August 30, 1900] 



NATURE 



431 



longer papers are being printed in the Memorie or " Transac- 

 tions," and the corresponding societies with which an exchange 

 of publications is made now number not less than 500. Under 

 the title of Nothie degli Scavi, the society brings out accounts of 

 archcEological discoveries in Italy, the material for which is 

 furnished monthly by the Minister of Pulilic Instruction. Of 

 recent publications, we note the issue of three volumes of the 

 " Codex Atlanticus " of Leonardo da Vinci, a magnificent work, 

 in the cost of publishing which »the late King gave material 

 assistance ; also the " Forma Urbis Romae" of Signor Lanciani, 

 consisting of a large scale archieological map of Rome. 



For the Royal prize of looo francs for normal and patho- 

 logical physiology six candidates entered, and a large number of 

 essays of considerable merit were submitted by them. The 

 prize has been adjudged to Prof. Giulio Fano, of Florence, for 

 sixteen papers, dealing, amongst other subjects, with the 

 physiology of the embryonic heart, the doctrine of experimental 

 psychology, the organ of hearing, the graphic registration of 

 respiratory chimism and reflex movements, the latter being a 

 continuation of previous researches on the organs of Einys 

 Europea. Of the six candidates for the Royal prize for geology 

 and mineralogy, two were considered worthy of the award, 

 which was therefore divided equally between them. One of 

 the successful candidates, Prof. De Lorenzo, chose geological 

 subjects, and sent in about twenty essays, the most important of 

 which dealt with the trias of the environs of Lagonegro, 

 the mesozoic mountains of Lagonegro, geological observa- 

 tions on the Apennines of the southern Basilicate, and geo- 

 logical studies of the southern Apennines. Prof. Giorgio 

 Spezia's work, on the other hand, was entirely mineralogical, 

 dealing with the influences of temperature and pressure, 

 respectively, on the chemical metamorphism of rocks and 

 minerals. From a long and laborious series of experiments, 

 many of them occupying five or six months, the author con- 

 cluded that pressure has little or no effect, while the influence of 

 temperature is considerable. The results have a special bearing 

 on the theory of quartz formation. The Royal prize for ad- 

 vances in archaeological science was adjudged to Dr. Paolo Orsi, 

 of Roveredo, for his investigations of the antiquities of Eastern 

 Sicily. Dr. Orsi has thrown quite a new light on the prehistoric 

 development of the people known as the Siculi, from the neolithic 

 epoch down to the period of expansion of the Greek colonies. A 

 special prize for philosophy and rhoral science had been offered for 

 an essay dealing with either the theory of consciousness or the 

 foundations of practical philosophy. This prize has been divided 

 equally between Prof. Bernardino Varisco and Prof. Francesco 

 de Sarlo, The Minister of Public Instruction offered a sum of 

 3400 lire for two prizes in physical and chemical sciences, and 

 a like sum for two prizes in philological sciences, the 

 prizes being confined to teachers in secondary schools. The 

 committee for the prizes in physical and chemical sciences have 

 awarded two equal prizes — one to Prof. O. Marco Corbino, 

 more especially for his work on light traversing metallic vapours 

 in a magnetic field, and the other to be divided between Profs. 

 Carlo Bonacini and Riccardo Malagoli, more especially for their 

 joint papers on Rcintgen rays. In philology, the prizes have 

 been divided up into a number of minor awards, distributed 

 between Signori Giuseppe Vandelli (whose work stood first), 

 Antonio Belloni, Astorre Pellegrini, Giuseppe Rua, Giuseppe 

 Lisio, Augusto Balsano, Giovanni Negri and Guglielmo Volpi. 



At the conclusion of the awards a biographical commemora- 

 tion of the late Prof. Beltrami was delivered by Prof. Luigi 

 Cremona. In the number of the Atti, this is followed by a 

 chronological list of Beltrami's scientific works, in compiling 

 which use has been made of the previously published lists by 

 Prof. Dini, and by Signori Pinti and Brambilla in the Annali 

 di Matetnatica and the Rendiconto of the Naples Academy 

 respectively. 



The proceedings terminated with an address by Signor 

 Giuseppe Colombo on the progress of electrotechnics in Italy. 

 Signor Colombo briefly traced the gradual development of the 

 theory of the electrical transmission of energy, from the discovery 

 of Volta, through the various stages indicated by Pacinotti's 

 invention of the first dynamo, Galileo Ferraris' principle of the 

 rotating magnetic field, and a number of intermediate inventions, 

 down to the principle of wireless telegraphy, to the development 

 of which two Italians, Righi and Marconi, have so largely con- 

 tributed. The absence of coal has long been a serious bar to 

 the progress of Italy in commercial competition, but Signor 

 Colombo proves by statistics that Nature has provided a source 



NO. 1609, VOL. 62] 



of energy more than sufficient to fill the deficiency, in the water- 

 power with which the country has been well endowed, and it 

 only needs the development of plant for the electrical trans- 

 mission of power, aided, moreover, by the best means for 

 minimising waste of energy, to raise Italy to a condition of 

 commercial prosperity. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The Pall Mall Gazette states that Miss Cruickshank has 

 given to Aberdeen University, in memory of her brother. Dr. 

 Alexander Cruickshank, the botanic garden at Chanoury, Old 

 Aberdeen, extending to six acres, and capable of accommodating 

 nearly six thousand specimens. Miss Cruickshank has devoted 

 to its endowment the sum of 15,000/. 



Mr. Gilbert R. Rei>grave, Senior Chief Inspector in the 

 South Kensington branch of the Board of Education, has been 

 appointed an Assistant Secretary for Technology. Announce- 

 ment is made that in the ensuing autumn the Duke of Devon- 

 shire will appoint a departmental committee, on which the 

 county councils and the City and Guilds of London Institute 

 will be represented, to consider, inter alia, the co-ordination of 

 the technological administration of the Board of Education with 

 the technological work at present carried on by educational 

 bodies other than that Board. 



A GOOD idea of the scope and value of the work of the ex- 

 aminations department of the City and Guilds of London Institute 

 can be obtained from the " Programme of Technological 

 Examinations (1900-1901)," published by Messrs. Whittaker 

 and Co. Examinations are held in seventy technological 

 subjects, and also in manual training (wood-work and metal- 

 work). For each examination a syllabus is given, and a useful 

 list of works of references ; and the questions and practical 

 exercises set at the recent examinations are all reprinted. 

 Several of the syllabuses have been revised, notably those of 

 photography, pottery and porcelain, silk throwing and spinning, 

 and silk weaving, electric lighting, watch and clock making, 

 typography, lithography, carpentry and joinery. 



The Redruth School of Mines, of which the syllabus for 

 1900-1901 is before u^, offers exceptional facilities for study- 

 ing the principles of mining in the Cornish mining district. 

 One wing of the school building is occupied by a large 

 mineral gallery, erected to the memory of the late Dr. Robert 

 Hunt, F.R.S. The museum, which contains a valuable col- 

 lection of mineral specimens, and is the property of the 

 Mining Association and Institute of Cornwall, is at all times 

 accessible to students of the school. The mining course con- 

 sists of practical underground work, including the timbering 

 of shafts and levels, and of lectures on geology, the principles 

 of mining, the raising and mechanical preparation of ores, and 

 of practical work in gold panning and vanning. Students, in 

 addition, are taught the methods of prospecting for minerals 

 in all possible positions, and are trained to detect favourable 

 indications on the surface. There is thus a reasonable com- 

 bination of science with practice in subjects essential to the 

 training of mining engineers. 



What school gardens are to children, allotments are to 

 adults in agricultural districts, and both provide valuable means 

 of experiment. The Report of the Technical Instruction Com- 

 mittee of the Oxfordshire County Council shows that this is well 

 recognised is several parts of the county. For instance, at the 

 Chipping Norton Agricultural Class there were fifty-four students, 

 of an average age of thirty-eight. They were factory hands,, 

 labourers, mechanics and small tradesmen, who all cultivated 

 allotments, and were thus able to put principles to a practical, 

 test, and determine the causes thus affecting growth. At 

 Reading College, which is connected with the Oxfordshire 

 Committee, various insects and plants were received fron^ 

 different parts of the county for identification, and advice was 

 given in many localities. Field experiments were made oi> 

 sainfoin and lucerne, rotation, " finger and toe," mangel, and 

 different manures for barley. Charlock spraying was investigated 

 at three farms, and other experimental work had been done 

 under the auspices of the College and the Technical Education 

 Committee. 



