yune 2 2, 1876] 



NATURE 



181 



ciation. The reception given to Principal Tulloch was enthu- 

 siastic. The Principal spoke of the past and present of the 

 University with which he is connected. Sir Joseph Fayrer 

 replied for the toast of the University of Edinburgh, and Mr. 

 Danby Se)rmour eloquently proposed the health of the chair- 

 man. It is gratifying to find that this Scottish University is 

 represented by so many eminent men of science in London ; 

 we vrould wish to see the example followed by other Uni- 

 versities. 



Under the title of "Endowment of Research in America," 

 the Academy, at President Oilman's request, gives publicity to 

 the following circular : — "The trustees of the Johns Hopkins 

 University hereby offer to young men from any place ten fellow- 

 ships, or graduate scholarships to be bestowed for excellence in 

 any of the following subjects : — Philology, literature, history, 

 ethics, and metaphysics, political science, mathematics, engi- 

 neering, physics, chemistry, natural history. The object of this 

 foundation is to give scholars of promise the opportunity to 

 prosecute further studies, under favourable circumstances, and 

 likewise to open a career for those who propose to follow the 

 pursuit of literr.ture or science. The University expects to be 

 benefited by their presence and influence, and by their occasional 

 services ; from among the number it hopes to secure some of its 

 permanent teachers. — Conditions :— i. The applications must be 

 made in writing prior to June I, 1876. The decision of the 

 trustees, will, if possible, be made before July i. 2. The candi- 

 dates must give evidence of a liberal education (such as the 

 diploma of a college of good repute) ; of decided proclivity 

 towards a spcc'al line of study (such as an example of some 

 scientific or literary work already performed) ; and of upright 

 character (such as a testimonial from some instructor). 3. The 

 value of each fellowship will be $500, payable in three sums, viz. : 

 $100, Oct. I ; 8200, Jan. i ; $200, June i. In case of resig- 

 nation, promotion, or other withdrawal from the fellowship, 

 payments will be made for the time during which the office may 

 have been actually held. 4. Every holder of a fellowship will 

 be expected to render some services to the institu'ion as an exa- 

 miner, to give all his influence for the promotion of scholarship 

 and good order — and in general to co-operate in upholding the 

 efficiency of the University, as circumstances may suggest. 5. 

 He will be expected to devote his time to the prosecution of 

 special study (not pro''essional), with the approval of the pre- 

 sident, and before the close of the year, to give evidence of 

 progress by the preparation of a thesis, the completion of a 

 research, the delivery of a lecture, or by some other method. 6. 

 He rnay give instruction, with the approval of the pre- 

 sident, by lectures or otherwise, to persons connected with the 

 University, but he may not engage in teaching elsewhere. 7. He 

 may be re-appointed at the end of the year. 8. These regula- 

 tions are prescribed for the first year only." For further informa- 

 tion inquiries may be addressed to D. C. Oilman, president of 

 the Johns Hopkins University. 



Iron, on the authority of the Icelandic paper Nordlingr, states 

 that two enterprising Icelanders, named Jow Thorkellsson and 

 Sigindur Kraksson, have explored the volcanic region of the 

 Dygyur Jelden. They started on their hazardous expedition 

 from the Bardadal on Feb. 7, and in the course of their two 

 days' exploration they succeeded, under great difficulties and 

 dangers, in descending into the crater of the volcano Asya, 

 where, at about 3,000 feet below the upper margin, they reached 

 the bottom, and found themselves on the brink of a lake of 

 seething hot water, which was apparently of great depth. Near 

 the southern extremity of this lake the ground was broken up by 

 fissures and pools, which prevented further progress in that 

 direction, while the entire space resounded with the noise of 

 loud subterranean thunder. North of the great crater the ex- 

 plorers found an opening about 600 feet wide, which appeared 



to be of about equal depth, from which issued dense masses of 

 sulphurous smoke, accompanied by loud and deafening sounds. 



The Royal Society gave on Wednesday last week a conver- 

 sazione, to which, for the first time, ladies were invited. The 

 experiment was eminently successful. 



The members of the Birmingham Natural History and Micro- 

 scopical Society propose to visit on Saturday next the Loan 

 Collection of Scientific Apparatus, the South Kensington autho- 

 rities having promised to afford them every facility. On the 

 same day, under the guidance of Mr. W. R. Hughes, the 

 members of the Society will visit the Crystal Palace Aquarium. 



W. B. Lowe has been elected to a Foundation Scholarship 

 at St. John's College, Cambridge, for proficiency in Natural 

 Science. Houghton, Marr, and Slater to Exhibitions. 



An examination will be held at Exeter College, Oxford, in 

 October next, for the purpose of filling up a Natural Science 

 Scholarship tenable for four years during residence, and of the 

 annual value of 80/. There is no limit of age for this Scholar- 

 ship. The examination will be in biology, chemistry, and 

 physics. 



The Society of Oeography of Paris, appointed some time 

 since, a special committee on Commercial Oeography. We 

 learn from the Explorateur that this Committee is starting a 

 new and independent Geographical Society. We have also 

 received a prospectus announcing the foimation of a Paris 

 Society of Zoology. 



The Academy of Zurich has granted a doctorship in Medicine 

 for the first time to a young lady. Miss Francisca Tiburtias, 

 aged 23. 



M. W. De Fonvielle has had a spectroscope constructed 

 with a graduated screen permitting the quantity of light 

 admitted to be diminished in a known ratio. The moving force 

 being regulated at will, the radiometer can be put in a state 

 of rotation under the rays of the most fcorching sun and record 

 taken of the motion very easily. With such an apparatus it was 

 shown by comparison with a standard oil-lamp burning forty-two 

 grammes an hour, that on June 9, at 4 o'clock precisely, the 

 radiating force of the sun was equal to fourteen lamps at a dis- 

 tance of twenty-five centimetres from the axis of the radiometer. 

 The apparatus is tried daily at La Villette gas-works, and 

 results of the comparisons will be tabulated and discussed. 



Prof. O. C. Marsh has discovered a new sub-order of 

 Pterosauria from the Upper Cretaceous of Western Kansas, 

 North America, differing from the typical Pterodactyles in that 

 no teeth were present in either jaw. The name given to the 

 genus, Pteranodon, signifies this. The species was of large size, 

 the skull ot Pteranadon longiceps being thirty inches from the 

 occipital crest to the end of the pre-maxilla. It must be remem- 

 bered that the absence of teeth in a Pterodactyle need not lead 

 to the inference that it is any way more nearly related to birds 

 than the tooth-possessing species, because the character may 

 have been acquired quite independently. 



The April number of the Bulletin of the French Geographical 

 Society contains a memoir of the late Jules Duval, by M. E. 

 Levasseur, an Account of a Journey in Herzegovina, by M. E. 

 De Sainte-Marie, and Notices of the Basques, by Major V. 

 Derrecagaix. 



Reinwald and Co., of Paris, have just added to their 

 "Bibliotheque des Sciences Contemporaines " a work on Anthro- 

 pology, .by Dr. Paul Topinard, with a Preface by Prof. Paul 

 Broca, Williams and Norgate are the Englbh publishers. 



