March 23, 1876] 



NATURE 



417 



curators in zoology (molluscs and insects), to act also as demon- 

 strators ; (4) two Demonstrators of Physiology ; (5) an addi- 

 tional Demonstrator of Comparative Anatomy ; (6) an Assistant- 

 Curator of tlie Herbarium, to act also as Demonstrator of Syste- 

 matic Botany ; the Professor of Botany being ex officio Curator 

 of the Herbarium. The appliances most urgently needed are 

 laboratories for chemistrj', comparative anatomy, physiology, 

 and vegetable morphology, and workrooms for the zoological 

 museums. 



II. {a) It is desirable that all the teachers in each of the 

 several departments should be grouped in one organisation. 



{b) The Board considers that while there is room in the Uni- 

 versity both for professors and lecturers, appointed directly by 

 the University, and for inter-collegiate lecturers, it is undesirable 

 to have lecturers in natural sciences teaching members of their 

 own colleges exclusively. 



(<r) It appears that physiology, comparative anatomy (as dis- 

 tinguished from zoology), and vegetable morphology and physio- 

 logy (as distinguished from systematic botany), are so important 

 and so distinct that they should be entrusted to independent 

 professors, but till this can be done the subjects may be under- 

 taken by other lecturers. 



{d) It seems desirable that the selection of University pro- 

 fessors £?iould be entrusted to a body of about seven electors, of 

 whom a majority should be residents in the University ; that 

 such electors should be appointed either for life, for a term of 

 years, or by virtue of holding some official post, and that those 

 who are not ex-officio electors should be nominated by the Board 

 of Studies with which the professorship is connected, and be 

 elected by the Senate. Further, that the selection of other 

 teachers appointed by the University, but not directly subordi- 

 nate, to the professors, should be made by similar bodies of 

 electors resident in the University, or by the several Boards of 

 Studies, and that demonstrators should be appointed as at 

 present. 



(e) It seems desirable that in the case of the recognition of 

 individual inter-collegiate lecturers by the University, the appoint- 

 ment of such lecturer should receive the confirmation of the 

 several Boards of Studies. 



III. (a) It seems highly desirable that the professorial and 

 inter-collegiate lectures should be brought into closer relations 

 with each other ; and it seems probable that this may be effected, 

 in part at least, by organising meetings of the professors and 

 other teachers in each department, in order to arrange a plan of 

 combined action in teaching, and to consider and determine a 

 scheme of lectures, such scheme to be submitted to the Board, 

 and, it' approved by the Board, published at the beginning of 

 the academical year by its authority. 



Further, the Board thinks it desirable that the university 

 should appoint, from time to time, on the recommendation of 

 the Boards of Studies, lecturers on any subject or subjects which 

 may not at the time be adequately represented by professors, 

 inter-collegiate lecturers, or other teachers. 



{b) The Board is not prepared to suggest any further provi- 

 sion for the organisation of the professorial lectures in its depart- 

 ment. 



With respect to inter-collegiate lectures, the control exercised 

 by the Board over the authoritative publication of the scheme 

 drav.'n up after considtation with the professors would, it is 

 hoped, be sufficient for the effective organisation of the whole 

 system. 



{c) The power given to the Board of Studies of remitting for 

 further consideration any scheme of professors' lectures which 

 the Board disapproves, may be used to prevent any imdue inter- 

 ference of one professor with the departments properly belonging 

 to another. 



With regard to competition in a wider sense, the Board does 

 not see that any regulation of it is necessary or desirable. 



Considering the importance in many cases of the lectmres on 

 natural sciences being delivered in a central building, and of the 

 University collections being made as much use of as possible, it 

 is desirable that power should be possessed by the Museums and 

 Lecture-rooms Syndicate, or by some other University authority, 

 to allow inter-collegiate or other lecturers, recognised by the 

 University, to make use of University lecture-rooms, museums, 

 &c., with the consent of the professors concerned, and under 

 such conditions as may be found necessary to avoid interference 

 with the work of the professors or risk of injury to the col- 

 lections. 



IV. There seem to be two ways in which the advancement of 

 knowledge may be assisted by organisation. One is by giving 



mature students (in which light the Board must regard the pro- 

 fessors and inter-collegiate lecturers; some amount of leisure for 

 the prosecution of their studies, and some inducement to pursue 

 them with energy, and to give the results of them to the world. 

 The other is by giving opportunity to younger students, such as 

 our younger graduates, who may show promise of capacity to do 

 original work, and who are anxious to attempt it, the oppor- 

 tunity of making their first essays, under skilled guidance and 

 under favourable conditions, in some place where their qualifica- 

 tions can be judged and their results appreciated. 



A considerable part of the original work done by those 

 engaged in the higher teaching at Cambridge must probably be 

 always done during the vacations, but it must be always difficult 

 for a professor, or other advanced teacher, to keep himself well 

 acquainted with all that is being done in his department, to say 

 nothing of advancing knowledge in it, unless the more engrossing 

 kind of wcrk is so distributed and arranged that each of the 

 principal teachers should have one term in the year of, at any 

 rate, comparative leisure. For any additional stimulus that may 

 be necessary in order that such leisure may be employed for the 

 benefit of science we must look to public opinion. 



In order to encourage and facilitate the advancement of 

 knowledge by the younger graduates, it seems desirable that most 

 of the rather numerous demonstratorships which are required 

 should be temporary appointments, and should be offered to such 

 of the younger graduates and others as shall have shown a desire 

 to attempt original work, and given promise of capacity for doing 

 it. The work of the demonstrators, however, if it is properly 

 done, takes up so much time and energy that but little originaJ 

 work can be expected from them, unless they too are allowed, 

 at any rate, comparative freedom from work for one term in the 

 year, during which they may be expected to assist the professors 

 in their researches, or to carry on work of their own under the 

 direction of the professors. They should not be allowed to take 

 private pupils. In all branches of natural science it is desirable 

 that the teaching should be continued throughout the terms and 

 not be limited as at present to the middle two-thirds. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of Scitnce and Arts, February. — The first 

 article is an obituary notice of Sir W. E. Logan, read before the 

 Natural History Society of Montreal last October. — Mr. W. B. 

 Taylor contributes a continuation of his history of recent re- 

 searches in sound. — Mr. A. H, Rowland continues his studies 

 on magnetic distribution, in which he critically examines M. 

 Jamin's recent work. — On the rifis of ice in the rocks near the 

 summit of Mount McClellan, Colorado, and on the different 

 limits of vegetation on adjoining summits in the territory, by 

 Edward L. Berthond. Mount McClellan is 13,430 feet high, 

 and contains mines which are extensively worked. At a height 

 of 13,100 feet, and about 30 feet from the entrance of the 

 tunnel of one of the mines, were three or four veins of soHd 

 ice, parallel with the bedding of the rock, and filling all 

 its inner side with cracks and fissures. In another tun- 

 nel 3C0 feet westward and about ico feet from the entrance, 

 veins of ice were also met with. It has been suggested 

 that this ice has remained ever since the Glacial period. The 

 mountain presents these two strange antagonistic phenomena in 

 immediate proximity. On one side of the valley there is a 

 mountain slope facing north-east, well grassed, totally devoid cf 

 shrubs and trees, where the rocky debris are underlain by a per- 

 petual icy coat hundreds of feet in depth, supporting on its 

 surface a growth of plants strictly Alpine and Arctic, and 

 aboimding with Ptarmigan, Lagopus leucurus, and the tail-less, 

 earless marmot. A list of plants foimd bloom Oct. 2, 1875, is 

 given. Less than half a mile distant on the opposite slope of 

 the vale Finus arisiata of large size and a profuse growth of 

 birches, willows, grasses, and arbutus abound. — On a new form 

 of lantern galvanometer, by Francis E. Nipher, which possesses 

 the advantages of being adaptable to any vertical lantern ; the 

 distance between the deflecting coils is readily varied and can 

 be adjusted to currents of various intensity ; the resistance of the 

 galvanometer is quickly varied from one half to twice the resist- 

 ance of the galvanometer coils. — On the occurrence of tartronic 

 acid, with some remarks on the molecular structure of glyceric 

 acid, by S. P. Sadtler. A comparison is made of two views 

 taken of glyceric acid, and it is suggested that there are two 

 isomeric acids, one of which is normal and the other an unsym- 

 metrical acid. — On the ' ' chloritic formation " on the western 



