August 19, 1897] 



NATURE 



Z^l 



Russell, George M. Brown, William Dii B. Duddell, George 

 Wilson. (2) Exhibitions of 50/. (tenable for one year) : George 

 Service, Edgar J. Kipps, Frank Piercy, Arthur Morley, A. 

 Marshall Downie, John R. Powell, Alfred D. Owen, Charles 

 C. Allen, William J. Rouse, Arthur E. Holmes, Alfred T. J 

 Kersey, Edward C. Horsley, John Berry, James TurnbuU, 

 Thomas Taylor, Robert L. Wills, James Paton, Henry T. 

 Sisson, Leonard Ward, Arthur W. Loveridge, Timothy A. 

 Thomas, William Bell, John R. Billington, George Powell, 

 Edgar W. Riley, John S. Marshall, John S. Hague, Frederick 

 Walford, Tames Davidson, Robert Nelson. 



This year's successful candidates for Royal Exhibitions, 

 National Scholarships, and Free Studentships (Science), awarded 

 by the Department of Science and Art are as follows ; — 

 Royal Exhibitions : Robert L. Sherlock, Gilbert E. James, 

 Howard M. Rootham, Andrew W. Lehmann, William Griffiths, 

 Frank H. Phillips, Alfred L. Oke. National Scholarships for 

 Mechanics (Group A) : Arthur W. Ashton, Paul S. Couldrey, 

 Frank Mould, Arthur Morley, Albert Hall, Charles H. Stewart, 

 William W. Firth, George Wall, Alfred T. J. Kersey, John S. 

 Hague. Free Studentships for Mechanics : Arthur W. Love- 

 ridge, Percy M. Bennett, Hubert W. Bywaters. National 

 Scholarships for Chemistry and Physics : George H. Broom, 

 Percy M. Ilampshire, Frank Wade, John A. Brown, George B. 

 VVilley, Daniel Robinson, William L. Odell, Robert L. Bennett, 

 John A. Cunningham, Oswald F. Hudson. Free Studentships 

 for Physics and Chemistry : Victor Lough, Charles Headland, 

 Donald J. Browne. National Scholarships for Biology : Frank 

 Cavers, George E. Nicholls. 



The forty-fourth Report of the Department of Science and 

 Art has just been issued. For the benefit of those who are not 

 familiar with this Departmental publication, it may be remarked 

 that the contents are not merely concerned with museums con- 

 nected with the Department of Science and Art, and statistics 

 and reports upon the progress of education in science and art 

 during 1896 ; for appended to the volume is the report of the 

 Director-General of the Geological Survey of the United King- 

 dom (for an abstract of which see p. 178), and also the Report 

 of the Committee on Solar Physics. The number of students 

 under instruction in Science and Art Department Classes in 

 1896 was 196,185 ; these were distributed among 10,500 classes 

 in 2583 separate schools. It is satisfactory to learn that practical 

 instruction in science is making progress ; but some little time 

 must elapse before sufficient laboratories are provided to enable 

 all students in Departmental schools to perform the experi- 

 mental work, without which scientific teaching is of no value. 

 The efficiency of the practical instruction given in certain 

 science subjects is now judged by inspection and not by examina- 

 tion. This should encourage the practical side of science instruc- 

 tion, and prove of great benefit to the students and the teachers. 

 In evening classes as much cannot be done in the develop- 

 ment of this kind of instruction as in classes in day schools, but 

 even in these a good beginning has been made in some few 

 cases. It is announced in the Report that it is proposed to 

 divide the Honours stages of the various science subjects into 

 two parts, the first part being intermediate in difficulty between 

 the advanced stage and the second part of Honours. It is also 

 announced that a new syllabus is in preparation to form part of 

 the present elementary stage of biology, and be a preparatory 

 study for biological science in the same way that the new section 

 of the elementary stage of physiography is for physical science. 



The Glasgow University Court has sent us a memorandum 

 referring to the disciplinary or penal powers of the qualifying 

 medical authorities. Upon several occasions the General Medical 

 Council has occupied itself with the question of the expediency 

 of obtaining further disciplinary powers, especially as regards the 

 Universities, to be exercised by the qualifying medical authorities 

 over those to whom they grant diplomas entitling the holders of 

 them to be admitted to the Medical Register. It was pointed 

 out by the General Medical Council a year ago that there are 

 six Universities which do not possess any disciplinary powers, 

 and that there are in addition two Universities which possess 

 only partial or limited disciplinary powers over their graduates. 

 The result is this, that however gross the misconduct of a graduate 

 may be, whether as a convicted felon, or declared by the General 

 Medical Council guilty of infamous conduct in a professional 

 respect, for which his name has been removed from the Medical 

 Register, he still retains the degree and the title conferred upon 

 him by any one of these Universities. Such a state or condition of 

 matters must cause very considerable regret to the authorities of 



the University which has conferred the degree, and which it has 

 no power to cancel. The association of their names with such 

 black sheep amongst them must also cause much regret to be 

 felt by the graduates, and must lead them to feel how desirable 

 it is that the authorities of the University should obtain powers 

 to take away degrees which are thus discredited. The Scotch 

 Universities' Commissioners have been appealed to, but they have 

 decided that they have no power by ordinance to alter the status 

 of any graduate, or to confer upon the Universities powers which 

 they do not already possess as regards deprivation in cases of 

 discreditable conduct or proved legal offence. The Privy 

 Council has, however, expressed a desire to aid in the matter, 

 and has indicated that further powers might be obtained by 

 statute, or, in the case of the Scotch Universities, by ordinance. 

 The Glasgow University Court has, therefore, asked the Universi- 

 ties' Commissioners to again consider the question, and to obtain 

 the opinion of all the Scottish Universities upon it, so that their 

 final report may assist in bringing the Universities in line with 

 each other, and satisfy the wish of the General Medical Council. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, August. — Tamiobatis vetustus, 

 a new form of fossil skate, by C. R. Eastman. The only re- 

 mains of this fish are a skull found in Powell County, Kentucky ; 

 exact site unknown. It is embedded in a greenish-grey lime- 

 stone of a talcose structure, probably Middle or Upper Devonian. 

 The skull presents some features that are shark-like, and differs 

 notably from the skulls of existing rays. It indicates a very 

 generalised condition, and it is impossible to assign it to any 

 known genus or family, but there are resemblances to the 

 Rhinobatidie. — The Florencia formation, by O. H. Hershey. 

 This is an ancient stream gravel of North-western Illinois, con- 

 sisting largely of galena limestone derived from Pleistocene 

 rock gorges. — Native iron in the coal measures of Missouri, by 

 E. T. Allen. Native iron was found at Cameron, Weanbleau, 

 and Holden, Missouri. It was found in every case at such a 

 depth from the surface, and under such conditions, that there 

 can be no doubt as to its terrestrial origin. Besides, the 

 specimens contained no nickel, which is always associated with 

 meteoric iron. In Cameron, Clinton Co., it was found as a vein 

 five or six inches thick, embedded in sandstone at a depth of 

 fifty-one feet. — On Bixbyite, a new mineral, and on the as- 

 sociated topaz, by S. L. Penfield and H. W. Foote. The 

 mineral is found very sparingly on the edge of the desert, about 

 thirty-five miles south-west of Simpson, Utah. The crystals, 

 which are brilliant black, and of metallic lustre, are implanted 

 upon topaz and decomposed garnet and rhyolite, and have 

 evidently been formed by fumarole action. The composition 

 is essentially FeO.MnOj. — The separation of aluminium and 

 beryllium by the action of hydrochloric acid, by F. S. Havens. 

 This method is based upon the fact that the hydrous aluminium 

 chloride AlCl3.6H.^O is practically insoluble in a mixture of 

 strong HCl and anhydrous ether saturated with liCl gas. The 

 beryllium is determined by weighing as oxide after conversion to 

 the nitrate and ignition. 



Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (June). — 

 " James Joseph Sylvester " is the title of an address delivered 

 by Dr. Fabian Franklin at a memorial meeting at the Johns 

 Hopkins University (May 2). This is an appreciative esti- 

 mate of the genius of a man whose death "deprived Mathe- 

 matical Science of a most brilliant mind, and the scientific world 

 in general of one of its foremost workers" (Nature, March 

 18, p. 468 ; cf also March 25, pp. 492-94). Dr. Franklin closes 

 with the remark that " his work, brilliant and memorable as it 

 was, affords no true measure of his intellectual greatness. Those 

 who came within the sphere of his personality could not lut 

 feel that, through the force of circumstances, combined with the 

 peculiarities of his poetic temperament, his performance, splendid 

 as it was, has not adequately reflected his magnificent powers. 

 Those of us who were connected with him, cherish his memory 

 as that of a sympathetic friend and generous critic. And in this 

 university, as long as it shall exist, he will be remembered as the 

 man whose genius illuminated its early years, and whose de- 

 votion and ardour furnished the most inspiring of all the 

 elements which went to make those years so memorable and so 

 fruitful." — Mr. C. II. Hinlon, in Hyperbolea and the solution of 

 equations, communicates some interesting remarks on the 

 system of mathematics in vogue in Hyperbolea, and shows that ,\ 

 consideration of the methods of the Hyperboleans leads to a 



NO. 1 45 I, VOL. 56] 



