300 



NATURE 



\yan. 24, I J 



Candidates for the Professorship of Botany are requested to 

 send i'l tlieir applications to the Kej^istrar of the University on 

 or before January 26. The stipend is 700/. a year, and a house 

 rent free in the liotanic Garden. 



New College oflers an Exhibition in Natural Science (Chemis- 

 try or Biology). The examination commences May 6. 



Cambridge. — The following are the principal courses in 

 Natural Science during the present term : — 



Mathematics. — Prof. Adams, Lunar Theory, commencing 

 January 31 ; Mr. Turner (Under Plumian Professor), Instruction 

 in the Use of Astronomical Instrument.s, January 30; Mr. Mol- 

 lison. Vibrations and Sound, January 24 ; Mr. S'tearn, Hydrj- 

 dynamics, January 25 ; Mr. Hobson, Fourier's Series and Con- 

 duction of Heat, January 28 ; Mr. Thompson, Electromagnetism, 

 January 25 ; Mr. Glazebrook, Wave Theory of Light, January 

 24 ; Mr. B.all, Algebra and Determinants, January 25 ; Dr. 

 Besant, Analysis, January 23 ; Mr. Pendlebury, Analytical 

 Optics, Januiry 23. 



Chemistry. — Prof. Liveing, General Course, January 24 ; 

 Prof. Dewar, Organic Chemistry, January 28 ; Mr. Main, 

 General Course, Jainiary 28 ; Mr. Pattison-Muir, Carbon Com- 

 pounds, January 2$; Non- Metals, January 26; Mr. Scott, 

 Elementary ^Organic Chemistry, January 25 ; Mr. Lewis, 

 Catechetical Lectures, January 25 ; Mr. Heycock, Chemical 

 Philosophy. 



Practical Chemistry. — Mr. Sell and Mr. Fenton, Demonstra- 

 tions in Quantitative Analysis, January 25. 



Physics. — Lor.l Raylei jh. Acoustics, January 26 ; Mr. Trotter, 

 Electricity and Magnetism, January 24 ; Physical Optics, January 

 24 ; Mr. Atkinson, Ileat, January 25 ; Mr. Glazebrook, Ele- 

 mentary Physic-, January 25 ; Mr. Shaw, Elementary and 

 Advanced Physics, Hydrostatics and Heat, January 25. 



Mechanism. — Prjf. Stuart, Theory of Structures, January 29; 

 Mr. Lyon, Statics and fljdrostatics, January 29 ; Rigid Dy- 

 namics, January 30 ; Mr. Ames, Elementary Mathematics for 

 Students of Mechanism, January 30. 



Geology. — Principles of Geology and Stratigraphy (advanced). 

 Prof. Hughes, January 24 ; Dynamical Geology, Mr. Roberts, 

 January 24 ; Pala:ontology and Petrology, by Demonstrators, 

 January 26. 



Botany. — General Elementary Course, Mr. Vines, January 24 ; 

 Anatomy of Plants, Mr. Gardiner, January 25 ; General Bio- 

 logy of Plants (advanced), Mr. F. Darwin, January 26 ; Mor- 

 phological Botany, Mr. Hicks, January 26. 



Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. — Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of the Vertebrata, by Prof. Newton, January 30 ; Element- 

 ary Biology, Mr. Vines and Mr. Sedgwick, January 25 ; Prac- 

 tical Morphology, Mr. Sedgwick, January 24 ; Morphology of 

 Sauropslda, Mr. Gadow, January 23. 



Biology. — Elementary, Mr. Vines and Mr. Sedgwick, J.anuary 

 25- 



Anatomy and Physiology. — Osteology, Prof. Macallster, 

 January 25 ; Physiology, Prof. Foster, January 24 ; Anatomy 

 of the Digestive and Circulatory Organs, Prof. Macalister, 

 January 24 ; Chemical Physiology, Mr. Lea, January 25 : Phy- 

 siology of the Circulation, Dr. Gaskell, January 24 ; Practical 

 Work, Dissection, under the supervision of the Professor and 

 Demonstrator, in the Dissecting Room. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 Bulletin de la SocUli dcs NattiralisUs de Moscou, annee 1883, 

 No. 2. — Researches into the compounds of the acetylenes, 

 by A P. Sabaneeff. The author has studied these imper- 

 fectly known compounds, namely, di-brom-acetylene, .and the 

 double compounds of acetylene with bromine and chlorine, 

 and with chlorine and iodine. He has discovered a new 

 method of preparing larger quantities of the former by acting 

 with zinc on an alcoholic solution of the four-brom-ace'ylene, 

 and describes its various reactions. — On the periodical changes 

 of level of the ocean, by H. Trautschold (in German). The 

 author, who already in 1869 supported the idea that the geo- 

 logical changes are due, not to the rise of the continents, but to 

 the falling of the level of the ocean, finds in the disposition of 

 the series of deposits of all .ages up from the Silurian, on the 

 plains of Russia, new and very intere-ting .arguments for his idea. 

 He maintains that the level of the ocean was falling from 

 the Silurian epoch to the end of the Trias, when the seas had, 

 around the now Russian plains, nearly the same shape as now. 



The level of the ocean rose, however, during the Jurassic 

 period, retiring again about the end of the Chalk period. — On 

 the bastard of the Anas crecca with Anas boschas, by Dr. N. 

 Sewertsoff, with a coloured plate (in German). The most inter- 

 esting bastard of the nearly two extremes of the ducks (relatively 

 to their size) has been shot in the province of Ryazan. The 

 Russian ornithologist describes its features at length, and adds 

 some remarks on the b.astards of the ducks generally. — Mono- 

 petal plants of Radde, by Ferd. von Herden (continued). — De- 

 scription (in German) of the Veronicas, Castillejas, SipJ2onoslcgia, 

 Plilhdrospermum, and Omphalotrix. — A Mastodon tooth, note 

 by H. Trautschold. — On the photographic photometry of fixed 

 stars, by Ed. Lindemann (in German). — Materials for the fauna 

 of Hemiptera of Russia, by W. Yakovleff, being a description, 

 in Russian, of several new species. 



Rivista Sctentifico-Indtistj-iale, October 31. — A detailed account 

 of the electric exhibition held in September at Lodi, by Prof. 

 Alessandro Volta. — Programme of the anthropological section of 

 the Italian exhibition to be held next year in Turin. Amongst 

 other attractions there will be a large collection of typical Italian 

 skulls of all dates and from every part of the peninsula. 

 Materials will also be brought together for studying the history, 

 ethnography, language, and present condition of all the foreign 

 communities (Albanian, Greek, Catalonian, Slav, German, 

 Rumansch, French) settled in various parts of the country. 



Rendiconti del R. Istiluto Lombardo di Scienze e Letten, 

 November 29, 1883. — On Lagrange's general expression of the 

 force necessary to produ-;e a tautocronous motion regarded as a 

 function of space and velocity, by Prof. C. Formenti. — Geolo- 

 gical notes on the Alps of the provinces of Reggio and Modena, 

 by D. Pantanelli. — On the first traces of a national debt in the 

 Byzantine Empire, by Z. von Lingenthal. — Unimetalism and 

 bimetalism, by Dr. A. Villa Pernice. — Meteorological observa- 

 tions in the Brera Ob'ervatory, Milan, during the month of 

 September, 1883. 



A^aclirichten of the Royal Society of Science! and of the 

 Vniversity of Goltingen, August 22, 1883. — Contributions to the 

 study of spermatozoa and their evolution (preliminary paper), 

 by Dr. A. von Brunn. — Researches on the action of glycol 

 on orthophenylendiamin, orthodinitrobenzine, and sulphuric 

 acid. 



November 7. — On the meteorological relations of Gottingen, 

 by Hugo Meyer.— Optical researches on the substance (cal- 

 careous spath) into whicli crystals of ar.agonite become decom- 

 posed under the action of heat, by C. Klein. — On t'ue age of th; 

 iron ores at Hohenkirchen, by A. von Koenen. — On the theory 

 of modular equations, by A. Hurwitz.^On the relations between 

 solar and atmospheric electricity, showing how the latter is 

 referable to the former and allied causes. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, November 22, 1S83. — " Some Relations of 

 Heat to Voltaic and Thermo-Electric Action of Metals in 

 Electrolytes," by G. Gore, F.R.S., LL.D. 



The experiments described in this paper throw considerable 

 light upon the real cause of the voltaic current. The results of 

 them are contained in twenty tables; and by co'nparing them 

 with each other, and also by means of additional experiments, 

 the following general conclusions and chief facts were obtained. 



Whe'i metals in liquids are heated, they are more frequently 

 rendered positive than negative in the proportion of about 2"8 to 

 I'o ; and whilst the proportion in weak solutions was about 2 '29 

 to fo, in strong ones it was about 3^27 to I'o, and this accords 

 with their thermo-electric behaviour as metals .alone. The 

 thermoelectric order of metals in liquids was, with nearly every 

 solution, whether strong or weak, wilely different from the 

 thermo-electric order of the same metals alone. A conclusion 

 previously arrived at was .also confirmed, viz. that the liquids in 

 which the hot metal was thermo-electropositive ir. the largest 

 proportion of cases were those containing highly electro-positive 

 bases, such as the alkali metals. The thermo-electric effect of 

 gradually heating a metal in a liquid was sometimes different 

 from that of sii idenly heating it, and was occasionally attended 

 by a reversal of the current. 



Degree of strength of liquid greatly affected the thermo- 

 electric order of metals. Increase of strength usually and con- 



