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NATURE 



{Feb, 7, 1878 



Ti 



PRIZES OF THE PARIS ACADEMY OF 

 SCIENCES 



'HE following is a complete list of the prizes awarded by the 

 Academy at its annual meeting, January 28, 



The two great prizes in mathematics and physics were not 

 awarded this year. 



In mechanics the Poncelet prize was awarded to M. Laguerre 

 for his mathematical works ; the Montyon prize to M. Caspar! 

 for his work on Chronometers ; the Plumey prize to M. Fre- 

 minville for his improvements in steam-engines ; the Fourneyron 

 prize to M. Mallet for his tramway engine. 



In astronomy the Lalande prize was given to Prof. Asaph 

 Hall, the discoverer of the sateUites of Mars ; the Vaillant prize 

 to M. Schuloff for his method of detecting the small planets ; the 

 Valz prizes to MM. Paul and Prosper Henry for their star maps. 



In physics the Lacaze prize was awarded to M. A. Cornu for 

 his researches on the determination of the rate of light. 



In chemistry the Jecker prize was awarded to M. A. Hou- 

 zeau for his researches on the production of ozone ; the Lacaze 

 prize to M. Troost for his many valuable chemical researches. 



In botany the Barbier prize was divided between M. Galippe 

 for his toxicological studies on cantharides, MM. Lepage and 

 Patrouillard for their services to medicine and pharmacy, and 

 M. Manouvriez for various physiological researches. The 

 Desmazieres prize was divided in part between Dr. Quelet for 

 his work on the fungi of the Jura and the Vosges, and M. 

 Bagnis for his memoir on the puccinia. From the Bordin prize 

 an encouragement of 1,000 francs was awarded to M. Charles 

 Eugene Bertram for his work on the lycopodiacese ; another 

 Bordin prize was awarded to the same botanist for his work in 

 connection with angiosperms and gymnosperms. 



In anatomy and physiology the Shore prize was awarded to 

 M. Jousset de Bellesme for his researches on the physiology of 

 insects. 



Among prizes in medicine and surgery, one of 2, 500 francs 

 was given to Prof. Hannover, of Copenhagen, for his work on 

 the retina of man and the vertebrates ; 1,500 francs to Dr. 

 Topinard for his work on anthropology. 



In physiology the Montyon prize was divided between Prof. 

 Terrier and MM. Carville and Duret. The Lacaze prize was 

 given to M. Dareste for his researches on the artificial pro- 

 duction of monstrosities. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The Smith's Prizes have been adjudged as 

 follows :— First prize, John Edward Aloysius Steggall, B.A., 

 Trinity, second wrangler, 1878 ; second prize, Christopher 

 Graham, B.A., Gonville and Caius College, third wrangler, 

 1878. By tlais award it will be seen that the senior wrangler 

 has failed to secure either of the Smith prizes, an unusual cir- 

 cumstance, which has only occurred seven times since the foun- 

 dation of the prizes by Dr. Smith in 1769, viz., in 1770, 1830, 

 1859, 1867, 1874, 1875, and again this year. 



Edinburgh. — The Falconer Memorial Fellowship in Palgeon- 

 tology and Geology, of the annual value of about 1 00/., tenable 

 for two years (and, under certain conditions, for a longer period), 

 is now vacant, and is open for competition by graduates in 

 Science or Medicine of the University, of not more than 

 three years' standing at the time of the competition. Names of 

 candidates must be sent, on or before the ist of April, to the 

 Secretary of the University, from whom further details may be 

 obtained. 



The Shaw Fellowship in Mental Philosophy, of the annual 

 value of about 170/., tenable for five years, will be open to com- 

 petition in December next by graduates in arts of either of the 

 four Scottish Universities, of not more than five years' standing 

 at the time of the competition, and by all students of the said 

 Scottish Universities, who, although they have not graduated 

 in arts, have successfully passed all the examinations necessary 

 for graduation in arts within the period of five years before the 

 time of the competition. Candidates must give their names and 

 addresses to the Secretary of the University before December i, 



Prussia. — The ten Prussian universities cost yearly 7,146,000 

 marks (3S7»ooo/.), of which sum about two-thirds is con- 

 tributed directly by the State. This amount is divided as 

 follows: — Berlin, 1,334,700 narks; Bonn, 712,500; Konigs- 



berg, 668,600; Breslau, 620,300; Kiel, 478,800; Marburg, 

 430,400; Halle, 368,800; Gottingen, 268,600; Greifswald, 

 135,600, and Miinster, 102,500. The Saxon Government 

 has difficulty in inducing its parliament to bestow its usual annual 

 grant of 700,000 marks on the University of Leipzig, the argu- 

 ment being advanced that only one-third of the students were 

 natives of the kingdom. 



France. — The new Ministry is making rapid strides in the 

 direction of general education. In a law lately laid before the 

 Chamber of Deputies, we notice an appropriation of 120,000,000 

 francs, which is intended to serve for the erection or purchase of 

 over 27,000 new school-houses, as well as their equipment. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 12, 1877. — On the laws 

 according to which gases spread in liquid, viscous, and solid 

 bodies, by M. v. Wroblewski. — On the galvanic resistance of 

 selenium, by M. Forssmann. — On the relation of the electric 

 conductivity of selenium to heat and light, by M. W. Siemens. 

 — Influence of light on the electric resistance of metals, by M. 

 Hanseman. — On the significance of polarisation for the electric 

 behaviour of liquids, by M. Herwig. — On a mode of inference 

 employed by M. Clausius in the electrodynamic theory, by M. 

 Zollner. — Supplement to a paradox of the mechanical theory of 

 heat, by M. Ritter. — On the Crookes's radiometer, by M. Hankel. 

 — On the perception of colours, by M. Weinhold. — On the 

 composition of aeschynite and samarskite, by M. Rammelsberg. 

 — On the inventor of the plate of the air-pump, by M. Gerland. 

 — Supplement to " Studies on Chemical Volumes," by M. 

 Ostwald. 



Reale Istituto Lomhardo di Scienze e Lettere, Rendiconti, vol. xi. 

 fasc. xvii. — Memoir of Prof. Giuseppe Ferrari. — Reports of the 

 classes, announcement of prizes, &c. 



Fasc. xviii. — Experiments with regard to the action of heat on 

 the radiometer, by M. Hajech. — Researches on differential equa- 

 tions, by M. Casorati. — On seismic movements in the valley of 

 Chiana and their influence on the hydrographic condition of the 

 valley of the Tiber, by M. Verri. — On a peculiar horny growth, 

 by M. Sangalli. 



Journal de Physique, December. — Telephones, by M. Niaudet. 

 — On a new apparatus for measuring the frequency of periodic 

 movements, by M. Marey. — Continuity of the liquid and the 

 gaseous state of matter, by M. Bouty. — Study on the formation 

 of the negative photographic image, by M. Lermontoff. 



Morphologisches yahrbuch, vol. iii.. Part 4. — R. Wiedersheim, 

 on the cranial skeleton of Urodela, ninety pages, four plates, 

 dealing with Siredon, Amblystoma, Salamandra, Chioglossa, 

 Triton, and the Salamandridae generally. — W. Salensky, on the 

 budding of Salpse, fifty-four pages, 3 plates. — W. Rauber, on 

 the last spinal nerves and ganglia. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Geological Society, January 9. — Prof. P. Martin Duncan, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Ephraim Brunt, T. W. Cowan, 

 and Henry Fox were elected Fellows of the Society. — The fol- 

 lowing communications were read : — On the great flat lode south 

 of Redruth and Camborne, by Dr. C. Le Neve Foster, B. A. — 

 On some tin-mines in the parish of Wendron, Cornwall, by Dr. 

 C. Le Neve Foster, B.A. — On some of the stockworks of Corn- 

 wall, by Dr. C. Le Neve Foster, B.A. — The precarboniferous 

 rocks of Charnwood Forest, Part II., by the Rev. E. Hill, 

 F.G.S., Fellow and Tutor, and the Rev. T. G. Bonney, F.G.S., 

 Fellow and late Tutor of St. John's College, Cambridge. The 

 authors described the result of the microscopic examination of a 

 considerable series of the clastic rocks of Charnwood. Many of 

 these, even among the finer beds, prove to be of pyroclastic 

 origin. The coarser are generally composed of a ground mass of 

 pulverised felspar, with viridlte and some iron peroxide, full of 

 larger fragments of felspar crystals (generally both of orthoclase 

 and plagioclase) and lapilli. The structure of these is often dis- 

 tinct, some are certainly andesites, others some kind of trachyte; 

 slaty fragments are also present, and occasional grains of quartz. 

 j The authors express their opinion that all the larger felspar 

 crystals, and most, if not all, the quartz grains, are of clastic 

 origin, even in the more highly altered varieties. Some of the 



