June 7, 1 888] 



NATURE 



139 



Attached to the Institute is a library of works on forestry, 

 and also the requisite collections and instruments, both 

 chemical and scientific. A nursery which contains nearly 

 450,000 plants, and which can supply annually nearly 100,000 

 plants of from three to five years old, is also annexed. There is 

 also a small fish-breeding establishment, in which about 10,000 

 trout-fry are annually hatched, and placed in the neighbouring 

 streams. 



The Royal School of Pomology and of Horticulture was 

 established in 1882, and is now under the direction of Prof. 

 Ynlvassori. Its object is to train vegetable and fruit gardeners. 

 The course lasts three years, and is both theoretical and 

 practical. The age for the admission of pupils is from fourteen 

 to seventeen, preference being given to the sons of the smaller 

 farmers, and the charges are 25 lire per month, besides 20 lire 

 for the purchase of gardening- tools, &c, and an entrance fee of 

 10 lire. There are five professors, with a^ censor and two 

 gardeners, and at present the number of pupils is thirty-two. 

 For practical instruction the school possesses an orchard, and 

 kitchen and flower gardens. 



The Agricultural Institute of Castaletti has been in existence 

 since 1859, when it was founded by Commendalore Leopoldo 

 Cattani-Cavalcanti. It is now under the direction of Signor 

 Riccardi-Manelli. One section of the school was placed on the 

 footing of a Government technical institute during the life-time 

 of the founder; but this has now been changed by the present 

 Director, because the school has for its object, not the production 

 of engineers and surveyors, but of factors or agents and head 

 gardeners. The course of instruction in this institution lasts for 

 four years, and the age of admission is from eleven to fifteen. 

 Of late the charges have been increased, and in consequence the 

 number of students has fallen from seventy to fifty. The 

 entrance fee is now 50 lire; board, lodging, &c, 165 lire for 

 the first and second years, and 180 lire for the third and fourth 

 years ; and 8 lire in addition per month for washing. The 

 institution is not self-supporting. 



The Agricultural School of Scandicci was founded as recently 

 as 1884 by Count Napoleone Passerini for charitable purposes, 

 his own villa being given up to the work. It was first only a 

 day-school, but this year boarders have been admitted, and 

 there are now ten boarders and eight externs. The object 

 of the institution is to make good managers of rural estates. 

 The course of study lasts for three years ; the ages of admission 

 are from fifteen to eighteen ; the entrance fee is 10 lire, boarders 

 paying in addition 36 lire per month, and 2 extra for washing. 

 There are in all seven professors and masters. There is an 

 experimental farm of 100 hectares in extent attached to the 

 school, and a good library, and zoological, mineral, and agri- 

 cultural collections, a chemical laboratory, an apiary, and a 

 pigeon-house. A meteorological observatory of the second 

 class, affiliated to the Central Observatory at Rome, is also 

 annexed. The diplomas awarded to the pupils at the close of 

 their course of study are countersigned by a special delegate pf 

 the Government. 



According to the Report recently presented to the Foreign 

 Office by Sir E. Malet on agricultural education in Prussia, the 

 State annually gives ^49,625 for agricultural instruction in that 

 country, and .£38,401 to the veterinary Colleges. Out of the 

 former grant are supported the two Agricultural Colleges of Berlin 

 and Poppelsdorf, the Pomological Institutes of Proskau and 

 Geisenheim, and a station near Wiesbaden for experiments in 

 agricultural chemistry ; and subsidies are given to various pro- 

 vincial schools which are supported by local Boards but inspected 

 by the central executive of the province. At the two Colleges 

 the education is mainly scientific and theoretical, the ordinary 

 course consisting of two terms of six months each. At the end 

 of each term the subjects of examination are the science of 

 farming and planting, farm management, physics and chemistry, 

 botany, zoology, animal physiology, mineralogy, and geology. 

 On passing these examinations the students are entitled to 

 diplomas of proficiency in agricultural science. Those who wish 

 to become land surveyors can proceed to a further course of two 

 terms of six months each, in which the instruction given is of a 

 most advanced kind, embracing mathematics, trigonometrical 

 surveying, levelling, engineering, forestry, and plantation, the 

 science of breeding and rearing cattle, dairy farming, mechanics 

 and agricultural machinery, besides a course nf law bearing on 

 questions with which land surveyors have to do. According to 

 the most recent report, the Berlin Agricultural College was 

 attended by 98 students in the summer term, 12 of whom pro- 



ceeded to the more advanced course, and in the winter term by 

 155 students, 27 of whom went in for the higher course. 

 Poppelsdorf College was attended by 76 in the summer term, 

 of whom 45 went on to the higher course, and in the winter term 

 by 87, of whom 57 attended the larger course. With regard to 

 the lower-grade schools receiving help from the grant in aid of 

 agricultural education, 16 are intermediate schools which get 

 ;£ 1 3i365 every year from the State. The school money varies 

 from £5 $s. to ,£1 10s. per term of six months, and the subjects 

 taught in these institutions comprise chemistry, mineralogy, 

 physics, zoology, veterinary science, and farming. There are 

 also numerous local winter elementary schools which supplement 

 by theoretical training the practical teaching which the pupils 

 have had in the fields in spring and autumn. ^6648 is annually 

 given to them. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — An examination will be held at Cavendish- 

 College on Tuesday, July 24, and following days, according to 

 the results of which it is intended to award eight Scholarships of 

 ,£30 a year, provided that candidates of sufficient merit present 

 themselves. Candidates must be under eighteen years of age on 

 October 1, 1888, and may offer for examination one or more of 

 the following subjects : Classics, Mathematics, Natural Science, 

 Modern Languages. The Scholars elected will be required to 

 come into residence at Cavendish College in October 1888, and 

 commence study for a Tripos or the Engineering course. 

 Medical students may conveniently combine their medical work 

 with the course for the Natural Science Tripos. It is also 

 intended to offer in June 1889 three Scholarships of ^"30 to be 

 competed for by students of the College who will then have 

 resided not longer than one year. The College fee for board, 

 lodging, and tuition, is ^25 for each of the three University 

 terms, and ,£15 for residence (optional) in the Long Vacation. 

 For further information apply to the Bursar, Cavendish College, 

 Cambridge. 



In the paragraph last week about Prof. Darwin's lectures- 

 (p. 117), for "tin" read "sun." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Bulletin de la Societe des Naturalisies de Moscou, 1887, No. 4 

 ■ — On organic compounds in their relations to haloid salts of 

 aluminium, by G. Gustafson (in German). In this second part 

 the following conclusions are arrived at. The organic com- 

 pounds undergo deep modifications in presence of the above 

 salts. The reactions of addition are the chief ones, but the most 

 interesting are those undergone by the aromatic hydrocarbons 

 under the influence of chloride and bromide of aluminium ; 

 although most unstable, and therefore sometimes viewed as 

 mere molecular compounds, they show a deep modification of 

 the hydrocarbons from which they issue. They explain also the 

 rdle of salts in organisms. — On the regeneration of lost organs in 

 spiders, by V. Wagner (in French). This is the result of a 

 double simultaneous process ; the atrophy of the tissues belong- 

 ing to the lost member, and the growth of the new one in the 

 atrophied remnants of the old member. Both processes are 

 described and illustrated. — Short notes on some (eighteen) 

 Russian species of the genus Blaps, by E. Ballion (in German). 

 — On two new Branchiopods from the Transcaspian region 

 (A/us hatckclii, n. sp., and Artemia asiatica, n. sp. ), by Dr. A. 

 Walter. — Enumeration of the vascular plants of the Caucasus, by 

 M. Smirnow (continued). The Ranunculaceae are described ; they 

 contain ninety-eight species, belonging to seventeen genera, and 

 out of them thirty-seven belong to the genus Ranunculus, 

 and thirteen to that of Delphinium. The Myosurus, Garidella, 

 Call/ia, and Aetata number only one species each. The total 

 number of Caucasian Phanerogams, according to Ledebour's 

 " Flora Rossica, " is 2965 ; now it must be estimated at about 4000 

 species. Out of the ninety-eight species of Ranunculaceae de- 

 scribed, forty belong exclusively to the flora of the East, while 

 fifty- two are met with in South Russia, thirty in the Crimea, thirty- 

 three in the Altai, twenty-four around Lake Baikal, and only 

 twenty-one in the Urals, and eighteen in North Russia. Very 

 interesting remarks follow as to the distribution of the Ranun- 

 culacese in separate parts of the Caucasus. 



