I90 



NA TURE 



{June 23, 1887 



Lake, St. John's (Geology) ; Melsome, Queens' (PhysioIoT;y) ; 

 Rendle, St. John's (Botany) ; Turpin, St. John's (Chemistry). 

 No women were placed in the first class. 



Mr. Lake, of St. John's, whose name appears in the above 

 list, has been elected to the first Harkness Scholarship for 

 Geology and Palaeontology. 



Dr. William Hunter, M.D., F.R.S.Edin., has been elected 

 the first John Lucas Walker Student in Pathology. 



The degree of Doctor in Science has been conferred on Mr. 

 James Ward, of Trinity College, and Prof. F. O. Bovver, of 

 Trinity College and Glasgow University. 



In consideration of this year being the two hundredth anni- 

 versary of the publication of Newton's " Principia," the 

 Chancellor's Medal is to be given for an English poem on 

 Isaac Newton. 



The botanical teachers in the University have made a press- 

 ing appeal for the erection of a class-room for practical micro- 

 scopical botany. 



The Examiners for the Mathematical Tripos, Part II., have 

 issued the following class list : — 



Class I. Division i : C. W. C. Barlow, and Bryan, Peter- 

 house ; Dixon, Trinity ; Fletcher, St. John's ; Plat.ts, Trinity. 

 Division 2 : Coates, Queens' ; F. W. Hill, St. John's. Division 3 : 

 Clark, Pembroke ; H. G. Dawson, Christ's. 



Class II. Division i : Askwith, Trinity. Division 2 : Johnston, 

 Peterhouse ; McAulay, Caius ; Nicolls, Peterhouse. Division 3 : 

 Tate, St. John's. 



Class HI. Division i : Dickinson, Trinity. 



The appointment of a Demonstrator of Pathology has been 

 approved. 



The proposals regarding the teaching of geography and the 

 appjintment of a University Lecturer in Geography have been 

 confirmed. 



The modified proposals to build new plant-houses in the 

 Botanic Garden have been approved. A small research labora- 

 tory is to be built in connexion with them. 



At the annual election at St. John's College, on June 18, the 

 following awards in Natural Science and Mathematics were 

 made : — 



Foundation Scholarships : — Science : Rendle, ;i^5o ; d' Albu- 

 querque, ^60 ; Groom, ^50 — Mathematics : Norris, £\o ; 

 Varley, ^^50 ; II. H. Harris, ;,^5o ; Rudd, £ip. Scholarships 

 prolonged or increased in value : — Science : Rolleston, ;^8o ; 

 Shore, £60; Seward, ;^40 ; Plarris, W., ^^50; Lake, ;^8o — 

 Mathematics : Fletcher, ^So ; Hill, £(iO ; Tate, ^^40 ; Orr, ^80 ; 

 Sampson, ;^8o ; Baker, ^100; Flux, p^ioo. 



Exhibitions : — Science : Grabham, d'Albuquerque, Baily, 

 Hankin, Shaw — Mathematics : Orr, Sampson, Carlisle, Millard, 

 Cooke, Humphries, Shawcross, Palmer. Proper Si^arships : — 

 Science : Kellett — Mathematics : Box, Brown, Lawrenson ; 

 Shawcross, Palmer. Hughes Prizes : — Science : Lake ; Mathe- 

 matics : Baker and Flux, equal. Wright Prizes : — Science : 

 Turpin, d'Albuquerque ; Mathematics : Orr, Cooke. Hockin 

 Prize (for Physics, and in particular Electricity) : Turpin. 

 Herschel Prize (for Astronomy) : Flux. Hutchinson Student- 

 ship (for Sanskrit) : Strong. 



Among the distinguished persons upon whom honorary 

 degrees were conferred on June 20 was Prof. Asa Gray, 

 Professor of Natural History and Keeper of the University 

 Herbarium and Botanical Library, Harvard University, author 

 ofthe " Elements of Botany" (1836), the " Botanical Text-Book" 

 (1842, ed. 6, 1880), "Darwiniana" (1876), "Flora of North 

 America" (1878), &c., &c. We append the text of the speech 

 delivered by the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, in presenting him 

 for the degree : — 



luvat tandem pervenire ad historiae naturalis professorem 

 Harvardianum, botanicorum transmarinorum facile principem. 

 Annorum quinquaginta intra spatium de scientia sua pulcherrima 

 quot libros, eruditione quam ampla, genere scribendi quam 

 admirabili composuit. Quotiens oceanum transiit ut Europae 

 herbaria diligentius perscrutaretur, virosque in sua provincia 

 primarios melius cognosceret. In aliorum laboribus examinandis, 

 recensendis, nonnunquam leviter corrigendis, iudicem quam 

 perspicacem, quam candidum, quam urbanum sese praebuit. 

 Quanta alacri'tate olim inter populares suos occidentales Darwini 

 nostri solem orientem primus omnium salutavit, arbitratus idem 

 doctrinam illam de formarum variarum origine causam aliquam 

 primam postulare, et fidei de numine quodam, quod omnia 

 creaverit gubernetque, esse consentaneum. Viro tanto utinam 

 contingat ut opus illud ingens quod Americae Borealis Florae 



accuratius describendae olim dedicavit, ad exitum felicem ali- 

 quando perducat. Ilium interim, qui scientiam tarn pulchram 

 suis laboribus, sua vita, tam diu illustravit, usque canam ad 

 senectutem, ut poeta noster ait, 'vitae innocentis candidum 

 fiorem gerens,' — ilium, inquani, his saltem laudis flosculis, hac 

 saltern honoris corolla, libenter coronamus. 



Plurimos in annos Academiae coronam illustriorem reddal 

 Florae sacerdos venerabilis, AsA Gray. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Journal of Botany for May contains the following 

 articles : — Angolan Scitamineae, by Mr. H. N. Ridley. — Forms 

 and allies of Raminathis Flaminula, by Mr. Chas. Bailey. — 

 Notes on British Characece for 1886, by Messrs. H. and J- 

 Groves. — The progress of botany in Japan, by Mr. F. V. 

 Dickins. — Conclusion of the Rev. Mr. Purchas's list of plant? 

 for South Derbyshire. 



In the number for June Mr. E. M. Holmes describes and 

 figures two species of seaweed new to Britain, Ectccarpiis simplex 

 and E. insignis. — There are also papers on Queensland ferns, 

 by Baron von Miiller and Mr. J. G. Baker ; on the genu; 

 Potamogetoit, by Mr. A. Fryer ; on plants of Northern Scot- 

 land, by Mr. F. J. Hanbury and Rev. E. S. Marshall ; or 

 Chinese ferns, by Mr. J. G. Baker; and on Australian species 

 of Poiamogcton, by Mr. A. Bennett. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 16. — "Abstract of Investigat; .. 

 upon Rabies." By G. F. Dowdeswell. 



The first experiments made by inoculations with the saliv; 

 of rabid street dogs, during the outbreak of the disease in 1885 

 all failed to produce infection, thus confirming the reputed 

 uncertainty of the result of the bite of a rabid animal. 



Subsequently, adopting the methods recently described b} 

 M. Pasteur, it was fotmd : — 



(i) That the virus of rabies in the lower animals and o; 

 hydrophobia in man resides in the cerebro-spinal substance 

 and in the peripheial nerves, and is not confined to the salivar) 

 secretion, as previously believed, nor is even as constantly preseni 

 or as actively virulent in it as it is in the nervous tissues. 



(2) That inoculation of a portion of the nervous tissue from ; 

 rabid animal upon the brain of another by trephining produce; 

 infective rabies or lyssa, much more certainly, and with a fai 

 shorter incubation period, than by subcutaneous inoculation o 

 the same substance ; but that the disease is identically the sami 

 in both cases. 



(3) That the virulence of "street rabies " is usually increasec 

 and ultimately becomes remarkably constant by passing througl 

 a series of rabbits, in which animals the symptoms are somewha 

 different froin those in others, and which are generally regardec 

 as typical, being essentially paralytic, but that paresis to somi 

 extent is always present in this disease in dogs and others of thi 

 lower animals, and that there is no constant distinction betweei 

 the so-termed "ditmb" and "furious" rabies in the latte 

 animal, the difference consisting in the preponderance of th( 

 paralytic or other symptoms. 



(4) That the tissues of an infected animal do not themselve 

 usually become infective till towards the close of the incubatioi 

 period. 



(5) That of a large number of drugs that were tried, botl 

 germicides and those which act specifically upon the cerebro 

 spinal system, including those most esteemed for the treatmen 

 of rabies and hydrophobia, none have any material effect ii 

 modifying the result of infection in the rabbit. 



(6) Lastly, that with respect to the methods of protectioi 

 against infection by a series of inoculations with modified virus, a 

 advocated and practised by M. Pasteur, these are unsuccessfu 

 with the rabbit, and that his recent "rapid" or "intensive 

 method of inoculation is liable itself to produce infection ; am 

 that with the dog the natural refractoriness of this animal to infec 

 tion with rabies by any method of inoculation, is so great, that it i 

 exceedingly difficult to determine the effect of any remedial 

 prophylactic measures upon it ; and that with man the statistic 

 of the treatment must determine its effects. 



