Feb. 1 8, 1875] 



NATURE 



313 



Nothing definite was the result of the deputation from 

 King's College which waited on the Duke of Richmond and 

 Lord Sandon last Thursday, to ask the Education Department to 

 make a grant to the College from the fund for educational pur- 

 poses, in accordance with the recommendations of the Royal 

 Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of 

 Science. The Bishop of London presented the case of the 

 College very forcibly, and showed that it really needed and 

 deserved help ; but, as might be expected, no certain hopes were 

 held out that any grant would, in the meantime at least, be 

 given. It is, however, to some extent consoliiig to learn that 

 the claims of the College have been talked over by the powers 

 that be. But, as Lord Sandon said, "it is a large subject, 

 involving other parts of the country," and it seems to us that it 

 can only be adequately considered in connection with the duty 

 of Government in connection with the scientific education of the 

 country as a whole, and with the claims of scientific research. 



SiGNOR Templi, First Assistant at the Observatory of Milan, 

 has been appointed to the directorship of the new Observatory 

 at Arcetri, near Florence. The post has been vacant since the 

 death of Prof. Donati about a year and a half ago. 



The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University invites the 

 attendance of the members of the Senate on Friday aftemoon, 

 immediately after the Congregation, for the discussion of the fol- 

 lowing important Grace, which has received the sanction of the 

 Council of the Senate : — " That a Syndicate be appointed to 

 consider whether any, and, if any, what representations should 

 be made to the Government as to the importance of obtaining 

 legislative authority for modifying the pecuniary and other rela- 

 tions subsisting between the University and the Colleges, and for 

 enabling the University thereby to enlarge and improve its 

 system of education." 



The Cambridge Museums and Lecture Rooms Syndicate 

 draw attention to the increased necessary expense in 

 maintaining the departments under their charge, and ask for 

 an increase of 500/. a year to their annual grant— that is, 

 2,000/. instead of 1,500/. They point out that the Cavendish 

 Laboratory requires a considerable annual outlay. The expen- 

 diture has been restricted on all sides, and the purchase of 

 specimens which would have helped to fill important gaps in the 

 collections has had to be declined in consequence of want of 

 funds. The Syndicate also ask for leave to expend 610/. for 

 fittings to the Geological Museum. The Vice-Chancellor invites 

 the attendance of members of the Senate to discuss this report 

 in the Arts School to-day, immediately after the Congregation. 



The Sussex Daily Atius publishes a letter from Mr. Henry 

 Willett, hon. secretary to the Sub-Wealden, Exploration 

 Enterprise, defending the course adopted in commencing the 

 second boring on the same site. To have done otherwise would 

 have caused much delay and inconvenience. The decision 

 appears to have given general satisfaction, there having been an 

 encouraging accession of subscriptions. A depth of 4c feet has 

 been reached in the new boring. 



The publishers of Naturforschcr have just issued the first 

 number of a monthly periodical which promises to be of very 

 great service to workers in science. It is entitled Rcpirtorium 

 (Icr A^aturwissoisc/taflcii, and its purpose is to give monthly a 

 list of the most recent papers in the various departments of 

 physical and natural science. Only such papers are mentioned 

 as describe the' results of original research, and the titles are 

 arranged under that of the particular publications in which they 

 are contained, and which consist mainly of the Proceedings of 

 the various scientific societies, foreign and British, along with 

 some of the principal scientific journals. The intention seems 

 to be to give the titles of all original papers wherever they 



appear, and no doubt, as the publication advances, its plans will 

 be improved and developed. We would suggest that the names 

 of editor and pubhsher, and the place of publication, should in 

 all cases be given. The enterprise deserves the greatest suc- 

 cess. The editorship is the same as that of Naturforschei: 



At Berlin a telegram has been received from the commander 

 of the Gazelle, dated Akyab, the 15th inst., announcing that the 

 observations of the Transit of Venus at the Kerguelen Islands 

 were successful. Further accounts from Dr. Janssen show us 

 tliat he was enabled to observe Venus eclipsing the coronal 

 atmosphere of the sun, by using glass of a deep blue tint. 



Some amusing and characteristic blunders have been com- 

 mitted by the Journal Officicl of the French Government in its 

 impression of the 13th February, when describing the observations 

 of the Transit of Venus at the Sandwich Islands. The official 

 journalist says that the Sandwichians looked at the transit with 

 blackened glass, without the help of any telescope. He supposes, 

 moreover, that Cook observed the transit at the Sandwich 

 Islands in his second voyage. The fun of the blunder is that 

 Tahiti, where the transit was observed, is now a French settle- 

 ment. 



We learn from the Kohnsehe Zeitiiiig of Jan. 29 that at 

 the last meeting of the Academy of Sweden, Prof. Norden- 

 skjuld intimated that M. Oskar Dickson, of Goteborg, has 

 granted the means for a new Arctic Expedition, which is to leave 

 Sweden in the spring of 1S76 for Nowaja Semija and the Kara 

 Sea, in order to continue in these little investigated countries 

 the scientific researches commenced by Swedish explorers on 

 and round Spitzbergen. 



The February number of Petermann's Mitt/ieilutigen contains 

 a new map of Chili on the scale of uoJoutr, along with a brief 

 account of Chilian cartography. The same number contains a 

 Geographical Necrology for 1874 ; a paper, by Prof. Hans 

 Hofer, geologist of the Wilczek Polar Expedition, on the ice- 

 bergs of Novaya Zemlya, about which hitherto little or nothing 

 has hitherto been known; the first instalment of "Travels 

 in High Armenia in the year 1874," by Drs. Radde and 

 Siewers; and a lecture on the scientific results of the recent 

 Austrian Polar Expedition, an abstract of which we hope to 

 give in our next number. 



Prof. Schnetzler, of Lausanne, has published a paper on 

 some researches which he made with regard to the common fro"- 

 (l\aua temporaria). He had placed fertilised eggs of frogs into 

 colourless glass vessels, and others into green coloured ones ; he 

 found the development of the young animals to be remarkably 

 slow in the green glasses, and ascribes the fact to the total 

 absence of ozone in these glasses. The colourless glasses con- 

 tained ozone constantly, whereas in the green ones there never 

 was a trace. 



The Nette Freie Presse, in an article dated from Rudolphs- 

 werth, in Carniola (Austria), Jan. 25, describes a slight earth- 

 quake that was felt there on that date. The oscillations began 

 at a quarter past eight in the morning, and were repeated twice 

 within a quarter of an hour ; their direction was horizontal, the 

 weather was dull and rainy ; temperature -^ 10° C. 



Two earthquakes have been recorded in Algeria, and, singu- 

 larly enough, are recorded as having been felt at the same hour, 

 ten o'clock in the morning, the first on the 20th January, at 

 Tk'Iat, and the second at Sido-Bel-Abbes on the 29th. The 

 direction of the first oscillation was from south to north. 

 Nothing is said of the direction of the second. 



The Kolnisc/ie Zeiiung of Jan. 31 reprints a long article, 

 taken from the Gbttinger Zeitung, in which Prof. Klinkerfues 

 severely criticises the German custom of admiring everything 



