April 7, 1870] 
NT CEIOEE 
587 
only for carrying out the recommendations of the Physical 
Science Syndicate in their report dated Feb. 27, 1869. These 
were to provide the stipends of a Professor of Experimental 
Physics, of a Demonstrator and an attendant, requiring alto- 
gether a sum of 660/. per annum; also to provide a capital sum 
of 5,000/. for a new building, and 1,300/. for apparatus. The 
Syndicate are of opinion that these sums may be raised from the 
ordinary sources of revenue of the University, and that a small 
addition (viz., 2s. a head) to the amount of the annual capitation 
tax will suffice for the purpose. They think, also, that there 
are circumstances connected with the fixing the amount of the 
capitation tax by the Grace of May 31, 1866, which in them- 
selves justify some increase, and they mention the increased 
payments of late required for the town improvements. They 
think that the buildings may be erected from the existing build- 
ing funds, and apparatus purchased by money belonging to the 
chest, and now invested.” Was ever a more lame and impotent 
conclusion? It makes us seriously think whether the time has 
not come when the State should exercise more control oyer the 
enormous revenues of these old colleges, which seem determined 
to go on in the old track. 
AN important zoological discovery has just been made in 
Australia. Mr. Gerard Krefft, the !energetic curator and secre- 
tary of the Australian Museum, Sydney, has sent to the 
Zoological Society of London an account of a new and very 
singular freshwater fish recently discovered in (Queensland, 
which united the external form of ZLefidosiren with other 
characters belonging to the extinct Ganoid fishes of the genus 
Dipterus and its allies, and seems to form a connecting link 
between the Difnoi and the Gavzoider. Mr. Krefft proposes 
to call this fish Ceratodus forsteri, after Mr. William Forster 
its discoverer. His paper on this subject will be read at the 
next scientific meeting of the Zoological Society on the 28th inst. 
IN calling attention to a paper read before the Society of Arts 
on Thursday last, an abstract of which will be found in an- 
other column, we cannot avoid contrasting with the fact that our 
Legislature is now for the first time directing its attention to the 
question whether the State ought to recognise Science, the sup- 
port which the French Government is at the present moment 
actually giving to scientific researches of the highest importance. 
In the Budget for 1870 there is a grant of 60,000 fr. for the 
meteorological observatory at Montsouris ; one of 12,000 fr. for 
the publication of Delaunay’s Lunar Tables (to be the first of 
five similar annual grants); one of 100,000 fr. (to be followed by 
one of 300,000 fr. in 1871), for the Ecole pratique des hautes 
études ; one of 500,000 fr. for technical instruction ; and one of 
60,000 fr. for the observatory at Marseilles; while primary in- 
struction finds its true level in a supplementary grant of 
1,112,000 fr. for the necessary expenses during 1869 and 1870. 
In contrast with this, it is doubtful whether the grant of 
4,000/. voted by Parliament some years ago for a botanical 
museum at the Glasnevin Gardens, Dublin, may not actually be 
withdrawn. 
WE hear from Edinburgh that there is much excitement amongst 
the supporters of the Lady Medical Students, on account of the 
Professor of Chemistry refusing to accord one of the Hope 
Scholarships to Miss Edith Pechey, who is studying medicine at 
the university in that town, and who, by the number of marks 
gained, is entitled to a junior scholarship. The case is stated 
thus. Many years ago a Dr. Hope, amidst great opposition, 
opened a chemistry class for ladies. The movement was then so 
unpopular that he admitted these students through a window, as 
they were not allowed to pass through the gateway of the 
college. At his death all the fees he had obtained from this 
class, amounting to about 1,000/., he left to found the Hope 
Scholarships. These scholarships consist of four, two senior 
The rule is as follows: —‘‘ The class honours 
are determined by means of written examinations held during 
the session. The four students who have received the highest 
marks are entitled to have the Hope Scholarships to the labora- 
tory of the University.” This passage from the university 
calendar certainly gives us the idea that azy student who has 
passed the written examinations is entitled, if a sufficient number 
of marks be obtained, to the benefit of it. Dr. Crum-Brown 
proposes to give Miss Pechey one of the bronze medals, but 
declines to give her the junior Hope Scholarship she has ob- 
tained, and which entitles her to six months’ free admittance to 
the laboratory. Out of 234 men and six women, Miss Pechey 
comes third: the two men above her were last year’s students, so 
that of this year’s students Miss Pechey stands pre-eminently 
first. As she 13 a matriculated, registered, medical student, her 
supporters contend that she can legally claim the honours due to 
her. We believe, however, that the matter is to be put before 
counsel, so that a legal opinion may be obtained on the sub- 
ject. We are informed, also, that Miss Sophia Jex-Blake’s 
name has come out in the first-class honours list in chemistry ; 
so the lady doctors may fairly be congratulated on the results of 
their first session in Edinburgh. 
and two junior. 
THE Senate of the University of London has appointed to the 
new office of Assistant-Registrar Professor T. A. Hirst, Ph.D., 
F,R.S., Professor of Mathematics in University College, London, 
and one of the permanent secretaries to the British Association. 
THE new building of the University of London, in Burlington 
Gardens, will be opened by the Queen in person on Wednesday, 
May 11. Her Majesty, accompanied by the Prince and Princess 
of Wales and the Princess Louise, wiil be received at the entrance 
of the building by the Chancellor (Lord Granville), the Vice- 
Chancellor (Mr. Grote), the member for the university (the Chan- 
cellor of the Exchequer), and the Chairman of Convocation (Dr. 
Storrar), and be conducted to the Senate Room, from whence 
Her Majesty will pass to the larger rooms in the building, and 
finally to the large theatre, where an address will be presented. 
The Queen will then declare the building opened, and leave by 
the principal entrance. As many visitors as can conveniently be 
accommodated in different portions of the building will be in- 
vited, including the Premier, some of the Secretaries of State, 
the Lord President of the Council, representatives from the sister 
universities, the learned bodies and affiliated colleges, with the 
examining staff of the university. 
THE chair of Natural History in the Royal Agricultural 
College, Cirencester, lately vacant by Prof. Thistleton-Dyer’s 
removal to Dublin, has been filled by the appointment of Dr. 
W. R. M‘Nab, of Edinburgh. 
THE University of St. Andrews has conferred the honorary 
degree of LL.D. on Mr. J. T. Boswell-Syme, well known as 
the editor of the last edition of ‘‘ Sowerby’s English Botany,” 
and the author of many valuable contributions to botanical 
science. 
THE origin of the minute discs termed red blood-corpuscles, 
which float in our circulating fluid in such countless millions, 
communicating to it its rich opaque hue, is still a matter of 
question amongst physiologists, though most are inclined to be- 
lieve that they proceed from the nuclei of the white corpuscles. 
But even supposing this to be the case, the question imme- 
diately arises, whence come the white corpuscles? and the 
reply is, from the lymphatic glands, and those large organs 
which for want of a better term are called ductless glands, of 
which the spleen, the thymus, and thyroid glands are examples ; 
this reply being grounded on the fact that large numbers of 
white corpuscles are found distributed in the interior of the 
glands, whilst the blood returning from them contains more such 
corpuscles than the blood running towards them. Still the mode 
