Dec. 4, 1879] 



NA TURE 



115 



F.R.S., three lectures on "Coal,"' on Saturdays, January 17, 

 24, 31 ; Ernst Paner, three lectures on " Handel, Sebastian 

 Bach, and Joseph Haydn" (with musical illustrations), on 

 Saturdays, February 7, 14, 21 ; four lectures on "History of 

 Literature," on Saturdays, February 28, March 6, 13, 20. 



At the request of the Government of the Cape Colony and 

 the trustees of the South African Library at Cape Town, Sir 

 Bartle Frere has desired Prof. Max Muller and Prof. Sayce to 

 select a qualified successor to the late Dr. Bleek, to continue his 

 labours as colonial philologist and as custodian of the valuable 

 library presented to the colony by Sir George Grey. The salary 

 will be 500/. a year, of which 300/. will be contributed by the 

 Government, and 200/. by the committee of the South African 

 Public Library. Applications and testimonials only may be sent 

 to Prof. Max Midler, Oxford. 



The lectures in connection with the Brown Institution will be 

 delivered by Mr. YV. S. Greenfield at the University of London 

 on December 17, 18, 19, 22, and 23 at 5.30 p.m. The subject 

 will be " Recent Investigations on the Pathology of Infective 

 and Contagious Diseases." 



The French Minister of Public Instruction has appointed a 

 section of the Commission of Historical Monuments for the pur. 

 pose of establishing an official record of all megalithic construc- 

 tions and erratic blocks discovered in France and Algiers. 



THE grants voted by the Legislative Assembly of France for 

 18S0 have been sent to the Senate, and according to every 

 probability will be voted without any material alteration. The 

 sum of 59 millions of francs was voted for public instruction, 

 z\ millions more than w-ere asked for by the Government. In 

 1870 the grants for educational purposes were 26 millions and in 

 1S51 only 16 millions. Among the items in the grants are the 

 following : — The grant for the National Institute is 707,762 fr., 

 for the Academy of Medicine 75,ooofr., the College of France 

 466,ooofr., the Museum of Natural History 835,000 fr., for 

 astronomical and meteorological observatories 835,000 fr., for 

 the National Library 674,000 fr., for the National Library and 

 Museum of Algiers 296,000 fr., travelling expenses for explorers 

 200,000 fr., Ecole des Hautes Etudes (conducting experiment?, 

 &C| &c.) 300,000 fr. 



The Edinburgh Liberals, who have had a week [of almost 

 uninterrupted oratory from their idol, Mr. Gladstone, have been 

 impressing science into their service, in order that Mr. C. lad- 

 stone's voice might reach a much larger audience than any single 

 hall in Edinburgh could hold. On Saturday he addressed an 

 audience in the largest hall in Edinburgh, the Corn Exchange ; 

 but as this could not anything like hold the multitude that 

 wanted to hear him, it was connected by telephone n ith another 

 hall at some distance. We shall let the Daily 

 dent describe the result of the arrangement : — "The audience 

 distinctly heard the cheering and singing of the meeting in the 

 Corn Exchange, and aho the strains of the band. Lord Rose- 

 berry's voice was also recognised, and it was gathered that he 

 was saying pleasant things about Mr. Gladstone. Next came a 

 burst of cheering, the sound of which was suddenly stopped, 

 and a long interval of silence followed, varied from time to time 

 by the murmur of distant cheers. Then as suddenly as silence 

 had fallen, there came the sound of Mr. Gladstone's voice, and 

 he was followed 1 rctty well through 'some remarks on corn 

 averages and the condition of India.' All this, which greatly 

 mystified the telephonic audience, is capable of easy explanation. 

 Observers of Mr. Gladstone's manner in the House of Commons 

 will remember what an important part the right hon. gentleman's 

 hat plays in his great speeches. He invariably places it on the 

 table, a little to one side of him, and on the top of it he places 

 his notes, which he rapidly shuffles and re-arranges as the oration 



progresses. This afternoon, bringing his hat to the table in his 

 accustomed manner, he unconsciously planted it right in front of 

 the cylinder of the telephone which had been fixed on the table, 

 thus, of course, cutting off the means of communication. As 

 the speech proceeded, he began the re-arrangement of the papers 

 and the movement of the hat, which latter he finally drew away 

 from the telephone, and then became audible in another building 

 a quarter of a mile off, ' some remarks on corn averages, and 

 the condition of India.' " It is a pity Mr. Gladstone had not 

 been put up to the arrangement ; we are quite sure, had he 

 known/i he would not have adopted SO "obstructive" a line of 

 action with his hatful of papers. 



A NEW light company has started a public subscription in Paris 

 for 80,000/. The inventor proposes to dispense with magneto- 

 electric machines, by resorting to Bunse.i elements of special 

 construction, and to dispense with regulators by incandescent 

 light. An immense number of prospectuses have been circulated 

 amongst the peasantry, and the funds are collecting with an 

 amazing rapidity. 



Scribner's Monthly, one of the best monthlies anywhere, has 

 an interesting illustrated article in the December number on 

 the Johns Hopkins University. 



A competition having been opened for erecting a memorial 

 of the siege of Paris on the Rond Pont of Courbevoie, M. 

 Bartholdi, the author ofj the gigantic statue representing the 

 French-America alliance, has executed a model representing a 

 balloon with a sailor aeronaut and the beseiged city receiving 

 messages from a carrier-pigeon. The ensemble is grand and pic- 

 turesque. It has raised the enthusiasm of Paris aeronauts, who 

 are to make a public demonstration in support of M. Bartholdi's 

 schemes. 



The Colonies of November 22 contains a long and valuable 

 list of works on Commercial Botany, drawn up by Messrs. G. J. 

 Symons and P. L. Simmonds. 



The new part of Mr. Eentham and Sir Jos. Hooker's 

 "Genera Plantarum " will be published in January, and will 

 complete the Dicotyledons. Only one other part, the Mono- 

 cotyledons?, will remain to be published. 



On November 21 M. Mariette-Bey read, before the Academy 

 of Inscriptions of Paris, a long report on the new excavations 

 which are to be executed in Egypt. This addre-s having been 

 delivered in a solemn meeting of the Academy, it is certain that 

 the illustrious Egyptologist will obtain a grant from the French 

 Government. 



The KUnische Zeitung says that a rack railway, of the Righi 

 type, will be erected on the Drachenfels, one of the seven hills 

 situated on the left bank of the Rhine. The survey of the 

 intended line is proceeding with activity. 



The Kaae Geyser, or spouting water-well, has lately attracted 

 much attention from the sight-seeing public. Some exact data 

 regarding it are furnished in a recent notice by Mr. Ashbnrner 

 . of Sci. and Arts, November). The well is situated 

 in the valley of Wilson's Run, near the Philadelphia and Erie 

 railway-line, and four miles south-east from Kane. It was 

 drilled in the spring of 1S78 to a depth of 2,000 feet, but, as no 

 pe.roleum was found in paying quantities, the casing was drawn 

 and t e hole abandoned. In drilling, fresh-water veins were 

 met with down to 364 feet, which was the limit of the casing. 

 At 1,415 feet a very heavy " gas-vein " was struck, and this gas 

 was allowed free escape while the drilling was continued to 

 2,0:0 feet. When the well was abandoned, the fresh water 

 flowed in, and the conflict between the water and gas com- 

 menced. The water flows into the well on top of the gas till 

 the pressure of the confined gas becomes greater than the weight 

 of the superincumbent water, when an expulsion takes place,. 



