obvious purpose of depressing Wichert, Moser, Bürger, and others, whose names have appeared too often on the playbills. If one were to take seriously the flights of fancy in which some writers indulge, one would be forced to believe that the dramatic muse, after she had kissed Shakspeare and had bestowed a passing grasp of the hand on Schiller and Goethe, has roused herself to clasp Wildenbruch to her bosom. Such exaggerations correct themselves, and luckily do not alter the fact that Wildenbruch is a capable writer for the stage. It is to be hoped, however, that his head will not be turned by his panegyrists or his talents injured by excessive adulation. If they be, a bitter process of disillusionizing awaits him, for the wave that has borne him aloft will fall back in accordance with the well-known law of nature. Our Court Theatre, following the tendency of public taste, opened the season with a play the scene of which is laid in remote ages. Skalden Kunst' is the title of the piece, and the author is Felix Dahn, the place Ultima Thule, the time the end of the fourth century, therefore even more remote than Thule. I have avoided speaking of the scene of the plot, for the piece really involves no plot. For a ballad of twenty couplets the matter would probably have sufficed for a drama it is far too scanty. The old king is at feud with his son, and the singer reconciles them through the might of his song, about which Schiller has said in splendid verse everything that is worth saying, and about which the wild beasts must have talked in the days of Orpheus of blessed memory. The singer marries the king's daughter. The poet, a learned professor at Königsberg, to whom we are indebted for one of our most remarkable novels, 'Der Kampf um Rom,' has on this occasion also produced a respectable literary work. The current criticism has the suitable expression for it, "It is animated by a kindly culture," but it is tiresome on the stage, and already, after being played a few times, the piece has been

buried. The number of mourners was small.

More successful, but also not so successful as

usual, has Gustav von Moser been with his 'Reif-Reiflingen' at a theatre devoted to farce and comedy. Moser is the most fertile and lightest of our comic writers. He endeavours

to entertain his audience, and this he almost always succeeds in doing. A lightly constructed plot, in which one amusing situation follows another; amusing characters that are brought on the boards when they are wanted, and stand aside at the writer's bidding, without one's caring to inquire what has become of them; an easy, not very choice, but still fresh dialogue — such are the ingredients of all his plays. He has introduced a good comic type, the Prussian lieutenant as he exists in real life. Owing to the long years of peace our lieutenant was, down to the sixties, in bad odour, and he played in literature a rôle by no means to be envied, often exceedingly ridiculous. He was laughed at as a fop and fool, who laid exaggerated stress on a faultless exterior, scented himself,

made his spurs clash, rattled his sword, without ever drawing it from its sheath, and courted all girls and young wives. The great wars which we have waged since then have placed the much ridiculed lieutenant in quite a different light. One has conceived a respect for this young fop who possesses the noblest virtues of man, bravery, love of duty, and a sense of honour, and it is Moser who first has acclimatized this version of the lieutenant in a thoroughly realistic way in our dramatic literature. He has represented him as a human being with many laughable qualities, which under ordinary circumstances might pass for absurdities, but which at the same time give way to an earnest resolution when earnestness is needed. He has delineated him as a lovable companion, polite towards women, educated, and attentive to duty. The first piece in which this modern lieutenant appeared was 'Der Veilchen

fresser.' Moser wished with this rather tasteless

title to create a so-called "Geflügeltes Wort," but he did not succeed. The Veilchenfresser' is intended to describe the officer who passes for a social fop, but in a given moment shows himself a man of honour. Still more successful was this character in a subsequent comedy, 'Krieg im Frieden,' the hero of which, Reif-Reiflingen, an exceedingly clever sketch of our young officers, caused the unusual popularity of the play. This success caused Moser to make the same figure the hero of his last comedy, again very clever and very amusing. But the old experience, that the second parts of successful works which were finished with the first never come off rightly, has again been verified.

There is, then, nothing very remarkable or agreeable to announce regarding the beginning of the season. I shall merely mention as a curiosity that the theatre which was founded some years back with a view to improving the taste of the masses by the performance of classical works at low price-the National Theatre-now brings out dull comedies which only last through seven unsuccessful performances-abortions that are supposed to provoke to pity, to the awakening of the sense of art, to the purification of the taste, to the advancement of talent! PAUL LINDAU.

THE SUNDERLAND SALE.

WE Continue this week our report of the Sunderland sale at the rooms of Messrs. Puttick & Simpson, beginning with the books sold on Thursday, the 9th, and ending with those disposed of last Wednesday:-Ochinus, A Tragoedie, or Dialoge of the Uniuste Usurped Primacie of the Bishop of Rome, Englishet by Bp. Ponet, black-letter, a quarto bound in contemporary brown calf, Lond., for Gwalter Lynne at Byllyngesgate, 1549, 851. Les Ordonnances de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or, printed on vellum, 4to., 24. Ovidius, Opera, 3 vols., old morocco, fol., Roma, C. Sweynheym et Arn. Pannartz, 1741, 851.; Ovidius, Opera Omnia, 3 vols. fol., Venetiis, Jacobus Rubeus, 1474, 607.; Ovidius, Opera, 2 vols., Bononiæ, Baldasarem de Azzoguides, 1480, 511. Oviedo y Valdes, De la Natural Hystoria de las Indias, in Toledo, por Remon de Petras, 2 vols., 1526-57, 481.; Oviedo y Valdes, Coronica de las Indias, fol., Salamanca, Juan de Junta, 1547, 61l. Libro

del Famoso Cavallero Palmerin de Oliva, fol., Toledo, Lopez de Haro, 1580, 177. 10s. Parthenius, Pro Lingua Latina Oratio, John Grolier's copy (damaged), sm. 4to., Venet., Aldus, 1549, 15. Paschalius, Henrici II. Galliarum Regis Elogium, fol., Lut. Par., M. Vascosanus, 1560, 167. Petrarca, Sonetti, Canzoni et Trionphi, printed on vellum, wanting leaves 1 and 21, sm. fol. (Venet., Vindelinus de Spira), 1470, 280l. ; another edition (imperfect), sm. fol., Padua, Martinus de septem arboribus Pratensis, 1472, 30.; another edition, sm. fol., Venet., 1473, 25l.; Petrarca, Gli Tríonfi, con la Expositione di Bernardo Glicino, 1475, 351.; Petrarca, I Triumphi, col Comento di B. Glicino, containing, besides the woodcuts belonging to the book, a set of six plates, engraved on metal (attributed to Filipino Lippi), which are probably unique, 1,9501.; Petrarca, Le Cose Volgari, printed on vellum, contemporary Venetian brown morocco binding, Vinegia, case d'Aldo Romano, 1501, 50.; 1 Petrarca da Dolce e G. Camillo, printed on vellum, sm. 8vo., Vinegia, G. Giolito, 1558, 221.; Petrarca, Il Libro degli Huomini Famosi, fol., Polliano, Verona, 1476, 34. Omnia Platonis Opera, editio princeps, fol., Venet., Aldus, 1513, 31. Plautus, Comoediae Omnes, Venetiis, 1472, 90.; Plautus, in ornamental Lyonese binding, sm. 8vo., Lugd., 1513, 17. Lyonese binding, sm. 8vo., Lugd., 1513, 17. Plinius, Historia Naturalis, lib. xxxvii., editio princeps, Venetiis, Joannes de Spira, 1469, 821.; another copy, 701.; another edition, Roma (edit. secunde), Sweynheym et Pannartz, 1470, 11. 10s.; another edition, printed on vellum, fol., Venetiis, Nicolaus Jenson, 1472, 2201.; Plinius, Epistolarum, lib. viii., 1471, 17. 10s. Plutarchus, De Liberis Educandis, 39 11. (the

first book printed at Parma), Parmæ, And. Portila, 1472, 13. Pontanus, De Bello Neapolitano et de Sermone, printed on vellum, Naples, Sigismundum Mayr, 1509, 45l. Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus, fol., Lond., H. Featherstone, 1625-26, 55l. Quintilianus, Institutionum Oratoriarum ad Victoriam Marcellum, printed on vellum, illuminated, fol., Romæ, 1470, 290l.; Institutiones Oratoriæ, fol., Romæ, Sweynheym et Pannartz, 1470, 261.; another edition, fol., Venetiis, Nic. Jenson, 1471, 221. Rabelais, Grads Annales du Grand Gargantua, 12mo., 1542, 320l.; Gargantua et Pantagrueline Prognostication pour lan 1535, et les Horrible Faicts, in 1 vol. (first edition of Rabelais with a date), 3201.; La Vie du Grand Gargantua et Pantagruel, Roi des Dipsodes, 2 vols., 1542-3, 2801.; Tiers Livre, Tholose, 1546, 95l.; Tiers Livre, Lyon, 1552, 91.; Le Tiers Livre et le Quart Livre (wants title and 4 prel. II.), 1552, Paris, 171.; Le Quart Livre, 1553, 911.; Le Cinquiesme et Dernier Livre et le Voyage et Navigation des Isles Incogneuës, 1565-74, 967.; L'Isle Sonante, 1562, 26. The Petrarchs and the editions of Rabelais have been the main centres of attraction in this instalment of the library. On Thursday, the fortieth day of the sale, the total was 4481. 17s. The fourth instalment of the library fetched 10,1291. 8s. The gross total amounts to the large sum of 46,6721. 13s.

Literary Gossip.

THE Middlesex magistrates have appointed a special committee to consider whether some better accommodation cannot be afforded for the ancient records of the county, and whether their use cannot be facilitated by the preparation of a calendar. Many of the earliest documents, it is alleged, are perishing from damp. The magistrates of the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire have, as we pointed out last year, set a good example in this respect.

THE Forty-third Annual Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, which contain, besides the continuations of the is about to be presented to Parliament, will Calendars of Patent Rolls and of the Duchy of Lancaster Records, the beginning of a Calendar of Privy Seals, &c., of Charles I.; some documents relating to the conspiracy of the Earl of Cambridge against Henry V.; a report on libraries in Sweden containing MSS. pertaining to English history, by the State archives of Stockholm, by Mr. W. H. Rev. W. D. Macray; a like report on the Bliss; and a report on the Canadian archives, by Mr. Douglas Brymner.

THE appearance of the late Dr. A. C. Burnell's translation of 'Manu' is now ensured beyond question, as the manuscript has been found to be in a fit state to go to press. The important introduction has, on careful examination, also turned out to be perfect, showing the last touches of the hand of the writer.

MR. GUY LE STRANGE, one of the editors of the modern Persian play 'The Vazír of Lankurán,' will complete and carry through the press the English-Persian dictionary left in an incomplete state by his late friend Prof. E. H. Palmer. The Vazír of Lankurán,' the first modern Persian play ever printed in Europe, will appear shortly, the editors being Messrs. Haggard and Le Strange. The volume will comprise the Persian text, explanatory notes, a glossary, grammatical introduction, and English

Huxley, and, curiously enough, the two books contain almost the same number of pages.

even

66

Here, however, the resemblance ends: the one' contained' definitions" of all the most important orders of the animal kingdom"; the other has no definitions of the shortest sort," save only for the sub-kingdoms. In palliation of this Prof. Nicholson explains that his work is intended to be a mere guide to a line of study." Bearing in mind these limitations, we would ask whether the learned professor thinks it well for a zoologist to commence his studies with the examination of what are certainly parasitic and are almost as certainly degraded forms; and if not, why he takes as his first class of the Protozoa the Gregarinida; or whether he thinks so little of the presence or absence of a nucleus as to justify the union of non-nucleated and nucleated forms in the same class. So far as it shows us what our earlier ignorance led us to do, we all willingly recognize the moral of the brilliant discoveries by Boettcher and Hertwig of the nucleus in the mammalian red blood-corpuscle and the Foraminifera respectively. Attention, on the other hand, is to be given to the micro-chemical researches of Brandt and Miescher on nuclein; and the differences between Protamaba and Amaba seem still to be so great that the grouping of the two in the same class must be regarded as most misleading.

Leaving aside these lowly forms, we find the author retaining the long obsolete division of the Annulosa, and exhibiting within the limits of that group a neglect of the results of some of the most important investigations of later years. The retention of Peripatus among the Myriopoda, after the admirable investigations of Prof. Moseley and the lamented Prof. Balfour, argues an incompetence to recognize definite facts and their morphological value which is absolutely fatal to the book's value as a guide to students. An error no less characteristic and remarkable follows immediately, for we find that the first sub-class of the Insecta (Ametabola) contains forms which are clearly descended from winged insects, and others which as clearly have never had wings at all. For Mr. Nicholson the researches of Sir John Lubbock and others on the morphology of the Collembola have evidently all been in vain..

When we come to the fishes we find the old, old story repeated. Amphioxus, without a heart, an ear, or a liver; the hag, with no specialized jaw arch; and the shark, with all the essential characters of a vertebrate, are all placed in "orders" which, so far as our instructor lets us know, are to be regarded as of equal value. In spite of the researches of, notably, Prof. Flower, the Camelida, Tragulida, and Cervide are, among others, three of the families of the Ruminantia; and, as may be supposed, man has a distinct order

to himself.

The author has made references to authorities an essential part of the work, and we may therefore point out to him that, although Dr. Dobson's 'Monograph of the Asiatic Cheiroptera' is well worthy of mention, he should rather, on the principle that the less is contained by the greater, have referred to that naturalist's 'Catalogue of the Cheiroptera in the British Museum.' It is really too absurd to see Mr. Mivart's popular book on

the common frog standing between Günther's Catalogue of the Batrachia' and Duméril (not "Dumeril ") and Bibron's 'Erpétologie Générale.' The title of the only complete work on Myzostoma is conspicuous by its absence. Chun's great work on the Ctenophora should certainly have been mentioned, and the not unknown name of Hertwig have found a place in the bibliography of the Radiolaria.

We have looked in vain for any notice of Dicyema or Rhopalura, although Prof. E. van Beneden regards them as representing a group of equal value with either of the two other great divisions of the animal world; of Neomenia and Chatoderma, perhaps the simplest of molluscs; of the enigmatic Astrophiura or the instructive Ctenaria; but we have not failed to find such old world mistakes as Myriapoda, Edriophthalmata, Arbaciada, and Cestum veneris.

In what has gone before we have kept ourselves to what have seemed to be actual faults of commission or omission, neglecting to observe the want of a general or philosophic grasp of the essential points of a classificatory naturalist, and this we have done because there can be no common platform between the writer and ourselves. It is quite credible that ill-taught students may ask for synoptical tables, but he who is engaged in the work of modern zoology knows that these, save when they appear as the tentative schemes of some many-sided investigator, are hardly worth the paper they are printed on, and he who has to do with examinations and examinees knows only too well to what base uses and what evil ends works like the present may be put; while he who is acquainted only with English zoology will know that Mr. Pascoe's work, unsatisfactory though it is, is better far than this, of which we have thought it our duty to point out the more glaring and typical to point out the more glaring and typical

mistakes.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

The diffi

MR. COLQUHOUN's recent paper on his journey through the Southern China borderlands is a most interesting narrative and a valuable contribution to geography, dealing as it does with a line of country which is comparatively unknown. But considered in the light of a trade route of the future, we venture to think that the line he proposes can scarcely hope to oust its rivals, the Irrawaddy and Yang-tsze routes. culties of diverting trade from its established channels in a totally new direction are always considerable, and more than ever so where a large tract of country has to be traversed before the waterways are reached. The subject, however, is well worthy of further consideration, and should Mr. Lepper's proposals, now before the Indian Government, lead to any expedition from the Assam side, the question of the trade of South-Western Yunnan might advantageously be included within the scope of the investigation. The interesting facts mentioned by Mr. Colquhoun about the peculiar excellence of the socalled Po-erh tea are not new, though they are little known to general readers. Baron von Richthofen, in his letters on the Chinese provinces, published at Shang-hai in 1872, discussed at length its admirable qualities and the desirability of encouraging its export. It is said, on good authority, to be more refreshing than any other kind, and although strong does not irritate the nerves as other green teas do, while, if prepared in the Chinese way, it will bear seven infusions without losing strength or flavour!

The Royal Geographical Society may be con

gratulated on the November number of their Proceedings, which contains several interesting .B., on the ancient sea route to China from First comes an article by Col. H. Yule, Western Asia, wherein the various localities mentioned by the author of the 'Periplus of the Erythræan Sea,' by Ptolemy, Cosmas Indicopleustes, and the Arab geographers, receive careful indication. There is one part of the subject, however, on which Col. Yule does not dwell-we mean that section of the route which extended from the head of the Red Sea to India. Those

comparative geographers who may be desirous of extending their researches in this direction will find an elaborate and lengthy article by Mr. Rehatsek in the Journal of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1881, in which he treats fully of the various emporia and other places which existed along the coasts of Arabia and the Persian Gulf. The next paper, by Mr. Nelson, of the United States Signal Service and journey made over completely new ground in the Smithsonian Institution, describes a sledge

the delta of the Yukon, in Northern Alaska, during the years 1878-79. The length of the journey was 1,200 miles in all, and this was accomplished in dog sledges over a low-lying, sterile, and frozen country, peopled at rare. intervals by a pure-blooded Eskimo population, numbering in all about 3,000. Mr. Nelson says these people present one of the richest fields They retain their complicated and primitive system of religious festivals and other ceremonies, while their work in ivory and bone and all their weapons and utensils bear evidence of considerable skill. A map and paper illustrative of part of the Bolivian table-land are contributed by Mr. J. B. Minchin, in the course of which he remarks that the vast sheet of water which formerly occupied the site of Lake Poopó and a great part of the Andean table-land, situated at an average altitude of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, must have covered a total area of no less than 20,000 miles. In this lofty region silver is the only metal worked to any extent, the annual export amounting to between eight. and ten million dollars. With railway communication, which might be easily brought down to the port of Iquique, the export of the metal would doubtless increase largely.

A Russian expedition into Central Africa is to be undertaken next year, under the direction of M. Sholtz-Ragozinsky, and a vessel is being got

ready for the voyage out. It is intended to acquire some land and establish a meteorological station at Cameroon Bay, and then to push inwards.

Capt. Bove and the other members of the expedition dispatched by the Argentine Government to Tierra del Fuego have returned to Buenos Ayres. Staaten Island and the land within the new Argentine boundary have been carefully examined, and existing charts rectified in many important particulars. Capt. Bove advocates the occupation of Staaten Island as a sheep station, and speaks hopefully of the chances of the fisheries of that quarter.

The

Dr. Jorge Fontana, whom the Argentine Government sent to the Pilcomayo to inquire into Dr. Crevaux's murder, has returned without meeting with traces of the French explorer. He entered the Pilcomayo on July 31st, and ascended it, partly in a steam launch, partly in a boat, as far as the Bolivian frontier. river is believed to be navigable throughout this distance from January to July. The subprefect of the Bolivian province of Gran Chaco has been more successful. He had an interview with some Tobas Indians on August 2nd at San Francisco Solano. They denied having participated in the murder, and charged their neighbours, the Noctenes and Tapietis, with the deed.

Dr. G. A. Fischer, the former companion of Denhardt, intends to leave Pangani in the course of this month with an Arab caravan

bound for Lake Samburu. The Hamburg Geographical Society has granted 760l. towards the expenses of this expedition.

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

HERR ZELBR, of the Imperial Observatory at Vienna, has carried on an ephemeris of the great comet until the 1st of next March, and it seems not unlikely that it may be observed with the aid of a large telescope until nearly that time. About the middle of December the southern declination will amount to more than 30°, but after that the comet will move towards the north, and the southern declination on March 1st will be only 15°. The calculated brightness at that time will be only one-hundredth of what it was on the 6th of October, but on December 16th it will be one-tenth of the latter, or about half what it is now. During the absence of moonlight in the first half of December the comet may therefore probably be still followed with the naked eye, rising in our latitude about midnight. Nothing more has, we believe, been heard of Schmidt's "companion" comet.

Venus is now on the meridian at half-past one in the afternoon; but, her southern declination still exceeding 27°, she sets a few minutes before five o'clock, less than an hour after the sun. Mars is approaching conjunction with the sun, which he will reach on December 10th at a distance from him of little more than half a degree in declination. Jupiter and Saturn, we need hardly remark, are visible all night (weather permitting), the latter being on the meridian about half past eleven, and the former at a few minutes after two in the morning, rising about a quarter before six in the evening.

The sky was so overcast in the neighbourhood of London last Monday night that there was no opportunity of looking for the Leonids, but it is not likely that any considerable number would have been seen under any circumstances. The richest part of the meteoric ring is now nearly at its greatest possible distance from us. It follows the comet of 1866 (which was discovered by Tempel on December 19th, 1865, and passed its perihelion on January 11th, 1866), and its period is thirty-three and a quarter years, so that it is now a little past aphelion. The next brilliant display of meteors of this stream will therefore not take place until the year 1899; but it is desirable to keep watch as far as possible upon the whole extent of the ring.

The number of the Comptes Rendus for the 6th inst. contains a note from M. Cruls, by which it appears that information was received at Rio on the 10th of September of the discovery of the great comet, but it was not seen at the observatory there until the morning of the 12th, and for ten days after that clouds interfered with its actual observation, although it had in the mean time been seen in several other parts of Brazil. The number also contains a good series of observations of the comet from October 10th to November 5th, made at the Lyons Observatory by M. Gonnessiat.

SOCIETIES.

ASTRONOMICAL.-Nov. 10.-Mr. E. J. Stone, President, in the chair.-Messrs. R. Bryant, A. L. Kaye, and J. McCarthy were elected Fellows. Prof. H. G. van de Sande Bakhuyzen, of the Observatory of Leyden; Dr. W.Döllen, of the Pulkowa Observatory; Dr. W. Klinkerfues, of the Göttingen Observatory; Dr. H. Schultz, of the Upsala Observatory; and Prof. H. C. Vogel, of the Potsdam Observatory, were elected Associates.-Prof. Pritchard read a paper on certain deviations from the law of apertures in relation to stellar photometry, and on the applicability of a glass wedge to the determination of the magnitudes of coloured stars. He said that he had been engaged for some time in observing the magnitudes of stars with a wedge photometer. In the course of this research a doubt arose as to the perfect accuracy of the law which assumes that the amount of the light transmitted varies with the aperture of the telescope. The late Mr. Johnson found that one of the halves of his heliometer transmitted more light than the other in the ratio of 1,000 to 924; he had therefore discarded

the method of limiting apertures, and from a series of experiments which he had made with the wedge photometer, he concluded that the measures made with the instrument might be depended on to onethirteenth of a magnitude. He hoped shortly to present a catalogue to the Society giving magnitudes of all naked-eye stars from the Pole to the Equator, down to, and including, stars of the fifth magnitude. -A paper from Mr. Gill, on observations of comets, 1881, II. and III., of Wells's comet, and of the great comet of 1882, was read. Mr. Gill described how he had first observed the comet which was now visible on the 8th of September, while returning from the observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. Observations of its place were secured with meridian instruments as well as with the great Indian theodolite. Mr. Finlay, first assistant at the Cape Observatory, described the changes of the comet's nucleus as it approached the sun. On Sunday, September 17th, he observed it, close to the sun's limb, with a six-inch equatorial, power of 110, and a neutraltinted wedge; he watched it during the greater part of the day, till at 4h 50, Cape time, it came up to the sun's limb and was suddenly lost sight of. Mr. Elkin, of the Cape Observatory, also watched the comet up to the sun's limb, and saw it disappear at 4h 50m 52, Cape time. The observation was made as accurately as the observation of the occultation of a star of the fourth magnitude can be made at the limb of the full moon. Before coming up to the limb the nucleus and a small portion of the tail seemed scarcely inferior in brilliancy to the sun's surface. It was not possible at the time to say whether the comet was passing behind the sun or in front; subsequent observations proved that the comet was passing between the earth and the sunthe comet was quite invisible when upon the sun's disc. The following papers were also presented: Observations of Comet b, 1882, made at Windsor, New South Wales,' by Mr. J. Tebbutt,- The Fireball Radiants of August 9-11,' and The Markings of Jupiter,' by Mr. W. F. Denning,- The Electric Light in Observatories,' by Mr. W. S. Franks,- Elements of Comet III. (Schäberle), 1881,' by Mr. H. T. Vivian,

On a Probable Assyrian Transit of Venus,' by the Rev. S. J. Johnson,-The Great Comet of 1882,' by Mr. F. C. Penrose,- Observations of Comets a, b, and c, 1882, made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, by the Astronomer Royal,- Solar Eclipse of 1882, May 17th, observed at Meerut, India,' by Major A. B. Brown, and 'Sextant Observations of the Great Comet of 1882,' by Capt. G. Cochrane.

METEOROLOGICAL.-Nov. 15.-Mr. J. H. Laughton, President, in the chair.-The following new Fellows were elected: Rev. J. Brunskill, Messrs. F. B. Buckland, C. F. Casella, W. H. M. Christie, A. Cresswell, R. S. Culley, C. Morris, O. L. O'Connor, H. Parker, A. Rowntree, and D. R. Sharpe. The papers read were: On Certain Types of British Weather,' by the Hon. R. Abercromby.-'On the Use of Kites for Meteorological Observation,' by Prof. E. D. Archibald. In this paper the author advocates the use of kites for meteorological observation, and describes the mode in which they may be best flown so as not to be mere toys, but scientific instruments, capable of ascending to great heights, remaining steady in currents of varying velocity, and of being manipulated with ease and rapidity by the observer.-On the Meteorology of Mozufferpore, Tirhoot, 1881,' by Mr. C. M. Pearson.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.-Nov. 14.Sir W. G. Armstrong, President, in the chair.-The paper read was' On recent Hydraulic Experiments,' by Major A. Cunningham.

MATHEMATICAL.-Nov. 9.- Mr. S. Roberts, President, in the chair.-Mr. W. M. Hicks was admitted into the Society.-The Chairman spoke on the loss the Society had sustained by the death of Prof. W. Stanley Jevons during the recess.-After the new Council had been elected, and the chair taken by the newly-elected President, Prof. Henrici, Mr. Roberts read his address, entitled' Remarks on Mathematical Terminology, and the Philosophical Bearing of recent Mathematical Speculations concerning the Realities of Space.'-The following communications were made: On In- and Circum-scribed Polyhedra,' by Prof. Forsyth,-Note on Quartic Curves in Space,' by Dr. Spottiswoode,-'Note on the Derivation of Elliptic Function Formulæ from Confocal Conics,' by Mr. J. Griffiths, On the Explicit Integration of certain Differential Resolvents, by Sir J. Cockle, -On Compound Determinants,' by Mr. R. F. Scott, -and' On Unicursal Twisted Quartics,' by Mr. R. A. Roberts.

NEW SHAKSPERE.-Nov. 10.-Rev. W. A. Harrison in the chair.-Mr. F. J. Furnivall read a paper by Miss M. L. R. Smith, On some of the Textual Difficulties in "Hamlet."" The paper first dealt with the relation of Quarto 1 to Quarto 2, and the development that the characters of the women undergo in

the latter. An emendation was suggested before the line "As stars with trains of fire." "Sallied flesh," the reading of the quartos, was upheld against the "solid flesh" of the folio; and the reading "for to drink" of the second quarto against the other readings" to drink deep.' On the Disputed Reading "Chief in That" (I. iii. 74),' a short paper by Prof. W. T. Thom, of Virginia, was read.

PHYSICAL.-Nov. 11.-Prof. Clifton, President, in the chair.-Prof. Rowland exhibited some of the new concave diffraction gratings of his invention, and photographs of the spectra obtained by him.A letter was read by Prof. Guthrie from Capt. Abney, testifying to the great advance made in the definition of spectra by these gratings, and the ease with which they can now be photographed.-Mr. W. Brown read a paper proving that the doctrine of the conservation of energy necessarily implied a system of central forces.-Prof. L. P. Thompson read a paper On some Historical Notes in Physics.' He showed that Davy employed the spark between two carbon points, i. e., the electric light, as early as 1802; that Franklin's experiment in boiling is given in Boyle's New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air'; and that P. Reis's 1861 telephone was designed to transmit speech, and based on the human ear. One of Reis's early telephones was shown by him.

ARISTOTELIAN.-Nov. 6.-Mr. S. H. Hodgson, President, in the chair.-Mr. E. B. Bax and Mr. F. T. Atkins were elected Members.-Miss M. S. Handley read a paper On Leibnitz and Wolf to Kant,' which was followed by a discussion.

SHORTHAND.-Nov. 8.-Mr. C. Walford, President, in the chair.-The following new Members were elected Messrs. A. H. Hill, H. J. Infield, Reed, jun., and P. Powter, as Fellows; Messrs. W. G. Bridge, J. Scott, G. F. Pearse, and C. E. Dormer, as Associates.

:

The President delivered the opening address of the session, reviewing the first year's work of the Society. All who had heard or read its proceedings would concur that the Society had shown sufficient reasons for its existence. He made a suggestion that a standing committee might be appointed, to which should be referred all new systems, with a view to decide whether they had any merits.-Mr. Lewis read a paper giving an account of some MS. notes left by his father, the late Mr. J. H. Lewis, on the bibliography of shorthand, apparently intended for use in a subsequent edition of his Historical Account of Shorthand Writing.'-The Rev. Prof. Hechler moved, and Mr. E. Guest seconded, that a congress of shorthand writers of all nationalities should be convened in London, and the matter was referred to the Council for consideration.

DR. STERRY HUNT stated at a meeting held in Montreal on October 26th that the American Association for the Promotion of Science would meet in 1884 at Newhaven, and so arrange their gathering that the members of the British Association then visiting Canada would have the opportunity of attending both meetings.

PROF. KEIL has produced two colossal statues, one of George Stephenson and the other of James Watt. These are being completed in the studio of Herr Bock, the German sculptor, and are intended for the new Polytechnic at Charlottenburg, near Berlin.

DR. FLEITMANN, of Iserlohn, well known as the inventor of a process for welding nickel, has published a striking result showing the rapid formation of mineral veins. Two years since the bottom of a stable pit was rammed hard with common clay containing iron. It has served for storing dung for that period, water being thrown in occasionally to prevent overheating. It having