Oct. 1 8, 1883] 



NA TURE 



607 



indefatigable astronomer will soon be directed to the publication 

 of another great work undertaken by him at the Argentine 

 National Observatory, viz. the Cordoba General Catalogue of 

 Stars. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Oxford. — The commencement of the Michaelmas Term has 

 been marked this year by an event of happy augury for the 

 advancement of science in Oxford. Prof. Burdon-Sander^on 

 opened the physiological depar ment in the University Museum 

 with an inaugural address, in which the aims and scope of physi- 

 ology were defined with scientific accuracy and singular literary 

 charm. The Professor showed the great importance of physio- 

 logical methods for the advance of pathology, and ended by 

 promising his future students something more interesting to study 

 than "dry bones." 



Prof. Sanderson gives a regular course of lectures en the 

 " Mechanical Functions of the Animal Body," and the physio- 

 logical laboratory is open for practical instruction under the 

 Professor and two assistants. 



Mr. Yule also has a class at Magdalen for Practical Physiology. 



In the Department of Animal Morphology Prof. Moseley lec- 

 tures on Comparative Anatomy, each lecture being followed by 

 practical instruction. Mr. W. H. Jackson lectures on Mimicry 

 and Parasitism ; Mr. E. B. Poulton on the Fundamental Tissues, 

 and Mr. W. L. Morgan on the Limbs of Vertebrata. 



Mr. E. Chapman has a class at Magdalen for the study of 

 Vegetable Histology. 



In the Physical Department Prof. Clifton lectures on the 

 Properties and Means of Measuring Electric Currents ; practical 

 instruction in Physics is given by Prof. Clifton and Messrs. 

 Heaton and J. Walker. Mr. Heaton gives a course of lectures 

 on Mechanics. 



At Christ Church Mr. Baynes has a class for practical instruc- 

 tion in magnetic and electrical measurements. At Balliol Mr. 

 Dixon gives an elementary course of lectures on Electricity and 

 Magnetism. 



In the Chemical Department Prof. Odling lectures on the 

 "Naphthalene Family." Lectures on Inorganic and Organic 

 Chemistry are given by Mr. Fisher and by Dr. Watts. Prac- 

 tical instruction is given by Mr. Fisher, Dr. Watt=, and Mr. 

 Baker. At Christ Church Mr. Vernon Harcourt forms a class for 

 " Examples in Quantitative Analysis." 



Prof. Prestwich lectures on the " Elements of Geology." Prof, 

 Story-Maskelyne lectures on "Crystallography." 



The Natural Science Scholarship at Exeter College has been 

 awarded after examination to Mr. E. H. Cartwright, of Charter- 

 house School. 



Natural Science Scholarships are offered for competition this 

 term by Christ Church and Balliol Colleges. 



Cambridge. — The outgoing Senior Proctor, Mr. Torry, in 

 his address on laying down office, referred to the present system 

 of granting M.A. degrees without examination, and suggested 

 that all who had not already taken honours should be required 

 to pass for M.A. in some specified portion of one of the honours 

 examinations. 



Prof. Darwin will lecture this term on gravitation, and con- 

 sider some of the mathematical problems which arise in the 

 theory of the figure of the earth, measurements of base lines and 

 arcs of meridian, pendulum experiments, the Cavendish experi- 

 ment, and cognate subjects. 



The Demonstrator of Mechanism will take a class in rigid 

 dynamics, with a view to its amplications in engineering; and 

 also a preparatory class in the differential calculus. 



At the annual election to Fellowships at Trinity College, Mr. 

 R. A. Herman, Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman in 

 1882, was elected a Fellow. Mr. W. R. Sorley was elected to 

 the Fellowship given for mental and moral science. 



The election to the Knightbridge Professorship of Moral 

 Philosophy will take place on November I. The electors are 

 Professors Caird, Fowler, Hor', and Seeley, Drs. Campion and 

 Todhunter, Mr. Leslie Stephen, Mr. Venn, and the Vice 

 Chancellor. 



Prof. Cayley lectures this term on higher algebra and the 

 theory of numbers. 



The Demonstrator of Comparative Anatomy is conducting an 

 advanced class on the Protozoa an i Coelenterata. 



Messr;. A. J. C. Allen (Peterliuu -e), and C. Graham (Cains), 



have been appointed moderators for the year beginning in May 

 next. 



Prof. Garnett, Dr. Vines, and Mr. Pattison Muir are appointed 

 examiners for the first M. B. examinations ; Prof. Milnes 

 Marshall, Dr. Gaskell, ai.d Dr. Shuter for the second M.B. 

 examinations of the current year. 



Mr. Steam is lecturing on electrostatics at King's College, 

 with special reference to theories cf electric displacement, specific 

 inductive capacity, and the strain in a dielectric. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletins de la Smite" a" Anthropologic de Paris, tome 6, 

 serie 3, 1883. — In a discussion on polyandry in Cashmere and 

 Thibet, M. Olivier Beauregard maintained that this practice 

 prevailed among the early Aryan races of Hindostan 2000 years 

 before the Christian era, as shown in the first book of the 

 Mahabharata, from which he made several interesting extracts 

 bearing on tl is point. His views were strongly contested by 

 M. Ujfalvy. — "Remarks on the character of the crania of native 

 South Australians," by M. Cauvin, who made a series of anthro- 

 pometric determinations while engaged at Sydney in prosecuting 

 his researches into the morphological characteristics of the 

 Oceanic races. — M. de Ujfalvy, in a communication on the 

 " Traces of the Ancient Cults of Central Asia," described the 

 various superstitions which point to an earlier Vedic faith, and 

 to a fire-worship among races who now adhere either to Hin- 

 dooism, or Islamism, while in the heatt of Central Asia the 

 majority of the tribes are still followers of the "Old Man of the 

 Mountains," or the belief of the " Assassins." He believes that 

 the introduction of Mazdeism and Brahmanism was probably 

 contemporaneous, and that these ancient cults were preceded by 

 a form of Shamanism in wlich the products of nature were 

 worshipped. — On human sacrifices among the Khor.ds of India, 

 by M. E. Reclus. The author regards these so-called meriahs 

 as a survival of an early practice of the ancient agricultural tribes 

 of Asia, who believed that blood was necessary to the fertility 

 and nutritive qualities of the fruits of the earth. — On the popu- 

 lation of Western Laos, by M. Carl Bock. This memoir is 

 remarkable for its minute ethnographic details and for the 

 number of its anthropometric determinations, and treats of the 

 political and social relations of the six Laotian States which pay 

 tribute to Siam. — A discussion on the supposed practice of the 

 " Couvade among the Basques," in which M. Vinson, who has 

 been twelve years resident among the people, denies the exist- 

 ence among them of any such custom, and gives his reasons for 

 doubting the assumed affinity of this people with the Iberians. 

 M. E. Reclus thinks the existence of such a practice might 

 perhaps be connected with the transition from the metronymic 

 to the patronymic principle of family government ; and that from 

 an ethnological point of view the question of its reality, to which 

 many of the best known classical authors have given their testi- 

 mony, is worthy of attention. — On the prehistoric lasso, by M. 

 Chauvet. — Report, by M. Nicaise, on the discovery of human 

 bones, associated with Quaternnry animal remains and worked 

 flints, in the alluvial deposits of the Marne Valley near Chalons, 

 with plan of locality, &c— On the signficance of the principal 

 humeral of the biceps, by M. Leo Testut, with special reference 

 to the contradictory opinions of Hyrtl and Calori. — Report on 

 the brain of Louis Ass.eline, by MM. Duval Chudzinski and 

 Herve, with diagrams of various aspects of the hemispheres 

 M. Duval's assertion that Asseline's brain presented varkis 

 simian characters drew forth M. Foley's strongly expressed 

 reprobation, while M. Dally considers that the more general 

 admission of a close anatomical affinity between man and the 

 lower animals would be conducive towards morality, by lessening 

 the cruelties wantonly inflicted on the latter. — Report of cc m • 

 mission for the preservation of megalithic monuments, on \)\: 

 remains of dolmens of Port Blanc (Quiberon). — On a prehistoric 

 case of dental abnormality, by Dr. Bernard. — Report on the 

 adjudication of the Prix-Godard for 188 j, by M. L. Rousselet, 

 who passed in review the several larours of M. Chantre, to whom 

 the prize has been awarded in consideration of the merits of his 

 palaeolithic atlas of France, ai d for his work on the Iron Age, 

 while M. Prengrueber receives a silver medal, with honourable 

 mention, for his anthropometric measurements of the Kabyles. — 

 On dental erosions in the dog, by M. Capitan. — On the steato- 

 pyga of the Boshman women, by Dr. Blanchard. 



Journal de Physique thecrique el appliquee, September, 1883. 

 — On the critical point of liquefiable gases, by J. Jamin. — On 

 the compressibility and the liquefaction of gases, by J. Jamin. — 



