156 



NATURE 



[November 30, 191 1 



Very dpducps for tin 



III' (I.I liiliwhi, 



hiof 



.J 



It galaxies ■•^■■ 



■i\'i-- Won 



• NllKiv ,.f 



.1 li 



111 



I he orbit 

 I rids are 



1 is assured. 



li'iwn to h*> 



:i ;i,.ii Prof, 



iii'Vi I III liiis . i.i . i!i. Aii'liuin. (I.I 

 aliuui iiM)u I1J4I11 \ . .11 -., .111(1 s^|^^^(■^l 

 smallest of thi' while iiclniia- m.-iy 

 distance of one niilliun li(4lit-y(:irs. 



Meii.oi,' \li meteor olr 



C. P. 01 , l..ised on tl 



6200 motidis, ui j^icat interest. i' 

 orbits was the primary motive, .n 

 liavc Ix'cn (I., Ill,,, I; but the otluM 

 ini' 1 (-.1 ill iihsorvcr turn • . 



of ll.illcN ' . Hid that dcduKil i 



so remarkably similar that identity of 

 But the size of the meteoric current 

 onormous, and on May 12, 1910, it was 

 radius. The evidence for stationary radi 

 be very weak, and the existence of siirh |mi i ihm .1,1 1^ m 

 doubt. A special study of the so-calNd a-ii l'<is'i(ls was 

 made, and the result indicates that tlvjy exist only in 

 August. Duration of visihility is connected with colour, 

 yellow meteors having; the .slioil,-,t, rod .nnd ornnfje longer, 

 and white and green meteors il riods of 



visibility. The paper is publisli( d irom the 



Tran';action=; (if X\\<- AnifM'iran riiiin-..].iiii .11 >ociciy, N.S., 

 vol. xxii., jiai't i. 



I'oi'iLAK Ohskkvaiukies. — From time to time we have 

 in these columns welcomed the establishment of observa- 

 tories, of which the chief aim is to popularis'> 1I1.. t,-;f.nrA 

 of astronomy. Unfortunately, it would api h, 



desire and the means to organise such in- in 



greater on the Continent than here. The lat, st addition 

 to the list, established at Munich, is described in No. 2007 

 of La Nature, and from the excellent illustrations it is 

 evident that this observatoire populaire is well equipped. 

 At first the organisers planned to mount the instruments on 

 a high tower, and thus to escape some of the astronomical 

 disabilities of an urban site ; but the Commission of Archi- 

 tecture, which looks after the artistic amenities .of Munich, 

 decided that this project would mar the town's beauties, 

 so the astronomers have to put up witli an ohsf-rvatory 

 placed at a lower altitude. 



THE GREEK QUESTION AT OXFORD. 

 (~\N Tuesday, November 28, the statute providing for 

 ^-^ the exemption of candidates in the honour schools of 

 mathematics and natural science from the necessity of 

 offering Greek in Responsions was submitted to Convoca- 

 tion and rejected by a large majority, the numbers being 

 360 for and 595 against. The question had been thoroughly 

 discussed by means of letters to the Press and printed fly- 

 sheets circulated more or less widely among members of 

 Convocation. On one side it was alleged that the modicum 

 of Greek required in Responsions, which is prartirall\, 

 though not statutably, an entrance examination lo ih, 

 University, could be of no service to anyone who did not 

 follow the study further, and only acted as an obstacle in 

 the way of matters more important for the end in view. 

 On the other side it was maintained that even a moderate 

 acquaintance with the Greek language and literature was 

 of value to most men ; and the authority of the late Lord 

 Kelvin was invoked in support of the opinion that this 

 applied with especial force to those engaged in the pursuit 

 of natural science. 



An argument that was used with some force by the 

 opponents of the statute concerned itself with the effect 

 likely to be produced by the passing of the present pro- 

 posals, followed, as they no doubt would be, by further 

 measures of a similar nature, upon the facilities for learn- 

 ing Greek afforded in the smaller schools. When Greek is 

 once made optional at the older universities, it was said, 

 a chief inducement for the maintaining of instruction in 

 Greek will be removed, except in the case of the great 

 public schools, the result of which will be that many boys 

 well capable of turning a knowledge of Greek to good 

 account will be deprived altogether of the opportunity' of 

 learning it. 



There is no doubt whatever that some of the opposition 

 to the statute wa* due to tho fact that many of its sup- 

 porters openly avowed that they regarded it as a mere 



NO. 2196, VOL. 88] 



tomporarv mmpror 



: : led as a final setti' 

 ' ' iiand It i< at least ! 



ji'diaidc that many supfwriirs of the statute f!- 

 |iM>vi8ion«, but votwi for it because they knew th; 

 • diraose of existing diflRr:'*^^ -'id that it 

 l.iced in course of time )>ing mor' 



■:l[. 



.Much interest was aroused ijuestion as tc 



far a body like Convocation, largely non -re- 



could legitimately be appeal inst the d 



what was presumably a maj' -ident teai 



one hand it was held that Longri gation, the m 

 which are resident and to a great extent enga;. 



.11 lli.'i! te.'K Iilni' nnil f • v .'i m i ii i rn» WOrk of thc L,,.,- 



the educational ret 

 I (graduates. On the 

 iioiiitod out that Convocation, consistin; 

 of men who after completing their univ' 

 ediiiarion nad passed out into the world and joinf 

 ranks of the various professions and public services, " 

 be well qualified to estimate the value of the edu. 

 which th( V thenis( Kv- had received, and desired by 

 for ill '; e i \ matter of broad educational i. 



if ^' might properly come within tl 



"f ' while questions of detail shon 



in til ! ind-; <>l ih^ resident teachers. In additi 

 it w.is [lointed out that the majority by which th 



passed Congregatior — fnr indeed from oemj; a 



majority of the wh. :,an half of the memb^n 



of Congregation ha. _ eMT.I, ,1 their \r.t.i 01 



that orrasion. 



Not wilh-l.inding th^ ' ^ioflj 



it would be a mist ippose that ruiy ronsiderabJi 



number of people v satisfied with tho presen 



system of entrance ex.nninaiion. There is little doubt ttat 

 the question of reform will again be mooted ; and it maj 

 be hoped that some plan may be devised, perhaps on tft 

 lines of a " leaving certificate " to be gained at schooj 

 which will secure a reasonable amount of support from al 

 parties. 



PAPKhs ()\ IWKRTI-llKATKS. 



A MONG a number of papers relating to invertebr,,:< s 

 which have recently come to hand, the following r-'- 

 selected for notice : — 



Bulletin No. 16 of the Connecticut G 

 Natural History Survey is devoted to the lirsi luu pans, 

 of a guide to the insects of that State, prepared under d| 

 direction of Dr. W. E. Britton. Part i., comprising i 

 general introduction, is by the editor, while in the seconl 

 part Mr. B. H. VValden treats the Euplexoptera an 

 Orthoptera. Special attention is directed to the econoini 

 aspects of the subject. I 



The British spiders usually included in the heterogeneou 

 group Tmeticus and certain allied genera form the subjei 

 of an article by the Rev. J. E. Hall in the third part i 

 vol. iii. (new series)) of the Transactions of the Naturi 

 History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Nef^ 

 castle. It is now shown that the group is divisible iflfe 

 sections, one represented by Centromerus, in which then 

 are only three outer falcal teeth, and the other by severi 

 genera (some of which are named for the first time) S 

 which there are four or five of these teeth. j 



In a note on the Crustacea obtained during the traii 

 ing expedition fitted out by the New Zealand Governmer 

 in 1907, Dr. C. Chilton ' (Records Canterbury Mus* 

 vol. i., No. 3) states that the shell of a crab of the g 

 Paramithrax seems to be almost invariably infested 

 barnacles (Balanus decorus), which are in some case= 

 numerous and so large as to exceed the crab in bulk "^ 

 hermit-crab (Eupagurus stewartt) was found in some c 

 inhabiting a massive polyzoon apparently too big for 

 crab to move ; in other cases it sheltered in straight t 

 in a MilJppora. these tubes, it is suggested, perhaps ha- 

 been originnliv formed round sea-weeds, which - 

 sequently rotted. 



