624 



NATURE 



[Oct. 2j, 1 88 1 



have, and tliey are most desivable, because they are the reni 

 teachers in practical life, only you must not alliw yourself to be 

 discouraged, but rather to be ttrengthened by them, in your 

 determination to i-ucceed. 



A fond mother has sometimes come to me ^^ith a doleful story 

 that her son, "an excellent young man," had tried several things 

 in life and had always failed, through some untovifard circum- 

 stance, but that she felt sure he would succeed if I would only 

 give him a trial in my o" n particular pursuits. On some occa- 

 sions I have perhaps yielded to such representations, but found 

 that the "excellent young man," though commencing with a 

 certain vigour, soon tired of the new occupation v hen he ap- 

 proached its difticulties. He could not realise the fact that 

 the secret of success lies not in the avoidance of, but in the 

 victory over difficulties, that each disappcintment teaches an 

 hnportant lesson, and that by taking these lessons to heart with- 

 out swerving from his purpose he would soon find himself 

 possessed of a power exceeding his most sanjuine expectations. 



Success in life depends in fact much more upon diligence and 

 steadiness of purpose than upon the more brilliant qualities 

 possessed by an individual ; but in order to give force and 

 direction to the sterling qualities within him, it is most important 

 that means should be brought w thin his reach of enriching 

 his stock of useful information. The Birmingham and Midland 

 Institute, counting its 26SS students of various degrees and of 

 both sexes, h-is accomplished this important object in a manner 

 never before drramt of; but not content with this splendid 

 result, the Council has made provision for a further extension 

 of its beneficial action through the erection of this magnificent 

 leclure hall, which it is my proud privilege to inaugurate this 

 evening, fur the u^e of our member^. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 

 Cajibripge. — One interesting outcome of recent changes is 

 the promulgation by the Governing Body of Caius College of the 

 following scheme, to lake the place of the regulations providing 

 for the annual delivery of the Thru-ton speech on the progress 

 of medicine from the time of Dr. Cains, tiy a medical gr.aduate, 

 who received the sum of 18/. :— The monfy— about 54/. — shall 

 be given triennially to that member of the College who has pub- 

 lished in the c urse of the preceding three years the best original 

 investigation in -physiology (including physiological chemistry), 

 pathology, or practical medicine ; the persm to whom the prize 

 is awarded being required to give an account of his investigation 

 in the form of a lecture in ihe College. If within the specified 

 period no investigation of sulficient merit shall have been made, 

 the money -hall be carried forward to augment future prizes ; 

 the first prize will be awarded in 1884. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Entomological Society, October 5. — H. T. Stainton, 

 F.R.S.. pre-ident, in the chair. — Exhibitions: Mr. R. 

 McLachlan, a specimen of Gastrof/iysa raphani, Fabr., bred 

 from a parthenogenetic ovum. — Mr. T. Wood, an abnormal 

 specimen r>f Notiophiliis higidtalus, Fabr. — Mr. R. Meldola, on 

 behalf of Mr. W. J. Argent, some interesting v.arieties of 

 British Lepidoptera. — Mr. H. B. Pim, a specimen of Harpahis 

 discoideiis, Fabr. — Mr. E. A. Fitch, Lasius mixius, Nyl., an ant 

 new to Britain. — Mr. A. S. OUifif, a specimen of Papilio 

 Amaiciis, KolL, Avith abnormal neuration. — Communications : 

 the Secretary read a letter respecting the ravages of Lopaphus 

 cocophngfs, Newp., de tractive to cocoa-nut trees in Fiji; and 

 some further communications from the Colonial Office relative 

 to locusts in Cyprus, &c. — Papers read : Mr. D. Sharp, De- 

 scr-ptions of some new CoUoptera from the Hawaiian Islands. — 

 Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, on some new South American ColeopU-ra 

 of the family Rutelidcv. — Prof. Westwood, description of the 

 immature state of a Ceylonese insect apparently belonging to an 

 undescribed genus. —Mr. P. Cameron, notes on Hymenoptera, 

 with descriptions of new species. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, October 10. — M. Wurtz in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On the first volume of the 

 " Nouvelles Annales de I'Observatoire de Bruxelles," by M. 

 Faye. It contains a new uranometry, and a repertory of con- 

 stants of astronomy. M. Houzeau has represented the Milky 

 Way on a large scale by means of curves of equal luminous 

 intensity. He distinguishes thirty-three luminous masses, care- 



fully determining their position. Our solar world is situated 

 almost exactly in the plane of the great celestial circle these 

 nearly form, and is probably near its centre. The " Catalogue 

 des Constantes " comprises seventy six determinations of the solar 

 parallax, extending over twenty-one centuries. The increasing 

 piecision of astronomical measurements is well brought rut. — M. 

 bauhree pre-ented a large specimen of a holosideric meteorite 

 from Cohahuila, Mexico. It contains chrome-iron, a mineral 

 not before met with in a metallic meteorite. Pruf. Laurence 

 Smith also found in it another chromiferous mineral, Dau- 

 biivlUe. — On the employment of tar as a preservative against 

 phylloxera, by M. Avignon. A mixture is made of tar and fine 

 sand, and triturated to render it homogeneous. Wood-ash is 

 added ; the mixture is put in a hole round the stem in spring 

 and covered with earth. It effectually repels the insect. — A 

 letter of M. G^vi relating to a brochure by Prince Boncom- 

 pagni on the unpublished will of Nicolo Tartaglia, noted the 

 fact that the true surname of this celebrated mathematician of 

 Brescia was Fontana. He was called Tartaglia (which means a 

 stammerer, and which appears as his name, even in the will) 

 because of difficult articulation arising from a bad wotindinhisjaw 

 and palate received when he was a boy, during the sack of BreS':ia 

 in 1512. — Comet di-covered by Mr. Denning on October 4, 

 1S81 ; observational Marseilles Observatory, by M. Coggia. — On 

 the pai't ol M. Artiaud, a sample of a new alkaloid from quinquina 

 (of San'ander, Columbia) was presented ; M. Arnaud calls \\.cin- 

 clwimmbte. It differs from cinchonine by an excess of two atoms of 

 hydrogen, and presents the composition of hydrocinchonine, with 

 which it is p robably isomeric. — On the sounds produced in a tele- 

 phonic circuitduring thunderstorms, by M. de I.alagade. He recalls 

 effects similar to those got by M. Thury, which he described 

 in 1S7S. To amplify the sounds he afterwards added two small 

 microphones to the plate of the receiving telephone ; the least 

 sounds can thus be heard I m. or mere from the second telephone 

 in a quiet room. — Galvanon^eter with angular deflections propor- 

 tional to the intenities, by M. Gaiffe. The multiplier frame in 

 Ihe instrument pre ented (a horizontal g.ilvanometer) vias of 

 elliptic form. The deflections are regular under two angles of 

 about 35°, representing 35 milliwebers, on either side of zero, 

 and then diminish slowly, allowing of division of the scale by 

 units 10 the fiftieth milliweber. With a different curve of the 

 multiplier frame the deflections may be rendered iJroportionnl up 

 10 about the seventy-fifth degree. — On the innervation of the 

 heart and the action of poi-ons in lamellibranchiate mollusca, by 

 M. Yung. Inter alia, the heart is chiefly innervated by fibres 

 from the po terior or the branchial ganglions, which fibres have 

 an accelerative role. Rise of temperature accelerates the heart's 

 nioveinents up to 40° C, Curare, in strong dose, mal'cs the 

 animal's movements very slow. Strychnine, whatever the dose, 

 only causes temporary convulsions, never tetanus ; in direct con- 

 tact with the heart it lessens the number of beats, and causes 

 stoppage in fifteen to thirty minutes. Nicotine accelerates the 

 heart-beat-, enlartres the heart, and in strong dose cau es death. 

 Veratrine acts similarlv, &c. 



CONTENTS Page 



Scientific Worthibs, XVIIL— James Clekk Maxwell (M'ith 



Steel Plate Enerraving) f 01 



Dr. SiEMKNs ON Technical EduC/vtion Soi 



Recent Ornithological Works 603 



Oii» Hook Shhli':— 



" Deschanel's Natural Philosophy " 604 



LkTTF. S ro IHH KUITOR \ — 



The Strugale of Parts in the Organism.— Geo. J. Romanics, F.R.S. 604 



'The M.cr ■coccus of Tubercle. "—C. CtlElGHToN, M.D. ... 604 

 '• A Kiiiematical Theorem."— Prof. Joseph Larmor: C. LeCDES- 



DOKK 60s 



"Ihe Dark Day. '—.4. Trevor Crispin 605 



Owens College SciKNCE and Literature Fellow-hips .... 605 

 '1'he Agk of THii Igneous Rocks of Iceland. By Dr. James 



C.EiKif, F.R.S 605 



The F.volutios of the Pal.eozoic Vegetation. By Prof. Wm. C. 



WiLlIAM'ON, F.R.S 606 



Thf Intkhnational Exhibition and Congress of Elfcteicitv 



AT PnRIS, V 607 



The Iron AND Sri- EL Institute 608 



NorE- «lo 



OuK As iRoNOMicAL Column:— 



Comet iR8i/(Denning) «" 



Herschel's "Garnet Sidus" 612 



Gkog, , Hii-AL NoiES . . . ; 6i2 



SoiAR Physics. II. By Prof Stokes, Sec. R.S. {.Witlt Dia^ain) . 613 

 A P«isMATic Optometer. By 'Iempest Anderson, M D., B.Sc. 



(Whh Diarrmiis) 618 



Science AND Inuu.strv. By Dr. C. W. Siemens, F.R.S 619 



UMVEK-iry AND Educational Intelligence 624 



SociEriEs AND Academies 624 



