July 13. 1893J 



NATURE 



259 



[ { Her Majesty's Commissioners for the exhibition of 1851 have 

 made the following appointments to science research scholar- 

 ships for the year 1893, on the recommendati mof the authorities 

 of the respective Universities and colleges. The scholarships are 

 of the value of ^150 a year, and are tenable for two years (sub- 

 ject to a satisfactory report at the end of the first year), in any 

 University at home or abroad, or in some other institution to be 

 approved of by the Commissioners. The scholars are to devote 

 themselves exclusively to study and research in some branch of 

 science, the extension of which is important to the industries of 

 the country. The list of scholars and of the nominating insti- 

 tutions is as follows : — Herbert William Bolam, University of 

 Edinbur£;h ; George Edwin Allan, University of Glasgow ; 

 James Wallace Walker ; University of St. Andrews ; Arthur 

 Lapworth, Mason College, Birmingham ; John Ellis Myers, 

 Yorkshire College, Leeds ; Arthur Walsh Titherley, University 

 College, Liverpool ; Edward Chester Cyril Baley, University 

 College, London ; John Cannell Cain, Owens College, Man- 

 chester ) Ella Mary Bryant, Durham College of Science, New- 

 ca*tle-on-Tyne ; James Darnell Granger, University College, 

 Nottingham ; Mary O'Brien, University College of Wales, 

 Aberystwylh ; Frederick George Donnan, Queen's College, 

 Belfast ; James .\lexanderM'Phail, M'Gill University, Montreal; 

 Norman Ross Carmichael, Queen's University, Kingston, 

 Canada ; William Henry Ledger, University of Sydney. 



Miss Maria M. Ogilvie, daughter of Dr. Ogilvie, of Gor- 

 don's College, Aberdeen, has passed the final examination for the 

 degree of Doctor of Sciences of London University. The sub- 

 ject of her thesis was the "Geology of the Wingen and St. 

 Cassian Strata in Southern Tyrol," published in the Quarterly 

 Journal of the Geological Society for February. 



The electors to the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy 

 will proceed to the appointment of a successor to the late Prof. 

 Piilchard, in the couse of the ensuing Michaelmas Term. The 

 duties of the Professor are defined by the following provisions 

 of the statutes ; — The Savilian Professor of Astronomy shall 

 lecture and give instruction on theoretical and practical .Astro- 

 nomy. " Ne alia quapiam professione eodem tempore fungatur 

 professor ; nee munus observatoris Radcliviani, nee officium 

 prselecloris alicujus in quovis collegio piiblice legentis cum 

 munere suo conjungat." The Professor shall reside within the 

 Universiiy during six months, at least, in each academical year, 

 between the first day of September and the ensuing first day of 

 July. He shall lecture in two at least of the three University 

 terms. His lectures shall extend over a period not less in any 

 term than six weeks, and not less in the whole than fourteen 

 weeki^, and he shall lee uretwice at least in each week. The Uni- 

 versity Observatory shall be open for eight weeks in each term, 

 and at such other times an<l for such hours as the University may 

 by statute determine. The Savilian Professor of Astronomy 

 shall have the charge of the University Observatory, and shall 

 undertake the personal and regular supervision of the same, and 

 of the several demonslrators and other assistants employed 

 therein, and shall be responsible for all the work carried on 

 there. The emoluments of the Professorship as determined by 

 statute are as follows : — He shall be entitled 10 the emoluments 

 now assigned to the Professorship and derived from the bene- 

 faction of Sir Henry Savile, Knight, or from the University 

 Chest ; and shall receive in addiiion the emoluments appropri- 

 ated to the Professorship by the statutes of New College. The 

 total amount of all these emoluments is at present ^^850 a 

 year. Applications, together with such papers as the candi- 

 'i^te may desire to submit to the electors, must be sent to the 



;;istrar of the University, Clarendon Building, Oxford, on or 



lore October 31, 1893. 



.\rrangements have been completed for the seventh session 



f the Edinburgh Summer Meeting, which begins on July 31, 



il lasts throughout August. Among the better known lecturers 



■ : — M. Edmond Demolins, M. Paul Desjardins, Prof. Patrick 



ddes (who will treat of contemporary social evolution), Prof. 



I. yd Morgan (giving a course of compara'ive psychology — 



ihap'^ the first of its kind in f!riiain).and Mr. Arthur Thomson, 



cussing bionomics and evolution. A course on tbe history 



(1 principles of the sciences will be conducted by Prof. Cargdl 



Ivnoit, Dr. Charles Douglas, and others. A characteristic feature 



vsiU be the series of studies entitled " A Regional .Survey of 



I F-dinburgh and Neighbourhood." Among other subjects are 



Physiology, Modern History, Education and Elocution, and 



there will be practical classes in Botany, Zoobgy, and Geology. 



NO. 1237, VOL. 48] 



Work will be continued in I he seminars and the studios, and a 

 raw departure is the course of Sloyd. While the student is 

 obviously invited to serious work, a pleasant relief is promised in 

 the shape of excursions. 



The New Voik Nation says that on June 14, at the Univer- 

 sity of Virginia, for the first time in its history, a certi- 

 ficate of attainment qualifying for graduation (in the School 

 of Pure Mathematics) was given to a woman, Miss Caroline 

 Preston Davis. Miss Davis, while excluded from the lectures, 

 had taken successfully the same examinations on the same day 

 with the male students, but "in a separate room " ; and, at the 

 request of the Chairman of the Faculty, the graduating class in 

 a body handed the certificate to her. 



Some years ago (writes the Allahbad Pioneer Mail), the 

 Senate, or the Syndicate, of the University of Madras promul- 

 gated a rule that any examiner who failed to send in his marks 

 by a certain fixed date would be fined 20 rupees for each day's 

 delay. The .Syndicate, however, refrained from acting on this 

 remarkable rule until this year, when its sense of humour was 

 too strong for it, and it determined to carry its little joke to its 

 conclusion. .A number of examiners were accordingly fined. 

 One gentleman earned a fee of 210 rupees, but he was fined 

 200 rupees, and received a pay bill for lo rupees. Entering into 

 the spirit of the thing, he returned this amount to the Registrar 

 as a present to the University, and possibly it will be invested, 

 and the proceeds devoted to the purchase of an infinitesimal 

 medal, as the custom is. But, seriously, it is most regrettable 

 that the Syndicate should deliberately degrade its examiners in 

 this way. Surely it is possible to find a sufficient number of 

 gentlemen who can be trusted to do their work with such 

 promptness as is compatible with fairness to the candidate, and 

 more than this the Senate cannot desire. If an examiner is 

 guilly of great delay, the remedy is simple — do not appoint him 

 again. But to treat an examiner like a careless domestic is as 

 insulting to him as it is undignified on the part of the University. 



Mr. F. W. Gamble, B.Sc. (Victoria), formerly Bishop 

 Berkeley Research Fellow in Zoology, has been appointed to 

 the post of Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator in Zoology in 

 the Owens College, Manchester 



Bishop Berkeley Research Fellowships has been awarded 

 by the council as follows: — H. B. Pollard, M.A. (Oxon.), in 

 Zoology; Albert Griffiths, M.Sc. (Vict.), in Physics; J. A. 

 Harker, D.Sc. (Tubingen), in Physics; Bevan Lean, B.A., 

 B.Sc. (Lond.), in Chemistry; and a Fellowship has been re- 

 newed to Stanley Dunkerley, M.Sc. (Vict.), in Engineering. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Bulletin of the Netu York Mathcinalical Society, Vol. ii. No. 9, 

 June, 1893. — -The mechanics of the earth's atmosphere is a 

 collection of translations by Cleveland Abbs (published by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, 1 891, 324 pp. 8vo). An account of it is 

 furnished by R. S. Woodward (pp. 199-203). The volume con- 

 tains twenty papers, all but two of which were published origin- 

 ally in the German language. The opening paper is by Hagen 

 (1S74), then follows the classic memoir by Helmhollz (1858), 

 with five others by the same auihor. Then comes the exten- 

 sion of one of the kst cited papers by Kirchhoff ( 1869) ; we 1 hen 

 have five memoirs by Oberbeck, a paper by Hertz (1884), three 

 papers by Bezold (1888-1889), a paper by Lord Rayieigh (1890, 

 on the vibra'ion of the atmosphere), and papers by Margules 

 (1890) and Ferrel (1890). It will be readily inferred from this 

 outline that Mr. Abbe has performed a work of prime import- 

 ance to mathematical meteorologists. Dr. T. S. Kiske (pp. 204- 

 211) also gives an outline sketch of mathematical investiga- 

 tions in the theory of values and prices, by Dr. I. Fisher 

 [reprinted from the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy, 

 July, 1892). The number closes with a few brief notes and a 

 list of recent publications. 



Wiedemann' s Annaleu lier Physik und Chcinie, No. 6. — 

 On the determination of electrical resistances by means of alter- 

 nating currents, by F. Kohlrausch. Thii is a minute study of 

 the errors involved in measuring liquid resistances with alter- 

 nate currents and the telephone. For potassium chloride solu- 

 tion between clean platinum electrodes, the error by which the 

 resistance of the liquid was found too great remained below i 

 per cent, so long as the product of the resistance in ohms and 

 the surface of the electrode in sq. cm. did not fall below 250. 

 In cases of high resistance, say 100,000 ohms, where M.\I. 



