Nov, 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



39 



AMERICAN SCIENCE 



THE chief signal officer of the U.S. army has been urging that 

 physical observations of the sun be made, as of sun-spots, 

 faculK, protuberance?, &c.., in reference to their supposed influence 

 upon terrestrial meteorology, and has offered to publish the results 

 monthly, or such of them as may be considered desirable by the 

 observer, m. i\,& Monthly Weather Review. The United States 

 Naval Observatory at Washington has already accepted this 

 proposition, and it is considered very desirable that some other 

 observatories in the east, and at least one on the virestern coast, 

 co-operate in this undertaking. 



Dr. C. A. White, palseontologist to the United States Geo- 

 logical and Geographical Survey of the Territories, has spent the 

 past season making a critical study of the mesozoic and cainozoic 

 strata of the great Rocky Mountain Region, and the results have 

 tended to confirm in a remarkably clear manner the statement 

 so often expressed by Dr. Hayden in his' annual reports, that the 

 entire series of deposits are consecutive from the Dakota group 

 of cretaceous age below, to the Bridger group of tertiary age 

 above. The sedimentation was evidently continuous through all 

 the (changes, from marine to brackish, and from brackish to 

 fresh waters, that successively took place in that great region, 

 although those changes in aqueous conditions produced corre- 

 sponding changes in the then prevaiHng forms of invertebrate life. 



The annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution for 1876 has been published, and, as usual, contains 

 a great deal of matter interesting to men of science. The por- 

 tions of the volume detailing the operations of the institution for 

 1876 is more especially occupied with an account of what was 

 done in connection with the International Exhibition of 1876, 

 at Philadelphia, and especially of the very extensive and valuable 

 presents made to the United States by the various foreign com- 

 missions, and taken charge of by the institution, in accordance 

 with the law of Congress. Reference is made to an application 

 for an appropriation to erect an additional building to accommo- 

 date these objects, for which it is estimated that a floor space of 

 8o,GOO square feet will be required. Until this is done the col- 

 lections in question must remain in their original packages, more 

 than 4,000 in number, which are stored on four floors of a sepa- 

 rate building, 50 by loo feet, and filling them completely from 

 floor to ceiling. As usual, the funds of the institution are 

 reported as being in a favourable condition, the income 

 not being exceeded by the expenditure, and an available 

 balance even remaining in hand at the end of the fiscal year. 

 The second part of the volume embraces biographical notices of 

 Dom Pedro 11., and a'so of Gay-Lussac, articles on the kinetic 

 theories of gravitation, the revolutions of the crust of the earth, 

 the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, and a number of papers 

 on ethnology and archeology. Of these the most important is 

 by Prof. Mason on the Latimer collection of antiquities from 

 Porto Rico, ii which the more interesting obj-cts of this unique 

 series are figured. Other papers on ancient mines and meiunds, 

 implements of various kinds, &c., are also contained inttevolume. 



We have to record the death of Mr. Timoihy Abbott 

 Conrad, one of the oldest and most accompli- hed palaeontologists 

 of the United States. Mr. Conrad was born in 1803, and com- 

 menced his investigations early in the century, beginning with the 

 tertiary and cretaceous formations of the United States. In 

 1832 he commenced an illustrated work on the " Fossil Shells 

 of the Tertiary Formations of the United States," which was, 

 however, preceded in 1831 by his "American Marine Con- 

 chology." Most of his papers appeared in the American Journal 

 of Sciince and Arts, ar:d in the Proceedings and Mimoirs of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. He also contributed 

 largely to the reports of the various government exploring 

 expeditions. 



The Nation announces the death of Mr. John G. Anthony, for 

 many years a devoted coadjutor of Agassiz in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, where he had charge of the 

 conchological department. Long residence and extensive travel 

 in the Ohio Valley had made him the first authority in the 

 United States on fresh-water shells. He accompanied the 

 Thayer expedition to Brazil, but sickness prevented him from 

 taking part in it a'terits arrival. In addition to his special work 

 Mr. Anthony always maintained an interest in Botany and horti- 

 culture. He was a native of Rhode Island, and was in the 

 seventy-fourth year of his age. 



Prof. Marsh makes the announcement of the interesting dis- 



covery of the remains of two species of fossil bison in the lower 

 pliocene of Nebraska and Kansas. They were much larger than 

 the existing bison, with more powerful horns. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The Vice- Chancellor, Dr. Atkinson, on resign- 

 ing his office on Novernber 3 (he has been re-elected) spoke 

 of the progress of scientific teaching in the University. The 

 efficiency of the University as a school of natural science has been 

 greatly promoted, Dr. Atkinson stated, during the past year by 

 the erection of the new buildings for the department of compara- 

 tive anatomy and physiology. Although the whole building is 

 not yet completed, many of the rooms are already in use, and 

 the accommodation which is thus provided for both teachers and 

 students will be of the greatest advantage. In connection with 

 this subject Dr. Atkinson referred to Prof. Clerk Maxwell's 

 announcement that His Grace the Chancellor has now completely 

 equipped the Cavendish Laboratory with all the apparatus and 

 instruments which the professor considers that a first-class insti- 

 tution of this kind ought to possess. This singular munificence, 

 continued so steadily and ungrudgingly for such a number of 

 years, is but one of the many proofs which His Grace is constantly 

 giving of his unwearied care and concern for the welfare of the 

 University. 



The following gentlemen have been elected to fellowships at 

 St. John's CoUrge : — Arthur Milnes Marshall, B.A., Senior in 

 Natural Science Tripos, 1874, and Donald M'Alister, B.A., 

 Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman, 1877. 



Oxford.— At a special meeting of the Town Council held at 

 Oxford on Monday it was resolved to establish a firtt-class 

 grammar school, the Corporation granting a site in the centre of 

 the city of nearly an acre in extent, 4,000/. towards the building, 

 and 100/. per annum towards its maintenance. There are to be 

 filty free scholarships tenable for three years, thirty of which are 

 to be filled up from the public elementary schools. 



London. — The Council of University, College, London, have 

 appointed the Rev. T. G. Bonney, B.D., of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy for five years. 



St. Andrews.— Mr. George Chrystal, B.A., Fellow and 

 Lecturer of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has been 

 appointed to succeed Prof. Fischer in the chair of mathematics. 



Among the names likely to be brought forward by the students 

 for the honorary and honourable post of rector of the University, 

 that of Prof. Tyndall is mentioned. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Morphologisches Jahrbuch, vol. iii. Part 3. — R. Bonnet, on 

 the structure of, and circulation in, the gills of Acephala, pp. 45, 

 three plates. — C. Hasse, fossil vertebrae (the Squatinae), two 

 plates. — R. Wiedersheim, the skull of Urodeles, pp. 97, five 

 plates; a most valuable memoir on Men obranchus. Siren, Pro- 

 teus, Amphiuma, Cryptobranchus, Menopoma, Salamandrina, 

 Triton, Axolotl, Plethodon, Spelerpes, Ellipsoglrssa, Ambly- 

 stoma. — M. Fiirbringer, on the cephalic skeleton of Cephalopods. 



Annalen der Physik und Chcmie, No. 9. — On discontinuous 

 liquid motions, by M. Oberbeck. — Explanation of Dufour's and 

 Merget's exper.ments on the diffusion of vapours, by M. Kundt. 

 — On the diffusion of liquids, 1 y M. Johannisganz. — On the 

 internal friction of solid bodies, by M. Schmidt, — On the photo- 

 electricity of fluorspar, by M. Hankel. — On the resistance of 

 flames to the galvanic current, by M. Hoppe. — On the electro- 

 chemical process at an aluminium anode, by M. Beetz. — Further 

 experiments on galvanic expansion, by M. Exncr. — Reply to 

 Zbllner's objections against my electro-dynamic views, by M. 

 Clausius. — On a mode of inference employed by Prof. Tait in 

 the mechanical theory of heat, by M. Clausius. — On the sounding 

 of air in pipes, by M. Ciamician. — The spectrum of nitrous and 

 hyponitric acid, by M. Moser. — On optical illusion, by M. 

 Trappe. 



Beibldtter zu den Annalen, &c.. No. 8. — On the equilibrium 

 of a drop between two horizontal plates, by M. Bosscha. — On 

 cylindrical sound-waves, by M. Grinwis. — Application of the 

 galvanic current to investigation of the spheroidal state of some 

 liquids, by M. Hesehus. — On the tenacity of copper and steel, 

 by MM. Pisati and Saporita Ricca. — On the polymorphism of 

 crystals, by M. Moutier. — The heat of solution of chlorine, 

 bromine, and iodine compounds, by M. Thomscn, — New 



