June 5, 1879] 



NATURE 



133 



such general cultivation is based on classical studies, the 

 student cannot get the new degree, but must take the Arts 

 degree, which quoad natural science must be held to be 

 an inferior degree. But he shows that by the proposed 

 statute the science graduate need know little of natural 

 science, as he may take his degree in the School of 

 Mathematics ; thus he shows a degree in natural science 

 might be confined to those who had never got beyond its 

 rudiments ; ^vhy, then, he asks, does not Canon Liddon 

 propose a new degree in mathematics, and thus " assign 

 one set of students a new decoration which will honour- 

 ably represent their real attainments." Prof. Odling shows 

 that many of those who in the debate insisted on Greek 

 being necessary to a degree in Arts, admitted it was not 

 necessary to a liberal education ; and thus, a degree in 

 Arts must be held as something different from a certifi- 

 cate of liberal education. 



" If, then, it be once conceded, and the concession was 

 made without hesitation, that Greek is not essential to a 

 liberal education, and that the studies of mathematics 

 and natural science and modern languages do constitute 

 liberal studies, how is it possible," Prof. Odhng asks, 

 " to refuse a degree in Arts to those who, in addition 

 to considerable acquaintance with Latin and German, 

 are possessed of special attainments in either mathe- 

 matics or natural science, and also of not inconsider- 

 able attainments in the alternative one of these two 

 subjects." 



According to the proposed statutes. Prof. Odling con- 

 cludes, the new natural science degree, while it will cer- 

 tify to an ignorance of Greek, will not certify to a 

 knowledge of natural science. 



In reply to Prof. Odling, Canon Liddon asserts that 

 Greek " is an instrument of unrivalled delicacy for effect- 

 ing the general training of the mental powers, and espe- 

 cially for imparting to them those habits of exactness 

 and refinement without which it is impossible to reach 

 the higher characteristics of an educated man." " An 

 education which excludes Greek," he maintains, " is cer- 

 tainly less liberal than an education which insists on it." 

 For the liberal education of the highest order, only, ac- 

 cording to Canon Liddon, to be attained by learning 

 Greek, the highest honour of the University should be 

 reserved ; to a lower degree of liberality attained through 

 means of natural science, even with a training in Latin or 

 German, an inferior honour can only be conceded. 



At present we give these arguments and assertions 

 without comment. 



NOTES 



An influential committee has been recently formed for the 

 purpose of obtaining subscriptions to procure a portrait of Dr. 

 W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S., to be presented to the University of 

 London as a permanent memorial of his long and assiduous 

 labours on behalf of that institution. We need not say one 

 word to commend the object of the " Carpenter Memorial Com- 

 mittee" to the practical consideration of our readers ; Dr. 

 Cariienter's services to science and to the London University are 

 •o well known, that we are confident the proposal of the Com- 

 mittee will meet with a satisfactory response. Earl Granville is 

 chairman of the Committee, which contains many names emi- 

 nent in science, as well as in other departments. The honorary 

 treasurers are Sir John Lubbock and Dr. WilUam Smitli, to either 

 of whom cheques and post-office orders should be made payable. 

 Subscriptions should be sent to either of the honorary secretaries, 

 J. G. Fitch, 5, Lancaster Terrace, Regent's Park, or G. Knight 

 Watson, Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House. 



We take the following from the Gardeners' Chronicle: — " The 

 London Gazette of the 24th inst. announces that Her Majesty 

 has been graciously pleased to confer the appointment of Com- 



panion of the Most Distinguished Order of ,St. Michael and St. 

 George on George Bentham, Esq. While we rejoice to find 

 some ofiicial recognition made of the life-long services to botany 

 rendered by Mr. Bentham, we regret that such recognition has 

 been so tardy, and that it is so inadequate. Such distinctions 

 are not as a rule highly prized by scientific men, inasmuch as 

 they are not specially appropriate to them ; but if paid at all, 

 they should be prompt and adequate." Baron von Miiller, 

 Government Botanist of Victoria, has been promoted to the 

 dignity of Knight Commander of the same order, and a well- 

 deserved knighthood has been bestowed on Mr. Henry 

 Bessemer. 



We regret to record the death at Halifax, Nova Scotia, of 

 Prof. John James Mackenzie, at the age of thirty-two. After 

 graduating from Dalhousie University, and passing several years 

 as a teacher of mathematics and physics, he went in 1873 to 

 Germany, where he undenvent a thorough course of physical 

 training at Leipzig. Here he received, in 1876, the doctor's 

 degree, presenting an able dissertation on the absorption of 

 gases by saline solutions, based on a most exhaustive and exten- 

 sive series of experiments. The following year was passed in 

 research in Helmholtz's laboratory at Berlin, where Dr. Mac- 

 kenzie, among other results, succeeded In showing that in the 

 relations hitherto supposed to exist between light and electricity, 

 the optical phenomena observed were not due to electric tension 

 itself, bat probably in a secondary manner to the heat evolved. 

 In 1877 1^2 accepted a call to the Chair of Physics at Dalhousie 

 University, Nova Scotia. At the commencement of a scientific 

 career from which much was expected by his numerous friends, 

 he was suddenly taken away by an insidious complaint induced 

 a year since by the inhalation of the nitrous fumes from a Bunsen 

 battery. 



M. Gyld^n has been elected a Corresponding Member in the 

 Astronomical Section of the Paris Academy in place of the late 

 Father Secchi. 



We notice the appearance in May of the German Jahns- 

 berkhte iiber die Fortschritte der C/iemieior 1877. The present 

 volume forms the thirtieth of the series founded by Liebig and 

 Kopp, and is at present under the editorial supervision of Prof. 

 P'ittica of Marburg, assisted by a corps of eleven German and 

 Austrian chemists. It is by far the most important and the 

 most extensive of all annual reviews, and affords to even a 

 superficial observer an interesting glimpse into the variety and 

 extent of the chemical discovery of our day. Of its 1,400 

 pages, 196 are devoted to theoretical and physical chemistry, 

 120 to inorganic chemistry, 714 to organic chemistry, 66 to 

 analytical chemistry, 152 to technical chemistry, 104 to mine- 

 ralogy, and 46 to 'chemical geology. Of the space devoted to 

 organic chemistry — more than one-half of the work — 364 pages 

 are occupied w ith the chemistry of the aromatic series, 48 m ith 

 animal chemistry, 47 with vegetable chemistry, &c. The index 

 of authors contains over 1,750 names, and in comparison with 

 the indices for 1867 (850 authors) and 1857 {720 authors) shows 

 the rapid increase of late years in the number of those devoted 

 to chemical research. Nine volumes of the J ahresbericht are 

 now out of print, and complete sets are quoted at 800 marks. 

 Individual volumes bring as high as 100 marks. German book- 

 sellers state that this rarity is occasioned in a notable^degree by 

 recent extensive purchases for public and private libraries in the 

 United States. 



During the past week Etna has been in active and increasing 

 eruption. A very considerable number of new craters have 

 opened, and that on both flanks of the mountain. The lava 

 has reached many miles from the mountain, aluiost to the 

 River Alcantara, laying waste the surrounding country. The 

 village of Mojo has been destroyed, and others are threatened. 



