452 



NA TURE 



[Aj>rtl g, 1874 



A SUPPLEMENTARY credit ol 4,000/. has been voted by the 

 Versailles Nalional Assembly for paying a part of the expenses 

 incurred by the observation ot the Transit of Venus. Six mem- 

 bers belontjing to the ultra-clericil party have given a negative 

 vote on a division. It is said they are not believers in the Co- 

 pernican theory, and have no faith in the astro nomical obser- 

 vations. 



The Rev Henry Moule, after a series of experiments extend- 

 ing over twenty years, has devised a process of manufacturing 

 an illuminating gas from Kimmeridge clay. 



The educational means of Harvard University have recently 

 been increased by the addition of an institution which will make 

 that University one of the most complete in the United States. 

 This Institution is known as the " Bussey Institution," after 

 Mr. Benjamin Bussey of Roxbury, Mass., who about thirty 

 years ago left to the University a magnificent sum of money and 

 a small estate for the purpose of promoting the scientific study of 

 agriculture and horticulture. The money was allowed to accumu- 

 late for many years, and has since been increased by 100,000 

 dollars left by Mr. James Arnold, Merchant, of New Bedford. 

 The estate has been to some extent laid cut for the purpose 

 intended, and several suitable buildings, including a laboratory^ 

 have been erected, and the Harvard authorities have devised a 

 course of instruction and investigation on a broad and thoroughly 

 scientific basis. The appointments already made include : — 

 An instructor in Farming, a professor of Agricultural Chemistry, 

 a professor of Horticulture, a professor of Applied Zoology, an 

 instructor in Entomology, a director of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 and a librarian and curator of Collections. The institution is 

 intended both for instruction and investigation, though we are 

 glad to see that students' fees are not necessary to the support of 

 the institution. The permanent funds provided by Mr. Bussey 

 vnll enable the President and Fellows to maintain the Institution 

 as a scientific station, like the Astronomical Observatory or the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, until the 

 time shall come when there shall be a demand for its privileges 

 as a school. The experiments and investigations made at the 

 Bussey Institution will be published from time to time in a 

 Bulletin, the first number of which is before us. It contains four 

 papers by F. H. Storer, professor of Agricultural Chemistry in 

 Harvard University, one containing analyses of some commercial 

 fertilisers, another of American "shorts" and " middlings," a 

 third On the Agricultural Valae of the Ashes of Anthracite, 

 and a fourth containing a Record of Trials of various Fertilisers 

 on the ground of the Bussey Institution. The only other 

 paper is a useful one by Dr. Blade, professor of Applied 

 Zoology, On the Humane Destruction of Animals. 



The French Society of Geography, we le.-irn from Zn Na- 

 ture, has just received news of a French expedition which 

 has been exploring Terra del Fuego. On December 7, 

 last year, the expedition landed on the coast of that island, 

 and proceeded into the interior. The explorers found a 

 large lake of 25 kilometres in circumference, surrounded by 

 luxuriant vegetation, and literally covered by an army of ^^■iId 

 fowl, among which the most abundant were ducks and geeje. 

 These regions are inhabited by rude but hospitable tribes ; the 

 women especially are very affable and obliging. One of them, 

 in exchange for some pieces ol sugar and common handkerchiefs, 

 gave the leader of the expedition an object to which she at- 

 tached an immense value, and which she preserved as a relic, — 

 the lid of a sardine box. 



With a view of properly exhibiting the geological and metal- 

 lurgical resources of America at the forthcoming exposition at 

 Philadelphia, an association has been orgar.ised, embracing such 

 names as those of Prof. Leslie, Prof Genth, Prof. Raymond, 

 Prof. Wynian, Prof. T. Sterry Hunt, George H. Cook, and 



others, to whom is to be intnisted by the Board of Centennial 

 Commissioners the duty of collecting whatever will best answer 

 the purpose in question. 



The Paris Jardin] d'Acclimatation has succeeded in " break- 

 ing-inj" some zebras so far as to induce them quietly to draw a 

 carriage, and one permits children to ride round the gardens on 

 its back. 



Dr. Hayden, the head of the Geological and Geographical 

 Survey of the U.S. Territories, has commenced the publication of 

 a bulletin to communicate such announcements of new facts made 

 by any member of his party as it is desirable to bring promptly 

 to the notice of the scientific community in advance of their 

 publication in his reports. The first number of this Bulletin, 

 bearing date January 21, is occupied by a list of the members 

 and collaborators of the survey for 1873, and a list of the publi- 

 cations, from which we learn that six volumes of the reports have 

 appeared from 1867 to 1873, and that seven volumes of miscel- 

 laneous publications will be published in octavo form, the most 

 elaborate being the hand-book of the Ornithology of the North- 

 western Territories, by Dr. Coues. .Several quarto volumes 

 will also be sent out, of which there have been actually published 

 one by Prof. Leidy, on the extinct vertebrata of the Western 

 formations, and one on the Acridida; of North America, by 

 Prof. Cyrus Thomas. This quarto series, it is expected, will 

 include ten volumes, among them memoirs on the vertebrata of 

 the cretaceous and Tertiary formations, by Prol. Cope ; one each, 

 on the fossil plants, by Prof Newberry and Prof. Lesquereux ; 

 on the fossil invertebrates, by Prof. Meek ; and the volume on 

 general geology, by Prof. Hayden. Thirteen maps have been 

 published for the sui"vey, those of the Yellowstone region being 

 especially valuable. The body of the bulletin is occupied by a 

 report on the stratigraphy and Pliocene vertebrate paleontology 

 of Northern Colorado, by Prof. Cope, in which he presents the 

 parallelism of the formations recently investigated by him with 

 those earlier known and in other parts of the West. He con- 

 cludes that, although these formations have generally been con- 

 sidered as Tertiary, the geological evidence shows them to be 

 strictly mesozoic, as in the great lignite formations on the 

 Missouri River. During the past season twenty-one new 

 species of vertebrates were obtained in the Pliocene sandstone at 

 the head of the watershed between the .South Platte River and 

 the Lodge- pole Creek. 



The Bclgiqiie Horlicole, for February, publishes a complete 

 list of botanical gardens throughout the world, with the names 

 of their curators and of the professors of botany at the different 

 towns. 



The Science and Art Department has issued a catalogue of 

 apparatus for instruction in geology, mineralogy, animal physio- 

 logy, elementary botany, general biology, principles of mining, 

 and physical geograpliy. 



The Brisbane Courier of December 30, 1S73, publishes the 

 following official telegram from Mr. Walter Hill, the Govern- 

 ment botanist, dated from Cardwell on the 27th and received by 

 the Queensland Secretary for Lands : — " Since November 20 we 

 have examined the banks of the Mulgrave, Russell, Mossman, 

 Daintree, and Hull Rivers, and have been more or less success- 

 ful in finding suitable land for sugar and other tropical and 

 semi-tropical productions. The ascent of the summit of Eellenden 

 Kerr was successfully male by Johnstone, Hill, and eight 

 troopers. At 2,500 ft. in height we observed an undescribed tree 

 with crimson flowers, which excels the roinciana re^ia, Coh'illia 

 raccmosa, La«crsstroma regia, and the Jcuaranda vtimosi/olia. 

 At 4,400 ft. a tree-fern, which will excel in grandeur all others 

 of the Alboreous class. A palm-tree at the same height which 

 will rival any of the British-Indian species in gracefulness. On 



