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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov. 30, 1888. 



passengers. If these violent outbursts continue, it is 

 said, the whole of the island itself must go to pieces. 



Inauguration of the Pasteur Institute. — The 

 magnificient establishment, which is the result of a 

 universal subscription, in honour of the labours of the 

 illustrious savant, was inaugurated on November 14th. 

 The President of the Republic, many eminent strangers, 

 and a great number of notabilities of the official world, 

 of science, and of the Press were present at the ceremony. 

 The Pasteur Institute is situate in a large plot of ground 

 in the Rue Dutot, in the quarter of Vaugirard. The 

 ceremony was held in the large hall of the library, which 

 had been decorated for the occasion, and around which 

 were placed busts of the Emperors of Russia and Brazil, 

 Madame Boucicaut, Madame Furtado-Heine. Discourses 

 were pronounced by MM. Bertrand, Perpetual Secretary 

 of the Academy of Sciences, Christophle, Governor of 

 the Credit Foncier, Dr. Grandcher, and Pasteur. The 

 Institute consists of two large blocks of buildings con- 

 nected by an intermediate wing. 



A New Chromotype Process. — Our attention has 

 recently been drawn to a new patented process for pro- 

 ducing letterpress blocks in colours, which is being 

 introduced into this country by Messrs. Hare and Co , 

 of 7, Bride Court, and 31, Essex Street. In this process, 

 owing to the much greater degree of contrast from light 

 to dark which can be obtained, the number of colours 

 required to reproduce any copy is reduced, on the 

 average, from five to eight, whereas in ordinary litho- 

 graphic work many more would have to be used. Not 

 only is the cost of the blocks less than the cost of the 

 lithographic stones, but there is also a saving in the 

 relative cost of lithographic and letterpress printing. 

 In addition to these advantages, the inks used in the 

 latter method of printing are usually more brilliant than 

 those employed in the former, hence the finished picture 

 is very bright and vigorous. Indeed, the specimens we 

 have seen leave nothing to be desired in this respect. 

 We anticipate this invention will, before long, play an 

 important part in the illustration of scientific and artistic 

 journals. 



An Extraordinary Phenomenon. — According to a 

 letter in the Times, on the night of Saturday, November 

 3rd, at a time as near 8 o'clock as possible, the tens of 

 thousands of sheep folded in the large sheep-breeding 

 districts north, east, and west of Reading were taken 

 with a sudden fright, jumping their hurdles, escaping 

 from the fields, and running hither and thither ; in fact, 

 there must for some time have been a perfect stampede. 

 Early on Sunday morning the shepherds found the 

 animals under hedges and in the roads, panting and 

 frightened as if they had been terror-stricken. The extent 

 of this remarkable occurrence may be judged when we 

 mention that every large farmer from Wallingford on 

 the one hand to Twyford on the other seems to have had 

 his sheep thus frightened, and it is also noteworthy that 

 with only two or three exceptions the hill-country north 

 of the Thames seems to have been principally affected. 

 The writers, Messrs. Oakshott and Millard, suggest that 

 a slight earthquake was the possible cause of the panic. 

 The matter had already come under the notice of Mr. G. 

 J. Symons, F.R.S., of 62, Camden Square, N.W., who 

 will be glad to receive and consider any information 

 bearing upon the subject. 



Interesting Discovery at Sherborne Abbey. — On 

 Saturday week, while the workmen at Sherborne Abbey 

 were engaged in excavating along the main aisle, they came 

 across a heavy lead coffin resting in its vault, and which, 

 unless removed, would have been in close proximity to 

 the heating apparatus. The medical officer of health 

 was consulted as to whether there was any danger of 

 gases emanating from it if it were left where it was. 

 On being opened, the coffin was found to contain the 

 body of a young lady, apparently about twenty years of 

 age, and evidently a person of high social rank. The 

 body was wrapped in a coarse kind of flannel, the head 

 being enveloped in a frilled head-dress of the same 

 material. On removing a portion of the flannel placed 

 over the face, the features of an exceedingly good-look- 

 ing person were found to be perfect. The front teeth, 

 slightly showing themselves, were found to be perfect 

 and regular, but almost black. Thechurch wardens decided 

 to have it carefully removed and buried in the cemetery. 

 The coffin lay in a brick vault at the west end of the 

 main aisle, and had been buried in the orthodox fashion, 

 with the feet towards the east. There was no plate, and 

 the probability is that it had been stolen during the early 

 history of the church, or had somehow disappeared. 

 The outer oak encasing the lead had entirely rotted 

 away, leaving a dark powdery substance lying on the 

 lead about two inches in depth. The body was lying in 

 a shell of oak, which had also nearly decayed. - Having 

 regard to the oxidised appearance of the lead, which was 

 of great thickness, and the general appearance of the 

 remains, the opinion is that they must have lain where 

 they have been for seven or eight hundred years at 

 least. 



The Public Health. — The Registrar-General's return 

 for the week ending November 1 7th, shows that the 

 deaths registered during that period in 28 great towns of 

 England and Wales corresponded to an annual rate of 

 197 per 1,000 of their aggregate population, which is 

 estimated 319,398,273 persons in the middle of this year. 

 The six healthiest places were Brighton, Bristol, Leices- 

 ter, Derby, Nottingham, and Birmingham. In London 

 2,606 births and 1,619 deaths were registered. Allowance 

 made for increase of population, the births were 188, 

 and the deaths 75, below the average numbers in the 

 corresponding weeks of the last ten years. The annual 

 death-rate per 1,000 from all causes, which had been 

 2i - 2, 197, and i8 - 5 in the three preceding weeks, rose 

 again last week to 197. During the first seven weeks 

 of the current quarter the death-rate averaged i9'2 pei- 

 1,000, and was 0-5 below the mean rate in the correspond 

 ing periods of the ten years 1878-87. The 1,619 deaths 

 included 124 from measles, 31 from scarlet fever, 44 from 

 diphtheria, 17 from whooping-cough, 15 from enteric 

 fever, 16 from diarrhoea and dysentery, and not one from 

 small-pox, typhus, ill-defined forms of fever, or cholera ; 

 thus, 247 deaths were referred to these diseases, being 

 30 above the corrected average weekly number. In 

 Greater London 3,394 births and 2,028 deaths were 

 registered, corresponding to annual rates of 32"0 and I9'i 

 per 1,000 of the estimated population. In the Outer 

 Ring 1 2 deaths from measles, seven from diphtheria, five 

 from " fever," and four from scarlet fever were regis- 

 tered. Three fatal cases of scarlet fever and three 

 of measles occurred in West Ham sub-district, and 

 two of measles and two of diphtheria in Enfield sub- 

 district. 



