yune 20, 1889] 



NATURE 



189 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The Savilian Professor of Geometry, J. J. Sylves- 

 ter, will deliver, early next term, a public lecture on the 

 sufficiency of Barbier's principle to furnish a universal and 

 geometrical solution of a celebrated problem of chances origin- 

 ated by Buffon, but whose solution of it, and also that of La- 

 place, was limited to the two simplest cases, and involved the use 

 of the integral calculus. The lecture will be divested as far as 

 possible of technical terms, so as to be made intelligible to a 

 general audience. Time and place will be stated in a subsequent 

 notice. 



Cambridge.— In the Natural Sciences Tripos, Part I., 

 lately issued, the following men are placed in Class I. : — • 

 Beddard, Trinity ; Blackman, St. John's ; Bottomley, Caius ; 

 Cole, Christ's ; de Havilland, Feterhouse ; L. G. Glover, St. 

 John's ; Hewitt, St. John's ; Lehfeldt, St. John's ; Luce, 

 Christ's ; Peters, Caius ; Reynolds, Trinity ; Rolleston, King's ; 

 Spivey, Trinity ; Thomas, Sidney ; Wood, Caius ; Woods, St. 

 John's. The following women also obtained a first class : — 

 A. L M. Elliot, Newnham ; L. Martin- Leake, Girton ; M. O. 

 Mitchell, Newnham. 



In the Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II. (advanced), eleven 

 candidates are placed in Class I. Of these no fewer than 

 six are scholars of St. John's College, including Mr. Horton- 

 Smith, who receives the coveted mark of distinction in Physio- 

 logy. No mark of distinction has been granted since 1883. 

 The following are the names, in alphabetical order : — Baily, 

 St. John's (Physics) ; d' Albuquerque, St. John's (Chemistry) ; 

 Ds Daniel, Trinity (Human Anatomy with Physiology) ; S. F. 

 Dufton, Trinity (Chemistry) ; Elliott, Christ's (Chemistry) ; 

 Groom, St. John's (Geology) ; Hankin, St. John's (Physiology) ; 

 Horton-Smith, St. John's (Physiology and Human Anatomy 

 with Physiology) ; Locke, St. John's (Physiology); DsTennant, 

 Caius (Chemistry) ; Whetham, Trinity (Physics). No women 

 obtained a first class in this part. 



Dr. W. H. Gaskell, F.R.S., has been elected Fellow and 

 Praslector in Natural Science of Trinity Hall. This long-deferred 

 recognition of Dr. Gaskell's eminent services to the teaching of 

 physiology at Cambridge, and also of his many valuable original 

 researches, will be welcomed by all scientific men. 



The General Board of Studies recommends that the stipend 

 of Dr. Gaskell, as University Lecturer in Physiology, be raised 

 from ;^50 to ;i^i50 per annum, and that of Mr. Walter Gardiner, 

 University Lecturer in Botany, from ;^5o to ;<f lOO. Both these 

 gentlemen hold College Fellowships in addition. 



Mr. E. G. Gallop, late Fellow of Trinity College, and Senior 

 Wrangler, has been elected to a Fellowship at Gonville and 

 Caius College. 



At the annual election at St. John's College on June 17 the fol- 

 lowing awards were made in Mathematics and Natural Science : — 



Hutchinson Studentship (for research in Physiology) : Horton- 

 Smith. 



Foundation Scholarships (continued or increased) : Mathe- 

 matics — Flux, R. A. Sampson, Rudd, Lawrenson, Cooke, 

 Monro, Burstall, G. T. Bennett, Dobbs, Reeves, Gedye. 

 Natural Science — Groom, d' Albuquerque, Locke, Hankin, 

 Baily, Horton-Smith, Hewitt. 



Foundation Scholarships {^iv^dirdtd) : Mathematics — W.Brown, 

 Alexander^ Finn. Natural Science — Lehfeldt, Woods. 



Exhibitions : Mathematics — Bennett, Finn, Reeves, Ayers, 

 Blomfield, Maw, O. W. Owen, Schmitz, Speight, Wills. 

 Natural Science— Baily, Lehfeldt, Locke, Blackman, Cuff, L. 

 G. Glover, MacBride. 



■ Proper Sizars hips : Mathematics— Ayers, Maw, Pickford, C. 

 Robertson. 



Wright's Frizes : Mathematics — Bennett. Natural Science — 

 Horton-Smith, Hewitt, MacBride. 



Hockin Prize (for Physics) : Baily. 



Herschel Prize (for Astronomy) : Monro, p/vximc accessit 

 Bruton. 



Hughes Prize (for best student of third year) : Natural Science 

 — Horton-Smith. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, June. — Topographical develop- 

 ent of the Triassic formation of the Connecticut Valley, by 

 T.w: Tv/r„_„:„ t->-..:. Jj^ jj^jg p^pgj. ^^g embodied the results 



ment 



William Morris Davis 



of two visits paid to the region about Meriden with the Harvard 

 Summer School of Geology in 1887 and 1888. After describing 

 the topographical development of the Triassic belt, the author 

 shows that the whole region was base-leveled in late Cretaceous 

 times, and the present valleys worn in the Cretaceous base-level 

 plain after its elevation. The Connecticut River was originally 

 consequent on the monoclinal faulting, and still persists near the 

 course then taken, but has entered a second cycle of life as a result 

 of the elevation of the lowland that was produced in its first cycle. 

 — Analyses of three descloizites from new localities, by W. F. 

 Hillebrand. The specimens, of which full analyses are here 

 given, came from the mines of Beaverhead County, Montana ; 

 Grant County, New Mexico ; and Cochise County, Arizona. It 

 is suggested that, in view of the well-defined character of all 

 these highly cupriferous varieties, they might be appropriately 

 designated by some common distinctive name, such as 

 Rammelsberg's cupro-descloizite, as indicating the relationship 

 to descloizite. — A new meteorite from Mexico, by J. Edward 

 Whitfield. This specimen of meteoric iron, weighing 33 kilos, 

 came originally from the Sierra de San Francisco in the State 

 of Durango, date of discovery and name of finder being un- 

 known. Analysis shows iron 91 "48, nickel 7'92, cobalt o'22, 

 with traces of sulphur and carbon. Slices when etched show 

 rather coarse Widmanstiittian figures with dark diagonal bands 

 of triolite. — Contributions to the petrography of the Sandwich 

 Islands, by Edward S. Dana. The eruptive rocks here de- 

 scribed were partly obtained in 1887 by Prof. J. D. Dana, and 

 partly in 1888 by the Rev. E. P. Baker, of Hilo. They include 

 about thirty specimens from Kilauea, a dozen from the island of 

 Maui, and a like number from the island of Oahu. The chief 

 points brought out by their study are the characters of the clink- 

 stone-like basalt with its novel forms of feather-augite, and also 

 of the heavy chrysolitic basalt, both from the summit crater. 

 The lavas from Maui and Oahu belong mostly to the basaltic 

 type, though often resembling andesite in appearance. — The 

 determination of water and carbonic acid in natural and artificial 

 salts, by Thomas M. Chatard. An apparatus is described, which 

 has been successfully used for the analysis of a large number of 

 natural and artificial alkaline carbonates, giving results satisfac- 

 tory both for accuracy and the ease and rapidity with which they 

 were obtained. The method is in every way superior to the 

 distillation process, and promises to be of value for technical 

 purposes. — Preliminary note on the absorption spectra of mixed 

 liquids, by Arthur E. Bostwick. The experiments here described 

 were undertaken to determine the true character of the absorp- 

 tion spectra of mixed liquids, which, according to Prof. Melde,. 

 are not formed by simple addition of the component spectra, 

 but by the shifting of the bands, a large band of one liquid 

 seeming to attract a small band of the other, and more strongly 

 as the proportion of the former in the mixture is increased. On- 

 the other hand, Dr. Shuster held that where a small band falls 

 on the slope of a large one the effect of optical addition is to 

 shift the apparent maximum of absorption. But Mr. Bostwick's 

 experiments apppear to prove that, while a small part may be 

 due to the cause alleged by Dr. Shuster, the bands are shifted 

 principally by a true action of one liquid on the other, — Notes 

 on metallic spectra, by C. C. Hutchins. An attempt is here 

 made to determine the wave-length of several metallic lines with 

 something of the precision with which wave-lengths of solar 

 lines are known and tabulated. — On allotropic forms of silver, 

 by M. Carey Lea. By means of a new reaction (the reduction, 

 of silver citrate by ferrous citrate) the author has obtained three 

 remarkable forms of allotropic silver, the properties and physical 

 condition of which are here described in detail. 



In the American Meteorological Journal for April, Prof. 

 Abbe contributes an article on the red sunsets of 1884-85, which, 

 is of interest from the fact of its having been written before the 

 publication of the Krakata~o Report of the Royal Society Com- 

 mittee relating to the glows of the previous year. The author 

 considers that in the production of the glows, vapour haze is. 

 more important than dust haze, and that the Krakatab eruption 

 sufficed to throw enough moisture into the atmosphere to explain 

 the diffraction phenomena of 1883-84, without the hypothesis of 

 the accumulation of the vapour of meteoric dust. — Lieut. Finley 

 gives a chart and list of the tornadoes in the State of Missouri 

 during the 75 years ending 1888. The total number of storms 

 was 169, the month of greatest frequency was May, and none 

 occurred in January. — Prof, Marvin contributes an interesting 

 article on the measurement of wind velocity, and the results of 

 recent anemometrical experiments by the Signal Service. He 



