October 12, 1893J 



NATURE 



583 



Trilobites is due to direct descent, or is a case of conver(;ence, 

 cannot here be discussed. 



We shall wait with impatience for further details of these im- 

 portant discoveries, inasmuch as there seems great promise that 

 the soft black shale to which we owe tlie fine preservatio i of the 

 antennas has also preserved for us further details of the or,jam- 

 sation of these interesting fossils. The fragments of limbs 

 shown in the drawings mike us eager for more. 



II. M. Bernard. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



An influential and well-attended Conference on Secondary 

 Education was opened on Tuesday in the Examination Schools, 

 Oxford. The svtbjecls considered were the need of various 

 types of secondary education in England, with special reference 

 to (i) the curricula and gradation of first grade schools (classical 

 and modern), second grade schools, and higher grade board 

 schools respectively ; (2) the provision of preparatory schools 

 for the upper grade of secondary schools ; and (3) the relation 

 between secondary schools and the Universities. 



Mr. A.Austen Leigh, Provost of King's College, Cambridge, 

 was admitted Vice-Chancellor on September 30. Dr. Peile, in 

 lesigning office, commented on the events of the University 

 year. He called special attention to the straitened finances of 

 the scientific departments, and trusted that help might be 

 obtained from external sources. The departments of Engineer- 

 ing, Geology, Astromony, and Pathology appear to be those 

 most urgently in need of additional resources. The Senate 

 would be asked to appoint a syndicate for conducting Examina- 

 tions in Agricultural Science, being strongly moved thereto by 

 the County Councils and the Royal Agricultural Society. The 

 Galileo Tercentenary at Padua, the Harvey Centenary in Cam- 

 bridge, and the appointment of Mr. H. Y. O'.dham as University 

 I .ecturer in Geography, in the room of Mr. Buchanan, were 

 sympathetically referred to. 



Mr. R. A. Sampson, Fellow of St. John's College, and Isaac 

 Xewton Student in Astronomy, Cambridge, his been appointed 

 Professor of Mathematics in the Durham College of Science, 

 Newcastle. 



A NEW- course of lectures on " The Physiology of the Special 

 Senses, chieflv the phenomena of Vision," will be given this 

 term by Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, of St. John's College, Cambridge, 

 beginning on Monday, October 16. The lectures will be accom- 

 panied by practical work in the Psychophysical Laboratory. 



The Technical Instruction Committee of the Bolton County 

 Council has issued a syllabus of d-iy and evening classes for the 

 session 1893-4. The youth of Bolton can obtain instruction in 

 u any of the arts and most of the sciences at their Technical 

 School, and judging from the well-equipped workshops illus- 

 I rated in the syllabus, excellent courses of manual training arc 

 given. 



The Entrance Scholarships in Science at St. Bartholomew's 

 Hospital have recently been awarded. The scholarship of ^^75 

 in biology and physiology has been given to E. C. Morland, of 

 O A ens College, Manchester ; the scholarship of ^75 in chemistry 

 and physics has been gained by R. H. Bremridge ; the junior 

 open scholarship of ^^150 in biology, chemistry, and physics has 

 been gained by H. A. Colwell ; and the preliminary scientific 

 exhibition has been awarded to J. E. Robinson. The JeafT- 

 reson exhibition in classics and mathematics has been gained by 

 G. V. Bull. 



A DIGEST of the University Extension Science Lectures, to be 

 delivered this autumn, shows that the movement is doing good 

 work in many parts of the country. In connection with the 

 Cambridge University Extension Syndicate, nine courses will 

 be delivered on Botanical subjects, seven on Natural History, 

 seven on Hygiene and kindred matters, six on Chemistiy, and 

 two on the History of Science, while single courses have been 

 arrange! in Agriculture, Electricity, and Geology. The pro- 

 gramme of the London Society for the Extension of University 

 Peaching shows six courses on Chemistry, four on Astronomy, 

 three on Geology, and the same number on Hygiene. The 

 Oxford University Extension Delegacy have made arrange- 

 ments for the delivery of sixteen courses on Chemistry, twelve 

 •m Hygiene, nine on Agriculture, four on Astronomy, tjiree on 

 G ography, three on Geology, two on Electricity, two on 

 Physiography, one on Light, and one on the Forces of Nature. 



NO. 1250, VOL. 48I 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 

 The American Meteorological Journal for August contains 

 an important investigation on the movements of the atr at all 

 heights in cyclones and anticyclones, as shown by cloud observa- 

 tions made at Blue Hill Observatory. A record was made of 

 the kind of each cloud visible, its direction of motion and 

 relative velocity, and the observations, classified into five levels, 

 were plotted by means of arrows on nvaps prepared for the 

 purpose. The increased velocity of the wind near the centre 

 of the cyclone and the decreased velocity near the centre of 

 the anticyclone are distinctly shown. The arrows also show 

 that the inclination of the wind to the centres of the two is not 

 the same on all sides. In the cyclone the winds blow most 

 nearly tangential south-east of the centre, and most nearly 

 inward north or north-east of the centre ; while in the anti- 

 cyclone the winds are most tangential north-west of the centre, 

 and most nearly outward south or south-east of the centre. In 

 the cumulus region the cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation are 

 still visible, but the general westward drift has become much 

 stronger, while above that region that circulation is entirely 

 masked by the drift. The diagrams also show that the currents 

 do not all turn to the right as one ascends into the atmosphere, 

 as is usually stated; when the winds have a northerly cim- 

 ponent, they show that the currents turn to the left as one 

 ascends. The tables show that the circulation of the air is much 

 more rapid in the higher regions than near the earth's surface, 

 both in cyclones and anticyclones. 



Bulletin de t Academie Royale de Belgique, No. 8. — Deter- 

 mination of the constant of aberration, of the parallax of Polaris, 

 of the velocity of the solar system, and of the constants of 

 diurnal nutation, by means of the latitude observations of 

 Gylden and Peters at Pulkowa, by F. Folie. A further discus- 

 sion of the evidence for diurnal nutation claimed as discovered 

 by the author, and other deductions from the Pulkowa latitule 

 observations. Among the latter is the R.A. of the apex of the 

 sun's way, 277°, the positive parallax of o" 05 for Polaris, and 

 the negative correction for the constant of aberration, o"'037, 

 w hich harmonises the velocity of light and the parallax of the 

 sun. — Correct determination of the constant of aberration by 

 observations in the prime vertical, by the same author. This 

 shows that the accepted formula for the reduction of prime 

 vertical observations is faulty, and substitutes a corrected one. — 

 Researches on the mono-carbin derivatives, by Louis Henry. 

 This portion of the researches contains a preliminary account of 

 the ammoniacal derivatives of methyl aldehyde. — On a simple 

 method of measuring retardation in minerals cut in thin plates, 

 by G. Cesaro. A compensating quartz prism is placed between 

 the microscope and the mineral, and moved across the field by 

 means of a screw permitting a displacement of o'o5 mm. Ttie 

 tints utilisedfor the determination of the amount of retardation 

 experienced by the extraordinary ray are those known as sen- 

 sitive tints, which easily change from a bluish to a reddish 

 violet. — On the nutrition of the echinoderms, by Marcelin 

 Chapeaux. The author maintains that the amibocytes of the 

 coelomic cavity of starfishes play an important part in the con- 

 tinuation of the process of digestion originated by the radial 

 glands. Small drops of the oils emulsified by the radial glands 

 traverse the epithelium and enter the body cavity. They are 

 then absorbed by the amibocytes, and their duplication is 

 carried out in the interior of these phagocytes, under the in- 

 fluence of an acid ferment. 



Bulletin dela Socie'te des Natttralisies de Moscou, 1892, No. 4. — 

 Contributions to the fauna of the Aral Sieppes, by A. Nikolsky. 

 List of mammals and birds collected or noticed in the Steppes, 

 wilh very short remarks. — Astragalus Uralensis, a new species, 

 by D. Litwinow.— On the coli of January, 1893, note by 

 B. Sre.snewskij — To the memory of N. I. Koksharoff and 

 A. W. Gadolin, by W. Vernadsky. An excellent summary of 

 Gadolin's work. 



1893, No. I. — :0n some ecto- and ento parasites of the 

 Cyclopides, by Dr. W. SchewiakofT (with a plate). A new 

 species, Triclwphrya cordiformis, is described, also the 

 ento- parasitic slimes of the cyclopides. — On the anatomy of 

 Sii-edon piscif or mis, hy V^.Zy'ktS {-viiih a plate). — Notes on a 

 new skull o[ Amynodon, by Marie Pavlofl" (with a plate). The 

 skull has been received from America, and was found in the 

 miocene of the Black Hills, South Dacota. — Catalogue of 

 Lepidoptera of the Government of Kazan (third paper), by 

 L, Krulikovski, containing the Noctua;. — On the molecular 



