eyes what was doing and had been done elsewhere. They visited the English schools, such as they are, and, more important, they went abroad and inspected the wellknown technical schools on the continent, and on their return they issued an interesting report containing not only an account of what they saw and learnt, but the conclusions they drew as to how far their Manchester school should be modelled on foreign lines. This journey of inspection gave the members of the committee a new and enlarged view of their duties, and they returned home with the determination that if they could not approach the size of such buildings as the Zurich Polytechnicum or the Technical High School of Charlottenburg, at any rate they would put up a school which should be as complete in its parts as any similar institution abroad and capable of doing for their centre work equally useful and of exerting an equally beneficial influence on their population as any of the foreign schools. Some captious critics were loud in their condemnation of such a way of spending public money as that of sending a number of Manchester men on an educational tour abroad. In fact, no money could be or has been more judiciously or more economic ally spent. Without a knowledge from personal observation of what is doing elsewhere, these gentlemen could not possibly have carried out their business to a successful issue; with such a knowledge they can and will do it. Fortunately for Manchester, the necessity for technical training of the people was long ago preached by one of her most distinguished sons, the late Sir Joseph Whitworth, and his legatees, knowing his views, presented a site for the school of 5000 square yards, situated in the centre of the city, and well placed as regards light and air. On this site the Corporation have decided to build a spacious, not to say magnificent, school, a perspective view of which is found on the opposite page. The whole of the site, including 770 yards in addition given by the Corporation, is to be covered by buildings, and in it ample accommodation will be found for the work carried on in the present temporary premises. This will include engineering, mechanical, electrical, civil and sanitary, the chemical industries, the cotton manufacture, spinning and weaving, the building trades, dyeing and calico printing, metallurgy, letterpress and lithographic printing, and other minor industries; industrial art and design, and the subjects classed under the heads of commercial and economical instruction. And in addition to these proper accommodation for the teaching of the pure sciences, mathematics, foreign languages, to say nothing of manual instruction and gymnastics. All these matters require means of giving practical instruction, not only lecture rooms, but laboratories, workshops, and museums, so the problem of satisfying all their needs is a complicated one, but one which the committee are determined to do their best to carry out. The size of the proposed building called forth a large number of competing designs from some of the first architects of the day, and the first premium was awarded by the Committee, assisted by Mr. Waterhouse, R.A., to Messrs. Spalding and Cross, of London. Their design is in Renaissance style of the early French period, and the internal arrangements are made with the view of giving as much light as possible. The material is red brick with terra cotta facings; it is roofed with green Whitland Abbey slates. The building will be fireproof throughout, and the flooring covered with wood blocks, except in the case of the dyehouse and laboratories, where impervious paving is needed. One great desideratum in such a building is proper ventilation; this will be arranged on the plenum or plus pressure system, the air being pumped throughout the building by fans worked by electricity, and the lighting will also be electrical. The building is six stories high, none of the rooms will be lower than 15 feet clear, and averaging from 25 to 30 feet in depth. The class rooms, lecture theatres, drawing and designing offices, laboratories, library, work shops and administrative department, as well as the students' and lecturers' rooms, are all lighted from the face of the building with wide continuous corridors all round each floor, lit from internal areas, and each department will be as far as possible separate and self-contained. The total available floor-space exceeds 150,000 square feet exclusive of the corridors. The main entrance hall is 85 by 50 feet, and it is to be utilized as an industrial museum; on the first floor is a public lecture hall 30 feet high, and of the above dimensions. On the third floor is the chemical laboratory arranged for 80 working benches. Two independent staircases, as well as a spacious passenger lift give access to the different floors, and extra exits are provided in case of fire. The basement, which is only seven feet below the ground line, is to be fitted with heavy machinery and other apparatus used in industrial operations on a considerable scale. Here we find the electrical and mechanical workshops and testing machinery; rooms for purposes in which stability is necessary; experimental steam engine, dynamo, and secondary battery rooms; spinning and weaving machinery for cotton and silk; rooms for bleaching, dyeing, and finishing; plumbers', bricksetters', and masons' workshops; shops for repairs, and construction of new apparatus, &c. The upper stories contain the laboratories, general and special, lecture rooms, drawing offices, gymnasium, library, and students' reading and common rooms. The following is the space allotted on the various floors for the several departments : 1. Administration, Museum, Lecture Hall, 2. Mechanical Engineering 3. Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering 5. Applied Chemistry, Dyeing, &c., Metallurgy 7. Letterpress and Lithographic Printing 8. Industrial Design 9. Commercial Subjects 10. Domestic Economy Subjects Total Sq. feet. 26,837 18,266 13,666 19,211 29, 232 10,922 2,798 13.453 11,844 6,461 152,690 As if to indicate the determination to make the utmost of their building, the Committee have asked Sir Howard Grubb to design a small astronomical and meteorological observatory on the roof! This in the centre of smoky Manchester; but experts say that even here much useful work can be done. The estimated cost of the building, including fittings, apparatus,and machinery is about £125.000; towards this sum the Committee have available £14,000 balance of profit from the Jubilee Exhibition; £5000 promised by the Whitworth trustees; and the property belonging to the old schools estimated at £31,000. The remainder of the sum, about £75,000, the Corporation will borrow for a period of thirty years on the security of the Id. rate. This great school will be governed by a Committee of thirty-six persons, twenty-four of whom are members of the City Council, twelve being chosen from the public interested in the progress of Industrial and Commercial Education. Enough has been said to give the reader an idea of the scale and completeness of the proposed Municipal School. To work this properly will cost nearly £10,000 per annum. The fees will be low, but nevertheless will bring in a goodly sum, and the funds available from the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of 1890-commonly termed the beer money-will provide the remainder. Such a school, holding as it will do an intermediate position, between the Board Schools on the one hand, and highest University Education as given in the Owens College on the other, cannot fail to exert a most important influence on the future development of trade and manufactures in Lancashire. What Manchester is doing in this magnificent way, other towns, notably Birmingham, Salford, Stockport, Oldham, Bolton, and others, are also doing, it is true on a smaller scale, but still in a manner sufficient for their needs. How long will it be before London moves? H. E. ROSCOE. THE MONT BLANC OBSERVATORY. THE HE project of establishing a meteorological and astronomical observatory on the summit of Mont Blanc has, under the care of M. J. Janssen, of the Meudon Observatory, made considerable progress during this year's summer months. It has been decided to use the snow itself as a foundation on which to rest the building. That this can be done with security was shown by some experiments carried out at Meudon last winter. A miniature mountain was made of snow pressed to the same density as that which is found on Mont Blanc at a depth of one or two metres below the surface. This being made level at the top, discs of lead 35 cm. in diameter, and weighing each about 30 kgr., were placed on the snow, one upon the other. After twelve of these had been piled up, with an aggregate weight of 360 kgr., they were removed and the depth of the impression measured. It was not more then 7 or 8 mm. Thus a structure measuring 10 m. by 5 m. might safely weigh 187,000 kgr. without sinking into the snow more than a few centimetres. The summit of Mont Blanc is formed by a very narrow edge of rock 100 m. long, running from west to east, and covered by snow which is thicker on the French than on the Italian side. The level of this snow has not shown 1 Janssen, Comptes rendus, November 28. any important oscillations throughout a number of ver To obviate the disturbing effects of the storms which quently rage round the summit, the building is construcel in the shape of a truncated pyramid, the lower floor be sunk into the snow. The rectangular base measures 10 by 5 m. The upper floor, which will be devoted to observations, is covered with a flat roof, towards whe ascent is made by a spiral staircase leading from basement upwards through the whole building, and ab the flat roof to a small platform destined for meteorol cal observations. The whole observatory has double walls to protect the observers against the cold. The windows and doors also double, and provided on the outside with shutte closing hermetically. The floor is made of double plank and furnished with trap-doors giving access to the st supporting the observatory, and to the screw-jacks place in position for adjusting the level of the building: case the snow should yield. The building will be pr vided with heating apparatus and all the furniture ne sary to make habitation at such an altitude possible. Up to the present the observatory has been transper in parts to Chamounix. On the Grands-Mulets a cota has been erected for the use of the workmen and r storing the things destined for the observatory. On the Grand Rocher Rouge another cottage been built, only 300 m. below the summit, in which workers and observers can, if necessary, take rep Three-quarters of the materials for the observatory hi been transported to the Grands-Mulets (3000 m.) 2. the rest to the Rocher Rouge (4500 m.). Next year the erection on the summit will be care out. An astronomical dome, which is to complete observatory, will also be taken in hand. The work d up to now has been carried out under great diffic owing to the fact that everything had to be carried hand. But no accident has, so far, marred the succe Dr. Capus, who accompanied M. Bonvalot in his known expedition to the Pamir, has promised his ass ance for certain observations. But the observatory be international, and open to all observers who wis work there. E. E. F. A M. PASTEUR'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY FRENCHMEN may be cordially congratulated or enthusiasm with which the seventieth birthda M. Pasteur was celebrated on Tuesday. It afforce: most striking illustration of the way in which they ciate the services rendered by men of science. B celebration was not, of course, one in which only. countrymen of M. Pasteur were interested; represe tives of science from many different parts of the were present to do honour to the illustrious investig The ceremony took place in the great amphitheat the Sorbonne, which was crowded by a brilliant asse including many of the foremost men of the day merely in science but in politics and literature. M. C was present, and among those who supported hi M. Dupuy, the Minister of Public Instruction. M. Pa entered the amphitheatre leaning upon the arm son and upon that of the President of the Rep All who were present rose to their feet and greeted much affected by this reception, took his place best hero of the day with loud cheers. M. Pasteur, whọ colleagues of the Institute and a row of Ambassadors Ministers. The proceedings were opened by M. Bertrand, petual secretary of the Academy of Science, who as chairman. At his request an address was delivere the Minister of Public Instruction, who spoke eloque of the great qualities displayed by M. Pasteur dur splendid career, and of the benefits conferred o thread by his labours. After the Minister came d'Abbadie, the President of the Academy, who, exmitessing the congratulations of the Institute, presented pyrank M. Pasteur the large gold medal which had been Ctarzuck in commemoration of the day. The medal bears when the obverse a likeness of M. Pasteur, while on the thaerse is the following inscription: "To Pasteur, on his 1 star entieth birthday, from grateful science and humanity, thew C. 27, 1892." M. Bertrand also spoke, and both orm de speech and that of M. d'Abbadie were cordially lauded. Sir Joseph Lister, one of the delegates sent is d the Royal Society, was warmly greeted. He read in The inch the following address: on the or is rs g and te The to ich ada Evaton be Gra e of the r the cor the M. Pasteur, the great honour has been accorded me offering you the homage of medicine and surgery. ere is certainly not in the entire world a single person whom medical science is more indebted than to you. be leur researches on fermentation have thrown a flood of it which has illuminated the gloomy shadows of surandy, and changed the treatment of wounds from a tter of doubtful and too often disastrous empiricism > a scientific art, certain and beneficent. Owing to 1, surgery has undergone a complete revolution. It been stripped of its terrors, and its efficiency has been 1ost unlimitedly enlarged. But medicine owes as ch to your profound and philosophic studies as does gery. You have raised the veil which had for cenles covered infectious diseases. You have discovered I proved their microbic nature, and, thanks to your Is for iative, and in many cases to your own special labour, re are already a host of these destructive disorders of 4 ch we now completely know the causes. 'Felix be spotuit rerum cognoscere causas.' This knowze has already perfected in a surprising way diagnosis of certain plagues of the human e, and has marked out the course which must be howed in their prophylactic and curative treatment. this way your fine discoveries of the attenuation and Xforcement of virus and of preventive inoculations ve, and will serve as a lode-star. As a brilliant illusFon. I may note your studies of rabies. Their ginality was so striking that, with the exception of tain ignorant people, everybody now recognizes the atness of that which you have accomplished against terrible malady. You have furnished a diagnosis ich immediately dispels the anguish of uncertainty ich formerly haunted him who had been bitten by a mistakenly supposed to be suffering from rabies. If were your only claim on humanity, you would erve its eternal gratitude. But, by your marvellous :em of inoculation against rabies, you have discovered to follow the poison after its entry into the system, to conquer it there. M. Pasteur, infectious maladies stitute, as you know, the great majority of the maladies ch afflict the human race. You can therefore underd that medicine and surgery are eager on this great ision to offer you the profound homage of their iration and of their gratitude." mong other addresses was a striking speech by the or of Dôle, M. Pasteur's birthplace. After the preation of gifts by foreign delegates, M. Pasteur rose and e a few words, which, according to the Paris correident of the Times, were "broken by sobs." A speech then read for him by his son. In this speech, as reed in the Times, M. Pasteur said, after referring to M. ot's presence :-"In the midst of this brilliant scene irst thought turns with melancholy to the recollecof so many scientific men who have known nothing rials. In the past they had to struggle against the dices which stifled their ideas. These prejudices ome, they encountered obstacles and difficulties of inds. Even a few years ago, before the public orities and the Municipal Council had provided with splendid buildings, a man whom I ce loved and admired, Claude Bernard, had for 1 laboratory, a few steps from here, nothing but a low, damp cellar. Perhaps it was there he was struck by the malady which carried him off. When I heard of the reception intended for me, his memory rose first of all to my mind. I hail that great memory. It seems that you have desired by an ingenious and delicate idea to make my entire life pass before my eyes. One of my Jura countrymen, the Mayor of Dôle, has brought me a photograph of the humble house where my father and mother lived under such difficulties. The presence of all the pupils of the Polytechnic School reminds me of the glowing enthusiasm with which I first entered on the pursuit of science. The representatives of the Faculty of Lille recall for me my first studies on crystallography and fermentations, which opened quite a new world to me. What hopes filled me when I discovered that there were laws behind so many obscure phenomena ! You have witnessed, my dear colleagues, by what a series of deductions I have been enabled as a disciple of the experimental method to arrive at physiological results. If I have sometimes disturbed our academies by somewhat livelier discussions, it is because I was passionately defending truth. "You, lastly, delegates of foreign nations, who have come so far to give France a proof of sympathy, you afford me the most profound gratification which can be experienced by a man who invincibly believes that science and peace will triumph over ignorance and war; that peoples come to an agreement not to destroy, but to build up, and that the future will belong to those who have done most for suffering humanity. I appeal to you, my dear Lister, and to you all, illustrious representatives of science, medicine, and surgery. Young men, trust those certain and powerful methods, only the first secrets of which we yet know. And all of you, whatever your career, do not allow yourselves to be infected by vilifying and barren scepticism; do not allow yourselves to be discouraged by the gloom of certain hours which pass over a nation. Live in the serene peace of laboratories and libraries. Consider first of all, What have I done for my education?' and then, as you' advance, 'What have I done for my country?' until the moment when you will perhaps have the immense happiness of thinking that you have contributed in some way to the progress and welfare of mankind. But whether your efforts are more or less favoured in life you must, on nearing the grand goal, be entitled to say, 'I have done what I could.' I express to you my profound emotion and warm gratitude. Just as, on the back of this medal, the great artist Roty has concealed under roses the date of birth which weighs so heavily on my life, so you have desired, my dear colleagues, to give my old age the spectacle which could most delight it-that of these eager and loving young men." This closed the ceremony. M. Carnot, before quitting the building, walked over to M. Pasteur and embraced him. The celebration was one of which France has good reason to be proud; and Englishmen may well re gret that such a demonstration, common to governors and governed, would in this country be impossible. NOTES. THIS week the American Society of Naturalists has been holding at Princeton, N.J., its eleventh annual meeting, the chair being occupied by Prof. Henry F. Osborn, Columbia College, New York. On Tuesday a lecture was to be delivered by Dr. C. Hart Merriam on the Diak Valley Expedition (illustrated). On Wednesday, after the transaction of general business, the following reports on marine biological laboratories were to be read:-The Sea Isle Laboratory, by Prof. J. A. Rider, University of Pennsylvania; a marine station in Jamaica, by Prof. E. A. Andrews, Johns Hopkins University; the marine laboratories of Europe, by Dr. D. Bashford Dean, Columbia College; and the outlook for a marine observatory at Woods Holl, by Prof. C. O. Whitman, University of Chicago. In the evening the annual dinner of the society was to be held, and the president's address was to be delivered. The following are the principal arrangements for to-day (Thursday) :-A paper is to be read by Dr. C. W. Stiles, Agricultural Bureau, Washington, on the endowment of the American table at Naples; and reports are to be read on botanical explorations in Florida, by Prof. W. P. Wilson, University of Pennsylvania; the summer work of the U. S. Fish-Commission Schooner Grampus, by Prof. William Libbey, Junr., Princeton College; and expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History into New Mexico, Wyoming, and Dakota, by Dr. J. L. Wortman, American Museum Natural History. Then will come the annual discussion, the subject being, What were the former areas and relations of the American Continent, as determined by faunal and floral distribution? The following papers will be read :Introduction, and evidences from past and present distribution of mammals, by Prof. W. B. Scott, Princeton College; evidence from past and present distribution of reptiles, by Dr. George Baur, University of Chicago; evidence from the distribution of birds, by Prof. J. A. Allen, American Museum of Natural History; and evidence from the distribution of plants, by Dr. N. L. Britton, Columbia College. Special meetings have been held by the American Societies of Anatomists, Morphologists, and Physiologists. WE learn, from the Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift, of the death, at Vienna, of the veteran palæontologist, Dr. D. Stur, Director of the Imperial Geological Institute in that city, and author of several finely illustrated works on palæo-phytology. DR. VOLKENS, Privatdocent at the University of Berlin, and Dr. Lent are about to start for East Africa, where they propose to carry on scientific investigations. The former has received! a grant from the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and will devote himself especially to botanical study. Dr. Lent has received aid from the German Colonial Society, and will give especial attention to geology. DR. F. BUCHANAN WHITE has presented his fine collection of lepidoptera to the Museum of the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, which is in process of being greatly enlarged. The collection contains twelve thousand specimens, which have been collected by Dr. White in many parts of Europe, though mainly in Great Britain and largely in Perthshire. Many are type specimens, which have been described and figured by the collector in his numerous descriptive papers, and several represent species that have now become extinct. DURING the latter part of last week an area of low pressure lay to the south-westward of our islands, causing south-easterly gales on our western coasts. This disturbance, however, although it advanced from off the Atlantic, remained comparatively stationary for two or three days, during which time the weather continued fine and dry over England. At the close of the week the low pressure area gave place to an area of high barometer readings, which gradually spread over the United Kingdom from the continent, bringing dry weather and severe frost, with fog in many places. The thermometer in the shade fell to 9° in Leicestershire, and to 17° in London in the night of the 26th, and in many places the day temperature continued much below the freezing point during both Monday and Tuesday. At this time the anticyclone had become thoroughly established, and the area of cold was increasing both in size and intensity, although the conditions in the extreme north indicated a possible change. The Weekly Weather Report for the period ending the 24th inst. shows that temperature was above the in all districts, being as much as 5° or 6° over Ireland. D the early part of the week the night minima were very hig the time of year. Rainfall was less than the mean in al tricts, the deficiency being most considerable in Scotlan in the south-west of England. Bright sunshine was also m deficient; in Scotland and Ireland there was only from 201 per cent. of the possible amount. THE Weather Bureau of the U.S. Department of Agi ture has published some valuable “Observations and Exce ments on the Fluctuations in the Level and Rate of Mor Station Farm, and at Whitewater, Wisconsin," by Fra of Ground-water on the Wisconsin Agricultural Experts" H. King. The author holds that a careful and detailed s. of the movements of ground-water ought to supply very z ant knowledge bearing upon the contamination of cri waters and the spreading of certain classes of contagia seases, and thus help to place the water-supply for bot and rural purposes under better sanitary conditions, advance which is made towards the increase of yield necessarily means an increased demand for water, so that are gardeners even in Wisconsin and Illinois, where both the and summer rainfall is relatively large, are turning their atte Mr. King says, to the question as to the best means fx viding irrigation. A rapid and economical advance direction demands, he thinks, a much more thorough know of the movements of underground water than we at pr possess. He also urges that in the utilization of natural irrigation, and in the reclaiming of swamp lands for tural purposes, there is imminent need for new knowledge same direction. Mr. King does not overrate the import his own researches. He regards them simply as prelin studies. H. HABENICHT, of Gotha, has contributed a Ausland (No. 49) on the frequency of icebergs in the Stream and variations of climate, based upon the reports bergs published since 1883 in the pilot charts of the reported in each year in the Gulf Stream, with a summary Atlantic Ocean. He gives a table showing the number of temperature conditions experienced in Europe during each four seasons. The number of icebergs varied considerati different years, from ten in the year 1888 to 674 in the 1890. The table shows some unmistakable code between the frequency of the bergs and the character c quent weather about six months afterwards. The exte low minimum of iceberg frequency in 1888 was followed warmest year of the series; all the seasons of 1889 were over Europe. There was another less marked minim icebergs in 1889, and this was followed by a relatively year in 1890. The remarkable maximum of bergs in 18 followed in 1891 by the coldest winter that had occure twenty years, and the cold winter was followed by an abro cold spring and summer. The table also shows that the cidences are more marked with iceberg maxima ther minima. Two of the latter in two successive years followed by only one warm summer, while in the case maxima the decrease of temperature occurred in the nex MR. D. T. MACDOUGAL contributes to Science, Dec an interesting account of some explorations recently m botanical expedition in Idaho. The work of the expect planned by Dr. G. Z. Vasey, chief botanist of the U.S.D ment of Agriculture. The results are summarized The basins of Lakes Coeur d'Alene and Pend d'Oreil'? the Clearwater and Palouse rivers were explored; the .. cally unknown area in Central Idaho now being limited south by the Snake River basin, on the west by the Stat the basin explored. About 25,000 specimens of dried plants e collected, representing nearly 1000 species, many of them lescribed forms. Valuable facts concerning general distribu1 of plants were obtained, since the area explored is one ere the Rocky Mountain flora meets and intermingles with Pacific coast flora in a very interesting manner, while the portunity afforded by numerous mountain slopes for the thering of some problems of vertical distribution was not lected. AN important paper on fossil mammals of the Wahsatch and nd River Beds, by H. F. Osborn and J. L. Wortman, has n issued as a bulletin by the American Museum of Natural story, and has also been published separately. It includes a te and eighteen figures in the text, and is devoted principally a description of a collection made by Dr. Wortman during summer of 1891. The authors claim that many new facts great interest are brought out by the material in the collecn. In a preliminary note it is stated that the department of mmalian paleontology in the American Museum of Natural story was established in May, 1891, and that the purpose of : trustees is to procure a representative collection of the nerican fossil mammals from the successive geological horiis of the West for purposes of exhibition, study and publican. The staff consists of Prof. H. F. Osborn, of Columbia llege, Curator, and of Dr. J. L. Wortman, assistant in leontology. Mr. Charles Earle and Mr. O. A. Peterson are › engaged as assistants, and Mr. Rudolph Weber as draughtsn. The collections are to be made readily accessible to lents, and exhibited as rapidly as they can be put together I mounted. A list of such duplicate specimens as are availe for purposes of exchange is to be prepared. A series of ts of the best preserved types is also in preparation for hange. LAST week we printed an account of the ceremonies connected h the Tercentenary of Galileo at Padua. In addition to at was then stated we may say that after Prof. Favaro's tion the delegates were invited to present the addresses of ich they were the bearers; whereupon, the English delegaa having by lot been placed first in order of precedence, at request of his colleagues, Profs. Darwin and Stone of mbridge and Oxford, Sir Joseph Fayrer spoke first, on preting the addresses of the Royal College of Physicians of ndon and the University of Edinburgh, with which he was rusted. He spoke in Italian to the following effect :'Profondamente commosso all'onore accordatomi dal Reale legio dei Medici di Londra, ed anche dall Università di nburgo, nel nominarmi il loro delegato, io mi presento anti a questa insegne adunanza, per far onore alla memoria no dei più grandi uomini e dei più illustri sapienti del ado, e per render omaggio da parte del detto Collegio, così e come dell' illustre centro di scienza e di filosofia in Scozia, inclito scienzato, nonche a felicitare di cuore colla massima renza, questo antico seggio di scienza e di filosofia in cosi e fausta occasione, nella quale si commemorano le scoperte 1ose del celebre e rinomato filosofo, col nome del quale è namente collegata la sua storia passata ed anche la sua rinoza attuale. La scienza di tutto il mondo è senza dubbio in questo o ora rappresentata. Da ogni parte sono venuti messaggi di Datia, ma da nessuno forse, con maggiore premura e zelo che compatrioti di Harvey e Newton. Questi, impugnando la ola caduta dalla mano morta di Galileo, la innalzò e la one per illuminare le tenebre e rischiarare di vera luce i hi finallora oscuri anche al gran filosofo stesso; l'altro do terminato i suoi studi ed essendo laureato in questa ersità, divenne dipoi, come socio del Collegio di Londra, so per le sue scoperte sulla circolazione del sangue. I suoi anatomici che fece a Padova svilupparono in lui quel genio ale il mondo intero è debitore. Signori miei, non è solo scopritore del termometro, e, come si può dire, all' inore del telescopio; non è neppure all' astronomo famoso che ha stabilito il sistema eliocentrico, ed ha quasi anticipato le scoperte di Kepler, e che ha dimostrato i satelliti di Giove, le fasi del pianeta Venere, i movimenti diurni e mensili della luna e le macchie solari; non è infine all' autore del 'Saggiatore,' del 'Sidereus Nuncius' e del 'Dialogo dei due Massimi sistemi del Mondo,'-ma è piuttosto al fondatore della filosofia sperimentale che noi rendiamo adesso omaggio ed onore. Egli, osando, pensare ed investigari da se stesso, rigettando gli assiomi degli antichi sistemi di filosofia, anche quello di Aristotile stesso, e rifiutando gl' insegnamenti della teologia dogmatica, stabilì il sistema del libero esame, affermando che la scoperta della verità dev' essere il primo motivo, e che si deve cercarla per via di sperimenti e non sull' altrui autorità, e che la verità è unica, tanto in respetto alle scienze divine come alle umane. Ardisco dire che nessun migliore tributo si può fare al gran maestro adesso commemorato, che questa riconoscenza festiva dopo trecento anni, dell' assiduo e Tolomaico, ma ha dato un nuovo impulso vitale ad ogni ricerca scien ifica e filosofica. Signori, con queste poche parole ho tentato d'esprimere i sentimenti dell' illustre Collegio e dell' inclita Università dei quali io sono il modesto interprete, e ho l'onore di sommettere queste indirizzi, e con esse, i voti più sinceri dei miei colleghi per la prosperità futura di questa venerabile Università, la quale, molto avanti a Galileo è stata un primo centro della vita intellettuale in Europa, e che anche adesso e famosa per la sua propria eccellenza e pei suoi rapporti col gran savio di cui si può dire, come ha detto Dante di Aristotile : 'Tutti l'ammiron, tutti onor gli fanno.' instancabile lavoro che ha rovesciato non soltanto il sistema PROF. DARWIN of Cambridge followed Sir Joseph Fayrer with an interesting and eloquent address, also in Italian. He was succeeded by other delegates. We may note that every attention was shown to the foreign delegates, and the great success of the commemoration was courteously assigned by the University authorities in large measure to the sympathy and interest evinced by other nations. It is satisfactory that no inconsiderable share of this was attributed to the English; their addresses being delivered in Italian evidently afforded much pleasure. THE Mediterranean Naturalist, noting the fact that new and spacious buildings are about to take the place of the old biological station at Cette, expresses regret that no institution of this kind has yet been established in connection with the Maltese Islands. It points out that the marine fauna and flora of Maltese waters offer themselves as a rich and practically untouched field of research, the careful working out of which would be attended with scientific and economic results of the greatest importance. THE same journal mentions that a petition is to be presented to the Governor of Malta praying that the Maltese fisheries may be more efficiently protected. At present considerable latitude is allowed both as regards the methods practised and as regards the times at which the fishing is carried on. "This," says our contemporary, "is not as it should be. No other food supply can take the place of fish, and the fisheries of the islands under adequate protection and judicious management will always be an unfailing and increasing source of wealth." THE Department of Public Instruction in New South Wales has published in its Technical Education Series (No. 10) the first part of what promises to be a most valuable "Bibliography of Australian Economic Botany," by J. H. Maiden, curator of the Technological Museum, Sydney. Much information on the properties and uses of Australian plants, and on the products obtained from them is embodied in books of travel, in exhibition literature, pamphlets, proceedings of learned societies, professional journals, and newspapers. It is the author's object to render this scattered information convenient for refer ence. A GERMAN translation, by Count Goertz-Wrisberg, of Dr. W. Fream's "Elements of Agriculture," has been published by |