’ 
Oct. 29, 1870] © 
NATURE 
495 
will hereafter equalise this disparity. The parcel post, however, 
is at present discontinued. P. N. Row 
October 14 
Science and the Government 
THE reason that the Government has refused to aid “the 
expedition to observe the approaching eclipse” is, that it is 
perfectly assured that ‘‘ men of science and culture” are nothing 
but a set of lying impostors, and would swindle the public out 
of thousands of pounds to take an observation which might, be 
done for 10/. and much less. The nation is fast beginning to 
perceive that astronomy is a monstrous cheat—and the Transit of 
Venus has no more to do with the distance of the sun than it 
has with the number of fingers on my hand. 
Joun HamMppEN 
{We congratulate Mr. Lowe on his ally, merely remarking 
“that the same Goyernment which has refused the Eclipse Ex- 
pedition has granted 20,000/. for observations of the Transit of 
Venus. Perhaps Mr. Hampden can explain the cause of this 
inconsistency on the part of the Government. —Ep. ] 
Insects upon a Swallow 
G. H. H. mentions in Nature of Sept. 22 his having found 
on a swallow in the month of August two slate-coloured insects. 
On the 15th of July last, when hauling a seine net in Studland 
Bay, near Poole, with some fellow members of the Linnean 
Society Club, I picked up at the foot of the low cliff a young 
sand-martin, which had seven of these parasites (Zxodes plumbea) 
affixed to the skin of the head, giving it the appearance of having 
a slate-coloured fleshy crest. The poor little bird exhibited the 
symptoms described by your correspondent. I found it panting 
and apparently exhausted on the ground, and it remained sta- 
tionary without making any effort to escape. The fishermen of 
our crew informed me that they often pick up martins with these 
ticks adhering to them. 
The Waldrons, Croydon, Sept. 26 Henry LEE 
‘Aurora Borealis 
A FINE aurora was observed here on the evening of the 14th 
inst., between 8" 30™ and 9 40™, which, in spite of bright moon- 
light, nearly equalled the splendour the display of September the 
24th. During the early part of the evening the eastern quarter of 
the sky was covered with bands of light ¢rz, which had a general 
direction of E.N.E. to W.S.W., or nearly at right-angles to the 
magnetic meridian ; it was among these clouds and in the N.E. 
that the beams of the aurora were first seen. At 9'*o™a magni- 
ficent rose-coloured ray was noticed in the N.N.W., extending 
from the horizon through Vega towards the zenith. The three stars, 
§«, and 5, of Ursa Major were for more than ten minutes en- 
veloped in the crimson glow of the aurora. 
Bedford, Oct. 18 Tuos. G. ELGER 
NOTES 
WE are glad to be able to state that Dr. Wyville Thomson has 
entirely recovered from the attack of gastric fever which prevented 
his taking part in the Porcupine expedition this summer. He is 
at present going over the zoological collection brought home in 
that vessel, at the University of London, with Dr. Carpenter, 
and he reports some very remarkable additions to his new group 
of vitreous sponges, mainly from the coast of Spain and Portu- 
gal. These, with some others procured by Mr. Saville Kent, 
in Dr. Marshall Hall’s yacht, will nearly double the number of 
known forms referred to the order. They are no pigmies. One 
of them forms a lovely lace-like vase upwards of three feet in 
diameter at the lip ! 
WE have to add to the list of candidates for the Regius 
Professorship of Natural History in Edinburgh the name of 
John Anderson, M.D. Edin., F.L.S., director of the Imperial 
Museum of Natural History, Calcutta. Dr. Anderson was 
attached as Naturalist to a recent expedition through the north 
of Burmah, and he is, we understand, now on his way home, 
bringing with him detailed accounts of the important additions 
which he is known to haye made to science in that expedition. 
MEMBERS of the University of Cambridge, and all who are 
interested in the study of physical science, will hear with pleasure 
of the munificent offer made to the University by its Chancellor, the 
Duke of Devonshire, contained in the following extract of a letter 
to the Vice-Chancellor :—‘‘ I find in the report, dated Feb. 29, 
1869, (sic) of the Physical Science Syndicate, recommending the 
establishment of a Professor and Demonstrator of Experimental 
Physics, that the buildings and apparatus required for this de- 
partment of science are estimated to cost 6,300/. I am desirous 
to assist the University in carrying this recommendation into 
effect, and shall accordingly be prepared to provide the funds 
required for the building and apparatus, so soon as the Uni- 
versity shall have in other respects completed its arrangements 
for teaching experimental physics, and shall have approved the 
plan of the building.” 
Av the Commencement held on the 12th inst. of the Queen’s 
University in Ireland, the Most Honourable the Marquis of 
Kildare, the newly-appointed Chancellor of the University, pre- 
sided. After expressing the deep regret of the University at the 
death of their first Chancellor, the Earl of Clarendon, to whom 
the University and Colleges were indebted for much of their 
prosperity, the Chancellor mentioned that the Senate had de- 
cided to establish a special curriculum, in which science should 
have the predominance, and that the degrees of Bachelor and 
Doctor in Science would be given to those who passed the exa- 
minations in the subjects to be hereafter enumerated. He also 
referred to the examinations for women carried on by the Uni- 
versity—the first of these was held in June last in Belfast and 
Galway—and mentioned that of thirty-three candidates who pre- 
sented themselves, twenty-one acquitted themselves to the 
satisfaction of the examiners. 
Mr. M. R&R. Pryor has been elected to a Fellowship of 
Natural Science in Trinity College, Cambridge. The examina- 
tion was conducted by Prof. Liveing, Prof. Michael Foster (tle 
new Przlector,of the College), Mr. Trotter, and Mr. Hort, 
Fellows of the College, was open to all the University, and was 
on a par with the examinations in clc<ssics and mathematics, held 
at the same time for Fellowships. It is the first occasion that 
this has been done, and the first time that a Fellowship has been 
offered in Cambridge for competition in Natural Science. We 
sincerely trust the plan will be continued in Trinity, and that 
the example will be followed in other Colleges. It would pro- 
bably contribute more than any other single thing to promote the 
study of Natural Science in the University, and give an impetus 
to it in the various schools throughout the kingdom. We 
sometimes think the Colleges are scarcely conscious of the power 
they are Capable of exercising in this way, and of the responsi- 
bility which necessarily attaches to such power. The questions 
were of a very high order, and we understand the answers evinced 
so much power as well as knowledge, that the examiners would 
gladly have elected more than one candidate. We sincerely 
congratulate Mr. Pryor on having thus worthily won the highest 
competitive reward for Natural Science hitherto given in this 
country. 
THE Senate of the Queen’s University in Ireland has con- 
ferred on William King, M.D., Professor of Geology and Mine- 
ralogy in Queen’s College, Galway, the honorary degree of Doctor 
of Science, in consideration of his eminence as a geologist. 
TuE following lectures in Natural Sciences will be delivered 
in Trinity and St. John’s Colleges, Cambridge, during the 
Michaelmas term, 1870. On Electricity: Mr. Trotter, Trinity. 
On Chemistry: Mr. Main, St. John’s. Instruction in Practical 
Chemistry will also be given. On Geology—(1) Palzontology ; 
(2) Lyell’s Principles of Geology; (3) Elementary Lectures : 
Mr. Bonney, St. John’s. (Students of other Colleges can Le 
admitted to these Lectures by arrangement with their college 
