Jehiel, came before us, saying, Be ye witnesses for us, and write and seal in the language of the law of acquisition that we have agreed to make over our part of the house in Stockwell Street,* left to us as an inheritance by our grandfather, to R. Samuel, all the house with all its appurtenances,† so that he may occupy it and use it. No one shall dispute this right to him from the day of the neomenia of Nisan (April) 5018, until eighteen years after this time, this Nisan which is called the Pasques, in the forty-second year of the reign of our lord the King Henry (the third), son of the King John. And this is the agreement made between the said R. Samuel and his brothers. R. Samuel shall dwell in the said house fifteen years, where he will have to take care of it, so that it shall not be damaged either by winds or by rain, so that the house shall remain in its present state when he leaves it. And he shall not remove anything which he has added to the upper rooms and lower rooms. After fifteen years the brothers reserve their right to give him notice to leave the said house, which he will do without any dispute, and R. Samuel will only claim the part of inheritance which is due to him. These men have taken the oath before us on the Law and according to the rite that they will keep the above-mentioned condition without any subterfuge. What we have seen and what they asked us we have signed with our seal, so that the document should be in the hand of each as a proof, and as righteous witnesses. we have written and taken possession, according to the regulations of our rabbis, for their brother R. Samuel according as it is explained above, by laying hand upon a piece of money (manâ), fitted by regulation for a confirmation of deeds.

"Judah, son of R. Isaac.

66 Joseph, son of R. Joshua."

CAPT. GILL, R.E.

UNFORTUNATELY the reports which have been current for some weeks of the death of Capt. Gill have now been confirmed, and, though all hope of Prof. Palmer's safety is not yet abandoned, there can be no doubt that both Capt. Gill and Mr. Charrington have perished. For some years Capt. Gill has held a foremost place among geographers. Endowed by nature with an ardent taste for exploration, and by training with the power of making the fullest and best uses of his discoveries, he was eminently qualified for the self-imposed task of unravelling geographical puzzles and of filling up the blank spaces on our

maps.

In his first journey of exploration he travelled through parts of Persia in company with Col. Valentine Baker. The two officers left England in the beginning of 1873, having for their main object the exploration of the Atrek valley. In this they were partially disappointed, though they succeeded in laying down the upper course of the river. They visited, however, Tiflis, Baku, Astrabad, and Teheran, and brought back with them route surveys through the intervening districts which have added considerably to our knowledge of the geography of the country. Shortly after their return to England, Col. Baker published an account of their travels in his work entitled 'Clouds in the East.'

But Capt. Gill's travels in China were beyond comparison his most memorable achievement, both as regards the results obtained and the magnitude of the undertaking. In September, 1876, he landed in China, and after making some excursions in the country to the northeast of Peking he returned to Shanghai to make preparations for an adventurous journey through more than the breadth of the empire into Burmah. After having sailed up the Yang-tszekiang to Chung-ching, a distance of upwards

The streets formerly called Stockwell (East and West) contain now the greatest part of St. Martin's Lane and Angel Lane (see Philip Morant's History and Antiquities of the County of Essex,' London, 1768, vol. i. p. 114).

† This word is left in the Hebrew document in English.

pre

went to Tripoli, but was there also met with the same kind of insuperable opposition which vented his penetrating into Tibet. The particulars of his service in Egypt and of his last fatal journey are too fresh in the memories of all to need recapitulation.

Capt. Gill twice stood in the Conservative interest, once for the borough of Hackney and once for Nottingham, but in each case he was unsuccessful. To his many friends his death is an irreparable loss, and it has left a conspicuous blank in the world of science. His personal qualities were such as to draw many to him, while his quiet determination and cool intrepidity in moments of danger fitted him admirably for the work of exploring the dark places of the earth.

Literary Gossip.

Ir is unfortunately true that the Hamilton collection of manuscripts has left this country. But the German papers are wrong in two particulars. The collection has been sold in its entirety to the Prussian Government by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, and the price paid is not that mentioned in the Berlin journals.

MR. WILLIAM ALLINGHAM is preparing a volume of poems for publication.

THE title of Mr. Walter Besant's story for the Christmas number of All the Year Round is 'Let Nothing you Dismay.'

MESSRS. CHATTO & WINDUS will publish at the end of this month 'Gideon Fleyce,' a novel by Mr. H. W. Lucy. The book has been described in some quarters as a political novel, a designation which we understand the author himself does not adopt. Mr. Lucy has taken advantage of exceptional opportunities to describe some political episodes and to sketch some types of political character; but the novel depends for its main interest upon a wider range of incident and characterization.

MR. ALLARDYCE's 'Life of Lord Keith' is to be followed immediately by another naval biography. Messrs. W. H. Allen & Co. hope to issue before Christmas a Life of Admiral Lord Hawke,' by Prof. Montagu Burrows, of Oxford. The family papers have been placed at his disposal, and there will be as frontispiece an engraving from a picture of the admiral in the possession of the family. He has included in the book two independent treatises: (1) upon the origin of the English wars in the reign of George II.; and (2) upon the state of the royal navy in that reign. The courtsmartial upon Admiral Mathews and his

officers, on General Sir John Mordaunt, and upon Admirals Byng and Keppel will receive some illustrations from original sources in the body of the work, which will also give an account of the career of the leading naval officers of Lord Hawke's time.

THE Index Society is crying out for more subscribers to enable it to print off the materials it has on hand. Mr. Harrison's index of the topographical literature of England and Wales, arranged alphabetically under the names of places only, is ready for the An index of kindred character press. applied to the whole of Europe is in contemplation. The titles of the best descriptions of countries and cities will be placed under the name of the place described, and the place names will be arranged in an alphabet. An index is likewise projected of from Grammont to Charles Greville. This all the memoirs known in English literature

work must of necessity be divided, but whether into reigns of the kings and queens or into more regular periods of years it is not yet determined. Fellow helpers in the work are wanted almost as much as additional subscribers.

MR. EBSWORTH is working hard at the Roxburghe Ballads.' Part xi. will be issued before the end of the year, and parts xii. and xiii. (the "Monmouth Group") are promised for the spring or early summer. Such editors as Mr. Ebsworth are rare, and we heartily wish him health and strength to successfully carry out his important undertaking.

ford's work, Fairs, Past and Present,' is just on the point of completion, and will form part of Mr. Elliot Stock's "Antiquarian Library."

THE first volume of Mr. Cornelius Wal

THE Clarendon Press will publish shortly The Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic, according to the Translation made by Wulfila in the Fourth Century,' edited by Prof. Skeat. This work is intended to serve as a Gothic primer, and to introduce the beginner to duction gives all necessary elementary inlarger works on the subject. The introformation concerning the MS., the author, and the sources of the alphabet, with some account of the pronunciation, phonology, and grammar. The glossary not only explains all the words occurring in St. Mark's Gospel, but is extended so as to explain all the more important words of the language, especially such as are most required by the student of English etymology, for whom some knowledge of Gothic is absolutely indispensable.

THERE will be published next week by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. a little gift-book entitled 'The Book-Lover's Enchiridion.' It will consist of a selection of thoughts on the "solace and companionship of books," gathered from the writings of between one and two hundred authors, ranging from Solomon and Cicero to Carlyle and Ruskin. The object of the compiler has been to present the wisest and most pithy thoughts of the best authors on the subject of books, and what they do for us as companions, friends, and counsellors. Besides the selections from British writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, the best thoughts of some of the most distinguished American authors

are also given. The size and form of the volume will resemble the Elzevir classics of the seventeenth century. It will be handy for the pocket, and transmissible by post for twopence. The compiler has gone to the original sources for his matter.

THE Rev. W. Walker, author of biographies of Dr. Jolly, Bishop of Moray, and Dr. Gleig, Bishop of Brechin, is preparing an extended memoir of the Rev. John Skinner, Dean of Aberdeen and father of the bishop of that name who wrote the Annals of Scottish Episcopacy.' The elder of the two divines is still remembered for his Tullochgorum,' The Monymusk Christmas Ba'ing,' The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn,' and other humorous poems in the Scottish dialect. He was a correspondent of Robert Burns. The memoir of this persecuted pastor, who died in Aberdeen after a ministry of sixty-four years at the obscure village of Longside, in Aberdeenshire, and who passed his days in a cottage of two rooms, besides containing fresh biographical matter, will furnish an analysis of his theological and other writings, an account of the religious controversies and persecution of the time, and a collection of his early poems hitherto supposed to be lost. The work will be published by subscription.

THOSE who are interested in Prof. Blackie's efforts to establish a chair for Celtic Languages and Literature in Edinburgh will be glad to see the following note, read before the University Council last week :—“I crave the liberty to state, for the information of all concerned, that the Celtic chair is now in the hands of the University; and that I understand a meeting of the curators will forthwith take place for proceeding to elect a professor, with the customary intimations." WE learn through a private source that the Russian bibliography, the publication of which was suspended last March, will reappear in 1883.

A BIOGRAPHY of John G. Whittier, with a full bibliography of his works, has been prepared by Mr. W. Sloane Kennedy, and will soon be published by Mr. S. E. Cassino, of Boston, U.S.

THE Library Journal asserts that it is well known in Washington that the author of 'Democracy' is Mr. Clarence King. But we have reason to doubt this.

'LEGION; OR, THE MODERN DEMONIAC,' is the title of a new work by Mr. William Gilbert, which will be published this month by Messrs. Tinsley Brothers. The same publishers have in the press a new novel by the author of Cynthia,' entitled 'Lemuel;

6

6

popular, and his loss will be much felt by a large circle of friends. He died on Wednesday night.

THE Rev. M. H. Lee, of Hanmer, Salop, has nearly ready for publication by Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co. a volume containing a considerable number of the diaries and letters of Philip Henry (father of Matthew Henry, the commentator), which have hitherto remained unprinted.

THE son of Dr. Orestes A. Brownson will edit a complete edition of his father's writings, extending to seventeen octavo volumes of more than five hundred pages each. Dr. Brownson was in early manhood a Unitarian minister and a leader in the transcendental and socialistic movements of New England, but in 1844, at the age of forty, he became a Roman Catholic, and his Quarterly Review was the chief organ of that church in America. He is best known in England by a work he tried to suppress in America, Charles Elwood; or, the Infidel Converted.'

A CORRESPONDENT writes with reference to our remark regarding a German translation of Mr. Hatch's Bampton Lectures :"It may_interest your readers to know that the Boyle Lectures of Canon Barry have also 'been considered worth reproducing in Germany for the benefit of German theological students.' English works of fiction are frequently enough translated into German, but it certainly may be considered a distinction if English theological lectures are issued in a German version."

A NEW Greek magazine called Kosmos has appeared at Constantinople.

MESSRS. WEIR & KNIGHT will shortly publish a new tale by Miss Rosa Mackenzie Kettle. The Shropshire highlands. scene is laid among the

THE King's College lectures for ladies are prospering. The entries this winter are considerably larger than they were in October, 1881, although the last session showed a considerable advance on the year preceding. The building fund is steadily increasing, The building fund is steadily increasing, about 7,000l. having been promised.

SCIENCE

SCHOOL-BOOKS.

Elementary Chemical Arithmetic, with 1,100 Problems. By Sydney Lupton, M. Á. (Macmillan & Co.)-There is reasonable ground for the opinion, largely prevalent, that natural science studies do not adequately replace the older methods of mental training in a school course. Chemistry and what used to be called natural

philosophy are the subjects generally taken up notwithstanding their acknowledged usefulness on the modern side of a school, and even these,

The main

given as facts to be remembered." This introduction is not designed to supersede either oral teaching or reference to more comprehensive works. In it certain chemical and physical laws are stated, and the methods of calculation depending upon them are explained with laconic brevity. A certain amount of amplification would have been advantageous; for Mr. Lupton, in his anxiety to save words, has at times rendered his meaning hard to understand. utility of the book consists in the numerous welldoubt and deliberation," the answers are given. selected problems, to which happily, after "some These problems cover so much ground and are of so many kinds and degrees of difficulty that a student who successfully works any considerable number of them may be quite sure that his scientific knowledge, so far as it goes, is sound and available. A boy's interest in the subjectmatter of a lecture sometimes disguises his insufficient grasp of it, but an arithmetical problem furnishes a test not to be eluded. Mr. Lupton gives in the tables at the end of the volume many facts and figures frequently wanted in calculations, but not too readily accessible in larger treatises.

Outlines of Zoology for Junior Classes. By William F. Collier, LL.D. (Dublin, Sullivan Brothers.) The aim of this book, the author says, is to give to "beginners in zoology-say pupils about ten years old-an outline of the subject in a pleasant and interesting form, divested of all scientific terminology, except what is absolutely needful." Dr. Collier has no doubt written many passages which will please and interest his readers; but unfortunately he seems to us to have succeeded in imparting in the ninety pages of his little manual the smallest possible amount of real scientific teaching. Even an outline-other than a mere table of classification-of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology is not to be compressed into a small volume of this size. Either great division of zoology, if so treated as to be attractive and instructive to readers of ten years old, would occupy a volume of at least the size of the one before us; and the compilation of such a small treatise would be a task requiring great zoological attainments and singular literary skill. The earlier part of the book, that treating of invertebrate animals, is the less satisfactory. The classification adopted is hardly the best, and the descriptions are so classes" for whom they are intended will gain insufficient and indefinite that the "junior

more bewilderment than information from them; while the general reader, for whom Dr. Collier considers he gives "a sufficiently easy view of the classes and orders of the animal world," will certainly not get beyond the first few paragraphs, unless, indeed, the plentiful illustrations, many of which are good, tempt him idly to turn over the remaining pages. A graver defect even than the meagreness of the scientific instruction to be gleaned from these 'Outlines' is Dr. Collier's frequent inability to express his meaning in English, for to this only, we imagine, can be due such a statement as that the shields of tortoises and turtles are joined at the edges,

the tail." We never saw a chelonian or other but at each end a hole is left for the head and vertebrate animal with two heads and two tails, as is thus implied; and it is clearly inexpedient to make the too credulous "pupils about ten years old" believe in the existence of so weird a creature.

Animal Physiology for Elementary Schools. By Mrs. F. Fenwick Miller. 3 vols. (Collins, Sons & Co.)-These little school-books treat of the three stages of animal physiology presented in Schedule IV. of the New Code of 1882. Mrs. Fenwick Miller's treatment of her subject is extremely felicitous; she gives such sound teaching in physiology as is adapted to the requirements and two faults which beset compilers of manuals for capabilities of young scholars, and escapes the soars away far above the heads of her readers use in public elementary schools-she neither

nor tries to satisfy them with childish superficialities. The elements of physiology are put clearly and concisely-in fact, they are arranged by a person who knows how and what to teach, and who fully realizes the difficulties of teaching elementary science to very young people. The only defect in the purely physiological part of these books is one for which Mrs. Fenwick Miller is not responsible, as it is obvious in the schedule of the Code. The scholars are taught to refer to diagrams in illustration and explanation of the text, not to the organs, &c., themselves. There is, of necessity, unreality in any natural science teaching which is not based on observation of the things studied, and it is much to be regretted that this principle was not recognized by the framers of the schedule of specific subjects in the Code. Mrs. Fenwick Miller is laudably accurate in the use of physiological terms, and sternly reproves the loose way in which they are used in ordinary parlance; but she herself is inaccurate in the terminology and definitions of allied sciences. We refer to these blemishes not by way of empty verbal criticism, but because the elementary notions which a child acquires in his education should be rigidly accurate if the further stages of instruction are to afford him a maximum-and anything less is unsatisfactory-of information and mental discipline. In discussing walking and standing Mrs. Miller has much to say about the centre of gravity, and gives, by way of illustration, drolly ingenious diagrams; but no scholar will gather from either figure or explanatory text what is meant by the "centre of gravity." Again, in giving certain necessary chemical information, Mrs. Miller tells us that “ nobody will have seen either oxygen, hydrogen, or nitrogen by itself"; she ignores, apparently, the results of well-known recent experiments in the condensation of so-called permanent gases. We are further told that gases are vapour-like-i. e., like steam or smoke (sic); this statement is grossly inexact. The difference between mixture and combination is one of the facts first insisted on in chemistry; Mrs. Miller, however, lays great stress on the misstatement that "if oxygen and hydrogen are mixed together water is formed." Many similar instances of inaccuracy might be adduced. The scholars who take up physiology may be working at mechanics or chemistry or physics, and their progress, and consequently the progress of their classes, will be impeded if facts in one branch of study are associated with fallacies in another.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

MR. STANLEY has just left London for Brussels. His survey work for some five hundred miles of the Lower Congo, accomplished during the last weeks of his late mission, is very complete and full of geographical interest.

Mr. Joseph Thomson will leave England for Zanzibar at the end of the present month, to organize the expedition which the Royal Geographical Society are about to send, under his command, through the hitherto unexplored Masai country to the eastern shores of Victoria Nyanza. The expedition will not start from the coast for some months; mean time Mr. Thomson will make a preliminary journey inland to inquire as to the best and most practicable route. Of the two mountains in this region which rise above the limits of perpetual snow he will direct his attention preferably to Mount Kenia, as the less known. There appears to be a much larger area above the snow-line on this than on Kilimanjaro, and a possibility of glaciers on its western side.

A letter from M. J. M. Schuver, dated Famaka, July 12th, 1882, has reached the editor of Petermann's Mittheilungen. The Dutch traveller left Fadasi towards the end of March, and as soon as his health permitted started from Famaka on an exploring trip into the region between the Blue Nile, the Abyssinian frontier, and the

Upper Dinder. This journey occupied no less than fifty days. In the course of it M. Schuver penetrated eastward as far as Mount Kienien, traced the Kisin or Bolasa down to its confluence with the Blue Nile, and reached the headstreams of the Dinder. On a lofty mountain, three days' journey to the east of Famaka, he discovered the Sienetjo, a "yellow" tribe, differing in language from all the neighbouring negro tribes. Incidentally M. Schuver states that Gessi and Matteucci never passed beyond Fadasi, as alleged by them. A letter of older date, together with a map, has apparently fallen into the hands of the insurgents, who, according to our latest information, are closely pressing the governor-general of the Sudan at Khartum. This insurrection makes us look anxiously for news from other Europeans now on the Upper Nile. Nothing has been heard of Dr. Emin Bey since he left Khartum in March last, and the latest letters from Dr. Junker and Capt. Casati were written on the Welle in December last.

In connexion with the centenary commemoration of the annexation of the Crimea to Russia and the foundation of Sevastopol, which is to be celebrated next year, it is purposed to establish a local committee to investigate the peninsula, which not only abounds in the remains of antiquity, but is rich in botanical and mineralogical interest.

The Geological Map of the Balkan Peninsula, by Dr. Franz Toula, published in Petermann's Mittheilungen, summarizes in a very acceptable manner the researches carried on by numerous geologists since Ami Bouë, some forty years ago, published his 'Esquisse Géologique de la Turquie d'Europe.' The same number of the Mittheilungen contains a copy of the valuable map of the Russo-Persian frontier first published in the Isvestiya of the Caucasian Geographical Society; a paper on the geographical distribution of the aurora borealis in the United States, by H. Fritz; and a translation of the Rev. W. S. Green's account of New Zealand explorations, from the Alpine Journal.

We are in receipt of School Maps of Europe and of England and Wales, both by Mr. T. Ruddiman Johnston, of Edinburgh. These wall-maps belong to the "Universal Series"; they are clearly printed in colours as to political divisions, but fail almost completely in the hill features, which are so faintly indicated as hardly to be visible from a distance.

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

The distances of the comet from the earth and from the sun are now very nearly the same, about 140,000,000 miles, both increasing.

was

We have already mentioned that, so far as is known, this comet was first seen by Mr. Finlay at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, on the 8th of September. On the day of perihelion passage, on which it was detected close to the sun by Mr. Common at Ealing (Sunday, September 17th), Mr. Gill states that it " followed by two observers with separate instruments right up to the sun's limb, where it suddenly disappeared at 4h 50m 58 Cape mean time." Allusion has also been made (Athenæum, October 21st) to Dr. Julius Schmidt's discovery at Athens of a cometary body a short distance from the great comet, moving with the same velocity, and suggesting the idea of its being a companion comet, as in the case of Biela's. He obtained two measures of the position of this body on the mornings of the 10th and 12th of October, and found its apparent motion to be slightly more rapid than that of the great comet, its distances from the nucleus of the latter being on those two mornings 3° 24′ and 5° 21′ respectively; on the following morning (October 13th) the "companion" was scarcely to be discerned with certainty.

Since the above was written, the number of the Observatory for November has been published. It contains a letter from Mr. Ellery, by which it appears that the great comet was seen at Melbourne on the 7th of September, one day therefore before Mr. Finlay noticed it at the Cape. No positions, however, of it could be obtained at Melbourne until the 10th, at 5.20 A. M. The comet was well seen in the telescope until within one minute of sunrise; its intrinsic light was considered to be equal to that of Jupiter.

Dr. Hind has also computed elements of Barnard's comet (c, 1882). He finds that the perihelion passage will take place on the 13th inst., at the distance from the sun of 0.95 in terms of the earth's mean distance. It will continue to be observable for some weeks in the southern hemisphere, the calculated intensity of light even on January 9th being half as great as it was on September 14th, when it was discovered at Nashville about three o'clock in the

morning. On the day of perihelion passage (November 13th) its southern declination will be 66, and the right ascension being about 13h 17m, it will be near the star y in the constellation Musca.

The principal astronomical event of next year is a total eclipse of the sun, which takes place on the 6th of May. At some points on the central line the totality will last nearly six minutes; but so forgetful is the eclipse of the convenience of astronomers that this line, the whole of which is included in the South Pacific Ocean, only touches land on a small island situated north of the Society and west of the Marquesas group. This is a low coral formation less than ten miles in circumference, and is called Caroline Island. Its exact position is south latitude 9° 57', west longitude 150° 25′.

The Sidereal Messenger for last month gives a summary of a paper by Mr. C. H. Rockwell, of New York, which was read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, calling special attention to this matter, and to the desirability of sending an expedition to Caroline Island for the purpose of observing the eclipse. The paper erroneously attributes the discovery of the island in question to Capt. Nares in 1874. The real discoverer was that famous navigator William Robert Broughton, who, after taking part with Vancouver in his voyage of discovery in 1790-1, commanded a similar expedition sent to the Pacific in 1795, in the course of which he discovered this island

and named it after the eldest daughter of Lord Spencer, then First Lord of the Admiralty.

SOCIETIES.

ARISTOTELIAN.-Oct. 23.-Mr. S. H. Hodgson, President, in the chair.-Mr. W. R. Dunstan read a paper On Spinoza,' which was followed by a discussion.

Mox.

WED.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.
Royal Institution, 5-General Monthly.

Musical Association, 5.- Fallacy of the Repetition of Parts in
the Classical Form, by Mr. F. Praeger.
Aristotelian, 7-Leibnitz and Wolf to Kant,' Miss M. S.
Handley.

Royal Academy, 8-Anatomy.' Mr. J. Marshall.
Institute of British Architects, 8.

Society of Biblical Archaeology, 8.- Demotic Papyrus containing
the Malediction of an Egyptian Mother on her Son embracing
Christianity,' Two Demotic Documents of the Reign of Darius
referring to a Marriage Contract, M. E Révillout; Some recent
Discoveries bearing on the Ancient History and Chronology of
Babylonia, Mr. T G. Pinches.

Microscopical, 8-Observations on Stephanosceros, Mr. T B. Rossiter Organisms found in the Excrement of the Domestic Goat and the Goose, Dr. R. S. Maddox. THURS. Mathematical 8.-1'resident's Address; In- and Circum-scribed Polyhedra, Prof Forsyth: Explicit Integration of certain Differential Resolvents, Sir J Cockle Compound Determinants. Mr. R. F. Scott; Quartic Curves in Space, Dr. Spottiswcode; Derivation of Elliptic Function Formula from Confocal Conics,' Mr. J. Griffiths.

FRI. EAT.

Telegraph Engineers, 8-Munich Electrical Exhibition, 1882,'
Mr. W. H Preece.

Royal Academy 8-Demonstrations,' Mr J. Marshall.
Physical. 3- Three Historical Notes on Physics,' Prof. S. P.
Thompson; Conservation of Energy and the Theory of Central
Forces, Mr. W. R. Browne.

Science Gossip.

THE following is the list of changes proposed to be made in the Council of the London Mathematical Society for the ensuing session: Prof. Henrici to be President in the place of Mr. S. Roberts, who, with Sir J. Cockle as his colleague, is recommended for a vice-presidentship; Mr. E. B. Elliott and Dr. J. Hopkinson have been selected to fill the places of the retiring members, Prof. Rowe and Mr. Lloyd Tanner. Mr. Roberts's address will be upon mathematical terminology and the philosophical bearing of recent mathematical speculations concerning the realities of space. His principal thesis is that mathematics are essential in philosophy. He will also announce to the Society the establishment of the De Morgan memorial medal and the conditions of its award.

A MEETING of the junior members of the University of Cambridge was held last Monday in the debating hall of the Union Society to express their sense of the loss sustained by the University in the death of Prof. Balfour. It was resolved that a subscription list in support of the memorial to the late professor should be opened

at the Union. The hall was well filled with undergraduates, and the speeches were received with much enthusiasm.

PROF. NEWTON informs us that he "has not relinquished his intention of continuing his edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds.' But for the accident which befell Prof. Newton in June last, a portion would have now been on the point of appearing; and he hopes before long to bring out an account of the British pigeons and game-birds, which will complete the second volume according to his original plan."

THE first meeting of the one hundred and twenty-ninth session of the Society of Arts will be held on Wednesday, the 15th inst., when the opening address will be delivered by Dr. C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., Chairman of the Council.

DR. H. C. SORBY delivered at the Firth College, Sheffield, on Saturday the 21st of October, a lecture on 'The Microscopic Structure of Steel.' The lecture was illustrated by a large number of specimens of steel prepared under different conditions, the microscopic structures of which were curiously unlike each other. We are unable to give the space required for any description of the variations in the molecular arrangement; we therefore must refer our readers to the lecture itself, which we are told will be published. Alloys of iron and nickel were prepared by Dr. Sorby, and examined with the microscope in connexion with meteoric iron. The inference drawn from these examinations

is that meteoric iron crystallized very slowly, at a temperature below fusion.

PROF. T. C. ARCHER having offered a place in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art to the famous old locomotive "Wylam Dilly," the Messrs. Hedley have agreed to send the engine direct from Tynemouth to Edinburgh.

HERR FRISCHEN, chief engineer of the firm of Siemens & Halske, described at a recent meeting of the Polytechnic Society in Berlin the first attempt to employ the electric railway for industrial purposes in a mine near Dresden. The line is 260 mètres underground, and laden coal waggons travel on it.

WE have received the Indian Meteorological Tables for the months of October and November, 1881. Perhaps we may be permitted to suggest the advantage of printing upon the first page, which contains the month and year only, a title by which this vast work of the Indian meteorological staff might be recognized.

MAJOR-GENERAL W. B. HAZEN, chief signal officer of the U.S. Army, sends No. VII. of the Professional Papers of the Signal Service, which is a report on the character of six hundred tornadoes by Sergeant J. P. Finley. The deductions from these tables are of considerable interest, and they must lead, especially if attention is given to the rules by which these investigations should be regulated, to most important results.

FOREIGN journals announce the death of the celebrated physicist Prof. Palmieri, who made the observatory on Vesuvius famous through out the civilized world. This distinguished man had quite recently observed that oils conduct electricity at rates considerably different from each other, and he had constructed a diagometer for the purpose of investigating this property and applying it in the examination of oils in commerce.

M. DAUBRÉE, in presenting to the Academy of Sciences, on the 2nd of October, the Catalogue de la Collection des Météorites du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle au 1er Juillet, 1882,' which is edited by M. G. Masson, observed that catalogues of the collection have been successively published in 1863, 1864, 1868, and 1878, and now in 1882, and that the number of specimens described amount to 306.

MR. JOHN COLLETT, State Geologist, has just published his Geological Report on Indiana for the year 1881, which includes a memoir by Prof. James Hall On the Fauna of the Niagara Group of Central Indiana'; and Dr. White gives several descriptions of the Illinois fossils, four of which are new species.

FINE ARTS

The EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION of WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS by ARTISTS of the BRITISH and FOREIGN SCHOOLS is NOW OPEN at Thomas McLean's Gallery, 7, Haymarket.-Admission, including Catalogue, Is.

THE DUDLEY GALLERY.

We shall notice, in the order of the Catalogue, the noteworthy examples out of some 450, and believe that no valuable one has escaped attention. M. de Bréanski's A Pier-head (No. 5) represents with spirit a storm on the west pierhead at Whitby. The breaking sea is good; the drenched pavements sparkle.-Mr. T. Graham's Over the Downs (38) is a figure of a girl with a milk bucket, clad in warm white, and would be more agreeable if the face were not lifeless. Warm colour and good harmonies of tone compensate in some measure for flimsy workmanship. An illustration of 'The Raven' (48), by Mr. E. G. H. Lucas, is a good piece of still life, but shows little sympathy with Poe's poetry.-In spite of its hackneyed subject, Mr. W. M. Loudan's landscape Evening (59) evinces sympathy with nature and considerable knowledge of pictures of the modern French school. A broad, meritorious, Rembrandtish study from the life, by Mr. P. J. Jansen, is called A Cornish Lad (79).-If F. Walker had never painted naked boys in sunlight and bathing in blue water with richly toned mists suffusing the air, Mr. H. Macallum's A Summer Half-holiday (80) would have been more striking than it is. We do not, however, think that Walker, if alive, would care to claim copyright in Mr. Macallum's achievement.

But for its empty forms and flatness, Mr. D. W. Wynfield's An Expected Visitor (106) would be able to boast of greater merits than a dashing design and broad and effective tones impart to it. It is very clever, but very slovenly.-Mr. F. D. hard, is full of light, clearly and neatly touched. Thomas's Mapledurham Mill (130), though alittle

-One of the very few well-considered designs and fairly painted pictures here is Mr. T. Davidson's seated at an escritoire, reading the draft of Words to express his Thoughts (131), a gentleman a letter. This picture, conceived in the mood of Mieris, contains a broad effect of interior light and some dexterous and clever painting of furniture. The figure is good and expressive.The Roses (151) of M. Fantin, though dirty in the shadows, glows with rich colour. It is mannered. The same artist's Autumn Flowers (181) is varied in tone and good in all respects but the shadows. -A figure leaning on a staff, called A Peasant Girl (166), by M. G. Claussen, shows courage in reproducing the manner and some of the lesser merits of M. J. Breton's treatment and conception of similar subjects, but it has none of M. Breton's pathos.—Mr. E. J. Lambert's On the Brent (227) displays care, but lacks refinement and brilliancy. Though the distant sky of Mr. H. Moore's Scarborough Fishing Boats running in a Breeze (244) has dignity, softness combined with splendour, and that beauty which belongs to sumptuous light striking on cloudland, the rest of the work contains little that is new, and is somewhat painty.--The Chrysanthemums (246) of Miss J. Hayllar, a modern house corridor with flowers, is bright, firm, pure, and full of light.—A Wood Gatherer (254), by Mr. Val. Prinsep, is very prettily conceived and solid, if somewhat opaque in the carnations and deficient in richness of tones. Though burdened heavily with sticks, this is a young lady.

In publishing these notes we do so rather in obedience to custom than on account of the attractions of the exhibition. Its fatal defect is lack of earnestness in studies, of devotion to art, and of thoroughgoing loyalty to the beauty of that nature for which it is obvious many of the contributors really care, though they pay her no more than perfunctory homage.

THE FRENCH GALLERY.

THE miscellaneous gathering of pictures which on Monday last was opened to the public in M Gambart's old gallery in Pall Mall comprises 175 works. The most important is Madan Henriette Browne's Alsace, 1870 (No. 153), the not very happy title of a life-size and intensely pathetic figure of a sad and stately Alsacienne in her national costume, with a charger placed