230 



NATURE 



\7uly 8, i8?o 



A NEW list of members of the Institution of Civil Engineers has 

 just been issued, from which it appears that there are now on the 

 books 1,217 members, 1,299 associate members, 579 associates, 

 18 honorary members, and 657 students — together 3,770 of all 

 classes. At the same period last year the numbers of the several 

 classes were 1,148, 1,200, 627, 17, and 591, making a total of 

 3,578, showing an increase at the rate of nearly 5i per cent. 

 During the past session the elections have comprised 2 honorary 

 members, 43 members, 129 associate members, and 15 associates; 

 and 160 students have been admitted. 



A COMMISSION appointed on November 27, 1S79, has visited 

 the five French provincial observatories. A report has been 

 written by M. Loewy, sub-director of the Paris Observatory, 

 discussed at a meeting of the directors of the establishment, 

 approved by the Minister of Public Instruction, and published 

 by the Journal Officid on June 29. 



In a report which he has lately fent to the Foreign Office, the 

 acting Consul-General at Bangkok remarks that the year 1879 

 will long be memorable in the provinces of Battambong and 

 Chantaboon for the discovery of valuable sapphire mines in that 

 part of Siam. Mines of inferior value have long been known in 

 the neighbourhood, and about five years ago new mines were 

 discovered by a native hunter. Being, however, in a very 

 remote and secluded position, it was long before their fame 

 spread to the Burman aud Indian gem-traders and miners. 

 Eventually they became more widely known, and large mmibers 

 flocked to them, especially from British Burmah. The large.-t 

 sapphire hitherto found weighed, according to Mr. Newman, 

 370 carats in the rough, and when cut turned cut III carats of 

 the finest water. The ruby, onyx, and jade are also found in 

 the district, but are apparently of inferior quality. 



The Liverpool Courier understands that the telephone has 

 been successfully laid down from Childwall Church, Liverpool, 

 to the house of a lady half a mile off who is unable to go out ; 

 the chants, hymns, and lessons are distinctly heard, but only 

 fragmentary sentences of the sermon can be canght. 



We see from the Ota«o JVitness of May 22 that Prof. Black 

 of Otago University has commenced a second course of public 

 lectures on chemistry, in continuation of the course last winter, 

 to which we referred as having been attended by teachers from 

 all parts of the province of Otago, many of them coming 

 distances of sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety miles. The 

 present course promises to be quite as successful. The IVitiies!, 

 we are informed, publishes the lectures in response to several 

 requests, and in view of the heartiness with which the course 

 (both of last year and this) has been received. 



Mr. J. Lee Jardine writes from Capel, .Surrey :— "I felt 

 what may have been the tremor of an earthquake on Sunday, 

 June 27, at 9 p.m. I was sitting with friends talking and reading 

 on the ground floor of a house close to a road, and noticed a low 

 rumbling lasting two or three seconds ; this was repeated five or 

 six times in the course of four or five minutes, sounding so like 

 the noise of wheels that I watched for a cart, but in vain. The 

 last three cr four limes the rumbling was accompanied by a slight 

 vibration sensible only to the feet. It was felt also by one of 

 my friends, who remarked upon the curious sensation." 



There was a severe shock of earthquake at Brieg, Switzer- 

 land, on Sunday. Many buildings were injured, but, so far as is 

 known, no lives were lost. The moverr.er.t was also much felt 

 at Zermatt and Belalp, and very slightly at Geneva. 



M. Ferry, French Minister of Public Instruction, presided at 

 the first meeting of a commission established for the improve- 

 ment of popular publications. It has been resolved that a sub- 

 commission shall decide what works shall be rewarded and what 

 subjects proposed by way of competition. 



In a work published by Dr. Ricoux of Philippeville, Algeria, 

 on "Demographic figuree de I'Algerie," it is proved thai 

 marriages are more prolific than in France, the mean number 

 of children being 3"67 in the colony, as contrasted with 3'07, in 

 the mother country. In the first twenty years after the French 

 occu;ation it was taken for granted that European children 

 could not be reared in the colony. The increase of the European 

 population is very remarkable ; in 1830, 600 ; ten years afterwards, 

 27,000; twenty years, 125,000; thirty years, 200,000; forty 

 years, 271,000. In 1S80 the number is not yet known, but is 

 probably 400,000, having been found 323,000 in 1876. 



We have received the Calendar of the "Tokio Daigaku," or 

 University of Tokio for 1879-S0. This university seems to be 

 quite as complete in all its departments as any similar institution 

 in this country, and the education provided seems, to judge 

 from the examination papers, thorough. The place given to 

 science is what it ought to be, on an equal footing with any 

 other department in all respects. An interesting historical sum- 

 mary is prefixed of the introduction of Western learning into 

 japan. 



The Report of the Miners' Association of Cornwall and Devon 

 for 1879 shows that the Association continues to do good work 

 among the mining population of these two counties. The 

 numbers attending the classes continue to increase, and the 

 instruction given is well calculated to be of great service to a 

 mining population. The Report contains a paper by Mr. A. T. 

 Davies on the " Phenomena of the Heaves or Faults in the 

 Mineral Veins of St. Agnes." 



We have received "a very favourable Report (the 22nd) from 

 the East Kent Natural History Society. The Report contains 

 several good papers read at the meetings of the Society, the 

 most important and the longest being that of Capt. McDakin, 

 "An Outline and Index to the Geology of East Kent." 



We are asked to state by Mr. Walter Baily (not Baillie) that 

 in our report of the Physical Society last v eek, p. 210, second 

 calumn, line 29, notes should be nodes. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey {Maeacin erythraus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. Fred. Felix ; a Banded Ichneumon 

 (Herpestes fascintus) from East Afiica, presented by Mr. H. 

 Ilall ; a Common Marmoset {Hapjle Jacc/iiis) from Brazil, pre- 

 sen'ed by Mr. T. Douglas Murray, F.Z.S. ; a Java Sparrow 

 [Padda oryzivora) from Java, a Spotted-sided Finch (Amadina 

 lathami], a Chestnut-eared Finch (Amadiiia eastanotis) from 

 Australia, two Che-tnutbellied Finches (Miiiiia rtibro-nigra), 

 a Yellow-bellied Liothrix {Liothrix lutein') from India, two Red- 

 beaked Weaver Birds (Quelea san^iiinirostris), a Crimson- 

 crowned Weaver Bird {EupUctes Jlammieeps), a Paradise Whydah 

 Bird {Vidua paradisea) from West Africa, a Brazilian Tanager 

 (Ramphoeahts brcisiliiis) from Brazil, a Bearded Tit (Calanw- 

 phihis Uarmieus), European, presented by Mr. St. Julien 

 Arabin ; two Common Peafowls {Fai'O eristaid) from India, 

 presented by Mi's Wedderburn ; a Slender-billed Cockatco 

 {I.icinctis lenir'rosttis) from South Australia, presented by Mr. 

 H. F. Eussey ; a Jaguar [Felis on^a), two Huanacos [Lntua 

 huauaeos), two Coypu Rats {Alyopotamus eoypus), two American 

 Barn Owls [Strix flammed) from South America, deposited ; a 

 Cereopsis Goose [Cereopsis naiw-hollaitdiiv) from Australia, a 

 Doubtful Toucan (Ramphastos amhis-jius] from United States of 

 Columbia, six Chinese Quails (Coturnix eliinensis) from China, 

 two American Kestrels (Tinnunculus sparz'erius) from America, 

 an Ocellated Monitor [Monitor ocellata) from West Africa, 

 purchased ; a Red Deer {Cei-vus elaphus), a Reeves's Munljac 

 (Cervulus reez'esi), born in the Gardens, ihree Upland Geese 

 (Bemicla magellanica), bred in the Gardens. 



