Dec. lo, 18 74 J 



NA TURE 



115 



was to bring his fellow-suflferers to learn, as he had done, that 

 an invalid may be useful and happy. 



Mr. J. R. Hind writes as follows to the Times of Dec. 7, 

 with regard to a new comet :— " Having been favoured with a 

 telegram from M. Stephan, Director of the Observatory of Mar- 

 seilles, notifying the discovery of a comet by If. Borrelly about 

 fo jr o'clock this morning, we have been able to observe the comet 

 this evening, its present position allowing of observation both 

 evening and morning. The place telegraphed is — Dec. 6, at 

 i6h. mean time at Marseilles ; right ascension, 239' 56' ; polar 

 distance, 53° 53' ; motion towards the north. An uncertainty 

 as to the comparison star unfortunately prevents me from adding 

 the result of my observations this evening, but the comet will be 

 readily found with a good telescope." 



In the same letter Mr. Hind points out that the zodiacal light 

 has been conspicuous for the last few evenings, and that for 

 several years past this phenomenon has been much more marked 

 '■ in December and January than about the vernal equinox. 



Surgeon-Major A. Leith Adams, M.D., F.R.S., has 

 been appointed to the Professorship of Zoology in the Royal 

 College of Science at Dublin. Dr. Leith Adams is the author 

 of several works in which natural history forms an important 

 part ; among them may be mentioned " Wanderings of a Natu- 

 ralist in India, the Western Himalayas, and Cashmere," and 

 "Field and Forest Rambles." His elaborate monograph on the 

 " Fossil Elephants of the Maltese Islands " is also on the point 

 of being published in the "Transactions" of the Zoological 

 Society. 



Dr. J. W. Hicics has been elected to a Fellowship at Sidney 

 Sussex College, Cambridge. Dr. Hicks was Senior in the 

 Natural Science Tripos, and third among the Senior Optimes in 

 1R70. He for some time held the Lectureship in Botany at St. 

 Thomas's Hospital, and is now Demonstrator of Chemistry in 

 the Cambridge University Laboratory. We may mention that 

 though Sidney College was among the first in the University 

 of Cambridge to offer Scholarships in Natural Science, yet its 

 governing body has been chary of further encouraging the study 

 by the bestowal of Fellowships. Ten years ago, indeed, the 

 Senior in the Natural Science Tripos was rewarded by one ; but 

 Mr. Hicks has had to wait while wranglers in the "teens" 

 have been preferred to him. W^e are glad that the College has 

 made amends at last. 



The course for the Natural Science Moderatorships in Trinity 

 College, Dublin, has just been published. It consists of three 

 paits; — I. Physiological and Comparative Anatomy: books 

 recommended, Carpenter's " Human and Comparative Ana- 

 tomy" and Rolleston's " Forms of Animal Life." 2. Zoology 

 and Botany : books recommended in Zoology, Huxley's "Ana- 

 tomy of Vertebrates," Foster's "Introduction to Embryology,'' 

 Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology," and Gegenbaur's "Com- 

 parative Anatomy," by Vogt ; in Botany^ Henfrey's " Course 

 of Botany," by Masters, "Bentham's British Flora," and " Hof- 

 meister on the Higher Cryptogamia," by Currey. 3. Geology 

 and Physical Geography : books recommended, Dana's "Manual 

 of Geology," Haughton's " Manual of Geology," and Keith 

 Johnston's " Physical Geography." If a suggestion may be 

 allowed, it would appear more in conformity with modern ideas 

 that the subjects of the physiology and structure of plants and 

 animals should be treated of as portions of botany and zoology ; 

 and surely the distribution of both plants and animals in space 

 and in time appertains more to biology than to geology. Honours 

 are now given in the natural sciences in the .Sophister Classes, 

 and the Professors of Geology, Zoology, and Botany give demon- 

 strations in their respective subjects each term. 



In a note on the pollution of the Regent's Canal, the Lancet 

 refers to the attempt which has been made to throw the chief 



blame on the Zoological Society's Gardens, which pour their 

 surface drainage and the contents of their bathing-tanks into the 

 canal. We have, the Lancet states, carefully examined the 

 Society's arrangements, and at once acquit them of any blame in 

 the matter. For, though undoubtedly some of the urinary excre- 

 tion of the animals is carried off by the surface drainage, still the 

 amount is small, and the evil in that respect is more than counter- 

 brlanced by the large volume of water (50,000 gallons) daily 

 poured into the canal. Indeed, if that amount of water were in 

 any way diverted, the condition of the canal would, in dry 

 seasons, become worse than it is at present. We were con- 

 vinced that none of the solid excreta could find their way to the 

 canal through any channel. 



We hope that the meeting held in London on Monday nigh 

 under the presidency of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh will 

 be the means of securing the remaining 30,000/. needed to 

 complete the modest sum w.inted wherewith to extend the 

 premises of the University of Edinburgh. The meeting was 

 throughout a satisfactory one, and all the addresses, by H.R.H. 

 the Duke of Edinburgh, the Earl of Derby, Prof. Huxley, 

 Dr. Lyon Playfair, Prof. AUman, and others, were pervaded 

 with a strong feeling as to the necessity for an all-important 

 place in education being given to practical training in science. 

 Iniiced, it was distinctly stated by Prof. Huxley that the demand 

 for space was not simply owing to the great increase of students 

 in past years, but to the total and happy revolution which 

 had been effected within the last twenty or thirty years in the 

 mode of teaching all branches of physical science. When he 

 was a medical student, the only branch of scientific study pro- 

 perly taught — namely, by practical instruction — was anatomy. 

 It had now, however, come to be understood that what v/as 

 true of analoany was true of all branches of science — that no 

 man could know anything about science unless he worked at it 

 practically with his hands. That was the only knowledge on 

 which he could really depend. Hence had arisen the demand 

 for scienti':c laboratories, in which the student not only had the 

 means and appliances of investigation, but had his work super- 

 intended by practical instructors. That demand had increased 

 tenfold the requirements of any teaching body that would do 

 its work worthily, and without the requisite accommodation 

 the scientific teaching of the University could not possibly 

 yield any sound and fruitful results. Moreover, it had come to 

 be recognised that a man could not be a successful teacher, 

 exercising a moral influence on his students which constituted 

 the essential difference between a professor and a book, unless 

 he was himself an original investigator, promoting and increas- 

 ing knowledge. We have no doubt that we shall soon be able 

 to announce that the whole 100,00c/. has been subscribed. 



A PAPER on " University Development in Scotland," re- 

 printed from the Perthshire Constitutional, has been sent us. It 

 tikes Edinburgh University, the largest (it has i,Soo students 

 this year) and best known of the Scottish Universities, as repre- 

 sentative of the others, and points out several directions in which 

 there is room lor improvement. The writer takes the German 

 University as in some sort a model, and points out the following 

 defects in the Scottish Universities :— (i) The want of sufficiently 

 extensive and suitable buildings ; (2) There should be a material 

 increase in the teaching staff; (3) There should be abetter en- 

 dowment of professorships ; (4) Graduates should be encouraged 

 to devote themselves to oripnal re'search by the provision of 

 liberally endowed professorships ; (5) There should be more 

 liberal superannuation of professors after a shorter period of 

 service. The writer urges on all those who have been educated 

 in Edinburgh, and on all who wish to see it keep its position, to 

 lend a hand in the movement now on foot to raise a sum suflicient 

 to provide the University with the additional buildings which are 

 absolutely necessary to its efficiency. 



