470 



NATURE 



[Sept. 28, 1876 



from so doing. It thus happened that the matter dropped 

 until the announcement in i860 of Lescarbault's observa- 

 tion on March 26 in the preceding year, when Mr. Scott, 

 in a communication addressed to the Times , drew atten- 

 tion to his experience in the summer of 1847. It was 

 then discovered that he had not been the only observer of 

 the strange object. Mr. Wray, the well-known optician, 

 then resident at Whitby, had remarked a small circular 

 black spot upon the sun late one afternoon at the end of 

 June or early in July, though he also had, in i860, lost the 

 exact date. Both these gentlemen have furnished the 

 writer with every other particular of their observations. 

 Tiiat they refer to the same object can hardly be doubted. 

 Mr. Wray had it under observation for forty minutes, 

 when the sun sank into a batik of cloud and was not 

 again visible that day. In this interval the spot appeared 

 to have moved about five minutes of arc, and when last 

 perceived was so near the western limb of the sun that 

 Mr. W^ray believes if the cloud had not interfered, in 

 about ten minutes he would have witnessed the egress. 

 This circular spot, the diameter of which he judged to be 

 about six seconds of arc, was not visible early on the fol- 

 lowing morning, though other spots of ordinary form 

 which were present on the disk remained nearly un- 

 changed. Mr. Scott was observing with a refractor of 

 about 4^ inches aperture, Mr. Wray with a fine 6-feet N ew- 

 tonian reflector of equal aperture, which he was employ- 

 ing at the time in a study of the varying aspect of the 

 solar spots. Notwithstanding the unfortunate loss of the 

 date of these observations, such particulars as are avail- 

 able are still of value as certifying the existence of such 

 objects in transit ; there is no observation of the kind 

 resting upon more excellent authority. 



A letter from Prof. Heis, of Miinster, the author of the 

 " Atlas C^^lestis Nova," received while closing these 

 remarks, gives full details respecting Weber's obser- 

 vation. The spot was intensely black, perfectly round, 

 and smaller than the planet Mercury in transit. Prof. 

 Heis expresses the utmost confidence in this observation 

 by his friend, who has long been accustomed to examine 

 the solar disk. J. R. Hind 



UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BRISTOL 



WE have been able to keep our readers informed of 

 the various steps which have been taken to bring 

 to fruition the movement which was commenced about 

 three years ago to establish in Bristol an institution for 

 University education. This movement, we are glad to 

 say, has been so far successful that a beginning is to be 

 made on Tuesday week, October 10 ; on that day com- 

 mences the first term of the first session of what will be 

 henceforth known as University College, Bristol. From 

 the first it was sought to make the proposed institution 

 something more than a mere "technical" college. All 

 along it has been kept in view that the only really liberal 

 training is one in which all the faculties of man are 

 drawn out harmoniously and equally, in which a broad 

 basis for future special work is laid, by education in all 

 the great departments of human knowledge. The Bristol 

 institution is not to be a mere special college, it is to be a 

 University. Prof. Jowett, at the meeting held in June, 

 1874, struck the right note when he said : " The distinc- 

 tion he would draw between liberal education and merely 



technical education was this— the one comprehended the 

 other ; it was the other, with something added to it, 

 carried on in a higher spirit ; it was the one pursued not 

 merely for the sake of getting on in the profession, or 

 making a man an engineer, or a miner, or a doctor, but 

 for the sake of the improvement of the mind. No man 

 will be a first-rate physician or engineer who is not some- 

 thing more than either." The first [programme of the 

 classes of this new college is certainly a modest one so 

 far as extent is concerned, but it comprehends all the 

 elements of a liberal education — literature, science, and 

 art. In science there will be instruction in chemistry, 

 physics, zoology, botany, geology, mathematics and ap- 

 plied mechanics, and political economy ; in litera- 

 ture, 1^ classes for i 'modem history and literature ; and 

 in art (for evening classes at least) geometrical and 

 mechanical drawing. In all these branches profes- 

 sors or lecturers have already been appointed, but 

 the programme contains other subjects — classical lan- 

 guages and literature, modern languages, and textile 

 industries — to which no appointments have yet been made, 

 but which will no doubt be filled up as soon as circum- 

 stances permit. Affiliated to the Bristol College, more- 

 over, is the old-established Bristol Medical School, for 

 which new buildings will be erected, and on which, we 

 believe, the new institution will have a stimulating and 

 liberalising effect. The principal work of the college will 

 of course be carried on during the day by means of lec- 

 tures and laboratory work, but we are also glad to see 

 that the directors have resolved to follow from the first 

 the excellent example of Owens College, Manchester, by 

 establishing evening classes for those who are unable to 

 take advantage of the day classes. 



Altogether the originators of this movement and the 

 Council of the College are to be congratulated on the fair 

 start they have made, and if they continue as they have 

 begun, we cannot doubt that in no long time University 

 College, Bristol, will become as great and as firmly-esta- 

 blished a centre of culture as the Owens College, Man- 

 chester. But in the meantime the great want of the new 

 institution is money. Owens College, Manchester, has 

 received many liberal donations since John Owens left 

 his 100,000/. for the endowment of professorships, and by 

 these gifts it has been enabled to develop wonderfully. 

 But even Owens College feels itself hampered from want 

 of sufficient funds, and now with justice advances its 

 claims to government endowment. The originators of the 

 movement which has just reached a successful culmina- 

 tion in Bristol calculated that they could not make a 

 beginning without a capital sum of 25,000/., and an annua 

 subscription of 3,000/. for five years. They have received 

 many liberal donations and subscriptions, and have ob- 

 tained so nearly all that they thought was required, that they 

 have felt authorised in making a beginning. From the first 

 Balliol and New Colleges promised 300/. a year each for five 

 years. A good many donors, individuals, firms, and 

 companies have given 1,000/. each, and many subscrip- 

 tions of smaller sums have poured in. The Clothworkers 

 Company have offered a handsome subscription, on 

 condition that means are taken to promote technical edu- 

 cation in the West of England clothmaking districts, and 

 as we have said, '' Textile Industries " is put down as one 

 of the lectureships to be filled up. We hope, however, 



