-Nov. 5, 1874] 



NA TURE 



17 



in company with some friends, their expedition having the 

 combined objects in view of sporting and the pursuit of natural 

 history, and has passed moat of the interval in Cashmere 

 and Thibet, vphere he is believed to have made very con- 

 siderable collections — zoological, botanical, and geological. 



Mr. Martin, Senior in the Natural Science Tripos of 1S73, 

 was last week elected to a Fellowship at Christ's College, 

 Cambridge. 



Godfrey's Laboratory, Maiden Lane, Strand, in which the 

 Hon. Robert Boyle worked out his phosphorus experiments, has 

 been converted into a Roman Catholic chapel. 



Some of the Paris newspapers announced that M. Wurtz, 

 Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Paris, would be obliged 

 to resign ; the Figaro went so far as to give the name of the 

 intended successor of the celebrated Professor of Chemistry 

 — a M. Depaul. The rumour happily has proved false, and 

 was maliciously spread because a clerk employed in the office of 

 the Faculty had been dismissed for misdemeanour. There is, 

 however, to be a demonstration among the students in honour of 

 M. Wurtz, who is a great favourite with them. 



The Professorship of Applied Matliematics and Mechanism 

 in the Royal College of Science for Ireland (Science and Art 

 Department), vacant by the appointment of R. Ball, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., to the Professorship of Astronomy in the Dublin Uni- 

 versity, has been filled by the appointment of H. Hennessey, 

 F.R.S. 



Dr. James Apjohn, F.R.S., has resigned the Professorship 

 of Chemistry in the School of Physic attached to Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin. Dr. Apjohn still holds the Professorships of 

 Applied Chemistry and of Mineralogy in the University of 

 Dublin. The Provost and Senior Fellows of Trinity College, 

 Dublin, will, pursuant to the School of Physic (Ireland) Act, 

 proceed on the 30th of January, 1875, to elect a Professor of 

 Chemistry. There is a fixed salary of 400/. a year, with an 

 additional payment of 100/. a year on condition that a number 

 of Senior Sophisters nominated by the Bursar shall have free 

 laboratory instruction. In addition the Professor has the fees 

 for lectures and laboratory instruction, which ought to equal, 

 at the lowest calculation, 400/. a year. The Professor will have 

 the use of the college laboratory for analyses bearing on 

 medical chemistry, such as medical and medico-legal investi- 

 gations, and analyses connected with purposes of public health. 

 Candidates are required to send their names, with the places of 

 their education, the Universities where they have taken their 

 medical degrees, and the places where they have practised, to 

 the Registrar of Trinity College, Dublin, and to the Registrars 

 of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, 

 Kildare Street, Dublin, on or before the 23rd of January, 1875. 



In accordance with the wishes of the Professors of the 

 Medical School of Trinity College, Dublin, the Provost and 

 Senior Fellows have resolved that a three months' course of 

 practical instruction in Human Histology shall be added to the 

 curriculum for the degree of M.B., the same to be under the 

 superintendence of Dr. Purser, King's Professor of the Insti- 

 tutes of Medicine, no/, has been voted to buy twenty micro- 

 scopes, and we presume a room will soon be built for the 

 purpose. 



The competitive system is making'daily progress' in France 

 Four Coinmissaires de Folke being required, the Prefect of the 

 Seine instituted a competition among the police-secretaries, and 

 fourteen candidates offered themselves. A committee of exa- 

 miners was appointed, the examinations have been held, and 

 the candidates are awaiting the result, which will be issued 

 very shortly. Up to the present time Commissaircs de Police 

 have been appointed at the discretion of the Prefect, only from 



amongst gentlemen holding the diploma of Licentiate in Law, 

 and secretaries of police are obliged to possess that qualification 

 before being admitted to the examination. 



Each year the five Paris Academies — the Academy of 

 Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Inscrip- 

 tions, the Academy of Moral Sciences, and the French Academy 

 — hold a general meeting on the 25th of October, the anniversary 

 of 3 Brumaire, an. IV. (25th Octoljer, 1795), the day when the 

 French Republic published the law organising the National In- 

 stitute. During the Restoration the meeting was held yearly on 

 the 24th April, the day when King Louis XVIII. returned to 

 France, with the foreign troops, after the battle of Waterloo. 

 When the Republic was proclaimed in 1848, a decree changed 

 the date of the annual celebration to the 25th October ; but 

 when Napoleon III. accomplished his coup dWial, he appointed 

 the 19th of August, which was continued to be the date to 1870. 

 The Republic being again proclaimed, the celeliration was restored 

 to the 25th of October. Each Acadeniy or Class of the Institute 

 appoints successively the president of the meeting. The turn of 

 the Academy of Sciences having come round this year, M. 

 Bertrand, who is the president in charge, was the chairman of 

 the whole Institute. His being a candidate for the perpetual 

 secretaryship has given much interest to his presidential address, 

 which was printed at full length in all the papers, and largely 

 approved. 



The Prefect of the Seine has appointed a Commission to 

 inquire into the state of lightning conductors — which [are in a 

 very imperfect condition on some public buildings — and the best 

 method of testing their efficacy. The institution of this Commis- 

 sion appears to have been suggested by the corresponding com- 

 mittee which was appointed by the British Association, and 

 which existed during two years without any result. It is to be 

 hoped that the Parisian Commissioners will be more successful. 



The Municipal Council of Paris will very likely ask from the 

 Government an authorisation to establish industrial schools in 

 that city. 



At a meeting held a year ago in Islington, a large number of 

 influential gentlemen were"appointed a committee to obtain for 

 that large and important district a Public Library and Museum, 

 under the " Public Libraries and Museums Act." A requisition 

 to the vestry and overseers of the parish was circulated for signa- 

 ture, and the scheme has, we believe, met with general approval, 

 so that we hope soon to see it carried into effect. 



M. Faye has officially announced himself a candidate for the 

 post of Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, but 

 the chances of M. Bertrand do not appear to have been greatly 

 altered. 



There will be an examination at Sidney College, Cambridge, 

 on Tuesday, April 6, 1S75, and three following days, of students 

 intending to commence residence in the following October, when 

 (provided fit candidates present themselves) two scholarships will 

 be awarded for natural science, one of the value of 60/., and one 

 of the value of 40/. The scholarships •\\ill be tenable, under 

 certain conditions, until the time of taking the B.A. degree, 

 or until promotion of others to greater value. 



A COPY of the cotlometer, an instrument invented by Mr. W. 

 Marsham Adams, B.A., late Fellow of New College, O.xford, 

 for the purpose of illustrating elementary astronomy, is to be 

 placed in the Examining Department of the Boaid of Trade at 

 Tower Hill, and also on board her Majesty's training-ship 

 Conway, at Birkenhead. Rear-Admiral Sir A. Cooper Key has 

 we believe, signified his intention of applying to the Admiralty 

 for leave to purchase one for the Naval College at Greenwich, of 

 which he is the president. 



