56 



SCIENCE GOSSIP. 



On June gth, a memorial bust and pedestal to 

 Joseph Thompson, the African explorer, was 

 unveiled at Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. A marble 

 bust will also be placed in the rooms of the Royal 

 Geographical Society. 



We have received Herr Oswald Weigel's 

 catalogue of books on the zoological division 

 Arthropoda. It contains 1,480 items of literature 

 on insects, Crustacea, spiders, etc. His address is 

 1, Konigstrasse, Leipzig. 



Mr. John Clayton has sent in a reprint of a 

 lecture by himself on the " Effects of the Weather 

 upon Vegetation," which is illustrated by a map 

 and frontispiece. Botanists and agriculturists will 

 find much to interest them in his remarks. 



The report of Dr. Copeland, the Astronomer 

 Royal of Scotland, was issued on June 5th, as a 

 Parliamentary paper. It deals largely with the 

 new reduction of the right ascensions of stars, 

 observed at Carlton-Hill, and the instruments 

 used. 



Mr. Edward Stanford, of Cockspur Street, 

 London, the publisher of geographical books and 

 maps, has sent us his useful catalogue of maps and 

 books. This publication contains key maps both 

 to the British and French Ordnance Survey charts. 

 It will be found useful by our readers, who can at 

 a moment select by number any particular sheet. 



The Annual Conversazione of the Royal Society, 

 to which ladies were invited, took place on June 

 1 6th, and was well attended. We are not quite 

 clear as to whether the interest of the numerous 

 Fellows who were there was not greater in the 

 brilliant costumes of the visitors of the " other sex," 

 than in the many exhibits of a scientific character, 

 as most of the latter were shown at the soiree 

 reported in last month's Science-Gossip. 



It is satisfactory to note that common sense 

 prevailed at the last audit of the Urban District 

 Council of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, when a charge 

 was found in the accounts for the services of a 

 "water diviner." It was conclusively shown by 

 scientific evidence of a geological character that 

 the spot selected by the "diviner" was one most 

 unlikely to find water. The auditor disallowed 

 the amount, which must be privately repaid to 

 the Urban funds by members of the Council who 

 voted for the " diviner's " employment. 



In the House of Lords, on May 28th, a debate of 

 much importance to those persons possessing 

 valuable natural history collections and other 

 objects of a scientific character took place on the 

 motion of Lord Stanhope. It was with the 

 object of persuading the Government to remit 

 death dues on such objects, and also on pictures, 

 prints, books, manuscripts and works of art not 

 yielding income. Lord Kelvin ably supported 

 the motion ; but nothing of a definite character 

 resulted. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has 

 the veto in each case which may arise, and, we 

 understand, the power to remit the dues. 



It was only during the second week in June that 

 the University of Klausenburg celebrated the 

 hundredth birthday of its veteran Professor, 

 Samuel Brassai ; and a week later his death is 

 announced. 



Messrs. Longmans will shortly publish an 

 important revision of Sir John Evans' " Ancient 

 Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of 

 Great Britain." The first edition was issued in 

 1S72, so there is much new material for additional 

 matter. 



A large captive balloon, which formed part of 

 the Jubilee fete at the Royal Botanical Society's 

 Gardens, Regent's Park, escaped, and after ascend- 

 ing into a dense mass of cumulus cloud appears to 

 have exploded. It fell in pieces in the neighbour- 

 hood ot St. Pancras and King's Cross Railway 

 Stations. 



The Annual Report of the Director-General of 

 the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom for 

 1896 has been issued by H.M. Stationery Office 

 (Price 6d.) It is fuller than usual, reaching about 

 100 pp. It is divided into sections : (1) Geological 

 Survey ; (2) the Palaeontological Department ; 

 and (3) the Museum of Practical Geology in 

 London. 



The terrible earthquake of June 12th, which 

 devastated portions of Bengal, and was very severe 

 in Assam, only too clearly shows, as has been said, 

 that our "solid earth" is still more or less 

 unstable, even as a mass of quivering jelly. It 

 seems probable that the same tremor was registered 

 by seismographic instruments at Grenable, in 

 France, at Newport, Isle of Wight, Edinburgh, 

 and other European stations. 



Telegraphy without wires is apparently coming 

 into practical form, and has the full support of 

 Mr. W. H. Preece, chief of the Electrical Depart- 

 ment of the General Post Office. The new 

 apparatus, invented by Signor Marconi, a young 

 Italian, is full of promise. Mr. Preece recently 

 lectured on the subject at the Royal Institution. 

 Signor Marconi's invention will be fully tested 

 under the auspices of the British Government. It 

 may lead to a revolution in signalling and tele- 

 graphy. 



It is with great pleasure we note among the 

 Jubilee honours that the editor of " Nature," 

 Professor Joseph Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., etc., 

 has been promoted from C.B. to a knighthood of 

 that honourable Order. We are sure this pleasure 

 will be shared by all our readers who know the 

 excellent scientific work so unassumingly accom- 

 plished by Sir Norman Lockyer and ot his life- 

 long efforts to obtain Government recognition of 

 all matters scientific. Among the other Jubilee 

 honours, Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, Bart., 

 M.P. for Wigtownshire and a popular writer on 

 natural history subjects, becomes a Privy Coun- 

 cillor. Dr. Samuel Wilkes, President of the 

 Royal College of Physicians, and Sir William 

 MacCormac, President of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, are to be baronets. Professor Crookes, 

 F.R.S., has a knighthood, as do Mr. Wolfe Barry, 

 President of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Dr. 

 Huggins, Dr. Thorne and Admiral Wharton, 

 HydrograDhical Department of the Navy. Dr. 

 Edward Frankland, F.R.S., to be K.C.B., and 

 William Henry Mahoney Christy, F.R.S. (Astro- 

 nomer-Royal), to be a C.B. Sir Joseph Hooker 

 to be G.C.S.I. 



