March 17, 1898] 



NATURE 



475 



ground mines. On the Mesabi range, however, some of the 

 largest mines are worked as open quarries, the ore being obtained 

 by steam shovels at a cost of "J^d. per ton. The accompanying 

 illustration shows the steam-shovel method of mining at the 

 Oliver Mine on the Mesabi range. The face of iron ore is 

 50 feet high, and the 90-ton steam-shovel with a 2J cubic yard 

 digger shown, is capable of loading 500 tons of ore per hour. 

 It is difficult to over-estimate the value to the United States of 

 the discovery of ore in the Mesabi Range. A producer for only 

 four seasons, this district has in sight to-day nearly 400,000,000 

 tons of better ore than the average used in the United States, 

 and perhaps 200,000 tons of ore containing 60 per cent, of 

 iron, 0'o6 per cent, of phosphorus, and 10 per cent of moisture. 

 Indeed, Mr. Winchell thinks that it is not unreasonable to 

 assert that the range will produce 500,000,000 tons of ore before 

 it is abandoned. 



At the present time the cost of a ton of Mesabi ore laid down 

 at a Lake Erie dock is made up of the following items : — 



J. d. s. d. 



Royalty 00 to i 5^ 



Mining cost ... ... ... o 7^ to 3 \\ 



Railway freight ... ... ...14 to 4 2 



Lake freight ... .. ... 26 to 3 4 



Insurance, commission, and loss ... o 2^ to o 10 



Totals 



4 8 



There is probably no mine which has all the minimum costs, 

 and it is evident that prices may go still lower without shutting 

 up enough mines to produce a scarcity of ore. Mr. Winchell 

 appends to his valuable paper a carefully compiled bibliography, 

 tables of analyses, and statistics of shipments for the past forty- 

 one years. Bennett H. Brough. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The following is the speech delivered on 

 March 10 by the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, in presenting, for 

 the honorary degree of Doctor in Science, Prof. Wilhelm 

 Pfeffer of Leipzig, Croonian Lecturer of the Royal Society, 

 1898 :— 



Veris adventu iam propinquo, dum terra gaudet, dum caelum 

 avet nitescere, et arbores frondescere, nihil auspicatius ducimus 

 quam veris quasi praenuntium quendam trans maria advectum 

 verbis bene ominatis salutare. Salutamus praeceptorem in- 

 signem, qui rerum naturae pulcherrimam nactus provinciam, 

 discipulos ex omni orbis terrarum parte affluentes docet, qua 

 lege lilia crocique calyces suos explicent ; quo admonitu flores, 

 alii solis calore, alii solis lumine adducti, se aperiant ; arte quali 

 mimosa tactum etiam mollissimum reformidet frondesque teneras 

 in sese contrahat ; artificio quam admirabili etiam vites, natura 

 caducae, claviculis suis adminicula quaedam tamquam manibus 

 complectantur, et quasi animantes a terra sese altius erigant. 

 Quam dilucide demonstrat, quicquid terra gignit, secundum ea 

 quorum in medio vivit, velut ipsos animantes, naturam suam 

 sensim variare ac mutare. Idem neque per membranam tenuis- 

 simam aquae sorbendae rationem, quae osmosis dicitur, neque 

 cellularum motum, qui chemotaxis nuncupatur, inexploratum 

 reliquit. Etiam animalium minutissimorum quae bacteria 

 nominantur motus varios quam subtiliter moderatur, et in ipsum 

 exitium quam insidiose pellicit. Nuper a Societate Regia Lon- 

 dinen.si in Britanniam vocatus, propediem (nisi fallor) ostendet, 

 in eis rebus quas terra gignit, quinam sit ipse motus fons et 

 origo ; quo potissimum modo sucus ipse quem e terra trahunt, 

 spiritus ipse quem e caelo hauriunt, quasi vim quandam mittat 

 liberam, unde motuuni inter .se diversorum varietas tam magna 

 exoriatur. Quid est in his omnibus, Academici, (ut Ciceronis 

 utar verbis) "quid est, in quo non naturae ratio intellegentis 

 appareat " ? 



Praesento vobis scientiae botanicae praeceptorem illustrem, 

 Professorem Lipsiensem, Willel.mum Pfeffer. 



Mr. Willi.\Si Houldsworth, Rozelle, Ayr, has just inti- 

 mated his intention of presenting to the University of Glasgow a 

 sum of 5600/. , so invested as to yield an annual income of 1 50/. , 

 in order to endow a research studentship in connection with the 

 Faculty of Science. The sum of 120/. is to be paid annually to 

 the research .student on the foundation, the remainder to be used 



NO. T481, VOL. 57] 



to defray laboratory expenses and materials in connection with 

 his work, and the fees of such science classes as he may attend. 

 To be eligible for appointment candidates must have studied at 

 least two years in the University of Glasgow, and the appoint- 

 ment is to be made in the manner iaid down by the ordinance 

 regarding research students and fellows. The period of tenure 

 is to be two years, during which the holder must prosecute re- 

 search studies in the Natural Philosophy department with dili- 

 gence and regularity. Mr. Houldsworth has taken this method 

 of showing his interest in the welfare of the University and the 

 advancement of science, and his recognition of the distinguished 

 services rendered to scientific research by Lord Kelvin during a 

 professorship of fifty years. 



The London University Commission Bill passed through 

 Committee of the House of Lords on Thursday last. The Duke 

 of Devonshire announced that the names of the Commissioners 

 were the same as those in the Bill of last year with one excep- 

 tion, and were as follows : — Lord Davey (chairman), the Bishop 

 of London, Sir William Roberts, Sir Owen Roberts, Prof. Jebb, 

 M.P., Prof. Michael Foster, and Mr. E. H. Busk (chairman of 

 Convocation). It was agreed that the powers of the Com- 

 missioners should continue till the end of 1899 instead of 1898. 

 With the object of securing for the Agricultural College of Wye, 

 established by the County Councils of Surrey and Kent, the 

 advantages derivable under the Bill, Lord Stanhope moved an. 

 amendment to the clause referring to the powers and duties of 

 the Commissioners, and he was supported by Lord Ashcombe 

 and Lord Thring. The amendment was not pressed on a 

 promise being given by the Duke of Devon.shire that if it were 

 found to be possible without injuriously disturbing the com- 

 promise embodied in the Bill he would endeavour on the report 

 to insert words to meet the claims of Wye College. 



Replying to a question asked by Lord Norton in the House 

 of Lords on Thursday last, the Duke of Devonshire said he 

 hoped the Bill of the Government relating to secondary educa- 

 tion would be introduced after Easter. He added : " It is not, 

 and never has been, the intention of the Government to do any- 

 thing in the nature of what may be called establishing secondary 

 education all over the country. Any measure which we propose 

 will be solely for the purpose of organising in a better way that 

 which already exists, and, possibly, for supplementing it to a 

 certain extent. That what is being done by county authorities, 

 or municipal bodies, or private individuals is something to be 

 done by the Government, is not an idea which has ever been 

 entertained by the Government. No doubt a certain amount of 

 the 800,000/. which has been given to be principally expended 

 on technical education may have been at the outset misapplied, 

 and perhaps a certain portion of it has been wasted ; but, on the 

 other hand, I believe that a very large portion of it is now being 

 most u.sefully employed, and with very great advantage, to the 

 various localities. It is not dependent entirely upon the will 

 and pleasure of the County Councils. Almost every County 

 Council has, for the purpose of administering this grant, estab- 

 lished an educational committee, which does not usually consist 

 solely of members of the County Council, or need not consist 

 solely of members of County Councils. Those bodies are 

 gradually acquiring a great deal of experience, and I believe that 

 in a great many centres they are at present doing very valuable 

 work." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



In the January number of the Quarterly lournal of MicrO' 

 scopical Science, Mr. E. A. Minchin gives a valuable addition to 

 our knowledge of asconid sponge morphology in a paper on the 

 origin and growth of the triradiate and quadriradiate spicules in 

 the family Clathrinidae. Mr. Minchin here produces full histo- 

 logical evidence of his discovery of the composite origin of these 

 two kinds of spicules ; he shows that the triradiate spicules are 

 formed by trios of dermal cells which immigrate from the 

 epithelium to the interior ; by the division of each cell a sextet 

 is formed, and the spicule appears with each of its rays corre- 

 sponding to two sister cells of the sextet. With regard to the 

 quadriradiate spicules the three basal rays develop exactly as do 

 the triradiate spicules, but the fourth or gastral ray is secreted by 

 a mother cell derived from a porocyte. The spicules are crys- 

 stalline as a whole, but the rays are non-crystalline so long as 

 they are distinct from one another, and may remain so for some 

 little time after union has taken place ; the crystallisation appears 



