January io, 1895J 



NATURE 



261 



approached us, they all became naturally easier to make out ; 

 but until October no change apparently occurred in any of them, 

 except those in the region about the Lake of the Sun. These 

 by September were already dark. In October they began to 

 show symptoms of growing lighter again. At the next presenti- 

 tion, in November, they showed further signs of change, though 

 not differing as yet very unmistakably in tint. Meanwhile, when 

 the .Sinus Tiianum region came round in November, I found that 

 its canals had begun likewise to darken. The canals were not 

 only darker relatively to the Mare Cimmerium and the Mare 

 Sirenum than they had been, but actually darker themselves. 

 In the next few nighrs the more northern canals about Ceraunius 

 had followed suit. They had darkened relatively to the southern 

 ones about the Lake of the Sun. 



Now, on looking at a map of Mars, it will be seen that the 

 .Solis Lacus region is that part of the continental areas which 

 lies nearest the south pole. Similarly, that the region about 

 Sinus Titanum is the next farthest south. The matter of latitude 

 therefore atTects the point. 



The canals and so-called lakes share, therefore, in the annual 

 metamorphosis, with a season change dependent in a general 

 way upon their latitudes. A wave of deepening tint passes suc- 

 cessively through the blue-green regions from south to north, 

 timed to the seasonal wave that travels from pole to pole. From 

 being pale in winter, their colour comes with the spring, 

 deepens through the summer, and dies out again in the autumn. 

 In any given locality the change comes early or late, in 

 proportion as the place lies, other things equal, dis'ant from 

 the pole. 



That this change of tint is due indirectly to water, and 

 directly to the vegetation that water induces, seems probable. 

 For just as there is great difficulty in disposing of the water on 

 the first supposition, so the second would Irad us to expect just 

 the phenomena observed. It may ihercfore be cmcluded that 

 the formations known as the seas of Mars are probably midway 

 in evolution between the seas of F.anh and the seas of the 

 Moon. That is to say, they are not barren ocean beds, but are 

 in that half-way stage of the process when their liwlevel hel|)s 

 them catch what water still voyages upon the planet's surface, 

 though they have long since parteil witti their own. 



Throughout all these inieresting chani^es that follow the 

 seasons across the face of Mars, there is but one feature ap- 

 proaching permanence — the great continental areas, lixcept 

 for a possible variation in brightness here and there, this great 

 area has remained unchanged. Like the reddish desert regions 

 of our Earth, its colour and iminuiability point to like character 

 for cause. It does not change because it is already past such 

 possibility. It is one vast desert waste. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



A NKW post has been created under the Education Depart- 

 ment for the purpose of obtaining -special intoimaiion and 

 issuing special reports, from time to time, in relation to 

 educational work at home and abroad. The fr. quenl demand 

 for fuller information on many educational sulgccis, and the 

 great increase of purely administrative woik, both at the 

 Education Department in Whitehall and at the Science and 

 Art Deparimeni, have made it desirable to have a separate 

 officer in charge of a small additional branch lor the above- 

 named purpose, who will be designa'ed " Diiec'or of Special 

 Inquiries and Reports." Thi~ appointment has been acccpied by 

 Mr. M. E. Sjdier, Student of Christ Church, and Secretary of 

 the University Extension Delegacy at Oxford. 



The Technical Education Hoard of tne London County 

 Council will be prepared early in July, 1895, to award not 

 more than five Senior County Scholarships of the annu.il value 

 of £fio in addiiion to the payment of college fees, tenable for 

 three years, and subject to annual renewal. The schola^^hips 

 are intended to provi<le the means of obtaining advanced 

 technical training in a university, univer-ily college, or tech- 

 nical institute ol universiiy rank for slulenis (yung men or 

 women) of exceptional alulity who would otherwise find it im- 

 possible to secure such tr.iining Candidates must, as a rule, 

 be under nineteen years of age on September I, 1895, but the 

 Board is prepared to consider very special cases in ■ hich the 

 candidates are above thai age. The scholarships are offered 

 with the view of encouraging the study of science or art, with 



special reference to industrial requirements, and will be tenable 

 at such institutions giving appropriate instruction within the 

 statutory definition of technical instruction as may be selected 

 by the scholars and apfiroved by the Board. In the selection 

 of scholars the Hoard will have regard, in the first instance, to 

 the past achievements of the candidates, but the Board 

 reserves the right to require any or all of the candidates to 

 undertake an examination if it think fit. No candidate will 

 be eligible whose parents have an income from all sources of 

 more tnan £i,<Xi per annum. 



Since November 1893, the Technical Education Board of 

 the London County Conned have aw.irded 721 Junior County 

 Scholarships, each of the value of ;^20 and two years' free 

 schooling. More than three thousand candidates pre- 

 sented themselves in competition for the scholarships, 

 which are re-tricted to children whose parents are in 

 receipt of not more than £\y^ a year. A detailed analysis 

 of the occupations of the |>ersons whose children com- 

 pe'ed for these scholarships is given in the London 'lechnical 

 Ediicalion Gazelle. It indicates that the highest percentage of 

 candidates who received scholarships is to be found in the 

 leather trades, and next to these in the printing trades and 

 jewellery and fine instrument trades, .\fier these come the 

 artistic trades and crafts, but the most remarkable feature is the 

 comparatively poor results obtained by the children of clerks, 

 agents and warehousemen, and ih; very poor success achieved 

 by the professional cla-ses. The time is not far distant when 

 the scholarships granted by the Board will amount to the value 

 of /^30,ooo per annum. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The Mathentalical Gazette, No. 3, December, 1894. — The 

 eccentric circle of Boscovich. In this continuation the editor 

 considers a special case in which the centre of the eccentric 

 circle lies on the straight line whose points of intersection with 

 the conic are required. He then discusses the mttho 1 as one 

 of transformation, and finally poinis out a connection between 

 reversion and perspeciive projection. — Dr. Mackay, in Greek 

 Geometers belore Euclid, wiites upon Pythagoras and the 

 Italic school. — Cajori's " History of .\Iathcniatics " is an all too 

 short noiice, by Dr. G. B. Halsied, o( a book that has come in 

 for a fair amount of praise and blame There .ire some very 

 interesting problt-ms, solutions of examination questions, and 

 questions lor soluti >n. — Prof. .\. Lodge supplies an addition to 

 his previous article on approximations and reductions. — We 

 note, with pleasure, that in fuiure the Gaztlte is to be enlarged 

 to twelve pagts. This additional space will greatly help to 

 increase the use of this journal, which has so quickly made its 

 way in school circles. 



Bultetiit of Hie American Mathematical Society (2nd series, vol. 

 i. No. 3, December, 1894). — The group of Holoedric Trans- 

 formation into it-elf of a given group, by Prof. E. II. Moore, 

 is a paper read before the Society at its November meeting. 

 The remaining article is by Dr. G. A. Miller, on ihe non- 

 primitive subsntuiion-groups of degree ten. A list of these was 

 given in the Quarterly Juurnal of Mathematics, vol. xxvii. pp. 

 40-42. A result ol ihe article belore us is that the following 

 six groups should lie deleli-d from that list, viz. 200.,, 200-, 200,, 

 10O3, 50,, 5O3. — In Ihe Briefer Notices short accounts are given 

 of 11. Hertz, ** Gesammclic Werke," liand iii. This volume, 

 the first one as yet issued, ciuit.iins a memoir on the principles 

 of theoreiical mechanics and mathematical physics, which was 

 composed during the last ihiee years of the author's life. The 

 next notice gives a sketch of a new edition of Grassmann'.s 

 mathematical works. It is to be hoped that, as w.as recently 

 suggested in Naiure by Pr if. Genese, a translation into 

 English of the AiiSilehniingslehre may soon be made, lor 

 the convenience of many suidenis in this country. The 

 other notices summarise the conienis of the Jahresbcrichte 

 der Detitschen Mathemntiker- I'ereiiiigutrg (vol. iii. 1893), 

 of the Proceedings of ihe /Vmeiican Association — for the forty- 

 second meeting, held .at Madison, Wis. (August, 1893); 

 of "Le Livrct de I'eiudiant de Paris" (Paris, 1894). — The 

 Notes comprise accounts of the November meetings of the 

 American and London Mathematical .Societies. By the way, 

 the reporter, who is a me nber of the latter Society, gives one 

 of the names of the Council incorrectly. There is also an ac- 



NO. 1315. VOL. 51] 



