

Jan. 8, 1880] 



NATURE 



2 39 



ture. The exact title is as follows : "Xehrbuch der Naturwis" 

 senschaften und der Landwirthschaft zum Gebrauch beim Unter- 

 richt in den Ackerbauschulen und landwirfhschaftlichen Winter- 

 schulen in Sachsen." The competing works must be sent to Dr. 

 Julius Kiihne, Professor at the University of Halle. The ex- 

 tent of the book is to be moderate, and should not exceed thirty 

 sheets. 



On December 10, 1S7S, the first cremation was executed at 

 Gotha. We announced the fact at the time. News from that 

 town now states that during 1S79 fifteen other cremations were 

 performed. This is looked upon as an extremely satisfactory 

 result for the first year in which the process may be chosen by 

 and for anybody. The time for the complete incineration of the 

 bodies was between one and a half and two and a half hours, 

 therefore about two hours on the average. Besides Gotha, 

 other German towns furnished subjects for cremati >n, such as 

 Lingensalza, Nauinburg, Neustadt on the Orla, Leipzig, Dresden, 

 Bamberg, Hanover, Breslau, and Vienna. 



One of the desiderata of M. Leverrier ha; been fulfilled. A 

 lectureship of astronomy has been created in Marseilles, and M. 

 Stephan, Director of the Observatory, appointed as lecturer. 



M. C. Detaille, of Paris, is organising in France, at the 

 request of Lord Lindsay, a system of astronomical exchanges 

 similar to that suggested in these columns by his lordship for 

 England. 



The thaw set in in Paris abjut 4 p.m. on December 2S, just 

 when the partial eclipse of the moon was beginning. The tem- 

 perature has been increasing almost without interruption. 14 

 Cent, in the sun has been reached, and 9° Cent, in the shade. The 

 breaking up of the ice in the Seine took place on the 2nd, and 

 was sj sudden that it took the engineers by surprise. An iai- 

 mense number of boats have been wrecked, and have created 

 ob-tacles to the flow of water aud ice under the arches of the 

 bridges. The consequence has been the total wreck of the 

 wooden foot-bridge of the Invalides and the destruction of 

 two arches of the stone bridge now building at a dis- 

 tance of a few paces down the river. So serious were the fears 

 entertained by the authorities for the safety of the iron bridges 

 that the traffic was prohibited during the whole of Saturday. 

 The news from the mountainous parts of the Seine basin an- 

 nounce that an immense quantity of water is travelling towards 

 the sea. 



While Taris and the whole of France have been recently 

 covered with snow, in a period of exceptional cold, the weather 

 has been comparatively very clement on the summit of the Pic- 

 du-Midi and the snow rare. General Nansouty telegraphed 

 privately as follows to M. Tissandier on December 24 : — " We 

 are in distress ; we shall presently be unable to find enough snow 

 to make water for the tea and the soup. Send us some snow if 

 Paris has enough." 



Since December 13 the temperature of Algiers has beeu that 

 of spring, the temperature in the hade varying from 6 1 to 17°, 

 and in the sun of 32° Centigrade ; almost no cloud in the sky, 

 and a magnificent sun shining all the day long. 



M. W. de Fonvielle has just published a novel under 

 the title of "Neridah" (Hachette and Co.), in which, with 

 considerable ingenuity, he brings the tricks of spiritualistic 

 mediums and the facts of electrical science to bear upon the 

 development of the plot. The scene of the story is in England 

 and India. 



Frof. Schafer will, on Tuesday next, January 13, begin a 

 course of ten lectures on the Physiology of Muscle at the Royal 

 Institution ; and Mr. H. H. Statham will, on Thursday next, 

 January 15, give the first of two lectures on Modern Architecture 



since the Renaissance ; at the first Friday evening meeting of the 

 season, January 16, Prof. Dewar will describe his "Investiga- 

 tions at High Temperatures." On Saturday, the 17th, Prof. T. 

 Rupert Jones will give the first of three lectures on Coal. 



The officers and engineers appointed to proceed to Algeria 

 for the survey of the Transaharan railway, are leaving Paris by 

 batches. They take with them a number of aneroid barometers 

 specially constructed, which will be verified frequently by boiling 

 water with a hypsometer of verysimple c instruction. 



The earthquake in Switzerland on December 30, 1879, is 

 exciting great interest in scientific circle-, and arrangements are 

 being made for accurately measuring the duration of future 

 shocks. The occurrence of a shock at the beginning of the late 

 phenomenal frost and of another at its c! se is too remarkable to 

 escape notice. The oscillation of Tuesday, though felt at places 

 so far asunder as Chambery and Berne, seems to have been most 

 marked at Geneva, Lausanne, and in the mountains of Bex. At 

 Grion, in Vaud, 3,500 feet above the sea-level, the oscillation 

 lasted five seconds, and was accompanied by a rumbling sound 

 as of subterranean thunder. 



The subject of the Wyatt Edgell Prize Essay of the Sanitary 

 Institute is " The Ratine of Hereditary Tendencies in Health 

 and Disease," not the Cause. 



The programme for the meetings after Christmas of the 

 Society of Arts has just been issued. Among papers to be read 

 at the ordinary meetings between Christmas and Easter are : — 

 January 21, " Dome tic Poisons," by Henry Carr ; January 28, 

 "The Future of Epping Forest," by William Paul, F.L.S. ; 

 February 4, " Trade and Commerce with Siberia, via the Kara 

 Sea," by Henry Seebohm ; February II, " The History of the 

 Art of Bookbinding," by Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A. ; 

 February IS, "The Euphrates Valley Railway," by W. P. 

 Andrew ; February 25, " The Art of the Silversmith," by W. 

 Herbert Singer ; March 3, "The History of Musical Pitch," by 

 Alexander J. Ellis, F.R.S. ; March 10, " Recent Advances in 

 the Production of Lambeth Art Pottery," by John Sparkes ; 

 March 17, "Buildings for Secondary Educational Purposes," by 

 E. C. Robins, F.S.A. In the Indian Section, Prof. Vambery, 

 the great Eastern traveller, has undertaken to read a paper on 

 " Russia's Influence over the Inhabitants of Central Asia during 

 the last Ten Vears," and he has promised to come over from 

 Buda-Pesth expressly for the purpose. The other papers to be 

 read in this section, for which dates are fixed, are : — January 30, 

 "Herat," by Col. G. B. Malleson. C.S.I. ; April 2, " The Best 

 Route for a Line of Railway to India," by Mr. B. Haughton, 

 C.E. ; May 7, " Agriculture in India," by Mr. Robertson, 

 Superintendent of the Government Farm, Madras. In the 

 Chemical Sections, Prof. Perry will read a paper on " The 

 Teaching of Physics," on January 22. On February 12 there 

 will be a paper on " Gas Furnaces and Kilns for Burning 

 Pottery," by Herbert Guthrie, C.E. The course of Cantor Lec- 

 tures during this part of the year will be on the "Manufacture 

 of India-rubber and Gutta-percha," by Thomas Bolas, F.C.S. 

 It will consist of six lectures, the fust of which will be given on 

 February 2. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past w eck include a Macaque Monkey {Macacus cynomolgus) 

 froai India, presented by Mrs. L. C. Piggott; a Common Ocelot 

 (Felis paidalis), a Harpy Eagle (Thrasaetus harpygia) from 

 Central Am.-rica, a Black tailed Parrakeet (Polytdis melauurus) 

 from Australia, purchased; a Tamandua Ant-eater (Tamaniua 

 telradactyla), two Naked -throated Bell Birds (Chasmorhynchus 

 nudicollis) from Brazil, a Tuberculated Iguana (Iguana tuber- 

 culata) from South America, two Giant Toads (Bufo agua) from 

 Savanilla, deposited. 



