January 17, 1895] 



NATURE 



287 



Phocylides' treatise as a work in which the discovery of new 

 satelliles was mentioned. But apparently he did not remember 

 very accurately the position assumed by the author, for the 

 book contains but little to encourage an observer in the belief 

 that he has discovered new satelli'es. 



It is perhaps worth noticing that the Philosophia was pub- 

 lished less than fourteen years before the date of Winthrop's 

 letter ; it must therefore have been quite a new hook when 

 Winihrop perused it, as he says, " many years since." 



Charles W. L. Joh.n'son. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Prof. J. Burdon Sanderson has been appointed 

 Regius Professor of Medicine in succession to .Sir Menry W. 

 Acland, whose resignation was announced last Term. In 

 accepting ihe Regius Professorship, Prof. Sanderson vacates 

 the \Va)nflete Chair of Physiology, which is more valuable in 

 a pecuniary sense. It is naturally a matter of regret that he 

 should formally sever hi-^ connection with the school of 

 Physiology which he may be said to have created in 0.\ford, 

 but it is recognised that no better appointment could have been 

 made lo the headship of the Medical .School which he has done 

 so much to encourage, and who^e in'eresis he will have further 

 opporluniiies of promoting in his new position. 



At a meeting of the Royal Statistical Society held on 

 Tuesday, a paper was read, by Mr. L. L. Price, on " The 

 Colleges of Oxford and Aijricu'tural Depression." The 

 accounts of the Oxford and Camhtidge Colleges have been 

 published year by year for some time pa-t, and in Mr. Pace's 

 paper the accounts of the Oxford Colleges for the years 1SS3-93 

 were brought under review. The gross external receipts of the 

 Colleges were in iSgjsome ;^ii,oro less than in 18S3, and the 

 net external receipts some ^^13.000. Though the external 

 receipts are not entirely derived from agricultural estates, it 

 seems within the facts to regard agricultural depression as 

 resi'onsihle for a loss of upwards of ;^6o,ooo of income 

 in 1S93. Turning to the eflVcts of the depression upon the 

 emoluments of the Heads, Fellows, .Scholars, and Exhibi- 

 tioners, to which the College revenues are mainly devoted, it 

 appears that these effects have been mitigated by the circum- 

 stances that the external receipts are not exclusively agricultural, 

 and that the emoluments aie also partly derived from internal 

 receipts and from Trusts. Siill the emoluments of the Heads 

 have lallen from ^'22, 811 to £20, 905, and of the Fellows from 

 .^83,820 to ^^74, 749. The emoluments of the Scholars and 

 Exhibitioners have however increased from .^£^44,776 to 

 ;{^48,37S. and their number has grown by upwads ol ninety ; and 

 if the increased contributions made by the Colleges to the 

 Uiiiversity are taken into consideration, the fall in the total 

 payments is only about 5 per cent. But there are Colleges, 

 where diminutious have occurred of more than ?5 percent, in 

 the emoluments of the Fellows, and the figures generally 

 are altr-red con-iderably for the worse by eliminating a few 

 prosperous Colleges. 



Camhridge. — Mr. A. Hutchinson, Fellow of Pembroke 

 College, has been appointed Demonstrator of Mineralogy 

 and Assistant-Curator of the Museuuu, in place of Mr. Solly, 

 who has retired. 



The Downing Professor of Medicine (Dr. Bradbury) 

 announces that the newly-organised Museum of Materia Medica 

 and the Pharmacological Laboratory are now open dady to 

 students of medicine, and that demonstrations will he given 

 therein liy Mr. Mar-hall, Ihe assistant to the Professor. 



Dr. Gaskell, K. R S., has been appointed an additional 

 member of the Board for Biology and Geology. 



The Royal Agricultural Society has now issued its revised 

 regulations and syllabus for the society's senior examinations, 

 framed in accordance wiih the important modifications recently 

 decided upon. The council have resolved to place annually at 

 the disposal of their educati'in commi'iee five lile memberships 

 of the society, to be awarded to the five candidate- who >tand 

 highest on the list of winners of first-class certificates, and who 

 ol>t.iin not less than two-thirds of the maximum number of 

 marks. The gold medal of the society will be bestowed upon 

 the candidate who -tands highest on the list of winners ol life 

 memberships, provided that he hasoiitained not less than three- 

 fourths of the maximum number of marks, and silver medals 



NO. 1316, VOL. 51] 



upon the other winners of life memberships, including the can- 

 didate at the head of the list, if he does not reach the standard 

 required for a gold medal. 



The Association of Head Masters held its first meeting as 

 an incorporated body on Thursday last. One of the items of the 

 agenda was a paper in which Mr Stuart described the usual 

 practice of teaching science, and said most of them were satisfied 

 that such a system had no educational value at all. -\11 ex- 

 periments must be capable of being performed and the observa- 

 tions made by the students. The experiments must be chiefly 

 quantitative and especially at first. Books and lecture 

 demonstrations must be avoided. He thought that a good 

 grounding in science might be given by doing practical work in 

 an ordinary class- room, upon common tables, with home-made 

 apparatus. The following resolutions were afterwards passed 

 by the meeting : — 



(a) " That the association is of opinion that examining bodies 

 should encourage a more rational method of teaching science, 

 by framing the syllabuses in such a manner that the practical 

 work required may be strictly illustrative of the theoretical 

 instruction given." 



(/') " That it be referred to the general committee to appoint 

 a small sub-committee, so that a report may be presented to 

 the next summer general meeting containing detailed suggestions 

 which it is proposed to make to examining bodies concerning 

 examinations in science." 



The Research Scholarship given by her Majesty's Com- 

 missioners for the Exhibition of 1851, to Mr. Edward Taylor 

 Jones, of the University College of North Wales, in 1892, has 

 been renewed lor a ihird year. Such renewal is only made in 

 cases of exceptional merit, where valuable scientific results are 

 likely to be obtained by a continuance of the scholar's research 

 work. Mr. Jones has just completed, at the Uuiversity of 

 Berlin, an e>perimen!al investigation solving an important 

 problem in magnetism. An account of the research has been 

 communicated to her Majesty's Commissioners, aud will shortly 

 be published. 



The Professorship of Mathematics in the Government Train- 

 ing College, Ireland, vacant by the retirement of Principal 

 Corbctt, has been filled by the appointment of Mr. Dilworth, 

 of Trinity College, Dublin. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, January 7. — M. Marey in the 

 chair. — A list of the present members, foreign associates, and 

 correspondents of the Acidemy is given. — .M. .\. Cornu was 

 elected Vice-President for 1895 — Pre 'aration, in the elec- 

 tric furnace, of graphites fotsonnants, by -M. Henri Moissan. 

 For all varieties ol graphite prepared by intense heat, the 

 tempenture of intumescence alter shaking in nitric acid is about 

 I65°-I75° C. They resemble natural graphites in this and other 

 respects, hence the probability that the latter have been pro- 

 duced at a very high temi eraiure under moderate pressures in 

 masses of iron which have since disappeared. — The vasomotor 

 nerves of the veins, by M L. Ranvier. From the results of 

 experiments quoied, the author concludes that veins as well as 

 arteries are supplied with vasomotor nerves. — On the first 

 scientific voyages of the Princess Alice, by Prince .Vlbeit I. of 

 Monaco. — .4ii addition to Le Verricr's theory ol the movement 

 of Saturn and rectification of the Tables, by M. A. Giillot. — 

 On the approximate dcvdopment of the perturbation luuctioo, 

 by M. N. Coculesco. — On roots common to several equations, 

 by M. WaMicr D)ck. — On ihe theory ol a system of ditterential 

 equal ions, b) M. A.J. Siodolkicviiz. — On the ihcuryoi exchange- 

 able substitutions, by M. Demeczky. — On the absoluie value of 

 the magnetic elements on January I, 1895, by -M. Th. .Moureaux. 

 The values are given for (A) Pare Sami-Maur, Long, o' 9' 23" 

 E. and Lat. 48° 48' 34" N. ; (B) Perpignan, Long, o' 32' 45" JE. 

 and Lat. 42° 42' 8' N. 

 Elements. Abs. values Jan. i, 1895. Secular variation in 1394. 



Declination ... (A)i*5 laV ••■ (B)°4 3'4 -(A)-s'3 ... (B)-s'o 



Inclination ... 65 4*9 ... 6099 ... -12 ... -08 



Hurizontal 



component ... 0*19641 ... o"2234S ... -fo'oooi; ... 4-0*00025 



Vent- .*il com- 

 ponent 042277 ..." 0*38961 ... -000003 ... -ho*oooai 



Total force ... 0*4^617 ... 044914 ... -fo 00005 ■•• -1-0*00031 



