May 14, 1885] 
NATURE 
35 
Gardens, and will afterwards conduct the party to visit them 
in order, and give a demonstration of the most remarkable 
species. 
A LETTER of Mr. Miklucho Maclay is inserted in the /svestija 
of the Russian Geographical Society (1834, vi.), in which he 
expresses his regret that he cannot yet return to Russia, and 
explains the plan he has adopted for the publication of his 
reports. He wishes-to have them published in two different 
parts, the first to contain (¢) a statement of the reasons for any 
voyage or important excursion which he has undertaken, (4) a 
detailed nazrative, and (c) scientific results of each of them ; the 
second part to contain the scientific results concerning (a) anthro- 
pology, (#4) ethnology, (c) zoology and comparative anatomy, 
(Zz) meteorology. In this manner Maclay hopes to suit both 
those who desire a general view of the outcome of his travels 
and those who wish to make themselves more particularly 
acquainted with the scientific results. By the way it may be 
mentioned that he has already described some new species, viz. 
(1) Dorcopsis Chalmersit, (2) D. Macklayi, (3) Macropus Jukesit, 
(4) M0. gracilis, (5) M. tibol, (6) Brachymelis garagassi, (7) Mus 
yelve. 
THE following, from Sczence, is a complete list of the papers 
read at the meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, April 
21-24 :—J. S. Billings and Dr. Matthews, U.S.A., methods of 
measuring the cubic capacity of crania ; S. H. Scudder, winged 
insects from a palzontological point of view; A. S. Packard, 
the Syncarida, a hitherto undescribed group of extinct maloco- 
stracous Crustacea ; the Gampsonychide, an undescribed family 
of fossil schizopod Crustacea ; the Anthracaridz, a family of 
carboniferous macrurous decapod Crustacea, allied to the 
Eryonide ; Alexander Agassiz, the coral reefs of the Sandwich 
Islands ; the origin of the fauna and flora of the Sandwich 
Islands ; T. Sterry Hunt, the classification of natural silicates ; 
Elias Loomis, the cause of the progressive movement of areas ot 
low pressure ; C. B. Comstock, the ratio of the metre to the 
yard ; C. H. F. Peters, an account of certain stars observed by 
Flamsteed, supposed to have disappeared ; J. E. Hilgard and 
A. Lindenkohl, the submarine geology of the approaches to 
New York ; Theodore Gill, the orders of fishes ; J. W. Powell, 
the organisation of the tribe; G. W. Hill, on certain lunar in- 
equalities due to the action of Jupiter, and discovered by Mr. 
E. Neison ; E. D. Cope, the pretertiary Vertebrata of Brazil ; 
the phylogeny of the placental Mammalia ; C. A. Young, some 
recent observations upon the rotation and surface-markings of 
Jupiter; H. A. Rowland, on the value of the ohm; F. A. Genth 
and Gerhard vom Rath, on the vanadium minerals—vanadinite, 
endlichite, and descloizite—and on iodyrite, from the Sierra 
Grande mine, Lake Valley, New Mexico; A. N. Skinner (by 
invitation), on the total solar eclipse of August 28, 1886; 
Theodore Gill and John A. Ryder, the evolution and homologies 
of the flukes of cetaceans and sirenians; Ira Remsen, chemical 
action in a magnetic field ; A. Graham Bell, the measurement 
of hearing-power ; A. Graham Bell and F. Della Torre, on the 
possibility of obtaining echoes from ships and icebergs in a fog. 
The following biographical notices of deceased members were 
also presented: of Dr. J. J. Woodward, U.S.A., by J. S. 
Billings ; of Gen. A. A. Humphreys, U.S.A., by H. L. Abbot ; 
and of William Stimpson, by Theodore Gill. 
Borany, as well as geology, we are pleased to notice, is well 
represented upon the Afghan Boundary Commission. Mr. 
Condie Stephen, who has just arrived in London, speaking of 
the Penjdeh Valley or Koosh Valley, stated to a press repre- 
sentative that Dr. Aitchison, who has charge of the botany of 
the Expedition, is delighted with the country, and has made a 
very large and valuable collection. 
THE Zimes Calcutta Correspondent telegraphs that the Indian 
Government has at last begun to fulfil a promise made years ago 
to the Asiatic Society, that a systematic zoological exploration 
of the depths of the Indian seas should be undertaken, in con- 
nection with a survey of the coasts. ‘‘A skilled naturalist, Dr. 
Giles, has been attached to the surveying steamer Zxvestégator, 
which is supplied with proper appliances for deep-sea dredging. 
During a recent cruise in the Bay of Bengal some casts were 
made with very interesting results. Some of the animals found 
appear to be new, and have been sent home for examination. 
The dredgings also proved that the depression of the bottom, 
near the mouth of the Hooghly, known as the Swatch, regarding 
which much speculation had been indulged in, was merely a 
deep submarine valley, forming part of the original basin of the 
Bay of Bengal—as Sir Charles Lyall long ago suggested.” 
A PORTION of the work of Protestant missionaries in China, 
which has attracted little attention in this country, and which, 
nevertheless, is of great importance, is the preparation of school- 
and text-books in Chinese. For this purpose Protestant mis- 
sionaries of all nationalities and denominations have united. At 
a general conference held in Shanghai in 1877, a committee of 
eight of the leading missionaries was appointed to superintend 
the preparation and publication of the series. The work has 
now been going on for eight years, and the Committee are able 
to report that over forty works have been issued, and that thirty 
more are in various stages of progress. In addition, four num- 
bers have been issued of an “ outline series’ compiled with the 
object of supplying Chinese schools with small and simple 
treatises on scientific subjects at cheap rates, suitable either as 
elementary school-books or as popular tracts for general distri- 
bution. What ‘cheap rates” mean will appear from the fact 
that the outlines of astronomy costs rather less than a penny, 
that of political and physical geography and geology about two- 
pence each. The larger works embrace anatomy, in five 
volumes ; ancient religions and philosophies in three; arith- 
metic, charts of astronomy, birds and mammals, with accom- 
panying handbooks (these charts, from the prices, are obviously 
intended for the walls: of schools); chemistry, political 
economy, geology, universal history, international law (a 
translation of Bluntschli, it appears), zoology, and several 
on biblical topics. Those in preparation include treatises on 
various branches of elementary mathematics, botany, ethnology, 
hygiene, jurisprudence, logic, mathematical physics, meteorology, 
mineralogy, philology, and forty wall-charts with accompanying 
hand-books. These works, it must be remembered, have first 
to be compiled with a special view to the knowledge usually 
possessed by Chinese children, and then to be translated, repre- 
senting in each case two distinct tasks. That the missionaries 
in China and elsewhere have schools where they teach the young 
is well known, but it will probably be a surprise to many to 
find that, in addition to their ordinary labours as preachers and 
teachers, the missionaries in China have had to undertake a task 
of such magnitude as the creation of school literature on all 
subjects of human knowledge, from arithmetic to jurisprudence, 
and from anatomy to logic. The statement on this subject is 
taken, it should be added, from the Chinese Recorder of Shang- 
hai, a magazine which is itself a monument to the learning and 
enterprise of Protestant missionaries in China. 
THERE will be an Exhibition of Plans, Maps, and Models in 
connection with the International Congress on Inland Naviga- 
tion to be held in Brussels from May 24 to June 2. Those 
desiring to contribute are requested to send in their exhibits at 
once, addressed, carriage-free, to Mr. A. Gobert, 212, Rue de 
la Victoire, Brussels. 
AN interesting scheme in connection with the Bedford School 
is that of higher education for adults by means of evening 
