Nov. 6, 1873] 



NATURE 



17 



was no further news of Dr. Livingstone, the latest accounts of 

 both the expeditions sent out in the hope of meeting him, tell of 

 satisfactory progress. Of the West Coast Expedition under 

 Lieutenant Grandy, R.N., the latest direct accounts state 

 that the expedition had just left San Salvador, about June i6, 

 in good health, so that we may one day hope to hear of 

 their further progress in their search for tidings of Livingstone, 

 and every step of their progress w U add to our knowledge 

 of that most interesting, but little known, region. Comparing 

 Consul Newton's dates with those of Dr. Beke's Portuguese 

 informant, published on Saturday last, Sir Bartle Frere 

 thinks we must await some confirmation of the latter report before 

 concluding that Lieutenant Cirandy had turned back. The 

 other expedition started under Lieutenant Cameron on the east 

 coast, and notwithstanding all delays, Lieutenant Cameron made 

 a fair start for the lake region ; and, by the latest accounts, was 

 pushing on with every prospect of reaching a district where he 

 was most likely to obtain tidings of Livingstone. — Mr. C. 

 Markham, the Secretary, read a paper giving some interesting 

 information connected with the voyage of the Polaris to the 

 Arctic regions, and a discussion followed in which the desir- 

 ability of another Arctic expedition was strongly urged, some of 

 the members proposing that, if Government refused, the society 

 itself should send one, but this view was controverted by Captain 

 Sherard Osborne, who maintained that such an expedition, to be 

 successful, should be under the auspices of the Government. 



We have great pleasure |in calling attention to a series of 

 science lectures for clerks and working-men, which are to take 

 place in South Place Institution, Finsbury. The first three lec- 

 tures, on November 4, 11, and iS, are by Prof. Duncan, F.R.S., 

 on the Geological History of the Earth, and these are to be fol- 

 lowed by others on Light, &c. The gentlemen who get up these 

 lectures deserve great credit, as they expect to be considerably 

 out of pocket in their endeavour |to place science lectures by 

 the most eminent scientific men within the reach of the classes 

 mentioned, who, we hope, will take ample advantage of the 

 opportunity. The charge for admission is almost nominal. 



Among the Local Societies, concerning which we have re- 

 ceived information since we published our list, is the "Junior 

 Philosophical Society," a London Society which meets on the 

 second and fourth Friday of each month from October to June, 

 at S P. Jt. The Society seems earnestly bent on work in the way 

 of reading papers, and occasional excursions, no member being 

 admitted who does not prove his willingness to take his share in 

 the work of the Society. Many of the papers to be read this 

 winter are on important scientific questions ; and we would re- 

 commend the Society to the attention of those young men who 

 are within convenient distance of the meeting-place, 6.4, Victoria 

 Street, Westminster. 



His Excellency Senor Don Gregorio Beintes, Minister Pleni- 

 potentiary of the Republic of Paraguay, has appointed Mr. 

 Charles Twite, M.E., late reporter to the Royal Commission on 

 Mines, who explored the mineral resources of Siam ; M. Balanza, 

 botanist, late Commissioner of the French Government to New 

 Caledonia and Egypt ; and Mr. Keith Johnston, F.R.G.S., 

 members of a scientific commission to inquire into and report on 

 the natural resources of Paraguay. Dr. Leone Levi, F.SS., 

 Professor of Commercial Law in King's College, Consul-General 

 of Paraguay in London, will edit the reports and exhibit them 

 in relation to the economic condition of the country. Such re- 

 ports will be pubUshed towards the end of next year. 



The Exhibition which will be held in Manchester, by the 

 Society for the Promotion of Scientific Industry, of appliances 

 for the Economical Consumption of Fuel, will be opened on 

 December 18 next. In connection with this subject, a gentle- 



man has placed a gold medal at the disposal of the Council of 

 the Society for the best specimen of peat fuel that shall come 

 nearest to coal in its use and character, special regard being had 

 to its cheap and rapid production. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers have 

 forwarded us a list of thirty-six subjects, on which they invite 

 communications. 



Mr. Albert MCller has sent us No. 2 of his "Contribu- 

 tions to Entomological Bibliography up to 1862 ; " further num- 

 bers will appear as materials accumulate. The list contains a 

 great deal of information, and it will no doubt be valued by 

 entomologists. It may be obtained from Mr. E. W. Janson, 

 Museum-street. 



The Director of the Imperial Russian Telegraph has given 

 his consent to the transmission, free of cost, within the 

 boundaries of the Russian empire, of messages announcing new 

 astronomical discoveries. 



Mr. James Dallas, of Benakandy, Cachar, writing us on 

 the subject of inherited peculiarities, says that a friend of his 

 has a black-and-tan English terrier dog, two inches of the end 

 of whose tail is folded back so acutely as to come in contact 

 with the upper portion. A pup, of which the dog is the un- 

 doubted father, has inherited the paternal peculiarity, with the 

 difference that, instead of the end of the tail being turned up, 

 it is turned down. 



A SERIES of methodical observations on the various move 

 ments of a ship affected by waves was carried' out on board 

 the ship Norfolk during her last voyage from Melbourne 

 to London. The observations during the voyage (from July 

 24 until October 16) were effected by self-registering instru- 

 ments, under the care of Mr. W. T. Deverell, on belialf of 

 Mr. Spencer Deverell, of Portland, \'ictoria, who has devoted 

 many years' study to the mathematical investigations of the 

 movements of ocean waves and to their action upon a floating 

 body. A complete report will constitute no doubt a valuable 

 contribution to naval literature. 



It is stated that the steamer Tuscarora, under the command of 

 Capt. George E. Belknap, has lately been fitted up at San Fran- 

 cisco to undertake the labour of making soundings bet« een the 

 Pacific coast and Japan, in connection with the new cable route. 

 On the detail of the Juniata, for service in the Polaris search, 

 the sounding apparatus, which had been put on board for a simi- 

 lar sendee between New York and the West Indies, was trans- 

 ferred to the Tuscarora. This included a supply of new steel 

 wire, with Sir William Thomson's patent reel. The vessel was 

 to proceed early in July to Puget Sound, and thence, by way of 

 the Aleutian Islands, to Hakodadi. 



It is stated by the Anstralian and Acm Zealand Gazette, that 

 the Government has signified its w illingness to grant a site for th 

 proposed Adelaide university ; to give 10,000/. towards the cost 

 of its erection, provided an equal amount is raised by private 

 subscription ; and to provide an annual grant equal to 5 per cent, 

 on other subscriptions. 



The great Exhibition of Vienna (we learn from the y<)/«-«a/ 

 of the Society of Arts) is to be commemorated by the establish- 

 ment of an "Athenaeum," as it is called, modelled after the 

 Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers of Paris, and the Museum of 

 Industry at Brussels, for the special instruction of workmen and 

 small manufacturers. It is to be installed in the midst of the 

 industrial quarters of the capital. A large quantity of drawings, 

 designs, models, instruments, machines, tools, raw and partially 

 manufactured materials, have been promised by exhibitors, and 

 Baron Schwarz-Senborn, director of the exhibition, has presented 

 a collection of between three and four thousand volumes of book 



