212 



NATURE 



[January 2, 1896 



of auror^e are seen when sun-spots are at their minimum, that is, 

 at a time when in our own latitudes the number is smallest ; 

 and, on the other hand, we have Nordenskiold's observations, 

 which seem to point in the opposite direction. In a publication 

 which contains much imjjortant matter on .the geographical 

 distribution and form of the aurora borealis, Nordenskiold 

 contrasts the appearances he has observed in the Vega during 

 the winter of 1878-79, passed in the Behring Straits, with that 

 previously observed in 1872-73 to the north of Spitzbergen. 

 According to this author, the aurora, during the minimum sun- 

 spot period in 1878-79, were " hardly worthy of his notice by 

 the side of those observed in 1872-73-" But although only 

 faintly luminous, the aurorre of 1879 were persistent and regular 

 in shape. They did not affect the magnetic field, and seem to 

 show a regular and continuous, though weak, electric discharge. 

 The arc and streamers in 1872 were much more brilliant and 

 much more irregular. Some objection may be raised against 

 these observations, in so far as they refer to different places, and 

 local circumstances may have affected the phenomenon ; but in 

 the face of the very careful description he gives us, we cannot as 

 yet accept Paulsen's results without further confirmation. 



The problem of atmospheric electricity, like that of terrestrial 

 magnetism, presents special features in the arctic regions, and 

 until we possess a greater number of observations in those little 

 accessible parts of the earth's surface, many important problems 

 cannot be satisfactorily solved. Arctic and antarctic expeditions 

 are of interest to scientific men, not because they care much 

 whether we get a few miles nearer the pole, but because a well- 

 conducted party collects invaluable information on its journey. 

 Although much remains to be done in the regions surrounding 

 the north magnetic pole, 'our knowledge in the southern 

 hemisphere is almost disgracefully inadequate, and it is to be 

 hoped that before long a well-equipped expedition may fill 

 up to a certain extent the large gaps in our electrical and 

 magnetical knowledge which at present stop so many of our 

 researches. 



But although investigations to be conducted in the arctic 

 regions are of primary importance, we may do much nearer 

 home in extending and completing existing information. 

 Instrumental appliances and methods of observation, originally 

 put into a satisfactory state by Lord Kelvin, have been 

 improved, especially by Mascart, Exner, Elster, and Geitel. 

 One of our most crying wants at present is a series of 

 continuous observations by means of self-registering instruments 

 in places where the neighbourhood of a town, or other local 

 circumstances, do not interfere with the normal changes. The 

 Greenwich Observatory, to which we look for help in such 

 matters, is placed in the difficulty that the daily variations there 

 observed are markedly different from those in the majority of 

 places, and it is probable that the nearness of London is fatal to 

 any generally useful series of observations of atmospheric 

 electricity being conducted in our national Observatory. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The annual general meeting of the Association of Technical 

 Institutions will be held at the Goldsmiths' Hall on Friday, the 

 24th inst. 



The Senate of University College, Liverpool, on the joint 

 recommendation of Profs. Lodge and Hele Shaw, have appointed 

 Mr. Alfred Hay, B.Sc. , of University College, Nottingham, to 

 the Lectureship on Electrotechnics, vacant by reason of the 

 election of Mr. F. G. Baily to the chair of Electrical Engineering 

 at the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh. 



Mr. L. F. Goldstand has presented the Royal Agricultural 

 College, Cirencester, with the sum of ;^200 for the institution of 

 three silver medals annually, to be awarded according to results 

 of the final examination for the diploma, at the discretion and 

 decision of the Principal. The donor has requested that the 

 medals be styled the " McClellan," the " Harker," and the 

 "Goldstand," respectively; and the Principal, on behalf of the 

 Governing Body, has accepted and ratified the donation. 



The eighth annual report, just published by the National 

 Association for the Promotion of Technical and Secondary 

 Education, is a mine of statistical and other information 

 referring to the development of educational organisation in Great 

 Britain. Substantial progress is recorded in the work of 



NO. 



1366, VOL. 53] 



technical education : and it appears that of the ;^744,ooo annually 

 available in England alone, ^6oo,ocx) is being spent on education. 

 In the year covered by the report, 7252 scholarships and exhi- 

 bitions, of the total yearly value m. ^"40,598, were offered by 

 thirty-seven counties. A large section of the report is devoted to 

 summarising the recommendations of the Royal Commission on 

 Secondary Education. 



Among recent appointments and nominations abroad, we 

 notice the following : — Dr. Hiirthle to be Extraordinary Professor 

 of Physiology at Breslau ; Dr. N. Busch to be Director of the 

 Botanic Garden of the University of Dorpat ; Dr. K. G. 

 Huefner, Professor of Organic and Physiological Chemistry at 

 Tubingen, to succeed the late Prof. Hoppe-Seyler at Strass- 

 burg ; Dr. Bauschinger, of Munich, to succeed the late Prof. 

 Tietjcn as Extraordinary Professor of Astronomy at Berlin ; 

 Dr. Anton F. v. Eiselsberg, Professor of Surgery at Utrecht, to 

 be Prof. Braun's successor at Konigsberg ; Dr. H. Nichols to 

 \it Lecturer in Psychology in the Johns Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for August 

 1895 contains : On the variation of Haliclystus octoradiatus, by 

 Edward T. Brown (plate i). Some 154 specimens were 

 examined, 120 of these were perfectly normal but 34 afforded 

 either cases of congenital variation, or showed regeneration of 

 organs after destruction or injury. Most of the abnormal forms 

 are figured. — On the collar-cells of Heterocoela, by George 

 Bidder (plate 2). Observations were made on Leucandra asfera, 

 Sycon raphantis, S. cotiipressiim ; this last was found best suited 

 for examination under high powers during life, its collar-cells 

 are among the largest, if not as large, as any known. The pro- 

 toplasm of these cells is in life greenish, and they have nearly 

 the form and relation to each other of full corn-sacks standing 

 side by side in a granary. The living collar is invariably an 

 almost perfect cylinder, very little constricted at its base. As 

 to SoUas's membrane, the statements of Vosmaer and 

 Pekelharing, which the author once thought erroneous, he now 

 confirms, there is no normal union of the collars, the membrane 

 is only to be met with in "paraffin sections." — The metamorphosis 

 of Echinoderms, by Henry Bury (plates 3-9). With the 

 view of clearing up some of the differences in observation and 

 opinion of the more recent observers of the metamorphosis of 

 this group, the author has worked out as far as possible the 

 metamorphic changes of at least one form of larva in each of the 

 five classes of Echinoderms ; for reasons given, the metamorphosis 

 of Synapta is written in greater detail than that of the rest. As 

 to the relation of the Echinodermata to the Enteropneusta, 

 " there seems to be a chain of evidence of their connection, 

 which though not indeed conclusive — that embryologica! evidence 

 alone can never be — is at least as strong as that which binds 

 together any two of the great subdivisions of the animal 

 kingdom." — A criticism of the cell-theory ; being an answer to 

 Mr. Sedgwick's article on the inadequacy of the cellular theory 

 of development, by Gilbert C. Bourne. The article of Prof. 

 Sedgwick here criticised appeared in the Q.J. M.S. for 

 November 1894. 



The number for November 1895 contains :— On the distri- 

 bution of assimilated iron compounds, other than Haemoglobin 

 and Hrematins, in animal and vegetable cells, by Dr, A, B. 

 Macallum (plates 10-12). After some preliminary remarks on the 

 special literature of the subject and references thereto, the author 

 details his methods of study. This portion of the memoir is very 

 instructive, not only for the facts recorded, but for the hints 

 given ; chlorophyll yields no evidence that it contains iron, and 

 it is mentioned incidentally that species of Monotropa remain 

 colourless when fixed in solutions of corrosive sublimate. The 

 greater part and sometimes the whole of the assimilated iron in 

 the cells of the higher forms of animal life is held in the nucleus, 

 in the chromatin of which it is chiefly found, and the same is 

 true of the nuclei of all the higher vegetable organisms ; it is rarely 

 found in the cytoplasm of the cells, but full details of such 

 occurrences are given. An important section is devoted to the 

 occurrence of assimilated iron in special forms of life, such as in 

 protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and the Cyanophyces. — On the 

 structural changes in the reproductive cells during the sperm- 

 atogenesis of Elasmobranchs, by J. E, S. Moore (plates 13-16). 

 The author establishes a long series of structural homologies 

 found before, during, and after the synaptic phase in the repro- 



