512 



NATURE 



\_March 27, 1884 



portion of the pupils are looking forward to the army as a pro- 

 fession. This will be seen from the following scale of marks, 

 which has been communicated to the Committee of the Head 

 Masters' Conference : — 



Obligatory Subjects ( 



{Three out of the four 



to be taken up by every ' 



candidate) I 



Optional Subjects 



(One only to be taken 



up) 



Marks 



Mathematics 3000 



I Latin 3000 



I French 3000 



German 3000 



Higher Mathematics 2000 



I Greek 2000 



I Chemitry 1500 



I Electricity and Magnetism ... 1500 

 Geology and Pliysical Geography 1500 



I.English History 1500 



A glance at this table is sufficient to show that the authoritiei 

 a'e holding out a diitinct bribe to candidates to eschew the ex- 

 ]ierimental sciences altogether ; and whatever their intention may 

 be, the result will be the reduction of scientific knowledge among 

 nture officers of Her Majesty's army to the lowet possible 

 minimum. This is surely a retrograde step in these late decades 

 uf the nineteenth century. Nor must it be forgotten that the 

 application of the same scheme to examinations for admission to 

 Woolwich is contemplated. Not only will every candidate be 

 induced, if he can do so, to take up simply the four subjects in 

 the first category, but, more than this, the scientific subjects 

 (exclusive of mere mathematics) will only hereafter be taken up by 

 those candidates whose performances in the more highly rewarded 

 subjects are hopeless — the scientific subjects, in other words, will 

 become .simply a refuge for mediocrity and incompetency. Men 

 who are spending the best years of their lives in combating the 

 traditional prejudices which exist in this country in favour of ihe 

 (jlder studies will not only feel that they have to complain of 

 the tardy and grudging recognition which is given to the ' new 

 learning' — they will feel now, and justly so, that they have 

 been betrayed by those from whom, on every gi-ound, they 

 ought to be able to look for more encouragement." 



The Worshipful Company of Cloth workers, who have already 

 given 3500/. to the Bradford Technical School, have also 

 promised an annual subscription of 500/. towards the working 

 expenses of the school. 



Dr. Doberck writes from Hong Kong Observatory, February 

 17 '■ — " The building of the Hong Kong Observatory was begun 

 in June 1S83, but only the foundations had been laid at the end 

 of July, when I arrived. The main building, the architectural 

 details of which do credit to the Surveyor-General's department, 

 was so far finished by January i that I could take up my resi- 

 dence there, and tridiurnal eye-observations were commenced. 

 Before the middle of the month the magnetic hut was ready, 

 and I lost no time in making a complete set of magnetic obser- 

 vations. I expect that it will be possible to start the self-record- 

 ing apparatus by March I. I get telegraphic weather information 

 from the Treaty Ports, Nagasaki, Vladivostock, and Manilla, 

 and publish weather reports, which, as you will see from one 

 of the three newspapers which publish them (sent herewith) also 

 indicate winds to be expected from the gradients." 



The Belgian Royal Academy proposes for public competition 

 the subjoined subjects in the mathematical and physical sciences : 

 — I. To resume and coordinate the researches hitherto made on 

 the integration of linear equations of the second order with two 

 variables, and to complete this theory, or at least advance it by 

 further original research. 2. To establish by fresh experiments 

 the theory of the reaction of bodies in the so-called nascent state. 

 3. Fresh spectroscopic researches with a view to ascertain 

 especially whether the sun contains or not the essential con- 

 stituent principles of organic compounds. 4. A complete expo- 

 sition of the theory of deviations from the vertical, and verifying 



whether it applies to existing observations. 5. Fresh researches 

 on the nutritive deposits in cereals, and especially on the trans- 

 formations experienced by them during germination. 6. Fresh 

 researches on the development of the Trematodes, from the his- 

 togenetic and organogenetic standpoint. 7- A study of the 

 influence of compressed oxygen on the vital phenomena. Medals 

 of the intrinsic value of 32/. and 24/. are offered respectively for 

 the best papers on the first three and last four subjects. The 

 papers must be legibly written in French, Flemish, or Latin, 

 and forwarded prepaid to M. Liagre, Permanent Secretary, 

 Palais des Academies, Brussels. They are to be signed by a 

 motto, which is to be repeated in a sealed note containing the 

 authors' names and addresses. 



In the Amtrican Journal of Science and Arts, vol. xxiii. 2nd 

 series, p. 276, a letter from Rev. George Jones, U.S.N., to 

 Prof. Silliman, written at Quito, Ecuador, December 13, 1856, 

 describes a fall of ashes from Cotopaxi, which was thirty mile; 

 distant, in which a purple sky was noted. The paragraph in 

 which the mention is made runs as follows : — " Yesterday morn- 

 ing we noticed that at the south the sky had an unusual appear- 

 ance, being of a' purple colour for about 90° along the horizon, 

 and so up to about 45° in height, t'ae edge of this being mixed 

 up with patches of white. About 12 o'clock ashes began to fall, 

 first in small quantities ; but by 8 o'clock the fall had got to be 

 so considerable as to powder the clothe; quickly, on our going 

 out ; and people coming into a house would look as we do at 

 home when coming in from a snowstorm." 



The exploring expedition, under the direction of M. Regel, 

 the naturalist, has again left for Bokhara on its way to 

 Chardshui, Kelif Kabadian, and Baldshuat, whence it will pro- 

 ceed rid the Pamir plateau as far as the Kashgar frontier. M. 

 Schwartz, the astronomer, accompanies the expedition. 



Prof. Osborne Reynolds will give a discourse at the Royal 

 Instituiion to-morrow (Friday, March 28) on the Two Manners 

 of Motion of Water shown by Experiments ; and Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney, the President of the Geological Society, will give a 

 discourse on Friday (April 4) on the Building of the Alfs. 



On Monday, at 9 p.m., a violent shock of earthquake, 

 accompanied by a loud subterranean rumbling, was felt at Fiinf- 

 kirchen, in Southern Hungary. It was also felt in Essegg an 1 

 all over Slavonia. It is reported from Vierno that a shock of 

 earthquake was fvilt there as well as at Karakul and in the Issyk- 

 Kul district on the 13th inst. 



At one of the last meetings of the Russian Chemical .Society, 

 Prof. Mendeleeff made the following interesting communication 

 with regard to solutions : — It would be easy to prove. With the 

 data of Gerlach, Marignac, Cremers, and Schiff, that the volume 

 of a given amount of a salt in its solutions (for instance, of a 

 molecule) varies with the variations of temperature and the 

 degree of concentration of the solutions. It increases as both 

 increase ; and it might be concluded therefrom that the force on 

 which solution depends varies with the degree of concentration. 

 Still, another conclusion can be arrived at, if Grassy's measure- 

 ments of the decrease of volumes of NaCl and CaCl„ be taken 

 into account. Interpolation shows that these solutions are 

 reduced in volume, by pressure, as the amount of the dissolved 

 salt varies ; and the reduction of volume which accompanies the 

 solution enables us to calculate the corresponding 'pres>ure. It 

 appears that to each molecule of NaCl dissolved in 100 parts of 

 water corresponds a nearly permanent pressure of about 120 

 atmospheres, whatever be the degree of concentratiou. For 

 CaClj the pressure also remains constant, but is nearly three times 

 the above. Thus, if the tendency towards solution be measured 

 by pressure, it results, for the two salts above mentioned, that 

 the first amounts of salt dissolved exerci« t'l': same pressure as 



