Juty 6, 1899] 
NATURE 
237/ 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Oxrorp.—The following is an extract from the speech de- 
livered at the Encaenia on the presentation of F. D. Godman, 
F.R.S., Trustee of the British Museum, for the degree of 
D.C.L., June 21. 
“‘In ea Naturae parte quae ad animalium herbarumque 
varietates pernoscendas spectat neminem vel diligentius vel 
utilius hoc viro laborasse scitote. 
Ille enim, scientiae amore instigatus, Americae quae dicitur 
centralis saltus silvasque una cum amico suo caro Osberto 
Salwino (nuper fato eheu! nobis abrepto) longis pererravit 
peregrinationibus atque fruges fetusque omnes ejus orbis ter- 
rarum partis adcurate investigavit. : 
Nec illud tacendum arbitror eundem diversi generis species 
illic ab ipso cura infinita collectas quum rarissimas tum etiam 
pretiosissimas singulari munificentia Museo nostro Britannico 
donasse.” 
THE Committee of the City and Guilds of London Institute 
are inviting applications for the appointment of Assistant 
Professor in the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineer- 
ing at the Institute’s Central Technical College. Particulars of 
the appointment may be had of the Honorary Secretary of the 
Institute, Gresham College, E.C. 
THE Board of Education Bill was considered by the House of 
Commons Committee of Ways and Means on Tuesday. It was 
resolved ‘* That it is expedient to authorise the payment, out of 
moneys to be provided by Parliament, of a salary, not exceed- 
ing 2000/., to the president of the Board of Education, and of 
salaries and remuneration to the secretaries, officers, and 
servants of the Board, in pursuance of any Act of the present 
Session to provide for the establishment of a Board of Education 
for England and Wales.” 
Major-GENERAL SIR JOHN F. D. DONNELLY, K.C.B., 
retired on Monday from the Secretaryship of the Science and 
Art Department, after forty years in the public service. In 
consequence of Sir J. Donnelly’s retirement, the Duke of 
Devonshire, Lord President of the Council, has made the 
following appointments :—Sir George W. Kekewich, K.C.B., 
the present Secretary of the Education Department, to be also 
Secretary of the Science and Art Department. Captain W. de 
W. Abney, C.B., to be the Principal Assistant Secretary of the 
Science and Art Department. Mr. W Tucker, C.B., to be 
the Principal Assistant Secretary of the Education Department. 
THE Duke and Duchess of York visited Exeter on Tuesday 
and opened a new wing of the Albert Memorial Museum and 
College. The Museum became affiliated with the Cambridge 
University several years ago, when the Exeter Technical and 
University Extension College was started, with Mr. A. W. 
Clayden as principal. This institution, to be known in future 
as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and College, is now 
sufficiently equipped for the requirements of a local college. 
In opening the new wing, the Duke of York remarked that the 
efficient results attained at Exeter and also at Reading seem to 
indicate that it is possible for the municipal authorities of towns 
of moderate size to establish, with the co-operation of the great 
universities, institutions providing for higher and technical 
Instruction. The co-operation of the universities, with their 
expert knowledge, and the local authorities with their control 
of funds for educational purposes and their practical know- 
ledge of local needs, cannot fail to be of the greatest advantage 
to the community from an educational standpoint. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS, 
Meteorologische Zeitschrift, June.—On the amount of cloud 
in Europe during cyclonic and anticyclonic days, by Dr. C. 
Kassner. In this important discussion the author has invest- 
igated the cloud observations at five principal stations in Europe 
for twenty years (1871-90), and has followed a plan adopted 
by Dr. Leyst in another discussion by selecting the days in each 
month when the readings of the barometer were lowest or 
highest. These days, including the days preceding and following 
that on which the extreme reading occurred, are those called 
respectively cyclonic or anticyclonic periods. He finds that in 
NO. 1549, VOL. 60] 
cyclonic periods the maximum amount of cloud only occurs on 
the principal day in summer and autumn, while in winter and 
spring a large amount of cloud occurs in the evening of the 
preceding day as well ason the morning of the principal day. 
The preceding day has generally somewhat less cloud than the 
principal day, and almost always more than the following day. 
This result agrees with that deduced by the late Mr. Ley, and 
by the Deutsche Seewarte with respect to the distribution of 
cloud in cyclones. In anticyclonic periods the least cloud fre- 
quently occurs, not on the principal day, but on the preceding 
or following day ; this is especially the case at Christiania and 
Pavlovsk, where the least cloud occurs before the passage of the 
highest barometric pressure, and then gradually increases. 
Generally speaking, however, the principal day is clearest, and 
next to this the preceding day, but not always, for at Buda- 
Pesth and Tiflis the day following that of the maximum 
barometric pressure has less cloud than the day preceding. 
Bollettino della Socteta Sismologica Italiana, vol. iv., 1898, 
No. 9.—Old seismic instruments, by P. Tacchini, referring to 
an old form of the Cecchi seismograph and to Cacciatore’s 
mercury seismoscope, recently acquired by the Central Office of 
Meteorology and Geodynamics at Rome, and which, with 
others already in the possession of the office, will form the 
nucleus of a seismometrical museum.—Principal eruptive pheno- 
mena in Sicily and the adjacent islands during the half-year 
July to December 1898, by S. Arcidiacono.—Later modifica- 
tions in the electrical seismoscope of double effect, by G. 
Agamennone. Describes several improvements by which the 
instrument may be put more rapidly in working order.— 
Notices of earthquakes recorded in Italy (December 25 to 31, 
1897), by G. Agamennone, the most important being an after- 
shock of the Umbria-Marches earthquake of December 27, and 
the Haiti earthquake of December 29. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, June 15.—‘‘ The Colour Sensations im 
Terms of Luminosity.” By Captain W. de W. Abney, C.B., 
DiG-L.,, PaRSs: 
This paper deals with a determination of the colour sens- 
ations (based on the Young theory) by measuring the luminosity 
of the three different colour components in a mixed light which 
matches white. At the red end of the spectrum there is but 
one colour extending from its extreme limit to near C, and 
there is no mixture of other colours which will match it, 
however selected, and is, on the theory adopted, a colour 
which excites but one sensation. At the violet end of the 
spectrum, from the extreme violet to near G, the same homo- 
geneity of light exists, but it is apparently due to the stimu- 
lation of two sensations, a red and a blue sensation, the latter 
never being stimulated alone by any spectrum colour. Having. 
ascertained this, it remained to find that place in the spec- 
trum where the blue sensation was to be found unmixed with 
any other sensation except white. By trial it was found that 
close to the blue lithium line this was the case, and that a mix- 
ture of this colour and pure red sensation gave the violet of the 
spectrum when the latter was mixed with a certain quantity of 
white. The red and the blue sensation being located, it re- 
mained to find the green sensation. The complementary colour 
to the red in the spectrum gave a position in which the green 
and blue sensations were present in the right proportions to 
make white, and a point nearer the red gave a point in which 
the red and blue sensations were present in such proportions as 
found in white, but there was an excess of green sensation. 
By preliminary trials this point was found. The position in 
the spectrum where the yellow colour complementary to the 
violet was also found. The colour of bichromate of potash was 
matched by using a pure red and the last-named green. To 
make the match, white had to be added to the bichromate 
colour. A certain small percentage of white was found to exist 
in the light transmitted through a bichromate solution with 
which the match was made, and this percentage and the added 
white being deducted from the green used, gave the luminosity 
of the pure green sensation existing in the spectrum colour 
which matched the bichromate. Knowing the percentage com- 
position in luminosity of the two sensations at this point, the 
luminosity of the three sensations in white was determined by 
