February 2, 1905] 



NA TURE 



00' 



■west in the northern hemisphere and from north-west in 

 the southern hemisphere prevail. 



(3) These anti-trade winds do not extend beyond the 

 polar limits of the trade winds ; they are deviated to the 

 right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the 

 southern, and become currents from the west above the 

 tropical high pressure areas, where they descend to feed 

 the trade winds. 



(4) The air of the temperate zones is involved in vast 

 "polar whirlpools," which rotate from west to east. 

 This rotatory movement appears to be similar to that of 

 ordinary cyclones ; the air in the lower layers draws nearer 

 to the centre of the whirl, while that in the upper layers 

 recedes from it. more and more as the height above the 

 earth's surface increases up to the highest regions from 

 ■which we have any observations. 



(5) The layers of upper air of the temperate zones over- 

 flow the tropical high pressure areas, and there descend. 



(6) The irregularities found at the surface of the earth, 

 more particularly in the monsoon areas of India, disappear, 

 as a general rule, at the level of the lower or intermediate 

 clouds. 



(7) The theory of a vertical circulation of the atmo- 

 sphere between the tropics and the poles, which has 

 hitherto been accepted (Ferrel, James Thomson), must be 

 abandoned. 



The report as published in the society's journal is very 

 fully illustrated by reproductions of the diagrams of the 

 ■original edition. M. Teisserenc de Bort's charts of the 

 average distribution of pressure at the 4000-metre level for 

 January and July are also given, and they illustrate in 

 a very striking manner the scheme of general circulation 

 of the upper air to which the results of Prof. Hilde- 

 brandsson's report point. 



AUEmCA}^ HYDROIDS.' 

 ""PHE first part of this large work dealt with the plumu- 

 larian hydroids. After an interval of four years, the 

 second part, a folio of some 150 pages and 57 plates, has 

 been issued. It appeals exclusively and intentionally to 

 the student of systematic zoology ; but owing to the wide 

 distribution of the family — the " sea-firs " of our coasts — 

 this account, though dealing primarily with American 

 species, will assist students of sertularian taxonomy in 

 almost any part of the world. 



The plan of this book is that of the first part. There 

 is first an anatomical account of the stem and its branches, 

 then a risumi of the distribution, horizontal and vertical, 

 in different seas, and finally a hundred pages of specio- 

 graphy. The most assiduous care has been employed in 

 ■drawing up these descriptions and in illustrating them 

 "by well selected figures ; and most Critical and generous 

 consideration is given to previous researches on this group 

 of animals. 



For some not very obvious reason, Prof. Nutting has 

 <lecided to postpone the more interesting bearings of his 

 subject to the final volume, and confines himself in the 

 -work before us rigidly to a consideration of the taxonomic 

 and diagnostic features of the Sertularida;. We look in 

 ■vain for any explanation of the mode of distribution, 

 though the occurrence of the majority in Alaskan and 

 Arctic waters suggests a polar origin. There is no 

 attempt to explain the absence of free medusae, nor are 

 we given any information as to the habits of these 

 hydroids, their modes of growth and of repairing injury, 

 the influence of light upon their branching and reproductive 

 powers. There is not a single experiment recorded in the 

 work, though it is to be expected from the plasticity of 

 such coelenterates that continuous and discontinuous 

 variation may be induced by changes in environment. 

 On the other hand, differentiating anatomical characters, 

 such as the forms of branching, the shape of the gonidial 

 -sacs, and the opercula, are described and combined into a 

 •system with great care, and it is to be hoped that Prof. 

 Nutting has laid the foundation of a permanent and 

 authoritative classification. 



1 "American Hydroids. Part ii. Sertularida:." By C. C. Nutting, 

 Smithsonian Institution. U.S. National Museum. Special Bulletin. (Wash- 

 ungton, 1904.) 



NO. 1840, VOL. 71] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The Vice-Chancellor has been informed that 

 at a meeting of medical graduates recently held in Lon- 

 don to consider the present provision in the university for 

 the department of pathology, it was resolved (i) that 

 steps should be taken to bring before the university the 

 necessity of permanent and adequate support being received 

 for the pathological department ; (2) that a fund be started 

 for the purpose of assisting in this object, and the primary 

 object of this be the establishment and endowment of a 

 professorship in pathology. 



It was announced last term that the Rhodes trustees 

 have made a grant for five years to Dr. Ritchie, the present 

 reader in pathology, and New College has now elected 

 him to an ordinary fellowship for seven years, provided 

 that he continues his readership and does research work. 

 .Mr. Edward Whitley, Trinity College, has very generously 

 given the university a thousand pounds towards the per- 

 manent endowment of a pathology chair. 



Cambridge. — The Vice-Chancellor announces two impor- 

 tant bequests which have been left to the university. The 

 first consists of soooi., to be expended in improving the 

 instrumental equipi-nent of the Nevvall Observatory, and 

 of a very valuable collection of illuminated manuscripts 

 and early printed books and objects of medizeval and early 

 art, to be placed in the Fitzwilliam Museum, left by Mr. 

 Frank McClean, F.R.S., of Trinity College. The second 

 bequest is left by the late editor of the Athenaeum, Mr. 

 Norman Maccoll, of Christ's and Downing Colleges, and 

 consists of sooL to form some endowment for a lectureship 

 in Spanish or Portuguese, together with a valuable library 

 of books. 



The number of commissions allotted to the university, 

 the first half-yearly nomination to which will take place 

 after the examination in September next, is one in the 

 Royal ."Vrtillery, one in the Indian Army, and five in the 

 cavalry, Foot Guards, infantry, or the Army Service 

 Corps. 



The regulations for administering the Gordon Wigan 

 fund are announced. The revenue will be divided between 

 the special board of physics and chemistry and the special 

 board of biology and geology, to be used in promoting and 

 encouraging scientific education and research. The bequest 

 amounts to some 9000/. 



London. — Mr. William Loring, late director of educa- 

 tion under the County Council of the West Riding of 

 Yorkshire, has been appointed warden of the Goldsmiths' 

 College, New Cross, and Mr. Edgar Schuster Francis 

 Galton research fellow in national eugenics. 



The Mercers' Company has voted a sum of 1000/. to 

 the university for the promotion of the study of physi- 

 ology at University College. 



Mr. W. Williams has been awarded the degree of 

 doctor of science through a thesis on " The Temperature 

 Variations of the Electrical Resistances of Pure Metals," 

 and other contributions. 



Mr. H. -M. Hobart has been appointed lecturer in 

 electrical engineering design at the Northampton Institute 

 in succession to Mr. E. K. Scott, who has been appointed 

 lecturer in electrical engineering in the University of 

 Sydney. Mr. M. H. Smith has been appointed chief 

 assistant in the mechanical engineering department in 

 succession to Mr. W. E. Curnock, who has been appointed 

 head of the mechanical engineering department of the 

 Technical College, Huddersfield. 



M.\NCHESTER. — The new public health laboratories, which 

 have been erected by the Victoria University and have cost 

 13,000/.. were opened on January 27 by Mr. W. J. 

 Crossley. Lord Spencer, Chancellor of the University, 

 presided at the ceremony, and the large gathering included 

 the Lord Mayor of Manchester and the Mayor of Salford. 

 Honorary degrees were afterwards conferred upon Prof. 

 Calmelle, Lille University ; Prof. Perroncito, Turin Uni- 

 versity ; Prof. Salomonsen, Copenhagen University ; and 

 Captain R. F. Scott, R.N. 



It has been resolved to institute, in the United College, 

 University of St. Andrews, a lectureship in organic 



