94 



NA TURE 



[May 26, 1881 



for it. It is desired that tliis library shall be placed in a room 

 vacated by Dr. Michael Foster's classes, and formed by the 

 amalgamation of two old classrooms. 



The Victoria University. — The Pieliminary Examina- 

 tions for the year 188 1 will be held at the Owens College on 

 June 20 and following days, and on October J and following 

 days. Regulations : — i. Candidates for these examinations are 

 required to present certificates of matriculation in the University. 

 2. The days fixed for matriculation are June 13 and 14, between 

 the hours of two and four p.m., and October i and 3. 3. Stu- 

 dents, on presenting tliemselves for matriculation, are required 

 to furnish to the Registrar of the University certificates of admis- 

 sion as students of one of tlie colleges of the Univer:?ity, to pay 

 a fee of 2/., and to sign an undertaking to obey the regulations 

 of the University. 4. The October Preliminary Examination is 

 open only to students who have matriculated since the Prelimin- 

 ary Examination held in the previous June, or who failed in 

 this examination, or were prevented attending it by reasons 

 satisfactory to the General Board of Studies. Candidates are 

 requested to communicate with the Registrar, Prof. Adamson, 

 who will supply them with the detailed syllabus of subjects, 

 regulations, and time-table for the examination. 



Royal University of Ireland. — The copy of the scheme 

 for the organisation of the University as adopted by the Senate 

 has now been laid, pursuant to Act of Parliament, before the 

 House of Commons, and it has been, by order of that House, 

 printed. It gives full details of the degrees to be granted, 

 which are in Arts a Bachelor, a Master, and a Doctor of Litera- 

 ture degree ; in Science a Doctor's degree ; in Engineering a 

 Bachelor and a Doctor's degree ; in Law, Music, and in Medi- 

 cine the same ; in surgery a Master's degree, with a special 

 diploma in Obstetrics and in Sanitary Science. All these degrees 

 are open to persons of either sex. The examinations for women 

 shall be held apart from those for men, but on the same days. 

 Candidates for any degree must have passed the Matriculation 

 Examination, which will be held not only in Dublin but at cer- 

 tain local centres. The examination will be held in the subjects of 

 Latin, English, Elementary Mathematics, Experimental Physics, 

 and in any one of the following languages : Arabic, Celtic, French, 

 German, Greek, Hebrew, Italiau, Sanskrit, or Spanish. Can- 

 didates must also pass a first Univer.-ity Examination, to which 

 they will only be admitted after the lapse of one academical 

 year from matriculation, the subjects for this being a more ad- 

 vanced course of that fixed on for matriculation. One year after 

 this is passed the student in Arts may proceed to his second 

 University examination, in which he will have his choice of a 

 great variety of subjects, but Latin, Greek, and English on the 

 one hand, or Mathematics on the other, are compulsory. At 

 this stage of his career the student may select Biology, including 

 Physiology, Botany, and Zoology, or Geology, and after the 

 expiration of one more year he can proceed to his B.A. exa- 

 mination, for which he will be permitted to select either the 

 Classics or Mathematics, with the selection of one other of a 

 long list of subjects given. For the M.A. examination the can- 

 didate must be a B.A. of one year's standing at the least, and 

 he may answer in any one of a selected group of subjects. 

 The regulations for the degrees of Doctor of Literature 

 and Doctor of Science are not yet matured. Twelve scholar- 

 ships of 50/. each are to be offered each year for com- 

 petition, four in Classics, four in Mathematics, and four in 

 Modern Literature. Exhibitions varying from 100/. to 1 5/. will 

 be given to Honour Men. There are to be forty-eight Fellows. 

 The salaiy of a Fellow, if he be not also a Fellow or Professor 

 of some other University or College attached to a University 

 endowed with public money, shall be 400/. a year. If he be 

 such, then he shall only receive so much as will bring his salary 

 up to 400/. a year. These Fellows shall constitute a Board of 

 Examiners. There shall be also fourteen junior Fellows, their 

 salary to be 200/. a year. No Fellow or Professor of any other 

 College or University is eligible, and the candidates must be 

 Graduates of the Royal University of four years standing. All 

 Fellowships are tenable for seven years. Thus if a senior 

 Fellow be elected from an already endowed College, the 

 chances are that while he will have to do his full share of 

 the work, he will receive only as much salary as will bring 

 his total emoluments to 400/. Thus a Professor of one of 

 the Queen's Colleges (Belfast or Cork) if elected would 

 only receive $/. or 10/. a year, but if a Professor from the 

 Catholic College in Dublin were elected, as it is not endowed, 

 he could receive a full 400/. a year, and yet his duties would be 



— so far as the Royal University is concerned — the same as his 

 colleague from the endowed College, who would receive almost 

 no salary at all. Thus a scheme for endowing Colleges through 

 the resources of the Royal University has been at last success- 

 fully carried out. The subjects and books for the various ex- 

 aminations appear to be most judiciously selected, and in many 

 respects might teach a lesson to our older Universities. The 

 Senate close their scheme by a request that provision may be 

 made for securing for the University a proper Senate Hall, 

 Examination Rooms, a Library, &c., and urge that these should 

 be all built within the area of the City of Dublin. 



Eton. — Mr. G. C. Bourne of Eton College has been elected to a 

 Natural Science Exhibition of 50/. a year for four years at New 

 College, Oxford, for proficiency in Biology. Mr. Bourne is one 

 of the foremost athletes of his school, having rowed in the 

 Eton crew at Henley Regatta for the last three years, as he will 

 again in a few weeks' time. For the past two years he has 

 filled the exalted but responsible post of "captain of the boats," 

 but has nevertheless found time to devote himself successfully 

 to his favourite sludy, and has gained new honours for his school 

 in a field hitherto untrodden by Etonians. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



yournal of the Franklin Institute, April. — The wearing power 

 of steel rails in relation to their chemical composition and physi- 

 cal properties (continued), by Dr. Dudley. — Experiments on the 

 strength and stiffness of small spruce beams, by Mr. Kidder. — 

 Observations on the water-supply of Philadelphia, by Mr. 

 Haines. — A fourth state of matter, by Mr. Outerbridge, jun. — 

 The moon of Earth and Jupiter, by Dr. Chase. 



Bulletin lie tAeademie Royale des Scicnees de Belgique, No. 2. 

 — Note on the determination of the longitude of Karema, by 

 Capt. Cambier. — New data on the nonexistence of pentathionic 

 acid, by M. Spring. — On a new fossil fish of the environs of 

 Brussels and on certain enigmatic bodies of the crag of Antwerp, 

 by M. van Eeneden. — On phosphate-beds in Belgium (third 

 note), by M. Petermann. — On the theory of polars, by M. Le 

 Paige. — On a new form of reddish frog from the south-east of 

 France (Rana fusca Honnorati), by M. Heron Roger. — Study on 

 the hypophysis of A'cidians and the neighbouring organs, by M. 

 Julin. 



Bulletin de I'Aeademie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Pttershourg, 

 t, xxvii. No. 2. — Development of the absolute perturbations of 

 a comet, by O. Backlund. — Champignons recently collected in 

 Mongolia and Northern China, by C. Kulchbrenner and F. de 

 Thiimen. — Observations of Jupiter's spots, by M. Kortazzi. — On 

 the oxidation products of erythrite, by S. Przyhytek. — The money 

 of the Ileks, ancient Khans of Turkestan, by B. Dorn. — Re- 

 marks on the group of the Pteroclides, by M. Bogdanoud. — 

 Relations between isobars and isanomalies of temperature, by 

 H. Wild. — Influence of pressure on the electric resistance of 

 metallic wires, by O. Chwolson. — The Russian species of 

 humble-bees in the collection of the Academy, by F. Monawitz. 

 — On the value of errors depending on the retardation or pre- 

 maturity of impulsions in Weber's methods for measuring instan- 

 taneous electric currents, by O. Chwolson. 



Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, No. 4, April 14. 

 — Study on the chemical composition of albuminoid substances, 

 by Dr. Danilewsky. — Automatic methanometer, or automatic 

 analyser of firedamp, by M. Monnier. — Researches on vegeta- 

 tion, by Prof. Westmann. — Distillation and rectification of 

 spirits by the rational use of low temperatures, by M. Pictet. 

 —On phyllotaxy (continued), by M. de Candolle. 



Rivista Scieniifico Industriale, No. 7, April 15.— Second reply 

 in defence of the true theory of the siphon, by Prof. Maran- 

 goni. — Determination of the specific gravity of solids soluble in 

 all liquids, by Dr. del Lupo.— Relation of the specific gra\'ity 

 and the pressure of saturated steam, by Prof. Ciccone. 



The last number of the Russian Journal of the Chemical and 

 Physical Society (vol. xiii. fasc. 4) contains the following papers : 

 —On the rate of chemical reactions, by M. N. Kayander.— On 

 the influence of chemical structure on the refrigeratmg power of 

 organic bodies, by M. J. Kanonuikoff.— On the laws of double 

 decompositions, by M. A. Potilitzin.— On the chemical value of 

 the constituents of alcohols, by Prof. Mensbutkin.— On ice under 

 "critical pressure," by Prof. Boutleroff.- On electricity of cou- 



