224 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



of experiencing an extraordinary bewilderment in diving 

 under water with closed eyes, through not knowing what 

 direction was ' up ' and ' which ' down. This fact proves 

 the use we can make of these canals in self-orientation, for 

 the deaf mute, in the above circumstance, has none of the 

 three means of learning his bearings. 



March 8th, 323rd meeting. Dr. Carpenter described 

 his recent visit to the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 

 at which Professor Sylvester was now a member of the 

 staff, and its Principal and Governors endeavoured to attract 

 students by offering them the best possible teaching on 

 each subject. He had been present at the opening of the 

 current session, and had seen at least 100 students, many 

 of whom had come to follow a high course of mathematical 

 study under Professor Sylvester. 



He had also been shown the working of the machine, 

 devised by Professor Rowlands and constructed under his 

 superintendence, for ruling lines very close together on sur- 

 faces of speculum metal, as large as 5 inches square, for 

 purposes of spectroscopic analysis. The machine was 

 then ruling 30,000 lines to the inch on a concave speculum, 

 and could work up to 36,000. Professor Rowlands' design 

 had been carried out by the workman then in charge of it, 

 and his ability was said to be by no means exceptional, 

 since the better early education of the American workman 

 comes out in a greater capacity for understanding his work 

 and in taking a stronger interest in it. The screw, which is 

 the essential feature of the machine, was devised by Professor 

 Rowlands himself, who had shown him, as a specimen of the 

 work which these gratings could accomplish, two photo- 

 graphs of the ultra-violet spectrum which were together 

 between 3 and 4 feet long. They showed a wonderful series 

 of sharply-defined and well-separated lines. Mr. Lockyer, 

 who also saw these results, considered them a new departure 

 in celestial photography. 



It was also part of the system of the Johns Hopkins 

 University to elect young men, who showed marked ability 

 in any department of research, to fellowships for a term of 



