Mar. 26, 1874] 



NATURE 



4ti 



speaks of an explanatory pamphlet which is now before us, and 

 we see from it that tlie intention of the present system of signals 

 is to give an indication of the dii-cctien of the wind to be appre- 

 hended in every case. The drum is never to be used witliout 

 the cone. Its signification in Admiral FitzRoy's time was 

 " dangerous winds from nearly opposite quarters successively ;" 

 and it accordingly gave no indication of direction hy itself. 

 Experience has shown that there is a much greater degree of cer- 

 tainty in foreseeing the dircclion than theyiurfof a coming strong 

 wind. Furthermore an attempt is made to give a degree of 

 numerical definitiveness to the warnings, which at once admits 

 that they are not infallible. The Committee say : — " Hitherto it 

 has been found that at least three out of five signals of ap- 

 proaching storms (force upwards of 8 Beaufort scale, a 

 'fiesh gale,') and four out of five signals of approaching strong 

 winds (force upwards of 6 Beaufort scale, a ' strong .breeze ') 

 have been fully justified." We may fairly consider this as a 

 step in the direction ol treating weather indications by the laws 

 of exact science. 



Wic are glad to learn that Prof. AUuard, of Clermont-Ferraud, 

 has at last succeeded in surmounting the various obstacles which 

 he met with in the establishment of his proposed observatory on 

 the Pay de Dome, at an elevation of about 1,660 metres above 

 the surrounding country (X.\tl'RE, vol. vii. p. 481). The chief 

 difticulty arose from the opposition of the peasant proprietors to 

 the invasion of their rights by the construction of a road and 

 erection of the building. M. AUuard announces that the observa- 

 tory will be ready to be inaugurated in .September next, and has 

 invited his meteorological friends to visit Auvergne on that 

 occasion. 



A i,.\ri;e deposit of Moa bones has lately been discovered in 

 a swamp at Hamilton, in Otago. Besides Dinoniis, tlie swamp 

 contains bones of Aptontis, Harpagoriiis, &c. The whole have 

 been secured by the curator of the Otago Museum. 



The Sedgwick Geological Prize (Cambridge) has been ad- 

 judged to J. J. Harris Teale, B.A., St. John's College. The 

 subject for the next prize will be — " The post tertiary deposits of 

 Cambridgeshire and their relation to deposits of the same period 

 in the rest of East Anglia." 



The French Society of Geography has decided upon holding 

 an International Geogr.aphical Congrets at Paris in 1878. Rules 

 and programmes will be issued shortly. 



There has recently been concluded in connection with the 

 Liverpool Free Public Library and Museum, a carefully 

 arranged and excellent course of Free Lectures. This is the 

 ninth winter course in connection with the same institution, from 

 which we are glad to infer that these free lectures have been a 

 success. We should like to see similar courses inaugurated in all 

 our large towns ; we believe the results would be in the highest 

 degree beneficial. The following is a summary of the Liverpool 

 course :— Eight Lectures on Art, by Mr. W. J. Bishop ; 

 Three Lectures on Natural History, by Mr. T. J. Moore ; 

 Six Lectures on the Chemistry of Salt, and of the Manu- 

 factures depending on it, illustrated with Specimens, Expe- 

 riments, Diagrams, &c., by Mr. Edward Davies, F.C.S., &c. ; 

 Three Lectures on Geology, by Idr. (i. H. Morton, F.G.S., 

 F.K. G.S.I. ; Two Lectures on Miner.alogy and Mining, by Mr. 

 F. P. Marrat, M.L.G.S. ; Six Lectures on Navigation and As- 

 tronomy, by Mr. J. T. Towson, F.R.G.S. ; Two Lectures on 

 Art and Antiquities, and one on Town Window Gardens, by Mr 

 Charles T. Gatty ; Three Lectures on the Constitutional History 

 of England, illustrated with Historical Maps, by Mr. James 

 liirchall ; Four Readings, by Mrs. H. J. Gorst. 



The Austrian amateur navigator. Count Wilczek, writing in 

 the Nme Frcii Pn-sse, says that there is no ground for apprehen- 

 sion as to the fate of the Austrian Polar Expedition which sailed 



in the Tegdt/ioff, in the year 1872, audi) that news will probably 

 be received from the expedition in October or November next. 

 Letters for members of the expedition will be despatched by the 

 Austro-Hungarian Government by means of whaling and other 

 vessels bound for the Arctic seas. 



Messrs. Trubner and Co. have in the press and will shortly 

 publish a treatise on " Valleys, and their Relation to Fissures, 

 Fractures, ' and Faults," by G. H. Kinahan, M.R.I. A., 

 F.R.G.S. I. This work wiU be dedicated by permission to His 

 Grace the Duke of Argyll. 



Mr. F. C. S. Roi'ER, F.L.S., has published a " Supplement 

 to the Fauna and Flora of Eastbourne, together with a list of 

 Eastbourne Cretaceous Fossils." 



Messrs. S. W. Silver & Co. have just published a " Hand- 

 book for Australia and New Zealand," containing a large 

 amount of varied and usei'ul information about the various colo- 

 nies in that quarter of the world. It is accompanied by a 

 " Seasons'-Chart of the World." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 last week include two Palm Squirrels (Sciunis pahiianim] from 

 Ceylon, presented by Capt. Forster ; a Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl 

 (Gal/iis soiiiu-ra/i) from South India, presented by Mrs. White ; 

 two Tench [Tinea vnlgai-is) British, presented by Mr. W. 

 Arnold ; a Black-eared Marmoset {Hapale peiticillata.) from 

 Brazil, presente d by Mr. F. Graham ; a Leadbeater's Cockatoo 

 [Cacalua Icadbcatcri) from Australia, presented by Colonel 

 Carington ; two Boat-bills [Caiuronia coclilearia) from South 

 America, deposited. 



CELES TIA L CHE MIS TR Y* 



T T now and then happens in the history of the human race 

 •'■ upon this planet, that one particular generation witnesses 

 the most stupendous advancement of knowledge, this advance- 

 ment generally coming from what one might consider an ex- 

 ceeding small germ of thought. You will at once call to mind 

 several such instances. You will recollect how once a Dutchman 

 experimenting with two spectacle-glasses produced the Telescope ; 

 and how the field of the known and the knowable has been 

 enlarged by the invention of that wonderful instrument. Again, 

 you recollect how once Sir Isaac Newton was in a garden and 

 saw an apple fall, and how the germ of thought which was 

 started in his mind by that simple incident fructified into the 

 theory of universal gravitation. You will also acknowledge that 

 each step of this kind has nrore firmly knit the universe to- 

 gether, has welded it into a more and more perfect whole, and 

 has enhanced the marvellous beauty ot its structure. 



I think that future times will say that either this generation, 

 or perhaps the next, is as favoured a one as that which saw the 

 invention of the telescope or the immortal discovery of 

 Newton : for as by the invention of the telescope the universe 

 was almost infinitely extended ; as from Newton's discovery we 

 learned that like forces were acting in like manner everywhere; so 

 in our time does the wonderful instrument called tlie Spectroscope 

 show us that like matter is acting in like manner everywhere ; 

 so that if matter and force be not identical, then these two, 

 namely, matter and force, may be termed the foundation stones 

 of the universe in which we dwell. 



My present object is to bring before you as well as I can some 

 first notions which are to be got out of this general examination of 

 all matter beyond our own pl.anet, in its chemical relations ; this 

 examination having been rendered possible by the spectroscope. 



In the first instance, before I attempt to deal with chemical ideas 

 in relation to the heavenly bodies, I have two things to do. I must 

 first refer to our earthly notions of chemistry, irot of course in 

 their generality, for,that would be impossible in the time at my 

 disposal, but to that side of them which touches most intimately 

 what I shall have to say by and by ; and I must also refer to the 

 results which we have already obtained with regard to the con- 

 stitution, so to speak, of terrestrial matter-, as it is brought 

 before us by the spectroscope. 



* Revised from short-hand notes of a Lecture delivered at the Quebec 

 Institute, on Tuesday, December 16, 1873. 



