ditions is being undertaken by Captain Burton, of the East India Company's Service, and the English Government have contributed £1000 towards the expenses it will involve. The second, and more important expedition is being fitted out at the expense of the Pacha of Egypt, and will be under the care of Count de Lauture, an experienced African traveller, and the author of a recent work on Sudán, and of other treatises on African geography. The expedition will be accompanied by twelve Europeans, two of whom are to be English officers, accustomed to astronomical and meteorological observations, and the management of boats. Count de Lauture has been in London, taking counsel with the secretary of the Royal Geographical Society on the subject of the expedition, which is to start from Cairo early in October, and is expected to take about two years for its completion.

One other matter pertaining to geographical science, and we pass on to other topics. It is a notice that should have appeared a month ago-namely, that the Russian Government are fitting out another expedition for a scientific voyage round the world, making the thirty-ninth such voyage that the Russians have undertaken since the beginning of the present century. The command of this expedition has been given to one of the most distinguished officers in the Russian navy, who will enter upon his duties in the course of the present month, when the two corvettes of which the expedition is to consist are appointed to leave Cronstadt. If the expedition prove anything like so fruitful of important results as some of those previously sent out by the Russian Government, we shall have something to say about it by and by that will be worth the telling. In two or three consecutive numbers of the journal of the Society of Arts, a certain Augustus Edward Bruckmann, Ph. Dr, Consulting Engineer, and Geologist,' has recently been discoursing to the public, in a lengthy, learned-looking paper, stuffed out with numerous quotations and passages put in italics, and well buoyed up by imposing foot-notes, on what he terms 'Negative Artesian Wells,' or, in plainer words, borings for the purpose of draining off surface-water, and allowing it to escape in subterranean channels or fissures. The erudite German expresses himself through out his paper in the tone of a person first making known an important discovery that has hitherto been locked up in his own breast, and to which too much importance cannot be attached. Of this pleasant delusion he is first of all disabused by a short note from Mr Anstead, the late Professor of Geology at King's College, who writes

to say, that if the worthy doctor will only refer to a work of his on geology, published in 1844, he will find that the subject, for which he takes such great credit to himself for introducing into this country as a novelty, is referred to and illustrated by engravings, and that England is not so much behind in the matter as he supposes. In the next week's number of the journal, Mr Hyde Clarke begs to call the doctor's attention again to an article in the Civil Engineer' for April, 1840, where the system is fully described; and then, to complete the discomfiture of the good man, the number following contains another letter, stating that the device announced with so much pomp and circumstance, and under the learned title of 'Negative Artesian Wells,' has long been commonly practised in many parts of England, under the most undignified appellation of 'swallow-holes;' and further (and cruellest cut of all), that the practice of sinking these holes is in many cases greatly to be deprecated, as the drainage- water will rise and cover the surface of the ground, and destroy the crops that may be growing there. Dr Edward Augustus Bruckmann, Consulting Engineer and Geologist, has made no reply to his uncourteous correctors; and, as he took care to announce that he had come to England for the purpose of applying his grand discovery, he may probably by this time be of opinion that his occu pation is gone.

Mr Hind the astronomer has sent a letter to the 'Times,' suggesting to those who are provided with suitable telescopes the importance of at once commencing operations in search of the long - expected comet of 1556, the re-appearance of which has been anticipated about the middle of the present century. The expectation of the re-appearance of the comet about the present time is founded, Mr Hind reminds his readers, on a rough chart of its path, copied into several works, from an original publication by Paul Fabricius, which, after having been lost to science, has recently been brought to light at Vienna, as well as a hitherto unknown, but far more important, treatise by Joachim Heller, astronomer of Nuremberg, which gives the comet's positions during an interval of fifty-three days, and consequently affords a very complete series of data for determining its orbit in 1556. Mr Hind states, that the calculations necessary to do justice to Heller's observations are not yet brought to a close; but so far he is inclined to think they will give an earlier period for the comet's return; and on this ground advises that a rigorous examination of the heavens should be instituted at once, and continued until

the limit assigned by the calculations for its re-appearance is past. He is sanguine himself that this re-appearance of the great comet of 1556 is near at hand.

The readers of this Journal were informed some months since, in a 'Discourse on Ocean Matters,' of the existence, in the bed of the Atlantic, of a far-extending ridge of elevated land stretching east and west for several hundred miles across that part of the Atlantic lying between Newfound land and the west coast of Ireland; and of the design to take advantage of this ridge, already known as the 'Telegraphic Plateau,' for laying down a telegraphic cable between the two countries. The New York Times' of the 8th July states, that a small steamer (the Arctic) had just left that port, under the command of Lieutenant Berryman, for the purpose of taking soundings, preparatory to laying down the cable for this projected telegraph. The plateau is composed of sand and shells, and presents a remarkably level surface. It appears to be undisturbed by currents or icebergs, and seems as if marked out by nature for the very purpose for which it is now about to be made available.

If the survey now being made prove satisfactory, the work of laying the cable will immediately proceed. The plan proposed to accomplish this object is, to have the two steamers, each with half the cable on board, proceed together to a point midway between the two coasts, over the plateau, and then, parting company, for the two vessels to make for the opposite shores, each paying out the cable as she proceeds. It is estimated that ten or fifteen days will suffice for laying the cable; and little doubt is entertained, amongst persons practically conversant with the subject, of the perfect and triumphant success of the experiment. If the result prove that they are right, it will add another and still more powerful bond to those which already bind England and America together in peaceful and fraternal intercourse.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO

No less than four of our veteran leaders in art and science have recently been stricken down, and added to the musterroll of the illustrious dead. Dr Buckland, the geologist; Sir John Ross, the Arctic navigator; Mr Yarrell, the good old British sportsman and naturalist; and Sir Richard Westmacott, the Royal Academician, have gone from amongst us within a few days of each other, each in a ripe old age, and after a life of more or less distinguished service.

The Rev. Dr Buckland will long be remembered with gratitude, as one of the band of eminent men who first redeemed

The New York correspondent of the 'Times' gives us, in one of his recent letters, an interesting morceaux of historical lore, in connection with the destruction of the old Charter Oak' of Connecticut, which stood near the city of Hartford, and was blown down on the 21s August by a gale of wind. The inciden whence this venerable tree derived its name is rather curious. In 1686, James II. dissolved the government of the colony, and demanded the surrender of the original charter-a very_liberal one-granted in 1662 by Charles II. The governor and council refused to surrender their charter, and even resisted the terrors of three several writs of quo warranto. The consequence was, that on the 31st of October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andross and a guard of sixty soldiers entered Hartford, to seize the charter, if necessary, by force. The sitting of the assembly was judiciously protracted till evening, when the charter was brought in and laid on the table, and, as it appeared, was about to be given up. But now the lights were suddenly put out, and all was darkness and silence; when the candles were again lighted, the precious document had vanished. The council had not refused to surrender their charter, but it was gone. The stratagem, however, did not succeed; the governor was deposed, and the royal orders carried out. the abdication of James, the charter, which had been concealed in a gigantic oak, was again produced; the old governor was reelected under it, and it remained the organic law of the colony till 1818. It was from this incident that the veneration of the people sprung up for the 'Charter Oak,' which is supposed to have been a very old tree when America was discovered. The loss of the old tree is greatly regretted by the inhabitants; and the day after it was blown down, the city band played solemn music over its trunk for two hours, and the city bells tolled at sunset in token of the public sorrow.

'THE GREAT MAJORITY.'

But, on

geology from the puerilities and absurdities of fanciful hypothesis, and gave it a high and prominent position amongst the physical sciences. Born in Devonshire (one of the most favourable districts to develop a taste for geological pursuits), he early became enamoured of the science, and having, after a school life at Winchester, obtained a scholarship at Oxford, we find him, at the age of twenty-nine, appointed to the readership in mineralogy, and five years later to that of geology. The interest excited by Dr Buckland's advocacy of geology at Oxford not unnaturally

brought up many opponents to its claims, and in 1820, only two years after his appointment to the readership, he published his 'Vindiciae Geologica;' a work in which he shows that there can be no opposition between the works and the Word of God, and that the influence of the study of natural science, so far from leading to atheism and irreligion, directly tends to the recognition of God and to his worship. This work was speedily followed by a paper in the Philosophical Transactions,' on the extraordinary assemblage of fossil teeth and bones, of various animals now no longer inhabiting our island, found in Kirkdale Cave, Yorkshire; and, in 1823, the discoveries at Kirkdale, and others of a similar character, were made the basis of a work which he published under the title of 'Reliquiæ Diluvianæ; or, Observations on the Organic Remains, attesting the Action of an Universal Deluge.' The hypothesis advocated in this work, as announced in its title, had previously been advanced by Dr Buckland in his 'Vindiciæ; but in his great work, published in 1836, the famous Bridgewater Treatise on Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology,' he gives up this idea of an universal deluge as no longer tenable, and adopts the views previously announced by contemporary geologists. Notwithstanding the number and variety of Dr Buckland's contributions to the literature of geological science, it is in connection with this treatise that his name will chiefly be remembered, and on it that his fame will mainly rest; and though many and important discoveries have been made in geology since the time when this work was published, it still retains in great measure its original value as an exposition of the leading truths of the science. Dr Buckland was one of the founders of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and he also took an active part with Sir Henry de la Beche in the establishment of the Museum of Ecoromic Geology, now connected with the Government School of Mines in Jermyn Street, St James's. In 1845 he had the Deanery of Westminster bestowed upon him by Sir Robert Peel; and being thus brought to reside in London, he immediately took a lively interest in all such questions as enabled him to bring his great knowledge of geology to bear upon the social amelioration of the people. In 1850 his intellect gave way, and from that time to the period of his death, he was wholly laid aside from literary and mental occupation.

The name of Sir John Ross is chiefly to be remembered on account of his having been the first in the present century to enter upon the difficult task of navigating

the Polar seas. The command of an expedition sent out by the Admiralty in 1816 was given to him, then a captain; and he was accompanied by the since equally celebrated Parry, in the capacity of his lieutenant. In 1829, Captain Ross undertook the command of a second expedition for Arctic discovery, fitted out at the expense of Sir Felix Booth, and not only added considerably to our knowledge of the inhospitable regions of the north, but discovered the position of the northern magnetic pole. On this occasion Captain Ross was locked up for four years in the ice; and the incidents of this long imprisonment, together with the narrative of the expedition as a whole, was devoured with the utmost avidity, when at length it was published to the world; on which occasion it was that its author received the honour of knighthood, with the Companionship of the Bath. The last public service of Sir John Ross, and one that reflects the greatest honour on his memory, was his undertaking the command, in 1849, and when he had passed his seventieth year, of the private expedition fitted out by Lady Franklin to search for her lost husband. The veteran navigator took a deep interest to the last in the proceedings of several scientific societies.

William Yarrell was one of the best representatives of the genial, hearty, and upright English sportsman and naturalist -a man whose pleasures and professional pursuits alike take him out among the beautiful scenes of nature. The son of a West End news-agent, Mr Yarrell knew far more, in his boyhood, of London streets and the bustle of town life, than of either fish or fowl; but as he grew apace, he acquired a love for angling, and with old Izaak Walton's letters in his basket, would often go out for a day's holiday, to try his skill in the gentle art in the streams in the vicinity of London. Fishing led-to shooting; and it was not long before the name of Yarrell was mentioned in sporting circles as that of one of the best marksmen of the day. Early in his sporting career Mr Yarrell became acquainted with Manton, the famous gun-maker, and with Shoobridge, the well-known hatter of Bond Street, better known among sporting men as an unerring shot; and with the latter of these he often made shooting excursions into the country, all this time laying the foundation of that extensive acquaintance with the feathered tribes which was afterwards displayed in his 'History of British Birds.' It was not until Mr Yarrell had reached the age of forty, that he began to think seriously of using his pen to give to the world the result of his long years of observation in natural history. In the early

part of 1825, he sent to the 'Zoological Journal' his first composition, in the shape of Notices of the Occurrence of some Rare British Birds, observed during the years 1823, 1824, and 1825,' which at once brought Mr Yarrell into intercourse with several distinguished naturalists, and in the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Linnæan Society. Several papers from Mr Yarrell's pen now speedily followed, and about the year 1829 the Zoological Club of the Linnæan Society, of which he had for some years been an active member, gave rise to the present Zoological Society, in the welfare of which he has always taken the greatest interest. It is to Mr Yarrell that we are indebted for the discovery of the oviparous propagation of the eel, and the specific identity of the white-bait; but the great work of his life was the production, during the years 1830-1840, of the two well-known Histories of British Birds and British Fishes, published by Mr Van Voorst, and forming part of the splendid series of works on British natural history which owe their origin to that gentleman's public spirit and love of science. Mr Yarrell died on Sunday, August 31, at Yarmouth, whither he had gone from London for a summer trip to the seaside.

The veteran sculptor whose name stands the last on our list of lately-deceased celebrities, was the son of a statuary in Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London, and it was here, in his father's studio, that young Richard Westmacott imbibed that ardent love for his profession which was at once the sign and the earnest of his future distinction. In 1793, at the early age of eighteen, he was sent to Rome, to study under Canova, where he made such speedy progress, that upon one occasion he obtained the first gold medal of the year for sculpture, which was given as a prize by the Pope at the Academy of St Luke. In 1798 Westmacott returned to England, and speedily rose to a high position in the estimation of the private patrons of the arts, who were then both numerous and discerning. St Paul's Cathedral contains a large number of Sir R. Westmacott's productions, and may be consulted with advantage by those who are unacquainted with his works. He received the dignity of knighthood in 1837. He took an active part in the proceedings of the Royal Academy, and was a member of the council of that body. He leaves a son to inherit his name-one who bids fair to win a reputation as a sculptor.

In our last Notes,' we had to announce the addition of an Australian pteropus to the collection of animals in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park; we have now another and still more interesting addition to record, in the shape of three fine specimens of the rare and beautiful Honduras turkey (Meleagris ocellata), from the dense forests of Central America. These fine birds have been sent to the gardens as a present from Her Majesty, and are the first of the kind that have ever been exhibited alive in this country.

The Honduras turkey was first described by Cuvier, from a specimen captured by the crew of a vessel while ashore cutting wood in the Bay of Honduras; and though repeated efforts have since been made to introduce it to this country, yet, until the present time, every attempt has proved unsuccessful. The bird is one of the most splendid of the poultry tribe, and almost rivals, in the gorgeousness of its metallic lustre, the diminutive humming-birds of its own clime, or the gaudy peacock, that has so long been domesticated amongst us, from the remote regions of the coast. It is fully equal to the common turkey in height; but, with a more slim and graceful form, a more erect bearing, and its brilliant tints of green and gold, it has altogether a most attractive appearance,

The gaiety of its coat may very probably

add but little to its worth on a Michaelmas dinner-table; but assuredly one would like to see such a brilliant creature at home in our poultry-yards. The birds now being exhibited in the Zoological Gardens were, until lately, in the possession of Mrs Stevenson, the wife of the British Superintendent of Belize, and were sent here by that lady, as a present to the Queen, under the care of Mr Skinner, the well-known collector of orchidaceous plants, who, by great care and attention during the voyage home, managed to preserve his feathered charge in excellent health and condition. The strangers are now accommodated with comfortable quarters in the near neighbourhood of the pelicans and the family group of flamingoes, and are, of course, for the time being, 'the observed of all ́ob

servers.

One of the newspapers in the west of England lately announced another curious zoological importation, which it might not be amiss for Mr Mitchell to look afternamely, a live scorpion, which came here with some sedge bags, it is supposed, from Egypt. It was found at one of the canal wharves among some luggage, and sufficiently alert and active to spring about on being placed at large. The last accounts left the venomous little fellow in the pos