da by no means unimportant position, as one of the most 
itrenuous advocates of an international decimal system of weights 
nd measures, ‘and as an old and and very regular attender of the 
neetings of the British Association, where he devoted himself 
hiefly to the Section of Economical Science. 
Tr is expected that Sir William Jenner will be the President 
he Pathological Society for the ensuing year. 
Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cam- 
ge, have recently determined to appoint a prelector in 
emistry to superintend the laboratory, and to have charge of 
e chemical studies of the students at the college. The stipend 
will be 200/.a year, and the przlector will have the status of a 
Fellow of the college, The election will take place about the 
I ‘idle of next month. 
At a meeting of the Royal Society of Arts Sia Sciences of 
fauritius, held on September 25, it was resolved that, like other 
ientific societies which have met in London the Society should 
mvey to Dr. Hooker the feelings of regret and sympathy with 
ch they have learned that differences had arisen between him 
Director of the Botanical Gardens at Kew, and the First Com- 
ioner of Public Works. It is the earnést hope of the Royal 
iety that Dr. Hooker, whom the Society has the honour to 
ude among its members, as it did for many years his illus- 
ous father, will succeed in maintaining himself with honour in 
ie Directorship to which he has been raised by his merit and 
= tecsive knowledge, and which he has held with such distinction 
to himself and advantage to the public. 
_ Tue Civil Service Commissioners have announced that on 
ember 31 they will hold an open competitive examination for 
appointment of clerk to the Curator of Kew Gardens. Can- 
didates must be between the ages of twenty and thirty, and must 
amiliar with the routine duties of the garden, and competent 
irect the foremen in matters relating to their accounts. On 
e same day the Civil Service Commissioners will hold an ex- 
ination for the appointment of second assistant in the Her- 
barium at Kew, for which persons between eighteen and thirty 
who are skilled in practical botany will be eligible to compete. 
Ineach case the Commissioners will apply to Dr. Hooker for a 
Teport on the technical qualifications of the candidates. 
| THE Times of India speaks of a rumour that the Government 
intends to abolish the Deccan College, or rather to amalgamate 
with Elphinstone College. By this plan, Government pretends 
fo think, higher education would be advanced in India. But 
he Mira Prakash, an Indian paper quoted by the Zimes of 
dia, says the end would be much more effectually accom- 
plished by appointing to both colleges a greater number and more 
ficient teachers than has generally been the case hitherto. For 
he two colleges there are thirteen professors ; but Elphinstone 
lege is allowed two Professors of Mathematics, while the 
n College has none, and no Professors of History and 
olitical Economy. We hope the threat is a mere bait to 
scertain public opinion. Intelligent public opinion, we believe, 
‘ould certainly condemn the step, and urge Government to make 
Preaching staff more numerous and effective. 
A CORRESPONDENT writes to the A‘heneum :—‘*The ques- 
ion of admission of women to medical degrees in Edinburgh 
aiversity has been rather unexpectedly solved, at least for the 
resent. Miss Jex Blake, a foremost champion of the move- 
ment, has actually been plucked in her examinations, and sent 
ack to complete her scientific studies.” Many people will be 
quite unable.to see that this by no means surprising accident 
ts in any way the great question of the unrestricted admission 
of women to the privileges of university teaching. 
_WE are delighted to notice that the Liverpool Daily Post has 
for some time past been devoting about a column to science, 
giving, besides notifications of the meetings of the numerous 
learned societies in and around Liverpool, a selection of scien- 
tific notes from this and other journals, We cannot give too 
great praise for the step taken by this paper in the right direc- 
tion, and we only wish that all other provincial, as well as 
metropolitan, papers would follow the example, and give the 
latest news of a power which a distinguished Frenchman recently 
declared would soon become the ruler of the world. 
IN a recent speech by the Rev. Mr. Tuckwell, he made some 
pertinent remarks on the Future of University Local Exami- 
nations, After referring with all due praise to the ‘‘ Regulations 
of Oxford and Cambridge,” he was yet compelled to say that 
without most serious modifications, the machinery of these 
examinations will be insufficient to meet the demand of the time 
which is surely coming, when compulsory universal public 
examinations will be imposed upon all the English schools. 
They show deficiency in four vital points. “They are ad- 
ministered by the older universities exclusively ; but within the 
last forty years a race of teachers has grown up, who owe to an 
institution young yet already famous those feelings of loyalty and 
affection which some of us associate with the more venerable 
names of Oxford and Cambridge ; and these men will give in 
their adhesion to no University examining body in which the 
London University remains unrepresented. They are costly 
to individual candidates: yet surely, from the wealth of the 
Universities and from the large educational endowments now in 
the hands of the School Commissioners, it would be possible 
to find funds for the extinction or the diminution of this tax. 
They unwisely limit subjects. Five optional subjects are per- 
mitted to junior candidates, of which Scripture must be one. 
They take up Scripture then because they must ; Greek, Latin, 
and Mathematics, because these are supposed to gain higher 
marks than anything else, and are the leading subjects in their 
school work ; there remains the choice between modern languages 
and science ; nine boys out of ten, under the pressure of parents 
or teachers, take up French, and thus a severe though unintended 
blow is dealt at physical science. Lastly, they are in no sense 
compulsory; and the temptation to an unscrupulous master to 
pick out a clever boy, and work him exclusively for high 
distinction, while he starves the rank and file, is too obvious to 
need further notice. When these four blots are wiped away ; 
when the three Universities combine to hold one great exami- 
nation once a year; when the fees are lessened or abolished ; 
when free trade in subjects is set up ; and when all boys in every 
school above a certain age are compelled to undergo the ordeal ; 
then, indeed, and not till thea, we shall see such a system of 
examinations, so perfect in theory, so priceless in its effect upon 
school-teaching, as for the present we must be contented to 
behold only in our dreams,” 
AN astronomical and meteorological observatory is about to be 
erected by the Russian Government at Tashkend, in Central 
Asia, about 100 miles north-west of Khokan, 
THE fossil man discovered at Mentone is at present being ex- 
hibited at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. 
Mr. W. F. DENNING, of Bristol, noticed on Saturday even- 
ing last a meteor of considerable brilliancy, It radiated from a 
place at the extreme north-west part of Andromeda, passing 
through the sword-hand of Perseus, and onwards through 
Camelopardalus, becoming extinct, as if burnt out, on reaching 
the head of Ursa Major. In its flight the meteor faded several 
times and revived again with great rapidity. It did not leave 
any train of light marking the path it had traversed, though it 
emitted a spark in its course, In reference to its brightness Mr. 
Denning says that it excelled Venus when at her maximum 
degree of brilliancy. 
Pror, Prazzi SMYTH, writing to the Atheneum, says that 
the finest specimen of one of the ‘‘ casing stones” of the Great 
