Jan. 20, 1887] 



NA TURE 



281 



class of special travelling and war correspondents " whom the 

 City had enrolled among its freemen. Mr. Stanley was evidently 

 much pleased by the honour done to him, and declared that it 

 would stimulate him to further exertions. After luncheon at 

 the Mansion House, he spoke of the various routes which have 

 been proposed for the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha. 



Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace lately delivered, at Boston, 

 U.S.A., a course of "Lowell Lectures." He proposes to make a 

 Western tour, in the course of which hewilllectureon, among other 

 subjects, " The Darwinian Theory : What it is, and How it is 

 Demonstrated," " The Origin and Useof the Colours of Plants," 

 "The Permanence of Oceans, and the Relations of Islands and 

 Continents," and " The Biological History of Continental 

 Islands, Recent and Ancient. " Mr. Wallace is thought by the 

 Americans to be a more effective speaker than most of the 

 eaiinent Englishmen who have lectured in the United States. 



The Indian Survey .Staff seems to be considerably under- 

 manned. The Government of the Straits Settlements recently 

 applied to the Government of India for an experienced officer to 

 advise them on the way of placing the system of survey in the 

 colony on a satisfactory footing. As no qualified officer on the 

 former establishment was available, Mr. J. B. N. Hennessey, 

 now on the retired list, was offered the duty, but as he declined 

 it the Straits Settlements Government had to be told that the 

 Government of India could render no assistance on a work so 

 necessary to the development of the colonial resources, and likely 

 to be of so much service to science. 



A MOVEMENT is on foot at Gothenburg for the founding of a 

 free University in that city. A large sum of money has already 

 been subscribed. 



The results of the new censuses of France and Germany show 

 a marked falling-oft" in the rate of increase. In the case of France 

 the rate of increase was low enough before ; now it threatens to 

 stop altogether, and in many departments there has been a con- 

 siderable decrease. The addition to the population in five years 

 has only been 213,857, bringing the total up to 37,885,905. 

 This is equal to an annual rate of only "I per cent, per annum. 

 Germany is not quite so bad, but the rate of increase between 

 1870 and 18S0 was abnormally high. The population by the 

 latest returns is 46,844,926 as compared with 45,234,061 five 

 years before ; giving an annual rate of increase of 71 per cent, 

 per annum in 1880-85, as compared with I '14 per cent, per 

 annum in the previous five years. 



The Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab has proposed to 

 the Government of India the establishment of a University at 

 Allahabad, and has furnished a schime for such an institution 

 in the capital of his province. 



At the afternoon sitting of the Association for the Improve- 

 ment of Geometrical Teaching, held at University College, 

 on the 14th inst., the President (R. B. Hayward, F.R.S.) in 

 the chair, the Rev. G. Richardson, of Winchester College, read 

 a paper on the teaching of modern geometry, in which he indi- 

 cated the lines which, in his opinion, a Syllabus on the subject 

 should follow. The draft, which covered an extent of ground 

 too great, we think, for ordinary school-te.aching, did not consist 

 of a bare enumeration of the subjects of sections and chapters, 

 but was rendered very interesting by the quaint humour which 

 lightened up and pervaded the whole. The Rev. J. J. Milne 

 read a short note on a part of the above subject, which 

 had been omitted by the previois speaker, viz. the modern 

 treatment of maxima and minima ; his strong point was the 

 light to be derived fron symmetry in the search for cases of 

 maximum and minimum. Mr. G. A. Storey, A.R.A , read a 



paper on " Geometry from thejArtist's Point of View." In this 

 thewriter introduced Euclid and Apelles in converse, and showed 

 the agreement which exists between the purely geometrical 

 method and perspective. The paper was illustrated by numerous 

 drawings of triangles, squares, and cubes. A brief discussion of 

 the several papers followed, and then Mr. E. M. Langley com- 

 municated a very simple proof of Feuerbach's theorem (that the 

 nine-point circle touches the in- and ex-circles of the triangle). 

 We may return to the consideration of one or more of the above 

 papers when they have been printed in the Association's Report. 

 Upwards of twenty new members were elected. 



We have received a hand-book entitled " Through the British 

 Empire in Ten Minutes with C. E. Howard Vincent, Esq., 

 C.B., M.P." It is intended to accompany a wall-map on 

 which Mr. Vincent has brought together a large amount of use- 

 ful information about the British Possessions. In his hand-book 

 he glances at the leading characteristics of each of the great 

 groups into which the Empire beyond the seas is divided. 



A State weather-service for Pennyslvania is to be formed 

 at Philadelphia by the Franklin Institute. The State Legis- 

 lature will be petitioned for an appropriation of 3000 dollars for 

 instruments and publications, and it seems to be assumed that 

 so reasonable a request will be readily granted. 



The Americans also have a Society for Psychical Research. 

 The Society proposes to issue the next number of its Proceedings 

 as sojn as sufficient material can be collected. Apparently it is 

 not quite so easy to get startling evidence of the " psychical " 

 kind in the New World as in the Old. 



Describing in an American medical journ.al the influence of 

 the recent earthquake shocks in Charleston upon the health of 

 the inhabitants. Dr. F. Peyre Porcher, of that city, says that 

 many persons experienced decidedly electrical disturbances, 

 which were repeated upon the successive recurrence of the 

 shocks. These disturbances were generally accompanied by 

 tingling, pricking sensations, like " needles and pins," affecting 

 the lower extremities. One gentleman was completely relieved 

 of his rheumatism ; another, who for months was nervous, 

 depressed, and entirely unable to attend to business, regained 

 his former activity and energy. 



An interesting sketch of the great Serpent Mound in Ohio is 

 given in Science by Mr. W. H. Holmes. It is in the northern 

 part of Adams County, somewhat remote from frequented routes 

 of travel. The entire body of the serpent and the peculiar fea- 

 tures of the enlarged portion are all distinctly traceable, and 

 leave no doubt in the mind, Mr. Holmes thinks, as to their 

 artificial character. He is decidedly of opinion that the work 

 should be classed amjng the products of the religion of the 

 aboriginal races. 



Mr. T- H. Stewart Lockhart, of Hong Kong, has 

 addressed, on behalf of the Folk-Lore Society of England, an 

 appeal in the English and Chinese languages, through the press, 

 to students throughout China to co-operate in investigating the 

 folk-lore of that country. He points out that no attempt has 

 been made to deal with this subject as a whole, the work done 

 so far being for the most part of a local character. He now pro- 

 poses to obtain collections of the lore peculiar to different parts 

 of the empire and its dependencies. Each collection, he goes 

 on, while in itself highly instructive, will be chiefly important as 

 forming a link in the chain of facts from which a general account 

 of the folk-lore of China may be deduced. The Chinese version 

 of the appeal is intended for circulation amongst natives, who, 

 " experien.-e shows, evince a great interest in the subject when 

 once they comprehend its aims and objects." Competent 

 scholars are scattered over the greater part of China, and, as 



