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FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. 3. {New Series.) 



JANUARY 20th, iJ 



rWeekly, Price 3d. 

 L By Post, Sid. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Current Events 49 



The Edison Phonograph (iilus.) ... 51 



Bacteriological Water Test ... 52 



Will Men ever Fly ? — I. (illus.) ... 53 



Oil ON THE Troubled Waters ... 54 



General Notes 55 



Total Eclipse of THE Moon (iilus.) 57 



TheNewChromomictor. — II.{illus.) 57 



Action of Oils on Metals 58 



Natural History: 



The Great Auk (jV/«j-.) 59 



A Sporting Fish 60 



Ants... 60 



Christmas Island ... ... ... 61 



The Hessian Fly and its Parasites 61 



WiLL-O'-THE-WlSP.— HI 61 



Portable Still (iUus.) 62 



Reviews: — 

 Colour 



Lectures on Bacteria 



My Hundred Swiss Flowers 



Unfinished Worlds 



Proceedings of the Bristol Na- 

 turalists' Society 



Inorganic Forms 



The Sumach 



Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. 

 Geological Society ... 

 Edinburgh Philosophical Institution 

 Birmingham and Midland Institute 

 Royal Scottish Society of Arts 

 North of England Institute of 

 Mining and Mechanical Engi- 

 neers 



67 



PAGE 



Bournemouth Society of Natural 

 Science 68 



Technical Education Notes ... 69 



Correspondence : 



'The Intelligence of Birds.— Colour 

 Sense of Animals. — Sun Spots and 

 Grain Prices.— Electric Sewage 

 Treatment. — The Lifetime of the 

 Sun ... 



Recent Inventions 



Announcements 



Diary for Next Week 



Sales 



Exchanges ... ._ 



Books Received 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



The Proposed Albert University. — The want of a 

 real university for London which shall be a teaching 

 body and what is still more important, a school for re- 

 search in the various sciences, becomes from day to day 

 more distinctly felt. The present London University, as a 

 mere examining and degree-conferring body, is something 

 perfectly unique, and however ably it may have dis- 

 charged its limited functions, its foundation must be con- 

 sidered as a step in a doubtful direction, springing from 

 a misconception of what was at that time the weak side 

 of British universities. If we remember that the in- 

 corporation of the Victoria University of Manchester met 

 with zealous opposition, we may expect that the pro- 

 posed Albert University will encounter not a few storms 

 before it receives a Royal charter. 



The " Cross " Poisoning Case. — This case and the 

 attempt made to throw discredit on the analysis of Dr. 

 Yelverton Pearson reminds us of the unsatisfactory 

 manner pursued by our Courts in obtaining the evidence 

 of physicians, chemists, engineers, microscopists, etc. 

 It is desirable that experts should not be " called " by 

 one side or the other, but should be appointed for the 

 time being as assessors, as required, to instruct the Court 

 on the scientific questions involved, just as does the judge 

 on the points of law. In the present case Dr. Pearson 

 was obliged to say that he had never previously made a 

 toxicological analysis on the human subject, but he was 

 not allowed to add that he had made numerous examina- 

 tions of the viscera of lower animals in cases of death 

 from poisoning. The present system of examination and 



cross-examination is admirably adapted to ensure the 

 suppression of any truth which counsel on either side 

 may deem will tell against his client. 



The Extension of the Telephone. — The recent ex- 

 tension of the telephone proves that, in some countries 

 at least, it must meet a want which has been distinctly 

 felt. The increase in the number of telephone wires has, 

 according to the Electrical Review, been in Switzerland at 

 the rate of 1,700 per cent. ; in Germany 333 per cent. ; 

 in Austria 267 per cent. ; in Russia 233 per cent. ■ 

 Sweden 200 per cent.; Belgium and Holland 50 per 

 cent ; Italy 23 per cent. ; Great Britain 19 per cent. ; and 

 France 1 1 per cent. 



The increase in the number of subscribers has been 

 mainly proportionate. It has been greatest in Switzer- 

 land, 486 per cent., and smallest in France and Italy, 

 where the numbers of subscribers have been respectively 

 augmented by 62 and 52 per cent. Great Britain has 

 still the largest number of telephone users, 15,114, and 

 Austria the smallest, 3,032. 



The Reform of Higher Education. — Professor 

 Silvanus Thompson shows that " the first and most im- 

 portant point of all is to secure the creation of a real 

 Education Department under a real Minister of Education. 

 At present we have no Minister of Education, only a 

 Vice-President of Council, whose duties appear to be 

 extensive and peculiar. They comprise apparently the 

 work of looking after the regulations for statute-fairs and 

 diseases of cattle ; of supervising the Elementary Educa- 

 tion Department and the Science and Art Department, and 



