4i6 



NA TURE 



[August 26, 1897 



other property of the elements which itself is a periodic function 

 of their atomic weights. 



We may mention that Mr. Humphreys has employed in this 

 investigation several hundred photographs of almost every known 

 metallic element at various pressures, and has carefully measured 

 a large number of the lines of each. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 The number of matriculated students attending German 

 universities during the summer semester of this year is indicated 

 by the first figures, the whole number of hearers by the second 

 figures, and the number of women among the hearers by the 

 third figures in the following list, which we reprint from the 

 New York Nation : Berlin, 4705, 344, 114 ; Bonn, 1889, 103, 

 13; Breslau, 1541, 83, 22; Erlangen, 1140, 13; P^eiburg, 

 1449. 95; Giessen, 663, 29; Gottingen, 1123,72,34; Greifs- 

 wald, 834, 19; Halle, 1534, loi, 6; Heidelberg, 1230, 92; 

 Jena, 704, 50; Kiel, 727, 37; Konigsberg, 695, 31, 11 ; 

 Leipzig, 3064, 157; Marburg, 1042, 48, 7; Munich, 3871, 

 160, 2; Academy of Miinster, 487, 10; Rostock, 499, 10; 

 Strassburg, 1016, 31 ; Tubingen, 1289, 12 ; Wurzburg, 1430, 

 13. The whole number of matriculated students was 30,982, 

 and hearers 1519, of whom 207 were women; students 

 of theology 4326, ofiaw 8368, medicine 8232, and philosophy 

 io,co6. There was a marked decrease of students of theology 

 and medicine, and an increase of students in the philosophical 

 department, especially in philology and natural science. 



The current number (August 21) of the Lancet is devoted 

 entirely to information of value to students who are about to 

 commence the study of medicine. The numerous medical 

 schools in the British Isles are described ; and short articles are 

 given upon the great continental schools which offer opportunities 

 for post-graduate study. The regulations of the medical examin- 

 ing bodies in the United Kingdom., and some notes on the openings 

 for medical men, show the students what they have to face before 

 the goal of qualification is reached, and what prospects exist 

 beyond. The advantages which a practical knowledge of 

 photography afford practitioners is now generally recognised, 

 and the Lancet is wise in advising medical students to be- 

 come practical photographers. The student is enjoined to 

 practise photography "because it tends to sharpen his powers 

 of observation, to lead him to make faithful records, and to 

 cultivate in him the artistic method. ... At most medical 

 schools now dark rooms are provided and other facilities 

 afforded for taking photographs, since a knowledge of prac- 

 tical photography is found to be extremely useful in the dis- 

 secting room, in the post-mortem room, in the ward, and in 

 the operating theatre, while the capacity to take a micro- 

 photograph is essential to the practical study of bacteriology 

 and physiology." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, August. — Fro- 

 mondus and his notes on the weather. A recent number of 

 del et Terre gave extracts from these observations, made in 

 1614 and 1625, and the author (Prof. Monchamp) regarded the 

 record as "the earliest kept in Belgium, if not in the world." 

 Mr. Symons refers to the earlier records of Tycho Brahe, for 

 1582-97, and to Merle's observations, 1337-44, of which a fac- 

 simile copy was published in 1891. — Recent storm rains. Some 

 remarkable rainfall records during thunderstorms in July last 

 are quoted : On the 20th, at Oxford, i -30 inch fell in an hour 

 and a quarter ; at Tottiford, in Devonshire, 275 inches fell in 

 seventy minutes. On the 21st, 2 inches fell at Crouch End, 

 between 2.0 and 5.0 p.m.; at Ipswich, 4-20 inches fell in one 

 hour, and 5 "02 inches in 2.\ hours. On the 26th, at Southgate, 

 Herts, 250 inches fell in less than an hour and a half. — Some 

 old storms. These are accounts of remarkable thunderstorms 

 in Suffolk, in 1557, and in Yorkshire, in 1741 and 1745. — Whirl- 

 winds on June 30 and July 16. On the first date there was a 

 storm of considerable fury in Birmingham, during which a 

 shower of frogs fell in the suburb of Moseley, having evidently 

 been absorbed in a small waterspout that passed over Birming- 

 ham during the passage of the storm. 



NO. 1452, VOL. 56] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 17. — "Studies in the Morphology of 

 Spore-producing Members. Part III. Marattiacese." By F. O. 

 Bovver, Sc.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Botany in the 

 University of Glasgow. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 16.— M. A. Chatin in the 

 chair. — Observations of the periodic comet of D'Arrest made at 

 the observatory of Toulouse, by M. F. Rossard. — Researches 

 on simple kathode rays, by M. H. Deslandres. A continuation 

 of the author's work on the kathode spectrum and kathode rays 

 obtained by the use of the apparatus previously described. — 

 Action of Rontgen tubes behind screens opaque to the X-rays, 

 by M. Abel Buguet. Certain phenomena are described, and 

 attributed to the diffusion of the X-rays iru the air or other media, 

 or possibly to the fluorescence produced therein. — The last 

 stages of the development of the Pedipalpi, by Mile. Sophie 

 Pereyaslawzewa. — On the Pleistocene and recent deposits of the 

 coast of Lower Normandy, by M. A. Bigot. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — A Bibliography of Science : W. S. Sonnenschein (Sonnenschein). 

 —The A.B.C. of the X-Rays : W. H. Meadowcroft (Simpkin).— British 

 Rainfall, 1896: G. J. Symons and H. S. Wallis (Stanford).— The "Opus 

 Majus" of Roger Bacon: J. H. Bridges, 2 Vols. (Clarendon Press). — 

 Volcanoes of North America: Prof. I. C.Russell (Macmillan) —Elements- 

 of the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates : Prof. R. Wiedersheim, 

 adapted by Prof. W. N. Parker (Macmillan). — Citizen Bird : Scenes from 

 Bird-Life in Plain English for Beginners : M.. O. Wright and E. Coues- 

 (Macmillan).— The Principles of Fruitgrowing : L. H. Bailey (Macmillan). 

 —The Vivarium : Rev. G. C. Bateman (L. U. Gill).— Lemons sur L'Elec- 

 tricit^: E. Gerard, cinquieme edition, 2 Vols. (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— 

 Agricultural Statistics of British India for the Years 18QI-92 to 1893-96 

 (Calcutta). — Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Parts 

 I and 2 (Washington). 



Pamphlets.— Microsismografi dell' Istituto di Fisica della R. Uni- 

 versita di Padova : G. Pacher (Venezia, Ferrari).— Programm und Forsch- 

 ungsmethoden der Entwickelungsmechanik der Organismen : Prof. W. 

 Roux (Leipzig, Engelmann). — Bromide Enlargements, and how to make 

 them : J. Pike (Lund).— Bourne's Handy Assurance Manual, 1897 (E. 

 Wilson). 



Serials.— Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, August (Churchill). 

 American Journal of Psychology, Vol. viii. No. 4 (Worcester, Mass.)— 

 Atlas der Himmelskunde : A. T. v. Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, Liefg. i to 5 

 (Wien, Hartleben).— Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. Ixv. 

 Part 3, 1896; Ditto, Vol. Ixvi. Part 2, No. i, 1897 (Calcutta).— Proceedings 

 of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club. Vol. viii. No. 4 

 (Baih)— Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, July (New York, 

 Macmillan).— Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 1894^5 

 (Indianapolis). — Schriften der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig, 

 Neunter Band, Zweites Heft (Danzig).— AnnaJs of the Astronomical Ob- 

 servatory of Harvard College, Vol. xxvi. Part 2 (Cambridge, Mass.). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Our Coal Resources. By Bennett H. Brough . . . 389 



Chapters in the History of Man. By A. C. H. , . 390 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Briggs and Bryan : "The Tutorial. Trigonometry." — 



W. J. S. L 39» 



Letters to the Editor:— 



" Species or Subspecies?"— Prof. T. D. A, Cockerell 391 



Distant Sounds.— F. L. Ortt 39^ 



The Approaching Total Eclipse of the Sun. V. 

 {Illustrated.) By Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., 



F.R.S 392 



The International Congress of Mathematicians . . 395 



The British Association 395 



Section C. — Geology.— Opening Address by Dr. G. 



M. Dawson, F.R.S. , President of the Section . . 396 

 Section D.— Zoology. — Opening Address by Prof. 



L. C. Miall, F.R.S., President of the Section . . 402 

 Section G.— Mechanical Science.— Opening Address 



by G. F. Deacon, President of the Section . . . 409 



The American Association 412 



Notes 413 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



New Southern Variables 4^5 



Comet 1886 V 415 



Effect of Pressure on Series in Spectra 4^5 



University and Educational Intelligence . . . » . 416 



Scientific Serials 416 



Societies and Academies 41^ 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 416 



