Nov. 2b. i8cS5] 



NA TURE 



93 



The following maps, published by the IVIilitary Commissariat, 

 deserves also a short notice : — A map of European Russia, 

 showing for each government the surplus, or the want of, rye 

 raised within the government, as also its price, which map leads 

 to very interesting geographical conclusions ; a map showing the 

 average crops proportionately to the population ; and a map of 

 the sheep-breeding in Russia. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 

 Cambridge. — The first award of the Smith's Prizes under 

 the new regulations has been made. They are now given to 

 the Bachelors of Arts wiro send in the best essays on any 

 subject in Mathematics or Natural Philosophy before the end 

 of the Lent Term in the second year after each Mathematical 

 Tripos. Thus the competitors this year took their degree in 

 the Mathematical Tripos of 18S3-84. The Smith's Prizes this 

 year are awarded to two essays declared equal in merit, viz. 

 that of Mr. H. E. G. Gallop, Fellow of Trinity College, 

 Second Wrangler in 1883, 1st Division in Part III., 1884, 

 subject, "The Distribution of Electricity on the Circular Disk 

 and Spherical Bowl " ; and that of Mr. R. Lachlan, Fellow of 

 Trinity College, 3rd Wrangler, 1883, 1st Division in P.art III., 

 1884, subject "Systems of Circles." It is further announced 

 that the essay by Mr. C. Chree, Fellow of King's College, on 

 "Elastic Solids," and that of Mr. A. N. Whitehead, Fellow of 

 Trinity College, on the " General Equations of Hydrodynamics," 

 deserved honourable mention. 



The Special Board for Medicine have reported in favour of 

 the immediate appointment of a Demonstrator of Pathology, 

 with a stipend of 100/. a year, to assist Prof Roy, who now 

 gives systematic lectures three times a week, conducts a practical 

 course for two hours twice a week, and undertakes the autopsies 

 at Addenbrooke's Hospital. 



The Chemical Laboratory Syndicate have recommended the 

 acceptance of Messrs. Bull, Sons, and Co.'s tender (Southamp- 

 ton) for 19,300/. 



The following appointments to Syndicates and Boards have 

 been made : — 



Botanic Garden : Messrs. A. H. Cooke and W. Gardiner. 

 University Library : Prof. A. Macalister. 

 Museums and Lecture Rooms : Messrs. E. H. Morgan and 

 R. T. Caldwell. 



Local Examinations : Mr. J. W. Hicks. 

 Observatory : Dr. Routh and Mr. J. Larmor. 

 University Press : Prof. A. Macalister. 

 State Medicine : Prof. Latham and Dr. D. McAlister. 

 Mathematics : Dr. Routh. 

 Physics and Chemistry : Mr. C. Trotter. 

 Biology and Geology : Mr. W. Gardiner. 

 Great opposition has been given to the new proposals as to the 

 additional subjects of the Previous Examination required of 

 candidates for honours. As Mr. Oscar Browning said, 

 "dealing with this subject seemed to cast an evil influence over 

 every one who takes it in hand." The fact is the University, 

 containing strong elements attached to and conne.ne 1 with the 

 Public School system, refuses to boldly grasp the nettle and 

 introduce English, Modern Languages, or Physical Science into 

 its schemes for the Ordinary Preliminary Examination, and 

 finds itself consequently in endless difficulties whenever it 

 touches the question. 



In addition to the practical instruction in Biology (Zoology and 

 Botany), in preparation for the Preliminary Scientific and B.Sc. 

 Examinations at the University of London, which we have already 

 announced as being given at Bedford (Ladies') College, York 

 Place, Baker Street, we are informed that a class in Geology 

 and Physical Geography has now been formed, in accordance 

 with the requirements of the University, and that it will be 

 conducted by Miss Mary Forster. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Chemical Society, November 5. — Dr. Hugo Midler, 



F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. Leonard de Koningh 



was admitted a Fellow of the Society. — The following papers 



were read : — The influence of silicon on the properties of cast. 



iron, part 2, by Thomas Turner, Assoc. R.S.M.— Modifications 

 of double sulphates, by Spencer Umfreville Pickering, M. A.— 

 The relation of diazobenzene-anilide to amidoazobenzene, by 

 R. J. Friswell and A. Green.— An examination of the phenol 

 constituents of blast-furnace tar obtained by the Alexander and 

 McCosh process at the Gartsherrie Iron Works, part i, by Watson 

 Smith, J. F. H. Coutts, and H. E. Brothers. — The decompo- 

 sition of potassium chlorate by heat, by Frank L. Teed, F.C.S. 

 Note on the refractive power of metacinname (metastyrole), by 

 H. G. Madan, M.A., F.C.S. 



Zoological Society, November 17.— Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair.— The Secretary exhibited to 

 the meeting two curious Millipedes, believed to be Spirostrcptiis 

 annulipes, which had been sent home from the Cape by Mr. 

 Fisk for the Insect House.— An extract was read from a letter 

 addressed to the Secretary by Major S. W. Yerbury, respecting 

 the exact locality of a Chameleon {Chanuvleon calcarifer) pre- 

 sented to the Society by that gentleman in June, 1885. Major 

 Yerbury had obtained this specimen near Aden. — Mr. Sclater 

 exhibited and made remarks upon two Newts [Molge vUlata) 

 transmitted to the Society by Dr. E. B. Dickson, of Constan- 

 tinople, C.M.Z.S., by whom they had been obtained from 

 Brussa, Asia Minor. — Mr. H. E. Dresser exhibited and made 

 remarks on a female specimen of the Kildeer Plover [Aigialitis 

 vociferd), killed, in January, 1885, by Mr. Jenkinson on the 

 SciUy Isles ; and a young female Desert-Chat (Saxicola deserti) 

 obtained near Spurn Head, Lincolnshire, in October, 1885.-— 

 Prof. F. Jeftrey Bell exhibited and gave an account of a speci- 

 men of a species of Balanoglossus obtained by Mr. Spencer at 

 Herm, Channel Islands, being the first recorded instance of the 

 occurrence of this Hemichordate in any part of the British seas. 

 — Mr. F. E. Beddard read the first of a proposed series of notes 

 on the visceral anatomy of birds. The present paper treated of 

 the so-called omentum of birds and its homologies. It was 

 pointed out that this structure, present in many birds, but appa- 

 rently absent, or only present in rudiment, in a few others, was 

 represented by a structure having similar relations in the Croco- 

 dile, but in no other reptile.— Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a de- 

 scription of Heterocephalns phillipsi, an extremely remarkable 

 burrowing Rodent from Somali-land, belonging to a genus of 

 which tlie only other known species was based upon a single 

 specimen obtained by Riippell's collector in Schoa. Mr. .Thomas 

 considered the affinities of this Rodent to be with Georychus and 

 Balhyergus.—'Sir. Sclater read a paper containing a description 

 of an apparently new species of Tanager of the genus Callisle, 

 based on a specimen formerly in the Gould Collection, now in 

 the British Museum. Mr. Sclater proposed to dedicate this 

 bird to its former owner as Callistc gotddi.^M.x. Boulenger gave 

 the description of a new frog from Perak, Malacca, which he 

 proposed to name Mcgalophrys loiigipes. 



Physical Society, November 14. — Prof. Guthrie, President, 

 in the chair. — Mr. G. M. Whipple described and demonstrated 

 experimentally the process of testing thermometers at and near 

 the melting-point of mercury, as carried on at Kew. About 

 20 lbs. of mercury are poured into a wooden bowl and frozen 

 by carbonic-acid-snow and ether ; the mercury is stirred with a 

 wooden stirrer, and the snow is added till the experimenter 

 feels, by the resistance to stirring, that the mercury is freezing. 

 The stirring is continued for some time, which causes the mer- 

 cury to become granular instead of a solid mass. The ther- 

 mometers are then inserted, together with a standard, and 

 compared. About 100 mercury or 40 spirit thermometers can 

 be thus examined in half an hour, using about 200 gallons of 

 carbonic acid gas compressed sufficiently to form the snow. 

 The bowl, ether, and mercury are cooled first to - 10° C. by an 

 ordinary freezing-mixture. The average correction at the melt- 

 ing-point of mercury is now less than 1° F. ; when the process 

 was introduced in 1S72 it amounted to 5°, but has stetdily de- 

 creased.— On the electromotive force of certain tin cells, by Mr. 

 E. J. Herroun. Mr. Herroun has examined the electromotive 

 forces of cells in which tin in a solution of its salts was opposed 

 to copper, cadmium, and zinc in solutions of their corresponding 

 salts, the solutions being of equal molecular strengths. The 

 salts used were sulphates, chlorides, and iodides, and the cells 

 were of the ordinary "Daniel" form, with a porous vessel. 

 To prevent the formation of basic salts it was necessary to add 

 a little free acid to the solution of the tin salt, and, to counter- 

 balance the influence of this acid upon the E.M.F. as far as 

 possible, an equal proportion of free acid was added to the other 



