94 



NATURE 



[Jtme if, 1874 



tion of readers, books most in demand, &c. The total number 

 of books in the various libraries amounted at the end of last 

 year to 69,279, a very large proportion of wliich are of a 

 scientific character. From the statistics as to books most sought 

 after, and the number of readers in the various subjects, we are 

 glad to see that vi'orks of Science enjoy a large amount of 

 patronage. The aggregate issue of works in the reference and 

 lending libraries was 525,610. 



We have received several American papers containing de- 

 scriptions of a marine aquarium in San Francisco, California. 

 It forms part of the many attractions of " Woodward's Gardens," 

 an extensive piece of ground which has been inclosed and laid 

 out by a private gentleman, Mr. Woodward, for the amusement 

 and instruction of the people. 



It is gratifying to learn that the lamented death of Prof. 

 Agassiz will not prevent the continuation of the school of 

 natural history at Penikese Island, the results of v.hich during 

 the season of 1S73 proved to be of so much educational impor. 

 tance. A circular from Mr. Alexander Agassiz in regard to this 

 states that two or three times as many persons as can be accom- 

 modated have already applied to he received. during the coming 

 summer, and that great interest is manifested ,to prosecute the 

 study of nature under the eminent specialists who have been 

 called to assist in the enterprise. The necessity of a permanent 

 endowment is very justly set forth by Mr. Agassiz, and especially 

 the importance of means for paying for the services of the men of 

 science invited to officiate as instructors. Hesuggests that provision 

 be made bythe Legislaturesof the several Statesfortheendowment 

 of scholarships, either by the actual payment of the sum of S,ooo 

 dols., or an annual grant of 350 dels. The payment of this sum 

 on the part of any State would entitle it to nominate two teacliers 

 for admission during the summer to the Penikese school, the 

 selection to be made from among those most apt in natural 

 history. No charge is made to the students of this school for 

 tuition. It is announced that this school will open on July 7, 

 and close on Aug. 29. Among the gentlemen mentioned as 

 likely to take part in the instruction ore Dr. Packard, Pro- 

 fessors Wilder, Morse, Mayer, and Jordan, and Messis. Putnam, 

 Bickmore, Lyman, and others. 



The Annual Report of the Trustees of the Museum of Com. 

 parative Zoology at Harvard College, Cambridge, U.S., shows 

 that that institution is rapidly becoming one of the first of its 

 kind anywhere. Its already large and valuable collections are 

 constantly b eing added to, and rapid progress is being made in 

 their systematic arrangement. The museum is open not only to 

 regular students of natural history, but to all scientific men who 

 care to make use of it in aid of their researches. It is in connec- 

 tion with the Harvard Museum that the Penikese School of 

 Natural History was instituted ; and, between the two, American 

 students have rare advantages for the study at least of Iclhyo- 

 logy. 



The German Society for Polar Exploration has, it is said, 

 purchased the harbour of Kristvig, on the Island of Averio, on 

 the west coast of Norway, with the intention of making this in 

 future the starting-point of German explorations of the Arctic 

 regions. 



Dr. Gross, the author of " Les habitations Lacustres du lac 

 de Bienne," in which all the stations in that lake of the Stone 

 and Bronze ages are described in detail, has just, says the Conti- 

 nental Ilcralii, presented a gem of its kind to tlie Arch.Tological 

 Museum of the Berne City Library. This is a hatchet of 

 "fiphrite, 7 in. long, a very scarce kind of stone, and only found 

 in eastern Asia, the occurrence of which in the lake dwellings 

 of Switzerland form; an unsolved puzzle. 



The first ascent of a balloon over the Black Sea was made on 

 April 19 from Odessa in the "Jules Favre," measuring 70,000 

 cubic feet. The ascent took place at 3. 10 A.M. in a north-east 

 direction ; but as it mounted higher tlie wind veered and the 

 balloon went out to sea in a south-east direction. It rose to a 

 height ol 7,000 Russian feet at a distance of about 16 miles from 

 land. The balloon came to ground at Peresadovka, about 20 

 miles north from Nikolaeff, at 6h. 39m. A. it. 



As the series of annual international exhibitions at South 

 Kensington is to be discontinued after the present year, the 

 Society of Arts have in consideration the organisation of a series 

 of provincial exhibitions of an industrial character, to be held in 

 the centres of the manufacturing districts. The plan is as yet 

 by no means complete, but a principal part of it would be that 

 the special industriesof each locality should be, as far as possible, 

 illustrated in its exhibition. 



A PUBLIC meeting was held in the Mechanics' Institute, 

 Nottingham, on Tuesday night, to consider the further deve- 

 lopment of the movement instituted by the Cambridge Uni- 

 versity for extending its teaching to the masses of the 

 people. The report of the committee for the past 

 session stated that nearly 2,000 tickets for the lectures 

 and classes were applied for in the town; 1,241 persons 

 attended the lectures, and 615 the classes. There were 143 

 candidates at the examination, of whom 126 obtained certificates 

 of merit. The financial statement was satisfactoiy, and the 

 report expressed a belief that the movement would shortly be 

 self-supporting. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of 

 Ireland Mr. W. Harte, County Surveyor, co. Donegal, gave a 

 description of " Supposed evidence of a recent change of level 

 in the surface of co. Donegal." He adduced a number o.'' proofs 

 that there was a general and rapid depression in the surface of 

 the county. Inhabitants had informed him that portions of the 

 coast now covered m ith 20 ft. of water had been passed over 

 diy-sliod by their grandfathers. Many bogs also, of which the 

 trees were still erect and in silii, had been recently inundated. 

 That the water had never previously reached a higher level he 

 proved from the fact that none of the bogs now under water had 

 ever been previously inundated, for they were not permeated, as 

 bogs which had been covered by water invariably were, with a 

 fine microscopic sand. Tlie submergence of Donegal was taking 

 place at a rate that was much more rapid than had been sus- 

 pected ; old passes which were used to islands along tlie coast now 

 no longer existed. The most interesting fact, however, was one 

 brought to light by Mr. Fitzgerald, who found numerous cases 

 of furnaces used by the ancient Irish to smelt the bog iron ore, 

 but wliicli were now under high-water mark. 



The ravages caused by ihe PMlox^ra vaslatiix among the 

 vineyards of France are becoming very serious. More than 

 150 various remedies have been tried but without success, and 

 the only hope of many scientific men is in the introduction of 

 varieties of vine which are known to be to a certain extent proof 

 against the attacks of tliis insect. Many American kinds of vine 

 are said to possess the property of resisting the disease for a 

 much longer time than the French vines, and steps are being 

 taken to introduce roots of these v.-irieties into France. In the 

 Department of Herault alone the produce of wine has fallen 

 from fourteen millions of hectolitres to eleven millions : not only 

 is the fruit destroyed by the effects of the parasite, but the vine 

 itself is destroyed in a year or two ; and one female Phylloxera 

 is Slid to produce two or three millions of young in a year. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of Natuial History 

 Prof. Morse read a paper on Natural Selection among the Mol- 

 luscs, instancing the usually smill siz: of certain species in t'le 



