FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I. — No. 8. {New Series:) 



FEBRUARY 24th, ij 



"Weekly, Price 3d.. 

 _ By Post. 3^. 



Current Events .. . 



Scientific Table Talk 



Gas-Heated Circulating Boiler (illus.) 

 Automatic Intermittent Syphon (illus.') 



Coloured Words 



General Notes ... 



Notes on Sound (illus.) 



Volapiik... 

 Natural History : 



Whales and their Uses (illus.) ... 



The Migration of Birds 



A Rare Bird in Cumberland 

 Characteristics of Deep-Sea Fishes ... 



Reviews : 



Proceedings of the Philosophical 

 Society of Glasgow 



PAGE 



169 



170 

 171 

 172 

 173 

 175 

 177 

 178 



C ONTENT S. 



r 

 An Easy Guide to the Constella- 

 tions ... ... ... „ 



The Constellations, and how to 



Find them 

 Exercises in Quantitative Chemical 



Analysis... 

 yournal of Morphology ... 

 Manufacture and Coloration of 



Precious Stones 



A One-Coloured Rainbow 

 Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. : 

 Royal Society 



Geological Society 



Civil and Mechanical Engineers' 



Society ... 

 Ipswich Museum Lectures 

 Institution of Civil Engineers ... 



Liverpool Engineering Society ... 

 Edinburgh Geological Society ... 

 Halifax Literary and Philosophi- 

 cal Society 

 Society of Arts 



Correspondence : 



The Spectator on Lost Instincts — 

 Ancient Historical Eclipse of the 

 Moon — Frosted Vegetables — 

 British Species of Viper 



Recent Inventions 



Announcements 



Diary for Next Week 



Sales and Exchanges ... 



Selected Books 



Notices ... ... ._ 



190 

 190 

 191 

 192 

 192 

 192 

 192 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



Science and Art Classes. — Whatever shortcomings 

 there may be in the work of the Science and Art De- 

 partment, its record as a whole continues to be a very 

 satisfactory one. From the Calendar just issued it appears 

 that there are no less than 2,308 schools in the United 

 Kingdom, in which Science and Art classes are held. In 

 these schools there are 73,378 art students, and 104,821 

 who are being trained in science. In the science classes 

 as many as 30,852 are learning, mathematics, 20,122 

 inorganic chemistry, and 20,032 magnetism and elec- 

 tricity. From these figures it is evident that the great 

 advance recently made in the various applications of 

 electricity is making students realise the importance of 

 acquiring a scientific understanding of the subject. The 

 teaching they receive may not always be of the most 

 practical kind — indeed, it cannot be expected that there 

 will be suitable apparatusat all the schools — but, whatever 

 the shortcomings, we may assume that some useful in- 

 formation is imparted, and we are pleased to note the 

 large number of students ready and willing to learn. 

 From the returns published it appears that, after mathe- 

 matics, the greatest number of English students enter 

 for chemistry, machine construction, physiography, and 

 electricity. In Scotland similar subjects are in favour, 

 although in a different order, but in Ireland it is note- 

 worthy that the" principles of agriculture attract more 

 attention than any other subject. 



Phrenology. — The British Phrenological Association 

 held a meeting last week, whereat a paper was read by 

 Mr. James Webb on " The Phrenology of the Poets." De- 

 lusions die hard, but it is certainly not a little strange 

 that any delusion connecting character and skull in such 



an elaborately artificial manner as does the pseudo- 

 science of phrenology should have survived the exact 

 scientific work of Ferrier and Munk and Schiifer on the 

 relation between brain-structure and function. We may 

 or may not some day see the problem wholly solved, but 

 if we do, it will have been solved by methods akin to 

 theirs, rather than by that of the modern followers of Gall 

 and Spurzheim. Meanwhile the " British Phrenological 

 Association " must make its hay though the sun is low 

 on its horizon, and though the night is fast coming to 

 hide " The Phrenology of the Poets " in that limbo of 

 obscurity which already covers so many promising 

 attempts to explain the unexplained — and even the in- 

 explicable — by a few portable formulae. 



Science at Woolwich. — A few years back Nature 

 commented upon the low value set upon scientific pro- 

 ficiency in the Sandhurst examinations, and ibretold that 

 this would react injuriously upon those public schools 

 which were beginning to introduce science subjects into 

 their regular school routine. The prediction was fulfilled 

 only too well. One public school thereupon omitted all 

 science-teaching in the instruction given to boys who 

 were to become candidates for Sandhurst. At Woolwich, 

 where young men are trained for the Royal Engineers 

 and the Artillery, science till lately met with fairer treat- 

 ment, but a new code, which is to come into force in 

 November next, unless the authorities are previously 

 better advised, throws science quite into the shade. The 

 marks capable of being earned are in Latin, French, and 

 German, " compulsory " mathematics and " optional " 

 mathematics, 3,000 each ; Greek, English history, 

 chemistry, physics, physical geography, and geology 

 2,000 each. 



