EXAMINATION ON PROF. ODLING'S COURSE. An Examination in Chemistry, for Prizes and Certificates, will be held in the Library of the Institution on Tuesday, January 24, at Ten o'clock in the Morning. The Examination is open to Students under the age of Eighteen, who attended Dr. ODLING's course "On Chemical Action.'" The names of Candidates, with their addresses and the numbers of their tickets, must be forwarded to the Principal Librarian before Wednesday, January 11. MR. PROCTOR'S COURSE. The Third Educational Course of the present Session will consist of Eight Lectures "On Astronomy," by Mr. RICHARD A. PROCTOR, B. A., F. R. A.S. We give the dates and subjects of the Lectures : Lecture I. Monday, March 6.-Apparent Motions of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and their Meaning. The Earth's Figure. Lecture II. Monday, March 13.-Apparent Motions of the Planets, and their Explanation. Lecture III. Monday, March 20.—The Sun. Lecture IV. Monday, March 27.—The Planets. Lecture V. Monday, April 3.-Comets, Meteors, and Meteor System. Lecture VI. Monday, April 17.-The Fixed Stars and the Nebulæ. Lecture VII. Monday, April 24.-Eclipses, Transits, and Occultations. Lecture VIII. Monday, May 1.-The Measurement of Time. Precession and Nutation, etc. The Fee for this Course is Five Shillings. Tickets may be obtained at once from the Librarian. THURSDAY EVENING LECTURES. MR. JOHN ELLA'S LECTURES ON DRAMATIC MUSIC. The Musician Lecturer, before a mixed audience of connoisseurs and lovers of art, is placed in an anomalous position, as he is forced to make the thesis of his Lecture entirely subservient to the means procurable for illustration, not only to satisfy the understanding, but to please a sense the least of all, in this country especially, cultivated to appreciate musical sounds-the ear; hence no other lecturer has greater claims to indulgence. The thesis of these two Lectures, comprising a vast range of art, will be illustrated chiefly by extracts from novel and least known works of modern composers, with vocal solo and concerted examples and instrumental accompaniments, the Lecturer relying partly on the friendly aid of amateurs and professors, members and associates of the Societa Lirica, Belgravia. The Music selected for the first Lecture (January 12) will consist of national and descriptive English, Austrian, French, and Hungarian specimens, characteristic of each nation, with a rural scene of "Pedal Music," Prayer, and "Choeur-dansant" from G. Tell, usually omitted at the performances of this opera in London. This will be followed by the characteristic music of Weber's Preciosa, entire. The finale will consist of a Bridal March and Chorus, etc., from Wagner's Lohengrin, performed in England for the first and only time at the State Concert given in Buckingham Palace on the occasion of the marriage of the Crown Prince of Prussia with the Princess Royal. The subject of Dramatic Music will be further explained and illustrated at the Lecture on January 19, and the illustrations, chiefly drawn from the lyrical works of Rossini, Spohr, and Wagner, will include the most striking movements of Lohengrin and Tannhauser. This Music is scored for a chamber choir and small band of soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass voices, accompanied by violins, violas, violoncello, contra-basso, flutes, and pianoforte à quatre mains. MR. BARFF'S LECTURES ON POISONS. On Thursday, January 26, at Half-past Seven, Mr. F. S. Barff, M.A., Assistant-Professor of Chemistry at University College, London, will commence a Course of Four Lectures "On the Action, Nature, and Detection of Poisons," a syllabus of which we append : Lecture I. January 26.-What is a Poison ?-The general action of Poisons Lecture IV. February 23.-PRUSSIC ACID : Its special action on the human frame-Its composition—Its preparation—Cyanides—Use of Prussic Acid in the Arts and Manufactures-Tests for Prussic Acid -Prussian Blue test-Sulphocyanide test-Detection of Prussic Acid in Organic Mixtures-A few words about Opium and StrychnineConclusion. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY. At an adjourned Meeting of the Board of Management, on the 21st ult., Dr. HENRY E. ARMSTRONG, F. C.S., was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the London Institution, an office once held by Mr. W. R. Grove, Q. C., F. R.S., and subsequently by Mr. J. Alfred Wanklyn. Dr. Armstrong commenced his laboratory studies under Prof. Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry, and afterwards worked for nearly three years under Dr. Frankland, with whom he was associated in an important research "On the Determination of Organic Matter in Waters." He then visited Leipzig, where he spent upwards of two years in the Laboratory of Prof. Kolbe, and obtained his degree of Doctor of Philosophy. On his return to England he commenced an investigation with the late Dr. Matthiessen, upon which he is still engaged. He also obtained an appointment as Chemical Tutor at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The respective claims of several other candidates, all highly qualified for the Professorship, had to be carefully considered by the Board. Dr. Armstrong is now making the necessary arrangements for opening the Classes for Practical Chemistry, particulars of which will appear in our next Number. To secure to shareholders the full advantages of these Classes, it has been decided that each student will have to be nominated by a Proprietor. THE JOURNAL. No. I. HE unannounced appearance of the first number of the Journal of the London Institution needs no justification. It is doubtful whether any Literary and Scientific Body that may be compared with this Institution is at the present time without a literary organ of some kind. The objects and scope of the publication are sufficiently indicated by the title. The Journal will simply be "A Programme and Record of Proceedings," and though its columns will be open to the practical suggestions of Proprietors, they will be firmly closed against correspondence that is not likely to promote the general interests of the Institution. This first number is half-filled with a Catalogue of the Books forming the Permanent Circulating Library; consequently many of the proposed features of the Journal have been suppressed. In future numbers considerable space will be devoted to Notices of New Books presented to the General Library, to Bibliographical and Scientific Notes and Queries, and to Records of Laboratory Work. In fine, it is hoped that this Journal will become a useful medium of intercommunication for the Proprietors of the Institution, and the members of other bodies established for the diffusion of useful knowledge. By Order, THOMAS PIPER, HON. Sec. ABSTRACTS OF LECTURES. ON THE ACOUSTICS OF THE ORCHESTRA. BY DR. W. H. STONE, M.A., F. R. C. P. [Two Lectures delivered November 10 and 17, 1870.] THE HE object of these Lectures was mainly to occupy the intervening ground between the ordinary treatises on Acoustics, and works on the Theory of Music proper. The former end with a description of the Monochord; or at most with a few random words about instruments, often not strictly accurate. The latter presuppose considerable acquaintance with the form and principles of instruments. Even specific treatises on special departments of instrumentation err in this way. They waste valuable space in repeating the rudiments of notation, and give the most meagre description of the instrument itself, its strong and weak points, and the like. The first Lecture began by some preliminary remarks on the importance of cultivating the lesser senses, especially that of Hearing, in all classes; but particularly by the physician, in whose art it might almost be denied that "seeing is believing," so much does it depend on "auscultation." Sound was then rapidly explained, its mode of production by various methods, such as strings, reeds, membranes, or bells; the research of Helmholtz on timbre and harmonic sounds being specially adverted to. The orchestra in its growth and progress was then described; its comparatively modern origin, and the complete absence of harmonic music in ancient times. Handel wrote principally for oboes and the string quartett, sometimes adding bassoons, and using the trumpet, for which he wrote very difficult parts, chiefly as a solo or melodic instrument. Haydn first built up the modern form of orchestra; Mozart enlarged, and Beethoven strengthened it. The development between A. D. 1784 and 1870 was marvellous. At the first Handel Commemoration, held on the former date, twenty-five years after Handel's death, the band consisted of 49 first, 46 second violins, 26 violas, 21 violoncellos, 15 double basses; total, 157 strings. Against this small contingent of comparatively feeble instruments, were 6 flutes, 26 oboes, 26 bassoons, I double bassoon, 12 trumpets, 12 horns, and 6 "sacbuts," or trombones; total, 89 wind. At the Handel Festival in 1862, there were 194 violins, 75 violas, 75 violoncellos, 75 double basses; total, 419 strings, against 86 wind instruments of all classes. The orchestra, as most usually composed at the present time, consists of the string quintett; 2 of the following instruments-flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and trumpets; 4 horns; 3 trombones; I serpent or ophicleide, with side and kettle-drums. Accessory and occasional instruments are the piccolo flute, cor anglais (a tenor oboe), corno bassetto (a tenor clarinet), contra-fagotto, euphonium (a bass saxhorn), saxiphones, and many others. The stringed instruments were individually described in the first Lecture. The violin was shown to have succeeded the viol family, being first mentioned in Zacconi's Pratica di Musica in 1596. The viols differed in having 6 strings, and frets, or fixed divisions on the finger-board, the only viol still used being the double bass. The viola, or tenor, was a fifth lower than the violin, the violoncello an octave below the tenor. The double bass had either 3 or 4 strings, the former going down to AA, the latter to EE. Beethoven, however, often wrote below this, in the Pastoral Symphony, for instance down to CCC, a note at present reached only by the contra-fagotto, but much to be wished for on the double bass. Instrumental solos were given to illustrate each quality of tone, and then concerted pieces to exhibit their combination; the most remark. able of the latter being a trio of Corelli for 2 violins and cello, with figured bass for piano and contra-bass. To be continued. [W.H.S.] ON COUNT RUMFORD AND HIS PHILOSOPHICAL WORK. TH BY MR. W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.C.S. [Two Lectures, delivered December 8 and 15, 1870.] HE first Lecture was devoted to a sketch of the remarkable career of Benjamin Thompson, tracing it from his very humble beginning as a poor teacher in a colonial village school, through successive stages of brilliant success as a diplomatist, a soldier, a philanthropist, a statesman, and a philosopher. The Lecturer dwelt on the fact that, although we have no record of any aca demic honours gained by young Thompson during his attendance at the University of Havard, we have good evidence of the sound method of his early scientific education, in the knowledge that before he was 14 years of age he had calculated and graphically stated, by a method of his own, the phase of a solareclipse, and that the influence of this scientific training is evident throughout all the work of his life. His first state paper had the fulness, clearness, and precision of a scientific essay, and thus gained him his first important promotion in the Colonial Office, under Lord Sackville, in 1776. His habit of dealing philosophically with everything he handled, led him, in the early stages of his military career, to make his important experiments on the Force of Fired Gunpowder, and subsequently to follow up these investigations in their applications to naval artillery during a cruise in the Victory, which was followed by the production of his essay on Naval Architecture and Navy Signals. His connection with the affairs of the American Revolution, while he held the office of Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, and his subsequent military service in America, were described, as well as the adventures which led to the cure of what he himself describes as his "martial folly," and to his devotion to philanthropic objects; and also the circumstances leading to his introduction to the Elector of Bavaria, and finally to his engagement in the service of that monarch, after his knighthood in England. His successful efforts in reorganising the army of Bavaria, on the principle of making "the citizen a soldier and the soldier a citizen," his systematic education of the soldiers and their families, not only in the ordinary routine of common school knowledge, but also in technical matters, whereby he rendered the army an agent in the promotion of social improvement, by introducing in the soldiers' gardens connected with every garrison the most recent improvements in agriculture, such as the rotation of crops, the cultivation of turnips for feeding cattle, and that of the potato for domestic use, were described, and their valuable practical results were pointed out. The Lecturer then read Rumford's own description of the frightful prevalence of mendicity in Bavaria, and of the crimes connected with it, and sketched in a condensed summary the scheme of Count Rumford's "House of Industry" at Munich, and the history of its inauguration and successful operation; whereby the mendicity of Bavaria was eradicated, and the paupers, rogues, and vagabonds were made, by Rumford's system of industrial education, not only to pay all the expenses of their own feeding, clothing, lodging, etc., but to leave a handsome balance of profit, and thereby contribute to the clothing and maintenance of the military police employed in apprehending them. The Lecturer then proceeded to show the connection between these important practical successes and the strictly scientific method of proceeding which Rumford adopted in everything; how Rumford's most important scientific discoveries were suggested by his experimental investigations on the philosophy of clothing, when he sought to improve the uniforms of the soldiers; how he applied his discoveries in the convection of heat in gases and liquids to the practical problems, not only of clothing the soldiers, but of warming and ventilating their barracks and quarters, and of the preparation of their food. That when the problem of cheaply feeding the paupers was presented to him, he at once studied the question in the most thorough and philosophical manner, and made a large number of experimental investigations on the nutritive value of different kinds of food, on the philosophy of cookery, on the economy of fuel, the construction of boilers, roasters, stew-pans, kitchen fire-places, ovens, saucepans, and kettles, treating all such subjects in their humblest details with the same rigid philosophical consideration as he exercised when making his early calculation of the course of the moon's shadow during the solar eclipse. The Lecturer attributed Rumford's marvellous success mainly to this scientific thoroughness of all his proceedings, and maintained that scientific training of the highest order is the best preparation for practical business success. In the second Lecture the biographical sketch was continued. Rumford's illness and retirement loaded with honours; his return to England, with the intention of devoting himself to scientific pursuits; the publication of his Essays, and sudden recal to Bavaria, when his friend and patron, the Elector, was in danger; the 'flight of the Elector from Munich, and Rumford's ́assumption of |