JUNE 22, 1899] 
NATURE 
189 
(5) In view of these and other considerations, the name 
Amerind is commended to the consideration of American 
and foreign students of tribes and peoples. The term is an 
arbitrary compound of the leading syllables of the frequently- 
used phrase ‘‘ American Indian” ; it thus carries a connotive or 
associative element which will serve explicative and mnemonic 
function in early use, yet must tend to disappear as the name 
becomes denotive through habitual use. 
(6) The proposed term carries no implication of classific re- 
lation, raises no mooted question concerning the origin or dis- 
tribution of races, and perpetuates no obsolete idea; so far as 
the facts and theories of ethnology are concerned, it is purely 
denotive. 
(7) The proposed term is sufficiently brief and euphonious 
for all practical purposes, not only in the English, but in the 
prevailing languages of continental Europe ; and it may readily 
be pluralised in these languages, in accordance with their re- 
spective rules, without losing its distinctive sematic character. 
Moreover, it lends itself readily to adjectival termination in two 
forms (a desideratum in widely-used ethnologic terms, as ex- 
perience has shown), viz. Amerindian and Amerindic, and is 
susceptible, also, of adverbial termination, while it can readily 
be used in the requisite actional form, Avzerindise, or in re- 
lational form, such as fost-Amerindian, &c.; the affixes being, 
of course, modifiable according to the rules of the different 
languages in which the term may be used. 
(8) The term is proposed as a designation for all of the ab- 
original tribes of the American continent and adjacent islands, 
including the Eskimo. 
The working ethnologists in the Society were practically 
unanimous in approving the term for tentative adoption, and 
for commendation to fellow-students in this and other countries. 
MAGNETIC OBSERVATIONS AT MAURITIUS. 
D*® MELDRUM’S name is inseparably connected with the 
fortunes of the Royal Alfred Observatory. The value of 
his researches in meteorology, especially in cyclonic movements 
of the atmosphere, has been repeatedly acknowledged. The 
simple rules that he has enunciated for the handling of ships 
during hurricanes in the Southern Seas are based upon rigorous 
scientific grounds, and though it may be true that no completely 
satisfactory rule is possible for determining more than the 
approximate position of the central vortex of a cyclone by any 
observations at a single station, yet in a majority of cases the 
mariner who trusts strictly to the instructions provided will find 
himself in a position of safety. The recent publication of the 
Mauritius magnetic reductions by Mr. Claxton, the present 
director of the Royal Alfred Observatory, shows that Dr. 
Meldrum devoted himself not less energetically to the study of 
the absolute determinations of the magnetic elements of his 
station. We may never arrive at the happy condition fore- 
shadowed by Gauss, when trustworthy and complete observ- 
ations from all parts of the earth shall be obtained, but the 
possession of a continuous record from a distant outlying station 
has a value peculiarly its own, and may act as a stimulus to the 
establishment of other observatories in localities where they are 
most needed to provide material for the discussion of the amount 
of change in the magnetic potential of the earth, of which the 
simultaneous magnetic disturbances afford evidence. 
Mr. Claxton, with a loyalty which we recognise and appre- 
ciate, is content to stand aside and play the part of editor to his 
predecessor's work. But the arrangement is not very satisfac- 
tory, giving rise as it does to two introductions, one by the 
editor and one by Dr. Meldrum. If the information derivable 
from these two sources had been carefully welded into one con- 
secutive history, the description of the tables could have been 
followed more easily, and the processes employed in the 
reductions have been more readily apprehended. 
The general arrangement does not call for any special 
remark. All who have been engaged in similar work know the 
amount of labour involved, and the care that has to be exercised. 
We notice what we think is a very praiseworthy feature, a 
determined effort to maintain a uniformity of sensitiveness on 
the photographic record. A difference of one m.m. in the 
1 “Mauritius Magnetical Reductions.” Edited by T. F. Claxton, 
F.R.A.S. Being a discussion of the results obtained from the self- 
recording magnetometers from 1875 to 1890, under the direction of C. 
Meldrum, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. 
NO. 1547, VOL. 60] 
scale reading is intended to represent a scale value of ‘0005 
millimetre-milligramme. This is a convenient value, sufficiently 
sensitive to exhibit changes for ordinary magnetic disturbances, 
but yet not so sensitive as to send the spot of light off the paper 
even in a violent magnetic storm. But Dr. Meldrum reports 
that it is impossible in spite of every precaution to keep this 
value of the coefficient constant. The length of time elapsed 
between the cleaning of the knife edge and the agate plane, the 
temperature, the change of level of the magnet due to secular 
decrease in the value of the vertical force, all operate as dis- 
turbing causes, necessitating continual examination and re- 
adjustment. Tables of the scale coefficient employed are given. 
The horizontal force magnet shows as usual the larger variation. 
Mr. Claxton gives in a tabular form the more trustworthy de- 
terminations of declination and dip that have been made on the 
island of Mauritius since 1750. Lacaille gave 52° 55’ for 
inclination in 1761, and in 1896 this angle had increased to 
54 32’. The earliest determination of declination gave 16° 30’ 
W. in 1753, it now reads 9° 49’; but the director points out, 
which indeed is sufficiently obvious, that there are large dis- 
crepancies among the observations arising probably from the use 
of indifferent instruments and the effect of local magnetic at- 
traction, varying at the different spots at which the several de- 
terminations have been made. For these reasons, no attempt 
has been made to discuss the secular variation of any of the 
magnetic elements. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
OxForD.—In a congregation held on June 13 the Curators~ 
of the. University Chest were authorised to expend a sum not 
exceeding 10,000/. in the erection of a pathological laboratory 
on ground adjoining the University Museum, and also to pay 
the sum of 250/. a year for five years for the equipment and” 
maintenance of this laboratory from the date at which it shall be 
brought into use. An anonymous donor, a member of the 
University, has already offered the sum of 5000/. towards the 
erection of this laboratory, provided that it be commenced. 
before January I, 1901, 
The above decrees were passed by Convocation on June 20, 
when also the twenty-fourth annual report of the visitors of the 
University Observatory was presented. In consequence of this 
report, the Curators of the University Chest will be asked to 
expend a sum not exceeding 500/. in the reconstruction of the 
western dome of the observatory. 
It is proposed to adapt the upper floor of the Ashmolean. 
Museum for the purposes of instruction in geography. 
CAMBRIDGE.—At St. John’s College the following awards in 
Natural Science were made on June 19 :— 
Foundation Scholarships continued or increased: Rudge, 
Yapp, Howard, Brown, Harnett, Lewton-Brain, O. May, 
Adams, Fletcher, Harding, Browning, Gregory, Wakely, 
Williams, Walker. 
Exhibitions : Wyeth, Ticehurst, J. H. Field, King, Paton. 
Hutchinson Studentship for research (botany and zoology) : 
G. S. West. 
Research Prize (physics) : Vincent. 
Herschel Prize (astronomy): Eckhardt. 
~ A CORRESPONDENT informs us that Mr. G. Birtwistle, who~ 
was bracketed Senior Wrangler this year with Mr. R. P, 
Paranjpye, has not only had much success in mathematics 
during his career, but has distinguished himself in other sub- 
jects. When at Owens College he devoted himself chiefly to 
chemistry, and in 1896 graduated B.Sc. with first-class honours 
in chemistry, obtaining also a Le Blanc medal and University 
scholarship. With regard to Mr. Paranjpye, the Allahabad 
correspondent of the Zz/es states that heis a Maratha Brahmin, 
born twenty-three years ago in the village of Murdi, in the Rat- 
nagiri district. First in the first division has been his invariable 
record since in 1891, at the age of fifteen, he headed the list at 
the matriculation examination for the whole of the Bombay 
Presidency. During his three years at Fergusson College he 
passed first in the first class at every examination. Fergusson 
College is an institution manned entirely by native professors, 
and Mr. Paranjpye, before going to England, pledged twenty 
years of his life to service in the college, where he will draw a 
salary not exceeding Rs.70 a month. 
