232 



NA rURE 



17 ail. 6, 1 88 1 



The dates for some of the papers which will be read at tlie 

 Society of Arts before Easter next have been announced. The 

 following are set down for the ordinary meetings (Wedne-^day 

 evenings): — January I2: A Sanitary Protection Associali m for 

 London, by W. Fleemin^ Jenkin, F.R.S, (On this evening 

 Prof. Huxley will preside.) January ig : Cau esof Success and 

 Failure in Modern Gold-Mining, by A. G. Lock. February 23 ; 

 Recent Advances in Electric Lighting, by W. H. Preeoe. 

 March 2 : Flashing .Signals for Lighthouses, by Sir ^Villlam 

 Thomson, F.R.S. March 9 ; Improvements in the Treatment 

 of Esparto for the Manufacture of Paper, by Williain Arnot, 

 F.C.S. March l5: The Manufacture of Aerated Waters, by 

 T. P. Bruce Warren. In the Indian Section (Friday evenings), 

 the following will be read: — January 21: Forest Conservancy 

 in India, by Sir Richard Temple, Bart., G.CS.I. February 

 1 1 : The Gold-Fields of India, by Hyde Clarke. March 4 : The 

 Results of British Rule in India, by J. M. Maclea.i. March 25 : 

 The Tenure and Cultivation of Land in India, by Sir George 

 Campbell, K.C.S.I., M.P. Thedatesand Papers for the Foreign 

 and Colonial Section (Tuesday evenings) will be : — Febru.ary I : 

 The Industrial Products of South Africa, by the Right Hon. 

 Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Bart., G.C.B., &c. February 

 22 : The Languages of South Africa, by Robert Cust. March 

 15 : The Loo Choo Islands, by Consul John A. Gubbins. 

 April 5: Trade Relations between Great Britain and her De- 

 pendencies, by William Westgarth. For the Applied Chemistry 

 and Physics Section (Thursday evenings) the arrangements are 

 as follows :— January 27 : A New Mechanical Furnace, and a 

 Continuous System of Manufacturing Sulphate of Soda, by 

 James Mactear. February 24; Deep-Sea Investigation, and 

 the Apparatus used in it, by J. G. Buchanan, F.R.S. E., F.C.S. 

 March 24 : The Future Development of Electrical Appliances, 

 by Prof. John Perry. 



Various earthquake shocks in Roumania, Transylvania, 

 Hungary, &c., in the latter days of December, are reporte 1 ; in 

 Bucharest, on the 23rd of that month at 11.20 a.m., and on the 

 25th at 5.45 p.m. ; in Tultscha also, on the 25th, at 5.25 p.m. 

 (direction north-west to south-east) ; in Fokschau, at 5.5 p.m., 

 pretty strong, duration 8 sec. ; in Tecuciu at 4.51 p m., t.vo 

 strong shocks, the fir.-.t lasting 2 sec. ; the second 4 sec. ; in 

 Washui (iie.\r Tassy), a very violent undulalory shock ; in 

 Silistria (Bulgaria), at 3.22 p.m., 20 shocks lasting Im. 20-. ; in 

 Homorod (Hungary), at 4.18 p.m., duration 5s., direction west 

 to east; in Foldvar (Hungary), at 4.20 p.m., dire;tion north- 

 west to south-east. At the same time shocks were felt at v.xri jus 

 places in the south-east of Transylvania. 



It may be useful to some of our readers to know that the 

 Library of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Elec- 

 tricians is open to members of all scientific bodies, and (on 

 application to the librarian) to the public generally. Thelibr.xiy 

 is opei daily between the hours of 1 1,0 am. and 8.0 p.m., 

 except on Thursdays and on Saturdays, whe.i it closes at 

 2.0 p.m. 



"Whitaker's Almanac" is undoubtedly a most useful 

 publication ; but in the larger edition there is a supple nent of 

 miscellaneous information which seems to us to require looking 

 after. Among other things there is a variety of items more or 

 less connected with science. There is a " Scientific Summary " 

 consisting of nine lines of introduction (in which the only 

 geological fact mentioned is the discovery of some fossil remains 

 in Essex), followed by selected subjects of general interest, in- 

 cluding such items as "Steam Power in Germany," " Forests in 

 Russia," "The World's Gold and Silver," "American Railrond 

 Progress," all looking like so many random newspaper cuttings ; 

 but no mention of perhaps the most brilliant scientific event of the 

 year— Mr. Graham Bell's " rhoto;^hone." In another part of the 



supplement we have two pages on the "Progress of Astronomical 

 Science " ; why this is not included in the " Scientific Summary " 

 the editor perhaps knows. A page is devoted to "Radiant 

 Points of Shooting Stars," two to the "Year's Weather," three 

 to " Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions," and three to " Geo- 

 graphical Discovery." The writer of the last-mentioned actually 

 places Mr. Leigh Smith's yacht voyage to Franz Josef Land as 

 "the most remarkable geographical event" of a year which 

 witnessed the successful conclusion of Mr. Joseph Thomson's 

 remarkable African Expedition, because he thinks it opens up 

 " a new and apparently feasible route for future Polar research : " 

 does he not mean search ? Evidently the supplement to this 

 "Almanac" stands in need of editing, and as the whole work 

 is to be reset for next year, perhaps this part will be brought up 

 to the level of the rest of the work. 



The Anniiaire o( the Bureau des Longitudes for 1 881 has 

 been issued by Gauthier-Villars. As usual, it is full of informa- 

 tion on a great variety of subjects more or less connected with 

 science. 



Land and IValer states that the late Mr. Frank Buckland has 

 bequeathed his valuable Museum of Economic Fish Culture to 

 the nation ; and on the de cease of Mrs. Buckland a sum of 5000/. 

 will revert to the nation, to be applied for the purp ose of founding 

 a professorship of econo nic pisciculture in connection with the 

 Buckland Museum and the Science and Art Department at South 

 Kensington. 



A Scotch Fisheries Iiuprovement Association has been formed 

 for the purpose of making an effort to improve by various means 

 the fisheries of the Scotch rivers, which have in recent years con- 

 siderably deteriorated. The president is the Duke of Sutherland, 

 and the chairman of the provisional committee Mr. David Milne 

 Home. 



We have received a co,iy of the regulations issued by the 

 French Minister of Posts and Telegraphs for the International 

 Congre-ss and Exhibition of Electricity, to be opened at Paris 

 next September. Those interested in the Congress should apply 

 to M. le Commissaire General de I'Ex position Internationale 

 d'Electricite, at the Palace of the Champs filjsees, porte No. IV., 

 Paris. 



Mr. Innes Rogers, inalettertous, calls attention to a list of 

 bamboos published in vol. i. of the Garden, w Inch are found to be 

 hardy under cultivation, and to the fact that several kinds, chiefly 

 from China and Japan, grow in B.ittersea Park, Kew Gardens, &c. 

 He further instances as hardy plants a Cactus from the Rocky 

 Mountain , Begonia from the Andes, the well-known Chamarops 

 exceha, Ficiis reptns, and a Mesembryanthemum acclimatised at 

 .Scilly, and believes that the fixity of continents through long 

 geological periods would cause tropical species in spreading to 

 adapt the nselves to temperate conditions. He thinks t'nat the 

 Gulf .Stream may have brought tropical seeds to Bournemouth, 

 and that a most trifling change of cliuate would have made them 

 thrive there. 



A NEW illustrated archjeological review will soon be published 

 at Naples by MM. Augusto Mele and Enrico Abeniacco. It 

 will be in French, and its title will be " Pompeii." The object 

 of the new publication is to excite in wider circles a vivid interest 

 for the excavations at Pompeii, Herculaneum, &c., as well as 

 for archaeology generally. 



In the Austrian "Engineers and Architects Union" at 

 Vienna, a new aeronautical department has been created, with 

 the object of discussing and solving aeronautical problems and 

 questions both theoretically and in practice, as well as making 

 the necessary experiments. The application of aeronautics to 

 meteorological science forms a special study of the department. 



