478 



NATURE 



[April II, 1 8 78 



bores to prevent the convection of heat. Mr. Lebour, at the 

 request of the Committee, has conducted experiments during the 

 past year on both forms of plug. He reports that :— 



"In accordance with Sir W. Thomson's suggestion, discs of 

 india-rubber fixed to the lowering wire above and below the 

 thermometer have been tried. The chief difficulty met with was 

 the unwieldiness of the armed portion of the wire, which could 

 not be wound and unwound from the drum, owing to the fixed 

 disc-holders. This difficulty prevented the placing of the discs 

 anywhere but at the extremity of the wire, whereas it would be 

 very desirable to have a large number of them at intervals along 

 the greater part of its entire length. Discs for a 2^-inch bore 

 were found to work well with a diameter of 2\ inches. The 

 lowering, and especially the raising, of the wire armed with 

 the disc-plugging were very slow operations, owing to the re- 

 sistance opposed by the water to the passage of the discs. 



Experiments with the form of plug devised by Mr. Lebour 

 himself were continued with a set of better made plugs, " The 

 great disadvantage of this system of plugging is the necessity for 

 using two wires, one to lower the thermometer and plug as 

 usual, and the other to let down weights upon the upper ends of 

 the plugs, when they are to be expanded, and to remove them 

 when they are to be collapsed. This necessitates not only the 

 ordinary drum for the first wire, but also an independent reel 

 for the second. With care, however, and after some practice, 

 the apparatus was found to work well ; but it certainly is ex- 

 tremely inconvenient for rapid work, as it requires a good deal 

 of setting up," 



Experiments were made with both forms of plug at the depth 

 of 360 feet, in a bore of the total depth of 420 feet. In the one 

 case, eight india-rubber discs were employed, four above and 

 four below the thermometer ; in the other, two collapsible plugs, 

 one above and the other below. The experiments had chiefly in 

 view the mechanical difficulties of the subject, and are not 

 decisive as to the sufficiency of the plugs to prevent convection. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Proposed New University.— A movement has for some 

 time been on foot for the establishment of a new university in 

 the north of England, and on Tuesday last week a deputation, 

 which included the Rev, Dr. Gott (Vicar of Leeds), Mr. Edward 

 Baines, Prof. Thorpe, Prof. Riicker, and Mr. R, Reynolds, 

 waited upon the Mayor of Bradfoi-d, Mr, B, Priestly, with the 

 object of inducing the Corporation of Bradford to adopt a me- 

 morial to the Privy Council in favour of the proposal. The 

 Mayor intimated that the matter would be referred to the 

 Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Corporation 

 for consideration, 



France. — A commission of twenty-two members has been 

 appointed by the Chamber of Deputies of the French Republic, 

 to prepare a general law on primary instruction. 



Two new professorships of botany have been created in the 

 faculties of Lille and Rennes. 



Paris. — The medical course at the University is attended at 

 present by 23 ladies, including 12 Russians, 6 English, and 5 

 French, Since 1865, 30 ladies have studied medicine at Paris, 

 9 of whom have received the doctor's diploma. 



Higher Female Education, — The subject of the admission 

 of female students to the universities is exciting at present an 

 unusual degree of discussion in Germany as well as in England, 

 In this connection we notice the publication of a letter from 

 Prof, G, H. Meyer, of the medical faculty of Zurich, in which 

 he states, as the result of the experience of a number of years 

 with female students, that he can detect no difference in the 

 average amount of talent and application shown by the repre- 

 sentatives of the two sexes under his charge. From a social as 

 well as a professional standpoint, the advanced position taken 

 by the University of Zurich in this direction, during the past few 

 years, is shown to be justified. 



Konigsberg. — The university is attended at present by 655 

 students, including 42 in the theological faculty, 174 in the legal, 

 134 in the medical, and 305 in the philosophical. But 42 are 

 from outside of Prussia. The corps of instructors numbers 40. 

 The university possesses a library of 155,000 volumes, an 

 observatory, the zoological museum founded by von Baer, and 

 numerous clinic?. On February 2 the eminent philosopher, 

 Herr Rosenkranz, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his 



receivmg his doctor-diploma. The German Emperor, the 

 Crovra Prince, and all the German Universities, sent congra- 

 tulatory telegrams and addresses. 



Halle.— On February 27 the 150th anniversary of the estab- 

 lishment of an agricultural chair was celebrated at the Halle 

 University. At the same time the fifteenth anniversary of the 

 opening of the Halle Agricultural Institute, under the direction 

 of its founder, Prof. Kiihn, was solemnised. A torchlight pro- 

 cession and banquet were followed by the laying of the founda- 

 tion-stone for a new geological museum, which is principally 

 destined to contain a geognostical collection of the most im- 

 portant formations in their natural form and succession. 



Munich. — The rapid increase in the attendance shows that 

 this young University is taking a leading position in Germany. 

 At present the students number 1,360, an increase of over 200 

 on 1876-77. The philosophical faculty contains 400, and the 

 medical 340. Countries outside of Bavaria are represented by 

 346. The corps of instructors number 1 14. 



Giessen. — The university is attended at present by 315 

 students, of whom 237 are natives of Hesse, There are but 16 

 students of chemistry, a striking contrast to the numbers which 

 were wont to flock from all quarters to Liebig's laboratory. 



Marburg.— The number of students in attendance on the 

 university during the past winter was 415, They were divided 

 among the faculties as follows : —Theology 51, law 85, medicine 

 100, philosophy 179. The Prussian students numbered 263. 



Bonn. — The professorship of geology and palaeontology in 

 this university has been offered to the well-known geologist, 

 Prof, von Seebach, of Gottingen. 



Kiel. — The vacant chair^of botany is to be filled by Prof. A. 

 Engler, of Munich. 



Dresden.— A congress of representatives from all the Ger- 

 man technical institutions is to take place at Dresden shortly 

 after Easter. 



Leipzig.— A young lady has taken here, for the first time, 

 the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence in the legal faculty. 



Prussia. — The number of legal students in the various uni- 

 versities has increased so rapidly of late years that they now 

 form three-tenths of the total number. 



Germany. — From statistical results published by the Neue 

 Dattsche Schul Zeitungy it is shown that 60,000 schools with 

 6,000,000 pupils are in existence in Germany, for a population 

 of about 40,000,000 inhabitants. 



Madrid. — The Royal School of Mines has recently cele- 

 brated its looth anniversary and published a handsome historical 

 work in commemoration of the event, 



Upsala. — The University is attended at present by 1,370 

 students, consisting of 331 in the theological faculty, 145 in the 

 legal, 181 in the medical, and 713 in the philosophical. The 

 corps of instructors numbers lio, including 30 ordinary and 9 

 extraordinary professors. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Reale Istiiuto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, Rendiconti, vol. 

 xi., fasc, i, and ii, — On some propositions of Clausius on the theory 

 of potentisds, by M. Beltrami. — On the composition of cheeses, 

 and on the emanation of fat from their albuminoid substances 

 during maturation, by*MM. Musso and Menozzi. — On determi- 

 nation of the nitrogen in milk and its products, by M, Menozzi. — 

 On the resistance of the helices of telegraphic electro-magnets, by 

 M, Ferrini. — Experimental researches on heterogenesis ; on 

 the limit of productivity of organic solutions (third communica- 

 tion), by MM. Maggi and Giovanni. — Chemical manures, the 

 agrarian industry, and funded property, by M. Gaetano, — On a 

 reaction of substances reductive in general, and in particular of 

 glucose, by M, Pollacci, — On granite in the serpentine formation 

 of the Apennines, by M, Torquato, 



Morphologisches Jahrbuck, vol. iv, part I, commences with a 

 paper of 11 1 pages by Max FLirbringer on the comparative 

 anatomy and development of the excretory organs of vertebrata. 

 Nearly fifty figures are given to illustrate the early stages of these 

 organs in the common frog and salamander, a full resume is 

 given of all observations on those of other vertebrates ; together 

 with a discussion on their homologies, and on their indications of 

 relationship to the segmental organs of worms, — A careful 

 description of the anatomy of Isis neapolitana, n.sp., is given by 



