370 



NATURE 



[February 15, 1900 



"would tend to deny to others the good which he himself had 

 'received ? He confessed that he did not wholly understand the 

 cry which had been raised of the external student — the cry 

 which had been used, and, if he might say so, skilfully used, to 

 clog the voting in his favour. When he listened to some ex- 

 pressions it seemed to him that the cry meant " We are in pos- 

 session, and we are unwilling that others should share it with 

 us." But he could not believe that to be meant, because it was 

 a spirit which was wholly repugnant to the spirit of the Uni- 

 versity. And in any case he himself, looking all round, could 

 not think otherwise than that the great future which he believed 

 lay before the University in its new form would bring good to 

 all alike who took part in it. At all events, he should hold it 

 to be his duty to labour in the House, not for the interests of 

 any particular class of the University, be they doctors or lawyers, 

 «ien of letters, men of science, or men of business, internal or 

 ■external students, teachers or taught, men or women, but he 

 should strive to do his best for the common good of all. 



NOTES. 



The sum of 3000/., previously allotted for the purchase of 

 plant for the detachment of the Electrical Engineers Volunteer 

 •Corps going to the front, is to be increased to 5ochd/. 



Thk death is announced of M. Emile Blanchard, member 

 of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in the section of anatomy 

 and Eoology. 



The introduction of the metric system of weightsand measures 

 in Russia seems to be not far off. A scheme to that effect, pre- 

 pared by the Ministry of Finances, has already received the ap- 

 proval of the Council of State, on the condition that it should 

 fee supplemented by a scheme for organising the aid, which 

 different scientific societies and the universities are ready to 

 cender, in the verification of the new weights and measures for 

 ■commerce. This latter scheme is nearly ready, and will shortly 

 t)e brought before the Council of State. In the military phar- 

 macoprtia, published in 1896, all measures are already given iri 

 the metric system, which has thus been rendered obligatory for 

 the medical staff of the army. 



W^E learn that traffic has just been opened on the Trans- 

 Baikalian section, "joo miles long, of the Siberian railway, as far 

 as Sryetensk. This little town, situated on the Shilka, is in the 

 summer the head of a regular steam-navigation along the Amur, 

 and, with the interruption offered by Lake Baikal, which has 

 still to be crossed on a steamer, Sryetensk can now be reached 

 by rail from Moscow, a distance of about 5000 miles. 



At the last meeting of the French Astronomical Society, 

 Baron La Baume Pluvinel gave an account of the results of 

 his inquiry into the conditions for observing the forthcoming 

 total solar eclipse in Spain. He said that the railway service 

 is bad ; trains are very slow, and only leave Madrid once a 

 ^ay. The chief party of the Society will make their observa- 

 tions from Alicante, which is situated at the base of a high 

 <liff, crowned by the strong Fort St. Barbara, and on one side 

 sinks sheer down to the sea. A friend of the Society has 

 placed a steamer at the disposal of the observers, free of 

 •charge. In addition to this steamer moored off the coast of 

 Spain, another, with a party of astronomers on board, will go 

 to Algiers. Mr. Percival Lowell and Prof. D. P. Todd have 

 already left the United States to proceed to some suitable 

 station in North Africa, from which to observe the eclipse. 

 Mr. A. E. Douglass will make simultaneous observations 

 «nder Mr. Lowell's auspices in Georgia. Messrs. Cook and 

 Son have arranged a conducted tour to Talavera, where the total 

 phase will be visible. The party will leave London on May 21, 

 and will visit Paris, Bordeaux, Biarritz, and Madrid on the way 

 NO. T581, VOL. 61] 



We learn from Science that the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences has granted from the income of the Rumford 

 fund 500 dollars to Prof. E. C. Pickering, for the purpose of 

 carrying out an investigation on the brightness of faint stars, by 

 co-operation with certain observatories possessing large tele- 

 scopes, and 100 dollars to Prof. T. W. Richards, in aid of a 

 research on the transition points of crystallised salts. 



Mention has already been made of many of the congresses 

 to be held in connection with the forthcoming International 

 Exposition at Paris. The following list, prepared by the com- 

 mittee of the Paris International Assembly, the secretaries of 

 which are Prof. Patrick Geddes and Mr. T. R. Marr, shows the 

 dates of some of the more important congresses announced in 

 science and education :— Pure Science : Ornithology, June 

 26-30 ; meteorology, July 23-28 ; physics, August 6-ii ; mathe- 

 matics, August 6-1 1; geology, August 16-28; electricity, 

 August 18-25; anthropology and archaeology, August 20-25; 

 ps)chologj', August 22- 25 ; ethnography, August 26-September 

 I ; chemistry, September 20 29 ; botany, October 1-6. Applied 

 Science and Associated Industry : Horticulture, May 25-27 ; 

 forestry, June 4-7 ; mines and metallurgy, June 18-23 ; vine 

 cultivation, June 20-23 ; insurance, June 25-30; actuaries, June 

 25-30; agriculture, July 1-7; testing of materials, July 9-16 ; 

 steam engines and machinery, July 16 18 ; applied mechanics, 

 July 19-25 ; architecture and naval construction, July 19-21 ; 

 photography, July 23-28 ; applied chemistry, July 23-31 ; 

 navigation, July 30- August 4 ; pharmacy, August 8 ; economic 

 and commercial geography, August 23-31 ; tramways, Sep- 

 tember 10-12; fruit culture, September 13-14; railroads, Sep- 

 tember 20-29. Medicine and Hygiene : Homoeopathy, July 

 i8-2i ; professional medicine, July 23-28; medicine, August 

 2-9; dermatology, August 29; dentistry, August 8-14; 

 hygiene, August 10-17 ; hypnotism, August 12-15. Education : 

 Modern language teaching, July 24-29 ; higher education, July 

 30-August 3 ; teaching of social science, July 30-August 5 ; 

 primary education, August 2-5 ; secondary education, August 

 2-5; technical, industrial education, August 6-1 1; educational 

 press, August 9-1 1; bibliography, August 16-18; teaching of 

 drawing, August 29-September i ; popular education, Sep- 

 tember 10-13 ; agricultural instruction, September 14-16. 



The death is announced of Prof. Thomas Egleston, Pro- 

 fessor of mineralogy and metallurgy in the school of mines of 

 Columbia University, at the age of sixty-seven years. 



Science announces that Prof Reginald A. Fessenden, of the 

 electrical engineering department of the Western University of 

 Pennsylvania, has resigned his chair to accept a position in the 

 Signal Department of the United States Weather Bureau, 

 at Washington. 



The Simplon tunnel is now progressing at the rate of 

 sixteen feet per day. It was begun fourteen months ago, and 

 must be finished in five years and a half from its com- 

 mencement. 



The proposal of the Council of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society, that the meetings should in future be held at five 

 o'clock, was rejected by the annual meeting on Friday last, 

 and the ordinary meetings will therefore continue to be held 

 at eight o'clock. Taylor's Calendar of the meetings of the 

 scientific bodies of London shows that the number of societies 

 which commence their meetings about eight o'clock is more 

 than twice as great as the number of those which meet at 

 four or five o'clock. 



We learn from the Scientific American that a special com- 

 mission has been appointed to report on the ruins of the cliff- 



