NATURE 



Jan. 27, 1 88 1 



church of St. Martin's priory. We see here the curious 

 steam-carriage of the mechanician Cugnot, and tlio fine 

 statue of Deni< Papin by M. Aimi^ Millot, the bronze 

 duphcate of which was inaugurated at Blois some weeks 

 ago. Besides the machinery which has long been at 

 worli in this gallery, tlie new administration of the Con- 

 servatoire is endeavouring to show visitors all the new 

 and interesting apparatus used in the great Parisian 

 industries. More than 3000 visitors witness every Sunday 

 these experiments, very beautiful and very instructive for 

 every one. Among the most notable apparatus are those 

 connected with electrical phenomena. The beautiful 

 e.xperiments of M. Gaston Planto have obtained the 

 greatest success, as also those relating to the transmission 

 of power to a distance by electricity. The Conservatoire 

 is thus becoming the museum of machinery in action. 



While the machinery is thus at work in the great nave, 

 other experimenis arc going on in the galleries. The 

 great electrical machine throws off sparks in the physical 

 hall, and projections by means of the o.xyhydrogen light 

 are made elsewhere by M. Molteni. Visitors show great 

 interest in the Echo room, the Lavoisier room, in which 

 is a great number of instruments used by the founder of 

 modern chemistry, the Agricultural room, where are 

 exhibited all the newest m.odels of agricultural m?.chinery. 

 It is scarcely necessary to speak of the courses of lectures 

 by eminent professors, many of whom are known beyond 

 France ; the gratuitous courses here and at the Sorbonne 

 for 18S0-S1 comprise almost evsry branch of pure and 

 applied science. The public library of more than 30,000 

 special works is freely pla eti at the disposal of workers. 



Among the less Inown departments is the public 

 service for testing the resistance of materials, very useful 

 to architects, contractors, and builders. Any one may 

 take advantage of it. It is sufficient to send to the Con- 

 servatoire specimens of stone, marble, pottery, metals, 

 tubes, &c., which arc crushed, broken, or bruised by 

 special machiner;', and the results accurately registered. 

 The most powerful of these machines is a hydraulic press 

 of 500,000 kilograms. 



Such, in few words, is the Conservatoire des .Arts et 

 Metiers. By its collections, its public courses, its library, 

 its eminently practical services, it may be regarded as one 

 of the most valuable institutions of France. 



NOTES 

 The Faraday lecture will be delivere.1 by Prof. Ilehnholtz in 

 the theatre of the Royal Institu'i .n on Tuesday, April 5. The 

 subject will be "The Mrdein Development of Faraday's Con- 

 ception of Electricity." The lecture will be delivered in 

 English. 



Prop. Holden', of the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, 

 has published, through Scribncr, a liography of Sir William 

 Herschel. Prof. Holden is also publishing, through the Smith- 

 sonian Institute, a subject index and .synopsis of the scientific 

 writings of the great astronomer. 



The Kent's Cavern Comnii'tec, when pre enting theiryfw?/ 

 Report in August la«t to the i;riti>Ii As ociation stated that, 

 from the first day of the exploration in 1865 to it.s clo.'-.e in 18S0, 

 George Smerdon had been continually engaged on the work, 

 and for nearly thirteen years had been the foreman ; that during 

 that period he had always discharged his duties in a most 

 e.^emplary manner, and without the least misunderstanding with 

 the superintendents ; that he was nearly sixty years cf age, and 

 so crippled with chronic rheuniatiMn— induced by worliing for 

 so many years in the damp Ca.vern — as to he incapable of any 

 ordinary labr.ur, and thnt it was propo ed to raise by subscription 

 a fund suffic-ent to secure him a small annuity. T he propcsal 

 was cordially received, and Mr. Pengelly was encouraged to 

 carry it into effect. Several contributions have already been 



received from Mr. G. Busk, Prof. W. B. Dawk ins. Dr. John 

 Evans, Mr. J. E. Lee, Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.li.S., 

 Mr. W. Pengelly, Mr. E. Vivian, M.A., and others. Further 

 contributions to tlie " Smerdon Testimonial Fund " may be paid 

 directly to Mr. \\. Pengelly, Lamorua, Torquay, or to Messrs. 

 Vivian, Kitson, and Co., Bankers, Torquay. 



A MAKBLE .'tatue of Nicephore Niepce, the inventor of photo- 

 graphy, is now being executed by the celebrated sculptor, M. 

 CJuill.aume of Paris, and will be erected and unveiled in May 

 next at Chalons-sur-Saone. 



Prof. M.vsica of Neutitschein writes that the excavation.s now 

 going on in the Schipka Cave, near Stramberg (Moravia), h.ive 

 yielded some interesting results. Among the numerous remains 

 of Post-Tertiary animals (such as mammoth, rhinoceros, urochs, 

 horse, lion, hyasna) the jaw-bone of a supposed diluvial human 

 being has been found. It was imbedded in the immediate vicinity 

 of a place where carbonised animal bones, stone implements, and 

 bone utensils were found. The jaw-bone, described as having 

 belonged to a child of some eight years of age (according to the 

 development of the teeth), is of very large, indeed of colossal 

 dimensions. 



The director of French Lighthouses has sent to the Minister 

 of Public Works a communication recommending the lighting, 

 by electricity, of all the great lighthouses on the French coasts. 

 It will involve an expenditure of several millions of francs, 

 which will end in a large economy and an extension of the 

 range ( f illumination. A system of steam-trumpets is also to be 

 established in connection with these improved lighthouse-. 



With the January number the Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science enters on the twenty-first volume of its second 

 series. First published in 1853, under the editorship of L")r. 

 Edwin Lankesfer and Mr. George Busk, it now appears under 

 the ed'tor.ship of Prof. E. Ray Lankester, nssisted by Mr. F. 

 M. Balfcur, Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer, and Dr. E. Klein. Mr. 

 William Archer has withdrawn from the editorial staff. 



The minutes of ihs Proceedings oi the Dublin Microscopical 

 Club, which since 1865 have been published in the Quarterly 

 Magazine of Microscopical Science, will for the future, we under- 

 stand, be published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 His*oiy, 



We understand that Mr. Richard Anderson, the author of 

 the well-known work on Lightning Conductors, has nearly 

 ready for publication a treatise — based on the "Instruction sur 

 les Paratonnerres adoptee par I'Academie des Sciences" of 

 France — to be entitled "Information about Lightning Con- 

 ductors." 



At its Last session the French Parliament voted a grant of 

 several millions of francs for the completion of an underground 

 system of telegraphic wires connecting the principal cities with 

 Paris. 



.Several electiio railways are to be tried on the occasion 

 of the forthcoming Electrical Exhibition at Paris. The most 

 important will be built by Siemens Brothers, and will form 

 cmsequently a prominent part of the British display. At the 

 last silting of the General Council cf the Exhibition M. Georges 

 Eerger announced that a steam-engine of 800 horse-power will 

 be arrangeil for the working of the tiectric light, and the number 

 of lamps in operation is estimated at 600. A number of these 

 will be in the large hall, but a large proportion in the gardens, 

 in the annexe, and in a series of saloor.s fitted up magnificently 

 with tapestry-work by the Government. The annexe is to be 

 the Pavilion de la Ville de Paris, which was one of the wonders 

 of the 1S78 Exhibition, .and will he transported to the vicinity of 

 the Palais de Champs ICIysees. 



