Nov. 4, 1875] 



NATURE 



15 



until the breaking up of the ice in the beginning of June, when 

 they took boat to Alexievska, and made this their head-quarters 

 for some time. Of the most important ornithological acqui- 

 sitions amongst more than 1,000 skins, are the young in 

 down together with the eggs of the Little Stint and Grey Plover, 

 the eggs (for the first time) of Bewick's Swan, the eggs of Sylvia 

 middendorfii and S. borealis, the eggs of Motacilla citreola, the 

 eggs of the Smew, and a new species of Pipit. These specimens 

 will be exhibited by Mr. Seebohm at the next meeting of the 

 Zoological Society on the i6th instant. 



There are tliree professorships in Trinity College, Dublin, 

 which, by the School of Physic Act (40 Geo. III., cliap. 84), 

 become vacant at the end of every seventh year from the date of 

 election ; but it is also provided that every professor should be 

 capable of re-election. The three professorships are those ot 

 Anatomy, of Chemistry, and of Botany. Pursuant to notice in 

 the London and Dublin Gazettes, we learn that the latter of these 

 will be vacant on the 23rd of January, 1876, and that on Satur. 

 day, the 29th of January, 1876, the Provost and Senior Fellows 

 will proceed to the election. All candidates are required to send 

 tl'.eir names, with the places fof their education, the universities 

 where they have taken their degrees, to the Registrar of Trinity 

 College, Dublin, before the 22nd January, 1876, and for further 

 information are to apply to the' Rev. Dr. Haughtcn, F.R. S., 

 Medical Registrar of the School of Physic. The emoluments of 

 the professor consist of 300/. a year, for which he is required 

 to deliver, first, a course of lectures on Botany in the Arts School 

 during each of the three college terms. Michaelmas Term com- 

 mences early in October, and Trinity Term sometimes lingers on 

 until the month of July. Secondly, a course of not less than forty 

 lectures on Botany in the Medical School, commencing on the ist 

 of April and ending on the ist of July in each year. As Curator of 

 tl^ College Herbarium, there is an additional salary of 50/. per 

 annum. The professor being his own assistant, the whole work of 

 arranging and sorting this well-known collection, as well as the 

 correspondence incidental to such a charge, falls on the Curator. 

 The fees average, we are informed, a sum of about nine guineas 

 a year, as the lectures are free to all students of the University. 

 The present Professor, Dr. E. Perceval Wright, being eligible, 

 is a candidate for reappointment. 



His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has been 

 pleased to appoint Dr. John James Charles to the chair of 

 Anatomy in the Queen's College, Cork, vacant by the resigna- 

 tion of Dr. Corbett. Dr. Charles v/as a pupil in the Queen's 

 College, Belfast, and is a graduate with high honours of the 

 Queen's University in Ireland. For some time he was assistant 

 lecturer to Prof. Wyville Thomson, and for many years he was 

 Prof. Redfern's assistant and demonstrator. Well taught him- 

 self, and already a contributor of numerous essays to the medical 

 journals, we anticipate for Dr. Charles every success as a 

 teacher. With Redfem and Cleland as his colleagues, anatomy 

 appears to be well represented in the Queen's Colleges in 

 Ireland. 



The Vienna Academy of Sciences, says La Nattire, is occu- 

 pied with a question which concerns all Europe — the decrease of 

 the quantity of water in springs, rivers, and watercourses. A 

 circular, accompanied by a very instructive report, has been 

 addressed to the scientific societies of other countries, inviting 

 them to undertake observations which, in time, may yield useful 

 results. The Academy calls attention to the fact that during a 

 certain number of years there has been observed a diminution in 

 the waters of the Danube and other large rivers, especially since 

 the practice of felling forests has become common. The 

 Austrian Engineers' and Architects' Union are also occupied with 

 this question, and haye appointed a Hydrostatic Commission 



to collect facts and prepare a report. Tlie Danube, the Elbe, 

 and the Rhine have each been assigned to two members, while 

 two others will be occupied with the meteorology relating to the 

 same subject and with the influence that glaciers and Alpine 

 torrents may exercise on the general result. The Commission 

 considers the question urgent, and recommends the immediate 

 adoption of measures to remedy the evil. According to the 

 Rizme des Eaux et Forcts, it is unanimous in declaring that the 

 prime cause of the disastrous decrease of the water is the 

 devastation of the forests. 



We are informed that Mr. Gould will shortly issue the first 

 and second part of an important work on the "Birds of New 

 Guinea," which will at the same time form a second supplement 

 to the " Birds of Australia," and will contain illustrations and 

 descriptions of several new species not included in the latter 

 work. 



At a congregation held at Cambridge on Oct, 28, it was 

 resolved to establish a Professorship of Mechanism and Applied 

 Mechanics, with a stipend of 300/. a year. There are already 

 three candidates, viz. — Mr. James Stuart, M.A., Fellow of 

 TrinitylCoUege ; Mr. E. J. Routh, M.A., F.R.S.,of St. Peter's 

 College ; and the Rev. J, C, Williams-Ellis, of Sidney. 



The Board for superintending non-collegiate students at Cam- 

 bridge give notice that there will be an examination in certain 

 selected branches of physical science for the award of an exhibi- 

 tion granted by the Worshipful .Company of Clothworkers, 

 commencing on Thursday, Jan, 13, 1876, 9 a.m. The exhibi- 

 tion will be one of 50/. per annum, tenable for three years by a 

 non-collegiate student of the University of Cambridge. Full 

 information may be obtained from the Censor, Rev. R. B. 

 Somerset. 



An interesting paper on " The Influence of the Sunspot Period 

 upon the Price of Corn " formed the subject of a paper by Prof. 

 W. Stanley Jevons, F.R.S,, at the recent meeting of the British 

 Association, After alluding to the attempts made by Mr. Carrington 

 to trace a connection between the price of com and the variations 

 in the sunspots during portions of the last and present centuries, 

 the Professor said that Mr, Schuster has pointed out that the 

 years of good vintage in Western Europe have occurred at 

 intervals approximating to eleven years, the average length of 

 the principal sunspot period. The elaborate collection of the 

 prices of commodities in all parts of England between the years 

 1259 and 1400, published in Prof. J. E. T. Rogers's " History of 

 Agriculture and Prices in England," appears to afford the best 

 data for deciding whether the sunspot period influences the price 

 of com. For this purpose, tables of the average prices per 

 quarter of wheat and other grain, expressed in grains of pure 

 silver, were used. Each series of prices was divided into intervals 

 of eleven years, which were ranged under each other and 

 averaged, so as to give the average of the first, of the second, 

 of the third, &c., years, the commencement of the period being 

 arbitrarily assumed. It is found that the price of each kind of 

 produce examined rises in the first four years, but afterwards 

 falls. It is further shown that the maxima prices are found to 

 fall into the tenth, eleventh, first, second, and third years of the 

 assumed eleven-year period. These results are to be looked 

 upon as only preliminary, and need further investigation. It is 

 also pointed out that commercial panics have tended to recur 

 during the last fifty-four years in a distinctly periodic manner. 

 The average length of interval between the principal panics is 

 about ID'S years, nearly coinciding with ii'ii, the length of the 

 solar-spot period. If Prof. Balfour Stewart be right in holding 

 that the sunspot variation depends on the configurations of the 

 planets, it would appear that these configurations are the remote 

 cause of the greatest commercial disasters. 



