his ‘‘ warning. 
as to my eligibility, as did several Oxford graduates to whom it 
was shown. I shall presently refer to Prof. Clifton’s ‘‘ warning.” 
The examination was to begin on Oct. 7, at9 A.M. On pre- 
senting myself, a gentleman whose name I do not know, told me 
that the Paysics papers would not be given out before Oct. 10, 
that if I felt inclined to work the paper given to candidates for the 
Mathematical Fellowship 1 might do so, and credit would be given 
for Mathematics in the event of two men being equal in the Piysics 
examination. I shali not comment on this promising arrange- 
ment, or on the fact that the candidates for the Physics fellow- 
ship had not till then heard of the Mathematical paper. Our 
informant told me that there were grave doubts as to the eligi- 
bility of outsiders. He certainly gave me to understand that these 
doubts extended to a//who were not Oxford graduates. [understood 
that some Cambridge men had presented themselves also ; that 
the question of our eligibility was about to be settled with the 
Registrar of the University, and that if I called on the Warden 
between four and five in the afternoon (the time mentioned in the 
original notice) he would be provided with the results of the 
deliberations. 
At 4.30 I found the Warden about to go away somewhere. I 
had an audience of avout two minutes ; was asked what Coliege 
I belonged to (meaning in Oxford).—Not an Oxford man, I 
answered.—Then he was afraid I was ineligible. I then in- 
formed him that I was the graduate of the Queen’s University, 
to whom he had written in June. I suppose he had very little 
time for apologies, but he let me know, before leaving, that he 
had misinterpreted the results of some late commission when he 
wrote in June, and that I need have no hope. 
I have stated the grounds for my former general statement. 
If Prof. Clifton is certain that graduates of Dublin and Cam- 
bridge are eligible, we must rely on his information being most 
correct, but 1 am troubled to know who is answetable for my 
being left in ignorance until now, and if anybody knows whether 
elections are never made of men who would really be ineligible 
by the laws of the University. 
2. He insinuates a deception on my part, in not mentioning 
” I take it that Prof. Clifton has partly forgotten 
the matter of which he speaks. I wrote to him for leave to in- 
spect the Physical Laboratory at Oxford, not certain that he was 
one of the examiners, but aware that he had charge of that in- 
stitution and that the examination must be held there (see 3). I 
cid not speak of my eligibility. 
There is no doubt about the fact that great difficulties are 
thrown in the way of outsiders, but I should have been wrong if 
I had laid any blame on Prof. Clifton for taking the only course 
open to him. The case is simply this : according to the present 
Physics arrangements at Oxford, outsiders preparing for the 
October Fellowship examination at Merton couid not without 
giving the greatest imaginable trouble to Prof. Clifton get any 
opportunity of inspecting the apparatus. 
After stating that he was unable to afford me the desired oppor- 
tunity, he asked if I-had ascertained about my eligibility, inform- 
ming me that the warden or sub-warden was the proper person 
to apply to. I immediately wrote ¢hat [had already made such 
an inguiry, stating the result. 
I now infer that he, after receiving my letter and aware that I* 
had made the proper inquiries, allowed both the Warden and 
myself to remain in ignorance of the grievous mistake. On re- 
ceiving no answer I felt perfectly certain that the information 
received from the Warden was correct. 
When I last wrote to Nature I felt grateful to Prof. Clifton 
for his inquiry, incomplete and worse than useless ‘* warning ” as 
it had been. Surely no one will think that I had any right to 
introduce his name. ‘ 
3. He says it was by no means certain that the Practical 
Physics examination would be held in the Physical Laboratory. 
Will he assert that in any one of the nineteen colleges of which 
he speaks, or in the nineteen collectively there is apparatus for 
conducting such an examination ? 
He wonders why it should be necessary to inspect the parti- 
cular apparatus to be employed in the examination. I do not 
know if Prof. Clifton was really one of the examiners for the 
fellowship, but surely he cannot have thought about the matter 
without being aware of the immense importance of a previous 
acquaintance with the apparatus such as Oxford men are sure to 
have. I heard by accident in July that there was no delicate 
apparatus, nor were proper arrangements made for exact experi- 
ments in Staiic Electricity. Can Prof. Clifton not understand 
that to an outsider such information might be of the greatest im- 
portance, 
NATUR een 873 
ie 
cf 
“ What arrangement of ino stand is there for measuring 
wave-lengths?” *Is there a Soleil's instrument for measuring 4 
the angle between the axes in biaxial crystals?” ‘* Will the — 
arrangements for observing deflections of a needle enable us to” 
employ the logarithmic decrement?” These questions and a 7 
hundred others as important werg constantly distracting me 
during the four months of preparation. bes 
My letter to Prof. Clifton was, I believe, modest, and showed — 
my respect for him asa man who had done a great work in his 
attempt to create a Physics School at Oxford. My request 
was not “‘unreasonable.” I did not know that his presence — 
was necessary during an inspection of the Physical Cabinet or 
the University. I maintain too, that he has no right to assert , 
that I must feel very uncertain about my own practical know- 
ledge. ae 
London, Oct. 28 
i's 
JOHN PERRY 
Simple Diffraction Experiment an 
THE apparatus for this experiment consists of a slit and a _ 
grating. A slit may be made by ruling a line on a piece of 
smoked glass. The grating is made by slightly greasing the 
thumb and forefinger (there is naturally sufficient on the hot and 
moist hand), and by drawing a piece of clean glass through them 
so as to obtain alternate parallel light spaces and greasy lines on _ 
both sides of the glass; out of several trials a grating may be — 
made which when used in the following manner will give very 
pretty results, Gets 
The grating being placed close to the eye, the slit (with its 
direction parallel to that of the lines on the grating) is held up 
before some bright light, as of a candle, and looked at, as ifthe 
grating did not exist. Very beautiful and numerous spectra may _ 
then be seen ranged on each side of the slit. pr 
The vitreous surface of window glass does not seem to give 
such good gratings as a worked and polished surface, as for in- 
stance that of a weak spectacle lens. 
Oxford H. L. 
> 
Publication of Learned Societies’ Transactions 
In NATURE, vol. viii. p. 506 Mr. Robrs wishes thatour learned _ 
societies would publish their papers separately. I have urged this _ 
betore in NATURE, but unsuccessfully, With Transactions such as 
those of the Royal Society, the present system is almost an ab- _ 
surdity, for papers on most incongruous subjects are bound up — 
together, and the cost is too great. When once a paper 15 
printed, the Council seem to think that there is nothing more to 
be done, and do not in any way try to make the work known. _ 
All papers should be sold separately as cheaply as possible, and 
on publication, should be advertised in the scientific journals, ve 
If this were done, we should not have men like Prof. Sylvester _ 
writing as follows :—‘* I owe my thanks to M. Radau and the. 
editor of the Annals of the Ecole Normale Superieure for — 
having been at the pains to disentomb the little known conclu- 
sions contained therein from their honourable place of sepulture 
in the Philosophical Transactions.” W. B, Gieps- ate 
EXAMINATIONS OF THE SCIENCE AND ART 
DEPARTMENT IN BIOLOGY ys 
THE syllabus of the Biological subjects in which ex- 
aminations are held by the Science and Art Depart- 
ment, has undergone considerable modifications in the _ 
edition of the Directory which has been recently issued. 
Animal Physiology, Elementary Botany(including Flower- 
ing Plants only), are subjects which at present appear to” 
be best adapted for the purposes of school instruction, 
They stand, therefore, in no necessarily logical relation to” 
the other two which are grouped together under the head _ 
of General Biology. These involve the use of the com- 
pound microscope, and some amount of microscopic — 
manipulation. They are therefore better fitted for rather 
more adyanced, or at any rate, older students than the 
first stages of the subjects first mentioned. ’ z 
J 
