NATURE 



at 5 5 '93, or sny sixteen feet under L.W. extreme springs, 

 twenty-two feet under the surface of the mud. 



Inside the dock altogether were 3S2 trees, 223 standing, 

 the remainder flat. The largest tree was forty-six feet 



{Dec. 2, 1880 



long, and 4' 6" girth ; it was flat. None of the trees 

 would girth over 4' 5". The soil in which many of them 

 stood was only 6" to 9" thick ov-er the rock. The wood 

 is apparently black wood. The roots presented a 



^ecticn N° 2. 

 Fig. 4.— Section No. 2. 



peculiar appearance, being nearly at right angles to the | The mixture of diiferent kinds of stone is curious. In 

 trunks. I small patches we find trap, which gives way to moorum. 



The forest seems to have stopped at the gates, as and then a sort of pudding-stone mixed up with black 

 very few trees were brought up in the dredging opera- and red stuff so hard that it cuts the divers' hands as 

 tions. with a knife. 



NOTES 



Prof. Helmholtz has been appointed Faraday Lecturer for 

 iSSi ; the lecture will be given early in April. 



We greatly regret to announce the death of .Sir Benjamin 

 C. Brodie, Bart., F.R.S., the eminent chemist and late 

 Professor of Chemistry in the University of Oxford. He died 

 on Wednesday, last week, at Torquay, in the sixty-fourth year 

 of his age. We hope to be able to give a detailed notice of Sir 

 Benjamin's life and work in a future number. 



The death, on Sunday, is announced of Mr. Mark Firlh, at 

 Sheffield, in the sixty-second year of his age. Mr. Firth was 

 eminent for his discriminating liberality, and will be specially 

 known to our readers as the founder of the well-known Firth 

 College, Sheffield, opened by Prince Leo- old last year. 



Prof. J. Charles D'Almeid.v, whose sudden death at Paris 

 we mentioned a fortnight since, was one of the prominent leaders 

 in the scientific circles of the French capital. Formerly a Pro- 

 fessor of Physics in the Lyceum of Henry IV., he had occupied 

 for some years past the important and responsible position of 

 Inspector-General of Public Instruction. A strong Liberal in 

 matters of education, he exerci-sed a marked influence in the late 

 reorganisation of the French educational system. It was alenost 

 entirely owing to his efforts that the Societc Franjaise de 

 Physique owes its creation, and since its origin he has occupied 

 the 'post of secretary. . As an investig.itor D'Almeida is best 

 known by his valuable researches on the phenomena of electro- 

 lysis, on galvanic batteries, on capillary phenomena, &c. One 

 of the most remarkable services he has rendered was the inven- 

 tion of the photographic despatches by means of which, during 

 the siege of Paris, the inhabitants of the city were enabled to avail 

 themselves so extensively of the otherwise limited services of the 

 . "pigeon post.'' 



A SHORT time ago we alluded to the severe loss to chemical 

 and technical literature by the death of Prof, von Wagner, who 

 for twenty-five years past has conducted so ably his admirable 

 Jahrabericht Jiir die clumische Techitologie. The difficult ques- 

 tion of finding a successor in the editorship of this important 

 annual has been happily solved by the choice of Dr. Ferd. 

 Fisher, Professor of Technology at the Polytechnic of Hanover. 

 For a long time past Prof. Fisher has rendered valuable literary 

 services in editing Ditighr's Polytcchnhches Jmirnal, the most 



important technical publication on the Continent. As an in- 

 vestigator he is also well known by his elaborate researches on 

 water in its technical and physiological relations, on pyrometry, 

 and on numerous other chemical and technical questions. 

 Under the new auspices the J ahrcshericlit has every reason to 

 look forward to a continuance of its successful career. 



M. Charcot reopened last week his course of botany at 

 Salpetriere, where he exhibited last year the curious phenomena 

 of female patients suffering from neuro-mental affections. New 

 instances will be produced of cures analogous to the troubles 

 regarded in mediaeval times as produced by demoniacal agency 

 or cured by witchcra''t. 



In a lecture on earthquakes delivered in Vienna on the 22nd 

 inst.. Prof. v. Hochstetter designated the Agram earthquake 

 (affecting elliptically a region of 60 to So German miles diameter, 

 and having its larger axis directed south-south-west to north- 

 north-east) as a tectonic or dislocation-earthquake — a name which 

 originated with the Austrian geologist Prof. Homes. Prof. 

 Siiss expressed a similar opinion in a lecture on November 24, 

 "On Earthquakes in the Alps." 



On Sunday evening, about six o'clock, slight shocks of earth- 

 quake were felt at two different places in Scotland — 3ne being 

 Callander, in Perthshire, and the other Inverary, in Argylbhire. 

 The two districts affected are about forty miles apart, in a line 

 due east and west. The shock was also felt at Rothesay and 

 Stornoway. In the north of Ireland during Sunday evening 

 and also the earlier hours of yesterday morning several decided 

 shocks of earthquake were felt, especially in Londonderry and 

 its vicinity. The disturbance was more particularly felt at 

 Innishowen, and it seemed to travel across the bed of the River 

 Foyle to the County Derry side, where the effiicts were felt 

 strongly. 



At Dort.mund there was a slight shock of earthquake on 

 November 25, and a smart one on the 27th. 



Mr. Mundella has been speaking on education again, 

 repeating essentially the old story, that our country must lose in 

 the race unless, as in other countries, clucation in science is 

 made an imperative part of elementary education. We have 

 many natural and traditional advantages over other countries, but 

 all these must in the long run succumb to scientific training. 



A MAGNIFICENT lacustrine find has been made in the marshes 

 of Corcelletes, near Consise, in Canton Vaud. It consists of a 



