ROYAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATION. The Laboratory and Class-rooms of Berners College are open for SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY, 20, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET, LONDON, W. DIRECTED BY ARTHUR VACHER, F.C.S. The Instruction is essentially practical; there are no Lectures. Each Student works independently. The Course of Study is arranged to qualify the Student as an Analyst and to enable him generally to apply the science to any branch of industry. But the Students are free to pursue their own particular object. The hours are from Ten to Four. On Saturdays the Laboratory is reserved for Ladies. The Charge is Five Pounds per Month. This includes Instruction, Chemicals, Apparatus, &c. Occasional Students are received at the same rate, namely, Ten Shillings per Month for each Half-day in the Week. Schoolmasters requiring personal instruction pay Half-fees. [All Rights are Reserved. ROYAL SCHOOL OF MINES. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND ART. During the Twenty-third Session, 1873-4, which will commence on the Ist of October, the following Courses of Lectures, and Practical Demonstrations will be given: 1. Chemistry. By E. Frankland, Ph.D. F.R.S. 2. Metallurgy. By John Percy, M.D. F.R.S. 3. Natural History. By T. H. Huxley, LL.D. F.R.S. 4. Mineralogy. By Warington W. Smyth, M.A. F.R.S. } Chairman. 6. Geology. By A. C. Ramsay, LL.D. F. R.S. 7. Applied Mechanics. By T. M. Goodeve, M.A. 9. Mechanical Drawing. By Rev. J. H. Edgar, M.A. The Fee for Students desirous of becoming Associates is £30 in one sum, Science Teachers are also admitted to the Lectures at reduced fees. For a prospectus and information apply to the Registrar, Royal School of Mines, Jermyn Street, London, S.W. TRENHAM REEKS, Registrar. NOTE-By order of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. the instruction in Chemistry, Physics, Applied Mechanics, and Natural History will be given in the New Buildings, in the Exhibition Road, South Kensington. SCIENCE TUITION BY CORRESPON- REQUIRED by a FELLOW of the LINNEAN and Zoological Societies, holding Certificate in Biology from the Royal School of Mines; sometime Assistant in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and the British Museum, and late Curator of the Brighton Aquarium, an Engagement in England, America, or the Colonies, as Curator or Assistant-Curator to a Museum, or as Manager of an Aquarium. High-class Testimonials AddressW. Saville Kent, NATURE Office, London. English Language and Literature ... Ancient and Modern Hist. Mathematics... Natural Philosophy ... ... (Fellow of University College, London.) Assistant Lecturer in Greek and LatinMr. EDWIN B. ENGLAND, MA. Professor A. W. WARD, M.A. (Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge.) Assistant Lecturer Mr. THOS. N. TOLLER, M.A. (Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.) Professor THOMAS BARKER, M.A. (Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.) Assistant Lecturer Mr. A. T. BENTLEY, M.A. Professor BALFOUR STEWART, M.A. Professor THOMAS H. CORE, M.A. Physical Laboratory *** Demon- (Mr. F. KINGDON, strators. Mr. A. SCHUSTER, Ph.D. Civil and Mechanical En-Professor OSBORNE REYNOLDS, M.A. gineering (Fellow of Queen's Colle e, Cambridge.) Geometrical and Mechani- Assistant-Mr. JOHN B. MILLAR, B.E. cal Drawing ... Logic and Mental and Professor W. STANLEY JEVONS, M.A. Moral Philosophy Political Economy F.R.S. (Fellow of University College, London.) Professor JAMES BRYCE, D.C.L. (Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.) Assistant Lecturer Mr. T. E. HOLLAND, M.A B.C.L. (Late Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford) Ditto Mr. J. B. GUNNING MOORE, M.A. Ditto Mr. WM. R. KENNEDY, M. A. (Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge.) Professor H. E. ROSCOE, B.A. Ph.D. Vegetable Physiology and Professor W. C. WILLIAMSON, F.R.S. Botany Practical Physiology andy Histology ... Professor ARTHUR GAMGEE, M.D. F.R.S. Geology and Paleontology Lecturer-Mr. W. BOYD DAWKINS, M.A. F.R.S. F.G.S. Lecturer-Mr. CHAS. A. BURGHARDT, *** Ph.D. Professor T. THEODORES. French Language and Lite-Lecturer-Mr. HERMANN BREYMANN, Free Hand Drawing ... Ph.D. Lecturer-Mr. WILLIAM WALKER. Harmony and Musical Lecturer Composition NOTICE. BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. "NATURE" FOR SEPTEMBER 18 And the following Numbers, will contain FULL REPORTS of THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, And of the ADDRESSES and PROCEEDINGS in the NOTES FROM THE "CHALLENGER,” And other Articles of Interest. WITH THE NUMBER FOR SEPT. 18 WILL BE GIVEN A PORTRAIT OF THE LATE PROF. FARADAY, BEAUTIFULLY ENGRAVED ON STEEL. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY, PRICE 4d. MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. To be had also of all Booksellers and Newsagents in BRADFORD. THE JOURNAL OF THE ANTHROPO LOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND In which are united the Anthropological and Ethnological Societies of No. 7. APRIL, 1873. PRICE 45. (Illustrated). The Inhabitants of Car Nicobar; Wars of Extirpation and Habits of the Native Tribes of Tasmania; The Macas Indians (with coloured plate); Relation of the Parish Boundaries in the South-east of England to great Physical Features, particularly to the Chalk Escarpment (with three coloured maps); On the Looshais Stone Implements and Pottery from Canada (with two plates); The Ventnor Flints; Theories regarding Intellect and Instinct ; On a Collection of 150 Ancient Peruvian Skulls (with two plates); On Ancient Peruvian Pottery (with a plate); On Fragments of a Human Skull and other Bones from Birkdale; Keligious Beliefs of the Ojibois Indians: Rock Inscriptions in Brazil (with a plate); Danish Aspect of the Local Nomenclature of Cleveland; Consecration of the Serpent among the Druids; with Discussious on the Papers, and Anthropological Miscellanea. London: TRÜBNER & CO., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1873 THE TESTIMONIAL TO MR. COLE AS was to be expected, the subscriptions for the well deserved testimonial to Mr. Cole, to which we have already referred, have so far been thoroughly satisfactory, upwards of 2,000l. having already been subscribed. Among the names of the subscribers will be noticed the names of men eminent in nearly every department of human activity. Thus we see Dr. De La Rue, Mr. Brassey, Mr. Baines, M.P., Messrs. Clowes and Son, Elkington and Co., Prof. Ella, Mr. C. J. Freake, Lord Ronald L. Gower, Sir Francis Grant, Earl Granville, Messrs. S. C. Hall, Hawkshaw, Hawksley, Lord Houghton, Messrs. H. A. Hunt, C.B., Jackson and Graham, John Kelk, Longmans, J. E. Millais, Lord C. Paget, Sir A. de Rothschild, Sir Titus Salt, Duke of Sutherland, Messrs. G. Trollope and Sons, Sir Richard Wallace, Dr. J. F. Watson, Marquis of Westminster, Sir Joseph Whitworth, &c. &c. We may well hope that ere the list be closed many more names will be added, and such a sum subscribed as will render possible a testimonial worthy of the services performed by Mr. Cole to all the best interests of this country. The earliest work which can be considered to have a connection with Science undertaken by Mr. Cole, was the reform of the Patent Laws, which he advocated in 1850, afterwards inducing the Society of Arts to take up the subject. He wrote three Reports, and the principles which he laid down have been generally adopted as the basis of the present law. He particularly insisted upon the principle of a moderate fee at the first registration of an invention, such payment to increase at the option of the inventor in after years. He denounced all "taxes on inventions," as such, and public opinion is now beginning to go with him. Successive Governments have received hundreds of thousands of pounds from this source, and still withhold all proper aid to the encouragement of Science. There is a spice of sarcasm in the adage which has been worked in Sgraffito on the back wall of the new Science Schools, "Scientia non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem." In 1852 Mr. Cole reformed, or we may almost say, established, the system of Art Schools, making it possible for every locality to have its Art School if it pleased. In 1853 the Department of Art was made Department of Science and Art, and Dr. Playfair was appointed to organise the Science division; but he shortly afterwards resigned his post, and became Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh. Mr. Cole then became sole Secretary for Science and Art. The late Marquis of Salisbury was the Lord President, and doubtless to the great interest which this nobleman took in all matters appertaining to Science is to be ascribed some of the success with which Mr. Lowe was enabled to ventilate and carry out his views. Captain Donnelly, R.E., was invited to enter the Department, and through the instrumentality of Lord Salisbury, Mr. Cole, and Captain Donnelly the present Government system of scientific instruction throughout the country, one of the things of which England has the greatest reason to be proud, was evolved; and through the admirable harmony existing between Major Donnelly and Mr. Cole the work has been No. 201-VOL. VIII. brought to its present flourishing condition. In 1856 there were 16 Science schools, in 1872 there were 1,238. This is one part of the work which Mr. Cole has done fo English Science, and we blush to think that it has not been appreciated by men of Science as it ought to be and as it will be appreciated. The Report which has just been issued by the Science and Art Department as to the attendance in the various classes connected with it, and the number of visitors to the various museums during 1872, will give some idea of the magnitude of the work accomplished by Mr. Cole. The number of persons who have during the year 1872 attended the Schools and classes of Science and Art in connection with the Science and Art Department is as follows: viz. 36,783 attending Science Schools and Classes in 1872, as against 38,015 in 1871, and 244,134 receiving instruction in Art, showing an increase on the previous year of 31,633, or nearly 15 per cent. At the Royal School of Mines there were 20 regular and 148 occasional, students; at the Royal College of Chemistry, 212 students'; at the Metallurgical Laboratory, 30; at the Royal School of Naval Architecture there were 35. At the Royal College of Science for Ireland there were 20 associate or regular students, and 19 occasional students. The lectures delivered in the lecture theatre of the South Kensington Museum were attended by 11,958 persons, or 2,927 more than in 1871. The evening lectures to working men at the Royal School of Mines were attended by 2,400 persons; and 186 Science teachers attended the special course of lectures provided for their instruction in the new Science Schools at South Kensington. The various courses of lectures delivered in connection with the Department in Dublin were attended by 2,577 persons; and at the evening popular lectures, which were given in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art during the Session of 1871-2, there was an attendance of 1,416. The total number of persons, therefore, who received direct instruction as students, or by means of lectures, in connection with the Science and Art Department in 1872, is nearly 299,000, showing an increase as compared with the number in the previous year of 28,000 or 10 per cent. The museums and collections under the superintendence of the Department in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, were last year visited by upwards of 2,922,000 persons, showing the very considerable increase of 1,141,000, or about 63 per cent. on the number in 1871. The returns received of the number of visitors at the Local Art and Industrial Exhibitions, to which objects were contributed from the South Kensington Museum, show an attendance of upwards of 574,000. The total number of separate attendances during the year 1872, as shown by the returns of the different Institutions and Exhibitions, in connection with the Department, has been upwards of 3,795,000. This total, compared with that of the previous year, presents an increase of 1,117,000, or 53 per cent., not including the number of visitors at local exhibitions, which was exceptionally augmented last year by the attendance of 420,000 at the Dublin Exhibition of Art and Industry, and is necessarily liable to much fluctuation from year to year. We regret extremely to see that part of the great work done by Mr. Cole, in establishing the South Ken U sington Museum, runs some risk of being undone by the unintelligent intermeddling of Government. It would appear from statements recently made in the House of Commons that arrangements were being made for transferring the management of the South Kensington, Bethnal Green, and similar institutions to the trustees of the British Museum. It is difficult for an outsider to see what Government means by contemplating such a step; we believe no better means could be taken to cripple the efficiency of such institutions than by giving them over to the irresponsible management of the unpaid trustees of the British Museum, who have at present much work on their hands, which is the subject of constant Parliamentary inquiry. We cannot conceive that Mr. Cole would approve of any such step, a step which, we repeat, would be sure to mar the great work which, with untiring labour, all-conquering zeal, and advanced intelligence, he has accomplished. Report indeed has reached us that a National Committee is being formed to urge upon Mr. Gladstone's re-constituted Government the necessity of putting the British Museum, the National Gallery, and Institutions supported by Parliamentary funds, and now Trustec-muddled, under the direct control of a responsible Minister. Sir Joseph Whitworth consulted Mr. Cole upon the establishment of Scholarships for Mechanical Science, to take place after his death. Mr. Cole recommended him to establish them during his life, so that he might have the enjoyment of watching the progress of them. Sir Joseph followed this recommendation, and presented the country with 3,000l. a year for these Scholarships. Mr. Cole is now devoting special attention to the application of Science to Productive Industry in the yearly International Exhibitions, and we trust that he may long be spared to reap the honour which is his due and to help on the work of which he has laid the foundation. The erection in Exhibition Road of the handsome Science Schools, one of the few buildings devoted to Science of which the country may be justly proud, which Mr. Cole has at length successfully achieved, is due solely to the persistency of his efforts, rendered more and more pertinacious by the obstinacy and penuriousness of the Treasury, which in the most niggardly spirit is still starving the work and preventing its proper development, simply because, we presume, it is a scientific work; and it was the intention of the recent Chancellor, Mr. Lowe, that in this particular England should be distanced by the smallest Continental or American state. It is fair to add that Mr. Cole was supported in this particular direction by the Duke of Buckingham, the Duke of Marlborough, and the Marquis of Ripon, who have successively been Lord Presidents since 1866. ADVANCED TEXT-BOOK OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY Advanced Text-Book of Physical Geography. By David Page, LL.D., F.G.S., Professor of Geology in the College of Physical Science, Newcastle. Second and Enlarged Ed. (Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1873) PHY HYSICAL Geography is one of those branches of knowledge which, without being a science in itself, makes use of many of the Sciences to explain and illus trate the facts and phenomena with which it deals. So far as it is confined to the mere knowledge of facts and description of natural phenomena, no special acquaintance with any science is required; but when it comes to deal with the causes of phenomena and the deductions from geographical facts, it is essential that the teacher should himself possess a good general knowledge of several branches of modern Science. In particular it is necessary that he should clearly grasp the main principles of Physics, that he should have a good acquaintance with the distribution of animals and plants, and so much familiarity with arithmetic and mathematics as to be able to avoid making statements which are palpably incorrect. After a careful examination of the present volume, we are forced to conclude that the author is, on all the abovementioned points, unfitted to teach this particular subject. It is with much regret that we say this, having expected something very different, not only from the popularity of Prof. Page as an author and a teacher, but also from the criticism of one of our first literary periodicals (used as an advertisement), that the work is "a thoroughly good text-book of Physical Geography." In order to justify this difference of opinion from so high an authority, it will be necessary to point out what are the most prominent errors and defects in the volume. Some of these defects may, it is true, be mere oversights; but most persons will be of opinion that, in the second edition of an educational work, the plea of "oversight" can hardly be allowed. In the second chapter on the figure, motion, and dimensions of the earth-we find a series of curious misconceptions, blunders, or obscurities. At page 19 we have the globe "revolving and rotating in obedience to the laws of gravitation and attraction," and in the next page these words are again used as implying distinct "forces." On page 21 occurs the following :-" But day and night are of unequal and varying length according to the seasons; and these seasonal successions are caused by the facts-first, that the orbit or path of the earth's revolution round the sun is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse; and second, that in performing this revolution her axis is not perpendicular, but inclined at an angle of 66° 27' to the plane of her orbit." This is simply absurd. The ellipticity of the carth's orbit has nothing whatever to do with the fact of there being seasons, which would occur exactly the same were the orbit a perfect circle. The actual effect of the elliptic orbit in slightly modifying the length and severity of winter in the two hemispheres, and which is of some importance as being an element in explanation of the cause of the glacial epoch, is never so much as alluded to. In a recent public examination some of the competitors gave this very account of the seasons, and received few or no marks in consequence. They had probably got up the subject from Dr. Page's volume. Three pages further we have a table of certain dimensions of the planets. This has no particular bearing on physical geography, but as it is given it should have been be detected by observation alone. correct. It is, however, full of gross blunders, which can We have in three columns-the diameter in miles, the cubic contents in miles, and the volume, earth being taken as 1. Now the solid contents" and the "volume" being the same dimension expressed in different ways, must be proportionate in any two planets; yet we have Mercury, volume o'06, solid contents 10'195; Venus, volume o'96, solid contents 223'521, so that while the volume of Venus is 16 times that of Mercury, its solid content is 22 times! Again Earth, volume roo, solid content 260°775; Mars, volume o'14, solid content 48 723, the earth being over 7 times the volume of Mars, but only 5 times its solid content. Almost any other two planets come out equally wrong. Again, from the diameters given the solid contents can be easily calculated, but here again is frequent error; and to add to the confusion, in at least two cases the diameters are seriously wrong (4,980 miles instead of 4,100 for Mars, for instance), so that it is very difficult to understand where so many mistakes could have come from. On the next page we have a contradiction as to the earth's internal structure. It is first stated positively that "the interior of the earth cannot be composed of the same materials that constitute its outer portion," and lower down, that "either the interior of the earth is composed of materials differing altogether from those known at the surface, or the compression must be counteracted," &c. At page 27 we have the atmosphere described as "mainly composed of two gases, nitrogen and oxygen79 parts of the former to 21 of the latter-with a small percentage of carbonic acid and other extraneous impurities." Considering the importance of the carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere, it is hardly instructive to class it as an “extraneous impurity." : Passing over the mere description of the earth's surface, parts of which are very well done, we find other objectionable matter as soon as we have to deal with the explanation of phenomena. A mountain range is said at p. 75 to be not a simple upheaval, the result of one paroxysmal outburst, but the work of innumerable volcanoes and earthquakes operating through ages and subsequently escarped and chiselled by rains, frosts," &c. Here gradual elevation without volcanoes or earthquakes, and possibly from altogether different causes, is ignored. On the next page, speaking of circumdenudation, we have :"A mountain may thus consist of stratified rocks and be wholly unconnected with any forces of upheaval or ejection from below." Here ignoring that the strata must be upheaved before they can be circumdenuded. These are perhaps slight matters, but we think an introductory work should not adduce the almost exploded theory of Elie de Beaumont on the parallelism of mountain chains of the same age, even when in opposite hemispheres," as if it were generally admitted, or Prof. Hopkins' explanation of central mountains with diverging spurs as the result of an upheaving force acting on a point, without stating that a very different explanation of the facts is adopted by most modern geologists. expansion as ice to one-ninth of its bulk at 32° for fresh water and at 281 or less for salt water." Again, at p. 131 we have "As already mentioned, water acquires its minimum volume or greatest density at a temperature of 40°, and becomes lighter as it rises above or falls below this temperature. Owing to this property a perpetual interchange or circulation is kept up among the waters of the ocean," proving that sea-water also is supposed by the writer to have this property, instead of increasing in density down to about 2710, as it actually does. Yet the author quotes Maury, who published this correction of the old notion in 1861, and the papers of Dr. Carpenter, who repeatedly refers to this fact as a most important one. Again, at p. 136 we have the obsolete theory of Sir James Ross as to deep-sea temperatures given in full, with a remark that it has recently "been materially interfered with" by the experiment of Drs. Carpenter and Wyville Thomson; but without, apparently, any acquaintance with the whole of the facts established by those gentle. men, as shown by again referring to the temperature of the bottom of the ocean as being 39° Fahr., "that of its maximum density." 66 It is perhaps a small matter that, in describing the Nile valley, Capt. Speke's account is quoted at length (p. 181), and the Victoria Nyanza given as the source, the Albert Nyanza not being once mentioned, or any allusion whatever made to the fact that Sir Samuel Baker claims it to be the true source of the Nile; but it is of great importance that the student should be impressed with clear and accurate ideas as to the cause of winds. Yet we find here the old school-book notion of a vaccum and an inrush to fill it up. "As air is expanded by heat and contracted by cold the warmer and lighter volumes will ascend, and the colder and denser rush in from all sides to supply the vacancy" (p. 205). "The air of the torrid zone becomes rarefied and ascends, while the colder and denser air sets in from either side to supply the deficiency" (p. 213). And the same words are repeated at p. 243. But every physicist knows that there is no "vacancy" and no deficiency" in the case, but merely a disturbance of equilibrium; and unless this is clearly comprehended the causes and effects of atmospheric currents can never be understood. On the subject of light and heat the ideas of the author appear to be still more confused. At p. 205 he says-" As the atmosphere is the medium through which the sun's heat is conveyed to and disseminated over the earth, so also it is the medium of his light-giving rays." This sentence will certainly convey to the learner the false notion that the atmosphere is in some way essential to the "conveyance' of light and heat from the sun to the earth; and this is further dilated upon in the following vague and unintelligible, if not erroneous sentence :-" Heat and light are When we come to the subject of the ocean, involving alike indispensable to plants and animals, and, from the many nice problems in physics, our author is again alto- peculiar constitution of the atmosphere, as regards its gether at fault. It seems hardly credible that he should varying density, moisture, &c., both are reflected and not know the difference between salt and fresh water as diffused so as to become most available to vegetable and regards the point of maximum density, on which much of animal life." The learner must be very acute who can the theory of oceanic circulation and temperature de- obtain any definite information from such oracular teachpends; yet such seems to be the case. At p. 123 we are ing as this. Again (at p. 207) we have a total misconceptold that "at 40° Fahr. water is at its minimum volume tion as to the cause of the decrease of temperature at inand maximum density," and again in the same page-creasing elevations-"The heat that falls on the land "Its maximum density or minimum volume at 391, its being partly absorbed and partly radiated into the atmo |