Feb. lo, 1887] 



NA TURE 



35' 



In a recent issue, Scioicc comments on the fact that the num- 

 ber of lectures delivered by professors at Oxford and Cambridge 

 falls considerably below that which it is usual for a professor to 

 give in the Uni'ed States. Science is by no means of opinion 

 that the American plan is best. American professors are, it 

 says, compelled to teach and lecture so much that few of them 

 have an opportunity of doing justice to their abilities as investi- 

 gators and writers. Our American contemporary counsels 

 govemin;^ Boards in the United States to take this fact into 

 serious consideration. " They value a professor according to 

 the Dumber of lectures he delivers and the number of students 

 he attracts. They fail to perceive that scientific research is the 

 peculiar duty, and should be the peculiar privilege, of the Uni- 

 versity professor. O.xford and Cambridge professors do more 

 original work than our professors, simply because they are given 

 the time for it." 



Capt. Dutton. of the U.S. Geological .Survey, is making 

 rapid progress with the prep.irations for his Report on the 

 Charleston earthquake. With regard to the velocity of the 

 propagation of the earth-wave, the final computations have not 

 yet been made, but the evidence is said to indicate with certainty 

 a velocity somewhat in excess of three miles per second. 



We have received the new number of the Aniiuairc of the 

 Royal Observatory of Brussels, by M. Folic, Director of the 

 Observatory. This periodical has appeared every year without 

 interruption since 1834. The present number, like its prede- 

 cessors, contains much useful astronomical information. The 

 section on physical units and constants has been enlarged, and 

 there are valuable notes on the geography and statistics of 

 Belgium. 



Messrs. Rivington will shortly have ready a "Text-book 

 on Animal Biology," by Prof. C. Lloyd Mo-gan, of University 

 College, Bristol. The first part of the volume deals with the 

 anatomy an i phyii >logy of vertebrate?, as exemplified by the 

 frog, the pigeon and fowl, and the rabbit. In this part there 

 are special chapters on histology, embryology, the genesis of 

 tissues and organs, and animal metabolism. The second part 

 ii occupied with the structure and life-history of some inverte- 

 brate types, viz. the crayfish, cockroach, earthworm, liver-fluke 

 and tapeworm, .snail, freshwater mussel, hydra, vorticella, and 

 amoeba. Numerous outline woodcuts have been drawn specially 

 for this work. It aims at satisfying the requirements of those 

 who are preparing for the immediate science and preliminary 

 scientific examinations of the London University, and for the 

 Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations. 



I.-* a report on the working of his department during the past 

 six years, which has just been laid before Parliament (C — 4943), 

 the Controller of the Stationery Office refers to the publication 

 of the Report of the s icntific results of the exploring voyage of 

 the CAa//e»^er. This was much delayed, Mr. Pigott observes, by 

 the long illness and death of Sir Wyville Thomson in 1882, but 

 it now approaches completion. The original estimate of the 

 bulk of the work has already been very largely exceeded, 

 "owing," writes Mr. Murray, the present editor, "to the 

 enormous wealth of the observations and collections made during 

 the expedition not having been at first realised." Twenty-seven 

 quarto volumes, illustrated by about 2000 full-sized lithographic 

 plates (many of them exquisitely finished in colours), by some 

 eighty charts and diagrams, and by many hundred photographs 

 and woodcuts, either already have been, or in the course of a few 

 weeks will be, published. The editor (continues Mr. Pigott) 

 estimates that another seven volumes at least will be required to 

 complete the work, but hopes that with perhaps the exception of 

 the last, in which it is intended to show the bearing of facts 

 stated in the previous volumes on theories hitherto accepted, all 



will be before the public before the end of the coming financial 

 year (March 31, 18S8). The Controller thinks that perhaps it is 

 fortunate for science that the Lords of the Treasury, when con- 

 sidering whether the publication of the results of the voyage 

 should he undertaken at the public expense, were necessarily 

 imperfectly informed of the cost. The amount paid from 

 Stationery Office votes alone has already reached nearly 25,000/., 

 of which about l2,ODo/. only has been recovered by sales. To 

 the balance of this account in calculating the actual cost of the 

 book must be added the sums granted annually by Parliament 

 for the expenses of the commission since the return of the ship 

 — something over 40,000/. , making the net cost of the publication 

 up to the present time, roughly, 53,000/. — a larger sum perhaps 

 than has ever been spent by any Government on a single work. 

 On the other side, however, Mr. Controller Pigott is good enough 

 to add that the va'ue of the Report can scarcely be exaggerated, 

 and in a few lines he gives his estimate of the work of the 

 expedition. 



Lieutenant W. H. Emory, of the U.S. Navy, who com- 

 mandel the Bmi- in the Greely Relief Expedition, has been 

 ordered to the Thelis, and will shortly sail for .Alaska. He is 

 to investigate the seal-fisheries, and has received special instruc- 

 tions regarding the boundary-line between Alaska and British 

 territory. 



There seems to be some need for a scientific examination of 

 medals granted in America for distinguished services. The "fine, 

 large, gold medal," given to General Grant f .r the part he 

 played in the Mexican war, is no* in the National Museum, 

 Washington, and, according to Science, it is " bogus," having a 

 specific gravity of only 7 instead of 16. 



I.N a recent Report, Mr. J. R. Dodge, Statistician of the U.S- 

 Agricultural Department, shows that the amount of beetroot- 

 sugar produced last season exceeded the cane-sugar by 162,000 

 metric tons. The manufacture of beet-sugar is wholly a 

 European industry, and Mr. Dodge says its success in Europe is 

 largely due to the fact that each shareholder in the stock of a 

 beet-sugar factory is required to furnish so many beets per share. 

 The farmers are in reality the manufacturers, and, since they 

 obt.ain the profits of the manufacture, it is their interest to raise 

 good beets at a nominal price. Mr. Dodge states that the 

 sugar consumed in the United Slates amounts to about one- 

 fourth of all the sugar reported from the places of principal 

 production, and that within twenty-five years the country will 

 require as much as the whole of the present supply of the 

 cane-sugar of commerce, and nearly as much as the present 

 production of beet-sugar. Mr. Dodge expresses surprise that 

 Americans "scour the world for fo id-products costing more 

 than 203,000,000 dollars per annum, the larger portio.i of which 

 should be produced in the United Sta'es." What is needed, 

 he thinks, is " a more skilful, scientific, and inventive agri- 

 culture." 



The introduction of the electric light is not always, appar- 

 ently, an unmixed benefit. Some time ago electric lights were 

 placed in front of the Treasury and other public buildings in 

 Washington, and a fine and striking effect is said to have been 

 produced. Unfortunately, however, spiders discovered that 

 game is plentiful in the vicinity of the new lights, and that they 

 may there ply their craft successfully both day and night. In 

 consequence, as Mr. G. Thompson writes to Science, their webs 

 are so thick and numerous that portions of the architectural 

 ornamentation are no longer visible, and when the webs are 

 torn down by the wind, or fall from decay, the refuse gives a 

 dingy and dirty appearance to everything it comes in contact 

 with. 



