March 13, 1879] 



NATURE 



449 



mythology and religion, on topography and monuments, and on 

 art and handicraft and the inscriptions of the Greeks and 

 Romans, in relation to their domestic and national life. The 

 Language group will include elementary Sanskrit, the compara- 

 tive grammar of the Indo-European languages, and the history 

 of alphabets. 



Fortunately the demands of science are sometimes so ur- 

 gent, that they cannot be resisted, as in the case of the School 

 of human anatomy at Cambridge, which has so outgrown its 

 accommodation that a new dissecting room must be immediately 

 provided, pending the expected erection of really adequate 

 buildings for the medical schools some years hence. There are 

 sixty students dissecting this winter, under Dr. Creighton, and 

 several assistant demonstrators. In the interests of health 

 and education, a large room is to be built over the present lower 

 rooms at a cost of doo!., which will supply the pressing need 

 of space. 



It is satisfactory to learn that physical science will be repre- 

 sented amoMg the three representatives of Trinity CoUege sitting 

 with the Cambridge University Commissioners, by Mr. Trotter, 

 who has taken a very influential part in framing the new statutes 

 of his college, and that Prof. Bonney is one of the represen- 

 tatives of St. John's College. We wish that we might hear that 

 other colleges sent equally accredited men of science to strengthen 

 the cause of physical science before the commissioners. 



A VACANCY having occurred in the professorship of botany at 

 the University of Innsbruck by the transference of Kerner to the 

 important chair at Vienna as successor to Fenzl, Dr. Peyritsch, 

 director of the botanic garden at Vienna, has been appointed to 

 the professorship at Iimsbruck. 



Thk Zurich University has just granted the diploma of Doctor 

 of Philosophy to Miss Helene Druschkovitsch, from Vienna, 

 after a brilliant defence of her dissertation on the " Don Juan " 

 of Byron. 



The Geneva University numbers 391 students, of whom 20S 

 are not matriculated. Out of the 391 students 212 are Swiss, 

 and the others are strangers ; there are forty-five ladies, of whom 

 five, Russian, are matriculated. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Zeitschrift fiir wissenuliaftliche Zoologie, vol. xxxii., part I. 

 — J. Brock on the sexual organs of cephalopoda, first memoir, 

 dealing with sepia, loligo, sepiola, eledone, pp. 116, 4 plates. 

 F. E. Schultze, researches on sponges, sixth part, the genus 

 spongelia, 41 pp., 4 plates. — L. Lowe, on the. anatomy of the 

 gills of serpula, 30 pp., I plate. 



MorpJwlogisches yahrbuch, vol. iv. part 4. — Contribution to the 

 anatomy and histology of the sexual organs of osseous fishes, by 

 J. Brock, Erlangen, 68 pages, describing very many forms, 2 

 plates, with figures from eleven genera. — The folds of the 

 mucous membrane in the human palate, by C. Gegenbaur, with 

 I plate, giving a comparison between the palatal markings of 

 human foetuses and those of the orang, cercopithecus, and ateles. 

 — On the female sexual apparatus of Echinorhynchus gigas, by 

 A. Andres, I plate. — The extensor muscles of the calf and foot 

 of mammals, by G. Ruge, a very extensive inquiry, 52 pages, 

 4 plates, followed by another from the same author on the deep 

 muscles of the sole of the foot, with 2 plates. — On Labyrlntho- 

 don Riilinieyri, by R. Wiedersheim. — On the homology of seg- 

 mental organs in annelids and vertebrates, by Max Fiirbringer. 



Kosmos, November. — On Bacon of Verulam, the founder of 

 modem realism, by Fritz Schultze. — The origin and evolution of 

 sensory organs (eye and ear), by Ernst Haeckel. — Colour in 

 animals and plants, by A. R. Wallace, translated from the 

 English. — On the political constitution in primitive grades of 

 culture, by M. Kulischer. — Report of the meeting of the German 

 Anthropological Society. 



December. — On the discovery of the soni, by G. Jager. — 

 Colour in animals and plants, by A. R. Wallace, concluded. — 

 The elasmotherium of the diluvium. 



January. — Philosophic reflections on the nebular hypothesis, 

 by Carl du Prel. — The mathematical basis of the structure of the 

 plant body, by Dr. S. Gunther. — Dissimilarity between the male 

 and female of Epicalia acontius by Fritz Miiller. — Primitive con- 

 stitution ; part 2, federation, by M. Kulischer. 



The Bulletin de V Acadimie imJxfriaU des Sciences de St. Piters- 

 bourg (t. XXX. No, 3) contains the following papers of interest : — 



On an application of the finite differential calculus, by F. 

 Minding. — On some extraordinary muscles, tensores fasciae 

 suralis, in man, by Dr. W. Gruber. — On a new species of ossi- 

 culum supernumerarium carpi in man, by the same. — Pala^onto- 

 logical observations regarding M. Danilewsky's journey to the 

 Manytsch, by V. Moller. — Supplementary observations to a 

 monograph of the Rhinoceros tkhorhinus, by J. F. Brandt. — 

 New researches on the ichthyology of Central Asia, by K. 

 Kessler. — On the tail of comets, by M. Bredikhine. 



The Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy of Sciences 

 (Phj'sical, Chemical, and Astronomical Section, vol. Ixxvi. 

 parts 2-5, vol. Ixxvii. parts 1-3) contain the following papers of 

 interest: — On some maxims and proofs of the theory of the 

 resultant, by Dr. B. Igel. — On a relation corresponding to the 

 lineaf differential equations of the second order, by Dr. A, 

 Winckler. — Researches on the compounds of the camphor 

 group, by J. Kachler. — On the state of heat equilibrium of a 

 system of bodies with reference to gravitation, by J. Loschmidt. 

 — On a new radiometer, by Dr. J. Puluj. — On the substances 

 found in crude anthracene, by Dr. O. Zeidler. — On the beha^aour 

 of camphor towards chloral hydrate, by the same. — On the orbit 

 of Loreley (165), by Dr. G. Gruss. — On the behaviour of acety- 

 lene towards concentrated sulphuric acid, by S. ZeiseL — Re- 

 searches on the heat-conducting capacity of cotton, sheepswool, 

 and silk, by J. Schuhmeister. — On the action of ammonia upon 

 isatine, by Dr. E. von Sommaruga. — On idryl, by Dr. G. Gold- 

 schmiedt. — On the action of hydrochloric acid upon resorcine, 

 by L. Barth and H. Weidel. — On the behaviour of certain resins 

 and resinous acids when distilled over zinc dust, by G. Ciamician. 

 On the smallest absolute number of sound impidses which is 

 necessary for the production of a tone, by Prof. Pfaundler. — 

 Report on Eg^er's electro-magnetic motor, by Prof. K. Hand- 

 mann. — On the stand-aneroid-baromefer, by Dr. Anton Schell. 

 — On citramalic acid, by Th. Morawski. -On the temperature 

 of Vienna, deduced from obser\'ations during a century, by 

 Dr. J. Hann. — On a partial differential equation of the first 

 order, by Dr. Franz Hocevar.— On the connection of n different 

 straight lines in a plane, and certain other mathematical maxims, 

 by S. Kantor. — On the magnitude and position of the optical 

 elasticity axes in gypsum, by V. von Lang. — On mononitropyro- 

 catechine, by Dr. R. Benedikt — On some problems in 

 the theory of elastic after-effects, and on a new method of 

 observing oscillations by means of mirrors, without incumbering 

 the oscillating body with a mirror of considerable mass, by Dr. 

 L. Boltzmann. — On the orbit of Laurentia(i62), by K. Zeller. — 

 On the application of Doppler's principle on the progressing 

 motion of luminous gas molecides, by Prof. Pfaundler. — On 

 some mathematical maxims relating to cone projections, by E. 

 Weyr. — On the chemical nature of peptone and its relation to 

 albumen, by Dr. E. Herth. — On the barometrical pressure at 

 Vienna, by Dr. J. Hann. — On a new apparatus for the direct 

 volumetric determination of the moisture of the atmosphere, by 

 Prof. Fr. Schwackhofer. — On the heat-capacity of mixtures of 

 methylic alcohol and water, by E. Lecher. — On the electric after- 

 currents of transversely magnetised iron rods, by Prof. H. 

 Streintz. — On the velocity of transmission of spark-waves, by E. 

 Mach, O. Tumlirz, and C. Kogler. — On the behaviour of 

 propylglycol at a high temperature, by E. Linnemann. — On the 

 direct transformation of isobutyl iodide into trimethylcarbinol- 

 amine, by B. Braimer. — On the artificial malic acid made from 

 fumaric acid, by F. Loidl. — On Maxwell-Sympson's synthesis 

 of acroleine from acetone diiodide, by Dr. O. Voelker. — On 

 the behaviour of ^3 bibromo propionic acid towards iodide of 

 potassium, by V. von Zotta. — Determination of the orbit of 

 comet II 1874, by E. Wenzel. — On Ampere's electrodynamic 

 fundamental experiments, by A. von Etting-hausen. — On bixine, 

 by C. Etti. — On the decomposition products obtained by fusing 

 hydrate of potash with an ammonia gum resin from Marocco, 

 by Dr. G. Goldschmiedt. — On the action of bromine upon 

 phenoldisulphonic acid, by M. von Schmidt. — On the construc- 

 tion of tangents to a rotation plane, by H. Dra-ch. — On some 

 oxidation products of protocatechic acid, by Dr. M. Gruber. — 

 On trisulfoxybenzoic acid, by Dr. M. Kretschy. — On the varia- 

 tion tone observed by Dvorak, by A. Haberditzl. — On the re* 

 duction of ellagic acid by means of zinc dust, by L. Barth and 

 G. Goldschmiedt. — On a fluorescine-carbonic acid, by Dr. J. 

 Schreder. — On the galvanic polarisation of platinum in water, 

 by Franz Exner. — On trinitro- and trinitrophloroglucine, by Dr. 

 R. Benedikt. — On the determination of the focus of the out- 

 lines of planes of the second degree, by C. Pelz. — On a synthesis 



