-£- 



SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



Thz rem mee:irr :: Tue Geclmdscs Ass: ciacicn 

 will be held in the new Mathematical Theatre, 

 University College, Gower Street, London, on 

 Friday, December 7th, at 8 p.m., when papers 

 will be read by A. Smith Woodward. F.Z.S., and 

 H. W. Monckton, F.G.S. 



Mr. Herbert Spencer has issued in pamphlet 

 form, with an important added postscript, his essay 

 on " Weismannism," which appeared in the October 

 "Contemporary Review." It is entitled "Weis- 

 mannism Once More," and is published by 

 Williams and Norgate, London. 



Royal Meteorological Society, held November 21st, 

 Dr. H. B. Guppy read a valuable paper on 

 suggestions as to methods of determining the 



influence :: serines en me cemreramre ::' a river, 

 arc cue eeucrcllucr iccuuence :r_ me mrriuucire 



ceumry. 



The editor of "The Mineral Collector," a 

 magazine not yet a year old, published in New- 

 York, remarks in a recent number " the question, 

 ' how shall I clean this mineral so as to make it a 

 handsome specimen ?' has doubtless been asked by 

 every collector." He further says that there is no 

 rurlicacim ri v:r.; cries f:r cleammi minerals, arc 

 cicac sued is mu:a reeded. 



The meetings of the Malacological Society of 

 London have been iatterly held, by permission of 

 the Council of the Linnean Society, in their rooms 

 ir. Burlington House arm will be continued there 

 :r (he second Friday evening in each month at 

 eight o'clock. These meetings are always interest - 

 irc especially :r_ aercum :: me varied ermrics :: 

 sue._s ace imer mjeccs mc.mscam 



The annnal report of the Trinidad Field 

 Naturalists' Club appears in the October number 

 of their journal, showing a prosperous year. 

 Vru'crtunately this is sadly discounted on the last 

 page of the journal, by notices of deaths of the 

 President, Dr. B. N. Rake, and Arthur Gaywood 

 and Henry Tate (late of Belfast), two other 

 members, from fever. 



In ' ' Symons's Meteorological Magazine " attention 

 is drawn to some immense hailstones which fell in 

 Northern France during a thunderstorm on 26th of 

 August, last. At Mezieres most of the hailstones 

 weighed about seven ounces, while one is said to 

 have reached 1 kilo 200 grammes, or two pounds 

 ten ounces. The damage done by this storm in the 

 neighbourhood was estimated at ^24,000. 



We have received a reprint of a paper from 

 " The Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeo- 

 logical Society" for October, 1894, by R- A. 

 Phillips, on "The Characteristics of the Flora of 

 County Cork." He divides his more distinctive 

 species of plants into types of regions, namely, the 

 Hibernian, Atlantic, Germanic, English, Scottish 

 arc Hicmland. Iris rarer demmsuraces :i_r value 



Under the title of "Holiday Geography, Dr. 

 H. R. Mill will give a series of popular •' Christmas 

 Lectures to Young People," illustrated by lar 

 views, in the Map Room of the Royal Geographical 

 Society. 



The first of the Christmas course of lectures for 

 children at the Royal Institution will be delivered 

 on December 27th, at 3 o'clock, by Prof. J. A. 

 Fleming, F.R.S. The subject will be "The 

 Working of an Electric Current." These lectures, 

 though necessarily of an elementary character, are 

 of high scientific value and interest to others 

 besides me children. 



" Nature " draws attention to the unique 

 instance of a religious body having founded and 

 ncaincained a marine biclceical iar:ra::rv Eueb 

 was established, in 1881, on the Russian island of 

 Solowetzk, in the White Sea. Perpetual dav is 

 there enjoyed from the middle of May to the middle 

 of July, which gives great opportunity for con- 

 tinuous daylight observation oi arctic forms of life. 



Our younger readers, and some of their elders 

 also, will hear with regret of the death of Louis 

 Figuier, the well-known author of popular 

 romances based on scientific facts. He was born 

 in 1819, at Montpellier, and died on November 8th 

 this year. He was an M.D., D.Sc, and at one 

 rime Professor of Ph armacy in Paris. Dr. Figuier 

 annually published a useful summary of the more 

 important scientific discoveries of the 3-ear, under 

 the title of " Annee Scientifique." 



The " Proceedings of the Malacological Society 

 of London" last issue (vol. 1., No. _ contain the 

 interesting presidential address of Dr. H. Wood- 

 ward, F.R.S. , read before the Society in July last. 

 Inaugurated on February 27th, 1893, with 70 

 orig in al members, in sixteen months the roll had 

 reached 153 members. Of these 102 are British, 

 17 from other parts of Europe, 5 from South Africa, 

 19 from Australia, North America and West 

 Indies, 7, China and South Sea Islands, 3. 



In a communication to ' ' Nature Notes ' " Archibald 

 Clarke calls attention to the effect in altering the 



clubs. We fear our friends the golfers are un- 

 consciously becoming our enemies, through tramping 

 over, cutting down, and even closing some of our 

 best collecting-grounds. Liverpool collectors have 

 if theirs through the closing 

 lis by a golf club. We 

 otices to trespassers " nearly 

 Hel traits. We hear 



■ are rev.- :nrea:erec 





W 



ar ce- 

 liac Mi 



Tee "Report and Transactions of the Guernsey 

 Scciecy c: Nacural Science and Luc a'. Ives ear :lr :cr 

 1893, is now issued. Perhaps the most important 

 paper in the " Transactions " is one upon " The Dia- 

 tomsof Guernsey," by Mr. E.D. Marquand. Alist of 

 322 species is given as occurring in the island, but 

 up to the time of reading the paper no fossil diatoms 

 had been found there, although carefully sought 

 among various deposits. The same ' ' Transactions ' ' 

 contain a list of " The Coleoptera of Guernsey," b}' 

 Mr. W. A. Luff, the number observed being about 

 520. Doubtless, with more assiduous collecting, 

 this number will be considerably augmented, as it 

 appears too small a proportion of the nearly 4,000 

 neat: mrrrrmr en me ad; emir u mainland 



