134 



NATURE 



\yune 9, i88j 



required to read for Honours in' Biology in tlie Natural Science 

 Scliool. The examination will be to a large extent practical, 

 but special weight will be given to comprehension of general 

 principles. Candidates for the Scholarship may obtain further 

 information by application to the Rector, or to W. L. Mor- 

 gan Esq., the Lecturer in Biology at Exeter College. 



Cambridge. — Prof. Humphry has given notice of ,i class in 

 human o^teology, to be heldby the demonstrator (Dr. Creighton) 

 during the long vacation, commencing July 4 ; and a class for 

 practical histology (by Mr. Hill), beginning July 7. 



Mr. J. W. Clark is continued in the office of Superintendent 

 of the Museums of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology for two 

 years. 



The offer of the Cambridge Philosophical Society to make 

 their library available as the nucleus of a general scientific library 

 in the new museums, to be placed under the care of a librarian 

 appointed by the University, has been formally accepted by the 

 Senate. 



Inter-collegiate lectures in higher mathematical subjects are 

 offered for the ensuing long vacation by Mr. Allen at St. Peter' ^^, 

 on electro-magnetism ; by Mr. Mollison (Clare), on heat ; by 

 Mr. Stearn (King's), on hydrodynamics ; by Mr. Niven (Trinity), 

 on elasticity ; and by Mr. Lewis (Trinity), on vortex motion and 

 viscosity. 



Nottingham. — The following appointments have been made 

 to the professoriate of Nottingham University College : — The 

 Rev. J. F. Blake, M.A., F.G.S., Professor of Natural Science; 

 Dr. J. A. Fleming, B.A., D.Sc. (London), Professor of Mathe- 

 matics; Dr. Frank Clowes, D.Sc, F.I.C., F.C.S. (London 

 and Berlin), Professor of Chemistry ; the Rev. J. E. Synies 

 (Cambridge), Professor of Literature. 



An import.ant memorial to Lord Spencer, Mr. Mundella, and 

 the Committee of Council on Education is now in course of 

 signature, urging the more systematic teaching of science in ele- 

 mentary schools. The suggestions are made m prospect of the 

 fundamental changes which are contemplated in the Code. The 

 memorialists urge that in Standards L, IL, and III. systematic 

 Object Lessons should be given which should lead up to the 

 more scientific teaching to be required in the higher standards. 

 These Object Lessons should have reference to three main divi- 

 sions of knowledge. They should include, first. Shape and 

 Size, and the properties of hodies depending on them ; second, 

 Properties of Matter, including a knowledge of the obvious 

 qualities of material and implements ; and third. Plants and 

 Animals, with a knowledge of their uses. At present the ele- 

 mentary stages of teaching have to do too little with things and 

 too much with words, and the memorialists suggest that the 

 existing standards favour this. The memorial has already 

 received the signatures of Prof. Max Midler, Dr. Caldicott, Mr. 

 Eve, Prof. Meiklejohn, Prof. Carey Foster, and leading members 

 of many .School Boards. 



At the Edu'^ation Society on June 6, with Dr. Gladstone in 

 the chair, a discussion was held " On Science Teaching in Inter- 

 mediate .Schools." After the opening remarks of the President, 

 Miss Franks, Mr. Lake, Prof. Guthrie, Prof. G. Carey Foster, 

 Mr. Cooke, and other gentlemen, gave the results of their 

 experience or expressed their opinions. The main conclusions 

 were : that natural knowledge should be taught, not from books, 

 but from things themselves ; that the lessons should not consist 

 of information committed to memory, but of knowledge acquired 

 by the child's own observation and experience ; that by such 

 object-lessons he should be led to observe the natural facts or 

 processes around him and to exercise his powers of comparison 

 as Well as of perception, and thus arrive at such generalisations 

 as are within his capacity ; that after the first more general 

 knowledge of the common things around him the child should be 

 led along the broad lines of interest to some more special depart- 

 ments of science. In this later stage the reasoning powers of 

 the child will be more called into action, and the knowledge of 

 the teacher will be presented in a more systematised and abstract 

 form, but still in such a way as shall best develop the intelligence 

 of the scholar. 



The promoters of the Stephenson Centenary at Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne have determined to commemorate the occasion by erecting, 

 if funds can be obtained, a building in that town for the use of 

 the College of Physical Science, to be called the Stephenson 

 College. It is estimated that a sum of 20,000/. will be required, 

 of which 1000/. has been promised by Sir William Armstrong, 



and 2000/. by other friends. The Newcastle College of Physical 

 Science was estatdished and endowed ten years ago by the com- 

 bined efforts of the inhabitants of the town and the University 

 of Durham. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of Science, May. — Action of frost on the 

 arrangement of superficial earthy m.aterial, by W. C. Kerr. — 

 Dall's observations im Arctic ice and the bearing of the facts on 

 glacial phenomena in Minnesota, by N. H. Winchell.— Pro- 

 jection of lines of equal pressure in the United States, west of 

 the Mississippi, by H. A. Hagen. — Neumann's method of 

 calibrating thermometers, with ways of getting columns for 

 calibration, by. T. Kussell. — William Hallowes Miller, by J. P. 

 Cooke. — Geology of Peace River region, by G. M. Dawson. — 

 Shadows obtained during the glow-discharge, by H. B. Fine 

 and W. F. Magie. — New form of galvanometer for powerful 

 currents, by C. F. Brackett. — American Jurassic dinosaurs, by 

 O. C. Marsh. 



IWE. American Na/nralisl ior May, iSSi, contains: George 

 Macloskie, the endo-cranium and maxillary suspensorium of the 

 bee. — R. E. C. Stearns, Mya arenaria in San Francisco Bay. — 

 H. L. Osborn, the squid of the Newfoundland Banks in its rela- 

 tion to the American Grand Bank Cod Fishery. — A. S. Packard, 

 jun., the brain of the embryo and young locust. 



Journal of the Franklin Institute, May. — On the ratio of 

 expansion at maximum efficiency, by K. H. Thurston. — The 

 Wootton locomotive engine, by J. S. Bell. — The efficiency^of 

 the Anthracite s engines, by C. R. Roelker. — Experiments in 

 Mulhouse on a Corliss steam-engine, de-cribed by Chief- Engineer 

 Isherwood. — Repairing a broken crank with wire-rope, by J. C. 

 Kafer. — Concentration of low grade ores. 



Annalen der Physik and Chemie, No. 5. — On transpiration of 

 vapours (2nd part) by L. Meyer and O. Schumann. — On the 

 specific heat of chlorine, bromine, and iodine gas, by K. Strecker. 

 — On volume changes of some metals in fusing, by F. Nies 

 and A. Winkelmaun. — Thermochemical researches, by C. v. 

 Than. — On the supposed heating of ice, by A. WUIlner. — On 

 the double refraciion of light in fi-iclional liquids in motion, by 

 A. Kundt. — Nen' modification of light by reflection on narrow 

 metallic gratings, by J. Frohlich. — An apparatus for observation 

 of Newton's rings, by L. Sohncke. — Magnetic researches, by E. 

 Warburg. — On the v.iriability of the capacity of condensers with 

 a rigid insulator, by H. Herwig. — Derivation of the electrody- 

 namic laws of induction, by N. Umow. — On the motion of an 

 electric particle in a homogeneous magnetic field and the negative 

 electrical glow, by E. Riecke. — Measurement of the force of 

 terrestrial magnetism on a linear conductor capable of rotation, 

 by the same. — An acoustical apparatus for lecture purposes, by 

 H. Maschke. — Whether electricity, in changing insulating- 

 plates, penetrates into their mass? by W. Holtz. — An old 

 diving-bell, by G. Budde. 



Journal de Physique, May. — Photometric studies, by A. 

 Cornu. — Indices of refraction of water in surfusion, by B. C. 

 Damien. — Optical properties of a plate of metal polarised by an 

 electrical current, by G. Lippmann. — On the passivity of iron, 

 by E. Bibart. — Mechanical inscription of Lissajous' figures, by 

 A. Crova. 



Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, No. S, May 15. — 

 Review of Marsh's work on the Odontornithes, by A. Humbert. 

 — The chemical composition of albuminoid substances (continued), 

 by Dr. Danilewsky. — Compte rendu of meetings of the Geneva 

 Chemical Society, by M. Ame Pictet. 



Rivista Scientifico-Industriale, No. 8, April 30 — The Gar- 

 dini battery. — Velocity of sound in chlorine (continued), by .S. 

 Martini. — Geological note on the region of S. Vito (Marni), by 

 G. Terrenzi. 



Atti della R. Accadtmia dei Lineei, vol. v. fasc. 11. ^On the 

 functions of the urinary bladder, by A. Mosso. — On the physio- 

 logical action ot apoatropine, by the same. — Crystallographic 

 study of two chloroplatinates of Dr. Ciamician, by L. Valle.— 

 Observations on the horizontal diameter of the sun in 1880, by 

 L. Respighi. — New modifications of the process for extraction 

 of arsenic, by F. Selmi. — New researches on the pathological 

 base, and a saccharifying ferment of the urine of a scorbutic 

 patient, by the same. 



