JuLV 4, 1 895 J 



NA rURE 



Switzerland, which since 1873 had maintained stations in 

 mountain piisses, &c. , has now on the Santis (8200 ft.) in the 

 cantcjn of A|)penzell, one of the licsl located and equipped 

 summit stations in the world : and in Italy an observatory on 

 Monte Cimone (7100 ft.) in the Apennines, near Lucca, has 

 recently been completed. 



On Hen Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain (4400 

 ft.), there is a remarkable station where during ten years an 

 unbroken series of hourly observations has been maintained. 

 There is a base station at sea-level, and the advantageous situa- 

 tion on the west coast of .Scotland renders the results of the 

 observations, which have been discussed by Dr. Buchan, of 

 great value. 



It is impossible to even enumerate all that has been gained 

 from these high-level observations, but the chief results attained, 

 or still sought, may be thus summarised : Determination of 

 normal decrease of temperature and humidity with elevation ; 

 abnormal changes with elevation in cyclones (or areas of low 

 pressure near the ground) and in anti-cyclones (or areas of high 

 pressure near the ground) ; height to which these cyclones and 

 anti-cyclones persist, and the circulation of the air around each 

 at various levels. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



O.XKORD. — At the Encaenia, or Commemoration of Oxford 

 Founders, held on June 26, the honorary degree of D.C. L. was 

 conferred upon Sir W. II. Flower, Prof. Michael Foster, M. 

 Edward Naville, the distinguished .Swiss Egyptologist, and Sir 

 A. W. p'ranks, President of the Society of Antiquaries. 



Sir J. E. Gorst has succeeded Mr. .Acland as Vice-President 

 of the Council for Education. 



Mr. IIkrbert IIa.ncock, Mathematical and Physics master 

 in Bancroft's School, Woodford, London, has just been 

 appointed to the headmastership of the Hipperholme Grammar 

 School, an important science centre for the North of England. 



A r a Convocation of Durham University on Tuesday, June 25, 

 the Sub-Warden announced that the new Charter had been 

 received by which power is given to the University to confer 

 degrees upon women in all faculties except Divinity, .\mong a 

 large number of degrees conferred was that uf Bachelor of 

 Science on Miss Ella Mary Brjant, Durham College of Science, 

 Newcastle. 



In consequence of the shortly ensuing General Election, the 

 annual meeting of the National .Association for the Promotion 

 of Technical and .Secondary Education, and the Conference of 

 representatives of Technical Education Committees, which had 

 been arranged to take place in Lond(jn on Iidy 11, have been 

 postponetl. 



On Thursday last a very successful and numerously attended 

 conversazione was held at University College, London. The 

 guests were received on the grand staircase by the President (Sir 

 John Erichsen, Bart., K.R.S. ) and Deans of Faculties. The 

 various scientific departments of the College were thrown open, 

 and many interesting exhibits contributed to the success of the 

 evening. Among the latter were included the spectra of argon 

 and helium, various electrical and physical experiments, living 

 --eaweeds and marine animals, new models of dividing nuclei, &c. 



Thk University of London has conferred the degree of Doctor 

 of Science, without examination, on Mr. Th. Groome, Professor 

 of Natural History at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 

 m recognition of the merits of his original researches and 

 published ixipers. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Lancet writes as follows : — 

 "The publication of a rumour that the authorities intend to 

 abolish the University of Jena, has caused a stir in the scientific 

 world, the university being one of the oldest in Germany, and 

 h.-iving often occupied a leading position. Financial reasons are 

 said to have induced the authorities to arrive at this decision. 

 The Constitution of the University of Jena is somewhat peculiar. 

 It is not under the jurisdiction of a single State, but belongs 

 jointly to fourSt.atesof Thuringia, viz., Saxe- Weimar, Meiningen, 

 Coliurg, and Altcnburg. The Governments of those small 

 States entirely control the afl'airs of the university. If, for in- 



NO. 1340, VOL. 52] 



stance, a new professor is to be appointed they must all consent 

 to his nomination. To put a stop to the further propagation of 

 this rumour, the official journals of the four united Governments 

 declare that the continued existence of this venerable university 

 is assured both by public grants and by large donations recently 

 made by old pupils and others. This communication has been 

 received with general satisfaction, particularly in the town of 

 Jena itself, which is entirely dependent upon the university." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Mathciiialical Gazette, No. 5 (.May 1895). — This numtjer 

 opens with a paper read by Dr. C. Taylor at the annual meeting of 

 the A.I.G.T. in January last, of which the title is "The Syllabus 

 of Geometrical Conies." In it the writer passes in review what 

 he has done in the subject since his first contribution to the 

 Messenger m 1862. Amongst other reasons for writing at this 

 date. Dr. Taylor states: " I have, as I think, arrived at some- 

 thing like finality in my own view of the way in which the sub- 

 ject should be approached." It is on this ground that we com- 

 mend the author's paper to persons interested in the teaching 

 of geometrical conies. They will derive profit from it. The 

 second of the mathematical worthies noticed by Mr. Heppel is 

 John Dee, noteworthy from his contributions to Billingsley's 

 translation of I^uclid. The notes, solutions of Gazette questions, 

 solutions of examination questions, and questions for solution, 

 which are all ver)' useful for the readers addressed, are, with 

 the enlarged form of the journal, greatly increased in number 

 and variety. Several recent text-books are also the subject of 

 judicious and discriminating criticism. The Gazette should 

 certainly have a successful career. 



American Journal of ^[athemat^cs, vol. x\4i. No. 3. — On irra- 

 tional covariants of certain binary forms, by E. Study, discusses 

 the most importanc covariants of binary cubics and quartics and 

 of some other special binary forms. .After paying tribute to the 

 methods of Cayley and Clebsch, the author gives his reasons for 

 working the whole subject over again. By means of a carefully 

 chosen system of notation, he presents his results, as he believes, 

 in a form that will be useful to those who have to deal with the 

 numerous applications of the binary quantics of the lowest 

 orders. In some detail (pp. 185-215) he examines the cubic, 

 and the quartic and octahedron, and points out several small 

 numerical errors in previously obtained results. The same 

 writer contributes an article on the connection between binary 

 quartics and elliptic functions. This is an application of the 

 theory developed in the previous article to elliptic functions. In 

 it he compares the relations among the rational and irrational 

 covariants of a quartic with the identities among the four theta- 

 functions ; by this means a new light is thrown upon the 

 familiar formula-, and at the same time a number of new results 

 are derived, which make the theorj' in question, the author 

 states, in a certain sense complete. Stress is laid upon the fact 

 that all the results are obtained by means of actual calculations, 

 and that no use is made of the method of indeterminate 

 coefficients. — Semi-combinants as concomitants of affiliants, by 

 H. S. White, opens up a new path apparently (pp. 234-265): 

 " I consider all ground forms that are included in the con- 

 junctive of the system, and those of them that satisfy invariant 

 equations of suitable order, linear in their coefficients, I 

 designate as affiliant ground forms." The paper shows that not 

 only is every semi-combinant ground form an affiliant, but also 

 every affiliant ground form is a semi-combinant. Three short 

 notes follow, viz. : Simplification of Gauss's third proof that 

 every algebraic ecjuation has a root, by ,M. Bikher, a note read 

 before the American Mathematical Society (^/. Nature, p. 189); 

 note sur les lignes cycloidales, by R. de Saussu re : and note 

 on lines of curvature, bv T. II. Taliaferro. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, .April 25. — '' Acokanlhera .Schimperi: 

 Natural History, Chemistry, and Pharmacology." By Prof. 

 ThoiiLis R. Eraser, F. R.S., and Dr. Joseph Tillie. 



Specimens of the wood from which the Wa Nyika, W"a 

 Gyriama and Wa Nyika arrow-poison is prepared have been 

 examined by us and referred to the genus Acokan:hera. and 



