Jan. 15, 1874J 



NA TURE 



213 



which will be very handsome and commodious, all the treasures 

 exhibited in the present museum, as well as those now stowed 

 away for want of space, will be removed. The public library 

 and reading-room will form a marked feature in the new build- 

 ing, and will be constructed more especially with a view to the 

 wants of those preparing for competition in the Indian Civil 

 Service Examinations. 



A STATEMENT, drawn up by the Council of the Trades Guild 

 of Learning describes at great length the objects which are con- 

 templated by the organisation. It states that its purpose is to 

 provide education for workmen (i) in the sciences underlying 

 tlieir respective industries, and (2) in various branches of higher 

 education ; and that it has sprung spontaneously from the work- 

 men of this country, and its responsible direction will devolve in 

 the main on them, with the support of others who can undertake 

 to advise and help in their educational work. It will accept of 

 no aid from the State, but will make use of the National Univer- 

 sities as the best source of general education for the people of the 

 great towns, enabling them to acquire, not only the results of 

 scientific research, but the most thorough and scientific methods 

 of teaching. By means of branches, which it proposes to esta- 

 blish in the large towns, it hopes to supply what is required to 

 render the work already begun by the University of Cambridge 

 continuous and permanent. It will endeavour to form local 

 Boards, consisting mainly of workmen, who will be responsible 

 for the preliminary formation of classes and the collection of the 

 funds necessary in order to obtain University teaching. 



Dr. Smallwood, one of the oldest meteorological observers 

 in Canada, and Professor of Meteorology in McGill University, 

 died on December 22. He had carried on observations for 

 more than thirty years ; in the first instance at St. Martin's, and 

 afterwards, under the auspices of McGill University and the 

 Canadian Government, in Montreal. 



The Geological Parties of the Canadian Geological 

 Survey and the Boundary Commission have now returned 

 from the West, bringing much material of scientific interest. 

 One of the most important practical results appears to be 

 the establishment of the existence of very large and valuable 

 beds of coal and lignite in various parts of the Canadian 

 territory, between Red River and the Rocky Mountains. This 

 must greatly promote the settlement of these territories and 

 the extension of railway communication into them. 



The XIX". Siiclc announces that one of the most distinguished 

 officers of the French navy, as well as an eminent explorer, M. 

 F. Garnier, has been assassinated by the Chinese rebels of Ton- 

 quin. It would appear that M. Garnier was in the month of 

 November last engaged in an expedition in Tonquin, his object 

 being to enforce the treaties by expelling from the country a 

 Frenchman who had supplied arms to the people of Yun-nan. 

 M. Gamier had captured a town and made prisoners, who are 

 now on their way to France. It is possible that he fell in a sub- 

 sequent engagement, but the telegram distinctly states tliat he 

 was assassinated. On this point full details are expected to arrive 

 on the 1 8th or 20th inst. M. Garnier was only 35 years of age, 

 having been born at St. Etienne on July 25, 1839. Appointed 

 a midshipman in 1S60, he was attached in the same year to the 

 stalf of Admiral Chamer, and in that capacity he made the cam- 

 paigns of China and Cochin China. Three years later he was 

 appointed Inspector of Native Affairs, and soon afterwards he 

 published a pamphlet in which he propounded an elaborate 

 scheme for an exploring expedition into the interior of Indo- 

 China, with a view to the opening up of commercial communi- 

 cations between Southern China and the French possessions. 

 M. de Chasseloup, at that time Minister of Marine, nominated a 

 scientific commission to carry out this expedition, the importance 

 of which he fully appreciated. On June 5, 1866, an expedition, 



under the command of Capt. de Lagree, and comprising among 

 other officers Lieut. Garnier, left Saigon, went up the river 

 Me-Kong, explored Indo-China, and proceeded as far as Yun- 

 nan. After the death of his chief, Lieut. Gamier assumed the 

 command of the expedition, which he brought back to Saigon, 

 along the Blue River. This voyage of exploration, one of the 

 most important which has been accomplished in the present cen- 

 tury, occupied two years and a few days. The death of this 

 young and intrepid traveller is an irreparable loss for France and 

 for the whole scientific world. 



Last Thursday, Sir Bartle Frere, speaking at Glasgow on 

 Dr. Livingstone, said that he was often asked what benefit and 

 practical result he expects from Dr. Livingstone's labours. " I 

 answer," Sir Bartle Frere said, "that the geographical problems 

 alone which he will have solved must exceed in importance and 

 interest those of any other explorer since the days of Columbus, 

 But apart from all questions of geographical science, I believe 

 that the commercial, political, and moral consequences must 

 prove far more important than anything of the kind which has 

 been effected since the discovery of the New World. " 



The members of the Cambridge Natural Science Club con- 

 cluded their fifth series of meetings on Saturday, December 6. 

 Each member in turn brings some subject of scientific interest 

 before the notice of the club, in the form of a paper or otherwise, 

 and the discussions which follow have been in many cases both 

 lively and prolonged. The following subjects were discussed 

 during the October Term, 1873: — " Mechanics in Nature," by 

 Mr. A. F. Buxton (Trin. Coll.); "Zoological Colonies," by 

 Mr. A. J. Jukes Browne (St. John's Coll. ) ; " The Magnetism 

 of Ciystals," by Mr. J. E. H. Gordon (Caius Coll.) ; "Some 

 Transformations of Energy," by Mr. C. T. Whitmell, B.A. 

 (Trin. Coll.) : " The Neocomian Strata,' I)y Mr. J. J. H. Teall, 

 B.A. (St. John's Coll.) ; " Cone in Cone-structure in the Lower 

 Silurian Rocks," by Mr. R. D. Roberts (Clare Coll. ) ; and a 

 paper on "The Continuity of the Chalk," read by Mr. P. H. 

 Carpenter. 



In the last number of the Joiinial of the Scottish Meteoro- 

 logical Society is a paper by Prof. Mohn on " Certain Effects of 

 Currents on the Temperature of the Sea and Air," of which the 

 following are the results : — i. That the surface of the sea in 

 cuiTents in narrow sounds in summer is colder than in neigh- 

 bouring places, where there is a wider sheet of water. 2. That 

 an effect of the reverse kind takes place iu winter, but in a much 

 smaller degree. 3. That both effects together diminish the 

 yearly range of the temperature of the surface of the sea. 4, 

 That these circumstances influence the temperature of the air in 

 the s3me direction at such'places, and that hereby a part of the 

 anomalous, strongly-marked oceanic character which places in 

 such situations exhibit, is accounted for. Other papers in this 

 number are — " Letter on some Meteorological Questions requir- 

 ing Investigation," from Mr. Robert Tennent ; and a valuable 

 paper on " Atmospheric Ozone and its Sources," by Dr. T. 

 Moffat. 



Messrs. Macmillan have issued a cheap " Special Edition 

 for Schools," of Edward Clodd's " Childhood of the World," in 

 the style of the " Science Primers." 



The Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society havt 

 considered Mr. Meldmm's " Notes on the form of Cyclones in 

 the Southern Indian Ocean, and on some of the rules given for 

 avoiding their Centres," of so much practical importance, that 

 they have thought it right to print and circulate it in a separate 

 form as a non-official paper. 



We can do little more than name the following books which 

 have been sent us : — Professor Blackie's neat little volume " On 



