July 5, 1894J 



NA TURE 



Bicycle" by Messrs. T. G. Allen and W. L. Sachilehen, an 

 article on " Coasting by Surrento and Amalfi," and one on 

 "The Highroad from Salerno to Sorrento," all of them being 

 well illustrated. 



In addition to tlie magazines named in the foregoing, we have 

 received Zo«u'W(7«j', containing "Polar Hear Snooting on the 

 East Coast of Greenland," by Dr. Xan-en, and " Cham'jis 

 Hunting above the Snow Line,' by Mr. Hugh E. -M. Stutftcld. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambkidi'.e. — The following are the speeches delivered by 

 the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, Fellow and Tuior of St 

 John's, on June 27, in presenting Sii John liennet Lavies, 

 Bart., F.R.S., Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert, F.k.S., and Prof. 

 Mendeleef, for the honorary degree of Doctor in .Science : — 



(1) Salutamus tandem par nobile collegarum qui de agrorum 

 cultura, de pecudum alimentis variis, experimentis exquisiiis 

 una elaborandis annos quinquaginia, magnum profecto aetaiis 

 humanae spatium, dedicarunt. Tot annorum auieui labores non 

 modo chartae fideles in perpetuum custodieni, ted eiiani saxum 

 ingens nomine utroque insculplum inter posteros testabiiur. 

 .\b ipso autem " monumentum aere perennius " erit exacluni, 

 experimentis tam utilibus, tarn Iructuosis, munificentia ipsius 

 etiam in posterum continuaiis. Auguramur, nee nos fallit 

 auguiium, in agri culturae annalibus talium virorum nomina fore 

 immortalia. 



Duco ad vos Baronettum insignetu, Regiae societatis socium, 

 virum doctoris titulo bis aliunde merilo ornatum, lo.^NNtM 

 He.nnet Lawes. 



(2) Quos tot annorum labores una coniunxerunt, eos in 

 laudibus nostris hodie divellere vix possumus. Constat lamen 

 labores illos viri huiusce scientiae admirabili et indusiriae inde- 

 fessae plurimum debere. Constat eosdem eiusdem scriptis, 

 eiusdem orationibus, non modo in patria nostra sed ciiain 

 pcregre niaximo cum fructu esse patefacios. Cum collega siio 

 siimma concordia coniunctus, Plinii verba iure opiimo posset 

 usurpare : " nobis cral nullum certamen, nulla contcntio, cum 

 uterque pari iugo non pro se, sed pro cau>a niteretur." 



" Felices ter et ampliu^ 

 quos irrupla lenct cupula." 



Uuco ad vos Regiae societatis socium, virum ab ipsa Regina 

 cquitem propter uierita nominatum, losEi'HL'M Henkicu.m 



GlI.HF.KT. 



(3) In scientia chemici investiganda diu inter peiilos quaere- 

 baiur, quaenain ratio iiiteresset inter atomorum poiidera e 

 fjuiljus rerum elenieuta consiarent el vires eas, sive chemicas 

 »ive physicas, quae elcmentis ipsis velut propriae inhaererent. 

 <Jua in ratione penitus perscrutanda atque ad certain quandam 

 legem redigenda nemo plura perfecisse existiinalur quam vir 

 illuslris tjui .Siberia in remota natus, et undecim abhinc annos a 

 societate Rcfjia Londincnsi numismate aureo donatus, hodie 

 nostra corona qualicumque decoralur. Magnum piolccto est 

 inter tot elementa ratioiiem certis intervallis velut tircuitu 

 quodam recurientem observasse, eque rerum nolarum oliservn- 

 tione etiam ignoia providisse. Viri huiusce ingeiiio etiam 

 elementa prius inamiita mentis divinatione singulari praedicta 

 sunt poisteaque in ipsa lemm natura reperla. (Juae elementa, 

 trium geniiuin inslgiiuiiii nominibus Gallium, Scandium, 

 Germanium nuncupata, iiomen ipsius illustrius leddiderunt et 

 Kussorum famani, quamuin ad ipsum attinci, kliciier auxerunt. 

 Ergo virum de scicntia chemica tam dm lanuiue praeclare 

 meritum, tolque liluli^ aliunde urnatum, hodie etiam iiustroium 



*'turb.l (Juirilium 

 certat tergetninis tollcic lionoribus." 



Newtoni eerie in Acadcmia honos ei praeserlim debetur, qui 

 etiam in scientia chemici Newioni in vestigiis tam fidtliier 

 insistil, ut alumni nosti i "'qui genus humanum ingenio super- 

 avit " imaginein intuen>, Lucrcii verba paululum muiata possit 

 usurpare : — 



** te seqnor, o Grantae magnum deciic, in>|ue tuis nunc 

 ticta pedum pono prc^sis v^r^ti^iu .-i^iHs." 



Duco ad vosscieniiae chemicae professorem Petrobiirgcnsem, 

 Demetriu.m IVANLlVnClI Mendei.eef. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal cf Science, June. — Notes from the Ber- 

 mudas, by Alexander Agassiz. The story of their present con- 

 dition is practically that of the Bahamas, with the exception 

 that at the liermudas «e have an epitome, as it were, of the 

 physical changes undergone by the Bahamas. The develop- 

 ment of ihe true reef builders, c f ihe massive coral?, is insignifi- 

 cant. Subsidence has brought about ihe existing outlines of 

 the islands, but there is no evidence to show tHat the original 

 annular coial reef was formed during subsidence. That reef 

 has disappeared, and nothing is left of it except the remnants 

 of the seolian ledges extending to sixteen or seventeen fathoms 

 outside the leef ledge flats, ledges which owe their existence 10 

 the material derived from it : ihe former aolian hills of the 

 proto-bermudian land. — Discovery of Devonian rocks in 

 California, by J. S. Diller and Charles Schuchert. During the 

 field seasons of 1884 and 1893, the U.S. Geological Survey 

 acquired six lots of Devonian lossils, comprising about thirty 

 species, mostly corals. They demonstrate the undoubted 

 presence of middle Devonian deposits in California, where rocks 

 of this age have long been looked for by geologists, more par- 

 ticularly since the recent discovery of Silurian fossils. — New 

 method of determining the relative afhnilies of certain acids, liy 

 M. Carey Lea. This method is based on the principle that the 

 affinity of any acid is proportional to the amount of base which 

 it can retain in the presence of a strong acid selected as a standard 

 of comparison for all acids. When to free sulphuric acid a salt 

 is added in sufficient quantity to cause the whole of ihesulphuiic 

 acid to saturate itself with the salt base, it is possible by means 

 of the herapathite lest to determine the exact point of such 

 saturation. From this we can deduce the exact nature of the 

 resulting equilibrium. A series of equilibria thus obtained wilh 

 difterent salts enables us to determine the comparative strength 

 of ihe affinities of the acids of these salts. The fact that even 

 small quantities of weak acids added to sulphates will set free a 

 certain quantity of sulphuric acid, can be rendered visible to 

 the eye by a well-marked chemical reaction. — .X recent analysis 

 of I'ele's Hair and a stalagmite Irom the lava caves of Kilauea, 

 by A. H. Phillips. The stalagmite is of ihe kind characteristic 

 of the lava caverns of Kilauea, differing very slightly from P< Ic's 

 Hair in constitution, but widely Irom ordinary stalagmites formed 

 by undoubted solution. ') hey are suggestive of fused drops, 

 which falling one on the other are at the time sufficiently plastic 

 10 be quite firmly welded together and congealed in a slightly 

 drooping position. 



Bulletin i^f the Ncu' York Matluiitalical Society, vol. iii. No. 

 S, May 1894. (New York : Macmillan.) — •' Utiliiyof quatern- 

 ions in physics " is an analysis by Prof. A. S. Hathaway of A. 

 McAulay's es^ay, which is well known to our readers (see 

 Nature, December 28, 1S93, amongst other references). Ihe 

 reviewer considers it to be "of undoubted scentific value, and 

 the «ork of a man of genuine power and originality," and that 

 it will go far towards accomplishing the author's purpose of 

 arousing serious interest in quaternion analysis. — Prof. Enesi 16m, 

 in a note upon the history of the rules of convergence in the 

 eighteenth century, calls attention to two other mathematician,-, 

 in addition to those named in a notice by Prof. Cijori, in vol. 

 ii. pp. I -10, viz. Maclautin and Stirling : (or the former he 

 claims "a signal place in the history of these rules." — Prof. F. 

 Franklin concisely abstracts Dr. Franz Me) er's " Bericht liber 

 den gegen«ariigen Stand der Invarienieniheorie," a work 

 which gives a remarkably full abstract of researches in ihe 

 domain of algebraic lorms and Invariants. — Cajon's " History 

 of Malhematics" (pp. 190-197) is a work which Prof. D. 

 E. Smith submits to a searching examination, the commence- 

 ment of which is a seveie condemnation of great pan of the 

 book, founded on a side by side compaiision of C?jori's state- 

 ments with ihose of previous wriiers on the subject, which he 

 is alleged to have copied without giving due cieilit 10 ihe 

 authors cited. He stales the book to be weak in bibliogiaphy, 

 and carelessly written. Its merits are that ii tells the general 

 story of the growth of mathematics in a popular way, is well 

 printed and " allogelher an attractive piece of book-making." 

 Not having seen the work we cannot say if this witness is true, 

 but he certainly adduces evidence which it wiU be haul 10 

 rebut. — " Gravitation and absolute units of force " is an abstract 

 of a paper lead before ihe New York .Malhemaiical Society by 

 I'rof. W. Woolsey Johnson. Prof. Greenhill's vicw^ are 



NO. I2S8, VOL. 50] 



