548 



NATURE 



{Oct. 2, 1879 



college have arranged with the leading civil and manufacturing 

 engineers in the neighbourhood to receive in their offices and 

 workshops during the summer months, students whose position 

 relatively to the firms would be that of articled pupils. Many of 

 the recent developments in the scheme of instruction in the college 

 are designed to meet the wants of the department. There are in 

 addition general courses in Chemistry, Mathematics, Mechanics, 

 Engineering, Experimental Physics, Surveying, Geometrical 

 Drawing, Geology, Dotany, Political Economy, Logic, Law, 

 Modern History, English Literature, Greek, Latin, Ancient 

 History and Literature, French and German. There are evening 

 classes at low fees in most of these subjects. The college Ls also 

 giving, with the co-operation of the Company of Clothworkers, 

 instruction at Stroud in Chemistry and the Textile Industries. 

 The subject of Logic has been added to the curriculum ihU year, 

 and lectures on it will be given by Prof. Fanshawe, Fellow 

 of New College, Oxford, who has recently been elected to the 

 post of Classical Professor. The opening lecture of the session 

 is to be given by him on Monday, October 6th, on "The Con- 

 ditions of Intellectual Progress." 



A PRIVATE society under the presidency of Dr. Kummer, 

 Federal Director of the Statistical Board, and which already 

 numbers 200 members, is about to open at Bern a permanent 

 exhibition of educational objects. The exhibition comprises 

 a collection of plans of schools, and of objects for teaching 

 which may be considered as models for schools ; a collection of 

 publications (text-books, manuals, &c. ), a collection of laws 

 and regulations concerning schools, as well as of reports and 

 school statistics published in Switzerland and elsewhere, and a 

 collection representing the modes of teaching introduced in 

 Swiss schools of all degrees, from Kindergarten to lyceums and 

 universities. Numerous objects from the Swiss cantons and 

 foreign countries have already arrived, and the exhibition will be 

 opened for the pubUc on October 15. 



We learn from the annual report of the University at Odessa, 

 just appeared, that the university numbered 325 students and 

 thirty-nine professors. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Verhandlungen der k. k. zoologischbotanischeii Gesell- 

 schaft in Wien (1878, part ii., and 1879, part i.), contain the 

 following papers : — On the shrub-lichens of Lower Austria ; a 

 catalogue of all the species observed in this province, by J. 

 Eman Hibsch. — Mycological researches, by Steph. Schnlzer von 

 Miiggenburg (3rd paper). — On the diptera-genera Argyra macq. 

 and Leucostola lev., by Ferdinand Kowarz. — Account of a 

 coleopterological excursion through Carniola, Carinthia, and 

 Styria, imdertaken during the summer of 1878, by Ludwig 

 Miller. — On Thysa py/honisSiS foi-mis, Kempelen, by Otto Her- 

 mann. — On Ampliipogon spectrum, Whlb., and its position in 

 systematic zoology, by Josef Mik. — On a method for drying 

 freshly collected insects, by Brunner von Wattenviryl. — Review 

 of the arachnida collected by Dr. Otto Finsch in Western 

 Siberia, by Dr. L. Koch. — Bibliographica ornithologica, by 

 Victor von Tschusi Schmidhoffen. This forms a complete cata- 

 logue of the whole ornithological literature of the Austro- 

 Hungarian Empire. — On a copious appearance of centi] edes, by 

 Josef Paszlavszky. — Researches on oeolidiadre, by Dr. Rudolph 

 Bergh (6th paper). — On the systematics of psyllodEe, by Dr. 

 Franz Low. — New researches on the fungus-flora of Vienna, by 

 Felix von Thiimen, and Wilhelm Voss. — Dipterological notes, 

 by Josef Mik. These papers contain a treatise on Trochobola 

 CiTsarea, O . S. , on Cyrtopogon meycr diirii, Mik. , and on Hypo- 

 charassits gladialor the latter being a new species of dolichopo- 

 dida; from North America. — On the comparative flora of 

 Wisconsin (2nd supplement), by Th. A. Bruhin. — Researches on 

 the ant-fauna of Asia, by Dr. Gustav Mayr. — On the cultivation 

 of bathing sponges, by Dr. Emil von Marenzeller. — On the 

 history of evolution of the prothallium of Scolopendrium, by 

 Dr. Giinther Beck. — Researches on the literature and distribu'. 

 tion of Hepatiae. in Bohemia, by Jos. Dedecek, — Coleoptero- 

 logical results of an excursion to Croatia and Slavonia, by 

 Edmund Reitter, Dr. Eppelsheim, and Dr. von Heyden. — 

 Synonymical observations referring to Bolivar's " Catalogus Or- 

 thopterorum Europse," by Dr. Hermann Krauss. —Researches on 

 two Pemphigus species, by Dr. Franz Low. — Classification 

 tables of European Coleoptera, (/^rst paper containing Cucujida, 



Telmalophilidie, Tritomidii, .Mycelaeidii, Endomychidic, Lye- 

 tidce, and Sphindida. — On the first stages of two turnip flies, 

 (l) the metamorphosis of Lonchaa chorea Meigen, (2) the turnip 

 fly Anthomyia conformis, Nodlinger. — Zoological account of the 

 expedition to Western Siberia in 1876, undertaken by order of 

 theBremen Society for North Polar Expeditions, by Dr. Otto 

 P'insch, Dr. A. Brehm and Count Karl von Waldburg-Zeil- 

 Trauchburg. This elaborate paper treats of the mammals, birds, 

 amphibia and fishes of Western Siberia. — On some new American 

 spiders, by Count Eugen Keyserling. — Lichenological excursions 

 in the Tyrol (20th cVapter, Prendazzo), by Dr. F. Arnold. — On 

 some new Tyrolese Sphegidce, by Franz Friedrich Kohl. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, September 22.— M. Daubree in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On evolution in 

 medicine, by M. Sedillot. The sagacious character of the 

 Hippocratic ideas is demonstrated by the evolution of modem 

 medicine. — Infl ence of atmospheric electricity on the growth, 

 flowering, and fructification of plants, by M. Naudin. M. 

 Grandeau, from experiments \i ith tobacco and maize, affirmed 

 florescence and fructification to be retarded and impoverished 

 by withdrawal of plants from atmospheric electricity (by means 

 of iron [or wooden cages placed over them, the proximity of 

 trees, or other bodies attracting atmospheric electricity). M. 

 Naudin, from an extension of such experiments, thinks the 

 influence of atmospheric electricity on plants is complex and 

 far from being understood as yet. It is probably modified first 

 by the nature of the plant species, then by climate, season, 

 temperature, degree of hght, dry or wet weather, ] erhaps, tco, 

 by the geological structure or mineralogical composition of the 

 soil, whose layers do not equally conduct electricity. Possibly, 

 too, tree species do not all withdraw the electric influence in 

 the same degree. — Theoretical essay on the law of Dulong and 

 Petit ; case of perfect gases, by M. Willotte. — A work by MM. 

 Franchet and Savatier, on the plants of Japan, was presented. 

 It gives nearly 3,000 species, about one-fourth of which have 

 not before been indicated in that country, and more than 200 of 

 which are absolutely new. The work is made available for 

 naturalists of the countiy by means of a table of Japanese 

 synonyms. — On the organisation and classification of the Ortho- 

 nectida, by M. Giard. — Meteorological observations at Montsouris 

 Observatory in August (table). 



CONTENTS P;,oi: 



The Greknwich Meteorological Observations . By Alexander 



BUCHAN 52:^ 



Chemical Denudation and Geological Time 526 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Colour-Blindness. — A. H 527 



Prof. Mivart on *' Tails." — E. H. Pringlr : Arthur NicoLS . 51I 



About Snakes.— Dr. H. F. Hutchinson {}Vitli. Illustratieni) . 528 



A Plague of Rats. — Federico Philippi 530 



Solar Halo. — Rev. G. Mapleton 53c 



Chemical Action. By M. M. Pattison Muir 53: 



Notes from Iceland. By G. F. Rodwell 532 



On Har.monic Ratios in the Spectra of Gases. By Dr. Arthur 



Schuster . 53;; 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Palisa's Comet 5 153 



Near ApproacTi of Comets to the Earth 534 



Biological Notes : — 



The Challenger Rhizopods 534 



The C/uillen^er Echml 534 



Atlantic Stalk-Eyed Crustaceans 535 



Land-Shells of Califomian and Mexican Islands 535 



New Genus of Fishes approximating to the Mackerel 535 



Hair-Worms 535 



Geographical Notes 335 



William Wilson Saunders 536 



Tails, II. By Prof. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. (W7/A 



Illustrations} 537 



The Algero-Spanish Trian' i.xtioh 541 



The Ikon and Steel Instit I :c 541 



Notes 541 



Mount Etna 544 



The Action op Hkat in Vacuo on Metals. By T. A. Edison . . 54s 



The I. ^i augur at ion of Arago's Statue 546 



PAL.BOZOIC Rocks in'South-East of England. By R. A. C. 



Godwin Austen, F.R.S 547 



University and Educational Intelligence 547 



Scientific Serials 548 



Societies and Academies 5^8 



