May 5, 1892] 



NA rURE 



21 



in his concluding remarks as to whether " ilicie is a causal 

 connection between solar activity (as indicated by outbursts on 

 the sun) and magnetic disturbances, auroras, cyclones, and rain- 

 fall," remarks that with regard to the two former there can 

 hardly be any doubt, but with regard to the two latter he is of 

 opinion that a very close connection does exist, there being a 

 considerable preponderance of evidence in its favour. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



O^VORii.— Annual Abstract of Accounts. — The abstract of 

 accounts of the University for the year ending December 31, 

 1891, has just been published. It exhibits both the accounts of 

 the Curators of the Chest and the financial position of the Uni- 

 versity institutions. The receipts show an income of ;^66,986 

 12.*. 9^/., against ^^65,175 x-js. 2d. last year. The principal 

 sources of internal income include estates /.ggyS 12s. 8(/., the 

 University Press ;^5ooo, University dues /i 1,153 5^-i examina- 

 tion fees ;^5659 is., degree fees ^"9600. The Proctorial fines 

 amount to only ;^3I3, nearly ;,^ioo less than last year. In con- 

 nection with the present agitation against Proctorial jurisdiclioa 

 this item is interesting. The total payments amounted to 

 4^64,557 6s. id. There was transferred to capital account 

 ;{,'2225 l6s.^d., and a balance carried forward of;^203 io.r. 2d. In 

 this item of expenditure, we find institutions and public buildings 

 cost ;^ 19,085, the largest item under this head being the Bodleian 

 Library ;(^7772 ^s. 4^/., while the Taylor Institution absorbed 

 £22^S' '^*ie expenses in connection with lectures in large 

 towns amounted to ^729 us. 8d., and the interest and sinking 

 fund on loans for University purposes came to /i6lS7 8s. ^ei. 



The loans account shows that the amounts remaining to be 

 paid are ^36,000 at 4 per cent, on the ;[^6o,ooo New Schools 

 Loan, and Cl^dd xy. ^d. at 2% per cent, on the ;^io,ooo 

 Physiilogical Laboratory Loan. 



The University and the County Councils. — The report on the 

 peripatetic teaching in scientific and technical subjects carried on 

 m various country ui>tricts under the suj er vision of the Oxford 

 Delegates for University Extension, acting in concert with the 

 Technical Instruciion Committees of County Councils during 

 last winter, has just been published. The report states that the 

 Oxford Delegates for University Extension were requested by 

 the representatives of eight County Councils in England to 

 provide for the delivery of 227 course?, embracing 2271 lectures, 

 on chemistiy, agriculture, geology, botany, veterinary science, 

 physiology, and hygiene. These courses have been regularly 

 attended by more than 10,000 persons in all grades of society. 



The relations between the University Extension Committees 

 of the different Universities and the County Councils, in refer- 

 ence to the matter of technical instruction, has now become so 

 important, that a Conference was summoned last week, under the 

 presidency of the Provost of Queen's College, to consider this 

 connection, and to profit by the experience already gained, an 

 experience, which in some cases extends over two years. It was 

 felt that there are certain mistakes, inevitable in the commence- 

 ment of any large scheme, which might be aiivantageously 

 removed, so as to promote greater harmony, and possibly more 

 economy in the fuller development of the scheme. Many 

 organizing secretaries and others interested in the scheme 

 attended the Conference, which extended over two days. 



Two principal subjects were under discussion, first, the pro- 

 vision of summer courses of instruction in Oxford, Cambridge, 

 and other University towns for teachers in elementary schools ; 

 secondly, the methods of organization of peripatetic teaching in 

 rt gard to hours of lectures, classes, cost, and local management. 

 In connection with the first point, it was announced that Oxford, 

 Cambridge, and the Yorkshire College, Leeds, would be pre- 

 pared to offer accommodation to students this ^ummer ; the 

 Victoria University has, however, made no such provision. 

 The method of procuring instruction in practical agriculture and 

 experimental farming occupied much of the attention of the 

 meeting, and much stress was laid upon the importance of 

 securing the co-operation of farmers to look after the exj eri- 

 mental stations. 



On the matter of peripatetic teaching, it was felt by some 

 that no very great assistance could be expected from the element- 

 ary teacher, and that reliance must be placed upon the teacher 

 supplied by the Universities, in some cases advantageously 

 supplemented by the teachers in secondary schools. 



Not the least important feature in the Conference was the 



NO. I 175. VOL. 46] 



anxiety displayed by all present to urge on to the uimust ot 

 their power the great work of the dissemination of technical and 

 scientific instruction, influenced solely by disinterested motives 

 for the public service. 



Cambridge.— Prof. Bonney, F.R.S., Fellow of St. John's 

 College, will this year deliver the Rede Lecture in the Senate 

 House, on Wednesday, June 15, at noon. The subject is 

 " The Microscope's Contributions to the Earth's Physical 

 History." 



The Adams Memorial Committee have issued a circular 

 inviting contributions towards the erection of a monument 

 to the late Prof. J. C. Adams in Westminster Abbey. These 

 may be paid to one of the treasurers (Dr. Searle, Master 

 of Pembroke, and Prof. Liveing), or to one of the secretaries 

 ( Dr. Porter, Master of Peterhouse, Dr. Donald MacAlister, St. 

 John's, and Dr. Glaisher, Trinity), or to the account of the 

 Adams Memorial Fund at Messrs. Mortlock's Bank, Cambridge. 

 We do not doubt that the invitation will meet with a generous 

 response from the admirers of the great astronomer. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, April 28. — "On a Decisive Test-case dis- 

 proving the Maxwell-Boltzmann Doctrine regarding Distribution 

 of Kinetic Energy." By Lord Kelvin, Pres. R.S. 



The doctrine referred to is that stated by Maxwell in his paper 

 " On the Average Distribution of Energy in a System of Material 

 Points " (Camb. Phil. Soc. Trans., May 6, 1878, republished 

 in vol. ii. of Maxwell's "Scientific Papers") in the following 

 words : — 



"In the ultimate state of the system, the average kinetic 

 energy of two given portions of the system must be in the ratio 

 of the number of degrees of freedom of those portions." 



Let the system consist of three bodies, A, B, C, all movable 

 only in one straight line, KIIL : 



B being a simple vibrator controlled by a spring so stiff that 

 when, at any time, it has very nearly the whole energy of the 

 system, its extreme excursions on each side of its position of 

 equilibrium are small : 



C and A, equal masses : 



C, unacted on by force except when it strikes L, a fixed 

 barrier, and when it strikes or is struck by B : 



A, unacted on by force except when it strikes or is struck by 

 B, and when it is at less than a certain distance, HK, from a 

 fixed repellent barrier, K, repelling with a force, F varying, 



according to any law, or constant, when A is be- 



tween K and H, but becoming infinitely great ^t^tr 

 when (if at any time) A reaches K, and goes 

 infinitesimally beyond it. 



Suppose now A, B, C to be all moving to and 

 fro. The collisions between B and the equal bodies 

 A and C on its two sides must equalize, and keep 

 equal, the average kinetic energy of A, immediately 

 before and after these collisions, to the average 

 kinetic energy of C. Hence, when the times of A 

 being in the space between H and K are in- 

 cluded in the average, the average of the sum of 

 the potential and kinetic cneri^ies of A is equal to 

 the average kinetic energy of C. But the potential 

 energy of A at every point in the space HK is 

 positive, because, according to our supposition, 

 the velocity of A is diminished during every time 

 of its motion from H towards K, and increased to 

 the same value again during motion from K to H. 

 Hence, the average kinetic energy of A is less than 

 the average kinetic energy of C ! 



This is a test-case of a perfectly representative 

 kind for the theory of temperature, and it effect- 

 ually disposes of the assumption that the tem- 

 perature of a solid or liquid is equal to its 

 average kinetic energy per atom, which Maxwell 

 pointed out as a consequence of the supposed 

 theorem, and which, believed to be thus estab- 

 lished, has been largely taught, and fallaciously 

 used, as a fundamental proposition in thermo- HI" 

 dynamics. 



It is, in truth, only for an approximately " perfect " gas— that 

 is to say, an assemblage of molecules in which each molecule 



YF 

 A 



B 



"C 



