492 



NATURE 



[September 13, 1900 



In Wiltshire a party of Bathonians saw it while driving, and 

 describe it as a ball of fire with a comet-like tail falling direct 

 from heaven to earth and alighting apparently in a field about a 

 mile distant. 



A number of other accounts have come to hand, but for the 

 most part they do not supply any details which would be useful 

 for computing the real path of the fireball. It probably dis- 

 appeared over Lancashire at a height of twenty-five miles, and 

 was directed from a radiant point high in the northern sky. 

 The long-enduring streak or cosmic cloud was no doubt 

 illuminated by the sun's rays. It is not likely that the exact 

 heights of appearance and disappearance of the meteor can be 

 ascertained, though there are plenty of descriptions. The object 

 having appeared in daylight, there were no stars or other celestial 

 objects visible by which its path could be determined. The 

 observers content themselves with giving rough estimations as 

 to the general direction, but these are of little use in any 

 endeavour to compute the real path of the object. It is hoped, 

 however, that some further observations of a more satisfactory 

 character will come to hand and enable a fairly trustworthy 

 result to be "obtained. The fireball was a very exceptional one 

 to have created so brilliant an effect just before sunset. 



It will be remembered that a large fireball was seen on 

 January 9 at 2h. 55m. in the afternoon, and that on July 

 17 last another of these striking objects appeared soon after 

 sunset and was observed by many persons in Scotland and the 

 north of England. The present year is likely to be a notable 

 one as regards the number and brilliancy of the fireballs which 

 have appeared. W. F. Denning. 



UNI VE RSI TV A ND ED UCA TIONA L 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The new Technical School at Bootle will be opened by the 

 Earl of Derby on Thursday, September 27. 



After a discussion upon technical and commercial education 

 at the recent Congress of British Chambers of Commerce, in 

 Paris, the meeting endorsed the following resolution, which 

 was adopted at the Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the 

 Empire in June 1900: — "That it is most desirable to take 

 steps to urge the extension of technical and commercial educa- 

 tion throughout the Empire, and that wherever possible this 

 education should be placed under efficient public control ; and 

 that this congress is of opinion that the utmost effort should be 

 made throughout the Empire to encourage and furnish facilities 

 for commercial education as a branch of technical and scientific 

 Study, and that the Home and Colonial Governments be moved to 

 give aid thereto and ample powers of contribution out of local 

 resources ; and, further, it is very desirable that Chambers of 

 Commerce should be represented on Boards of Education in 

 order to advance the interests of commercial education." 



The following is a list of candidates successful in the recent 

 competition for the Whitworth Scholarships and Exhibitions. 

 Scholarshiosof 125/. a year each (tenable for three years) : George 

 W. O. Howe, Harold B. Philpot, Harry Noble, William M. 

 Wallace. Exhibitions of 50/. (tenable for one year) : Alfred W. 

 Steed, Charles E. Stanier, Benjamin Moss, Isaac V. Robinson, 

 Herbert G. Tisdall, Leonard Southerns, Charles A. King, 

 John McCulloch, William P. Chandler, Charles W. Price, 

 Harry B. Matthews, Leonard G. Crawford, James Wilson, 

 George Stow, Joseph H. Dobson, Alec P. Simpson, Fredk. G. 

 Rappoport, Arthur J. Butler, Alfred L. Oke, James M. 

 Macintosh, William H. Cumner, Thomas A. Goskar, Leopold 



D. Coueslant, John C. Gardner, James C. Metcalfe, Harold 

 Shatwell, Walter A. Turnbull, John E. Grant, Albert S. 

 Raworth, Henry H. Thorne. 



The following Royal Exhibitions, National Scholarships and 

 Free Studentships in Science have been awarded by the Board 

 of Education, South Kensington. Royal Exhibitions : James 

 C. Macfarlane, William T. S. Butlin, Louis D. Stansfeld, 

 Leonard A. V. Webb, Isaac V. Robinson, Arthur Baker, 

 Benjamin Moss. National Scholarships for Mechanics : Albert 



E. Dodridge, Albert Wilson, Charles E. Stanier, Frederick 

 Bowen, Robert R. Cormack. Free Studentships for Mechanics : 

 Fred. G. Rappoport, Harry B. Matthews, John Alexander. 

 National Scholarships for Physics : Ernest Nightingale, Royden 

 C. Wale, Frederick P. Rolfe, William Tannock, Frank E. 

 Glover. Free Studentship for Physics : Leonard R. Broome. 



NO. 1611, VOL. 62] 



National Scholarships for Chemistry : George H. Green, Philip 

 S. Pomeroy, William' H. Stephens, Harold Leadbetter, 

 Frederick P. Leach. Free Studentship for Chemistry : 

 Hamilton McCombie. National Scholarships for Biology : 

 Charles Martin, Archibald D. Hogg, Cosby T. Nesbitt, 

 Hamilton E. Quick, Horace A. Wager. National Scholarships 

 for Geology : Hubert C. Jones. William Rawson. Free 

 Studentship for Geology : Stanley R. Jones. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 3.— M. Maurice Levy 

 in the chair. — Physiological action and therapeutical applica- 

 tions of compressed oxygen, by M. A. Mosso. The author has 

 verified and extended the observations of Haldane upon the 

 simultaneous action of compressed oxygen and carbonic oxide 

 upon various animals. Where at the ordinary pressure of the 

 atmosphere 0"5 per cent, or less of the carbonic oxide is fatal, 

 animals are not poisoned in an atmosphere of oxygen at two 

 atmospheres containing 6 per cent, of the gas. This result is 

 of interest from the physiological point of view as showing that 

 animals may live, without red corpuscle-, on the oxygen dis- 

 solved in the blood plasma, provided that the amount in 

 solution is sufficiently increased by pressure. — The last sign of 

 life, liy M. Augustus D. Waller. Living matter responds to an 

 electrical stimulus by a current in the same direction. The 

 same substance, killed by heat, either gives no response 

 or gives a polarisation current in the opposite sense. This 

 method is applied to determine the last sign of life. — On the 

 Laplace equations with quadratic solutions, by M. Tzitzeica. — 

 On singularities of analytical functions, and in particular of func- 

 tions defined by differential equations, by M. Paul Painleve. — 

 The effects of work of certain muscular groups on other groups 

 doing no work, by MM. Kronecker and Cutter. The muscles of 

 the lower limbs exercised in climbing were found to exert an 

 influence upon the biceps of the arm. A moderate amount of 

 work done by one group of muscles appears to have a strength- 

 ening effect upon another group not taking part in the action, 

 the effect being probably due to an increase in the circulation of 

 the blood and lymph. — On a perpetual calendar, by M. I'abbe 

 Salvatore Franco. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Bacteriology. By Dr. A. C. Houston 465 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Aflalo : " A Walk through the Zoological Gardens " 466 

 Letter to the Editor: — 



The Reform of Mathematical Teaching. — W. F. 



Beard 466 



Sir John Bennet Lawes, Bart., F.R.S. By Prof. R. 



Warington, F.R.S 467 



The Bradford Meeting of the British Association. 



By Ramsden Bacchus 46S 



Section A. — Department of Astronomy. — Opening 

 Address by Dr. A. A. Common, F.R.S., Chair- 

 man of the Department 470 



Section B. — Chemistry.— Opening Address by Prof. 

 W. H. Perkin, Jun., F.R.S., President of the 



Section 47^ 



Section C— Geology [llhisira/ed.).—0^tmng Address 

 by Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., President of the 



Section . 481 



Notes 489 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Ephemeris for Observations of Eros 49 ^ 



The Daylight Meteor of Sunday, September 2. By 



W. F. Denning 49^ 



University and Educational Intelligence 492 



Societies and Academies 49^ 



