FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. 4. (New Series.) 



JANUARY 27th, 1888. 



r Weekly, Price 3d. 

 L By Post, 3^. 



Current Events 



Hot-air Stoves (il/us.) ... 



Gum Trees 



Iron Curtain for Theatres (illus.) 

 Hoar-Frost and Fog 



General Notes 



Will Men Ever Fly ?— 11. (illus. ) 

 How to Work with the Microscope ... 

 Natural History ; 



The Horned Lizard (illus.) 



The Intelligence of the Oyster ... 



Gibraltar 



Edible Birds' Nests 

 The Green Colouring Matter of Plants 

 Want of a Sanitary System in Russia . . . 

 Reviews : 



First Year of Scientific Knowledge 



PAGE 



• 73 



• 75 

 . 76 



• 77 

 . 78 

 ■ 79 



87 



C ONTENTS . 



PAGE 



Elektrische Apparate, Maschinen 



und Einrichtungen ... ... 87 



Bird Stories— Old and New ... 87 

 The Student's Handbook of 



Chemistry... ... ... ... 87 



Studies in Philosophy ... ... 88 



Autobiography of an Acorn ... 88 



The Use of Forests 89 



Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. : 



Society of Telegraph Engineers ... 90 



Royal School of Mines ... ... 90 



Royal Society of Edinburgh ... 90 



London Mathematical Society ... 91 

 Wolverhampton Literary and 



Scientific Society 91 



Edinburgh Literary Institute ... 91 



Middlesex Natural History Society 91 



PAGE 



Bristol Naturalists' Society ... 92 



Birmingham and Midland Institute 92 



Institution of Civil Engineers of 



Ireland ,,. ... ... ... 92 



Cardiff Naturalists' Society ... 92 



Society of Chemical Industry ... 92 



Technical Education Notes 93 



Correspondence : 



The Star of Bethlehem— Water 

 Snails — A Curious Phenomenon — 



Transmission of Sight Impressions 93 



Recent Inventions ... ... ... 94 



Announcements ... ... ... ... 95 



Diary for Next Week 96 



Sales ... ... ... ... ... 96 



Exchanges 



Books Received ._ 



96 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



A Chair of Darwinism at Paris. — It is announced 

 that the Municipal Council of Paris has resolved to found 

 a chair of philosophical zoology with the more particular 

 purpose of elaborating and popularising the doctrine of 

 evolution. Whether the new professorship will be in 

 connection with the Jardin des Plantes, the Sorbonne, or 

 the College de France is a point not yet decided. This, 

 as a valuable contemporary calls it, is an " enlightened, 

 patriotic, and high-minded initiative." It is the more 

 opportune as the Zoological Section of the Academy 

 of Sciences has been the last entrenchment of the old 

 school in natural history. We are here reminded that 

 in England Professor Flower (the head of the Natural 

 History Department of the British Museum) is being 

 denounced in a certain quarter for spending national 

 funds in teaching Darwinism ! 



The Coral Reefs Controversy. — Concerning the 

 origin of these reefs a somewhat acrimonious con- 

 troversy has arisen, and has in all likelihood not reached 

 its conclusion. It is well known that, according to 

 Darwin, coral reefs originate in the coral working around 

 the shores of an island as it is gradually subsiding, and 

 become first fringing reefs, then ring-atolls, at first 

 with an island in the centre, which is ultimately 

 submerged. About eight years ago Mr. John Murray, 

 of the Challenger staff, presented a theory in which the 

 phenomena of coral-reefs were to a great extent said to 

 be due to elevation. This theory was freely discussed 

 among geologists, both in Europe and America, and 

 an abstract of it was read before the Royal Society of 



Edinburgh. But last year the Duke of Argyll published 

 a paper in the Nineteenth Century, entitled " A Great 

 Lesson." Here he intimated pretty plainly that Mr. 

 Murray's theory had been suppressed, by a " conspiracy 

 of silence," in which the late Sir Wyville Thomson was 

 said to have taken a prominent part ! To this Professor 

 Huxley has replied, pointing out with beautiful neatness 

 the inaccuracies of the Duke. 



The Injurious Character of Air Expired by Animals. 

 — Attention has lately been drawn to living, and es- 

 pecially sleeping, in crowded and ill-ventilated apartments 

 as a main cause of pulmonary consumption. This 

 question has been confirmed by some interesting re- 

 searches by MM. Brown-Sequard, and Arsonval which 

 have appeared in the Comptes Rendiis. These physio- 

 logists find, by direct experiment, that the lungs of man, 

 of the dog, and of the rabbit, even when in a state of 

 perfect health produce a very decided poison which is 

 constantly given off in the air expired. It is extremely 

 probable, if not certain, that this is the agent which 

 renders a confined atmosphere so dangerous. It was 

 found by special experiment that the increased pro- 

 portion of carbonic acid in such air does not produce the 

 special eifects which are always observed. 



The Technical Education Measure. — Mr. Stanley 

 Leighton has written an important letter on the two 

 main departments of education. He urges that foreign 

 languages and all subjects which belong to the secondary 

 or technical department should be eliminated from the 

 Board School programme. He holds that technical 

 education should not be entrusted to School Boards or to 



