Marcu 25, 1897 | 
NATURE 
501 
temperature. The pelagic larve of bottom-living species are 
always present in the warm surface waters of the tropics, some- 
times growing to an enormous size ; but they are absent from 
the cold polar waters and in the deep sea, where the majority of 
the bottom-living species have a direct development. 
The Arctic fauna and flora, both at the surface and at the 
bottom, resemble the Antarctic fauna and flora, and a large 
number of identical and closely-related species are recorded from 
the two polar areas, though quite unknown in the intervening 
tropical zone. 
The boundary line between the deep-sea region and the 
neritic province is marked out by what has been called the 
““mud-line,”” where the minute organic and inorganic particles 
derived from the land and surface waters find a resting place 
upon the bottom, or serve as food for enormous numbers of 
crustacea, which in their turn are the prey of fishes and the 
higher animals; this mud-line, in fact, appears to be the great 
feeding-ground in the ocean, and its average depth is about 100 
fathoms along the borders of the great ocean basins. 
The majority of deep-sea species are mud eaters ; some are of 
gigantic size ; some are armed with peculiar tactile, prehensile, 
and alluring organs ; some are totally blind, whilst others have 
large eyes and are provided with a kind of dark lantern for the 
emission of phosphorescent light. The deep-sea fauna does not 
represent the remnants of very ancient faunas, but has rather 
been the result of migrations from the region of the mud-line in 
relatively recent geological times. 
The Challenger investigations show that species are most 
abundant in the shallow waters near land, decreasing in numbers 
with increasing depth, and especially with increasing distance 
from continental land.1 This is true as a general rule, especially 
of tropical waters, but in polar regions there are indications of a 
more abundant fauna in depths of 50 to 150 fathoms than in 
shallower water under 50 fathoms.” 
The various points touched upon regarding the distribution of 
marine organisms, might be explained on the hypothesis that in 
early geological times there was a nearly uniform high tempera- 
ture over the whole surface of the globe, and a nearly uniformly 
distributed fauna and flora; and that with the gradual cooling 
at the poles, species with pelagic larvee were killed out or forced 
to migrate towards the tropics, while the great majority of the 
species which were able to survive in the polar areas were those 
inhabiting the mud-line. The uniform physical conditions here 
referred to might be explained by adopting the views of Blandet* 
as to the greater size and nebulous character of the sun in the 
earlier ages of the earth’s history. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
CAMBRIDGE.—Dr. J. N. Langley, F.R.S., and Mr. A.C. 
Seward, Lecturer in Botany, have been appointed additional 
members of the Degree Committee of the Board for Biology. 
Mr. F. ¥.. Blackman, of St. John’s College, has been appointed 
University Lecturer in Botany. 
The special numbers of the Universzty Reporter containing 
the Report of the Syndicate on Degrees for Women, and the 
speeches made in the three days’ discussion thereupon in the 
Senate House, can be obtained (price 7¢.) by application 
to the University Press, Cambridge. 
Dr. ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE, president of the Medical 
College of the Long Island College Hospital of Brooklyn, has 
received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen, 
his native city. 
Mr. JouHN D. RocKEFELLER has given 40,000 dollars to 
Mount Holyoke College, in Massachusetts. This isa college for 
women, which a few months ago met with heavy loss by the 
burning of its buildings. 
Mrs. E. A. STEVENS, widow of the founder of the Stevens 
Polytechnic Institute, has given to that Institute property valued 
at 30,000 dollars, since the quarter-century celebration held a 
few days ago. 
1See “‘ Challenger Reports,” “ A Summary of the Scientific Results,” by 
John Murray, pp. 1430-1436, 1895. 4 
2See Murray, “On the Deep and Shallow-Water Marine Fauna of the 
Kerguelen Region of the Great Southern Ocean,” 7vans. Roy. Soc. Edin., 
vol. xxxviii. p. 343, 1896. ! : ; 
3 Bull. Soc. géol. de France, sér. 2, t. XxV- Pp. 777) 1868. 
NO. 1430, VOL. 55] 
: It is stated that M. Solvay, who owns Jarge industrial estab- 
lishments in the neighbourhood of Nancy, has given 100,000 
francs to the university of that city, for the purpose of erecting a 
chemical and electrical laboratory. 
THE Senate of the University 0: Glasgow have resolved to 
confer the honorary degree of LL.D. upon Mr. J. Wolfe 
Barry, C.B., F.R.S., President of the Institution of Civil 
Engineers, London; Prof. John M‘Cunn, Professor of Philo- 
sophy in University College, Liverpool ; and Prof. W. Ramsay, 
F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in University College, London, 
A BLveE-Book just published shows that the total amount ex- 
pended by local authorities on technical education during the 
year 1894~5 was 737,809/. 5s. 4d. ; and that the estimated total 
expenditure on technical education during the year 1895-6 was 
793,5072. 17s. 7@. These amounts are exclusive of the sums 
allocated to intermediate and technical education under the 
Welsh Intermediate Education Act, and amounting to 42,861/. 
THE following are among recent announcements :—Dr. Hans 
Lemke to be assistant at the meteorological and magnetic ob- 
servatory at Potsdam ; Prof. Simmara to be professor of physio- 
logical psychology in the Government School of Science at 
Madrid; Dr. E. Vischer, associate professor of botany at Bern, 
to be professor and director of the Botanic Gardens there; Dr. 
Ross to be curator of the Botanical Museum at Munich; Dr. J. 
Y. Mackay, professor of anatomy, to be principal of the Univer- 
sity College, Dundee ; Prof. P. Baccarini to be professor of 
botany in the University of Catania ; Dr. O. Kruch to be professor 
at the agricultural experiment station in Perugia; Dr. W. Felix 
to be associate professor of anatomy in the University of Ziirich. 
A COMPARISON of the number of hours devoted to different 
departments in four Universities in the United States is made 
in Sczence. The following table shows the relative attention 
given to different branches of knowledge. 
Harvard. Cornell. Yale. Princeton. 
Classics... 8°7 8S-o 24°2 22°6 
European languages ...  22°8 18°8 HWS ag) HI 
English 16'8 16°3 10'°9 baie’ 
Political science ORO) 65 II°2 9°6 
History fl Seen ASS 8:2 10°4 
Mathematics 44 66 9°6 194 
Philosophy ... o'r adi 89 8-6 
Natural science 10'2 23° Sr 88 
It is pointed out by Sczence that Yale and Princeton agree 
somewhat closely in the distribution of studies, except for the 
excess in mathematics at Princeton. Harvard and Cornell also 
agree to a considerable extent, but Cornell devotes one-fourth 
of the entire time (the figures refer to the academic department) 
to science. It is noteworthy that in the Senior year at Princeton, 
when the studies become elective, only 3°8 per cent. of the time 
is given to the classical languages, and 15°1 per cent. to natural 
and physical sciences. The classical languages evidently only 
hold their position at Yale and Princeton through compulsion. 
European languages tend to take their place in large measure 
with some gains by English and the sciences. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Lonpon. 
Royal Society, March 4.—‘* The Paleolithic Deposits at 
Hitchin and their Relation to the Glacial Epoch.” By Clement 
Reid, F.L.S., F.G.S., of the Geological Survey of the United 
Kingdom. Received February 15. } 
In continuation of the researches at Hoxne, communicated 
last autumn to the British Association, excavations and borings 
have been made at Hitchin, with the object of ascertaining 
whether the conclusions arrived at are supported by the study 
of a fresh locality. The results obtained at Hitchin are 
thoroughly in accord with those obtained at Hoxne. At each 
place brick-earth with Palzolithic implements can be proved to 
overlie the latest boulder clay of the district. At Hoxne the 
Palzeolithic deposits were shown to be separated from the boulder 
clay by two distinct alluvial deposits, the newer of which yields 
an arctic flora, the older a temperate one. The arctic plants 
have not yet been discovered at Hitchin, but abundance of 
temperate species occur in the older alluvium. : 
‘At each locality the same story is told. Some time after the 
passing away of the ice the land stood higher than now, so that 
