164 
SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS. 
July, 1891. 
The question has sometimes been raised whether any risk 
of interference with the important Gulf Stream would be 
incurred by the opening of the Panama Canal as a clear 
water-way between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; but the 
possible amount of such interference will be seen to be quite 
insignificant, when it is considered how minute the area of 
passage through the canal will be compared with the sectional 
area of the Gulf Stream, so that not one per cent, of the 
water in the Gulf Stream could pass through it. 
A Botanical Mission to the West Indies, by Mr. D. Morris, 
forms the subject for the “ Kew Bulletin ” for May and June. 
Oxford University has recently sanctioned the expenditure of 
considerable sums of money in order to provide increased accommoda¬ 
tion for the medical and science schools. About £11,000 in all was 
voted. 
“Elementary Chemistry for Beginners” is the title of an 
excellent little book by our late colleague, Mr. W. Jerome Harrison. 
The publishers are Messrs. Blackie and Son. 
Henfrey’s Elementary Course of Botany.— The section of this 
book on Cryptogamia, by Mr. A. W. Bennett, amplified and revised 
by the author, is being reprinted by Messrs. Gurney and Jackson. 
Technical Education is now occupying the attention of nearly 
every County Council in England, and we hope shortly to give a con¬ 
cise summary of what has been done in the matter in the principal 
counties. 
The Boyal Society. —Among the recently elected fellows of this 
society we have to offer our congratulations to Mr. William Napier 
Shaw, a distinguished member of the Birmingham Grammar School, 
who has gained many honours at Cambridge. 
British Fungi. —Mr. Worthington G. Smith, the designer of the 
cover of this magazine, is preparing for the public gallery of the 
Botanical Department of the British Museum a series of ninety-six 
tables illustrating the British Fungi. Every species of the 
Hymenomycetes will be figured in its natural colours. 
Botanical Drawings. —The authorities of Kew Gardens have 
recently secured about 1,650 original drawings, chiefly of plants 
which were figured and described in the “ Botanical Magazine ” from 
1800 to 1826. Some of the drawings have not been published. 
The Rejuvenescence of Crystals was the subject of an interesting 
lecture at the Royal Institution, on 30th January last, by Professor 
John W. Judd, F.R.S. The substance of it appears in “ Nature,” of 
May 28th. 
