NOVEMBER 24, 1899. ] 
northwestern shore of the sea of Okhotsk, and 
have been examined by a commission of mining 
engineers sent by the Imperial Government to 
Siberia for that purpose. These deposits will 
be leased to the highest bidders at a public auc- 
tion to be held on February 27th next, at the 
Ministry of Agriculture and State Domains. 
The agents of the Russian Ministry of Finance 
abroad are authorized to communicate to in- 
tending purchasers the conditions of the sale, 
and all further particulars concerning the lease 
of the deposits in question. 
THE department of pharmacognosy of the 
University of Michigan will hereafter grow its 
plants for use in research work. This is to 
guarantee abundance and authenticity of the 
drugs. Several acres of ground will be secured, 
and the plants which are to be the subjects of 
investigation will be cultivated in large quan- 
tities. The plan is an outgrowth of the botan- 
ical gardens which were established three years 
ago. 
. AN Ornithological Club, with about fifteen 
members, has been organized by Mr. W. E. D. 
Scott, at Princeton University. 
WE take the following note from the last 
issue of Natural Science: Ata meeting held in 
The Outlook Tower, Castlehill, Edinburgh, on 
14th October, Professor James Geikie, D.C.L., 
in the chair, an interesting and stimulating ad- 
dress was delivered by Professor Wilbur Jack- 
man, M.A., of Chicago University and Training 
College, on ‘Nature Study, its Methods and 
Results in School Practice.’ Even apart from 
the able address, which will doubtless be pub- 
lished, the exhibits of notes of work, especially 
those in water-color, arranged round the room, 
showed what results await those teachers who 
have the courage and opportunity to devise 
courses of nature-study to mitigate the burden 
of book-work. To many of those present these 
exhibits and the story of them must have 
seemed a revelation, but it was interesting to 
notice that several authorities who took part in 
the discussion, which lasted for towards two 
hours after the lecture, reverted to the neces- 
sity of ‘books.’ A guide-book for the teacher 
may be necessary—not that there is really a 
lack—but of more books for the scholars there 
SCIENCE 
783 
should, in a case like this, be no mention. 
Owing to the overcrowded audience, an ad- 
journment after the lecture was effected to the 
Castlehill public shool, where, under the chair- 
manship of Professor Crum Brown, F.R.8., an 
interesting discussion was held. To this con- 
tributions were made by Mr. Robert Smith, 
B.Se., of University College, Dundee, who re- 
ported on some nature-study classes which he 
had conducted, by Mr. Robert Blair, Science 
Inspector, by Mr. Dunn, H.M.I.8., by Profes- 
sor J. Arthur Thomson of Aberdeen, by Dr. 
Maurice Paterson of the Free Church Training 
College, by Miss Stevenson of the Edinburgh 
School Board, by Mr. Walter Blaikie, Professor 
Geddes of Dundee, and others. There was also 
an exhibition of maps of a botanical survey of 
Scotland by Mr. Robert Smith, of a cosmosphere 
by Mr. Walter Blaikie, of a first panel of a pro- 
posed spheric atlas by Professor E. Reclus of 
Brussels, of relief models by Mr. George Guyou, 
etc. Altogether the meeting was one of con- 
siderable educational importance in connection 
with the teaching of natural science in schools. 
ACCORDING to Nature the Society of Arts of 
London planned to open its new session on No- 
vember 15th, with an address from the chair- 
man of the Council, Sir John Wolfe Barry, 
K.C.B., F.R.S., in which it was expected that 
he would develop the subject of his address last 
year, ‘London Communications,’ and would 
make some suggestions as to the practical 
means of carrying his proposals into effect. 
The first paper after the opening meeting will 
be by Mr. D. E. Hutchins, who will draw at- 
tention to the want in England of measures 
for the proper conservation of woods and for- 
ests. At the next meeting Mr. Allan Wyon 
will give a paper, principally of an antiquarian 
nature, on the Great Seals of England. At 
the other meetings before Christmas it is prob- 
able that Mr. Joseph Cash will describe the 
substitutes which have recently been intro- 
duced to replace silk, and the methods of their 
production. Mr. F. G. Aflalo will draw atten- 
tion to the necessity for some legislation to re- 
strict sea anglers from catching immature and 
undersized fish; and Mr. H. Bloomfield Bare 
will describe and illustrate the methods, which 
have recently achieved considerable success in 
