312 



NATURE 



[Fed. ly, 1876 



Compare with this the extent of knowledge expected 

 in other subjects. French and German, for example, 

 together form one subject : to succeed, the candidate 

 must be proficient in dictation in each language ; trans- 

 lation from unseen authors ; the grammar, history, and 

 etymology of the languages ; translation from English 

 into French and German, besides translation from books 

 appointed. For the last examination, books which might 

 be chosen were — in French, Pascal's "Provincial Letters;" 

 in German, Goethe's "Faust" antf " Italianische Reise." 



The relative value attached to different branches of 

 science is also worthy of remark. Chemistiy, for ex- 

 ample, is supposed to be so far inferior to Botany as an 

 educational study, that the slight subject of I/gai is added 

 as a make-weight. 



It is really hard to determine whether the compilers of 

 these Regulations (the head-masters of one or two of our 

 most important schools being amongst them, if report 

 errs not) have acted simply in ignorance of what physical 

 science in a school ought to be, or whether this is an inge- 

 nious device to strangle science as a school study, and to 

 get rid of the obnoxious interloper by driving the weak 

 and idle to it, and thus giving it a bad name as " the 

 refuge of fools." N. Marshall Watts 



PROF. MAX MULLER 



IT was decided at a Convocation held at Oxford on 

 Tuesday that an inducement should be offered to Prof. 

 Max Miiller to continue to honour Oxford by remaining 

 connected with that University. It would certainly have 

 been a disgrace had no effort been made to retain the 

 services of so eminent a scholar, which other countries 

 are eagerly anxious to obtain. The proposal made by the 

 Dean of Christ Church, which was carried by a large 

 majority, was to relieve Prof. Miiller of the obligation to 

 lecture, and to provide for the appointment of a deputy, 

 who should receive one-half of the salary of the present 

 Professor. This scheme is confessedly somewhat of a 

 makeshift ; time was of importance, and the proper course, 

 by statute, because lengthy, was not available. Vienna had 

 offered the Professor a Chair of Sanskrit and provision 

 for the publication of his books ; and to this offer an 

 immediate answer was necessary. The present, the Dean 

 wished it to be understood, was a provisional arrange- 

 ment in view of impending changes. The Dean was 

 authorised to state that the Government "Universities" 

 Bill would constitute an Executive Commission, with 

 powers to receive schemes from Colleges, and to base upon 

 them the new University and Collegiate organisation. He 

 pledged himself there should be an opportunity given for 

 considering in constitutional form the permanent arrange- 

 ment of the matter at present in hand. He defended the 

 decree from the charge of robbing Comparative Philology, 

 for Sanskrit studies were an essential part of it, and the 

 arrangement would give an admirable opportunity for 

 some young man to make out his claim to the Professor- 

 ship. He could have wished the arrangement had been 

 more liberal, but, in fact, the University had come to the 

 end of its tether. The Dean then dwelt on the high 

 value of the Professor's services. He told how Mr. Max 

 Miiller had " audaciously " projected, when but a youth 

 and a pupil of Burnouf, an edition of the Rigveda. For 

 this he was forced to come to England, for which purpose 

 he raised funds by translations, &c. Bunsen, on whom 

 he called without introduction, had forwarded him to 

 Prof. Wilson, and the India House, with sagacious libe- 

 rality, took him up. Dean Gaisford had bidden men read 

 Homer, with some ancient commentator, as the key to 

 Greek literature. If these had been only accessible in 

 manuscript, involving the reading, indexing, and perpetual 

 annotation of infinite other MSS., who would have un- 

 dertaken the task ? And this was what Max Miiller had 

 done. Dean Liddell knew not whether to admire and 



wonder at most — his ardour in commencing, his perse- 

 verance in continuing, or his genius in the execution of 

 his work. With regard to a recent statement as to Prof. 

 Miiller's future work, the Dean stated the fact to be that 

 the University had accepted the offer of publishing a 

 choice selection of translations from Sacred Books — at 

 the utmost, twenty-four volumes. But this, it was obvious, 

 was sufficient to prevent the Professor from enjoying the 

 position of a sinecurist. The Dean concluded by enu- 

 merating a list of the Professor's distinctions, and urged 

 the University to keep him if it could, how it could, while 

 it could. 



We must say that most of those who spoke in the 

 discussion which followed missed the [real point at 

 issue. Prof. Max Miiller has already rendered such 

 important services to Oxford, to England, and to 

 Science, and proved himself so competent to continue 

 these services, that there should have been no hesitation 

 whatever about endowing him sufficiently to enable him to 

 continue his valuable researches unhampered. But we 

 must be thankful for small mercies at present, hoping 

 from the hint dropped by the Dean that better things are 

 in store. 



PROF. NORDENSKJOLD ON THE JENTSEI^ 



T HAVE before mentioned the great abundance of extraordi- 

 ■*■ narily delicate varieties of fish which Jenisei yields, and that 

 during our river journey we made as complete a collection of 

 them as possible. The steamer's tedious voyage was, besides, 

 employed by me in collecting statements regarding the names of 

 the most important varieties, the price paid for them on the 

 steamer, and their size. 



Common Greatest p . 



weight. weight. iTice. 



Njelma^ ... 13 lb. ... 50 lb, ... 80 kop. per pood. 

 Tschir ... 6 „ ... 25 „ ... 10 „ each. 

 Omul ... i^ „ ... 3 „ ... 2 „ „ 



Muksum ... 4 „ ... 12 „ ... 9 „ „ 

 Salmon ... 16 „ ... 80 „ ... — 

 Sterlet ... 3 „ ... 30 „ 



Sturgeon ... 16 „ ... 280 „ 

 Silj ... — ... — ... 40 „ 



The trade, however, is carried on here in this way, that the 

 goods to be purchased are valued in coin, but payment is 

 made in goods at the merchant's valuation, on which account 

 the true price is perhaps considerably below that which is here 

 stated. 



After the numerous crew on the Alexander and the "lodjors" 

 had attended with great devoutness a festival service in the 

 church of the monastery and a neighbouring chapel where the 

 holy founder's dust and work-harness are preserved, after we 

 had seen several of the remarkable things belonging to the 

 monastery, and among them an exceedingly well-preserved Scla- 

 vonic Bible from the sixteenth century, and after I had paid a 

 visit, along with the captain, to an aged cripple who in his youth 

 had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, we steamed on. Our pro- 

 gress, as was commonly the case, was slow, in consequence of 

 the strong current and the frequent stoppages, which of course 

 we turned to account by making excursions to examine the 

 natural history of the region, by conversing with the inhabitants, 

 &c. The latter consist partly of Russians who have settled 

 there, partly of natives, "Asiatics," who frequent the rivers 

 during summer, partly on their own account, partly as employed 

 by Russians. In such circumstances their dwellings consist of 

 tents of quite the same form as the Lapp " kota." The Samoyede 

 tent is commonly covered with reindeer skins, the Ostiak tent 

 with birch bark. A number of dogs are always found in the 

 neighbourhood of the tent, which during winter are used for 

 general draught purposes, and in summer for towing up 

 boats against the current — a means of transport on water 

 which greatly surprised our seal-fishers. For this purpose 

 a sufficient number of dogs are harnessed to a long lin^ 

 one end of which is fastened to the stem of the boat. The 

 dogs then go forward upon the level bank, wherein this way 



' Continued from p. 277. . 



/^ Njelma, Tschir, Omul, and Muksum are varieties of the GwymaA 

 Silj is the fry, or young, of the same fish. 



150 kop. per pood. 



