590 



NATURE 



{April 2\, 1 88 1 



secretary at the offices of the Society, 44, Berners Street, on 

 Mondays and Fridays from 2 to 5, or will be forwarded by post 

 on application. Patronesses: H.R.H. Princess Christian; 

 H.R.H. Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome; H.R.H. 

 Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. The president of 

 the Society is His Grace the Duke of Westminster, and the 

 Chairman of Council, Mr. Ernest Hart, M.R.C.S. The objects 

 of the Society are to diffuse sanitary knowledge in every possible 

 way, by the delivery of simple practical lectures on air, ventila- 

 tion, food, and cookery, the prevention of the spread of infectious 

 disease, and kindred subjects, at working men's clubs, mothers' 

 meetings, and elsewhere, in all parts of London and the suburbs; 

 by the circulati.jn of sanitary tracts and papers ; by encouraging 

 the teaching of the laws of health in high schools and Board 

 schools, by cffering prizes, &c., to both teachers and pupils ; and 

 to secure open spaces for the healthy recreation of the people. 

 Membership is constituted by the payment of i/. i.;. annually ; 

 life membership by the single payment of 10/. los. Communi- 

 cations to be addressed to Miss Lankester, the Secretary, at the 

 offices of the Society, 44, Berners Street, Oxford Street. It is 

 evident that this Society has adopted effectual means to do a 

 good and highly necessary work ; it deserves the heartiest 

 support from all who can in any way lend a helping hand. 



Two Art Exhibitions were opened under the auspices of the 

 Sunday Society on Easter Sunday, one at Whitechapel, the 

 other in New Bond Street. That at the East-end consisted of a 

 Loan Collection of Paintings, &c., organised by the Rev. S. A. 

 Barnett, to uhich the Council on Education contributed largely 

 from the National Collection at South Kensington. More than 

 2500 persons visited the Exhibition during the day, it being open 

 from 2 till 9 p.m. The West-end Exhibition was the first 

 Exhibition of the new Society of Painter-Etchers at the Hanover 

 Gallery, and this was visited by about 578 members of the 

 Sunday Society between the hours of 4 and 6.30 p.m. On 

 Sunday, April 24, this Exhibition will be open to ticket-holders. 

 Free tickets may be had by all who make a written application, 

 inclosing a stamped and addressed envelope to Mr. Mark H. 

 Judge, Hon. Sec. of the Sunday Society, 8, Park Place 

 Villas, W. 



The secord series of meetings organised by the Sunday 

 Evening Association at the Neumeyer Hall was brought to a 

 successful close on Easter Sunday by a lecture on "Lessing," 

 by Mr. Moncure D. Conway. The hall was crowded, and at 

 the close it was announced that the first annual meeting of the 

 Association would be held in May, and that in the autumn the 

 Committee intended to organise a series of meetings in the 

 different Metropolitan suburbs, in order if possible to start local 

 branches. The object of the Sunday Evening Association is to 

 bring together all persons who, ebtimating highly the elevating 

 influence of music and the sister arts, literature and science, 

 desire by means of meetings on Sunday evenings to see them 

 more fully identified with the religious life of the people. The 

 subscription is 2s. 6d. per annum, which may be paid to the 

 treasurer, Mr. Godfrey Shaen, 15, Upper Phillimore Gardens, W. 



W E take the following from the Electrician : — The following 

 correspondence over the telephone wires yesterday, says the 

 Kansas City Times, is a further proof of the fact that no one 

 but a bald-headed man could do without one: — "Hello, 

 central!" "Hello!" "Connect me with the signal bureau." 

 " All right — go ahead." " Hello, signal ! " "Hello!" "Is 

 it going to thaw to-day ? " " Yes, there are indications." 

 "How's the wind?" "Getting round to the south." "Do 

 you think I can safely have my haircut?" "Wait a minute 

 until I consult the barometer, therjtionieter, and wind gauge." 

 (Silence for half a minute.) "Hello!" "Hello!" "Yes, 

 you can go ahead. There won't be any change to speak of for 



the next twelve hours. There is a cold wave moving up the 

 Ohio River, and a snow-storm is reported at Cheyenne, but if I 

 were you I'd take my chances on the hair-cutting." " All right 

 — much obliged." "Goodbye." 



Mr. Pfoundes has reprinted, in a separate form, his short 

 but interesting paper at the Anthropological Institute, on the 

 "Japanese People : their Origin and the Race as it now 

 exists." 



The usual meeting of delegates of the Societes Savantes takes 

 place this week at the Sorbonne on a somewhat enlarged scale. 

 It is ihe first time that members of Parisian societies will meet 

 in combination with their provincial brethren. 



A NEW fortnightly journal, V Electricien, has appeared in 

 Paris. 



The Times' Swiss correspondent states that the acclimatisation 

 of the ibex in Switzerland would appear to be so far a succes=. 

 The herd which was turned out some time ago in the Orisons is 

 reported to have got through the winter without damage and as 

 being at present in an excellent state of health. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Daily News points out that the 

 exact time of the great Chios earthquake on the 3rd inst. was 

 1.50 p.m. 



No. 2 of vol. iii. of the American Antiquarian and Oriental 

 Journal (Chicago, Jameson and Morse) contains several contri- 

 butions relating to American archeology, especially on the 

 mound-builders. The editor, the Rev. S. D. Peet, has an article 

 on the military architecture of the emblematic mound-builders, 

 and there are various other contributions from various parts of 

 the States bearing on the life and works of the prehistoric 

 peoples of America. In the Oriental department various inte- 

 resting points connected with Eastern antiquities are discussed. 



Prof. Cornelius Doelter of Gratz has safely returned 

 from his journey to West Africa. He has brought home 

 mineralogical and ethnographical collections. 



The Report of the West Kent Natural History Society 

 speaks of its continued prosperity. It contains an interesting 

 address by the President, in which he points out certain im- 

 portant bearings of recent researches on light. Speaking of the 

 Blackheath holes, the President is inclii.ed to think they are 

 over the sites of pockets or pipes in the chalk, and that 

 the cause of the subsidence is the drawing away of the 

 subsoil by the action of water, the subterranean drainage pro- 

 duced by the pumping up of the water by the Kent VVater Works 

 at Deplford, drawing away sand and chalk in [mechanical 

 suspension. 



The following are among the papers in the Transactions 

 of the Cumberland Association, part v.: — "Distribution of 

 Boulders in West Cumberland," by J. D. Kendall, F.G.S. ; 

 " Soul-Cells and Cell-Souls," from the German of Haeckel, by 

 the Rev. C. H. Parez ; " The Influence of Geological .Structure 

 on Scenery," by Mr. Kendall; "'Ihe Local Museum and its 

 Relation to the Natural History of the District," by Mr. James 

 Arlosh ; " The Moths of the District," by Mr. George Dawson ; 

 "The Character and Distribution of the Diatomacese," by Mr. 

 B. Taylor; "Notes on Inglewood Forest," by Mr. John 

 Jackson. 



An Electric Rail'^ay is being laid down in the grounds of the 

 Crystal Palace. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia are giving 

 Spring courses of instruction in Invertebrate Palaeontology and 

 Mineralogy. 



