466 



NATURE 



{Sept. 27, 1877 



Dr. William Stirling has been appointed to the chair of 

 physiology in the University of Aberdeen. 



The Aiiicrkan Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, the 

 New York Nation states, will appear quarterly, beginning with 

 January, 1S78. The form will be quarto, and 3S4 pages will 

 constitute a volume. The associate-editor in charge is Dr. W. 

 E. Story, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 



At the Social Science Congress which has been meeting in 

 Aberdeen during the past week, there were very few papers of 

 strictly scientific interest. Among papers in the Educational 

 Section was one by Prof. Bain on Competitive Examination for 

 Public Appointments. In their choice of subjects the Civil 

 Seiv'ce Commifsiorers had, he remarked, been guided by the 

 received branches of education in the college and schools, but 

 after an inquiry into the essential nature of the subjects, he 

 ariived at the conclusion that the sciences and not the languages 

 were the proper subjects for competition. Other languages than 

 our own were only of secondary utility. He expressed surprise 

 at our intense conservatism in the matter of languages. There 

 were according to him three great regions of study that should 

 be fairly represented by every successful candidate — first, the 

 sciences as a whole ; secondly, English composition ; and thirdly, 

 institutions and his'ory, with perhaps literature. These he 

 would fix as a minimum. Sir Alexander Grant, principal of 

 the Edinburgh University, read a paper en the Best Means of 

 Securing a High Standaid of Education. He considered a 

 revision of the code, in order to remjve the inequality in which 

 classics and mathematics stood in relation to science in the 

 "specific subjects," and a leconstruction of the normal school 

 system to be necessary. Dr. Brown, of Haddington, read a 

 paper in which he advocated the establishment of schools of 

 forestry in Great Britain, in view of the fact that all candidates 

 for ac'mission to the department of the Indian Civil Service 

 which had to deal with this matter, had to pass an examination 

 which they at present could only qualify themselves for by going 

 to France or Germany for the instruction. Something of this 

 kind was being attempted in connection with the botanic gardens 

 of the Edinburgh University, where ground had now been 

 acquired for an arboretum. 



Some of our readers may like to know that, as might have 

 been expected, the three rhinoceroses now exhibited in the 

 Alexandra Park are specimens of the African Black Rhinoceros 

 {Rhinoceros I'icornis), This species is extremely uncommon in 

 menageries, and we have heard of no other in this country except 

 the fine adult male now livirg in the Zoological Society's Gardens 

 in Regent's Park. The three specimens above referred to are all 

 young, a pair being about eighteen months old, and the other a 

 male not more than a year old. In the larger specimens the 

 posterior horn is much smaller than that upon the nose, whilst 

 in the young male its existence is only indicated by a slight 

 rugosity. The late development of the posterior horn is of 

 particular interest, as it shows that the growth of this dermal 

 appendage is a secondary phenomenon, which makes it not 

 surprising that there may be causes which result in it attaining a 

 greater size than usual, as it does in the so-called distinct species, 

 X. keitloa, in which the only characterising feature is its large 

 posterior horn. 



It is perhaps a fortunate thing that our great politicians, like 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. John Bright, are 

 beginning to concern themselves in their public .addresses with 

 science as well as art. With reference to Mr. Bright's recent 

 address, as the Times remarks, if his hearers complain tha 

 they have not been told much about either science or? art, 

 we can only say that we agiee with them, and that we deplore 

 our common loss. In the coming time it is to be hoped that 



public speakers, like Mr. Bright, will know better what science 

 really is than they seem to do now. 



It is stated that the Italian Government has authorised two 

 officers of the Royal Navy to take part in the Polar expedition 

 which the Swedish Government is fitting out. 



The Gaulois states that^M. Duruof, the balloonist, has been 

 engaged by the Russian Government to organise an aeronautical 

 service for the Danube array. 



The last field meeting of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field 

 Club for the year will be held at Hereford, for a foray among 

 the funguses, on Thursday, October 4. M. Maxime Cornu, ot 

 Paris, is expected to be present. An exhibition of funguses, 

 apples, and pears will be held in the museum room at the Free 

 Library. The fungus foray will be made on the Whitfield 

 Lawns, by the kind permission of the Rev. Archer Clive. 

 Carriages will leave the Free Library at 10 A.M., to return there 

 ^y 3- 3°- ^ meeting of the members will be held on the return, 

 in the Woolhope Room, for the election of officers for the ensuing 

 year, and for the transaction of the ordinary business of the club. 

 After dinner, or in the course of the evening, the following among 

 other papers will be given: — A Report on the Progress of 

 Mycology during the Year, by Dr. Bull ; a Report on the Pro- 

 gress of " The Herefordshire Pomona," by the Rev. C. H. 

 Bulmer ; "On a Fossil Fungus {/^'//«h/«) with Zoospores in 

 situ, belonging to the Palaeozoic Epoch," by Worthington G. 

 Smith, F.L.S. ; and if time permit, a paper " On the Mosses of 

 Herefordshire," by the Rev. Augustin Ley. 



At a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 

 on March 26, 1S77, Mr. E. P. Ramsay read a "Note of a 

 Species of Echidna ( Tachyglossiis) from Port Moresby, New 

 Guinea," in which he described a fine and apparently full-grown 

 male Echidna from that locality, applying to it the specific name 

 lazvesi, after its discoverer, Mr. Lawes, who had given the speci- 

 men to the Museum at Sydney. Mr. Ramsay's description has 

 been published in the Proceedings of the above-named Society, 

 and is accompanied by a plate representing the head and fore- 

 part of the animal and one of the hind feet, of the natural size. 

 Unfortunately no diagnosis is given whereby the differences 

 between this New Guinean form and the two long-known species 

 of Australia and Tasmania are made plain ; but as that gentle- 

 man is doubtless familiar with both of them, we may take his 

 word for it that Tachy^lossits lawesi is a good and distinct 

 specie^;. Its distinctness from the other New Guinean form, T. 

 bruijni, is manifest. 



It has been proposed by a correspondent of the N'ew York 

 7>/^«H^ to give the names of Romulus and Remus to the two 

 satellites of Mars. 



We understand that the Council of the Working Men's 

 College, Great Ormond Street, have arranged for the ensuing 

 session a series of lectures in connection with the Science and 

 Art Department upon Human Physiology. The lectures will 

 be delivered on Friday evenings by Mr. Thomas Dunman, and 

 will commence on October 5. 



At the meeting of the Birmingham Natural History Society 

 on the iSth inst. Mr. W. R. Hughes, F.L.S., gave some account 

 of the recent dredging excursion of the Society to Arran. He 

 described how the idea of such an excursion took shape, and 

 gave an interesting account of the numeious finds of the party, 

 mainly in Lamlash Bay, where, of course, it was not to be 

 expected that anything new was to be found. Still, many of th 

 forms obtained were of great interest, and the members present 

 gained much solid insiruction by being able to examine speci- 

 mens fresh from their native habitat. Other societies would do 

 well to imitate this enterprising Birmingham association; indeed 

 it might not be a bad idea for several societies to club together 



