January 30, 1896] 



NATURE 



309 



for the Long Vacation, will be held in Cambridge during April 

 next, probably towards the end of the month. A large 

 concourse is expected. 



Science states that the late Franklin Baldwin, of North 



(Grafton, Mass., has made the following bequests, to take effect 

 on the death of his wife : — Wellesley College, 50,000 dollars to 

 found a chair in Mathematics in memory of his daughter, Katie 

 I Emma Baldwin ; Smith College, Northampton, 12,000 dollars 

 > for scholarships ; the University of Vermont, 10,000 dollars for 

 scholarships ; Dartmouth College, 6000 dollars for scholarships. 

 The residue of the estate (some 20,000 dollars) is left to Clark 

 University. It is also stated that Mrs. E. G. Kelly, of Chicago, 

 will erect a chapel, at a cost of 100,000 dollars, for the University 

 of Chicago, as a memorial to her brother. 



The following are among recent appointments abroad : — Dr. 

 C. A. Strong to be Lecturer on Psychology in Columbia College ; 

 Prof. L. S. Luther to be President of Kenyon College, Gambier, 

 Ohio ; Prof. Theodore von der Goltz to be Professor of 

 Agriculture in the University at Bonn ; Dr. Dock to be Professor 

 of Pathology and Bacteriology at Jefferson Medical College, 

 Philadelphia ; Prof W. L Blake to be Professor of Geology and 

 Mining in the University of Arizona ; Dr. Hiifner to be Pro- 

 fessor of Physiological Chemistry at Strassburg ; Dr. H. Rubens, 

 Privat-docent in Physics in the Physiological Institute at Berlin, 

 to be Extraordinarj' Professor ; Dr. L. Neumann, Extraordinary 

 Professor of Geography at FVeiburg, to be Ordinary Professor ; 

 Dr. Max Le Blanc to be Extraordinary Professor of Physical 

 Chemistry at Leipzig ; II. F. Wiebe and Dr. K. Feussner, of 

 the Charlottenburg Reichsanstalt, to be Professors ; Dr. A. 

 Weiss to be Assistant in the Mineralogical Institute of Greifswald 

 University. Among recent nominations are : Dr. Otto Miigge 

 to the chair of Mineralogy at Ktinigsberg ; Dr. Klemencic to be 

 Professor of Physics at Innsbruck. 



One of the best products of the Technical Education move- 

 ment is the Journal of the Essex Technical Laboratories— a 

 monthly bulletin issued by the Technical Instruction Committee 

 of the Essex County Council. The current number contains 

 short descriptions of tuberculosis in cattle, the influence of 

 various manures on pasture, the pruning of trees, the growth 

 of plants, and other subjects, most of them instructively illus- 

 trated. A. note at the end of the yt>«r«a/ announces that " The 

 resources of the County Technical Laboratories are always at 

 the disposal of correspondents as far as such services do not in- 

 terfere with the regular work of the classes. Such work as test- 

 ing germinating power and purity of seeds, identification of 

 grasses, weeds, &c., examination of diseased plants and in- 

 jurious insects, bacteriological examination of milk, &c., may be 

 cited as the kind of help hitherto rendered to inquirers." By 

 affording such opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge, 

 and by the encouragement to observation and exact work offered 

 in the Journal, the Essex Technical Instruction Committee is 

 doing work which will benefit the county and the nation. 



A MOVEMENT was Started last year to secure greater facilities 

 at the University of Paris for such prolonged study with the ac- 

 quisition of learned degrees as hitherto has attracted English 

 and American students chiefly to Germany. The Times corre- 

 spondent at Paris now calls attention to the promulgation, a 

 few days ago, of a decree reforming the Licence es Sciences. 

 Partially owing to the greater liberty permitted in the choice of 

 studies, the possibility of moving from one University to another, 

 and the privilege of being examined when they wish, English 

 and American students have hitherto patronised almost ex- 

 clusively the German Universities. The new decree will 

 permit F' ranee to offer, at least as far as the scientific faculties 

 are concerned, attractions equal or superior to those of Germany. 

 As compared with the old regulations, the important provisions 

 of the new decree are as follows :— First, the principle of 

 election is introduced into the groups of studies chosen by the 

 student ; secondly, the student may migrate from one institution 

 to another ; and, thirdly, he may pass his examinations as he 

 chooses, either singly or en bloc. After taking the Licence, the 

 student may secure the doctor's degree upon presenting a satis- 

 factory dissertation. Under the German system the candidate 

 submits his thesis first and passes his examination afterwards, the 

 doctorate being the only recognition he receives. In France, on 

 the contrary, the student by passing his examination first will 

 secure a certificate for every subject which he takes up, and will 

 receive the Licence when he has completed the whole group, 

 regardless of whether he ever takes the doctorate or not. 



NO. 1370, VOL. 53] 



The annual general meeting of the Association of Technical 

 Institutions was held on Friday last. The Right Hon. A. J. 

 Mundella, M.P. , was elected president for the year, in succession 

 to Mr. W. Mather. In his presidential address, Mr. Mundella 

 referred to the systems of technical education abroad, and said 

 that England was suffering from her past neglect and from over- 

 confidence. As a consequence of the industrial training which 

 the people of Switzerland had received, that country had 

 exported a greater proportion of manufactured articles per head 

 of her population than any other nation in the world. This 

 he attributed wholly to education, the country being without 

 coal and iron. German manufacturers also had the great 

 advantage of employing a body of highly-disciplined men, 

 who thoroughly understood the technique of their occupa- 

 tion. He held that if this country wished to make further 

 progress in technical education there must be co-operation by 

 employers. Elementary education should also be improved, 

 and children should remain a longer time at school. The 

 Association of Technical Institutions existed for the purpose of 

 developing industrial education, but he warned them against 

 becoming mere grant-earners. In a discussion that followed, 

 upon the new syllabus for practical chemistry, regret was ex- 

 pressed that the Department of Science and Art still requires 

 students in the elementary stages to have had practice in 

 qualitative analysis. The alternative scheme for the award of 

 grants based upon attendances as well as examination was 

 discussed, and several alterations in the conditions of the scheme 

 were suggested. Other subjects which were considered by the 

 Association were the standard of success in the Department's 

 examinations last May, and the Report of the Royal 

 Commission. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Meteorological Journal, January. — The audibility of 

 fog-signals, by Prof. H. A. Hazen. The recent grounding of a 

 passenger steamer on Great Gull Island in a dense fog, within 

 five thousand feet due west of a second-class siren which was 

 sounding at the time, calls attention to several points referred to 

 in a paper by the same author in the journal for October last. 

 This siren has been heard to a distance of twenty miles under 

 favourable circumstances ; but the captain of another steamer, 

 which approached the island from the west at the time of the 

 accident, states that his look-out was unable to hear any sound 

 as they approached the island, whereas, after passing, the 

 whistle could be plainly heard. — Atmospheric phenomena in the 

 Arctic regions in their relation to dust, by Prof. W. II. Brewer. 

 The author states that none of the fogs in high latitudes are so 

 white and opaque as those seen south of lat. 50°, and that it is 

 rare that they are so opaque that large dark objects cannot be 

 seen at a distance of two hundred feet. In the Greenland seas 

 the fogs were, as a rule, very much wetter. Often when the fog 

 was so transparent that objects could be seen for half a mile or 

 even a mile from the ship, the water would drip like rain from 

 the rigging. On returning to the south, where the fogs were 

 very dense and objects could not be seen at a ship's length, there 

 was a marked contrast in their wetness ; the air did not appear 

 as if entirely saturated. The dust particles in the air over the 

 southern waters were ample to collect all the moisture, while in 

 the Greenland fogs condensation went on as if there was not 

 nearly dust enough in the air to supply the demand. 



Bulletin de F Acaddmie Royale de Belgique, Nos. 9-10. — At 

 the request of M. Spee, astronomer at the Royal Belgian 

 Observatory, a sealed packet was opened which had been 

 deposited by him on January 8, 1887, and contained the 

 description of an apparatus to enable astronomers to obtain the 

 spectroscopic conditions of a total solar eclipse for the observa- 

 tion and photography of the corona and prominences. It is best 

 described as a body generated by the revolution of a longitudinal 

 section of a direct-vision spectroscope about its longer side, thus 

 producing a series of cones and cylinders. This body is used fpr 

 the spectroscopic analysis of a cylindrical beam of light pro- 

 ceeding from the chromosphere, and obtained by means of a 

 circular slit of diameter equal to that of the sun's image suitably 

 inserted in the telescope. The less highly refractive glass may 

 also be replaced by a liquid, thus leading to considerable simpli- 

 fication, or the whole may be replaced by a circular grating. 

 It should be noted that an apparatus very similar to this was 

 described by Mr. C. Zenger in 1893. — t)oes a net impede the 



