540 



NATURE 



{Oct. 7, 1880 



The Epping Forest and County of Essex Naturalists' Field 

 Club held the seventh, and probably the last, of the summer 

 course of field meetings at High Beech and Monk's Woods on 

 the 2nd inst., the purpose of the meeting being the observation 

 of the nyptogamie flora of Epping Forest. The conductors vi'ere 

 Dr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. Worthington Smith, F.L.S., Mr. James 

 English, and Mr. E. M. Holmes, F.L.S. ; and the party 

 (upwards of fifty in number) included many well-known London 

 naturalists. Several scarce fungi were noticed, although the 

 weather proved very unfavourable for field-work. After tea, 

 botanical demonstrations were given, one of the speakers being 

 Trof. Max Cornu of Paris, who expressed the pleasure he had 

 in being present, and said that he hoped to establish similar 

 meetings in Paris. It is intended to make this "fungus 

 meeting " an annual institution. 



Dr. Andreav Wilson, F.R.S.E., has in the press'a new 

 work entitled "Chapters on Evolution," in which a popular 

 rL'siimS of the Darwinian and other theories of development is 

 to be given. Messrs. Chatto and Windus are the publishers. 



The French Minister of War has authorised the erection of a 

 meteorological observatory in the fort which has been recent'y 

 constructed in the Ballon de Servance, in the Vosges. 



The Rev. A. E. Eaton states [En/oiiwlogists' Monthly Mag.) 

 that "in Lisbon male field-crickets are sold in miniature cages 

 by bird-fanciers at the rate of a penny a-piece. They are kept 

 in stock by hundreds together in open tea-chests, lined for the 

 first three or four inches from the top with slips of tin, and are 

 fed upon lettuces. The natives like to have a 'grillo' chirping 

 in the room, and make pets of them." Has this, or a similar 

 custom, been observed by travellers in other parts of the South of 

 Europe? No doubt there is a superstitious element in It, on the 

 principle that sometimes induces our own people to send to the 

 Inkers for houfe-crickets " for luck." In China, and elsewhere, 

 ether Orthopterous insects are well known to be sold in little 

 cages. 



Hitherto, we must confess, Trinity College, London, has 

 been somewhat of a nominis umbra to us; but with its fat 

 Calendar before us it can be so no longer. It was established in 

 1S72 mainly for the promotion of musical education. The 

 Council, we are glad to see, take a liberal view of what is 

 necessary to constitute a well-educated musician, and provide 

 the means of a really liberal education. There is a faculty of 

 music in which, among other subjects, the physiology of the 

 vocal organs and of the ear is taught. In the faculty of arts, 

 besides ancient and modern languages, there are classes in 

 mathematics, chemistry, zoology, botany, geology, and physi- 

 nlogy. The College has not only its curriculum for students in 

 London, but has centres for examination all over the three 

 kingdoms, and judging from the lists of names of those who 

 have passed, these examinations must be widely taken advantage 

 of. The Calendar contains all necessary information as to the 

 College and its work, with the examination papers for the past 

 year and other matters. If it is able to carry out its programme, 

 the institute ought to do much good. 



At the Exhibition in connection with the Sanitary Congress 

 which has been held at Exeter, there are several things worthy 

 of some notice. It may be mentioned that the marked features 

 of the collection are the gas stoves, improved flushing apparatus, 

 ranges for the saving of fuel, various appliances for house 

 drainage, ventilation, and arrangements to prevent sewer gas 

 from rising into houses through closets and sinks. The number 

 of manufacturers who exhibit under these heads shows the 

 principal directions in which practical sanitarians are working. 

 First as to the gas-stoves. These are divided into heating- 

 stoves and cooking-stoves. In the heating group the object is 

 to attain as much radiation as possible ; in the cooking gi'oup 

 the object is to prevent loss of heat by radiation. The Exeter I 



Gaslight and Coke Company, believing that gas will soon 

 supersede coal for heating and cooking, whilst it will itself be 

 superseded as a lighting agent, have offered four handsome 

 sdver medals for the best stoves. It is stated on the authority 

 of a late cook of the Reform Club that the gas kitchener No. 99 

 m Class in. cooked 13 lbs. of meat in fifty-one minutes, at a 

 cost of three farthings, the gas being at the rate of 3s. 6./. per 

 thousand. The graduation of heat can be effectively regulated 

 by the tap of the pipe which secures the gas burners. The gas 

 M ater-heaters shown are of two kinds— those in which the gas 

 jets are introduced under the bath, and those in which they are 

 introduced into a separate boiler placed in the bath-room or 

 outside it. No. 25, Class HI., is an example of an upright 

 cylindrical boiler with which water enough for a bath can in 

 twenty minutes be obtained at 95°. It is impossible to draw 

 attention to all the novelties, but there are some few deserving 

 special attention. Class II., No. 3, is a "twin" door. Two 

 doors a few inches apart are hinged so as to open together. 

 There is an open space for ventilation between them. For 

 housemaids' sinks on different landings, for closets, and for 

 sculleries and kitchens, they are invaluable. In filters there is 

 not much new. A French firm shows a modification of their 

 well-known filters, it being an adaptation of their principle to 

 table filters with the use of Carferal. The main point is that 

 the Carferal can be so readily changed, and it is now well 

 recognised that no filtering material is of any good after many 

 days' use. The trouble involved is no more than that of making 

 tea, and a lady can see to it herself without being at the mercy 

 of careless servants. 



The St. James's Magazine\Jox October contains the first 

 instalment of an interesting series of [articles on " Lightning 

 Protection for Telegraphs." ,..,■ 



The remains of a lake village have been discovered in a marsh 

 at Regnate, near Milan. They include, it is stated, shavings of 

 flints apparently cut with bronze instruments. 



The Daily Ncios Naples correspondent writes that in the 

 excavations commenced a short time ago at Villagrande (Sar- 

 dinia), there have come to light some instniments which are very 

 remarkable if, as believed by competent persons, they belong to 

 the bronze epoch, which, it is asserted, was exceptionally pro- 

 longed in this part of the island. The instruments in question 

 are two bronze saws and a four-pronged fork, all is said to be 

 found in the same repository. Near Taranto, in some new 

 excavations opened in the vicinity of former ones, there have 

 been found twenty-two skeletons, each in its respective tomb, 

 not far below the surface of the ground. The tombs are all dug 

 in the rock, disposed in various positions, and covered with 

 square slabs of stone. Some of them were capable of holding 

 two corpses. 



Mr. Pfoundes will hold, on Saturday afternoon, at 1, 

 Cleveland Row, St. James's, the first of a series of meetings at 

 which Japanese art with native sketches, photographs, &c., will 

 be exhibited, and some account given of the country and 

 people. 



The Philadelphia Court has forfeited the charters of the 

 Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania and the American 

 Univer.'^ity of Philadelphia for selling bogus diplomas. These 

 were the medical colleges managed by Dr. Buchanan, who is 

 now awaiting his trial here. 



The exhibition of the Photographic Society opened at the 

 Galleries, SA, Pall Mall East, on Monday, and is quite worth a 

 visit. There are sever.al productions of special interest : among 

 these are some fine photographs from Novaya Zemlya taken 

 during the second Dutch Arctic Expedition last year ; several 

 excellent views of the Tay Bridge disaster ; Burnham Beeches, 

 by Lieut. L. Darwin, R.E. ; magnificent portraits of lions and 



