The con

thereby asserts that it is false to say that our knowledge is only relative. In that case some of our knowledge must be absolute; but this upsets the foundation of the whole system. Anyone who upholds such a system as this may be compared to a man seated high up on the branch of a tree which he is engaged in sawing across where it springs from the tree's trunk. The position taken up by such a man would hardly be deemed the expression of an exceptional amount of wisdom. My time has expired, and I may say no more. siderations I have put before you this evening, should they commend themselves to your judgment, will, I think, lead you to admit that, if we feel confidence and certainty in any part of any branch of physical science, we thereby implicitly affirm that the human mind can, by consciousness and memory, know more than phenomena-can know some objective reality—can know its own continuous existence the validity of inference and the certainty of universal and necessary truth as exemplified in the law of contradiction. In other words, the system of the relativity of knowledge is untrue. Thus the dignity of that noble, wonderful power, the human intellect, is fully established, and the whole of our reason, "from turret to foundation-stone," stands firmly and secure. If I have succeeded in bringing this great truth home to one or two of my hearers who before doubted it, I am abundantly repaid for the task I have undertaken. It only remains for me now to thank you for the kind and patient hearing you have been so good as to accord me.

The number of candidates presenting themselves for examination in science is already so large-about 190,000 papers in various branches of science were worked at the examination in May last, besides above 14,000 practical examinations-that the machinery of examination and registration is already severely strained. These numbers will in all probability soon be so increased as to render it impossible to make satisfactory arrangements for the examination of the candidates at the local centres, or for the examination of the worked papers under any system of central examination.

At the same time the means recently placed at the disposal of local authorities for providing or aiding instruction seem to render it unnecessary for the Science and Art Department to continue to give direct aid for very elementary instruction in science. Such instruction can now be more effectually organized and maintained locally.

a

subject 6, theoretical mechanics, or of subject 8, sound, heat, and light, with the following exceptions:-The payments for practical chemistry will be £3 for pass in the elementary stage, and £6 and £3 10s respectively for a first or second class in the advanced stage; the payments for mathematics will be £2 for a pass in stage 1, 3 and £2 respectively for a first or second class in stages 2 and 4, £4 and £3 for a first or second class respectively in stage 3, £5 and £4 for a first or second class respectively in stages 5, 6, and 7, and £8 and £4 respectively for a first or second class in honours. The payment for section I (geometrical drawing) of subject I will remain as at present, 10s.

The payment for attendance in an organized science school will be increased to £1 in the day school and 105. in the night school.

As it is of great importance to prevent large numbers of wholly unqualified candidates being presented at the examinations, the examiners will be instructed to note the papers of all such as would not obtain above twentyfive per cent. of the marks, and a deduction will be made from the grant to each school for each such paper sufficient to cover the cost incidental to its examination.

The committee of a science school in a place in Great Britain with less than 5000 inhabitants which does not receive aid from the local authority, or of any science school in Ireland, will be allowed to continue until further notice on the present system, if they so desire it.

NOTES.

THE subject of an International Congress of Electricity, to be held at Chicago in connection with the World's Fair, continues to attract much attention in America. A report about the matter has been presented to the Director-General of the Exhibition by Mr. J. Allen Hornsby, secretary of the department of electricity. During a recent visit to Europe, Mr. Hornsby discussed the question with several leading men of science in England and on the Continent, and he was encouraged by them to believe that, if certain conditions were complied with, the success of the Congress would be certain. They all agreed that the Congress should be held under the auspices of the U.S. Government. Invitations, they thought, should be issued by the Government to individual scientific men through the Governments of the countries to which the individuals belong. "This course of action," says Mr. Hornsby, "in the opinion of the authorities whom I consulted, will insure an official character to the proceedings of the scientific Congress, and will virtually pledge the various Governments to a recognition and adoption of the standards created."

At the same time, with a view to encourage more advanced instruction, which does not seem to be adequately provided for at present, the payments for the advanced stage and for honours will be considerably increased. The payments on results will then be £2 for a pass in the elementary stage; £5 and £2 10s. for a first or second class respectively in the advanced stage; and £8 and 44 for a first or second class respectively in honours, in each subject of science, and in each subdivision of The payments on the results of the examinations in 1892 will not be affected by this Minute.

PROF. JOSEPH WOLSTENHOLME, whose name was well known to mathematicians, died on November 18 in his sixty-third year. He graduated at Cambridge as third wrangler in the MatheCollege, then of Christ's, where he was for many years a member of the tutorial staff. After vacating his Fellowship by marriage in 1869, he was appointed the first Professor of Mathematics in the Engineering College at Cooper's Hill-a position from which failing health compelled him to withdraw a year or two ago. With the Rev. Percival Frost, he wrote a treatise on solid geometry, published in 1863. He also collected many original mathematical problems, devised by himself, in a volume which appeared in 1867, and again in 1878.

We regret to announce the death of Mr. S. F. Downing Principal of the Civil Engineering College, Seebpur, Calcutta, which took place at Coonoor, Madras, on October 16 last, at the comparatively early age of forty-seven. The Englishman of October 24 says:-"The deceased gentleman was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was a graduate of Dublin

University in Arts and Engineering. He came out to India in 1869 as Professor of Civil Engineering in the Engineering Department of the Presidency College, Calcutta, and when that Department was amalgamated in 1880 with the Dehree Training School, and transferred to Seebpur with the title of Government Engineering College, Mr. Downing was chosen as first Principal of the new College. In no College in Bengal has so strict a system of discipline been introduced. The beneficial results of that system, consistently adhered to in the face of strong native opposition, have long been apparent ; and the present flourishing condition of the College affords the best monument which could be erected to the indomitable perseverance and uniform justice of the administration of its late Principal."

THE death of Mr. Thomas Wharton Jones, F. R.S., is announced. He was nearly eighty years of age. Prof. Huxley, who was one of his pupils forty years ago, gives in the British Medical Journal a bright and pleasant account of his intercourse with his "old master."

THE third series of Hooker's "Icones Plantarum" (vols. xi.-xx. of the whole work) is now complete, and the Bentham Trustees, who are continuing the work under the editorship of Prof. D. Oliver, are offering a limited number of sets of this series of ten volumes, for £5 the set. It contains figures of a thousand new plants, including the most interesting discoveries of the last thirty years, and the most striking of the new genera described by Bentham and Hooker during the progress of their "Genera Plantarum." As the whole impression consists of only 250 copies, the work will soon become unpurchasable. Thanks to the provision made by the late Mr. Bentham, the trustees are issuing a fourth series at the rate of one volume, of 100 plates, annually, at the very low price of 16s. Persons wishing to secure a copy of the third series should apply at once to Dulau and Co., 37 Soho Square, W.

THE external part of the laboratory which is being built in the Paris Museum of Natural History for Prof. Chauveau, from the designs provided by him, is now being finished. This laboratory will be used only for original research in physiology and bacteriology, and when completed will be the finest laboratory in France. But the Museum is deeply in debt, and this may cause some delay.

MEMBERS of the Royal Microscopical Society, and the several London and provincial Societies of a kindred nature, have been invited to subscribe to a fund for the benefit of the family of the late Mr. John Mayall. An influential Committee has been formed to secure the success of the scheme. Communications should be addressed to Mr. T. Curties, treasurer to the Committee, 244 High Holborn, W.C. The Committee has issued a circular setting forth Mr. Mayall's great services to the science of microscopy.

ACCORDING to a telegram despatched to the Standard from Bangkok on Monday night, Chaiya and Bandon, towns situated on the coast of the Gulf of Siam, have been practically destroyed by a cyclone. The loss of life is estimated at three hundred.

SOME details of the earthquake which caused so much havoc in Japan at the end of October have been received. A large part of the Empire was affected, the shocks being strongly felt in no fewer than thirty-one provinces. In the provinces of Ezozi, Mino, and Owari, several towns and villages were ruined, 3400 persons being killed and 43,000 houses destroyed. An up train and a down train on the Tokaido Railway were just meeting at the station of Gifu when the first shock was felt there. It was accompanied by subterraneous rumblings and violent oscillation, which put the passengers of the train into a great state of alarm. They were further terrified by seeing cracks in the earth, two or three feet wide, opening and closing

in all directions, some of which threw up volcanic mud and ashes. A number of the passengers alighted and made their way into the town. Many houses had already fallen, and immense heaps of ruins were visible on every side. Other buildings which were then standing were so severely shattered that further earth-tremors which followed threw them to the ground. There was a marked subsidence of the earth for a considerable area round Gifu. Very soon after the houses collapsed, and while hundreds of persons remained buried under the ruins, flames burst out and spread with such rapidity that the citizens were compelled to desist from the work of rescue. The fire was not subdued until the next morning, when it was found that almost the whole town had been destroyed. The potteries in the prefectures of Owari and Mino, and at Seto and other towns, were reduced to ruins. At Gobo, a temple belonging

to the Shin sect of the Buddhists, which was crowded with persons, suddenly collapsed, burying fifty of the worshippers. A slight shock occurred at Nagerio on the night of October 25. On the following Wednesday morning, while forty Christians were assembled in the Methodist school, the building began to totter, and the worshippers fled, several being killed or fatally injured. Many streets were blocked with fallen houses, and others were rendered all but impassable by the crowds of panic-stricken people who were endeavouring to make their escape. Hundreds of persons were killed by the collapse of a thread factory, and a large brick building. A castle four hundred years old, however, remained intact and suffered no damage. It is estimated that in the three towns comprising the city of Nagoya from 750 to 1000 persons lost their lives. From the time of the first disturbance up to the morning of October 30, no fewer than 368 distinct shocks were reported. Fissures 2 feet wide and several feet deep appeared in the earth, while railway metals were twisted, iron bridges broken, river embankments engulfed or destroyed, and fields flooded. A lake 600 yards long and 60

wide was formed at the foot of the Hukusan Mountain in the Gifu prefecture, and great cracks were formed in the ground near the hills. Water sprang from the cracks, and that in the wells was changed to a brownish tint and rendered unfit for drinking. The embankments of most of the rivers were de stroyed, and in the Gifu district it will be necessary to rebuild them for a distance of 350 miles. The general appearance of the Mizushima division of the Mortosu district underwent

marked subsidence of the earth.

com

plete transformation, and at Nogo in one district there was a Of 700 temples in the Gifu prefecture, over one-third were destroyed, and it will take many months to repair the river embankments. In some parts of the town of Gifu boiling mud spouted from the fissures for over two hours. The top of the sacred mountain of Fusiyama was rent asunder, a chasm being formed 1200 feet wide and 600 feet deep.

IN a special report to the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Mark W. Harrington, Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau, has presented a general summary of the operations of the Weather Bureau during the three months which followed its transfer to the Department of Agriculture on July 1, 1891. The Service has been reorganized with a view of carrying out the expressed intention of Congress to develop and extend its work with special reference to agriculture. The office force in Washing. ton has been formed into three principal divisions, called respectively the Executive Division, the Records Division, and the Weather-Crop Bulletin and State Weather Service Division. Outside of Washington, local forecast officials have been appointed, the person chosen being in every case selected from the most experienced and competent observers of the Service. These officials have been placed in the larger cities, with authority to make predictions for their stations and vicinity, giving the weather more in detail than the Washington fore

casts. They are instructed to make a careful study of the climatology of their respective sections, both for their own use as an aid in predicting and for publication for the information of the public; and they are directed to give particular attention to the effect of the weather on the principal crops at their various stages of growth, so as to be able to include in their forecasts reference to this all-important subject. A vast improvement has been effected in the weather maps issued at nearly all the more important stations. They contain not only the forecasts prepared at Washington and the local forecasts, but the data on which the forecasts are based. With regard to weather-signal display stations, Mr. Harrington makes a most striking statement. On June 30 there were about 630 stations to which the forecasts were telegraphed. On September 30 the number was 1200-an increase of about 100 per cent. ; and large numbers of new stations are being rapidly established. Altogether, the Bureau is evidently in a state of high efficiency, and has profited largely by the attention which has lately been devoted to it by Congress.

Mr.

MR. HARRINGTON refers in his report to the enormous accumulation of meteorological records now in the U.S. Weather Bureau. These include the observations for the twenty years during which the meteorological work was in the charge of the Signal Service, and also those for the many preceding years when it was in the charge of the Smithsonian Institution. Harrington proposes to utilize these data by special studies by officers of the Bureau. He also desires that they may be thrown open to all students of meteorology who are competent to use them, subject only to such restrictions as may suffice to preserve them from injury.

REFERRING to the International Conference of Meteoro

He

logists at Munich, Mr. Harrington notes that it was attended by four American delegates, of whom he himself was one. was much pleased with the cordial way in which European meteorologists expressed appreciation of the meteorological work done in the United States. He speaks especially of the interest excited among students on this side of the Atlantic by the international bibliography of meteorology, begun by General Hazen and published in part by General Greely. "Evidently," he says, "the general sentiment in Europe is to the effect that the work thus far done by the Signal Office is too important to be left unfinished, and that the interests of meteorology and of climatology alike demand that the Weather Bureau should publish the complete work in proper style, after obtaining from European co-labourers all possible corrections to the manuscript that has already been milleographed." Mr. Harrington studied closely the meteorological methods adopted in Europe; and he was particularly struck by the fact that the study of climate has, in general, been prosecuted by European meteorologists to a degree of refinement that has not yet been attained, and is, perhaps, scarcely appreciated, in America. For instance, an eminent climatologist, criticizing the location of some instru ments on a rise of ground and amid trees, possibly a hundred feet above the surrounding plain, objected that these instruments could not represent properly the climate of the surrounding country, but that they should have been placed in the open flat fields near at hand. "If this person be correct," says Mr. Harrington, "it is evident that the demands of agricultural climatology are very different from those of dynamic meteorology or the study and prediction of daily weather, and it will be an important result of our European journey if we shall have received a decided stimulus in the direction of minute climatology."

DR. E. BIESE, the Director of the Meteorological Office of Finland, has published the observations taken at Helsingfors during the year 1890. In addition to the ordinary hourly

observations and summaries, the volume contains hourly values of atmospheric electricity. Owing to want of funds, the publication of the observations had ceased with those for 1883; but a fresh subsidy to the institution has been granted by a decree of the Emperor, so that the publication will be continued regularly In future, and the arrears also worked off. A summary shows that in 1890 rain fell on 178 days and snow on 84 days. The temperature varied from 74°5 in June to 5°3 in November, giving an annual range of 69°*2.

IN a recent paper on the camel (Zeits. für wissen. Geogr.) Herr Lehmann refers, among other things, to its relations to temperature and moisture. Neither the most broiling heat, nor the most intense cold, nor extreme daily or yearly variations hinder the distribution of the camel. It seems, indeed, that the dromedary of the Sahara has better health there than in more equably warm regions; though, after a day of tropical heat, the thermometer sometimes goes down several degrees below freezing point, and daily variations of 33°*7 C. occur. In Semi. palatinsk again, where the camel is found, the annual variation of temperature sometimes reaches 87° 3. In Eastern Asia, winter is the time the animals are made to work. In very intense cold, they are sewn up in felt covers. Of course each race of camel does best in the temperature conditions of its home a Soudan camel would not flourish in North-East Asia. Camels are very sensitive to moisture. In the region of tropical rains they are usually absent, and if they come into such with caravans, the results of the rainy season are greatly feared. The great humidity of the air explains the absence of the camel from the northern slopes of the Atlas, and from well-wooded Abyssinia. This sensitiveness expresses itself in the character of different races. The finest, most noble-looking camels, with short silk-like hair, are found in the interior of deserts (as in the

Tuarek region, in North Africa), and they cannot be used for journeys to moist regions. Even in Fezzan (south of Tripoli) the animals are shorter and fatter, with long coarse hair; and in Nile lands, and on coasts, it is the same. These animals, too, are less serviceable as regards speed and endurance. Herr Lehmann states it as a law that the occurrence of the camel finds its limits wherever the monthly average vapour tension in the air exceeds 12 mm.

LAST week Prof. Cossar Ewart lectured on "Scottish Zoology" to the newly-formed Edinburgh University Darwinian Society, of which he is President. Having given an account of some of the eminent investigators who have devoted themselves to zoology in Scotland, Prof. Ewart spoke of the need for the encouragement of research at the Scottish Universities. In the case of his own department, it ought, he thought, to be possible for him to say to any exceptionally able student, after the completion of his curriculum, If you are willing to remain for a year or more, I shall be glad to recommend your being elected a research scholar, and to arrange for your obtaining a small sum from a research fund to provide material, &c., required in any investigation you may undertake." Were there two research scholars, or even but one, at work in each of the scientific departments, Prof. Ewart thinks the Scottish Universities would, before long, have a reputation altogether higher and grander than they at present enjoy, to the gain of science and, in all probability, the further amelioration of humanity.

IN his interesting Rectorial address, at Edinburgh, on the use of the imagination, Mr. Goschen referred to the need for imaginative activity in the exact sciences. It would have been difficult for him to say anything new on a subject with which so many distinguished thinkers have dealt; but the ideas he set forth about science and the imagination were sound and well expressed. Referring to the work of Sir William Thomson, he said: "When I think of your fellow-countryman, Sir William

Atlantic trip, and would involve neither hardship nor danger. During the latter part of July and throughout the whole of August the coast is mainly free of ice, and even the passage of the much-dreaded Melville Bay can very generally be effected during this season of the year without danger from a “nip," and frequently with not so much as an acre of ice to interfere with the traveller's journey. Once beyond Cape York, the free North Water opens up a passage to the 79th or the 80th parallel of latitude, or to within some 700 miles of the Pole. In the course of such a trip the traveller would see much that is novel and interesting, much that is grandly picturesque, and still more that is striking in its deviation from the rest of the earth. A country inhabited by a race of people so remarkable as are the Eskimos is always worthy of a visit, especially at a time when a greatly increasing interest in the science is fostering the study of ethnology. But merely in the contemplation of the forms of the almost endless number of icebergs, the vacation tourist would probably consider himself amply repaid for a journey to this easily reached land of the midnight sun, with its almost numberless glaciers, its sky-splitting mountains, and a boundless ice-cap. The artist, too, would find abundant suggestion for his brush and palette.

PROF. AUGUST WEISMANN'S "Amphimixis: oder, Die Vermischung der Individuen," has been published at Jena by Herr Gustav Fischer. An English translation, we believe, will shortly be issued.

A FRENCH translation-edited by Dr. H. de Varigny-of Weismann's "Essays on Heredity" (Reinwald) has been issued

in Paris.

THE third volume of Dr. McCook's "American Spiders and their Spinning Work," will be ready for delivery in the coming spring. The numerous lithographic plates are many of them prepared and in the colourists' hands. The cost of preparing the numerous engravings and plates has greatly exceeded the expectations of the author (who is also the publisher).

DR. ADOLF FRITZE contributes to the Mittheilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, in Tokio (Heft 46) a valuable paper on the fauna of Yezo in comparison with that of the rest of Japan. He does not, of course, profess to give a complete account of the subject; but the natural history of Yezo has hitherto been so imperfectly investigated that his work will be very welcome to zoologists.

MR. ROBERT E. C. STEARNS gives in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum (vol. xiv., pp. 307-335), a valuable list of shells collected on the west coast of South America, principally between latitudes 7° 30′ S., and 8° 49′ N., by Dr. W. H. Jones, Surgeon, U.S. Navy. This collection, with various other treasures, was presented to the National Museum in 1884; but until lately Mr. Stearns had not an opportunity of preparing a list. A great part of the shells were picked up on the beaches, and in poor condition; but our knowledge of the distribution of west South American species is so limited that the collection, Mr. Stearns says, has its special value for the information it furnishes on this point.

THE following science lectures will be given at the Royal Victoria Hall on Tuesday evenings during December :December 1, "North Wales," by A. Hilliard Atteridge; 8, "The Ways in which Animals hide Themselves,” by E. B. Poulton; 15, "Old Stones," by H. G. Seeley.

AT the meeting of the Chemical Society on Thursday last some further particulars were given by Mr. Mond concerning his work in conjunction with Dr. Langer upon iron carbonyl. They have succeeded in isolating two distinct compounds of iron and carbon monoxide. One of them is a liquid of the composition Fe(CO),, to which the name ferro penta-carbonyl is

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given. The other is a solid corresponding to the formula Fe2(CO)7, and is termed di-ferro hepta-carbonyl. Liquid ferro penta-carbonyl is obtained by heating finely-divided iron, obtained by reduction of ferrous oxalate, in a stream of carbon monoxide. The operation is a very slow one, 100 grams of metallic iron yielding one gram of the liquid in twenty-four hours. Ferro penta-carbonyl is a light amber-coloured liquid, which may be distilled without decomposition. It boils constantly at 102° 8 C. Its specific gravity, compared with water at 18°, is 1'44. It solidifies at -21°, forming yellow acicular crystals. Its vapour density has been determined, the number obtained being 6'5, agreeing fairly well with the value 6'7 calculated for Fe(CO). The liquid is quite stable in the dark, but when exposed to light an important change occurs. Goldcoloured crystals rapidly form in it, which upon analysis are found to consist of a second iron carbonyl, the di-ferro heptacarbonyl Fe2(CO)7. These crystals are almost insoluble in the ordinary solvents. When warmed to 80°, however, they decompose, the products of decomposition being the penta-carbonyl metallic iron, and carbon monoxide. It appears, therefore, that iron does not exactly resemble nickel in its behaviour with carbon monoxide, for the carbonyl compound of the latter metal, it will be remembered, possesses the composition Ni(CO)4.

A NOTE upon the products of oxidation of nickel carbonyl is contributed by M. Berthelot to the current number of the Comptes rendus. M. Berthelot states that nickel carbonyl behaves towards oxygen in a manner somewhat similar to an organic radicle. The products of its spontaneous oxidation do not consist entirely of the oxides of nickel and carbon. The liquid may be preserved in a glass vessel under a layer of water without change so long as air is excluded; but as soon as air is admitted, the compound slowly oxidizes, and a quantity of apple-green hydrated oxide of nickel free from carbon is deposited. At the same time a portion of the nickel carbonyl volatilizes and oxidizes in the air, forming a white cloud which deposits upon all the objects in the neighbourhood. M. Berthelot has succeeded in collecting a considerable quantity of this white deposit, and has subjected it to analysis. He considers it to be the hydrate of the oxide of an organic radicle containing nickel. The numbers obtained from the analysis agree with the formula CO,Ni,. 10H,O, but as it appears likely that the preparation contained more or less nickel hydrate this formula is not considered final. M. Berthelot is of opinion that the substance probably contains an organo-nickel compound of the composition C2ONi, belonging to a type derived from ethylene. He is continuing the study of this interesting substance.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus) from India, presented by Mr. J. Robinson; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus rhesus ) from India, presented by Mrs. K. ClarkOurry; a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus ) from India, presented by Captain J. F. C. Hamilton; two Ourang-outangs (Simia satyrus 8 ) from Borneo, a Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) from Australia, four Pelicans (Pelecanus sp. inc.) from India, deposited; a Bronze-winged Pigeon (Phaps chalcoptera 8) from Australia, a Blood-breasted Pigeon (Phloganas cruentata) from the Philippine Islands, purchased.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. DETERMINATION OF THE SOLAR PARALLAX.-A. Auwers, in Astronomische Nachrichten (No. 3066), gives the results obtained in the determination of the solar parallax from the heliometer observations made by the German Transit of Venus Expedition, in the years 1874 and 1882. The number of measurements taken amounted to 754, of which 308 were