254 



NATURE 



{Jan. 24, 1878 



E e' are cocks for the entrance or exit of gas, and f is a float 

 marking the quantity of gas in the holder. 



When the gas has all been expelled from the holder it is full 

 of water, and hence conveniently ready for refilling with gas. 

 For this purpose the cock H is closed, and G partially turned on ; 

 the water escapes as the gas enters E. A delivery tube is carried 

 from e' to the lecture table, and can, of course, be used as an 

 entrance as well as an exit pipe. After the holder is filled with 

 gas, G is shut off and H and e' are turned on. All is now ready 

 for use, for as soon as the cock at the burner attached to the 

 lantern or other arrangement in the lecture-room, is turned on, 

 the gas is displaced from the holder by the entrance of a corre- 

 sponding quantity of water from the cistern B. No weights are 

 required to be taken on and off, an equable flow of gas is secured, 

 the turning on of the gas-cock in the lecture-room puts the 

 whole apparatus in action, and the employment of a single 

 cylinder considerably diminishes the original cost of the gas- 

 holder. W. F. Barrett 



Royal College of Science, Dublin 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL ^ 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Berlin. — The Prussian budget contains provisions for four 

 new professorships in the university, including two in medicine, 

 one in philology, and one in botany. The appropriations for 

 most of the laboratories, &c. , in connection with the university 

 have likewise been notably increased. The " Ge werbe- Akademie " 

 is to receive an important addition in the shape of a department 

 for the examination of iron, in which the physical and mechanical 

 properties of the various sorts of Prussian iron — unwrought as 

 well as manufactured — can be thoroughly tested, and officially 

 approved. A similar institute, and the only one hitherto in 

 Germany, has existed for a number of years at Munich, and has 

 been of great value to the iron industry in South Germany. The 

 lectures of Prof. Du Bois-Rcymond on physiology have become 

 so popular that no lecture-room in the university is of sufficient 

 size to accommodate his numerous hearers. 



Innsbruck. — The winter attendance at the university is 605, 

 an increase of 27 on the past semester. The philosophical 

 faculty includes 159, the medical 55, the legal 206, and the 

 theological 185. 



Jena. — The university is attended at present by 488 students, 

 a diminution of 102 on the number of the past summer. Of the 

 219 in the philosophical faculty 64 study philosophy and histci-y, 

 73 mathematics and natural sciences, 62 chemistry and pharmacy, 

 and 20 political economy and agriculture. The attendance from 

 foreign countries is but 35, and Jena is one of the few European 

 universities where England is not represented. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Amtalen der Physik unci Chemie, No. II, 1877. — The residual 

 charge of the Leyden jar, in its relation to the nature of the insu- 

 lating substance, by M. von Oettingen. — On the electromotive 

 force produced by flow of water in capillary tubes, by M. Haga. 

 — On the same subject, by Mr. J. W. Clark. — On the connection 

 between electromagnetic rotation and unipolar induction, by M. 

 Edlund, — On Dr. Kerr's recently-found relation between light 

 and electricity, by Mr. Mackenzie. — Calorimetric researches, by 

 MM. Schuller and Wartha. — Apparatus for demonstrating the 

 different heat-conducting powers of gases, by M. Kundt. — Ob- 

 servations by Adolf Rosencranz, on the influence of temperature 

 on internal friction of liquids, by M. O. E. Meyer. — On a method 

 of investigating the gliding friction of solid bodies, by MM. 

 Warburg and v. Babo. — Determination of the velocity of sound 

 by the method of coincidences, by M. Szathmari. — Velocity of 

 wave motion in soft string, by M. Abt. — Studies on chemical 

 volumes, by M. Ostwald. — On miargyrite, by M. Weisbach 

 Lime, strontium, and baryta in the crystalline state, by M. 

 Biiigelmann. — On numerical determination of the constants of 

 Weber's fundamental law, by M. Voigt. — On a simple experi- 

 ment for subjectively showing the reversal of the coloured lines 

 of flame-spectra, especially the sodium line, by M. Giinther. — On 

 completeness of exclusion of aqueous vapour from air-pumps ] 

 by M. Laspeyres. — On the applicability of fatty gases in blow- 

 pipe operations, by M, Lohse. 



Kosmos, July, 1877. — O. Caspari, on the'philosophy of Dar- 

 winism, — Prof. Haeckel, in discussing Bathybius and the Monera, 



is very little inclined to give up the oiganie nature of Bathybius. 

 — G. Jager, on Heredity, part 2. — Cams Sterne (Dr. Krause) 

 on the taming of the old by the young, discusses the influence of 

 children from the Darwinian standpoint. He calls Bret Harte 

 " probably the psychologist of deepest insight in our time." — 

 Friiuleinvon Hellwald writes on the speechless primitive man. — 

 P'ritz Schultze on the origin of the culinary art. 



August, 1877. — Mr, Darwin's biographical sketch of a little 

 child is translated here. — Fritz Miillsr contributes observations 

 on Brazilian butterflies on evolutional principles. — A. Dodel- 

 Port writes on the colour and size of Alpine flowers — A. Lang, 

 on Lamarck and Darwin, part 4, considers Lamarck's views on 

 the rela'ion of crganic to inorganic nature. — Hugo Magnus treats 

 on the development of the colour sense. 



September, 1877. — Otto Caspari continues his discussion of 

 the Darwinian philosophy, dealing with the problem of evil, the 

 idea of individuation, the conditions of pleasure and disgust, — 

 Prof. Jager treats of colour and the colour-sense. — Prof. Krause 

 discusses the origin of the legend of Iphis (Ovid, "Metam.," 

 book ix. ) with regard to its bearings on a morphological question. 

 — Dr. A. Lang, in his fifth paper on Lamarck and Darwin, 

 comes to Lamarck's theory of descent. — A comprehensive notice 

 of Darwinian literature up to the present time is given by Dr. G. 

 Seidlitz, 



October, 1877. — Dr. B. Vetter, on design in nature. — H. 

 Miiller, on the variation in size of the coloured envelopes of 

 flowers in relation to natural selection ; a valuable paper. — Prof. 

 Jager, the origin of organs. Part III., locomotive organs. — Fritz 

 Miiller, on Brazilian butterflies, Part 2. — Dr. F. Weinland, on 

 the language of primitive man. 



Zeitschrift fur •wissenschaftliche Zoologie,\d\. xxix.. Part 4. — 

 W. Schmankewitsch, on the influence of external conditions on 

 the organisation of animals. This is a long and valuable paper, 

 especially having to do with the influence of different degrees of 

 concentration of salt water and varying temperatures on a number 

 of Crustacea, as Artemia saliva, Daphnia, Branchipus. — ^J. W. 

 Spengel, on the reproduction of Rhinoderma darxvinii (am- 

 phibian), a translation from the Spanish of X. Jimenez de la 

 Espoda ; a very remarkable case of a male brood-cavity. — B. 

 Hatschek, on the embryonic history of the budding of Pedicellina 

 echinata (polyzoan), forty-eight pages, three plates. — A. Wier- 

 zejski, on the Crustacea parasitic on cephalopods, twenty-one 

 pages, three plates. — H. von Ihering, contribution to the mor 

 phology of the kidneys of mollusca. 



The current number ot the Quarterly yaurnal of Microscopic 

 Science commences with a paper by Mr. C. S. Tomes, on the 

 hinged teeth of the common pike, the existence of which, in 

 other than the angler and one or two other fish, was unknown. 

 — The Rev, Thomas Hinks has notes on the movements of the 

 vlbracula in Caberea boregi, and on the supposed common nervous 

 system in the Polyzoa, in which the synchronous movement of 

 the vibracula is shown to render the existence of a common ner- 

 vous system almost essentia', — I'r. A. M. Marshall describes the 

 development of the cranial nerves in the chick, in continuation of 

 his earlier papers in the Philosophical Transactions and the Jour- 

 nal of Anatomy and Physiology. — Prof E van Beneden contributes 

 to the history of the embryonic development of the Teleosteans, 

 showing that the germ-layers do not proceed exclusively from 

 the blastodisc : that extra blastodic cells are developed on the 

 deuterobiastic globe, and that there is no segmentation cavity. — 

 Mr. S. H. Vines writes on the homologies of the suspensor of 

 the ovule, showing its unity with the seta and foot of mosses, 

 liverworts, and vascular cryptogams. — Prof. Lankester describes 

 the corpusculated nature of the red vascular fluid of the earth- 

 worm. — Dr. F. Darwin describes the contractile filaments of 

 Amanita {Agaricus) muscaria and Dipsacus sylvestris. — The last 

 paper is a short one by Mr. Dowdeswell, on atmospheric bacteria. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Mathematical Society, January 10. — Lord Rayleigh, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. F. B. W. Phillips was 

 elected a member, and Mr. R. R. Wtbb was admitted into the 

 Society. — The following papers were read : — Mr. J. Hammond, 

 on the meaning of the differential symbol Z?", when n is frac- 

 tional. (Prof. Cayley gave a few references to papers on the 

 jjUbject by Riemann, Schrceter, and others, and expressed his 



