Nov. 4, 1880] 



NATURE 



23 



Moisture 



Oil or fat 



Proteids 



Starcli 



Dextrin and soluble starch 



Sugar 



Cellulose, &c. 



Ash 



l4"o 



2'0 



8-S 

 29-2 



22'9 



I7-S 

 3"3 

 2-6 



lOO'O 



The cakes were found to contain only 67 per cent, of proteids, 

 with 3-4 per cent, of flour. The large .amount of dextrin is 

 due to the high temperature to which the chestnuts are subjected 

 in the process of drying. Prof. Church thinks that chestnut- 

 flour ought to be of easy digestibility, and a suitable children's 

 food, considering that it contains over 40 per cent, of nutritious 

 matters soluble in pure water. The Museum of the Royal 

 Gardens is indebted to Mr. George Maw for a specimen of a 

 product used, according to the Rev. Wentworth Webster, who 

 procured it, as tea in the Basses Pyrenees in France, and on the 

 Spanish side of the Pyrenees in Navarre. It was found 

 to consist of the dried shoots of a species of Lithospermum, 

 ■which was identified with probability as L. officinale." Mr. 

 Noble advocates the cultivation of rye-straw {Secale cereale) as a 

 paper material, not inferior to esparto. Mr. W. L. Booker, 

 H.M.'s Coasul at San Francisco, sent some specimens of a 

 scented wood from the highlands of Mexico, known as Lin-a- 

 Loa, and which has been identified with a wood already in the 

 Kew Museum, and which appears to be yielded by a species of 

 Bursera. Further material in the shape of dried specimens, 

 ■with both fruit and flowers, is much to be desired for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining definitely the tree which produces it. The 

 name Lin-a-Loa is clearly a corruption of Lign Aloes, which 

 has been identified with Aquilaria agallocha, otherwise known as 

 eaglewood (Kew Report, 1878, p. 36). This is however a tree 

 confined to the Old World, and the Mexican one has no connec- 

 tion with it. The wood of the latter is imported into this 

 country for manufacture into perfumery, a fragrant oil known 

 as otto of linaloe being distilled from it. On the interesting 

 Chinese timber-tree known as the Nan-mu-tree, and referred to 

 in the Report for 1877, some information has been obtained from 

 Mr. Baber : — "Two days' journey south-east of Chungking in 

 Szechuen I found several specimens of about a foot in diameter, 

 one of them having a straight branchless trunk of 100 feet in 

 height, with the branches and foliage rising 25 feet above that ; 

 another had 70 feet of bare straight stem, and 90 feet of total 

 altitude. Although tlie trunks are branchless, yet in many cases 

 they send out shoots resembling saplings, which rise parallel 

 with the trunk. The wood is white and close-grained, and I do 

 not believe that the pillars at the Ming tombs near Peking are 

 of this wood. They look more like true teak. I have seen 

 some much larger trees than the above, some two feet and more 

 in diameter, straight and of great altitude. They are used in 

 Szechuen for bridge work." Eventually, through the instru- 

 mentality of Pere Vincot, who resides at Chungking, flowering 

 specimens were transmitted to the Kew Herbarium. From these 

 a figure has been prepared, and they entirely confirm the pre- 

 vious identification of the tree by Prof. Oliver (from the leaves 

 alone) as a near ally of Phccbc pallida (one of the laurel family). 

 The genus Phabe is now merged in Posca, and Prof. Oliver has 

 described the Nan-mu under the name of Persea naii-mu, dis- 

 tinguishing it from Pci-sea {Phabe) pallida "chiefly in stature, in 

 the form of the acumen of the leaves and the character of the 

 indumentum." On a block of Pai-chai wood sent by Mr. W. 

 M. Cooper, H.B.M.'s Consul at Ningpo, Mr. R. J. Scott 

 reports : — "The most striking quality I have observed in this 

 wood is its capacity for retaining water and the facility with which 

 it surrenders it. This section, which represents one-tenth of the 

 original piece, weighed 3 lbs. 45 ozs. At the end of twenty-one 

 days it had lost I lb. 6} ozs. in an unheated chamber. At the 

 end of another fourteen days, in a much elevated temperature, 

 it only lost J oz. In its present state of reduced bulk its weight 

 is I lb. 10 ozs. It is not at all likely to supersede box ; but it 

 maybe fit for coarser work than that for which box is necessary." 

 The principal researches conducted in the laboratory during the 

 past year have been those of Mr. Marshall Ward, on the deve- 

 lopment of the embryo-sac, published in the Joiii-nal of the 

 Linnean Society, vol. xvii. pp. SI9"54''; Prof. Church, con- 

 tinued investigation on albinism in leaves, published in the 

 Journal oi the Chemical Society, January, 18S0. The labora- 



tory has also been employed for the experimental demonstrations 

 given to the employt's of the Royal Gardens, and for the examina- 

 tion of the University of London for the degree of Doctor of 

 Science in the subject of physiological botany. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Oxford. — The examinations for the degree of Bachelor of 

 Medicine will commence in the medical department of the 

 Museum as follows : — 



The First (Scientific) Examination) November 29. 

 The Second (Final) Examination, December 6. 

 Candidates for either of these examinations, and candidates for 

 the certificate in Preventive Medicine and Public Health are 

 requested to send in their names on or before November 15 to 

 the Regius Professor of Medicine at the Museum. 



The University of Oxford Commissioners have given notice 

 that all new scholarships and exhibitions granted by the Colleges 

 shall be subject to the provisions of any new statutes which -may 

 be made by the Commissioners in relation to the length of tenure 

 and emoluments of such scholarships and exhibitions. 



The University Commissioners at present sitting have for- 

 warded to the Hebdomadal Council six proposed statutes which 

 they contemplate making, subject to any representation which 

 they may receive from the Council on the appointment and duties 

 of University Professors and Readers. The proposed statutes 

 include certain general regulations applicable to the whole Pro- 

 fessoriate. Each Professor must reside six months in each year 

 between October i and the ensuing July i. Each Professor, 

 besides his regular course of lectures, must give one public 

 lecture every year. Each Professor must give private instruction 

 to students in matters relevant to the subject of his lectures, and 

 must examine the students who have attended his lectures at the 

 end of each course. 



The following are the particular regulations applicable to the 

 Savilian Professor of Astronomy, the Professor of Experimental 

 Philosophy, the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, the Linacre 

 Professor of Human and Comparative Anatomy, the Waynflete 

 Professor of Physiology, and the Wykeham Professor of Physics. 

 Section 7 relates to the three proposed new professorships. 



(i) The Professor shall deliver one course of fourteen lectures 

 at least in each of two out of the three University terms (Easter 

 and Trinity Terms being counted as one) ; every course shall 

 extend over seven weeks at least, and not fewer than two lectures 

 shall be delivered in each week. 



(2) He shall be ready to give the private instruction required 

 by the General Regulations on two days in each week in which 

 he lectures, and during one hour at least on each of such days. 



(3) The laboratory under the charge of each Professor, and, 

 in the case of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, the Uni- 

 versity Obser\'atory, shall be open for eight weeks in each term 

 (Easter and Trinity Terms being counted as one), and at such 

 other times, and for such hours, as the University may by statute 

 determine. 



Students shall be admitted to the University Observatory and 

 to the laboratory under the charge of each Professor, upon such 

 conditions as the University shall from time to time by statute 

 determine, and upon the terms of paying such fees, not exceeding 

 such amount as may be fixed by any statute of the University in 

 force for the time being, as the Professor may from time to time 

 require. 



(4) Except for some grave reason to be approved by the Vice- 

 Chancellor, the Professor shall, for seven weeks in each term 

 (Easter and Trinity Terms being counted as one), and during 

 some part of three days in each week, be ready to give instruc- 

 tion in the subjects of his Chair to such students as shall have 

 been admitted to the laboratory under his charge (or, in the case 

 of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, to the University Observa- 

 tory) ; and such instruction shall be given in the laboratory or 

 observatory (as the case may be) or in some class-room connected 

 therewith. 



(5) The Professor shall also, at the close of each term, inform 

 any college which may request him to do so as to the regularity 

 of attendance and the proficiency of the students belonging to 

 such college who have been admitted into the laboratory or 

 observatoi7 under his charge, and shall give like information, if 

 requested, to the delegates of students not attached to any college 

 or hall. 



The Particular Regulations next follouing shall be applic- 



