528 



NATURE 



\Oct. 29, 1874 



lute necessity, Mr. Balfour started from Mauritius, and after a 

 voyage of exactly a week, landed at Rodrigues on August 18. 

 The appearance of the island as seen from the vessel while 

 steaming along near the coast, presented few features which 

 could be looked upon as evidencing any large amount of granite 

 entering into its constitution. On the contrary, the columnar 

 structure of the cliff lines, both on the coast and in the interior, 

 along with the terraced aspect of many of the ridges separating 

 deep ravines, cutting far back into the island, clearly showed 

 that, whether the main mass of the island were granite or not, 

 certainly at some period of its history it had been the scene of 

 very extensive volcanic action. On the 19th of August an 

 excursion was made across the island to survey the channel on 

 the south side. The vegetation on the island is very rank. The 

 trees do not grow to any great size, and in most places do not 

 form thick forest, but are scattered singly over the slope of the 

 hills. It is only in the deep valleys and gorges that they grow 

 into thick forest. The commonest tree seems to be the Vacoa 

 (Paiidaiu(s), of which there are probably at least four species. 

 The under-scrab is very dense and very spiny, whiclr renders 

 walking through it by no means a pleasant task. Neither ferns 

 nor mosses appear to be very abundant, but lichens are pretty 

 plentiful, especially in their pulverulent state ; and in many 

 places the basalt was nearly covered with white powdery patches. 

 The basalt forming the rocks near Port Mathurin is, in its 

 unweathered condition, a very beautiful compact stone, with 

 large crystals of several minerals scattered through it. The 

 difliculties in landing upon the island seem to be very great, 

 owing to the extent of the coral reefs. 



The Yorkshire College of Science at Leeds was opened with- 

 out ceremony on Monday, by the delivery of one of the intro- 

 ductory lectures by Mr. A. H. Green, the Professor of Geology 

 and Mining. The other professors— A. W. Riicker, Dr. T. E. 

 Thorpe, and W. Walker — give their introductory lectures 

 duiing the course of the present week, and the teaching of 

 the session will then be proceeded with. Very suitable 

 buildings have been obtained, containing ample accommodation, 

 which has been fully utilised for lecture-rooms, laboratories, &c,, 

 which are well furnished wilh the necessary appliances. Still, 

 as Mr. H. Brown said, "they must look forward to having a 

 noble building like that of Owens College, Manchester;" 

 if the College is to maintain its position and to advance 

 at all, it cannot but end in this. The number of students 

 enrolled is as yet small, but, no doubt, will gradually in- 

 crease. Prof. Green, in his address, spoke of the im- 

 portance of a thorough training in abstract science as the 

 necessary groundwork of a technical education. "Before they 

 could understand," he said, "the practical application of a 

 science, they must be master of the science itself. What was 

 sometimes understood as technical education was a sheer im- 

 possibility, and a contradiction in terms. They could not 

 explain the technical application of a science without first laying 

 down the scientific groundwork on which it rested. A science 

 like geology could not be taught piecemeal. Technical educa- 

 tion in the popular sense was a misnomer, because the teaching 

 which would limit the range of a man's vision to the subjects of 

 which he could see the use did not deserve the name of education, 

 the very essence of which was the strengthening of the intellect 

 by mental exercise. It was his earnest wish that he might be 

 able to give a teaching which in the end would have an impor- 

 tant bearing on their practical occupations, and enable them to 

 manage their mining, engineering, and other pursuits— in the 

 conduct of which a knowledge of geology came in useful— better 

 than if they knew no geology at all. But if he was to succeed in 

 doing so, he must begin by telling them many things which at 

 lirst sight would seem to be of no practical value whatever." 

 With such a spirit as these words indicate, animating tlie pro- 



fessors of this new college, the best results may be expected from 

 their teaching. 



A MEETING of some of the friends of the late Dr. Stoliczka 

 was held in the rooms of the Zoological Society on Friday, the 

 l6thinst. , at which it was determined to obtain, by subscription, 

 a bust, to be presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, of 

 which society Dr. Stoliczka was for some years before his death 

 one of the honorary secretaries. A committee was appointed 

 to act in concert with one previously formed in Calcutta, and 

 upwards of 50/. was subscribed in the room for the purpose 

 mentioned. Subscriptions, we are informed, will be received by 

 Messrs. Grindlay and Co., 55, Parliament Street. 



The AlhoKviim announces that the Contemporary Riview for 

 November will contain an account of a new scientific discovery 

 by Prof. Tyndall. 



AiroNGST the works which are progressing favourably at the 

 Observatory of Paris we may mention the determination of the 

 velocity of light, by MM. Fizeau and Cornu. These able 

 physicists are using for their second station the Tower of 

 Montlheiy. The light is transmitted to Montlhery through a 

 refracting telescope of 12 in. and returned to the Obseivatory 

 with a 7 in. The distance between the Observatory and 

 Montlhery being 26 kilometres, the total distance traversed by 

 the ray of light is 52 kilometres. The space of time required 

 amounts to something less than one-thousandth of a second. 



The polishing of the great reflecting telescope is .almost com- 

 pleted. The immense lens to be covered with silver by the Leon 

 F'oucault process, is nearly ready. It is said that everything 

 will be fini>hed by the beginning of May 1875. 



At Agram, the chief town of Crcatia, a Croatian University 

 was formally opened on Oct. 19 by the highest magistrate of the 

 land, who is called the Ban, end exercises a kind of viceregal 

 power en behalf of the Emperor of Austria. The University is 

 to be called "Francis-Joseph," fiom the name of its founder. 

 The Rector delivered a very able oration, summarising the 

 progress of the higher studies in Croatia from the time when 

 Maria Theresa established the Society of Sciences. Many dele- 

 gates of foreign or other Austro-llungarian Academies were pre- 

 sent at the ceremony (Krakow, Berlin, Bologna, Pesth), and 

 delegates from the Servian societies of learning. It is expected 

 that the new University will play a most important part in the 

 civilisation of the East, and be indeed the vanguard of European 

 science in that direction. 



Much remains to be done in this respect if the information we 

 collect from Levantine papers be correct. It appears that in one of 

 the principal islands of the Greek Archipelago some poorwomen 

 have been imprisoned and starved, under the charge of sorcery. 

 They were arrested for having attracted a host of locusts to their 

 native .land. The locusts not retreating, the persecution was 

 extended to the husbands of the wretched creatures . 



The International Commission of Geodesy will hold its r.ext 

 meeting in Paris, in accordance with the decision come to at 

 Dresden, where it held its sitting this year. The Government 

 will assign it a public building for its meetings. 



Mr. J. E. Taylor, F.G.S., has discovered a buried forest in 

 the Orwell. The forest is represented by a layer of peat con- 

 taining trunks, leaves, and fruits of the oak, elm, hazel, and fir, 

 associated with which are the remains of the mammolli. A bed 

 of freshwater shells containing species not now living in the 

 Orwell underlies the peat. Mr. Taylor remarks that this sub- 

 marine forest is contemporaneous with others along the coast 

 which existed previous to the depression separating England 

 from the Continent. 



