July 2, 1891] 



NATURE 



205 



Galloway. The geological, zoological, and bptanical 

 descriptions have been written by Mr. T. H. Thomas and 

 Prof. W. N. Parker, with the help of many others. The 

 account of the educational arrangements of Cardiff will 

 be treated of by Mr, Whitmell, Inspector of Schools, 

 and Principal J. V. Jones. 



The excursions hand-book will contain a map, on a 

 scale of four miles to the inch, of the whole of the district 

 in which the excursions will be held, specially prepared 

 for the Committee by Messrs. Bartholomew and Co., 

 Edinburgh. As detailed accounts as possible of the 

 various points to be seen in the excursions will be given 

 by those having special knowledge : taken together with 

 the guide-book, it is thought that a very complete descrip- 

 tion of everything connected with this portion of South 

 Wales will be furnished to the visitors. 



Other Committees have been formed for the evening 

 lectures and the working men's lecture, but little more 

 can be said about them than that they will provide to the 

 fullest extent for the wants of the Association. The 

 Local Committee are anxious that this shall be the case 

 in every particular, so that the first visit to the metropolis 

 of Wales will not suffer in comparison with previous 

 meetings of the Association. R. W. Atkinson. 



MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF 

 THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



\ 1 7"E have received the annual report of the Council of 

 ^ * this Association, presented at the general meeting 

 on June 24 — the President, Prof. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., 

 in the chair. In the sea, as well as on land, the severe 

 winter appears to have had a marked effect on the fauna, 

 and there is also a complaint of mortality in the aquarium 

 attached to the Laboratory during the colder months ; 

 a result perhaps somewhat unexpected, considering 

 the comparatively high winter temperature of the sea. 

 We are glad to learn that a self-sown fauna is springing 

 up in the tanks, the condition of which is said to be 

 steadily improving, as is the case with all aquaria after 

 one or two years of use. 



Under the head of the library (which ought to be re- 

 presented in the balance-sheet by a larger sum than is at 

 present debited to it) the Association is to be congratu- 

 lated on having received the gift of the late Mr. Spence 

 Bate's library, constituting an exceedingly valuable 

 collection of the literature of Crustacea. 



Some of the changes made in the permanent staff have 

 been chronicled already : Mr. Calderwood has replaced 

 Mr. Bourne as Director, and has appointed Mr. H. 

 N. Dickson to succeed Mr. Garstang, who took up 

 a Fellowship at the Owens College in December last. 

 Two temporary members have been added to the staff: 

 Mr. F. Hughes, to carry out from the chemical point of 

 view an inquiry into the possibility of manufacturing an 

 artificial bait ;'Mr. H W. L. Holt, known already as the 

 author of some papers on Teleostean development, to 

 conduct investigations into the immature fish question as 

 regards the Dogger Bank and the region eastwards of it — 

 the lines of this latter inquiry are sketched in an appendix 

 to the report. Among the fishery investigations of the 

 past year are quoted experiments on the rate of growth 

 and the age of sexual maturity in food-fish, oyster and 

 lobster culture, and the anchovy fishery which the 

 Association desires to initiate. We are glad to see that 

 systematic physical observations are to be taken at the 

 Laboratory in future. 



Eleven gentlemen have visited the Laboratory during 

 the year for the purposes of research, some of them on 

 more than one occasion. This number, however, is by 

 no means as large as it should be. 



The balance-sheet shows a satisfactory, if small, in- 

 crease in receipts, the items pointing to an increased use 



. NO. I 1 3 I , VOL. 44] 



of the Laboratory, both for research and for the purchase 

 of material for teaching purposes. A sum of /500 (in 

 addition to the annual grant of /500) has been placed on 

 the Civil Service estimates for the current year, which 

 will, if passed, place the Association in a position to 

 carry on its work with less difficulty than has hitherto 

 been the case. 



UNIVERSITY EXTENSION STUDENTS AT 

 CAMBRIDGE. 



T^HE work done by University Extension students at 

 *■ Cambridge last year was so satisfactory that the 

 Syndicate for local lectures are encouraged to repeat the 

 experiment this year. They will be prepared to receive 

 a larger number of students, say from 60 to 80, most of 

 whom will be lodged either at Selwyn College or at 

 Newnham College. The period of study will last from 

 July 28 to August 22, or nearly a month in all. The 

 Syndicate have just issued a detailed programme of the 

 various courses of study ; and we are glad to see that 

 due attention has been paid to the claims of science as 

 well as to those of literature and art. At the chemical 

 laboratory, on alternate days, there will be a course of 

 demonstrations illustrating the methods of chemical 

 manipulation in a short series of typical experiments. 

 The pupils will be first shown each experiment, and will 

 then be expected to repeat it for themselves. At the 

 Cavendish Laboratory, on alternate days, a course of 

 short experimental lectures, chiefly on electricity and 

 magnetism, will be delivered ; and most of the experi- 

 ments shown in the lectures will afterwards be performed 

 by the students for themselves. Geology will be studied, 

 on alternate days, at the Woodwardian Museum, where 

 there will be a course of demonstrations on the leading 

 fossil types of the animal kingdom, from the specimens 

 in the Museum. A course of demonstrations, followed by 

 practical work, will be given, on alternate days, in the 

 physiological laboratory; and Mr. Graham, chief assistant 

 at the Observatory, will receive students and explain the 

 uses of astronomical instruments. Arrangements will 

 also be made for taking small parties of students to the 

 Observatory at night. Single lectures will be delivered 

 by various eminent Cambridge men, and in this part of 

 the work science will be represented by Prof. G. H. 

 Darwin, who will lecture on the history of the moon or 

 some allied subject. We may note that the students in 

 science will be allowed to read in the Philosophical 

 Library. 



NORMAN R. POGSON, CLE. 



Wl'E' regret to have to announce the death of Mr. 

 ^^ Norman Pogson, for thirty years the Director of 

 the Observatory at Madras. Mr. Pogson has been so 

 long absent from England that, in a sense, he may be 

 said to have outlived his reputation; but those who can 

 recall the condition of astronomy in this country some 

 thirty years since will remember him as a rising astro- 

 nomer of considerable promise, and as one of the most 

 indefatigable observers at that time. If his subsequent 

 career has not entirely fulfilled his early promise, perhaps 

 the condition of the Madras Observatory is to some 

 extent the cause. We believe that its astronomical equip- 

 ment is very old and inadequate, and possibly Mr. Pogson 

 has accomplished all that could be done with his instru- 

 ments and his staff. 



Mr. Pogson's astronomical career commenced at Mr. 

 Bishop's Observatory in Regent's Park, at that time 

 under the direction of Mr. J. R. Hind, and he there took 

 part in the observations for forming the ecliptic charts 

 published from that Observatory. In 185 1 he left London 



