3H 



NATURE 



[Feb. 14, 1878 



derive equal benefit from the meteorological service if inland 

 stations are established and care is taken that the general popu- 

 lation of the country are taught hoiv to appreciate their work. 

 Dr. Neumayer concluded with the sentence : — It is not only the 

 duty of the State to found beneficial institutions and to organise 

 them efficiently, it is also the duty of the State-citizen to learn to 

 understand and to appreciate these institutions and to enter into 

 this spirit of the work they are called upon to perform. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



St, Andrew's. — The Senatus Academicus of St.'Andrew's 

 University have conferred the degree of LL.D. upon Mr. Henry 

 Woodward, F.R.S., of the British Museum, and Dr. W. C. 

 Macintosh, of Murthly, well known for his researches on British 

 annelides. 



The Yorkshire College, Leeds. — Mr. Arnold Lupton, 

 F.G.S., has been elected Instructor of Coal Mining, a depart- 

 ment recently endowed by the Drapers' Company of London. 



Higher Education of Women. — A public meeting com- 

 posed for the most part of ladies, was held on the 6lh instant in 

 the Vestry Hall, Kensington, to inaugurate the system of lectures 

 for the higher education of women, undertaken by the Principal 

 and Professors of King's College with the co-operation of the 

 Women's Educational Union. The object of the lectures, which 

 commenced on the 11 th instant, is to supplement and continue 

 school education, and the instruction will have, as far as possible, 

 reference to the examinations open to women in the University 

 of London or elsewhere. The minimum age of students is fixed 

 at 1 7, except in such cases as receive the special sanction of the 

 committee. The classes will be at present held in the Vestry- 

 hall, High Street, Kensington. The curriculum embraces Holy 

 Scripture and Church history, logic and moral philosophy, 

 modern and ancient history, the English, Latin, French, and 

 German languages and literatures, mathematics, mechanics, and 

 botany. Experimental physics, chemistry, and drawing will 

 also be taught as soon as suitable arrangements can be made. 

 Other classes, if necessary, will also be formed. The fees vary 

 from lOi'. 6d. to 2/. 2s. per term ; for any four complete courses 

 they will 61. 6s. For ladies engaged in teaching there will be a 

 remission of 25 per cent. 



Prizes in Botany for Young Women. — The Society of 

 Apothecaries of London announce their intention to award prizes 

 to young women students in botany for proficiency in that science, 

 the prizes to be competed for under the following conditions : — 

 The competition will be open to all young women who shall 

 produce from their teachers certificates that their age at the time 

 of examination does not exceed twenty years. The examina- 

 tion will be in general and not medical botany. It will 

 consist of questions both written and oral, in — (i) Structural 

 Botany ; (2) Vegetable Physiology ; (3) Description of Living 

 Plants ; (4) Systematic Botany ; so far as these subjects are con- 

 tained in Sir Joseph Hookei's "Science Primer — Botany," and 

 in Prof. Oliver's "Lessons in Elementary Botany." The first 

 examination will take place in London on the third Wednesday 

 and the third Friday in June, 1878. Candidates will be required 

 to send their names and their residences, at least fourteen days 

 before the examination, to the Beadle, Apothecaries' Hall, 

 Blackfriars, E.C., when they will receive tickets of admission to 

 theexamination. 



France. — M. Bardoux, the French Minister of Public In- 

 struction has taken preliminary steps for organising at Paris on 

 the occasion of the Universal Exhibition, a great congress of 

 schoolmasters. A delegate from each district will be sent by his 

 fellow-teachers. Not less than 4,000 are expected to be present. 



M. Bardoux has again taken up in the French Chamber the 

 proposed erection of new schools in France. M, Waddington 

 was the originator of the scheme. It is intended to build no 

 less than 17,320 new school-houses, and purchase, enlarge, or 

 restore 12,000 others. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Verhandlungen der k.k. zoologisch-botanischen Gcsellschaft in 

 Wien (vol. L, 1877). — This volume contains the continuations of, 

 and additions to, several important papers commenced in the 



volumes for previous years. We mention particularly the myco- 

 logical researches by Herr Schulzer von Miiggenburg, — The 

 other papers, of which some are very elaborate, are :— On Ceci- 

 domyida:, by Dr. Franz Low. — On the Diptera genus Medcterus, 

 Fischer, by F, Kowarz. — On the fungus flora of Vienna, by W. 

 Voss. — On some spiders from Madagascar, by Count E. Keyser- 

 ling. — On some American spider genera from the families Phol- 

 coid(C, Scytodoidcc, and Dysderoidce, by the same. — On the 

 Ilolothuria fauna of the Mediterranean, by Dr. Emil von 

 Marenzeller.- — On Psylloda;, by I3r. Franz Low. — On the 

 Chalcidia; genus OUnx^ by Dr. Gustav Mayr. — Coleopterum, 

 species novae, by E. Reitter. — On the passage of Pastor roseus 

 (Temm.) through Austria, Hungary, and the neighbouring 

 countries in 1875, by V. von Tschusi. — Ornithological notes, by 

 B. P. Ilanf. — On the flora of Southern Istria, by I. Freyn. — On 

 the lepidoptera fauna of the Dolomite district, by I. Mann and 

 A. Rogenhofer. — On the coleoptera fauna of Central Africa, by 

 r, V. Gredler. — The volume concludes with an interesting de- 

 scription of the piscicultural establishment of Herr A. Fruwirlh 

 at Freiland, near St. Polten (Lower Austria), by Dr. E, von 

 Marenzeller. 



Memorie dclla Sosieth degli Spettroscopisti Italtani, May, 1877. 

 — A note on the solar eruptions during 1876, by Prof, Tacchini. 

 Number of days of observation, 106 ; number of eruptions, 9, 

 two on eastern limb and 7 on western limb. — Note by the same 

 author on the present solar phenomena as compared with those 

 during the maximum spot period ; the number of eruptions ob- 

 served at Palermo in 1871 were 97, while only one was seen in 

 the first four months of this year. — Letter from Father Secchi to 

 Prof. Tacchini on the above subject, also a letter between the 

 same persons relative to Winnecke's comet. — Drawings of solar 

 prominences for January and February, 1876, accompany this 

 number, 



June. — Note on a water-prism, by Father Secchi, Path of solar 

 protuberance observed at Rome in April, 1877 ; same for May. — 

 Note by Prof. Tacchini, on a metallic solar eruption seen in June 

 last ; tire following lines were visible in the spectrum : P-, b', b'\ 

 b\ 1474/-, 4923^. 50i7-4» sodium, 5369,4. 



July, — Continuation of the above note, — Note by Prof. 

 Millosevicb, on the contact of Mercury with the sun's chromo- 

 sphere on May 6, 1878. — Drawings of the chromosphere for the 

 months of March, April, and May, 1876, accompany this 

 number, 



August. — Note on the zodiacal light, by Prof. Serpieri. — An- 

 nouncement of the death of Eduardo Pleis. — Description of a 

 new form of gravity escapement, by Prof. Young, — The spec 

 troscopic drawings of the chromosphere for June and July, 1876, 

 accompany this number, 



September. — A paper on the discovery of oxygen in the sun 

 by photography, and a new theory of the solar spectrum, by 

 Prof, H, Draper. [This discovery, and all matter relating 

 thereto, have already been fully reported in our columns.] —Table 

 of solar protuberances observed at Rome in June, 1877, — Table of 

 solar spots seen at Palermo in July and August, 1877. Four 

 maps, together with a preface by Prof, Heis explaining them ; the 

 maps are of a portion of the heavens adjoining the ecliptic, and 

 show stars down to the fifth magnitude, and they are for use in 

 determining the position of the zodiacal light, 



yournal de Physiqtie, January. — On the employment of 

 rotating discs for the study of coloured luminous sensations, by 

 M, Rosentiehl, — On the use of the radiometer as an apparatus 

 of demonstration, by M. Violle. — Rheostatic machine, by M. 

 Plante. — Experimental researches on the interferences of light, 

 by M. Righi. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, January 10.— "On the Structure and 

 Development of the Skull in the Common Snake ( Tro^idonotus 

 natrix)," by W. K. Parker, F.R.S. 



"Observations on the Nervous System oi Aurelia aut-ila," by 

 Edward Albert Schafer, Assistant-Professor of Physiology in 

 University College, London. Communicated by W. Sharpey, 

 M.D., LL.D., F,R.S. 



January 24. — The Cortical Lamination of the Motor Area of 

 the Brain," by Bevan Lewis, F. R.M.S., Pathologist and Assist, 

 Med. Officer to the West Riding Asylum, and Henry Clarke, 

 LR.C.P. Lond., Med. Officer to the West Riding Prison. 



