November i6, 1893] 



NATURE 



present the scheme has merely been brought before the Hebdo- 

 madal Council, and has, as yet, assumed no definite shape. 



Camuridge. — The Local Examinations and Lecture Syndi- 

 cate have presented to the Senate their twentieth annual report. 

 The most important event of the year has been the establishment 

 of the University Extension and Technical College at Exeter. 

 The college has been established by the co-operation of the 

 Town Council of Exeter, the University Extension Committee 

 of Exeter, and the Syndicate, and IVIr. A. W. Clayden, of 

 Christ's College, has been appointed principal. The work done 

 for County Councils under the authority of the Syndicate has 

 been continued during the past year. There has been a con- 

 siderable diminution in the area covered, as County Councils 

 have been able to utilise to a greater extent than before the 

 services of local teachers, and have spent a larger proportion of 

 their available funds in grants in aid of permanent institutions 

 for technical teaching. On the other hand, the reports received 

 from lecturers indicate considerable improvement in the quality 

 of the work done. About 650 students attended the summer 

 ineeting, of whom 150 were men and 500 women. On the whole 

 the work done was satisfactory, though a certain number of 

 students attempted too many subjects. It is not considered 

 desirable to hold such meetings oftener than once in two years, 

 but classes on a smaller scale may satisfactorily be held in the 

 alternate long vacations. From Mr. Arthur Berry's report to the 

 Syndicate it appears that the stimulus given to the work of the 

 local lectures last year by the activity of the County Councils in 

 the matter of technical education has lost a good deal of its 

 effect, as more permanent institutions for educational purposes 

 are gradually being organised. Not only have literature and 

 history thus suffered, but courses on branches of science not of 

 obviously practical utility (such as astronomy) have tended to be 

 <iispiaced. by more "technical" subjects. It is satisfactory to 

 learn that such engagements as have already been made for the 

 ensuing winter indicate a distinct reaction against the exclusive 

 study of " bread and cheese" subjects. 



In resigning office on September 30, the late Vice-Chancellor, 

 Dr. Peile, called attention to the lack of funds for research in 

 -everal of the scientific departments. He is now able to an- 

 nounce that an anonymous member of the Senate has placed 

 in his har.ds ;^ioofor the support of higher work in the Patho- 

 logical Department during the coming academical year. 



A fire, which took place at the Pitt Press last week, has 

 Eccessitated the temporary evacuation of the room occupied by 

 the Registrar. The Old Library of Pembroke College has 

 been placed at his disposal by the Master and Fellows, and the 

 business of the office will be carried on there during the present 

 term. 



The scheme for examinations in agricultural science under a 

 managing syndicate was non-placeted on November 9, but was 

 carried by a very large majority. The proposal to postpone 

 the conferring of Honours degrees to the Long Vacation, in 

 order to give more time for the Tripos examinations, was 

 rejected. 



The University Reporter of November 14 contains notices of 

 scholarships in Natural Science open for competition to non- 

 lesidents at Peterhouse, Clare, Pembroke, King's Queen's, St. 

 john',>. and Sidney Sussex. The examinaiions will be held in 

 December and January, next. 



Trinity College, Dubli.v. — There is during this term a 

 large increase in the number of students interested in the study 

 of biology ; so large, in fact, that the accommodation in the 

 Botanical Laboratory has had to be increased. This is a 

 pleasing feature in a university so long devoted to classical 

 pursuits. 



At the recent Moderatorship Examinations, three candi- 

 dates, C. J. Patten, -F-. K. Boyd, and N. H. Alcock, obtained 

 Senior Moderatorships, and were awarded gold medals in 

 Natural Science (Botany, Zoology, Geology, and Physiology). 

 During the week the University Experimental Science Associa- 

 tion" held its opening meeting, when a very large audience 

 assembled to hear Dr. Joly, F. R. S., deliver a lecture on 

 '■ Some Applications of Photography." The Provost, Dr. 

 Salmon, occupied the chair. 



The British Medical yournal %:iy% that steps are being taken 

 to arrange for a deputation representing the university colleges 

 in England to wait, shortly, upon the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer, to urge upon him the propriety of increasing the 

 annual parliamentary grant. A sum of ;,{^is,ooo has been 



granted annually since 1890, and when this sum was first placed 

 upon the estimates, it was understood that the question would 

 be reviewed at the end of five years. A Treasury Committee, 

 consisting of Sir Henry Roscoe, Mr. George Curzon, Prof. 

 Bryce, Mr. R. G. C. Mowbray, and Mr. W. J. Courthope,' 

 have reported recently in favour of the grant being doubled, 

 pointing out that all educational work connected with science 

 is increasing yearly in cost, and that the growth in the number 

 of students and the enlargement of the teaching staff have con- 

 tributed to strain the resources of the colleges. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Bulletin of the NewYork Mathematical Society, vo\. iii. No. i. 

 (New York: Macmillan, October, 1S93.) — A congress of mathe- 

 matics and astronomy was opened at Chicago on August 21, and 

 this number commences with Dr. Felix Klein's inaugural address. 

 It is brief but not witty, and merely sketches some of the papers 

 to be read, and closes with the remark that mathematicians must 

 go farther than to form "mathematical societies." "They 

 must form international unions, and I trust that this present 

 congress at Chicago will be a step in that direction." Prof. T. 

 H. Safford narrates briefly, in his remarks on "instruction in 

 mathematics in the United States," the history of the noteworthy 

 rise in the general standard of mathematical teaching within the 

 last few years. Prof. Ellery Davis reviews four recent geo- 

 metries, viz. those by Hopkins, Dupuis, \V. B. Smith, and 

 Halsted. Prof. Tyler analyses the papers read at the Chicago 

 congress, and Prof. Waldo ^'ives a brief account of the Ameri- 

 can Association meeting at Madison on August 16-23. Th'-ee 

 ];ages cf notes cf mathematical doings, and eight pages of new 

 puhlications f-.Uow. This last feature of the Bulletin is a very 

 p'oniirent and highly valuable one. 



The Aincricau Meteorological y oiirnal for November contains 

 an account of the second annual meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation of State Weather Services, held in Chicago, on 

 August 21-23, 1593. The meeting was well attended, and 

 resolutions were adopted on various subjects, among which may 

 be mentioned the issue of weekly crop bulletins. It was also 

 recommended that the bottom of thermometer screens should be 

 four and a half feet above the ground ; this would make the 

 thermometers about a foot higher than is recommended in this 

 country. It is stated that experiments made during the jiast 

 year prove the former elevation to give the best results. — Mr. 

 C. E. Linney read a paper on the value of frost predictions, 

 and the best method of making them locally. The author is of 

 opinion that with a knowledge of the ordinary weather signs 

 an observer can, by the aid of the wet and dry bulb thermome- 

 ters, form a good idea of what minimum temperature to expect 

 during the night. 



In the Transactions of the Aust>ian Geological Survey we 

 remark an important communication, made by Mr. Friedrich 

 Teller, "On the so-called Granite of the Bacher Mountains in 

 South Steiermark." It seems that the familiar term, "granite 

 of the Bacher," has been eatirely misapplied. In the eastern 

 part of these mountains the rock is granitic ^;/mi, forming a 

 dome-shaped core beneath the crystalline schists ; while the so- 

 called granite in the western part is an intrusive porphyrite, 

 younger than the whole series of schists and phyllites, and pos- 

 .«ibly of the same age as the porphyrite which penetrates 

 Triassic and Jurassic strata in the neighbouring district. — Dr. 

 A. Kornhuber gives the name of Carsosaurus Marchesetti lo a 

 new Saurian genus from the Karst district. It was found in the 

 same cretaceous shales as Acteosaurus, a genus described thirty 

 years ago by Hermann Meyer, and was erroneously thought to 

 be merely a larger specimen of Meyer's genus. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Pa:^is. 



Academy of Sciences, November 6. — M. Lcewy in the 

 chair. — On Goubet's Joint and its application to marine screw- 

 propellers, by M. H. Resal. This is a mathematical investiga- 

 tion of the action of a joint capable of making the propeller act 

 as supplementary steering ^ear, and of adapting it to submarine 

 navigation. It is shown to possess several advantages over the 



NO. 1255, VOL. 49 J 



