SEPTEMBER 4, 1902] 
tion may be regarded asa filling in of the eddy-space in such a 
way as to provide easy lines for the flow of the wind. 
In waves into which freely drifting powders fall, the steep side 
is on the leeward instead of upon the windward, and this signifies 
that the eddy-space is ever filled up. The whole eddy-space 
is, in fact, free to move forward, and does so when the snow is 
drifting, and this progression is the wave motion. 
The relation between the profile of the snow-drift and that of 
the waves of drifting snow and sand may be further illustrated 
by drawing the profile of the wave, not in the usual way, from 
trough to trough, but from crest to crest. It is then seen that 
the unfilled space between the two ridges has the blunt nose and 
fine tail profile; that it is the profile of the hollows in snow 
round trees and of the fuljes of sandy deserts, tbe form proper 
to an eddy space. 
The powder, when drifting in waves, has the “fine nose and 
blunt tail form,” which is that of greater eddy-making resistance 
(the nose being that part turned towards the wind), and the 
powder, when in its complete accumulation near fixed obstruc- 
tions, assumes the ** blunt nose and fine tail” form, which is 
that of less eddy-making resistance. Both forms are simultane- 
ously produced on a snow-field, and both are compatible with 
the removal by the wind of the maximum quantity of snow in 
the course of the winter. Thus, on the one hand, the main- 
tenance of strong eddies in the drifting waves evidently increases 
the power of the wind to drive the snow before it; and the 
hindrance offered by a fixed obstruction is best minimised by 
filling in its eddy-space with a structure which shall thereafter 
absorb as little energy from the wind as possible. 
Sometimes the freely drifting snow is accumulated in iso- 
lated hillocks, which have been called sbarchans or medajios. 
Sometimes their development from patches of drift snow can 
be observed. These patches have in ground plan a fine nose 
towards the wind and a blunt tail or lee end—a sort of delta 
shape, but with curved sides. The same thing may be seen in 
sand. This is in accordance with the habit of the freely drifting 
snow to adopt a fine nose and blunt tail arrangement in vertical 
profile. 
Freely moving barchans of less or greater elongation probably 
fill in less or more of the narrow end of the ichthyoid curve. 
The crest of the cliff will be lower than the summit of the 
barchan if the former be beyond the broadest part of the curve. 
The erosion forms produced by wind when acting upon con- 
solidated snow were also studied. Fig. 3 shows how the 
minute stratification of the snow is revealed by the action of 
the wind. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
THE following list of candidates successful in this year’s 
competition for the Whitworth scholarships and exhibitions has 
been issued by the Board of Education, South Kensington :— 
Scholarships, 1252 a year each (tenable for three years) :— 
William M. Selvey, London; Leonard Bairstow, Halifax ; 
Isaac V. Robinson, West Hartlepool; Arthur Baker, Gosport, 
Hants. . Exhibitions, 50/. (tenable for one year) :—Charles 
Cook, Landport, Portsmouth ; John S. Mitchell, Uddingston, 
near Glasgow ; Charles J. Stewart, Fratton, Portsmouth ; 
Amold H. Gibson, Sowerby Bridge, -Manchester; William 
E. W. Millington, Hollinwood, Oldham; Neil J. Maclean, 
Kelvinside, Glasgow; Henry J. Jones, Southsea; Harold 
Rawstron, Oldham ; George H. Childs, Portsmouth ; Norman 
L. Ablett, London; William E. F. Curror, Ilford, Essex ; 
Walter L. Port, Brighton ; John Alexander, Glasgow ; Louis 
D. Stansfeld, London; Robert J. A. Pearson, Sheffield; 
William L. Perry, Plymouth; Arthur S, Angwin, London ; 
Francis G. Steed, Devonport; Henry A. Bagg, London; 
Frederick J. Crabbe, Southsea; Arthur Garrard, Forest Gate, 
E. ; Benjamin J. Thomas, Devonport; Maurice B. Dalby, 
Gateshead ; Thomas Wadhams, Wolverton ; Oliver S. Spokes, 
Crewe ; James Crone, Charlton, Kent ; Alexander B. Sowter, 
Glasgow ; Fred Sykes, Huddersfield ; Frederick E. Rebbeck, 
Belfast ; Frank W. Harris, Swindon. 
THE metropolitan and most of the provincial medical schools 
will be opened at the beginning of October. Among the 
addresses to be delivered, the following are announced :— 
Charing Cross Hosfital. The fourth biennial Huxley 
NO. 1714, VOL. 66| 
NATURE 
455 
—___. 
lecture on ‘‘ Recent Advances in Science and their Bearing on 
Medicine and Surgery,” by Prof. W. H. Welch, of the Johns 
Hopkins University, Baltimore. S¢. George's Hospital. Ad- 
dress by Dr. T. T. Whipham. Sv. Mary's Hospital. An 
address by Sir A. W. Riicker, F.R.S. Afiddlesex Hospital. 
Mr. Stephen Paget will give an address. University College. 
An address by Mr. Percy Flemming. London (Royal Free 
Hospital) School of Medicine for Women. Address by Mr. 
Charles Burt. School of Pharmacy. Address by Dr. W. 
Palmer Wynne, F.R.S. Royal Veterinary College. Address 
by Prof. Bottomley. Yorkshire College, Leeds. Address by 
Mr. A. W. Mayo Robson. Unversity College, Sheffield. Ad- 
dress by Sir H. G. Howse. Owens College, Manchester. 
Address by Sir Dyce Duckworth. University College of South 
Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff. Address by Dr. Berry 
Hart. 
A SUMMARY of the more important recommendations con- 
tained in the report of the Indian Universities Commission, 
which has now been published in India, is given in the Pioneer 
Mail of August 8. Among other points, it is recommended that 
in addition to holding examinations, all universities should be 
recognised as teaching universities, and that there shou!d be no 
more than five faculties, viz. arts, science, law, medicine and 
engineering. One regulation is certainly a tribute to the power 
of memorising possessed by the oriental mind; it is prescribed 
that ‘‘ text-books to be read should be so long as to exclude the 
possibility of all of them being committed to memory” ; another 
lays it down that ‘students should not be required to pass in 
science before entering on the University course. Instruction 
should include practical experimental work, and in examinations 
for the B.Sc., the practical examinations should be passed inde- 
pendently of the written examinations, and should have a separate 
minimum of marks. . . . The degree of D.Sc. should require 
original research.” The improvement of the equipment of medical 
colleges is urged, as well as the establishment of a diploma of 
sanitary science. The universities are not recommended to 
undertake instruction in engineering, but are advised to en- 
courage agricultural and commercial studies. We agree with 
the concluding remark of the commissioners, that ‘‘it is better 
for India that a comparatively small number of young men 
should receive a sound and liberal education than that a large 
number should be passed through an inadequate course of 
instruction leading to a depreciated degree.” 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, (2) vol. viii. 
No. 10 (July).—I. J. Wilczynski, account of the first meeting of 
the San Francisco section, with abstracts of the papers read. — 
Mary M. Newson, a translation of Hilbert’s lecture on mathe- 
matical problems (delivered at the Paris Congress, 1909). 
American Journal of Mathematics, vol. xxiv. No. 3 (July).— 
S. Kantor, types of linear complexes of elliptic curves in space 
of x dimensions. —R. E. Moritz, generalisation of the differen- 
tiation process. —H. D. Thompson, simple pairs of parallel 
W-surfaces. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES, 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, April 24.—‘*On Skin Currents. Part iii. 
The Human Skin.” By Augustus D. Waller, M.D., F.R.S. 
(from the Physiological Laboratory of the University of London). 
In freshly removed healthy skin, the normal current is always 
ingoing and the response to electrical excitation by the induc- 
tion coil is always outgoing. This response, called by Dr. 
Waller the ‘‘ blaze,” is a sign of its vitality, is independent of 
the normal current and amounts to from 0'0100 to 00400 volt, if 
tested, within forty-eight hours after removal, by tetanising 
currents of alternating direction in both pairs of direction. 
Moribund skin and skin from post-mortem room give small 
reactions of variable direction amounting to not more than 
ten-thousandths of a volt. 
In all cases, the electrodes were carefully tested and the skin 
subsequently killed by boiling, tested and found to give negative 
results. 
