March lo, 1SS7] 



NA rURE 



443 



111 1 paintings clone by students and candidates in the United 

 Kingdom, and the standards of attainment for the various 

 \.iminations. 



Capt. a. \V. Gkeei.y has been appointed lo succeed the 

 late General Hazen, as Chief Officer of the Signal Service in the 

 United States, with rank of Brigadier-General. This announce- 

 ment has been well received in America even by those wlio have 

 hitherto wished lo see the Signal Service separated from the 

 army. Capt. Greely was next in rank to General Hazeu in the 

 burtau, and his eminent litness for ihe duties of his new position 

 :~ universally acknowledged. 



The Paris Geographical Society will shortly celebrate the 

 icnlcnary of the La Pcrouse expedition round the world. The 

 l.\st news received from the unfortunate explorer and his com- 

 panions was brought to France by an uncle of M. de Lesseps. 



Several interesting speeches were delivered in the House 

 of Commons, on Monday evening last, in connection with the 

 supplementary vote of 10,560/. for the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment. Mr. Mundella said the vole asked for was the result 

 of an automatic increase in which every member who had spoken 

 ought to rejoice. The increase had been large and rapid. In 

 1S75 the total number of pupils in every branch of art instruc- 

 ti .n was 444,000, while in 1885 the number had increased 

 lo 883,000, or nearly double. There had been a large increase 

 of art schools, where, he thought it would be admitted, the 

 work w.as much better done than in art classes. Me did not, 

 however, profess 10 be satisfied with the position we have attained. 

 It was true, he said, our Estimates were large as compared 

 with twenty-five or thirty years ago ; but, as compared with 

 other countries nimilarly situated to ourselves, they were a dis- 

 grace to us. The expenditure on education in England was 5 

 per cent, of the whole expenditure of the country, but in some 

 other countries the expenditure on education formed one-third 

 of the whole expenditure of those countries — in Switzerland, for 

 instance, it was rather more than one-third. While it was the duty 

 of the Treasury to keep down expenditure, there would be no 

 real good done in this country until the expenditure on educa- 

 tion was largely increased. Prof. Stuart alsj insisted that 

 England does not yet do nearly enough for scientific education. 

 To illustrate this, he quoted the school statistics of New Zea- 

 land and Australia, showing the large proportion of children 

 attending science teaching in those colonies. Prof. Stuart 

 argued strongly in favour of technical instruction being carried 

 on in evening classes, so that the minds of workmen might be 

 concentrated on those branches of work which they might not 

 so easily acquire in the workshop. An immense impulse had 

 been given in the right direction when the examination in 

 chemistry had been made one of a practical kind, instead of 

 merely book-work and paper-work, and a similar step would 

 have a good effi;ct in the case of physics and mechanics. In 

 conclusion. Prof. Stuart urged upon the Government the desir- 

 ability of extending as far as possible the scholarships, local 

 exhibitions, and prizes in connection with the science classes. 

 Sir H. Roscoe gave it as his opinion that the money which 

 the country voted for the purpose of science and art instruction 

 svas money well spent. The importance of the question could 

 not be overrated, and the Science and Art Department was in 

 a position lo carrj' out in the main the requirements of the 

 country in regard to such instruction. There was, however, 

 one matter to which the Department had not yet given attention, 

 and that was the question of manual instruction in the use of 

 tools. In view of what was being done on the Continent in 

 extending science and technical instruction, he trusted the Com- 

 mittee would pass the vote as only the beginning of what they 

 might hope to get in time. 



We regret to announce the death of Dr. August Wilhel.n 

 Eichler, Professor of Botany at the Berlin University, and 

 Director of the Royal Botanical Garden and Botanical .Museum 

 at Berlin. He died on Wednesday, the 2nd inst. 



During the past month there have bien several fine displays 

 of the aurora borealis in Northern Sweden. The displays gener- 

 ally began about 8 o'clock p.m., and continued till towards mid- 

 night, the point of culminalion bi;ing reached about II o'clock. 

 The aurora; appeared in the form both of streamers and clouds, 

 the colours being m jstly white and yellow. 



On February 19, about midnight, a brilliant meteor was 

 seen in Central Norway. It went in a direction north-east to 

 south-west, and was observa'ole for several seconds. The colour 

 was at first brilliantly white, but changed during the passage 

 into yellow and green. The greatest apparent size of the meteor 

 was equal to that of the full moon. It left a trail a couple of 

 yards in length, portions of which remained for so ne seconds 

 after the meteor had been lojt to view behind a mountain ridge. 

 During its passage it lit up the country within a great area. 



This year Prof. Du Bois-Reymond will celebrate the twentieth 

 anniversary of his appointment as secretary of the Academy of 

 Sciences of Berlin. He is the oldest member of the physico- 

 mathematical class of the Academy. 



In a lecture delivered at the Society of Arts on Wednesday, 

 the and inst., Mr. E. J. Beale stated that last season's experi- 

 ments in the cultivation of tob.cco in England and Ireland 

 resulted in a success satisfaclor y beyond the hopes of the most 

 sanguine promoters of the e.xp.:riments. While reasonable 

 caution in the matter of area and extent of future operations 

 was necessary, those results, he tlio.ight, more than justified 

 further trials, 



The fifiy-fifth annual meeting of the British Medical Associa- 

 tion will be held at Dublin on Tuesday, August 2, and the three 

 following days. Dr. Withers Moore, Senior Physician to the 

 Sussex County Hospital, is President, the President-Elect being 

 Dr. John T. Banks, Regius Professor of Physic in the Univer- 

 sity of Dublin. An address in Medicine will be delivered by 

 Dr. W. T. Gairdner, Professor of Medicine in the University of 

 Glasgow ; one in Surgery by Dr. E. Hamilton, Fellow and 

 Professor of Surgery in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ire- 

 land ; and one in Public Medicine by the Rev. S. Haughton, 

 M.D., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. The scien- 

 tific business will be conducted in eight sections and two sub- 

 sections. Dr. G. F. Duftey, of 30 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, 

 is local Honorary Secretary. 



The Exhibition of Marine Meteorological Instruments or- 

 ganised by the Royal Meteorological Society, which will be 

 held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 25 Great George 

 Street, Westminster, from Tuesday to Friday next, the 15th lo 

 l8th inst., promises to be very interesting and instructive. 

 Many of the instruments used in the Chillen^er and other ex- 

 peditions will be exhibited. At the meeting of the Society on 

 Wednesday evening, Dr. H. R. Mill \\'\\\ read a paper on 

 "Marine Temperature Observations." Any persons, not 

 Fellows, wishing to visit the Exhibition or to attend the meet- 

 ing, can obtain tickets on application to the Assistant Secretary, 

 Mr. W. Marriott, 30 Great George Street, S.W. 



In the State of New York there are at least fourteen distinct 

 laws relating to the medical profession. The State Legislature 

 is now considering a measure for the entire repeal of some of 

 these laws, and for the abrogation of pa- Is of others. Science 

 is of opinion that the measure "should meet with the hearty 

 support of the medical profession, and receive the vole of every 

 member of the Legislature." 



