August 8, 1878] 



NATURE 



S99 



whatever is produced. This points conclusively to oxidation as 

 the cause of the phenomenon. 



We may here remark that this conclusion agrees with the results 

 of the recent observations of M. Chastaing ^ upon a number of 

 organic bodies, which he found to be oxidised under the influ- 

 ence of light. 



As regards our oxalic acid, we have also determined that the 

 oxidation in this instance is probably of the hydrogen and not of 

 the carbon of the molecule. 



From analogy and from direct e,xperiment we believe that the 

 mode in which light injuriously affects the organisms v/ith which 

 our investigation deals, is neither more nor less than a gradual 

 oxidation of their living bioplasm, similar to the oxidation of the 

 comparatively simple molecule of oxalic acid. 



There is a lingering belief in the minds of many that matter 

 which is endowed with life can by its "vital resistance" the 

 more endure and survive the effect of injurious influences. This 

 belief, derived, perhaps, like many others from a misappre- 

 hension of the indirect for the direct and from a misapplication of 

 analogies, has no support from our experiments. On the con- 

 trary, we have met with results which are best explained by the 

 consideration that bioplasm is matter of the utmost complexity 

 and instability of constitution, ever-changing and most instable 

 when the vital forces are at their full We believe, in a word, 

 that instability of this hfe stuff is a predisposing cause for the 

 destructive action of light, while in its stabler conditions it is 

 more resistant. 



We wish to keep this note within the limits of brevity, and 

 will only remark in conclusion that, since the organisms which 

 have been the subject of our work maybe regarded as "life- 

 units," well fitted by their tenuity for the demonstration of the 

 action of sunlight upon the "physical basis" of their life, we 

 may reasonably expect, and, indeed, may see, that this action is 

 not limited to these special cases. We have chosen, therefore, 

 in the heading of these remarks, to indicate the wider field of 

 their application, but we by no means wish to imply that the 

 relations of light to bioplasm are in all cases so simple. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



At the Graduation Ceremonial in Medicine and Law in con- 

 nection with the University of Edinburgh held on August I the 

 honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on James Risdon 

 Bennett, M.D. Edinburgh, F.R.S., President of the Royal 

 College of Physicians, London, Sir Joseph Fayrer, M.D. Edin- 

 burgh, K.C.S.I., F.R.S., John Richard Green, M.A. Oxon, 

 Joseph Lister, M.B. London, F.R.S., lately Professor of 

 Clinical Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, and now of 

 King's College, London. 



At the annual meeting of the Council of the Royal School of 

 Mines the prizes were awarded as follows : — The two Royal 

 Scholarships, of 15/. each, for first year's students, to Mr. R. G. 

 Scott and Mr. W. Cross ; the Royal Scholarship, of 25/., to 

 Mr. R. Lancaster; the Edward Forbes medal and prize of 

 books, to Mr. P. F, Frankland ; the De la Beche medal and 

 prize of books, to Mr. F. G. Mills ; the Murchison medal and 

 prize of books, to Mr. M. Terrero ; and an extra medal to 

 Syed AH. 



Mrs. Catherine Dauntesey Foxten has bequeathed to 

 Owens College, Manchester, the sum of 5,000/. to found two 

 scholarships, one Legal and the other Medical. 



Work has been commenced on the extensive edifices of the 

 new Berlin Polytechnic, which is to be situated a short distance 

 out of the city at Charlottenburg. Five years are expected to 

 elapse before the completion of this much-needed institution. 



The city of Lille has received from the French Department 

 of Education the sum of 50,000 francs to assist in the foundation 

 of a medical school. 



The Imperial ukase announcing the foundation of the new 

 Sibenan University states that it shall number four faculties, the 

 medical, the legal, the historico-philosophical, and the physico- 

 mathematical. Orders have been issued for the prompt con- 

 struction of the edifices, towards the expense of which the pro- 

 vincial government of Tomsk has already appropriated 250,000 

 roubles — about 35,000/. 



' Ann. de Chiin. et de Phys., 5 ser. t. xi. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Kosmo!, April. — On life in Kosmos, by Carl du Prel, discus- 

 sing possibilities of life in other worlds than ours. — Th6 kingdom 

 Protista, first part, by E. Haeckel. — On the physiology of the 

 new-born, by M. Preyer. Part i : On hearing and sight. — 

 On the nests and gardens of Aviblyornis inornata, or, rather, 

 theories about them, by O. Beccari. — The sway of ceremonial, 

 by Herbert Spencer. Part 4 : On presents. — The discontinuance 

 of human sacrifices, by E. Ivrause, 



May. — The kingdom Protista, by E. Haeckel, describing 

 Amoeba, Protococcus, Euglena, Flagellata, Volvocina, Noctiluca, 

 Infusoria, Acineta, Rhizopods, Foraminifera, and Radiolaria ; 

 forty-one excellent woodcuts. — On the physiology of the newly- 

 born, by M. Preyer ; on smell and taste. — The animal king- 

 dom, as regards similarity of adaptations, by W. von Reich- 

 enau. — The sway of ceremonial, by Herbert Spencer : On marks 

 of honour. — Sexual selection in plants, by W. Focke. 



June. — Contribution to experimental aesthetics, by Rudolf 

 Redtenbacher, pursuing Fechner's researches and discussing his 

 results, analysing the causes of pleasure as regards the shapes 

 and textures of flat surfaces, as well as of crystals.— ;-Emst 

 Haeckel continues his popular articles entitled "The Kingdom 

 Protista." He diverges very much into theory as usual, ex- 

 pounding his doctrine that the true animal kingdom is defined 

 by the formation of a gastrula in its embryonic stage. On the 

 side of phylogeny he considers the protista ascended to true 

 animalism by becoming parasites. — Fritz Miiller describes the 

 queens of the Meliponx, investigated in Brazil. He finds in 

 four species the queens, or in some cases the parthenogenetic 

 females, extraordinarily alike,_ while the males and workers are 

 very different. — Herbert Spencer's sixth paper on the sway of 

 ceremonial deals with forms of address ; these articles are 

 extracted from the future second volume of " Sociology." 



Zeitschrifl fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, vol. xxx. pai-t 4. — 

 On the origin of the sexual products in hydroida, by J. 

 Ciamician ; two plates of tubularia and endendrium. — Further 

 contribution on the genus analges or dermaleichens (crustacean), 

 by G. Haller ; three plates. — On the structure of Ratiera 

 semitubulosa (sponge), by E. Keller; two plates. — On the structure 

 of the Malpighian vessels of insects, by E. Schindler ; 74 pages, 

 three plates. 



Vol. xxx., supplement, part 2. — Anatomical and zoological 

 observations on the amphipods and isopods, by F. Leydig ; fifty 

 pages, four plates. — On the development of the testes and the 

 alternation of generations in the salpas, by W. Salensky. — On a 

 mathematical method in zoology, illustrated from the acarida,'by 

 P. Kramer. — The reproductive organs of some ectoparasitic 

 trematodes, by Carl Vogt ; four plates, thirty-seven pages. — 

 On the movements of ' ' flying fish " through the air, by 

 Karl Mobius ; one plate, forty pages; giving an account 

 of all observations on the movements of these fish, the anatomical 

 structures on which they depend, and the way in which the 

 mechanism works. — Studies of the freshwater fauna of Switzer- 

 land, by F. A. Forel. He distinguishes the characters of the 

 littoral, the pelagic, and the deep-sea fauna of Lake Leman ; 

 discusses the relations between the present fauna and that of 

 recent geological periods, and the migrations of species ; and 

 concludes that the lacustrine fauna of the subalpine Maters has 

 entered by migration since the glacial period ; that the littoral 

 fauna has come from other lakes of other lands ; the pelagic 

 fauna from forms already differentiated as such before migration ; 

 and the deep fauna by modification from the littoral. — On mud- 

 dwelling cladocera, by W. Kurz ; one plate, eighteen pages. 



Vol. xxx., supplement, part 3. — On the early embryonic 

 development of Tendra zostericola, by W. Repiachoff, one 

 plate. — On the comet-forms of star-fishes, with a discussion 

 of the phylogeny of the echinodermata, by E. Haeckel, one 

 plate. — Contributions on protozoa, by A. Schneider : en actino- 

 sphoerium ; on development of miliola ; on trichosphserium and 

 chlamydomonas, one plate. — On the form and signification 

 of organic muscle-cells, by W. Flemming. The author 

 believes he has discovered the development of unstriped 

 muscle-cells in Salatnandra maculata out of connective tissue 

 cells, one plate. — On the anatomy of the entomostracan Lint- 

 nadia hermanni, by F. Spangenberg. — Studies on the history of 

 the Polish Tur, by A. Wrzesniowski. In this exhaustive paper 

 of sixty pages all the historical references are examined, and 

 most interesting woodcuts copied from representations of two 

 animals are given. The conclusion is that two of the Bovidae 



