140 



NATURE 



[December 8, 189.S 



UNIVERSITY AA'D EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridc.k. — The completion of Ihc fiftieth year of Sir 

 George Stokes' tenure of the I.ucasian Trofessorship will be 

 celebrated by the University on June I and 2, 1899. Invitations 

 to assist will be issued to (listin(;uished representatives of univer- 

 sities and learned societies, British and fi)rcif;n. A pranl of 

 400/. has been made by the University for the purpose, and it is 

 understood that some permanent memorial of the occasion will 

 be provided. 



The VValsingham Medal has been awarded to Mr. J. draham 

 Kerr, of Christ's College, for his researches on I.epidosircit. 

 Mr. A. C. Hill, of Trinity, is pioxinie accessit, and five other 

 essays are pronounced by the adjudicators to be of a high order 

 of merit. 



A John Lucas W.ilker Siudentship in Pathology, value 200/. a 

 year for three years, is about 10 be vacant. Candidates, who 

 may be of cither sex, are to send in their names to Prof. Kanthack 

 by January 18, 1899. 



An Isaac Newton Siudentship in Astronomy, value 200/. a 

 jear for three years, will be filled up next term. Candidates 

 must be B..'\.s under the age of twenty-five on January 1, 1899. 

 Names are to be sent into the Vice-Chancellor between January 

 16 and 26. 



The Sheepshanks Telescope Committee report that the erec- 

 tion of the polar-reflecting photographic telescope at the 

 Observatory, with its building and <lc>nie, is nearly complete. 

 Dr. Common has provided the mirror, and the object-glass is 

 one of Cooke's triple lenses. The tube and apparatus are by 

 Messrs. (jrubb. The adjustments and tests have still to be 

 carried out. 



Mr. Shipley and Mr. Cronin are to represent the University 

 at the centenary of the Imperial Military Academy at St. 

 Petersburg at the end of this month. 



Ini'ORMation of two examples of munificence to education 

 and science reaches us from the United States. Mrs. Emmons 

 Blaine has given 250,000 dollars to Chicago University for the 

 cstabli.shment of a college for teachers. Miss Anna T. Jeanes 

 has recently presented the Academy of Natural .Sciences of 

 Philadelphia with 20,000 dollars, the income to be used for 

 museum ])urposes. 



The following Scholarships have been awarded in connection 

 with the present Session 1898-99 of the Central Technical 

 College :— Clothworkers' Scholarship, 60/. a year, to \. J. Cook ; 

 Mitchell Scholarship, 50/. a year, to K. II. Collins; John 

 Samuel Scholarship, 30/. and free education, to K. C. Ilouns- 

 field ; Institute's Kree-Sludenlships to K. II. Buckie, A. VV. 

 Harrold, and W. II. P. Broungcr. 



Thk liritiih Mcdkal yoiiriml sXoXg^ that Mr. Alfred L. Jones 

 has offered the sum of 350/. a year to establish and maintain a 

 laboratory in Liverpool for the study of tropical diseases. The 

 laboratory will be ojjened in association with the Royal Southern 

 Hospital, and a Committee has been formed to carry out the 

 scheme in connection with the hospital and with University 

 College. 



The first number of a new monthly magazine, devoted to the 

 principles and practice of teaching the subjects usually studied 

 in secondary schools— by which is meant all .schools, public and 

 private, other than public elementary schools— will be jiublished 

 by Messrs. Macmillan in the middle of January next, under the 

 title of The Sdioot W'trld. The mngazine is not designed to 

 lie an educational newspaper so much as a periodical for the 

 publication of articles on methods of teaching, and of notes by 

 experienced teachers on the treatment of diOiculiies met with in 

 actual school work. Kaiional methods of teaching will be 

 advocated so far as they are practicable under existing condi- 

 tions in secondary schools, and aiticles will be published .show- 

 ing how they can be carried oul. Among the contributors to 

 the .scientific section of early numbers of the magazine will be 

 i'rof. L. C. Miall, on cxperimenlal natural history ; Prof. <;. B. 

 Mathews, on the teaching of algebra ; and Dr. Irancis Warner, 

 on physical observations of boys and girls in schools. Other 

 .scientific subjects to be dealt with are the stars month by month, 

 current geographical topics, and experimental general science. 



NO. I 5 10, \OL. 59] 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 

 BulUliii of the AmerUan Mathimalical Society, Novemlier, 

 — The first "Cambridge Colloquium" was held at BuHalc 

 in l8g6. In consequence of the British Association holding iti 

 meeting in 1S97 at Toronto there was no Colloquium held in 

 that year. The second Colloquium was held in the present year 

 (August 22-27), at Harvard University Two courses of six 

 lectures each were delivered, the lecturers being Profs. Osgoo<I 

 and Webster. The latter gentleman took as his text "Tha 

 partial differential equations connected with wave propaga> 

 tion " — an abstract of this course is to be given in a futurii 

 number. Prof. Osgood lectured " On some methods and 

 problems of the general theor)' of functions." Lecturer, wai 

 devoted to Picard's theorem, and the application of Riemann'* 

 geometric methods in the general theory of functions. Lectures 

 ii. and iii. discussed the representation of multiple-valued func- 

 tions by means of single-valued functions of a parameter, treated 

 geometrically by Riemann's methods and also Poincare's theorem. 

 Lectures iv. and v. dwelt on some recent study of the relation 

 between the properties of a function defined by a power series 

 and the coefficients of that series. The last lecture was on 

 certain Cantor's sets, and their application in a question con 

 cerning Cauchy's definition of an analytic function. The lectures 

 are very fully reported, and illustrated with diagrams ami 

 bibliographical notes. 'The "Colloquium" is a very interesting 

 and useful addition to the ordinary meetings of the Society. 

 The above meeting was held at the same time as the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science held its semi 

 centennial meeting, at which aliout 900 members were present 

 The section of mathematics and astronomy was well attended. 

 The committee of the section accepted twelve papers in pure 

 mathematics, thirteen in applied mathematics, and sixteen in 

 astronomy. The titles of the.se are given, and short abstracts ot 

 their contents follow. Interesting notes ami a list of recent 

 mathematical publications close the number. The Bulletin 

 well maintains the high position it has attained. 



Aiiiericaii /oiinial of .Mathematics, vol. xx. No. 4, (October 

 1S98). — Sur I'integration hydraulique des equations diffcren 

 tielles, by .\I. M. I'etrovitch. The author writes :" Tous les 

 intcgrapheset lesappareils pourl'integratinn graphique des equa- 

 tions differentielles, proposes jusqu' aujouidhui, sont fondc sur 

 I'emploi de certains principes cinematiques, p. ex. sur Ics pro- 

 prielcs des roulettes (cf. the Catalogue of ^Iodels, Apparatu> 

 and Instruments, by W. Dyck, Munich, 1892-3)." He shows 

 briefly that these integrations can be effected in quite another 

 way. " .Supposons que Ton fasse immerger un corps solide M 

 plusou moins profondcment dans leliquideconlenu dans unvase 

 B. Le niveau du liquide montera ou s'abai-ssera d'apres une 

 certaine loi dependant de la forme du corps M et du vase B el 

 ces formes unefois fixees, la variation de la hauteur du niveau 

 y, comptee i partir d'un plan horizontal fixe, p. ex. a parlir de 

 la face inferieure du vase B ne dependra que de la distance J 

 entre I'extremite <■ de la tige efeX. la face inferieure du vase B.' 

 The principle is applied to the graphical integration of a certain 

 lypeof diffcrcnliul cc|uations of the first order. The article is 

 illustrated with a few diagrams. — On the hyperelliptic sigina 

 functions, by II. I'. Baker. This memoir, which occupies 

 pp. 301-384, appears to be a brilliant contribution to the 

 literature of the Ricmann surface. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, November 24.—" The Origin of the Cajes 

 evolved on heating Mineral Substances, Meteorites, &c." By 

 Morris W. Travers, D.Sc. Communicated by Prof. W. 

 Ramsay, K. R S. 



Conclusions. 



It would appear that the only evidence on which the as- 

 sumption that |;ases of a permanent character, such as hydrogen, 

 carbon monoxide, nitrogen, helium, and argon, exist in the 

 free state in the mineral substances from which they are evolved 

 on heating, rests on certain observations with regard to the 

 cavities which can sometimes be detected by microscopic 

 examination. 



The cavities may be either apparently empty or they may 

 contain liquid, and when the mineral is »:irmeil the liquid 



