March i, 1894] 



NATURE 



423 



Candidates are to send in their applications to the Registrar of 

 the University on or before April 21. The tenure of the Pro- 

 fessorship is limited to three years, at the expiration of which 

 the Professor may be re-elected for a further period of three 

 years, but no one may hold the Professorship for more than six 

 years consecutively. 



The committee on Degrees for Research have presented 

 a long report to the Hebdomadal Council, which has been 

 approved by that body. The report contains recommenda- 

 tions that will beneficially affect the study of Science in the 

 University. It is proposed that degrees of M. Sc. and M.Litt. 

 shall be established which shall be open [a) to members of 

 the University of Oxford who have taken the B.A. degree, and 

 {b) to students, not being graduates of Oxford, who can give 

 satisfactory proof of general education and fitness to enter upon 

 a special course of study. Three years" residence will be required 

 from the second class of students, or two years from those who 

 have studied for at least two years in a university or local college 

 approved by Convocation, or in an affiliated college. Xo can- 

 didate is to be admitted who is under the age of twenty-one, and 

 every candidate not being a member of the University shall be 

 required to matriculate, and to pursue his studies during his term 

 of residence under the supervision of a committee appointed by 

 a special Delegacy to be established for the purpose. In suppli- 

 cating for the Degree, every candidate must produce a certificate 

 from the Delegacy stating the line of study or research which he 

 has pursued, accompanied by a report, drawn up by the candi- 

 date, of the work he has done. 



Cambridge. — Honorarj' Degrees are to be conferred on the \ 

 Earl of Kintore, Governor of South Australia, whose adven- 

 turous journey across that continent will be remembered, and 

 on Prof. Ramon y Cajal, of Madrid, the Croonian lecturer of 

 this year. ; 



Lord Rayleigh has been appointed an Elector to the Profes- 

 sorships of Chemistry and of Mechanism, Sir R. Ball to the ' 

 Plumian Professorship, Sir G. Humphry to that of Anatomy, 

 Sir G. G. Stokes to the Jacksonian and the Cavendish Profes- 

 sorships, Dr. D. McAlister to the Downing Chair of Medicine, 

 Dr. Hugo Miiller to the Chair of Mineralogy, Prof. Chiene j 

 to the Professorship of Surgery, and Sir James Paget to that of 

 Pathology. | 



Dr. Shore has been appointed an Examiner in Physiology in ; 

 place of Dr. A. S. Lea, who is unable to examine owing to ill- | 

 health. 



On February 24, the Prince of Wales formally opened the 

 new Polytechnic in Battersea, which has been erected at a cost 

 of nearly ^^60,000. The institute forms the third of a trio of 

 polytechnics in South London, the others being situated in the 

 Borough-road and at Xew-cross, respectively. The latter in- 

 stitute, for which the Goldsmiths' Company provided the entire 

 funds, namely ;£'70,ooo, and an endowment of ;irs,ooo a year, 

 has now been open for some time, and has proved a signal 

 success. The Borough-road institute cost about ;[^50,ooo, and 

 has been open forabou: a year. 



Dr John T. Hewitt, Assistant-Demonstrator at the 

 Cambridge University Chemical Laboratory, has been appointed 

 by the Governors of the People's Palace to the vacant Professor- 

 ship of Chemistry. Dr. Hewitt was a student of the Royal 

 College of Science from 1884 to 1SS7. In 1SS6 he obtained a 

 foundation scholarship at St. John's College, Cambridge, and 

 was awarded a first class in chemistry in both parts of the 

 Natural Science tripos. He afterwards studied in Heidelberg, 

 and took the degree of Ph.D. in that University in 1892, having 

 previously obtained a Hutchinson research studentship. Dr, 

 Hewitt is a Doctor of Science of the University of London, 

 where he obtained the exhibition and scholarship for chemistry. 

 He has also successfully carried out some important chemical 

 researches. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 

 The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science iox January, 

 1894, contains observations on the development of the head in 

 Gobius capito, by H. B. Pollard. (Plates 21 and 22.) The 

 stages of development of the brain., mouth, and mesodermal 

 structures are described. The work was carried out during the 

 occupation of the Oxford table at the Naples Zoological Station. 

 —On the head kidney oi A/yxine gluiinosa, by J. W. Kirkaldy. 

 (Plate 23.) It would seem that the pronephros in Myxine may 



NO. 1270, VOL. 49] 



be regarded as a stage in the phylogenetic reduction of this 

 organ — a reduction which continues in the Pisces until the tu- 

 bular structure entirely disappears, and, further, that it represents 

 in Myxine the mesoblaslic part of the supra-renal bodies. — 

 Report on a collection of Amphioxus made by Prof. A. C. 

 Haddon in Torres Straits, 188S-89, by Arthur Willey. All the 

 specimens belonged to the same species, Epigonicht/iys culullus, 

 Peters. One of the most remarkable features in its internal 

 organisation is the fact that the gonads occur as a unilateral 

 series of pouches confined to the right side of the body : in 

 connection with this fact the author adds, that often in the 

 Mediterranean form the gonadic pouches of the right side pre- 

 ponderate greatly over those of the left side in number. — On 

 the orientation of the frog"s egg, by Dr. T. H. Morgan and 

 Ume Tsuda. (Plates 24 and 25. ) — On the fossil Mammalia 

 from the Stonesfield Slate, by E. S. Goodrich. (Plate 26. ) 

 In this excellent account of these very interesting fossils, we have 

 detailed descriptions and figures of Anipkithcriuvi Prczos/ii, 

 'ii\a.mv ,A . OiL'cni, Oihorn, F/iasco/o(/ierium Bucklancii, Broderip, 

 and Amphilesies Brodcripii, Owen. The only specimen of 

 Stcreognathus coliticiis, Charlesworth, was in too fragmentary 

 a state to be re-described. In a foot-note Prof E. Ray 

 Lankester gives some graphic reminiscences of another Stones- 

 field fossil, probably belonging to another species of 

 Stereognathus which was once in his possession. — On a Poly- 

 noid with branchise {Eiipolyodontes Cornishii), by Florence 

 Buchanan. (Plate 27.) This species was found off the mouth 

 of the river Congo by Mr. Cornish, of the cable ship Mirror ; a 

 list of the species belonging to the sub-family Acostidae is 

 given, and the new species with Polyodonics gulo, Grube, are 

 placed in the new genus Eupolyodontes. — On some Bipinnarise 

 from the English Channel, by Walter Garstang. (Plate 28.) 

 — On Octineon Lindahli (W. B. Carpenter), an undescribed 



i Anthozoon of novel structure, by Dr. G. Herbert Fowler. 



1 (Plates 29 and 30.) This remarkable form was dredged in 

 1S70 during the Forupine expedition oft" the south coast of 

 Spain, not far from Cape St. Vincent, in 364 fathoms of water. 

 It was to have been described by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, who 

 died before doing so : the specimens were then entrusted to 



I Prof. Moseley, who was unable to finish the work before his 

 death ; now we have the memoir completed by Dr. Fowler. 



' In a dead condition the animal presents the form of a thin sandy 



I disc, not exceeding 04 of an inch in diameter. "In Octi- 

 neon we have an Actinarian with the characteristic habit of a 

 Zoanthid, with the twelve mesenteries of a Hexactinian, and 

 the eight muscles of an Edwardsid,"' and the evidence seems in 

 favour of the view that it is the type of a new and highly 

 specialised family, descended from true Hexactinian ancestors. 



American Meteorological Journal, February. — Rec;nt foreign 

 studies of thunderstorms : IV. Ital)-, by R. De C. Ward. 

 Systematic study of thunderstorms in Italy was begun in 1S77 ; 

 in 1S80 the Central Meteorological Office took up the work, and 

 the results have been regularly published in its Annals by Dr. 

 C. Ferrari. The majority of storms come from north-west and 

 west, those from the western quadrant have the greatest velocity, 

 and those which occur in summer have a greater velocity than 

 those in spring or autumn. The chief causes of their develop- 

 ment are high temperatures, high vapour pressure, and calm 

 atmosphere. Ferrari's investigation of thunderstorm phenomena 

 is the most complete of any yet published. — Certain climatic 

 features of Mai7land, by W. B. Clark. The records of tem- 

 perature and rainfall, published by the State Weather Service, 

 show an intimate connection between the climate and the topo- 

 graphy of the State. The mean annual temperature of the 

 extreme western portion is 50°, %vhile along the eastern border 

 it rises to 58^, and the variations of the seasons are still more 

 pronounced. The rainfall also shows perceptible differences ; 

 in the west the average is 38 '5 inches, and in other parts nearly 44 

 inches. — Ten miles above the earth, by H. A. Hazen. This paper 

 contains an account of the ascent of a balloon sent up by M. G. 

 Hermite in Paris, on March 21, 1S93. The highest point reached 

 is computed to be 52,500 feet, and, according to the law of the 

 diminution in temperature, the lowest temperature was probably 

 not far from -104^ F., but the trace was lost, owing to the 

 freezing of the ink in the thermograph pen. The other articles 

 are : Measurement of the seasDns, by H. Gawthrop (a method 

 is proposed by which, using the daily means as the unit, the 

 progress of a season may be determined and graphically illus- 

 trated), and the climate of Louisiana, by R. E. Kerkham, com 

 piled from the State Weather Service records of the past six years. 



