422 



NA TURE 



[jMarch 3, 188/ 



way are open for traffic, while over 2000 miles of line are in 

 course of construction. Applications lor space must be made 

 before the end of August this year. The Commission desires 

 to make the Exhibition specially interesting in manufacturing 

 processes, machinery, &c., in motion, and objects of manual 

 labour. There will also be a picture gallery lighted by electri- 

 city. Further information may be obtained from the Agent- 

 General in London, or from the Executive Commissioners in 

 Melbourne. 



Mr. Robert Etheridge, Jun., of the Geological Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, has received the combined appoint- 

 ments of PaljEontologist to the Department of Mines, and to the 

 Attstralian Mu-eum, Sydney, and will shortly proceed to 

 Australia to take up the duties of the two offices. His exten- 

 sive palieontological knowledge will be much missed in the 

 British Museum. 



Some days ago the Medical School of Paris elected M. 

 Brouardel as Dean, in the placT of M. Beclard, recently 

 deceased. M. Brouardel is Prufessor of Forensic Medicine. 



On Saturday last Mr. John Morley delivered, in the Egyptian 

 Hall of the Mansion House, the annual address to the students 

 of the London Society for the Extension of University Teach- 

 ing. His subject was " The Study of Literature," and we need 

 scarcely say that he set forth his idea^ with his usual vigour and 

 lucidity. But what did Mr. Morley mean by the following sen- 

 tence : "I, for one, am not prepared to accept the rather enor- 

 mous pretensions that are nowad.iys made sometimes for 

 physical science as the be-all and end-all of education" ? By 

 whom are these " r.ither enormous pretensions" made? Men 

 of science, no doubt, claim for the study of physical science a high 

 place in education ; but we have never heard that they feel 

 disposed, on that account, to exclude th- study of art and 

 literature. 



The University of S:. Petersburg lately celebrated its sixty- 

 eighth anniversary. It has 64 professors, 47 fellows, 8 lecturers, 

 and 39 laboratory assistants. There are 2S27 students, who are 

 grouped as follows :— For Oriental langua^'es 87 ; for law, 

 1 1 70; for natural science, 426; for mathematics, 61S ; for 

 history and philology, 224. 



^YE have received the four February sections of " Studies in 

 Microscopical Science," edited by Mr. Arthur C. Cole. The 

 text, which is finely illustrated, relates to Haustoria, the 

 ovary and ova in birds, fatty degeneration of the ki.iney, and 

 microbes. 



Prof. Otto Struve's jubilee was celebrate.l some days ago 

 at the Pulkowa Observatory, A great number of delegat'es 

 from learned societies and scientific institutions were present. 



The new journal edited by Prof. Grancher is called the 

 Bulletin Medical. It appears in Paris twice a week, on Thurs- 

 days and Sundays. 



In the February number of the Journal of the Anthropologi- 

 cal Institute there is an interesting paper by Mr. Bloxam, 

 describing eight specimens of Aroko or symbolic-letters, which 

 have actually been used by the tribj of Jebu in West Africa. 

 These Aroko were sent to Mr. R. N. Cust by Mr. J. A. Otonba 

 Payne, Registrar of the Supreme Court at Lagos, who himself 

 belongs to the tribe of Jeba. The paper is c.rrefuUy illustrated. 

 One of the figures represents a message from a native prince of 

 Jebu, Ode, to his brother residing abroad. It consists of six 

 cowries, all turned in the same direction. The quill of a feather 

 is ji.assed through them from front t) ii.ack, and the shaft is 

 turned towards the end of the quill and fiK-,-.! to the side of the 



cowries. The significance of this symbolic group of objects 

 depends upon the facts that, in the Jebu language, six is 

 " E-fa," from the verb " fa," to draw, and that Africans are in 

 the habit of cleansing their ears with a feather, and look upon 

 it as the only instrument by which this can be effectually done. 

 The meaning is: "By these six cowries I do draw you to 

 myself, and you should also draw closely to me ; as by the 

 feather only I can reach to your ears, so I am expecting you to 

 come to me, and hoping to see you immediately." 



I.\ the KcHiUconti of the Reale Istituto Lombardo for January, 

 Count Trevisan de Saint-Leon describes some experiments 

 recently carried out by Dr. Bareggi in Milan, for the purpose 

 of showing that it is possible to ascertain, from the state of the 

 blood, whether persons bitten by animals stispected of rabies, 

 or even undoubtedly mad, have really been infected. 



The Reports of the Botanist to the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Geneva, N.Y., Mr. J. C. Arthur, for 

 1885 and 1 886, furnish an admirable illustration of the value of 

 such State appointments. A large portion of both Reports 

 is occupied with an exhaustive history of the pear-blight 

 [Micrococcus amylovorus), which is exceedingly destructive to 

 pear-trees in the Northern United States ; proofs that the mis- 

 chief is caused by the specific liacterium ; and suggestions for a 

 remedy. In addition to this, much information is given with 

 regard to the following diseases, among others : the strawberry- 

 mildew {Spharothcca Caslagnei), the plum-leaf fungus {Sefioria 

 cerasiita), the lettuce-rust {Septoyia Lactiicic), and the lettuce- 

 mildew {PcTonospora g.ingli[onnis). Woodcuts are given of 

 these varioui fungoid parasites, and a very useful summary is 

 appended of the literature of t he pear-blight. 



An admirable lecture on " Wrought Iron" was delivered by 

 Mr. J. .Starkie Gardner at the .Society of .^rts on Tuesday, 

 February 22. It is printed in the current number of the Journal 

 of the Society of Arts, with illustrations of the exquisite iron- 

 work in the cathedrals of York, Durham, and Winchester. The 

 general artistic superiority of medieval ironwork to that of 

 later times Mr. Gardner attributes in part to the fact that in the 

 Middle Ages important work of this kind was intrusted only to 

 smiths who had a special aptitude for it. If such a workman 

 was not forthcoming, the work was either not executed, 

 or was made in the simplest form ; whilst, if he were 

 forthcoming, the details at least of the design were left 

 to his own fancy. Mediaeval smiths were not fettered by esti- 

 mate or bound by time, but Mr. Gardner is of opinion that 

 they did their work m.tch more quickly than men do now. 

 Otherwise, he thiirks, the intricate designs used in Germany, 

 Spain, and Portugal, for ordin.iry domestic purposes, could not 

 have been produced at any price whic'^ would have suited the 

 occupiers. 



5;^ At a durbar held at Shillong in co..:::tion with the Jubilee 

 rejoicings, Mr. Ward, Chief Commissi j.,;- of Assam, reviewed 

 the history of the province during the last fifty years. In that 

 lime, he said, its population and settled area had been nearly 

 trebled. The first tea plantation had been started about fifty 

 years ago. There were now nearly 200,000 acres under tea, 

 while the land taken up by planters, although not yet actually 

 planted, amounted to about 400,000 acres. Again, fifty years 

 ago the land revenue of five districts, comprising Assam proper, 

 had been about four and a half lakhs of rupees ; it had grown to 

 twenty-six lakhs. Then the journey from Gowhatty to De- 

 brooghur had occupied a month or six weeks ; now it took three 

 days. 



Much interest has been excited by the announcement that 

 Capt. Conder, of the Palestine Exploration Expedition, has 

 succeeded in deciphering and translating the Hittite inscriptions. 

 Ten principal texts are known, and Capt. Conder claims to have 



