IX. ORNITHOLOGY.--Sparrows in the United States.--Effects of acclimation, etc. X. MISCELLANEOUS.--James Prescott Joule, with Portrait.--A sketch of the life and investigations of the discoverer of the mechanical equivalent of heat. By J. T. BOTTOMLEY The Proposed Dutch International Colonial and General Export Exhibition.--1 figure.--Plan of the Amsterdam Exhibition * * * * * THE COMET FROM THE PYRAMIDS, CAIRO Some centuries ago, the appearance of so large a comet as is now interesting the astronomical world, almost contemporaneously with our victory in Egypt, would have been looked upon as an omen of great portent, and it is a curious coincidence that the first glimpse Sir Garnet Wolseley had of this erratic luminary was when standing, on the eventful morning of September 13, 1882, watch in hand, before the intrenchments of Tel-el-Kebir, waiting to give the word to advance. As may be seen in our sketch, the comet is seen in Egypt in all its magnificence, and the sight in the early morning from the pyramids (our sketch was taken at 4 A.M.) is described as unusually grand.--_London Graphic_. [Illustration: THE COMET AS SEEN FROM THE GREAT PYRAMIDS, NEAR CAIRO, EGYPT.] * * * * * [NATURE.] JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE. James Prescott Joule was born at Salford, on Christmas Eve of the year 1818. His father and his grandfather before him were brewers, and the business, in due course, descended to Mr. Joule and his elder brother, and by them was carried on with success till it was sold, in 1854. Mr. Joule's grandfather came from Elton, in Derbyshire, settled near Manchester, where he founded the business, and died at the age of fifty-four, in 1799. His father, one of a numerous family, married a daughter of John Prescott of Wigan. They had five children, of whom James Prescott Joule was the second, and of whom three were sons--Benjamin, the eldest, James, and John--and two daughters--Alice and Mary. Mr. Joule's mother died in 1836 at the age of forty-eight; and his father, who was an invalid for many years before his death, died at the age of seventy-four, in the year 1858. Young Joule was a delicate child, and was not sent to school. His early education was commenced by his mother's half sister, and was carried on at his father's house, Broomhill, Pendlebury, by tutors till he was about fifteen years of age. At fifteen he commenced working in the brewery, which, as his father's health declined, fell entirely into the hands of his brother Benjamin and himself.