302 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A sharp shock of earthquake occurred in 

 Normandy on December 6th, about half-an-hour 

 after sunset. 



The Manchester Museum is now open on 

 Sunday afternoons. This will doubtless give 

 great aid to the numerous workmen naturalists, for 

 which that city has long been celebrated. 



Alfred E. Beach, one of the proprietors of 

 the " Scientific American," died on January ist, 

 in New York. He was well-known in American 

 scientific circles, but his attainments were largely 

 mechanical. 



Mr. William L. Sclater received the curator- 

 ship of the South African Museum at Capetown, 

 vacant by the retirement of Mr. Roland Tremen, 

 F.R.S. Mr. Sclater was at one time deputy- 

 superintendent of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 



Since the resignation of the late Dr. Tyndall, 

 who was Scientific Adviser to the Trinity House 

 Corporation, the post remained unoccupied. It 

 has now been filled by Lord Rayleigh, a successor 

 to such men as Tyndall and Faraday, who will 

 maintain its honour. 



A writer to "Nature " suggests a fog scale, t 

 determine the comparative amount of mist in the 

 air, after the manner in which we approximate the 

 rainfall and wind force. If a scale could be fixed 

 and a series of observations taken, we should soon 

 find out the mistier places in our islands. 



Through the death, at the end of November 

 last, of Lord de Tabley, better known as the Hon. J. 

 B. Leicester Warren, there passed away an eminent 

 man among the botanists of this country. His 

 knowledge of the intricate groups of British 

 Brambles was exceptionally good. 



From the "Transactions of the City of London 

 Entomological and Natural History Society/' for 

 1895, we fi n d the society in prosperous condition, 

 the membership being 74. The presidental address 

 was devoted by Mr. Tutt to " Modern Principles on 

 which the Classification of Lepidoptera is based." 



Two large and important exhibitions of automatic 

 carriages in London during the coming summer, 

 with ' ' races ' ' or competitive trials at the Crystal 

 Palace, indicate the progress of " horseless 

 carriages." The Automobile Club of Paris has 

 also arranged a race from that city to Marseilles 

 and back. Application has been made in Paris to 

 place on the streets, for hire, similar carriages, at 

 one shilling and sixpence per hour. 



Anticipating the general movement in favour 

 of motor-carriages, a new illustrated monthly 

 journal has been started in New York, called " The 

 Horseless Age." The first number appeared last 

 November. We hardly think the title a good one, 

 for we doubt the future existence of a horseless 

 age. There are numbers of illustrations of useful- 

 looking motor-carriages in the paper, but some of 

 the names are too awful — for instance, the 

 " Electrobat " and " Motortrap." 



The curatorship of the Fielding Herbarium at 

 Oxford has been given to Mr G. C. Druce, the 

 well-known botanist. 



Mr. Max Weg, of 1, Leplaystrasse, Leipzig, 

 has favoured us with a copy of his Catalogue, 

 No. 48, of Zoological Books. It embraces 3,890 

 books, which are available for students and others 

 to purchase. 



"Tables of Conjugate Force, for the users of 

 Photographic Lenses," are issued by Messrs. 

 Dawbarn and Ward, of London. They are 

 compiled and explained by Mr. J. R. Gatz, and 

 the price is to be sixpence. 



" The Agricultural Magazine " is now well into 

 its second year, and is greatly improved since 

 it first appeared. The articles, some having a 

 scientific treatment, are varied, and devoted 

 principally to the subject of cage-birds. The 

 price is sixpence monthly, and the address of 

 the hon. treasurer is, Mr. H. R. Fillmer, 52, Ship 

 Street, Brighton. 



Mr. Harold Brierley describes, in "Nature," 

 the site, ten miles from Bridlington Quay, in 

 Yorkshire, where an aerolite fell a century ago. 

 It is marked by a column of bricks, which used to 

 be annually whitewashed. There is a slab bearing 

 an inscription stating that on December 13th, 1795, 

 an extraordinary stone fell from the atmosphere, 

 weighing 56 pounds. The meteorolite is now in 

 the British Museum. 



The universally respected publisher, Mr. Alex- 

 ander Macmillan, of Bedford Street, London, 

 is dead, aged seventy-eight years. His name 

 has been associated with the publication of more 

 high-class scientific books than other person. 

 He was one of the founders of our contemporary, 

 "Nature." There were few men who have in a 

 quiet and unostentatious manner done more to 

 diffuse scientific knowledge. 



We have received two publications from the 

 Bristol Museum, which have been recently issued. 

 They are both by Mr. Edward Wilson, F.G.S., the 

 curator. One is the sixth edition of a Guide to the 

 Museum, which is both educational and useful to 

 the visitors ; the other is a Catalogue of the 

 fossils, rocks and minerals in the students' geolo- 

 gical collection in the Bristol Museum. It is 

 printed on one side so that it can be cut up for 

 labels, or the blank sides may be used for notes. 



The extermination of animals on the North 

 American Continent still goes on, through the 

 reckless greed of man. In addition to the many 

 species which are quite or nearly lost, Mr. W. H. 

 Dall draws attention in a recent number of 

 "Science," to the fact that in Alaska "the 

 whaling and sealing industries are practically 

 exhausted, and the fur trade is in its decadence ; the 

 salmon canning is in full prosperity, but conducted 

 in a wasteful and destructive manner which cannot 

 long be continued. 



One of the attractions of the Swiss National 

 Exhibition, to be opened on May ist, at Geneva, 

 will be the use of acetylene, which gas is now 

 produced by depressing and compressing the 

 atmosphere down to 415 degress below zero, into 

 a liquid. This is liquid Pictet, named after the 

 discoverer. When the liquid is allowed to expand, 

 it becomes thirty times the illuminating power of 

 coal gas. Measure for measure, the cost of pro- 

 duction is the same ; thus, acetylene becomes one- 

 thirtieth the price of the gas now commonly used. 



