Sept. g, 1880] 



NATURE 



441 



Number of Words used iu Speaking aud Writing, by Prof. E. S. 

 Holden ; "New Species of Fossil Plants from Alleghany Co., 

 Virginia," by Mr. F. B. Meek; " The Gentile System of the 

 Omahas," by Rev. J. O. Dorsey. Most of the papers, however, 

 appear in very brief abstracts. 



Engineers are engaged daily in making . surveys for the 

 purpose of determining the site of the projected tunnel under the 

 St. Lawrence between Ilochelaga and Longueil. 



The War Office authorities have detailed a whole company of 

 the Royal Engineers for instruction in the art of military balloon- 

 ing, in lieu of the small detachment hitherto employed in the 

 experiments. The company selected is the 24th (Field Company) 

 at Aldcrshot, and it will be placed under the command of Capt. 

 Elsdall, R.E. 



On the anniversary of the Russian Emperor's coronation, the 

 foundation-stone of the Siberian University at Tomsk was laid. 

 The building was projected in the reign _of the Emperor 

 -Alexander I. 



The Panama Star and Herald oi the 12th ult. says that the 

 reports received concerning the eruption of the Fuego, the largest 

 volcano in the republic of Guatemala, show that it was preceded 

 by earthquakes of considerable violence, the theatre of whose 

 operations was confined to the country surrounding the volcano, 

 within a radius of some twenty or thirty miles. In Antigua, 

 Amatitlan, Palin, Petapa, and several other points the .shocks 

 were of such violence as to occasion serious alarm among the 

 inhabitants and cause them to abandon their houses for several 

 hours. With the commencement of the eruption, however, the 

 earthquake period ended, and the people in the streets of the 

 various pueblos were able to witness in tranquillity the splendid 

 appearance of the burning mountain. During the morning of 

 the day succeeding the eruption the pueblos on the Costa Grande, 

 to the northward of the volcano, were shrouded in gloom, and 

 for some time after sunrise people in offices were compelled to 

 employ artificial light in order to carry on their labours. Ashes 

 and dust fell in great quantities at many miles distance, and 

 people who were at too great a distance from the volcano to wit- 

 ness the eruption were for some time in doubt as to their origin. 

 Happily the disturbance has passed with no more serious matter 

 to record than the alarm which it momentarily occasioned. 



At the last meeting of the Balloon Society of Great Britain 

 the recent balloon voyage out to sea at Cherbourg was referred 

 to. Mr. Simmons stated that v\hen he some years ago made a 

 similar trip at Hull he went twenty miles out to sea and then got 

 into an anticipated return current which he found a few feet 

 above the outward current, and which safely landed him at the 

 desired spot on terra firmd. The president read a letter from a 

 member of the Society who had made one of his ascents in a 

 thunderstorm and found the atmosphere at an altitude of about 

 200 feet aud for a height of 100 feet to be of a dull leaden hue, 

 but as soon as he had risen above this stratum he found the sky 

 quite unclouded, and witnessed perfectly clearly the storm raging 

 below in all its grandeur. On Saturday afternoon a balloon contest 

 took place from various points in the neighbourhood of London, 

 under the auspices of the Balloon Society. Eight balloons 

 were to have started, but only five succeeded in getting away. 

 A silver medal was to be awarded to the balloon that traversed 

 the greatest distance in one hour and a half. The competition 

 seems to have had some connection with Commander Cheyne's 

 proposed Arctic Expedition ; but so far as we have ascertained 

 no new scientific results seems to have been obtained. One 

 balloon seems to have attained a height of 14,000 feet. 



During the Session of the City and Guilds of London Insti- 

 ute, commencing October 4, Prof. Armstrong, F.R.S., and 



Prof. Ayrton, Inst.C.E., will continue their tutorial and labora- 

 tory courses of instruction in Chemistry and Physics as applied 

 to the Arts and Manufactures, at the Cowper Street Schools, 

 Finsbury, in rooms rented from the Middle Class Schools Cor- 

 poration, pending the erection of the City and Guilds Technical 

 College, Finsbury, Dr. Armstrong will deliver a course of 

 about thirty lectures on " Organic Chemistry, with special 

 Reference to its Industrial Applications," on Mondays, at S.30 

 to 9.30 p.m., commencing October 4. He will also deliver 

 a course of about twenty-four lectures on Tuesday and Friday 

 afternoons at 4 to 5 o'clock, commencing October 5. Although 

 the chief object of these lectures is to afford such preliminary 

 training as is necessary for those who may desire later on to 

 study particular branches of Applied Chemistry, more than usual 

 attention will be given to matters of technical importance. There 

 will also be daily Laboratory Classes. Prof. Ayrton will deliver 

 a course of evening lectures on " Electrical Instrument Making," 

 on Tuesdays at S.30 to 9.30 o'clock, commencing October 5, the 

 first twelve of the lectures being given before Chi'istmas. On 

 Friday evenings, at S.30 to 9.30 o'clock, commencing October S, 

 Prof. Ayrton will also deliver a course of lectures, the first twelve 

 being given before Christmas, on "Weighing Appliances and 

 Motor Machinery," adapted to the wants of makers and users 

 of machinery. He will also deliver a course of about twenty- 

 four lectures on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, at 4 to 

 5 o'clock, commencing October 4, on the " Electric Light," 



By a decree of the French Minister of Public Instruction the 

 Ethnogra.phical Museum at the Trocadero has been organised. 

 Dr. Hamy and M. Landrin have been appointed conservators. 



A LARGE number of rooms have been added to the French 

 Museum of National Antiquities at St. Germains, and are awaiting 

 a formal opening by the President of the Republic. In one of 

 them have been collected a series of relics of Roman age relating 

 to religious ceremonies aud inscriptions ; in a second room has 

 been disposed a large number of bas-reliefs and statues exhibiting 

 arms and scenes of military life ; and in the third room we found 

 many sepulchral monuments showing the arts and trades as 

 practised during the Roman rule in Gaul. Some rooms have 

 been already opened to the public, and intone of them is the 

 celebrated Autun mosaic representing Bellerophon triumphing 

 over Chimsera ; execution and preservation are both wonderful. 



Mr. Rowsell of King William Street, Strand, has just 

 published a catalogue which includes a large and valuable collec- 

 tion of scientific works, principally biological. 



Messrs. Longmans and Co. announce the forthcoming 

 publication of a new series of " Popular Lectures on Scientific 

 Subjects," by Prof. Ilelmholtz, translated by Dr. E. Atkinson, 



At a concert given every night in the garden of the Palais 

 Royale, Paris, the orchestra is placed in the vicinity of the 

 fountains, w hich'are illuminated by eight splendid Siemens lamps, 

 which work admirably. Two other Siemens lamps have been 

 placed in the .'hop of a jeweller in the Galleries, and the experi. 

 ment may eventually lead to the lighting of the whole palace by 

 the electric light. 



The heat was so intense at Clermont on September 4 last that 

 the ceremony of the inauguration of Pascal's statue, which was 

 to have taken place that day, was postponed to the following 

 morning at S o'clock. The principal speech was delivered by 

 M. Bardoux, formerly Minister of Public Instruction, the repre- 

 sentative of Clermont in the Lower French House. 



The French Central Society of Agriculture and Insectology 

 has opened in the Orau'eric of the Tuileries its biennial exhi- 

 bition of insects. The exhibition is an instructive one, embracing 



