238 



NATURE 



[July 5, 1900 



that small instruments have been the means by which a large 

 amount of useful work has been done in this field of observa- 

 tion. It is also an unavoidable conclusion that many of the 

 mistakes in planetary work have been due to inadequate power 

 and light in the appliances used. Possibly during the next few 

 months some of the existing discordances may be cleared up, 

 and some new facts learnt concerning this the most beautiful 

 planet of our system. 



There was an interesting occultation of Saturn by the moon on 

 June 13, but at Bristol clouds interfered with observation. At 

 Veovil, Somerset, the Rev. T. E. R. Phillips watched the pheno- 

 menon with a 3-inch refractor. There will occur another event of 

 this kind on September 3 next, when the planet will disappear at 

 7h. i6m. and reappear at 8h. ilm. p.m. Occultations of Saturn 

 are somewhat rare, the last, prior to that of June 13, occurring 

 twelve years ago, viz. on October i, 1888. 



The planet may now be studied with advantage from southern 

 observatories, where his altitude will be considerable and con- 

 duce to that excellent definition which is so necessary for the 

 detection of faint and delicate markings. At every opposition 

 it seems necessary that the number and arrangement of the 

 various belts should be noted. A dark polar cap should be 

 looke'! for, and any irregular appearances, such as dark and 

 light spots on the dusky belts or intervening zones, should be 

 carefully recorded. It is unfortunate that thd results obtained 

 in previous years are not sufficiently accordant to be of much 

 service. In some cases where one observer has drawn one or two 

 belts, another, equally experienced and with more powerful 

 means, has represented seven or eight. Certain observers see 

 the belts and zones mottled with spots, while others describe the 

 aspect as perfectly smooth and quite devoid of all such irregu- 

 larities. The evidence is, in fact, so conflicting that new and 

 thoroughly trustworthy observations are greatly needed to set at 

 rest the actual character of the details visible on this exceedingly 

 attractive object. W. F. Denning. 



UNI VERS I TV AND ED UCA TIONA L 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— On April 27, 1899, an anonymous gift of 5000/. 

 was made towards the building of a pathological laboratory. 

 The donor now allows his name to be made known, and a 

 decree will consequently be proposed on July 7, that the thanks 

 of the University be conveyed to Ewan Richards Frazer, B.M., 

 Balliol College, for his munificent donation to the pathological 

 laboratory. 



Cambridge. — The annual report of the Cambridge Observa- 

 tory appears in the Reporter for June 30. It includes an 

 account of valuable work done with the Newall telescope, and 

 of the steps taken to bring to perfection the Sheepshanks photo- 

 graphic equatorial. The binary character of a Aurigae was 

 announced as discovered at the Observatory two days before the 

 arrival of Prof. Campbell's independent publication from the 

 Lick Observatory. 



Scholarships, or exhibitions, in natural science have been 

 awarded at the following Colleges thus : 



Peterhouse : Lee. 



Gonville and Caius : Cleminson, Burne, Garnsey, Lock, 

 Macfie, Rittenberg, Thornton. 



The Hopkins Prize for the period 1894-97 has been awarded 

 to Mr. J. Larmor, F.R.S., of St. John's College, for his 

 investigations on the Physics of the Aether and other valuable 

 contributions to mathematical physics. 



Mr. William Ritchie Sorley, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, 

 has been chosen Knightsbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy in 

 the place of Dr. Henry Sidgwick, who has resigned in conse- 

 quence of ill health. 



Prof. Simon Newcomb has had the degree of doctor of 

 laws conferred upon him by the University of Toronto. 



Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., has been elected Dean of 

 the Faculty of Science of the University of Birmingham. 



The honour of knighthood has been bestowed upon Dr. G. 

 Hare Philipson, president of the University of Durham College 

 •of Medicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



Prof. J. R. Campbell, head of the Agricultural Depart- 

 naent of Yorkshire College, has been appointed under-secretary 

 to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for 

 Ireland. 



NO. 1601, VOL, 62] 



The honorary degree of D.Sc. has been conferred by the 

 University of Oxford upon Prof. J. Mark Baldwin, of Princeton 

 University, New Jersey, U.S.A. The new doctor is professor 

 of psychology at Princeton, and editor of the Psychological 

 Review. 



Honorary degrees were on Saturday last conferred by the 

 Victoria University upon Lord Rayleigh, Sir William Huggins, 

 Sir W. C. Roberts-Austen, Sir William Abney, Dr. T. E. 

 Thorpe, Prof. J. Dewar, Prof. A. R. Forsyth, Mr. R. T. 

 Glazebrook, Prof. Pickering, Prof. J. J. Thomson, and Mr. 

 Henry Wilde. 



A grant of 58/. from the Earl of Moray Endowment has 

 been made by the Edinburgh University Court to Dr. J. H. 

 Milroy for purposes, of research. At a recent meeting of the 

 Court it was announced that the late Prof. Sir D. Maclagan had 

 bequeathed a marble bust of himself to the University, and that 

 Miss E. A. Ormerod had presented six large volumes of draw- 

 ings, chiefly by her father, to the library. 



The Drapers' Company offer for competition eight scholar- 

 ships tenable at the day classes of the East London Technical 

 College in chemistry, physics and engineering. The scholar- 

 ships are of the value of 25/., 10/. being paid during the first 

 year and 15/. during the second year. They also carry with 

 them free tuition. Particulars may be obtained from the Director 

 of Studies, East London Technical College, People's Palace, E 



The annual meeting terminating the session of the department 

 of engineering in connection with University College, Liverpool, 

 took place on Thursday last, when the William Rathbone Medal 

 and the Rathbone Prizes were distributed by the Lord Mayor of 

 Liverpool. The report, which was of a highly satisfactory 

 character, was read by Prof Hele-Shaw, after which an address 

 was delivered by Prof. John Perry, F. R.S., upon the value of a 

 thorough scientific education to the engineer. 



The following is a list of the members of the new Board of 

 Education Consultative Committee : — Rt. Hon. Arthur Herbert 

 Dyke Acland, Sir William Reynell Anson, Bart., M.P., Prof 

 Henry Armstrong, Mrs. Sophie Bryant, Rt. Hon. Sir William 

 Hart Dyke, Bart., M.P., Sir Michael Foster, K.C.B., M.P., 

 Mr. James Gow, Litt.D., Mr. Ernest Gray, M.P., Mr. Henry 

 Hobhouse, M. P., Mr. Arthur Charles Humphreys-Owen, M.P., 

 Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb, M.P., Hon. and Rev. Edward 

 Lyttelton, Very Rev. Edward Craig Maclure, D.D., Dean of 

 Manchester, Miss Lydia Manley, the Venerable Ernest Grey 

 Sandford, Archdeacon of Exeter, Mrs. Eleanor Mildred Sidg- 

 wick, Prof. Bertram Coghill Alan Windle, M.D., Rev. David 

 James Waller, D.D. The draft Order in Council, giving par- 

 ticulars of the duties, &c., of the Committee, has been issued 

 as a Parliamentary paper. 



Further munificent gifts for the furtherance of education in 

 the United States are announced in Science and are as follows: — 

 The sum of 1^5,000 dollars has been left to Harvard University 

 by the late Edmund D wight. The bequest will come into the 

 hands of the University authorities after the death of certain 

 persons who receive the income during their lifetime. The 

 amount (100,000 dollars) promised by Mr. Rockefeller to Deni- 

 son University, on condition that 150,000 dollars additional be 

 raised before July, has now been claimed, the sum named having 

 been subscribed. The sum of 50,000 dollars has been given to 

 Colorado College by Mr. W. S. Stratton ; Mr. M. K. Jesup 

 has given 25,000 dollars to Princeton University, and Lombard 

 College in Galesburg, 111., benefits in a like degree by the gift of 

 Mr. W. G. Waterman ; while 10,000 dollars have been subscribed 

 by Messrs. Phelps, Dodge and Co. for the endowment of the 

 department of mining and metallurgy at Columbia University. 

 In addition to the foregoing it is announced that Mr. L. C. 

 Smith will build and equip a civil engineering building in 

 connection with Syracuse University. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, June 14. — "The Nature and Origin of the 



Poison oi Lotus Arabicus." By Wyndham R. Dunstan, F.R.S., 



Sec.C.S., Director of the Scientific Department of the Imperial 



Institute, and T. A. Henry, B.Sc.Lond. 



Lotus Arabicus is a small leguminous plant resembling a vetch, 

 indigenous to Egypt and Northern Africa. It grows abundantly 

 in Nubia, and is especially noticeable in the bed of the Nile from 



