Dec. 6, 1883] 



NA TURE 



141 



from south-west by south ; by 11.30 ^^e were inclosed in a dark- 

 ness that might almost be felt, and at the same time cojimenced 

 a dou'npour of mud, sand, and I know not what ; ship going 

 north-east by north, seven knots per hour under three lower top- 

 ails; put out the side-lights, placed two men on the look-out 

 lorward, while mate and second mate looked out on either 

 quarter, and one man employe i washing the mud off binnacle 

 i^la^s. We had seen two vessels to the north and north-west of 

 us before the sky clo;ed in, aiding much to the anxiety of our 

 position. At noon the darkness was so intense that we had to 

 grope I'ur way about the decks, and although speaking to each 

 other on the poop, yet could not see each other. This horrible 

 sta'e and downpour of mud, &c., continued until 1.30, the 

 roarings of the volcano and lightnings being s ■mething fearful. 

 By 2 p.m. we could see some of the yards aloft, and the fall of 

 mud ceased. By 5 p.m. the horizon showed out in lire north and 

 north-east, and we saw West Island bearing east and north, just 

 visible. Up to midnight the sky hung dark and heavy, a little 

 sand falling at times, the roaring of the volcano very distinct, 

 although in sight of the North Watcher, and fully sixty- 

 five or seventy miles off it. Such darkness and time of it in 

 general few would conceive, and many, I dare say, would dis- 

 believe. The ship, fro:n truck to water-line, is as if cemented ; 

 spars, sails, blocks, and ropes in a terrible mess ; but, thank 

 God, nobody hurt or ship damaged. On the other hand, how 

 fares it with Anjer, Merak, and other little villages on the Java 

 coast ? " 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



O.XFORD. — The Natural Science Scholarships at Christ 

 Church have been awarded after examination to Mr. R. E. 

 Sch'ilefield, of Leeds Grammar School, and Mr. H. Bankes 

 Price, of Christ's College, Brecon. The Brakenbury Natural 

 Science Scholarship at Balliol College has bjen awarded to Mr. 

 R, P. Baker, of Clifton College. The following gentlemen 

 were distinguished in the examination: — Mr. W. H. Littleton, 

 Royal School of Mines, Mr. T. H. J. Watts, of Llandovery 

 School, and Mr. C. E. Rice, of Derby Gr.ammar School. 



All examination will be held on lanuiry 29 at Queen's College 

 for the election of a scholar in Natural Science. 



Cambridge. — The Special Board for Mathematics, in pub- 

 lishing, after the lapse of two-thirds of the present term, a list 

 of professorial lectures on Mathematics, with a list of College 

 lectures open to all members of the University, states that six 

 associated Colleges, Peterhouse, Pembroke, Corpus, Queens', 

 St. Catharine's, and Downin^f, provide no lectures on higher 

 Mathematics this term, while none will be given during the year 

 at Jeu", Trinity Hall, Magdalen, Sidney, Cavendish, and Sel- 

 wyn. St. John's does not as yet open any of its advanced 

 lectures to other than its own students. Trinity, on the con- 

 trary, has five advanced courses this term open to the Univer.-ity, 

 viz. Mr. Thomson on Electrostatics and on Statics nnd Attrac- 

 tion^-, Mr. Ball on Higher Differential and Integral Calculus, 

 Mr. Glazebrook on Geometrical Optics, and Mr. Glaisher on 

 Elliptic Functions. At King's Mr. Stearn is lecturing on Elec- 

 trostatics, at Christ's Mr. Hobson on Magnetism, at Clare Mr. 

 Mollison on Fourier's Theory and Heat. Several subjects in 

 higher Mathematics are unrepresented by lectures this year, such 

 as Differential Equations, Calculus of Finite Differences, Calculus 

 of Variations, Theory of Probability, Lagran'^e's and Bessel's 

 Functio 1^, Higher Dynamics, Newton's "Principia," Planetary 

 Theory, and Preces-ion. The Board regret that no conference 

 of mathematical lecturers has been held, and that there is no 

 uniformity of procedure between the different Colleges. In all 

 the other chief departments of study, programmes of advanced 

 lectures for the whole year were published last June. It is some- 

 what of a reproach to Cambridge mathematicians that no such 

 list is published in regard to what was once so distinctively the 

 char.acleristic study of Cambridge. 



The following are the examiners for the Natural Sciences Tripos 

 of 1SS4:— Prof. A. M. Marshall (zoology). Dr. F. Darwin 

 (botany), Mr. Lans;ley (physiology). Dr. R. D. Roberts (geology), 

 Mr. L. Fletcher (mineralogy), Mr. W. N. Shaw (physics), Mr. 

 A. Hill (human anatomy), Mr. Pattison Muir (chemistry). 



The recommendations of the General Board of Stuclies as to 

 the Professor of Pathology, new readers, University lecturers ^ 



demonstrators, grants for apparatus, &c. , will be voted on 

 December 6 at noon. 



Prof. Foster has been appointed on the University Library 

 Syndicate ; Prof. Foster and Dr. Vines, the Botanic Garden 

 Syndicate ; Revs. Coutts Trotter and E. Hill, the Museums and 

 Lecture Rooms Syndicate ; Messrs. H. Darwin and J. J. Thom- 

 son, the Observatory Syndicate ; Prof. Cayley, the University 

 Press Syndicate ; Dr. Gaskell and Mr. A. S. Lea, the Oxford 

 and Cambridge Examinations .s^yndicate ; Prof. Foster, the State 

 Medicine Syndicate ; Prof. Stuart and Mr. J. Ward, the Teachers' 

 Training Syndicate. 



The folio vving appointments on Special Boards have been 

 made : — Mr. A. S. Lea (medicine), Dr. Ferrers (mathematics). 

 Prof. Stokes (physics and chemistry), Mr. J. E. Marr (biology 

 and geology). 



Prof. Macalister has been appointed Examiner in the 2nd 

 M.B. in place of the late Mr. James Shuter. 



Mr. W. Gardiner of Clare College has been approved as a 

 Teacher of Botany for the purposes of medical study. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The J^ournal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. xviii. part I, 

 October, 1SS3, contains : — On the development of the .suspen- 

 sory ligament of the fetlock in the fcetal horse, ox, roe deer, 

 and sambar deer, by Prof. Dr. J. Cunningham, M.D. (plate i). 

 — On the action of infused beverages on peptic digestion, by 

 Dr. J. W. Frazer (plate 2). — On a method of promoting macera- 

 tion for anatomical museums by artificial temperature, by Prof. 

 Struthers, M.D. — On the wax-like diicase of the heart, by Prof. 

 D. J. Hamilton, M.D. (plate 3). — On the relations of the dorsal 

 artery of the foot to the cuneiform bones, by A. Hensman. — 

 Researches into the histology of the central gray substance of 

 the spinal cord and medulla oblongata, by Dr. W. Ainslie 

 HoUis, part 2 (plate 4). — On some points in the anatomy of the 

 chimpanzee, by J. B. Sutton. — Observations upon the osteology 

 of Potinsocys viontanns, by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt (plate 5). — Short 

 notes on the myology of the American black bear, by Prof. F. 

 J. Shepherd, M.D. — Total absence of the left lobe of the 

 thyroid body, by Dr. W. J. Gow. — Note respecting the course of 

 the flexor longus digitonim pedis, by Dr. Sinclair White. — On 

 the OS centrale in the human carpus, by Prof. W. Gruber. 



The Quarterly yournal of Microscopical Science for October, 

 1883, contains: — Observations on the genus Pythium, by H. 

 Marshall Ward, M.A. (plates 34 to 36). — On budding in 

 Polyzoa, by Prof. A. C. Haddon, M.A. (plates 37, 38).— On 

 the structure and relations of Tubipjra, by Sydney J. HTckson, 

 B.A., B.Sc. (plates 39, 40). — On the malleus .:>f the Lacertilia 

 and the malar and quadrate bones of the mammalia, by M. L. 

 DoUo (plate 41). — Notes on Echinoderm morphology. No. 6 ; on 

 the anatomical relations of the water-vascular system, by P. 

 Herbert Carpenter, M.A. — Recent researches upon the origin 

 of the sexual cells in hydroids, review by A. G. Bourne, B. '■c. — 

 On the osteology and development of Syiignatlnis peckianiis 

 (Storer), by J. Playfair McMurrich, M.A. (plates 42, 43). 



Tn^ American y oicrnal of Science, November, 1S83. — Results 

 of some months' examination of the spectra of sunspots with 

 an instrument of high dispersion, by Prof. C. A. Young. — On 

 tlie meteoric iron mass found by F. M. Anderson near Dabon, 

 Whitfield County, Georgia, in 1879 (two illustrations), by 

 Charles Upham Shepard, sen. The analysis gave iron 94'66, 

 nickel 4'So, cobalt 0*34, with traces of phosphorus, chromium, 

 and manganese. — Notice of some varieties of corundum re- 

 cently found at Sungchang, Zanskar district. Western Hima- 

 layas, by the same author. — Phenomena of the Glacial and 

 Champlain periods about the mouth of the Connecticut Valley, 

 that is, in the New Haven region (two maps), by James D. 

 Dana. The author concludes that two simultaneous movements 

 existed in the glacier ice — a lower along the valley, an upper 

 crossing it obliquely ; that both transported drift material, and 

 that on reaching Long Island Sound the lower changed its own 

 direction of flow for that of the general glacier mass across the 

 Sound and Long Island. — On a variety of descloizite from 

 Zacatecas, Mexico, by Samuel L. Penfield. — On Hybocrinus, 

 Hoplocrinus, and Brerocrinus (two illustrations), by Charles 

 Wachsmuth and Frank Springer. — Note on Mr. Nipher's papers 

 on the evolution of the American trotting horse (one illustra- 

 tion), bv W. H. Pickering. The author holds that \\e may 

 foretell the speed attained for a few years in advance, but not the 



