44 



NA TURE 



[May II, 1893 



reach the Bagrot Pass from the north, we returned to Nagyr, 

 and started inwards towards the wholly-unknown region. We 

 left Nagyr behind on June 27, and in a mile or two came to the 

 foot of the Hopar Glacier. This glacier was once joined by 

 the Hispar Glacier, and their united moraines were deposited 

 at Nagyr, the town being actually built upon their crest. Now 

 the foot of the Hispar Glacier has retreated some twenty miles 

 into the mountains. The Hopar Glacier is greatly shrunken in 

 width, and in its shrinkage it has left a fine, almost level area, 

 beside its left bank, which is covered by the fields of Hopar. 



We were delighted to find an enormous and almost unsus- 

 pected series of glacier basins above Barpu. In order to get 

 some idea of them we spent a day mounting to the crest of the 

 ridge north of our camp, which divides Barpu from the Hispar 

 Valley. The view was of peculiar interest to us, for we looked 

 for the first time into the Hispar Valley and beheld the long 

 avenue of peaks that lined the way up the Hispar Glacier to- 

 wards the unknown snowy regions through which lay our 

 intended route into Baltistan. We reached the summit of the 

 Hispar Pass on July 18, and Askole on the 26th, our slow 

 progress being caused by the exigencies of the survey in weather 

 that was oftener bad than fair. 



We left Askole on July 31 and returned to it again on 

 September 5, the intervening time having been spent over our 

 expedition up the Baltoro Glacier and the ascent of Crystal 

 and Pioneer Peaks. On September 10 we embarked on a skin 

 raft, which carried us down the Shigar River to the Indus. 

 We landed, and in half an^hour reached the scattered villages 

 of Skardo, capital of Baltistan. Of our journey from Skardo 

 to Leh to verify our instruments, and from Leh back to Srinagar, 

 it is unnecessary to speak. We reached Abbottabad on 

 October 28, exactly seven months from the day on which we 

 left it. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCA TIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — During this term Prof. Clifton is lecturing on the 

 optical properties of crystals, and other lectures and practical in- 

 struclion are given by Mr. Walker and Mr. White at the Museum, 

 by Mr. Baynes at Christchurch, by Sir J. Conroy at Balliol, and 

 Mr. F. J. Smith at Trinity. In chemistry, Mr. Fisher and Mr. 

 Watts are lecturing on inorganic and organic chemistry respec- 

 tively, and Messrs. V. H. Veley and J. E. Marsh are demon- 

 strators at the Museum. Mr. Vernon Harcourt is lecturing on 

 inorganic chemistry at Christchurch, and Mr. D. H. Nagel at 

 Trinity. 



The professor of geology announces a course of lectures on 

 economic geology and geological excursions. Prof. Ray Lan- 

 kester is giving two courses, on embryology, and on the pro- 

 tozoa, rotifera, and urochorda ; and supplementary lectures are 

 given by Dr. Benham, Mr. J. Barclay Thompson, Mr. Bourne, 

 and Mr. Minchin. 



Prof. Burdon Sanderson is lecturing on the central nervous 

 system, and has the assistance of Dr. Haldane and Mr. Pem- 

 buiy. 



Prof. Vines is lecturing on outlines of classification, and has 

 appointed Mr. P. Groom, of Cambridge, as demonstrator. 



At the end of last term a sura of .^3500 was voted by Con- 

 vocation towards the renewal of a portion of the buildings and 

 hothouses in the Botanic Garden. Prof. Vines made a full 

 report on the condition of the houses at the end of last year, 

 showing that all were old, of faulty construction, and so dilapi- 

 dated as to entail a heavy annual expenditure for repairs. At 

 the same meeting of Convocation a sum of ;^ 1000 was placed to 

 the credit of the delegates of the University Museum, to be 

 employed at their discretion for the maintenance and improve- 

 ment of the collections in the Museum. 



At a meeting of the Ashmolean Society on Monday, May i, 

 under the presidency of Mr. E. B. Poulton, Prof. A. W. 

 Rucker, F. R. S. , gave an interesting lecture on the electrical 

 conductivity of thin films, which was largely attended. 



On the l6th inst. Lord Kelvin will give the annual Boyle 

 lecture to the Junior Scientific Club, and on the 18th the Romanes 

 lecture will be given in the Sheldonian theatre by the Right 

 Hon. T. H. Huxley. 



Cambridge.— The term for which Mr. J. Y. Buchanan, F. R. S , 

 was appointed to the University Lectureship in Geography 

 expires at the end of the present term. The Committee of 



NO. 1228, VOL. 48] 



Selection for the appointment of a Lecturer to hold office for the 

 next five years, will meet at Gonville and Caius Lodge on May 31. 

 The stipend of the Lecturer is ;^200 a year, and he is required 

 to deliver courses of Lectures in Geography during two terms 

 at least, and to give informal instruction and assistance to 

 students attending his lectures, and to promote the study of his 

 subject in the University. The retiring lecturer is re-eligible. 

 Candidates are to send their names and testimonials to the 

 Master of Gonville and Caius College, on or before May 27. 



The first Arnold Gerstenberg Studentship, of the value of £^0 

 a year for two years, will be competed for in May, 1894, by men 

 or women who have obtained honours in either part of the 

 Natural Science -Tripos, and whose first terra of residence was 

 not earlier than the Easter term 1888. The subjects of examina- 

 tion are Logic and Psychology, and the successful candidate 

 must undertake to pursue a course of philosophical study. 



Applications for permission to occupy the University's tables 

 at the Zoological stations of Naples and Plymouth are invited ; 

 they should be addressed to Prof. Newton, and reach him on or 

 before May 25. 



The names of Prof. John Couch Adams, and of William, 

 seventh Duke of Devonshire, have been inserted in the list of 

 Benefactors of the University, recited at the annual Commemora- 

 tion Service. 



The plans for the Sedgwick Memorial Museum of Geology, 

 prepared by Mr. T. G. Jackson, A.R.A., were approved 

 by a large majority, in the Senate on Thursday last. The work 

 of construction cannot however be begun until the finances of 

 the University, which this year show a deficit of some ;^40O0, 

 are in a more satisfactory state. A proposal to raise funds, by 

 increasing the capitation-fee paid by undergraduates from 17s. to 

 40S. a year, is now before the Senate. 



Alfred Eichholz, B.A., first class in both parts of the Natural 

 Science Tripos 1891-92, with distinction in physiology, has 

 been elected to a P'ellowship at Emmanuel College. Mr. 

 Eichholz has already published papers of interest on physio- 

 logical and anatomical subjects, and his election reflects great 

 credit on his college. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. 



Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, vol. ii. no;. 

 5,6 (New York, 1893). — The earlier number opens with an 

 account of the theory of substitutions (pp. 83-106), by 

 Prof. Oskar Bolza. This is a warmly appreciative notice of Di . 

 F. N. Cole's translation of Netto's ■" Theory of Substitutions 

 and its Applications to Algebra," to which attention has recently 

 been drawn in our columns (see Nature, pp. 338, 339). — Dr. 

 M. Bocher in a bit of mathematical history (pp. 107-109) calls 

 attention to a remarkable memoir by Euler (" De motu Vibratorio 

 Tympanorum," 1764). — No. 6 contains a paper read before the 

 New York Mathematical Society by Dr. T. Craig on some of the 

 developments in the theory of ordinary differential equations 

 (pp. 1 19-134). This is likely to be useful to students. Another 

 paper read before the same Society is one entitled " On 

 a General Formula for the Expansion of Functions in Series," 

 by Prof. Echols (pp. 135-144), which is intended to be a 

 brief exposition of a general theorem which forms the basis 

 of a series of papers on certain determinant forms and their 

 applications. — A short note follows by Dr. E. McClintock on 

 the early history of the non-euclidian geometry (pp. 144-147), in 

 continuation and part correction of his previous note in No. 2 of 

 this volume. It discusses the claim to priority, brought forward 

 recently by Prof. Beltrami, of Saccheri (1733) in his " Euclides ab 

 omni naevo Vindicatus" as against Lobatschewsky. — "Notes" 

 and " new publications " complete each number. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, February 16. — "On a Portable Ophthal- 

 mometer." By Dr. Thomas Reid, Glasgow. Communicated by 

 Lord Kelvin, P.R.S. 



The object of this instrument is to measure the curvature of the 

 central area of the cornea, the polar or optical zone, and as this 

 polar zone is the part of the cornea utilised for distinct vision, 

 the instrument furnishes all the data practically requisite for 

 the diagnosis and measurement of corneal astigmatism. Its use 



