March 20, 1879] 



NATURE 



475 



necked Stilt Plover (Himantopus nigricollis) from South America, 

 purchased; three Common Badgers {Meles taxus) bom in the 

 Gardens. 



THE PARIS ACADEMY PRIZES 



T AST week the Paris Academy held its annual public meeting, 

 •*-' when the prizes for 1878 were awarded. According to old 

 custom, M. Fizeau, the president of last year, was in the chair. 

 He remarked on the unprecedentedly large number of prizes that 

 were not awarded, either because there was no competition or 

 because there were no competitors of sufficient merit. On this 

 account several of the most important prizes have not been 

 awarded this year, • and it seenas to be the common opinion that 

 some of the problems proposed are much too difficult M, 

 Dumas read an eloge on M. Balard, the discoverer of bromine, 

 and M. Bertrand did the ~ame for Leverrier. M. Bertrand made 

 no allusion to the part taken by Leverrier in the public affairs of 

 his time, and made but slight allusion to his organisation of the 

 Meteorological Service, and that almost as if it were not a thing 

 quite worthy of encomium, M. Bertrand's address does not 

 seem to have given universal satisfaction, and several of the 

 audience on leaving the hall were heard to say : " Quant a I'eloge 

 de Leverrier il est encore a faire." The following are the 

 principal prizes awarded at the meeting : — The Extraordinary 

 Prize of 6,000 francs for the greatest prgress in naval construc- 

 tion, to M. Perroy and Lieut. Baills ; the Poncelet Prize in 

 Mechanics to M. Maurice Levy ; the Montyon Prize of 1,000 

 francs, in Mechanics, to Mr. George H. Corliss, for his well- 

 known engines; the Plumey Prize to Capt. Vallessie, for his 

 differential countei^pto regulate the progress of steamships. In 

 Astronomy the Lalande Prize was awarded to M. Stanislas 

 Meunier, for his researches on meteorites ; the Valz Prize to Dr. 

 Julius Schmidt, for his lunar charts. In Physics the Bordin Prize 

 was awarded to M, Reynard for his researches in connection with 

 Ampere's law. In Chemistry the Jecker Prize was awarded to 

 M. Keboul, specially for his memoir on the isomers in the 

 propylene series. In Botany the Barbier Prize was given to 

 M. Ch. Tauret, and encouragements of 500 francs each to 

 M. Cauvet and M, E. Meckel; the Desmazieres Prize to 

 Dr. Bornet ; the Shore Prize to Prof. Ardissone for his 

 " Floridee Italiche ; " in Anatomy and Zoology the Serres) Prize 

 was awarded to Prof. Alexander Agassiz, for his various 

 embryological and other investigations ; and the Montyon Prize 

 in Physiology to M. Charles Rechet, for his researches on 

 gastric juice. The Tremont Prize was given to M. Marcel 

 Deprez for his application of electricity to the solution of various 

 problems in mechanics ; the Gegner Prize to M. Gaugaiif; the 

 Delalande Guerineau Prize to M. Savorgnan de Brazza, for his 

 exploration of the Ogove River ; and the Prize founded by 

 Mdme. de Laplace to be awarded to the pupil who leaves the 

 Polytechnic School with the highest honours, to M. de 

 Bechevel. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



M. Ferry, the French Minister of Public Instruction, has 

 presented a project for the reorganisation of the Superior Council 

 of Universities. According to the proposals of the minister, 

 which are sure to be adopted by the Assembly, the bishops and 

 other religions members are to be excluded, and the Council 

 exclusively composed of persons belonging to the teaching pro- 

 fession. Moreover, it is proposed that all degrees be henceforth 

 granted by the State, and only to those who have taken the 

 curriculum of a recognised university. 



The examiners for the Burdett-Coutts' Scholarship (Oxford) 

 have awarded it to Mr. Algernon Philips Thomas, B.A., Scholar 

 of Balliol College ; and they consider Mr. Hemy Nicholas 

 Bidley, B.A., of Exeter College, worthy of honourable mention. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletin de VAcadimie Royale de Belgique, No. 12, 1878. 



In this number is a paper by M. van Beneden, giving a historical 

 sketch of whale-fislung and of the first Arctic expeditions. — A 

 lecture by M. Houzeau, the president, has for its subject certain 

 cnignaatical phenomena of astronomy. — M. van Rysselberghe 

 describes a parabolic regulator, rigorously isochronous, and the 



velocity of which can be varied at will. Regarding it, M. Folic 

 reports that it has too many articulations and movable rings for 

 common use, and it hardly realises ideal perfection for physical 

 and astronomical apparatus. — M. Malaise announces the disco- 

 very of a mineral species new for Belgium, viz. , arsenopjrrite or mis- 

 pickel, and M. Monier describes a hydrophane opal and hydrated 

 transparent silica, obtained by action of oxalic acid on alkaline 

 silicates. — There are also several mathematical papersand reports 

 on prize competitions (subjects chiefly botanical). 



Reale Istituto Lambardo di Scienze e Lettere. Rendiconti. 

 Vol. xii, fasc. ii — We note the following papers in this 

 number : — Considerations on a letter of Tyndall's regarding 

 heterogeny, by Prof. Giovanni — On the causes of asphyxia and 

 the agglutination of the blood corpuscles in diphtheria, by S. 

 Tre\-ison. — The Sanitary Office of the German Empire, by Dr. 

 Zucchi. — Studies on milk (continued), by Drs. Pirotta and 

 Riboni. — On cortical psycho -sensory centres, by Professors 

 Luciani and Tamburini. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Mathematical Society, March 13.— C. W. Merrifield, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. J. D. H, Dickson was 

 admitted, Mr, R. Hai^eaves and Prof. W, E, Story were 

 elected, and Mr, Donald McAlister was proposed for election 

 into the Society, — Prof, Cay ley, F.R.S., spoke briefly but in 

 high praise of the late Prof. CUfford's work as a mathematician, 

 instancing more particularly his papers " On the Canonical Form 

 and Dissection of a Riemann's Surface," "On Mr. Spottiswoode's 

 Contact-Problems," and " The Classification of Loci." — The 

 chairman, the Rev. A. Freeman, and Dr. Hirst, F,R,S,, added 

 a few remarks on the loss the Society and the mathematical 

 world generally had sustained, and expressed the hope that steps 

 would be taken to secure the publication, if desirable, of any 

 mathematical papers Prof, Clifford might have left, — Dr. Hirst 

 made a statement respecting the " De Morgan Memorial " 

 Medal to be presented to the Society to be awarded in such 

 manner as the council shall hereafter determine ; it appeared 

 that the bust and die for the medal had been executed by Mr. 

 Woolner, and that after all claims had been met there would 

 still be a small sum required to make up the requisite total for 

 the purpose contemplated. The late Prof. De Morgan was the 

 first president of the Society and always took a warm interest in 

 its advancement. It was resolved that a subscription list should 

 be opened in order that old pupils and membei^ of the Society 

 mi.;ht have an opportunity of aiding in the above design. Sub- 

 scriptions for this special purpose may be sent to Mr. Tucker 

 (Hon. Sec., University College School, W.C), or to Mr. Alfred 

 WUls, Q.C., 12, King's Bench Walk, E.G., the Hon. Sec. to 

 the general fund. Copies of the medal were exhibited (Profile 

 with dates of birth and death, on the reverse, Pascal's hexagram, 

 surrounded by the " Zodiac of Syllogisms," and the tide Presi- 

 dent of the London Mathematical Society), — The following 

 conmiunications were made : — On differential equations, total 

 and partial, and on a new soluble class of the first and an excep- 

 tional case of the second, by Sir J, Cockle, F,R.S, — Discussion 

 of two double series arising firom the number of terms in deter- 

 minants of certain forms, by Mr, J, D, H. Dickson. — Two 

 geometrical notes relating to surfaces of the second order, by 

 Prof. H. J. S. Smith, F.R.S. 



Physical Society, March 8. — Prof. W. G, Adams in the 

 chair. — Dr. Hurj-t and Mr. Jacob were elected Members. — Prof. 

 Ajnrton brought forward a new theory of terrestrial magnetism 

 originated by himself and Prof, Perry of the Imperial Engi- 

 neering College, Japan, It is well known that metal cages act 

 as screens against induction in the case of static electricity or 

 electricity at rest, and hence Clerk Maxwell, at the British 

 Association meeting for 1876, sxiggested that no earth connection 

 was necessary for lightning conductors, since a cage would be 

 sufficient. But dynamic electricity is different from static in 

 this respect, and Professors Ayrton and Perry found that even a 

 thick block of copper will not screen a coU of wire from the 

 induction of a current flowing in a neighbouring one. Some 

 experiments of Dr. Muirhead, not yet published, would seem to 

 favour the view that a current is a series of intermittent changes of 

 potential, and that the inductive effect was due to a difference in 

 the epodis of the currents in the two coils. It was foimd by 

 Helmholtz that a quantity of static electricity in mechanical 



