706 Chronicles of Science. [Ocfc, 



" We think our subscribers will join with us in our opinion that we 

 have much to look for from this expedition fitted out by the munificence 

 of a Boston merchant. It may be that with a conviction of the value of 

 science as an agent in commerce this expedition has been projected. We 

 are sure the indirect results will, for Brazil, be very important. One of 

 the world's greatest savans is breaking in upon a region almost unknown. 

 His aim is, we know, to extend the empire of mind and to storm the 

 strongholds of nature, making her subservient to the wants of man, and 

 in parting with Professor Agassiz and his co-labourers for a season, we can 

 but give him our benediction with the hope that in a few months he will 

 be amongst us again rich with treasures from the Amazon, and that before 

 he leaves Brazil for his adopted home he may be able to delight us with a 

 course of lectures specially illustrative of his investigations in the land of 

 the Southern Cross, and of the treasures which are lying waiting to be 

 made useful by the energy of man. 



" (1) We point to the latter portion of this very important letter of Professor 

 Agassiz as a provisional answer to the assertion made by the medical officer of 

 H. M. S. Stromboli ' to the effect that coal does not exist on the Falkland Islands.' 

 The question is a scientific one, and the Great Philosopher from Cambridge, U. S., 

 has by geological deduction, as we have seen, declared in favour of the position 

 assumed by Mr. Eamsay Cooke, of H. M. S. ' Egmont,' who was the first discoverer 

 of these coal-beds, and who assures us that the coal from these deposits was burned 

 by H. M. S. ' Satellite,' on her passage from the Falkland Islands to Kio. 



" (2) We are also at liberty to state, that Sr. Capanema, whose abilities as a 

 geologist are too well known to need comment, has also seen Mr. Plant's collection 

 of fossils from the Candiota coal-mines, and has arrived at the same conclusion as 

 Professor Agassiz in respect to the coal-beds belonging to the carboniferous period, 

 a fact which the illustrious Sr. Capanema had hitherto doubted." 



XI. SCIENCE TEACHEES' ASSOCIATION. 



In an article on " The Science and Art Department" in the January 

 number of this Journal, a suggestion was made that the teachers of 

 Government Science Classes should form themselves into an association 

 for the protection of their mutual interests. We are glad to find that 

 it has had the effect of leading to the formation of a union. Meetings 

 of Science teachers were held in Birmingham on the 8th and 12th of 

 September (during the Meeting of the British Association), for the 

 purpose of considering the question. The feeling in favour of forming 

 a united body was shown to be very general ; a considerable number 

 of teachers who could not be present expressing their concurrence by 

 letter, generally in very warm terms. At the meetings referred to it 

 was resolved to form a body, to be called ' The Association of Certifi- 

 cated Science Teachers,' and to be open to all those teachers who are 

 certificated in Science by the Department of Science and Art. Its 

 objects were defined to he the furtherance of Science instruction in 

 connection with the system of the Department of Science and Art, the 

 advancement of Science teaching as a profession, and the mutual inter- 

 change of ideas and information. The business of the Association will 

 be conducted by a Council, consisting of a President, a Secretary, a 



