232 



NA TURE 



{July 23, 1874 



apparent ellipticity, and diameter at mean distance ; 8 occulta- 

 tions of stars by the raoon, with the equations deduced from the 

 occultations ; and, finally, a considerable list of shooting-stars 

 observed chiefly by Mr. Lucas. Con::iderabIe advance has also 

 been made in the reductions for 1872-73. 



We would draw special attention to the Catalogue of the 

 Anthropological Collection lent by Col. Lane Fox for exhibition 

 in the Bethnal Green Museum. Only Parts I. and II. have been 

 yet published, and these are almost entirely occupied with 

 Weapons, whicli are divided into various classes, the lists under 

 the various classes, or rather the contents of the various screens 

 on which the specimens are arranged in the museum, forming 

 the subjects of dissertations by Col. Lane I'ox, who endeavours 

 to trace out the probable origin and development of the various 

 kinds of weapons. The principles which have guided Col. Lane 

 Fox in making and arranging his valuable collection, he pointed 

 out in his paper read at Bethnal Green on July I, an abstract of 

 which will be found in our last number, p. 217. He has aban- 

 doned the mere geographical arrangement, and adopted a prin- 

 ciple as scientific, and we hope as productive, as that which 

 obtains in natural history. A student of anthropology going 

 carefully over Col. Lane Fox's collection at Bethnal Green, with 

 this catalogue in his hands, would find himself both interested 

 and instructed to a degree that it would be difficult to attain 

 anywhere else. 



We rejoice to see from the tone of the replies to questions in 

 the House of Commons on Monday by Mr. Disraeli and Lord 

 Henry Lennox, that Government is conscious of how poorly 

 housed some of our scientific collections are, and seems really 

 disposed to take steps to remedy the evil. Mr. Disraeli said, in 

 reply to a question concerning the Patent Museum, that it is not 

 the only public institution which is suffering from want of 

 space and of suitable accommodation. "That is now a 

 crying grievance with respect to all our public buildings, collec- 

 tions, and offices. In regard to the Patent Museum, however, 

 I am aware from a communication which I have received from 

 my noble friend the First Commissioner of Works, that the 

 matter is at present engaging attention." Lord Henry Lennox 

 confirmed this by subsequently stating that he intended to pro- 

 pose to Her Majesty's Government a scheme which, if it were 

 agreed to, would enable him to oft'er the Patent Museum suit- 

 able accommodation in the southern block of the International 

 Exhibition buildings. 



Mr. John Murray has in the press a memoir of Sir Rode- 

 rick I. Murchison, based upon his journals and letters, with 

 notices of his scientific contemporaries, and a sketch of the rise 

 and progress, for half a century, of Paleozoic geology in Britain, 

 by Prof. Archibald Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. It will be 

 illustrated with portraits, and will be published in two octavo 

 volumes. 



Mr. Karl Trijbner, of Strasburg, has recently published 

 one part of a geological map of the neighbourhood of Heidel- 

 berg, the work of Drs. Benecke and Cohen. We especially 

 draw attention to the fact that contour lines are given faintly 

 marked in red. The other part, and the letter-press description, 

 will not be ready till next year. 



M. Caii.letet, in studying the compressibility of gases, has 

 been led to investigate the resistance which glass tubes oppose to 

 pressure. In one experiment a tube 217 in. long, and 07 in. 

 diam., was crushed by an outside pressure of 77 atmospheres, 

 while half that pressure sufiiced to break it when exerted oUj the 

 interior. 



The Geologists' Association has organised a lengthened ex- 

 cursion to the Cotteswold Hills, May Hill, .and the Severn 



Valley, extending from Monday last, July 20, to Saturday, July 

 25. The head-quarters is at Cheltenham. Judging from the 

 programme this excursion promises to be one of great interest ; 

 the directors are Dr. Thomas Wright, F. G. .S. , Mr. J. Logan 

 Lobley, F.G.S., Mr. W. C. Lacy, F.G.S., and the Rev. W. S. 

 Symonds, F.G.S. 



The first volume of the United States Commission of Fish 

 (Svo, 899 pp., 38 plates and 3 maps) has been recently issued 

 from Washington. In addition to reports of proceedings there 

 are given arguments for and against protective laws, the natural 

 history of some of the most important food-fishes ; catalogue of 

 marine algae of southern New England ; and papers on physical 

 characters, invertebrate animals, &c., of different districts. 



Following the report of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries 

 in England and Wales, that from the Inspectors in Ireland has 

 just been issued, containing statistics concerning not only the 

 salmon fisheries, but the deep-sea and coast fisheries as well. It 

 is difficult, from the form of the report, to give any general idea of 

 the condition of the salmon fisheries, but they appear to be 

 slightly increasing in productiveness. The same complaints are 

 made in Ireland as in England of the dangers from pollutions, 

 and from the want of passes over the weirs. But the inspectors 

 do not appear to have done anything to remedy either of these 

 evils. The oyster fisheries are in a decaying state, and the beds 

 licensed to private persons are almost unproductive ; naturally 

 better situated than England for the production of oysters, it 

 seems a great pity that Ireland should not yield a large number 

 of these molluscs, if proper care were only taken, and a little 

 energy and capital expended in improving the beds. The her- 

 ring fishery for the year was less than in 1872, while the 

 mackerel fishery was nearly double ; pilchards, however, are al. 

 most unutilised, though the mass of wealth in the waters is sufi']- 

 cient to make an industry that would rival that of the Cornish 

 fisheries. If the inspectors could put a little energy into the 

 matter and the people be made to see their opportunities, the 

 fisheries of Ireland might be the richest in the world. 



There appears a prospect of good coal being shortly made 

 available for consumption in Japan. The largest of the coal- 

 fields of Japan, that of Takosima, has come into possession of 

 lire Japanese Government, and it is hoped that an increased out- 

 lay of capital will produce satisfactory results. 



TitE Nao Qiiarlcrfy Maj^iir.iiie for July contains, among other 

 articles, an essay On birds and beasts in captivity, by Archi- 

 bald Forbes, and an interesting paper by Mr. Evershed, On 

 habit in plants and power of acclimatisation, in which, apropos 

 of the present state of the question of sewage farming, he 

 remarks: — "It is a serious drawback to the profits of sewage 

 cultivation that only certain plants are disposed to consume so 

 much liquid as is ofiTered to them under that system of manage- 

 ment. Cereals are not drinkers to any large extent, and will 

 not suddenly change their habits. They have enough to do to 

 swallow the ordinary amount of wet which prevails in our 

 climate, being naturally partial to rather drier countries like 

 Soulh Russia, Poland, and Spain." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include three Giraffes (Canuiopari/nlis girnffa) horn 

 Upper Nubia, purchased; two Passerine Owls (Glaiu-icitiim 

 pnsseriniuii), European, presented by Mr. C. W. Tait ; a Reeves' 

 Muntjac {Cfi-^^i/zis fYf!Vsi), born in the Gardens ; a Slow Loris 

 [Ayctkelius tardigrni/iii), from the Malay region, deposited ; a 

 Coati {A'asua iiasica), brown variety, and a Spotted Cavy 

 (Codogciiys pa(a) from South America, purchased ; two Bronze- 

 winged Pigeons (PItaps chahiplcra) and an Olive Weaver Bird 

 {Hyp/iaii/oriiis cupeiisis), hatched in the Gardens. 



