228 



NATURE 



\jfidy 8, iSh'o 



private, the mechanism is always the same. A caoutchouc 

 bellows, like that used in Walker's pneumatic air-bells, is 

 in communication with the main pipes. Every minute 

 the pressure of the air raises it (Fig. 2) ; this bellows acts 

 on a lever which draws a wheel of sixty teeth, in the axis 

 of which is fixed the minute-hand. The wheel makes 

 one-sixtieth of a revolution ; a ratchet-click, shown on 

 the left of the toothed wheel, prevents any return of the 

 wheel. The movement of the hour-hand is effected by 

 means of a small train of wheels, which is not represented 

 in the figures. This small and very simple mechanism 

 may be placed with the greatest facility in the interior of 

 existing clocks, without changing the external form, 

 substituting it for the old movement. 



By means of a second bellows, the function of which is 

 to wind up the bell of a pneumatic clock on a slightly 

 different system, we may establish striking clocks. The 

 price of^ the former to subscribers is 5 centimes a day, 

 the striking clocks costing 6 centimes. 



In Fig. 3 is represented the pneumatic clock of the 

 Place de la Madeleine, furnished with its three dials, the 

 movement of each of which is independent. The letters 

 are clear on a blue ground. At night a jet of gas lights 

 the interior, and the hour is clearly discernible at a con- 

 siderable distance. 



NOTES 



We have much pleasure in stating that Her Majesty has been 

 graciously pleased to grant to the widow of John Allan Broun a 

 pension of 75/. per annum. In Nature, vol. xxi. p. 112, will 

 be seen a full account of the life and works of that distinguished 

 magnetician and meteorologist, whose life may traly be said to 

 have been sacrificed tlirough his devotion to the cause of scientific 

 research. 



The following grants have been made from the Research 

 Fund of the Chemical Society : — 10/. to Mr. Kingzett for experi- 

 ments on the atmospheric oxidation of phosphorus ; 25'. to 

 Mr. Watson -Smith for the investigation of the di-napthyls and 

 phenyl napthalene ; 25/. to Messrs. Bailey and Munro for inves- 

 tigations of the colour reactions of certain metals aud metallic 

 sohitions. 



Mr. Auberon Herbert is anxious to preserve our ancient 

 monuments, but thinks the method proposed in Sir John 

 Lubbock's Bill all wrong and unnecessarily harassing ; indeed 

 in his letter in Tuesday's Daily News he scents communism in 

 .Sir John's enterprise. He deprecates Government interference 

 at all, and thinks the only effectual and enlightened method to 

 be the education of the people into an intelligent respect for all 

 our ancient monuments, a respect which would be a sufficient 

 guarantee for their protection. Might not Mr. Herbert get Lord 

 Norton to compile a series of reading-lessons on archeology 

 .nfter his lordship has completed the botanical reading-book to 

 \ihich we referred last week ? These lessons might take practical 

 effect in the course of a generation or two, by which time 

 probably there would be no ancient monuments for popular 

 protection. The obtuseness of Mr. Herbert's letter is almost 

 phenomenal. 



University College, London, is anxious to complete its 

 buildings, and in connection with this purpose a meeting was 

 held at the Mansion House last Friday. We have frequently 

 had occasion to speak of the great services rendered by the 

 institution to the raising and broadening of education in 

 this country. It has not only itself aimed to carry out a 

 high standard of education, but has given a strong and healthy 

 impulse to older jnstitutions, and led, directly or indirectly, to 

 the establishment of other institutions in which science has its 

 fair phce. Of the desirability of completingethe buildings of Uni- 



versity College there can be little doubt. The sum required is 

 large— 105,000/. ; but if Edinburgh could raise 90,000/. for a 

 similar purpose surely the wealthiest city of the wealthiest 

 country in the world need have liltle difiiculty in raising the sum 

 required. Of this sum 20,000/. has already been subscribed; 

 about the balance we trust there will be no difiiculty. 



In connection with the recent meeting to raise funds for the 

 completion of University College buildings. Prof. Ray Lan- 

 kester writes to yesterday's Times, animadverting in strong 

 terms on the scandalous misappropriation of the funds left by 

 Sir Thomas Gresham "for the purpose of providing a college 

 which should rival the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in 

 the completeness of its appointments and bring the highest edu- 

 cation to the very doors of the citizens of London." Prof. 

 Lankester suggests that the present representatives of the Cor- 

 poration, who appear so anxious to promote the educational 

 interests of the metropolis, should restore " to University educa- 

 tion in London a fair portion of the sum which the Corporation 

 of London, in days long past, diverted to its own benefit from 

 Sir Thomas Gresham's trust." But could not the Gresham 

 funds be included in the inquiry of the Commission now being 

 appointed by Government to investigate the whole question of 

 the City Corporations ? If not, it ought to be. 



Two important accessions have recently been received by the 

 Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew. The corporation of 

 Carlisle has transferred to it the herbarium of Dr. Goodenough, 

 who was formerly Bishop of the Diocese, and who died in 1827. 

 This is rich in specimens of plants cultivated at Kew and 

 Chelsea in the end of the last century, but which have hitherto 

 been very imperfectly represented in the Kew Herbarium. The 

 very extensive collections of mosses accumulated by the late Prof. 

 Schimper of Strassburg, and upon which his well-known works 

 upon this group of plants were based, has been purchased 

 (together with the accompanying drawings and notes) from Prof. 

 Schimper's family by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, and also 

 presented to Kew. 



Dr. M. C. Cooke having been placed by the India Office at 

 the disposal of the authorities of the Royal Gardens, Kew, has 

 now entered upon his duties as ciyptogamist attached to the 

 Herbarium, and will for the present take charge of the collections 

 of nonvascular cryptogams. 



Mr. H. a. Rolfe, lately a gardener in the employ of the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, has been appointed by the Civil Service 

 Commissioners, after a competitive examin.ation, to the vacant 

 post of second assistant in the Herbarium of the same 

 establishment. 



Dr. Woodward has been appointed keeper of the geological 

 department of the British Museum in succession to Mr. Water- 

 house, who resigned about three months ago. Dr. Woodward 

 has occupied the position of assistant-keeper in the department 

 for many years, and is the editor of the Geological Jila^aziiie, in 

 which, as well as in the yournal of the Geological .Society, he 

 has published numerous memoirs. 



M.\NV lessons will, and already have been, drawn from the 

 unprecedented explosion of gas in London on Monday ; the 

 results were disastrous enough, but we may congratulate ourselves 

 that they were no worse. The science of the explosion is simple 

 enough, as the daily papers have been telling the j ublic ; and 

 when science is properly taught in our elementary schools such 

 accidents can only be due to perversity, not lack of knowledge. 

 We recommend this explosion and its immediate cause, to the 

 consideration of Lord Norton. 



Our readers may remember that some months ago Sir William 

 Thomson made several valuable suggestions as to the readjust- 



