July 22, iSSo] 



NATURE 



275 



Prof. McK. Hughes, of Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 writes to us as follows :— " I am writing the life of Prof. 

 Sedgwick, but I want much which I fail to find in the mass of 

 MS. placed in my hands, especially letters from himself giving 

 an account of contemporary persons and events. Can any of 

 your readers help me in this matter ? " 



We take the following from the New York Nation :~" For 

 the English-speaking race, wherever planted, we should have 

 supposed Nature to be a sufficient scientific medium, and 

 entitled to universal support. We are partly confirmed in this 

 view by the quotations from Nature in the first number of 

 Science, a quarto weekly journal, edited by Mr. John Michels, 

 and published at 229 Broadway, in this city. Nevertheless, the 

 editor's statement that the enterprise has been begun 'after 

 consultation «ith many of the leading scientists in this country,' 

 and his list of co-labourers seem to point to a real want, and to 

 entitle this new 'record of scientific progress' to a friendly 

 welcome. Its present size is sixteen pages, including the adver- 

 tising sheet. The opening article, on the United States Naval 

 Observatory, is from the pen of Prof. E. S. Holden." We 

 wish our new contemporary every success, and trust that it may be 

 the means of spreading a wide interest in science on the other 

 side of the water. 



The half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteoro- 

 logical Society was held yesterday. The business was : (l) Re- 

 port from the Council of the Society ; (2) Proposed Inquiry by 

 the Society into the Relation of Climates in Scotland to the 

 Growth of Trees by Sir Robert Christison ; (3) Relations of 

 Weather to Deaths from Scarlet Fever and Whooping Cough, in 

 Thirty-one Briti^-h Large Towns, by Dr. Arthur Mitchell and 

 Alexander Buchan, secretary ; {4) Anemometer for ascertaining 

 the Direction of the Wind with reference to a horizontal Plane, 

 by Alexander Frazer, M.A., optician. 



Prof. A. H. Church, late of the Royal Agricultural College, 

 Cu"encester, has begun a course of lectures on Agricultural 

 Chemistry at the Wilts and Hants Agricultural College, Dow nton, 

 near Salisbury. There are many characteristic features in the 

 farming of the district, well illustrated on the extensive farm of 

 the new college. These afford both valuable illustrations and 

 important subjects of investigation to the agricultural chemist as 

 well as to the botanist and geologists. We hone that this new 

 institution, over which Prof. Wrightson presides, will occupy 

 itself not only in agricul'ural teaching, but in agricultural research, 

 and develop, after a time, into a " Versuch-Station" of no little 

 value. 



The continued wet weather at Carlij>le, which lasted without 

 intermissionfrom Monday evening to Thursday at noon, rendered 

 it extremely difficult to do justice to one of the finest exhibitions 

 ever held by the Royal Agricultural Society. Among the most im- 

 portant of the novelties was Mr. Darby's steam digger. This instru- 

 ment is intended to super.- ede the steam-plough by producing at 

 once a pulverising effect superior to that of the combined action of 

 plough and cultivator, and equal to that produced by the spade. 

 The idea is old, but up to the present time it has not been suc- 

 cessfully applied. Mr. Darby's digging-machine consists of 

 thiee sets of prongs of fourteen each, arranged on three cross- 

 bars twenty-feet wide. Each cro=s-bar is worked independently 

 and in succession by a separate crank-shaft. The earth is moved 

 to the depth of six to ten inches, and by the action of the 

 revolving crank-shafts the raised sod is pitche.l backwards and 

 neatly inverted. The surface is left somewhat too flat for 

 harrowing, but a second digging renders the work much more 

 efficient. The greatest drawback to this ingenious machine lies 

 in its weight. When charged with coal and water the engine 

 and digger unitedly weigh fourteen to fifteen tons. Ex- 

 periments in the trial fields showed that three-fifths of the 



power were absorbed in moving the implement over the ground. 

 There were no new forage plants exhibited, and the stands 

 devoted to manures and feeding-stuffs contained no articles save 

 those with which we were familiar. In the live stock sheds the 

 most interesting exhibits were the mountain-sheep peculiar to 

 Cumberland and the adjoining counties. The Herdwick sheep 

 are hardier than the Scotch black-faced breed. They are able 

 to thrive on the poorest land imaginable, and manage to leave a 

 good profit in the hands of the Dalesmen who own them. 

 Thanks to the Herdwick race of sheep, the bad times of which 

 we have heard so much are unknown in the Lake district. 

 Another excellent breed, not often seen out of their own locality, 

 which lies in West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, is the Louks. 

 This race, unlike other kinds of sheep, is well suited to the 

 damp and mossy lands lying between the hills of mountain lime- 

 stone which form this part of England. Their faces are 

 speckled, black and white, and both sexes are horned. They 

 are readily distinguished from the Highland black-faced breed 

 by the evidently better quality of their wool. A thhd race 

 unfamiliar to the bulk of English farmers is the "Crag' or 

 "Limestone" sheep, which occupies the highlands of the same 

 district as the Louks. The crag-sheep are adapted for a dry 

 and poor pasture, and can do without water. The louk and the 

 crag-sheep therefore offer good instances of the adaptability of 

 different races of animals to their environment. 



The Zoological Station established last year in connection 

 with the University of Aberdeen, at Stonehaven, is at present in 

 process of erection near Cromarty. The work will be caiTied 

 on throughout August and September, and part of October, 

 under the superintendence of George J. Romanes, F.R.S., and 

 Prof. J. C. Ewart. Those desirous of taking advantage of the 

 station are requested to communicate with Dr. Ewart, Dunskaith, 

 Ross-shire. 



The Sydney papers state that some important gold discoveries 

 have been made in the Bathurst district near Tnena, and that in 

 one claim a bushel of broken quartz yielded two pounds of gold. 

 A very rich gold-field' has also been found at the Margaret 

 River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia. 



The Executive Committee of the International Medical Con- 

 gress for 18S1 made their report to the General Committee of 

 this Congress, which met at the College of Physicians on Tuesday 

 last week. The officers of the Congress were proposed and 

 nominated. The sections were agreed upon, and the treasurer, 

 Mr. Bowman, announced that large .nibscriptions had already 

 been received. It was agreed that the time of meeting of the 

 Congress should be from August 3 to 9, 1881. The president 

 of the Council of the British Medical Association stated that the 

 Council of that body had postponed their meeting to the follow- 

 ing week. It was also announced that the Congress would meet 

 in rooms granted for the purpose by the University of London, 

 the Royal Society, and the other learned societies meeting in 

 Burlington House, so that the sections will be all practically 

 under the same roof. The president of the Congress will be 

 Sir James Paget, and there will be fifteen sections in all. 



It is intended to hold an International Congress of Commerce 

 and Industry at Brussels, fro.n September 6 to II. M. Antoine 

 Dansaert is to be the president, and the meeting will take place 

 under the patronage of the King of the Belgians. 



AccoKDiNG to the Electrician, a remarkable instance of 

 telephony is exciting considerable interest throughout South 

 Australia and among the scientific world in particular. By 

 means of an improved telephone the Adelaide Post Office chimes 

 have been clearly heard at Fort Augusta, a distance of 240 

 miles. 



Mr. G. F. H. MllNE, owner of the fossil forest recently 

 discovered at Oldham, and referred to in 'Nature at the time. 



