374 



NATURE 



\March 7, 1878 



author of an improvement of steam-engines, or of any other 

 invention contributing most to the progress of steam navigation. 

 4. The Bordin prize, a medal of 3,000 francs value, will be 

 awarded for a satisfactory solution of the following problem : — 

 To find the means of destroying, or at least seriously diminish- 

 ing, the annoyance and the dangers arising from the products of 

 combustion issuing from the chimneys of locomotive engines, 

 steamships, and manufactories near towns. 



III. Astronomy. — i. The Lalande prize, a medal of 542 

 francs value, will be awarded to the person who shall have made 

 the most interesting observation, or to the memoir or the work 

 most contributing to the progress of astronomy. 2. The 

 Damoiseau prize, a medal of 5,000 francs value, will be 

 awarded (in 1879) for a solution of the following question : — 

 Revise the theory of the satellites of Jupiter ; discuss the obser- 

 vations, and deduce from them the constants they contain, and 

 particularly that which furnishes a direct determination of the 

 rate of light ; finally, construct special tables for each satellite. 

 3. The Valz prize, the proceeds of a sum of 10,000 francs, will 

 be awarded for the most interesting astronomical observation 

 made during the year. 



IV. Physics. — The Bordin prize, a medal of 3,000 francs 

 value, will be awarded for a solution to the following : — Various 

 formula; have been proposed to replace Ampere's law on the 

 action of the elements of currents ; discuss these various formulae 

 and the reasons which may be alleged for giving the preference 

 to one of them. 2. Three Lacaize prizes of 10,000 francs each 

 will be awarded (in 1879) to the works or memoirs which have 

 contributed most to the progress of physiology, physics, or 

 chemistry. 



V. Chemistry. — The Jecker prize of 10,000 francs will be 

 awarded to the researches which the Academy judges best 

 calculated to accelerate the progress of organic chemistry. 



VI. Botany. — i. The Barbier prize of 2,000 francs will be 

 awarded to anyone who makes a valuable discovery in surgery, 

 medicine, pharmacy, or botany, in connection with the art of 

 healing. 2. The Alhumbert prize, a medal of 2,500 francs 

 value ; the subject of this prize is a study of the mode of nutri- 

 tion of fungi. 3. The Desmazieres prize of 1,600 francs will be 

 awarded to the best or most useful writing on the whole or part 

 of cryptogamy published during the year. 4. The Shore prize 

 of 200 francs will be awarded to the author of the best memoir 

 on the celMar cryptogams of Europe, or on the habits or 

 anatomy of a European species of insect. 5. The Bordin prize 

 of 3,000 francs has for its subject the following: — Explain by 

 direct observations and by experiments the influence which the 

 medium exercises on the structure of plant organs (roots, stem, 

 leaves) ; study the variations which terrestrial plants undergo 

 when raised in water and those which aquatic plants undergo 

 when forced to live in air. Explain by direct experiments the 

 special forms of several species of maritime flora. 



In medicine and surgery the Breant prize of 100,000 francs for 

 a cure for Asiatic cholera still stands. 



One or more Montyon prizes are awarded to works or disco- 

 veries which show the means of rendering an art or occupation 

 less insalubrious. 



The competition closes on June i each year. Works sent in 

 are not returned, and the conditions as to the use of mottoes, 

 concealment of names, &c., usual to such competitions are 

 required. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Science in Schools. — Sir John Lubbock has given notice 

 on an early day to move in the House of Commons that it would 

 be desirable to modify the Code of Education by adding ele- 

 mentary natural science to the subjects mentioned in Article 19, 

 c. I. 



Breslau. — The number in attendance at the University 

 during the present winter is 1,253, divided as follows among 

 the faculties : — Theological, loi ; legal, 432 ; medical, 168 ; 

 philosophical, 552. The University possesses ore of the most 

 valuable libraries in Germany, numbering over 400,000 volumes 

 and several thousand valuable manuscripts. 



Bern and Zurich.— The former University is attended at 

 present by 410 students, the latter by 318. Each University 

 includes in its list nineteen female students, most of whom are 

 preparing for medical examinations. 



Libraries of German and Austrian Universities. 

 —Most of the German States place annually considerable 

 sums at the disposal of the University libraries. Bavaria 

 gives her universities each 1,000/. for this purpose ; Saxony 

 grants 1,200/. to Leipzig ; while in Prussia the sums vary from 

 600/. for Greifswald to 2,000/. for Gottingen. In Austria, 

 although the existence of so many different languages in the 

 empire makes special demands on the university libraries, the 

 Government assistance has hitherto been exceedingly limited. 

 We notice, however, that in a late session of the Reichstag a 

 new policy has bsen adopted, and that the annual grants have 

 been raised to 1,500/. for the Vienna library, 1,000/. for that 

 at Prague, and 800/. for those in the other universities. 



St. Petersburg.— On January i, 1878, the University at 

 St. Petersburg numbered 1,425 students, thirty-seven more than 

 last year. One-seventh are in the department of History and 

 Philology, three-sevenths in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 

 three- sevenths in Law, and one-forty-seventh in Asiatic languages. 

 The number of professors is ninety-three. The students are 

 mostly very poor, and the pecuniary help given to them by the 

 University amounted during the year to the sum of 12,000/. ; 

 besides which, a private society of former students paid the fees 

 for eighty-one persons. 



KiEFF. — The University celebrated, during the past month, the 

 fifty-ninth year of its existence. Although so young it is well 

 equipped with all the necessary adjuncts of a university, and its 

 medical faculty is regarded as the first in Russia. The number 

 of students at present is 773, an increase of 160 on the previous 

 year. The majority are in the medical faculty. As in the other 

 Russian universities, the students are recruited principally from 

 the poorer classef, 203 being freed from the payment of lecture- 

 fees, and 123 in addition receiving stipends amounting in the 

 total to 36,000 roubles. A high school for ladies is at last to 

 be opened at the University. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Reale Istituto Lombardo di] Scicnze e LeUere. Rendiconti, 

 vol. X. Fasc. xix. — Reduction of chlorates to chlorides without 

 intervention of the so-called nascent state of hydrogen (second 

 part), by M. Tommasi. — On the cooling of pulverulent metaUic 

 solids, by M. CantonL — On temperature in relation to actual 

 energy and the state of aggregation, by M. Grassi. — Measure- 

 ment of the resistance and graduation of any galvanometer, by 

 M. Grassi. — A school experiment and means of evaporating 

 rapidly large quantities of liquid, by M. Brugnatelli. 



Fasc. XX. — Other experiments on the evaporation of a liquid, 

 by M. Cantoni. — Hypertrophy and hyperplasia, by M. Sangalli. 

 — On the first and most recent appearance in Lombardy of the 

 Beccafico of Provence. 



Kosmos, November, 1877. — On the relation of Greek nature - 

 philosophy to modern natural science, by Prof. F. Schultze. 

 Part I, on the Ionic physiologists and the Pythagoreans. — On a 

 mathematical law applicable to the theory of mutation, by J. 

 Delboeuf. — On the variations of size of coloured floral envelopes, 

 and their effect on the natural selection of flowers, by Hermann 

 Miiller, — A turning point in the early history of the human race, 

 by J. H. Becker. Part i, on the state of things preceding the 

 turning point (before the discovery and use of fire). 



December, 1877. — F. Schultze, on the relation of Greek 

 natural philosophy to modern natural science, part 2, discussing 

 Heraklitus and the Eleatic school. — W. Preyer, on the nature 

 of life. — Fritz Miiller, observations on Brazilian butterflies, 

 part 3, dealing with the evolution of the Maracuja butter- 

 flies, and the phenomena presented by their larv.x, pupae, and 

 adult forms. — A. Maurer, on the origin of articulate sounds. — 

 J. H. Becker, on the separation and reunion of races. — The 

 number also contains a review of Mr. Darwin's work on the 

 different forms of flowers, by Hermann Miiller. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Geological Society, February 6.— Prof. P. M. Duncan, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — ^James Adey Birds, Rev. George 

 E. Comerford- Casey, M.A., Lieut.-Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, 

 Sir Willoughby Jones, Bart., and Henry Richard Ladell, M.A., 

 were elected Fellows of the Society. — The following communi- 



