme is 

 likely to meet with some opposition, and before finally deciding 

 on a matter of so much importance the Council would do well, as 

 the British Afciiicai yoiinin/ suggests, to submit its jjlans to the 

 Fellows. 



We regret to notice that objection is being made in Hong 

 Kong to the expense of publishing in the official gazette the 

 Monthly Weather Reports of the Observatory there. These 

 tables, which have frequently been noticed in these columns, 

 contain the usual statistics of evaporation, radiation, the relative 

 humidity and tension of aqueous vapour, the classification of 

 clouds, and other meteorological details. The local critics say 

 that these are of no practical value ; but they surely forget that 

 similar tables are published by every Observatory in the world. 

 The Tokio and Siccawei establishments, to select two which are 

 nearest to Hong Kong, publish periodically the same meteoro- 

 logical statistics, and it is therefore sincerely to be hoped that 

 Dr. Doberck will be permitted to pursue his arduous and useful 

 labours. The colony handsomely voted a sufficient sum for an 

 Observatory a few years ago without question, and the work 

 which it has since done is appreciated in Europe. Only a few 

 weeks since we printed a paper by Dr. Doberck on the typhoons 

 of the China seas, which was essentially and directly practical, 

 for it told the mariner of the various classes of these storms, 

 their direction, and course, and the time at which they are 

 most prevalent. It further explained how vessels caught in 

 these typhoons may best minimise or escape altogether from 

 their evil effects. All this information, the value of which for 

 the protection of life and property, can be appreciated nowhere 

 better than in Hong Kong, with its enormous shipping trade, is 

 obtained only by the careful and sedulous collection and collation 

 of statistics. The physical position of Hong Kong renders its 

 Observatory one of considerable importance in meteorological 

 science, and it is the duty of the colonial Government to see 

 that the institution is not allowed to decline from the high 

 standard which it has already attained. 



The ideas of some Americans as to the education of women 

 seem to be very far ahead of those which still prevail in this 

 country. At Northampton, near Amherst, an observatory is 

 being built by the Trustees of Smith College for young women. 

 Mr. David P. Todd, Director of the Amherst College Observa- 

 tory, has lately devoted much time to the plans for the construc- 

 tion and equipment of this building, taking care that it shall be 

 thoroughly fitted for the purposes of collegiate instruction, and 

 that it shall contain ample facilities for research. 



A Society for the promotion of the higher education of 

 women has been founded in Japan, under the presidentship of 

 the Prime Minister, and with the support of various influential 

 foreign and Japanese gentlemen. Besides regular courses of 

 instruction which will be provided, special courses of afternoon 

 lectures will be delivered by the professors of the University. 

 The whole institution will be under the control of a foreign lady 

 principal, assisted by two or more foreign lady teachers. 

 Although female education in Japan has already reached an 

 advanced stage, this appears to be the first attempt to provide 

 for the higher education of women, as understood in European 

 countries. 



The late Mr. Greenleaf, the Boston hermit, left the whole of 

 his fortune — probably amounting to five hundred thousand dollars 

 — to Harvard College. The conditions imposed by him are said 

 to be not unreasonable, but it would have been better, as Science 

 urges, if he had imposed no conditions whatever. Wealthy men 

 who think of bequeathing money to learned institutions appar- 

 ently find it hard to realise that the authorities of those institu- 

 tions are likely to be the most competent judges of the way in 

 which the money should be spent. The needs of Harvard 

 College were certainly not so well known to Mr. Greenleaf as to 

 its President and Faculty. 



The other day Science commented on the fact that advertise- 

 ments calling for applications for vacant Chairs in leading educa- 



