440 



NATURE 



\ March lo, 1881 



I2h. 30m., and on February 27 at 5h. 28m. a.m. At Agram a 

 rather severe shock was felt on February 25 at 3h. 45m., duration 

 two seconds, direction west-, outh-west ; and another at noon of 

 March 4. Earthquakes are also repoited from Kirchberg 

 (Austria), on February 28, at 2h. 20m. a.m., duration tsvo 

 seconds, and from different parts of Switzerland on March 3, 

 e.g. Ziirich and its environs, at 3h. 35m. a.m. ; Aussersiehl, at 

 3h. 42m., direction west to east, duration two seconds ; Riesbach, 

 Selnau, Knonau, Aaran, Zofingen, Hunzenschwyl, Rapper- 

 schwyl, Glarus, Zug, Berne. The earthquake shock felt a: Berne 

 on Thursday morning last shortly after three o'clock was a very 

 smart one. The area of distm-bance was wide, extending as far 

 as the Lakes of Geneva and Bienne. 



Mr. H. J. Johnson-Lavis writes to us from Naples, under 

 date March 2 : — Vesuvius has to-day been covered with snow, 

 and this evening, during a short interval between the mantling of 

 clouds, a splendid stream of lava is pouring do\vn the northern 

 side and has reached the Atrio del Cavallo. The stream is very 

 liquid and very abundant, and from this it may be concluded 

 that its com-se will be progressive. 



M. Jules Ferry has established a number of colleges for 

 females in several parts of France ; some of them have been 

 ahready opened. 



The authorities of the British Museum will very soon issue 

 their scheme for publi-^hing the great catalogue of printed books. 

 The projected issue, at the rate of five volumes a year, is not 

 expected to be completed in less than forty years. The work, 

 however, can of course proceed no faster than the Government 

 grant of 1600/. a year for this special purpose will permit. 

 Altogether the catalogue is likely to comprise about 3,coo,ooo 

 titles, which to; put in type will cost from 41/. to (id. each. It 

 has already been announced that the publication will commence 

 with volumes specially devoted to certain subjects, or rather 

 sub-headings, which have now become too voluminous for con- 

 venient handling in their present form. Meanwhile the Trustees 

 have adopted the plan of printing and publishing the titles of 

 all additions to the library. It may be interesting to know that 

 in this case all titles are stereotyped on separate " plaques," and 

 are therefore susceptible of any amount of re-arrangement. 



An important experiment in electric lighting is about to be 

 made in the City. Hitherto the electric light has been used, as 

 on the Thames Embankment and Waterloo Bridge, in conjunc- 

 tion with gas ; but in the City the thoroughfares selected are to 

 be lighted by electricity alone, which will be continued all night. 

 The first district begins with Blackfriars Bridge, and extends 

 along Bridge Street, Ludg.ate Hill, the north side of St. Paul's 

 Churchyard, and down Cheapside as far as King Street. The 

 distance is 1648 yards, and is to be lighted by the Brush system. 

 At King Street the Siemens system will begin, and will extend 

 along the rest of Cheapside, the Poultry, Mansion House Street, 

 King William Street, and Adelaide Place, and across London 

 Bridge. The same system will be extended down King Street, 

 Queen Street, and Man-ion House Street. The whole length 

 of street covered by the Siemens light will be 1521 yards. 

 Another district to the south of these will be lighted by the 

 Jablochkofl' lamps, like the Embankment. It will include 

 Southwark Bridge, Queen Victoria Street, Queen Street Place, 

 and part of Queen Street, a distance of 1703 yards. The ex- 

 periment is to be continued for a year, at an outlay of about 

 8000/. 



P&OF. BL.4CKIE being unable to lecture through illness, Mr. 

 Shelford Bidwell, M.A., LL. B., will give a discourse on 

 Selenium and its Applications to the Photophone and Telepho- 

 tography, at the Royal Institution, on Friday evening next 

 March 11), at 9 p. m. 



The Calendar of the Mason Science College, Birmingham, 

 is a volume of respectable sire, but then it contains a full report 

 of proceedings and addresses at the opening meeting. We are 

 glad to see that a large number of new chairs are about to be 

 added, including Greek, Latin, and modern languages ; so that 

 the College will shortly be as well equipped as that at Man- 

 chester. As the curriculum is being extended to include really 

 literature, science, and art, might it not be well to drop the 

 " science " from its designation? it looks so one-sided. 



The Proceedings of the last Congress of Russian Naturalists, 

 which was held at St. Petersburg, have just appeared as a 

 separate bulky volume. 



A PAPER has been published by Gustav Hauser of Erlangen, 

 on the organs of smell in insects, in which he describes several 

 experiments. Numerous species of insects, on approaching 

 vessels containing turpentine or acetic acid, showed — by retreat- 

 ing and moving their antennae— a distinct perception of the 

 smell. After the ends of the antenn;e had been cut off, the 

 same insects placed close to the vessels appeared quite insensible 

 to it. A number of flies, which had been attracted by a piece 

 of putrid meat, showed no inclination to approach it after the 

 third segment of the antennae had been cut off. 



We have received a pleasant report of the Queenwood College 

 Mutual Improvement Society for the year ending Christmas, 

 1880. The Society seems to have a comprehensive programme. 



Under the title of the Northern Mkroscopist, and under the 

 editorship of George E. Davis, a monthly periodical has been 

 started, beginning with January of this year, the chief aim of 

 which is to keep a record of the proceedings of the chief micro- 

 scopical societies in the North of England, and thereby to furnish 

 each individual member of these societies with as much permanent 

 information as such members would obtain if the society to which 

 they belonged published its own Transactions. There ought to be 

 abundant support for a little journal like this, and numerous sub- 

 scribers ought to be obtained from large centres like Liverpool, 

 Leeds, Chester, Bolton, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, and the like. If the various Northern societies were to do 

 nothing more than prepare local lists of all the varied species of 

 animal and vegetable life, which come under the well-known 

 denomination of " microscopical forms," and if this journal were 

 to be the medium of publishing these, it would become a journal 

 of importance, one that would be constantly referred to ; and it 

 would in the meantime be doing a good work in advancing the 

 study of the biological sciences. We wish it every success, and 

 trust that it w ill steadily pursue the path that it has marked out 

 for itself. 



A STEXOGKArmc piano h.is been experimented on by the 

 daughter of the inventor, in the French Chamber of Deputies, 

 the Senate, and to the Municipal Council of Paris, with great 

 success. The system consists of a combination of signs through 

 which every sound is represented. The reproduction is as rapid 

 as speaking, and the same operator can continue the work for 

 h.iurs. The signs used in this system being printed by machinery, 

 the reading is immediate, and can be made by other people than 

 the operator. The State stenographers propose to be trained in 

 the use of the instrument. It is an affair of a few months of 

 practice. 



A SCIENTIFIC society has been formed at Scai-borough, called 

 " Scarborough Scientific Society and Field Naturalists' Club." 

 President-elect, Mr. J. Woodall, -M.A. ; Secretary, Mr. G. 

 Massee. 



The excavations in the 9th region of Pompeii are being prose- 

 cuted with alacrity, and yield unexpected results. Besides a 

 second mosaic fountain and valuable frescoes recently found. 



