72 
Pyramid known at present to exist either in Europe, or even in 
Egypt, was received last week in Edinburgh from Mr. Wayn- 
man Dixon, a young engineer who has recently completed an 
iron bridge across the Nile between Cairo and Jeezeh. The 
specimen possesses, Prof. Smyth says, ina more or less injured 
condition, five of the anciently-worked sides of the block, in- 
cluding the upper and lower horizontal surfaces, together with 
the levelled surface between. It was the exact angle of this 
levelled slope which led the late Mr. John Taylor to what Prof. 
Smyth calls “ the immortal archzeological truth, that the shape of 
the entire monument was carefully so adjusted and exactly 
fashioned in its own day to precisely such a figure that it does set 
forth the value of the mathematical term 7, or does, vulgarly, 
demonstrate in the right way the true and practical squaring of 
the circle.” Whether this be the case or no, Prof. Smyth declares 
that the length of the front foot of the stone, or that line or edge 
from which the angular 7 slope of the whole stone commences 
to rise, measures, “within the limit of mensuration error now 
unavoidable, the number of just twenty-five pyramid inches, 
neither less nor more. And twenty-five pyramid inches have 
been shown to be the ten-millionth part of the length of the 
earth’s semi-axis of rotation.” Prof. Smyth is very severe on the 
Egyptologists of the British Museum for the manner in which 
they conduct their department. 
Tue Atheneum informs us that the first volume ofa Russian 
translation of Mr. E. B. Tylor’s ‘‘ Primitive Culture” has ap- 
peared at St. Petersburg. The German version of the same 
work is also announced as being just about to appear; and a 
French translation of Mr. Tylor’s ‘‘ Early History of Mankind,” 
with notes by the translator, M. Emile Cartailhac, and by M. 
Quatrefages, is stated to be in preparation. 
CONCLUSIVE proof has been obtained by a correspondent to 
Notes and Queries, that the treatise ‘On Probability ” is not by 
De Morgan, but by the late Sir John William Lubbock. On 
inquiry at the Museum, the little slip of paper containing the 
original title was produced, and which gives the authorship to 
Sir J. W. Lubbock. On the back of the slip was inscribed the 
note—* Information from Prof. De Morgan, Dec, 62.” 
WE see from the Z%es of India, that Mr. Griffiths, of the 
Bombay School of Art, with a few of his students, intends, about 
the end of December, to go to the remarkable caves of Elephanta, 
to copy the very beautiful painted decorations which still cling 
to the walls, in spite of damp, neglect, bats, and the relentless 
teeth of time. These caves are on a small island in the harbour 
of Bombay, about seven miles S.W. of the city, and contain 
some very interesting Indian antiquities. They get their name 
from the gigantic figure of an elephant which formerly stood near 
the shore, but has now fallen to decay. 
A CORRESPONDENT, Mr, W. B. Shorte, writes under date 
Nov. 4, from on board the steamship Zanjore, Bombay, giving 
us a few notes on the occultation of Venus, which he witnessed 
on the evening of Nov. 5. A smalltelescope with a magnifying 
power of about 100, anda pair of good binoculars, were the in- 
struments employed. The planet shone with such lustre that it 
was clearly seen by the naked eye even before sunset, and after 
sunset appeared for some time as if resting on the upper part of 
the dark limb of the moon. In a few minutes a very gradual 
diminution of the planet’s light was noticed, and as the occulta- 
tion proceeded a singular phenomenon was observed, namely, 
the apparent ‘position of Venus within the moon’s circumference, 
the planet actually appearing for some time as if situated upon 
the disc of the satellite, though much diminished in size, and 
shining as a minute point of light. This continued until the 
moment of complete occultation, the Bombay time of which was 
sh. 46m. 47s. The re-appearance on the illuminated edge oc- 
curred at 6h, 26m, 32s., so that the planet was invisible for 39m. 
46s. 23 
NATURE 
[Nov. 28, 18: 
4 
THE ORGANISATION OF ACADEMICAL 
STUDY IN ENGLAND i 
[NX connection with the question of the best application of the 
endowments of Oxford and Cambridge, a public meeti 
was held at the Freemason’s Tavern, on Saturday Nov. 16 by 
members of the Universities and others interested in the pro- 
motion of mature study and scientific research in England. The 
meeting was called in response to a preliminary resolution 
to the effect that ‘‘ the chief end to be kept in view in any redis- 
tribution of the revenues of Oxford and Cambridge is the adequate 
maintenance of mature study and scientific research, as well for 
their own sakes as with the view of bringing the highest edu- 
cation within reach of all who are desirous to profit by it.” ky 
The Rev. Mark Pattison occupied the chair. He explained 
that gentlemen present were not the representatives of any 
political party or political movement, but were there simply for 
an academical purpose. Neither were they to be considered as 
having met to take an initiative : the initiative had already bee 
taken by Mr. Gladstone in appointing a commission to inqui 
into the revenues of the colleges and universities. They were 
only there to discuss the direction which, in their opinion, ought 
to be taken by any reform, initiated, not by themselves, but b 
other people. - 
Professor Rolleston, who was the first speaker, commenced by 
remarking that until the end of the last century, it would be ad- 
mitted that the Universities were neither seats of learning nor 
seats of teaching. The first thing that was done was to make 
them seats of examination ; and, as far as that is concerned, they 
work tolerably well at this moment. The great danger is that 
they should be made simply into that utilitarian sort of machine 
—a machine for examining anda machine for teaching. The 
speaker by no means wished that their capabilities in the way 
of examining and that kind of work should be curtailed. Still 
he thought it of very vital consequence, in this somewhat 
utilitarian age, to make the Universities into places where 
original research, and where the production of fresh facts and 
means of knowledge, instead of the mere communication and 
reproduction of it, should be recognised. One result of our 
present examination system is that men who, as grown men and 
during the whole of their university career, are subjected to the 
ordeal of examination 7 /uturvo,do not look at what they have 
under study as so much truth, but look upon it as something to 
be reproduced on paper, and to further their designs on Fellow- 
ships and Scholarships, and other pecuniary rewards. Now 
when a man is kept for something like twenty-three or twenty- 
four years of his life under that sort of training, he gets apt to 
look at all work whatever of the intellectual kind, from th 
point of view of the examination merely. Men get demoralised 
by the process. They do not look at the truth for itself. They 
have no notion of shovelling forward the elements of knowledge 
into some area into which nothing has been before. That is 
entirely a new vein tothem: and he thought one of the first 
things requisite was that examinations should be considered 
rather more the work of boys, and of people just emerging out 
of boyhood, than that they should be prolonged into a sort of 
struggle for men who have got to man’s estate. We have 
then to consider:—how is it possible for us to encou 
that which we feel is an advantage of a greater kind, altho 
it is one which can only be shared by a larger number ?—How is. 
it possible to encourage original research without sacrificing 
soundness of learning inthe many? How can we encourage 
the few toresearch without at the same time sacrificing the great 
advantages which we do get for the whole public, by passing a 
great number of mediocre men through the mill which does 
make them useful machines for doing work in this country of 
ours? There is a very serious objection which may be urged :— 
**But how do you propose to encourage original research ? 
Original research is a work of genius—you cannot fetter genius” 
by law—you cannot tie a man who has this gift of original 
research by rules and laws, You cannot give him definite 
duties to perform, within a definite time; and then you are in 
this dilemma:—a man has nothing given him to do—will 
he notthen do nothing?” That is a very common saying 
among people who have got effectually case-hardened by looking 
at things in a schoolmaster’s point of view. A man who has 
nothing to do, they tell you, will donothing. Now he believed 
by using the system of examination judiciously, by rewarding 
people for what they do and show under that particular ordeal, 
and then by giving them something or another which does keep 
