Scpf. 17, 1 8 74 J 



NATURE 



407 



is almost unexplored." May tliis hint, which will reach many wlio 

 are not readers of scientific papers, not be without result ! We 

 . would draw attention to the fact that plants of Drosera mtinuli- 

 folia are advertised for sale at ninepcnce each, and we hope 

 that before long some enterprising dealer may make a speciality 

 of all known carnivorous plants for suitable observations. 



At the Botanic Garden, Oxford, the Mexican Dasylirion 

 arcolyichum recently threw-up a flower stem which, when 12 tt. 

 high, grew at the rate of six inches in twenty-four hours. The 

 Nduinbium UiUum (the sacred bean) is reported this season as 

 producing perfect seeds. 



An Aiiniiairc i!c r Horticulture Bel^e\% announced as soon to 

 appear. 



The last number ot the Gardener s Chromcle gives a drawing 

 of four lopped elms growing near Datchet, the tops of which 

 have naturally grown with the outline of a horse. 



The Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen announces the sub- 

 ject for a prize essay, to be addressed to it through its secretary 

 by the end of October 1875. ^^ desires a memoir that shall 

 collect in chronological order the various determinations of con- 

 stant quantities that have been used in spherical and theoretical 

 astronomy from the time of the Ptolemies down to the end of the 

 eighteenth century. It will not be necessary to submit to any 

 critical discussion the intrinsic value of the various constants, but 

 simply to give them in as complete a manner as possible. Special 

 researches respecting the pioper motions of stars and parallaxes 

 of stars will be excluded, as also will be those relating to the 

 satellites of the exterior planets, and the elements of orbits of 

 comets. It is desired principally to obtain a complete collection 

 of those numbers that have served as the basis of earlier astro- 

 nomical researches. The memoir may be written in either 

 Latin, French, German, Swedish, or English ; and the medal 

 to be awarded will be of gold, of the value of 320 Danish 

 Clowns. 



PrciF. Silvestri reports that a transversal fissure about a 

 mile long has appeared on the northern side of Mount Etna. 

 Twenty fresh craters situated upon one long line have been 

 thrown up. The first crater opened forms a cone 75 ft. high. 

 Prof. Silvestri believes that the force of the eruption is at present 

 spent, and that only a few slight earthquake shocks will now be 

 felt. 



M. N. RauYs, Assistant Secretary of the Belgian Royal 

 Academy of Sciences (Brussels), proposes to publish a work 

 having for its title " Dictionnaire universel des academies, 

 societes savantes, observatoires, universites, musees, archives, 

 bibliotheques, jardins botaniques," &c., — a methodical catalogue 

 of all establishments which contribute to the progress of science, 

 letters, and the arts. M. Rauis, to enable him to carry out his 

 praiseworthy scheme, requests the managing officials of institu- 

 tions of the kind indicated to furnish him with the needful infor- 

 mation in the form indicated by the following questions : — i. 

 Title of the establishment. 2. Date of foundation, creation, 

 &c. 3. Its aim. 4. Titles of the directorate. 5. Seat of 

 the Institution, with its exact address. 6. Meetings, prizes, &c. 

 7. Does the establishment possess a library, archives, museum, 

 cabinet of medals or antiquities, obser\'atories, laboratories ? 8. 

 Publications : — Number ami nature (bulletin, reviews, annals or 

 memoirs) ; number of volumes published from the commence- 

 ment ; the easiest way of procuring these publications, whether 

 by purchase or exchange. 9. All other useful information not 

 comprised in the preceding questions. We hope all our British 

 scientific institutions, societies, and clubs, will aid M. Rauis in 

 his important undertaking. 



An exhibition of photographs, &c., incoiineclion wilhthe Pho- 

 tographic Society will be opened on October 13, at the Suffolk 

 Street Gallery. Specimens will be received up to October 7. 

 We have on former occasions pointed out that photography has a 

 scientific as well as a purely artistic^ interest, and the present 

 opportunity should not be allowed to pass without illustrations of 

 what photography has done to advance pure science. Mr. John 

 Spiller, F.C.S., has been elected President, and Mr. R. J. 

 Friswell, F.C.S., Hon. Sec. of the Society, so that the interest 

 of science will have a good chance of being in future attended to. 



We have received the prospectus of the Owens College School 

 of Medicine for Session 1S74-5, the professorate of which has 

 recently been completed by the appointment of Dr. M. Watson 

 to the chair of Anatomy. The new buildings will be opened by 

 Prof Huxley, F.R.S., on Friday, Oct. 2, at 3 p.m. 



The Exhibition 'of useful and noxious insects in Paris, which 

 we announced (vol. x. p. 295), was opened last week in the 

 Tuileries Gardens,' and promises to be highly interesting and 

 useful. 



Prof, von Rath, of Bonn, in Poggendorff, describes under 

 the name Foresite a new mineral of the Zeolite family, from the 

 granite of Elba. It is named in honour of its discoverer, Sig. 

 Foresi, of Portoferrajo, in Elba, who found it in druses which 

 were covered with felspar, oligoclase, quartz, lithia, and tourma- 

 line, on which, along with Desmin [stilbite] and Stilbite 

 [Ileulandite] it forms incrustations. Foresite belongs to the 

 prismatic system ; has a similar appearance to Desmin, with 

 surfaces bright as mother-of-pearl. The angular measurements, 

 like the faces, indicate that it is isomorphous with Desmin. Its 

 water, which amounts to I5'3i per cent., is entirely driven off at 

 a red heat under the blowpipe. It decomposes with difficulty in 

 hydrochloric acid, and its silica does not gelatinise. A mean of 

 three analyses shows it to consist of — 



SiHca 49'96 



Alumina ... ■•■ 27'40 



Lime 5'47 



Magnesia ... ■■. ... ... '40 



Potash 77 



Soda 138 



Water IS'O? 



100-45 



Von Rath regards its chemical formula as — 



NajO, 3CaO, SAloO,, 24Si02, 24TLO, 

 and thus it makes a fiuther approximation to Desmin. It differs 

 from all known Zeolites in the small proportion of lime to alumina 

 and silica. 



An Intematicnal Exhibition is to be opened at Chili on 

 Sept. 16, 1S75. 



There has been started at Mevagissey, Cornwall, a manu- 

 factory of "Cornish sardines," the s.ardines being pilchards pre- 

 served in oil, immense quantities o( which have hitherto been 

 used as manure, or returned to the sea as of no use. We believe 

 these Cornish sardines are at least equal to the sardines com- 

 monly imported into this country. 



The Times Alexandria correspondent, under date Sept. 6, 

 states that Mr. H. M. Stanley p.issed through Egypt a few 

 days previously on his way to Zanzibar. An ingeniously con- 

 structed boat, built for Mr. Stanley's expedition, was recently 

 tried on the Thames. 



We have received the programme of the many-sided Birming 

 ham and Midkand Institute for 1874-75. Sir John Lubbock, 

 Bart., F.R.S., delivers the inaugural address on Nov. 5, and 

 among the other special lectures announced are two on " Cor 1 



