368 



NATURE 



{March 9, 1876 



Conjunction of Jupiter and /3 Scorpii. — Mr. J. 

 Birmingham, Millbrook, Tuam, writes as follows with 

 reference to the near approach of Jupiter to the bright 

 star /3 Scorpii on the morning of Feb, 28. — " The weather 

 prevented any observation until igh. 25m. Greenwich 

 M.T., when the western limb of Jupiter had nearly, but 

 scarcely quite, reached the R.A. of the star. The micro- 

 meter-wire through the star then just grazed the northern 

 edge of the planet, and so closely that it could not be said 

 for certain that there had not been actual contact. Clouds 

 coming on again soon put an end to the observation." 

 Allusion was lately made to the above phenomenon in 

 this column. 



Note on Biela's Comet. — It will be remembered that 

 when, on the appearance of Biela's Comet in 1805, the 

 similarity of elements to those of the comet of 1772 had 

 been remarked, it was pointed out by Gauss that the 

 differences between the orbits, particularly the diminution 

 of the incHnation, could not be accounted for except on 

 the supposition that in the interval the comet had under- 

 gone perturbations from one of the larger planets, and 

 the necessary proximity could only have been consistent 

 with the assumption that several revolutions had been 

 performed in the interval between 1772 and 1805, 4s on 

 the next observation of the comet in the spring of 1826 

 was proved to have been the case. 



If we adopt the elements for 1772 assigned by the late 

 Prof. Hubbard of Washington in his masterly investiga- 

 tion on the motion of this comet, we shall find the follow- 

 ng distances from the orbit of the planet Jupiter : — 



True Anomaly. Radius vector. Distance. 



+ 156° o' 5-029 0-3x6 



157 30 5'i43 o'28i 



158 o S'iSo 0-283 



+ 160 o 5-327 0-344 



A true anomaly of 157° 30' corresponds to 645-5 days 

 after a perihelion passage, and the comet would arrive at 

 this point of its orbit, which may be taken as that of 

 nearest proximity to the orbit of Jupiter about 1794-21, 

 while the planet would be in the same longitude about 

 1794-43, and it thus appears that it was in the spring of 

 the year 1794 that the very material changes in the 

 elements of the comet's orbit were caused by the attrac- 

 tion of Jupiter. Another near approach of the two bodies 

 would appear to have taken place towards the end of the 

 year 1746. 



THE NEW GERMAN SCIENTIFIC EXPEDI- 

 TION TO THE OBI 



THE Expedition to Northern Siberia, fitted out by 

 the " Verein fiir die Deutsche Nordpolarfahrt in 

 Bremen " — the same Society which sent out the Second 

 German North Polar Expedition, and published the excel- 

 lent account of its results — left Bremen last week. The 

 attention of the Council of the Society having been called 

 to the immense unexplored area between the Jenisei and 

 the Obi, it was resolved, as there were not sufficient funds 

 for a naval expedition this year, to send out a small 

 zoological and ethnographical expedition overland to the 

 Obi, which appeared to be less known than the Jenisei. 

 In this they received the warm support of the highest 

 scientific authorities at St. Petersburg who were asked for 

 advice on the subject. Dr. Otto Finsch, Director of the 

 Zoological Museum at Bremen, was appointed leader of 

 the expedition, and Dr. Brehm, the well-known author of 

 " Das Thierleben " and many other natural history works 

 was selected to accompany him. They were joined by 

 Count Walburg-Zeil-Trauchburg of Stuttgardt, who made 

 an expedition to Spitzbergen in 1870 at his own expense, 

 and who is well acquainted with physics and is a good 

 botanist. Professor Oscar Schmidt of Strasburg, who 

 had likewise intended to go, was unavoidably prevented at 

 the last moment. The route selected is by St. Petersburg 



and Moscow to Nishni, and thence in sledges via Kasan, 

 Perm, Ekaterinenburg and Omsk to Semipalatinsk. 

 Thence a detour will be made, if possible, into the Altai. 

 From Ekaterinenburg they will go to Barnaul and down 

 the Obi to the embouchure of this river. They will return 

 to Germany in the autumn — certainly not without a rich 

 harvest of results. 



UNIVERSITY REFORM 

 (Communicated.) 



"T^HE speech of Lord Salisbury on introducing a bill to 

 -■■- reform the University of Oxford, inaugurates a fresh 

 epoch in the history of University reform. The speech 

 nominally referred to Oxford only, but the principles 

 enunciated in it apply equally to both Universities. The 

 defects of the Oxford system, pomted out with such clear- 

 ness by Lord Salisbury, are also the defects of the Cam- 

 bridge system, and the remedies to be applied, must, in 

 their broader features, be the same for the two Uni- 

 versities. 



Lord Salisbury lays it down as the cardinal point in his 

 scheme of reform that, till the requirements of the Uni- 

 versity for teaching and research are satisfied, no portion 

 of the funds of the colleges ought to be employed for 

 endowing idle fellowships. 



" I do not know," he says, " that what is available 

 from the whole of the idle fellowships will be re- 

 quired for University purposes, and I do not venture to 

 lay down the principle that no fellowship should exist 

 which would give the holder no educational work, and 

 which should last for a few years. It may be wise to 

 maintain a few of these, limiting the holding of them 

 to a certain number of years, but I do venture to lay 

 down that all the University wants in the shape of 

 museums, libraries, lecture-rooms, and the proper pay- 

 ment of teachers, should be provided for before the sub- 

 ject of furnishing incoines to men who do nothing can be 

 entertained." 



The enunciation of such views as these by a Conserva- 

 tive Minister must be hailed by genuine University re- 

 formers as a most reassuring sign of the progress of 

 public opinion. Up to the present time such principles 

 as those contained in Lord Salisbury's speech have only 

 been whispered in secret by a few men who have been 

 generally regarded as extreme and unpractical ; but it is 

 to be hoped that for the future these principles will form 

 the starting-point of University reform. It is to be re- 

 gretted that they have not been more distinctly embodied 

 in the Bill presented to Parliament. The indefiniteness 

 of the plan of reform there laid down, and the powers of 

 resistance secured to individual colleges, seriously detract 

 from its efficiency. We trust that these points will be 

 altered in Committee ; otherwise everything will depend 

 on the wisdom, union, and determination of the Com- 

 missioners. 



Lord Salisbury alluded to the more pressing wants of 

 the University of Oxford, which include a new library, 

 museum, schools, and other permanent structures ; and 

 states that for these alone an immediate outlay of 210,000/. 

 is required. In addition to this sum a large yearly income 

 is needed to bring up the staff of University teachers to 

 a suitable standard both in numbers and efficiency. Large 

 as are the wants of Oxford, we believe that those of Cam- 

 bridge are also very large both as regards permanent 

 buildings and the professoriate. This is not only shown 

 by the report of the Buildings Syndicate of the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge, but also by the recent appoint- 

 ment of a Studies Syndicate, which indicates that the 

 present staff of teachers is generally considered inade- 

 quate. The above facts are in themselves sufficient to 

 demonstrate that, if the principles laid down by Lord Salis- 

 bury are firmly carried out by the Commissioners it will 



