Jan. 17, J 878] 



NATURE 



h^- 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



London. — At a meeting of Convocation of the University 

 of London held on Tuesday, the supplemental charter empower- 

 ing the granting of degrees to women was considered. After a 

 long and warm discussion a resolution appoving of the draft of 

 the supplemental charter was carried by 242 against 132. 



Edinburgh. — A letter has been received from the Treasury 

 intimating that 20,000.^., the first instalment of the grant by the 

 Government for the buildings of the University of Edinburgh, 

 will be inserted in the estimates for this year. 



Leeds. — A course of ten lectures in connection with the 

 Gilchrist Educational Trust will be delivered in the Albert 

 Hall, Mechanics* Institution, Leeds, ox Friday evenings, com- 

 mencing Friday, January 25, by Prof. A. H. Green, M.A., on 

 " The Geology of Coal ; " Prof. L. C. Miall, F.G.S., on "Coal 

 Plants and Animals ; " Prof. T. E. Thorpe, Ph.D., F.R.S., on 

 ♦'The Chemistry of Coal ;" Prof. A. W. Rucker, M.A., on 

 "Coal as a Source of Power;" and Prof. J. Marshall, M.A., 

 on " The Coal Question." An extra lecture will be given by 

 Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S., on the "General Results of the 

 Challenger Expedition." The admission is one penny. 



Halle. — The winter attendance at the University is 887, 

 including, under theology, 189, law, 112, medicine, ic6, philo- 

 sophy and science, 480. Prussia is represented by 711. The 

 attendance of foreigners is unusually small — England, 2, 

 America, 5, Russia, ii, Austria, 20, &c. The corps of 

 instructors numbers at present 90. The University library, one 

 of the most valuable in Germany, possesses over 100,000 

 volumes. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Royal Society, December 13, 1877. — On electro^triction, by 

 Prof. Milk, D.Sc, F.R.S. If the bulb of an ordinary thermo- 

 meter be coated chemically with silver, and then electrically with 

 a metallic deposit, the mercury will traverse some portion of the 

 scale, and finally take up a definite position independently of 

 temperature. Of the metals hitherto worked with, copper, 

 silver, iron, and nickel, constrict the bulb ; zinc and cadmium 

 distend it. The author shows that if y be the total obtainable 

 effect after a time x ; D the portion of it due to diametral con- 

 striction ; Z the portion of it due to longitudinal constriction ; dl 

 two geometrical factors, we have, in the case of the cylindrical 

 thermometer — 



y = Dd'-- + LI--', 



D being always greater than Z. For a spherical thermometer 

 receiving more metal on its equatorial region than on its poles, 



y = Dd^ - Ll\ 

 For a spherical thermometer, with uniform deposition, 

 y = Dd", 



The author determines in atmospheres pressure the total electro- 

 strictive effect ; and points out that, since the deposited metal 

 can be removed by a chemical solvent, we are thus able to 

 measure chemical effect in atmospheres pressure. 



Linnean Society, December 20, 1877. — P^of. AUman, 

 j F.R.S. , president, in the chair. — Dr. Maxwell Masters made 



! some remarks on an interesting specimen of CoUetia cniciata 



received from Sig. Fenzi, of Florence. In this case, from the 

 same branch there proceeded shoots with broad, flattened, deltoid 

 spines characteristic of C. cruciata, but also others with slender 

 or cylindrical spines very similar to, but more cylindrical than, 

 those of C. spinosa. • It would thus seem this interesting speci- 

 men may tend to clear doubts which have arisen respecting the 

 relation of these two species and that of C. bictonensis, Lindl. 

 = C. cruciata. Hook. — Mr. VVorthington G. Smith made some 

 remarks on a fossil fungus, its zoospores being shown under the 

 microscope. He also exhibited drawings, among others sections 

 of Boletus subtomentosus, stating that in a specimen five inches 

 in diameter there are 17,000 pores or tubes. Each pore, when 

 cut across, shows 2,000 cells on the surface. TJie number of 

 surface cells on the underside of a specimen is 36,000,000. The 

 cells in an entire plant are calculated to be 61,500,000,000, 

 and the number of spores produced by the same specimen, 

 5,000,000,000. — Mr. S. W. Silver exhibited a series of vegetable 



products, arrow.*:, and other weapons, &c., from the Fiji Islands 

 and New Caledonia, collected by Consul Edgar Layard. Among 

 the specimens was a mass of the poison said to rip the rative 

 arrows with. The composition of this is supposed to be identical 

 with that described by the Rev. Thomas Powell in the Society's 

 Journal of last year. — A paper was read on the anatomy of the 

 Elk {Alces machlis) by Prof. M. Watson and Dr. A. II. Young. 

 In this a full account of the organs of digestion, generative 

 system, myology, &c , was given, preceded by remarks on the 

 literature, &c., of the subject. — An abstract of a communica- 

 tion, "Descriptions of new genera and species of phytopha- 

 gous coleoptera," by Dr. J. S. Ba'y, was read by the secretary 

 in the absence of the author. — The Algx of the Arctic expe- 

 dition, by Prof. Dickie, was a paper dealing with the collections 

 made by Capt. Feilden, Dr. Moss, and Mr. Hart, who accom- 

 panied Capt. Sir G. Nares. It is noted that of fresh-water species 

 there are representatives of fourteen genera, many of which are 

 common to Europe. Of Diatomacesei thirty-one genera and 

 seventy species have been identified, most being marine. Seven 

 species of olive-coloured Algse are given, but it seems no marine 

 examples belonging to the red series v/ere obtained. The col- 

 lection embraces an area between 78° and 83" north latitude. 

 Then followed a memoir on the minute structure of Strotnatopora 

 and its allies, by Prof. A. Nicholson and Dr. J. Murie. This 

 interesting form (or group) has long been a puzzle ; different 

 writers assigning it a place respectively among Corals, Hydro- 

 zoa, Foraminifera, Sponges, and Polyzoa. . The authors treat 

 the subject by di5cussing at length history and literature, the 

 general and minute structure of a typical stromatoporoid, mode 

 of occurrence and original constitution, classification, affinities, 

 and systematic position. The following genera are defined : — 

 Stromatopora, Caunopora, Clat/irodictyon, Stylodictyon, Stro- 

 matoceriutn, Pachystronia, and Dictyostrotna, and a number ot 

 new species described. They believe it (or them) to have been 

 originally calcareous and not siliceous, as has been maintained 

 by some, substantiating this by weighty facts and reasons. They 

 discard the notion of its alliance wiili the NuUipores or belong- 

 ing to the Corals, Hydrozoa, or Foraminifeia, showing wherefore 

 in absolute essentials it is deficient and therefore untenably asso- 

 ciated with either. To certain of the Polyzoa some examples 

 hold a striking resemblance in many respects (as likewise is 

 specially the case with certain of the corals), and possibly further 

 research may bridge difficulties in the way of classing it with the 

 former group, but their researches do not completely justify this 

 step. Neither, strictly, does it belong to the horny, siliceous, or 

 calcareous sponges, as at present understood, though the tendency 

 of the data point to the probability of sponge organisation pre- 

 dominating. In this case, however, by absence of spicules, &c., 

 the existing group of Calcispongice could not contain the stroma- 

 toporoids which, under negative evidence, would forhi a new 

 crder of calcareous sponges — .Slromatoporoidea. — Messrs. A. S. 

 Bicknell, E. A. Floyer, and Capt. Legge were elected P'eliows 

 of the Society. 



Meteorological Society, December 19, 1877. — ^I"". S. H. 

 Eaton, M.A., president, in the chair. — Commander E. G. 

 Bourke, R.N., J. A. Douglas, W. H. La Touche, B.A., G. J. 

 Pearse, W. S. Rogers, ani W. Tyrer were elected Fellows.-^ 

 The following papers were read : — Notes on the meteorology 

 and physical geography of the West Coast of Africa from Cape 

 Verd to the Cape of Good Hope, by Commander E. G. Bourke, 

 fLN. This paper gives the results of the observations which 

 the author made during the five years he was stationed on the 

 above coast. — On the meteorological observations made by the 

 Norwegian Deep Sea Exploring Expedition in the North 

 Atlantic in 1876 and 1877, by Prof. H. Mohn. This expedition 

 has been organised in order to carry out for the North Atlantic 

 and the Arctic Ocean an inquiry similar to that conducted by 

 the Challenger Expedition. The vessel employed was the 

 Voringen, of 400 tons burthen, and the period the summer 

 months of 1876 and 1877. The barometrical observations were 

 taken at first with a mercurial barometer and afterwards with an 

 aneroid which was compared daily with the mercurial barometer 

 on board. The temperature was obtained by a special screen 

 hoisted up on the fore- stay. It was found that this gave very 

 satisfactory results. The experiments conducted with a screen 

 similar to that used by our Meteorological Office on ship-board 

 gave readings too high when the sun shone on it. The sling 

 thermometer was also tried, and gave a temperature on the 

 mean a shade below the screen m the riggmg. The wind 

 observations were taken with an anamomcter, and Prof. Mohn 



