666 



NA TURE 



[October 3 1, 1901 



Transatlantic liners, who are accustomed to make allowance for 

 it when shaping their course to sight the Fastnet. This current 

 is well shown on the author's temperature charts for several 

 months. 



In dealing with the question of causation, the author sum- 

 marises as follows: "The general circulation of the North 

 Atlantic is therefore the result of a large number of factors, 

 each of which is subject to wide variation. From a considera- 

 tion of the mean results in its relation to the mean atmospheric 

 circulation, it appears that the oceanic circulation is directly 

 controlled by the winds, the form, position and intensity of 

 the whole Atlantic anticyclone and of the cyclonic area to the 

 north of it being taken into account. The movements of water 

 set up directly by these systems are modified by, firstly and 

 chiefly, the configuration of the land, and, secondly, by the 

 efifects of melting ice." And again: "The key to the posi- 

 tion seems to be the Atlantic anticyclone which controls the 

 low-pressure areas, both directly and indirectly, by its far- 

 reaching effect on the oceanic circulation ; and it seems 

 scarcely likely that the causes modifying this system are con- 

 fined to the Atlantic, even if they are to be found at the surface 

 at all." 



It would be regrettable if this work, so ably and successfully 

 inaugurated, should be dropped. 



Mr. Dickson mentions that it can be efficiently carried on for 

 the sum of 300/. annually, and we are of opinion that the cost 

 might be even less, for on board of almost all large liners the 

 temperature of the sea surface is recorded at intervals of four 

 hours with regularity, and on many, observations for specific 

 gravity also ; the rough method by which the latter is obtained 

 is, we admit, unsatisfactory, as the hydrometer is difficult to 

 read when subject to the least movement, but these records are 

 better than none. In the interests of navigation alone this 

 investigation should be continued. 



It is noteworthy that, at the present time, there are many 

 navigators who, in some measure, utilise observations of 

 sea-surface temperature, and the time is not, we hope, far 

 distant when the sea-surface thermometer and hydrometer may 

 be recognised generally, as aids in determining to some extent 

 changes in the direction and strength of ocean currents, and as 

 affording the seaman an additional safeguard against miscalcula- 

 tion when approaching land in thick weather. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Natural science scholarships are announced for 

 competition at Balliol, Christchurch and Trinity on December 3. 

 at Magdalen on December 10, at Jesus on January 14. 



Dr. J. S. Haldane, lecturer in physiology, has been elected to 

 a fellowship at New College. 



Dr. G. C. Bourne has been re-appointed lecturer in compara- 

 tive anatomy for a period of three years. 



Mr. O. |. R. Howarth, of Christ Church, has been elected to 

 the geographical scholarship. 



The celebration of the tercentenary of Bodley's Library will 

 lake place in October, 1902, and a delegacy of twelve will 

 shortly be appointed to undertake the necessary arrangements. 



The 227th meeting of the O.xford University Junior Scien- 

 tific Club was held (Wednesday, October 23) at the Museum. 

 The principal business of the evening was a paper by 

 H. S. Souttar, of Queen's College, entitled " The Atom, 

 an Electromagnetic Theory of Matter." The principal officers 

 of the Club for this term are : — president, A. C. le 

 Rossignol, Exeter ; treasurer, E. L. Kennaway, New College ; 

 chemical secretary, E. Walls, Corpus ; biological secretary, 

 E. Burstal, Trinity ; Boyle I^ecture treasurer, S. A. lonides, 

 Balliol ; editor, H. D. Davis, Balliol ; members of committee, 

 J. G. Priestley, Christ Church ; Rev. G. D. Allen, non- 

 collegiate. 



Cambridge : — Mr. H. Lamb, Trinity, Mr. J. Larmor, St. 

 John's, Mr. H. W. Richmond, King's, and Mr. E. T. Whittaker, 

 Trinity, have been appointed examiners for the Mathematical 

 Tripos, part 2, to be held in 1902. 



Mr. W. T. N. Spivey, of Trinity College, died on October 

 22 from septic pneumonia following a lamentable accident which 

 happened to him in the University Chemical Laboratory a fort- 

 night before. Mr. Spivey was engaged in research work and 

 was shaking two volatile and explosive liquids in a flask when 



NO. 1670, VOL. 64] 



an explosion occurred and he was seriously cut and burned. 

 The sad death of this promising >oung chemist is much 

 regretted. 



Dr. R. Th.j^xter has been appointed professor of crypto- 

 gamic botany at Harvard University. 



At a meeting of the Royal University of Ireland held on 

 Friday last, the degree of D. Sc. was conferred upon Prof. W. N. 

 Hartley, F.R.S. 



A NEW Hall of Natural History is to be erected in connection 

 with Syracuse University at the expense of an anonymous 

 donor. 



Mr. F. E. Ree-^, lecturer in physics at the Storey Institute, 

 Lancaster, has been appointed to the lectureship and demon- 

 stratorship of physics at the University College of North Wales, 

 Bangor. 



Science states that Milliken University, Decatur, 111., will be 

 opened next year with an endowment of more than a million 

 dollars, half of which sum has been given by Mr. James Milli- 

 ken. Prof. S. R. Taylor, late of the Kansas State Normal 

 School, has been appointed the president. 



Additional examiners in mathematics, chemistry, zoology, 

 materia medica and therapeutics, inedicine and clinical medi- 

 cine, surgery and clinical surgery will shortly be appointed by 

 the University of Glasgow. Applications for the appointments 

 must be lodged on or before December 3 next. 



A circular just is.sued by the Board of Education describes 

 the principles which are being followed with regard to making 

 grants to schools and classes conducted by School Boards under 

 the provisions of the new Education Act. When the local 

 Authority has given a general sanction to the work of an existing 

 school, the school is eligible for grants upon subjects taught in 

 the twelve months preceding the passing of the Act. Exten- 

 sions of the curriculum, or of the work of a school by including 

 pupils of an age or sex not previously admitted, will not be 

 recognised unless the specific sanction of the Local Authority 

 has been furnished to the Board of Education. 



According to Science, the attendance at Cornell University, 

 including 850 new students, is about 250 in excess of that of last 

 year. Inclusive of the medical school in New York and the 

 summer school at Ithaca, the total registration for the year is 

 between 3250 and 3500. The registration on the campus, of 

 students in regular courses, promises to be about 2750. Sibley 

 College has a total attendance of new students, in all classes and 

 courses, of above 350, almost equal to the total of upper class- 

 men returning to the college, making the probable total registra- 

 tion for 1901-2 about 750 in all grades. The College of Civil 

 Engineering has inceased fifty per cent., and the other colleges 

 and departments report large additions. 



The Hon. T. JeflTerson Coolidge, of Boston, has given 

 more than 50,000 dollars to the Jefferson Physical Laboratory 

 of Harvard University to further physical research. In the 

 terms of the gift he states that: — "The income of this fund 

 shall be used primarily for laboratory expenses of original 

 investigations by members of the laboratory staff. But the 

 Director, at his discretion, may award therefrom an honorarium, 

 of not more than five hundred dollars per annum, for the private 

 use of any person who— although receiving no salary from the 

 University— iTiay wish to carry on original investigations under 

 his directions at the Jefferson Laboratory. The results of such 

 investigations shall appertain to the Laboratory, and the name 

 of the Laboratory shall accompany the investigation ; but no 

 publication shall be made without the approval of the Director. 

 The balance of this income is to be used only for meeting the 

 legitimate expenditures of original investigations whether by 

 professors or students." 



In introducing Mr. James Stuart, the Lord Rector of St. 

 Andrews University, to "the gatheringheld at Dundee on Friday, 

 October 25, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the newly-elected Chan- 

 cellor of the University, remarked "that it was said that trade 

 was being taken away from the country, that German chemistry 

 had deprived Britain of the indigo trade, that we had to go to 

 other countries for our goods, and that, generally speaking, trade 

 in this country was in a bad way. The British manufacturer 

 depended upon old methods, while the German employed newer. 

 It was their business to help the manufacturers of this country to 

 put an end to this. What was wanted in Dundee was a greater 



