Oxford Physical Science Fellowships 
I write this letter that in future candidates for Oxford 
Fellowships in Physical Science may be aware that outsiders are 
ineligible. : 
In June last the Warden of Merton Coilege informed me that 
the election to a Physics Fellowship would zo/ be limited to 
graduates of Oxford, and would altogether depend on the result 
of the examination held at Merton on Oct. 7. Candidates had 
no other information than was afforded by the notice in your 
columns. ; 
Although I found that great difficulties were thrown in the 
way of outsiders in their not being allowed an opportunity of 
examining the physical apparatus which was to be used in the 
examination, and with which Oxford men are well acquainted, I 
read for the examination, not having the slightest doubt about 
my eligibility after receiving the Warden’s letter. 
It is now nearly four months since I received the letter, and 
although the authorities must have been very well aware of the 
grave error which had been fallen into, I was not informed that 
a blunder had been committed until the morning of the ex- 
amination. It is now found by the Warden, on consulting the 
registrar of the university, that only Oxford graduates can com- 
pete for these Fellowships. 
Oxford, Oct. 8 JOHN PERRY 
Simple Method of Studying Wave Motion 
Ir is difficult for a student to obtain a clear idea of the move- 
ment of the particles of a liquid or gas propagating a wave. To 
assist him models have been devised, but as a rule they are ex- 
pensive and complicated. The following plan, based on the 
principle of the stroboscope, I have found extremely convenient. 
Take apiece of cardboard about 3 ft. long and 18 in. broad. 
Put this into the tin drum of a ‘‘zoetrope,” pressing the card 
well against the interior of the drum, so that it stands up form- 
ing a cardboard cylinder, With a lead pencil mark where the 
inside fold of card comes, and you have the right size of the 
cardboard to form the cylinder. Divide now the length of the 
cardboard into 12 equal strips. On each strip paint dots repre- 
senting the wave you want to study, taking care that each wave 
is represented 34; behind its predecessor. Lastly, cut out 12 
slits, about 8 in. by } in., between each representation of the 
wave ; restore the card to the drum of the zoetrope, and then 
turning the cylinder and observing through the slits, the wave is 
seen, as the cylinder revolves, to advance with its characteristic 
motion, while by stopping out all but one of the particles repre- 
sented the exact character of its oscillation, whether circular, 
elliptical, or linear, is clearly seen. 
Midland Institute, Birmingham C. J. Woopwarp 
The Glacial Period 
Just one line in reply to Frank E. Nipher. I have read 
Tyndall’s Lectures on Heat, and that some time before I addressed 
you on the subject of the Glacial Period. Plainly, it is against 
common sense to suppose that an increased outpour of solar 
energy would diminish the mean temperature of the air at the 
earth’s surface to such an extent that glaciers at or near sea Jevel 
should be found in Egypt, or even, I believe, in Central Hia- 
dustan, as was the case in the Glacial Period. All I can say is, 
that if the sun then were a hotter sun than the sun of our own 
age, he must have blundered at his work. 
And {now may I crave space for just another line on 
another subject? Could not our learned societies be induced 
to publish their mathematical contributions separately? I was 
compelled to take the whole of the first part of the Royal 
Society’s Transactions of 1867, for the sake of Clerk-Maxwell’s 
paper on Molecules. For this I paid a guinea—willingly, in- 
deed ; but had the paper been published alone, I should probably 
have had it for a much lower figure. Then there are Professor 
Stokes’ and Sir W. Thomson’s magnificent papers scattered up 
and down among the Transactions of the Royal and Cambridge 
Philosophical Societies; if these were gathered together and 
published apart, it would be a precious boon to persons like 
myself who are interested in physical mathematics. And pupils 
of the Ecole Inyariantive would, no doubt, be as much gratified 
by an easier access to the numerous contributions of Professor 
NATURE 
| | Oct. 16, 1873, 
Cayley to the Theory of Determinants, Is it impossible, or even 
inconvenient, to afford such facilities to students and amateurs ? 
Hampstead, N. W., Oct 3 J. H. Rours 
THE OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER 
ite is now upwards of twenty-two years since this col- 
lege was opened—for the foundation of which in 
Manchester, John Owens, a merchant of that city, left 
100,000/,—in a house that belonged to Mr. Cobden, in 
Quay Street, which was purchased and presented to the 
trustees by Mr. John Faulkner, the first chairman. The 
number of students during the first session was 64, which — 
went on increasing year by year, until last session the 
day students numbered 327, and the evening students 
513. A few years ago it was felt that the original house 
had become much too small, and that a new building 
ought to be erected adequate to the increased needs of 
the College. Accordingly, in 1866, a circular was pre- 
pared, setting forth the disadvantages of the then institu- 
tion, and propounding an extension scheme which should 
include the additions to the College of a school of Engi- 
neering, a Medical School, and the Natural History Mu- 
seum, which the Council of the Natural History Socie 
recommended should be deposited in Owens College, “if — 
it should appear that the scheme for enlargement was 
likely to be successfully carried out within a reasonable 
period.” The trustees therefore appealed for funds which 
would enable them to lay the foundations of an institution — 
which would virtually be the University of South Lan- 
cashire, and of the neighbouring parts of Cheshire and 
Yorkshire. ) 
In 1867 an Extension Committee was formed for raising 
a fund, which “it was desirable should not be less than — 
100,000/,, and, if possible, 150,000/.,” to carry into effect 
the proposed system of extension, 24,000/. was almost 
immediately subscribed. The engineers of Manchester 
and neighbourhood subscribed 10,000/, to found and en- 
dow a chair of Engineering Science, and for the provision 
of an apparatus and a library. An application to the — 
Government for a grant, though never absolutely refused, 
was first temporarily shelved on the familiar plea that the 
subject was “under consideration,” and on a change of — 
Government it was ultimately forgotten. The success of — 
the College is therefore a monument of voluntary effort, 
After the present site had been purchased, the sum of 
12,0007, was subscribed towards the new Medical School. 
Principal Greenwood and Prof. Roscoe subsequently 
visited Germany, and obtained valuable information as to 
the schools of science in that country ; and to the plans 
which the Professor of Chemistry especially brought home, 
the new College owes the perfect arrangements in its 
scientific lecture-rooms, and the handsomely fitted-up 
laboratories for chemical and physiological scienee ; labo- 
ratories, we believe, which are not equalled by any in the 
kingdom, if, indeed, in Europe. 
The foundation-stone of the buildings just completed 
was laid by the Duke of Devonshire in September 1870, — 
and the same nobleman occupied the chair at the 
opening of the new building on the 7th instant. 
As is well known, the “religious difficulty” has been 
entirely obviated, in the case of Owens College, by the 
will of the founder, which requires “that the students, — 
professors, teachers, and other officers and persons con- 
nected with the said institution, shall not be required to 
make any declaration as to, or submit to any test whatso- 
ever of, their religious opinions,” and that “ nothing shall 
be introduced into the matter or mode of education or — 
instruction, in reference to any religious or theological — 
subject, which shall be reasonably offensive to the con- — 
science of any student, or of his relations, guardians, or 
friends under whose immediate care he shall be.” It is 
no doubt partly owing to this that the’ Manchester 
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