378 



NA TURE 



[Fed. 17, I i 



2 p.m. Candidates for either the Classical or the Mathematical 

 Studentships must not have exceeded the age of nineteen on 

 January I, 1S81 ; candidates for the Natural Science Student- 

 ships must not have exceeded the age of twenty on the same 

 day. 



Cambridge. — There was a meeting of the members of the 

 Senate on February 11, for the purpose of discussing the report 

 of the Syndicate appointed last June to consider certain memorials 

 as to the higher education of women. The Syndicate recommend 

 that, subject to certain conditions of residence at Girton and 

 Newnham Colleges, female students may be admitted to the 

 Tripos Examinations, and ceititicates issued to them as to the 

 result of the examination. — The Master of Emmanuel, in open- 

 ing the discussion, remarked that he had never sat on any 

 Syndicate before where so little difficulty had been experienced 

 in agreeing to a report. Personally he wished the Syndicate had 

 arrived at a different conclusion, and had recommended the 

 admission of women to all the University examinations. He 

 claimed for the recommendations of the Syndicate, however, 

 that they closely followed the views of an influential number of 

 residents who had signed a memorial on tlie subject, and wished 

 for an official sanction to that w hich had been done for ten years 

 without authority. He contended that it was the imperative 

 duty of the University to give all possible acce-s to its educational 

 advantages, and that the proposed scheme was only a step in 

 that direction. — Dr. Campion contended that the public opinion 

 of the University had been carefully excluded in the constitu- 

 tion of the Syndicate, He charged the report v\ith being both 

 illiberal and harsh. It was illiberal, because the Syndicate had 

 restricted the examinations to inma'es of particular colleges, and 

 was not for the encouragement of the higher education of women 

 all over the country. Why was the advantage given only to 

 Newnham and Girton Colleges? The report was harsh, for when 

 they admitted women to tes' their scientific powers, it was 

 unfair to do so after the conclusion of a time race with the men. 

 Why not let the women study as long as they liked ? He did not 

 object to their being compelled to pass the previous examination, 

 but to compel them to go step by step with undergraduaies 

 was placing them, by reason of their defect of physical power, 

 in a false position. — Prof. Kennedy said, it was proposed to 

 limit the competition to those within their reach ; if the experi- 

 ment succeeded, it would be a matter for future consideration what 

 extensions should be made. As to the harshness, that surely 

 might be left to the better judgment of the friends, relations, 

 and guardians of the e women who asked for these concessions. 

 Women were mentally men's equals, but physically not. To urge 

 their want of physical power as an objec'ion to their admission to 

 the same intellectual pursuits and pleasures as men was more f jr 

 the Brahmin than the believer in the Hitile ; it was a fitter argu- 

 ment for the Turk than the Saxon. — Prof. Liveing defended the 

 Syndicate from the attack of Dr. Campion, and asserted that 

 the matter was discussed fully and fairly, without any bias of 

 previously formed opinions. — Prof. Westcott, who did nrjt con- 

 cur in the whole of the report, expressed his great regret that 

 the Syndicate before reporting had not collected further in- 

 formation on a problem so difficult and obscure. — Mr. Prothero, 

 King's, was of opinion that the same course of training which 

 was good for male students was equally good for women. — 

 Mr. Sidgvvick, Trinity, draw attention to the remarkable fact 

 that no objection had been raised to the main proposal of the 

 Syndicate. — The discussion lasted upwards of two hours. 



KlEFF. — The number of students at the University of Kieff 

 was, on January i, 1881, as much as 1041, with fifty-eight 

 professors. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for January 

 contains notes on a peculiar form of Polyzoa closely allied to 

 Bugula (Kinetoskias, Kor. ard Dan.), by George Busk, F.R.S., 

 with plates I and 2.— On the germination and histology uf the 

 seedling of Wehuitschia mirabilis, by F. Or|>en Bower, B.A., 

 with plates j and 4.— Notes on some of the Reticularian Rhizo- 

 poda (if the Challenger, by Henry B. Brady, F.R.S.— Un the 

 head-cavities and associated nerves of EJasmobranchs, by Prof. 

 A. M. Marshall, M.A., witli plates 5 snd 6.— Contributions to 

 the minute anatomy of the nasal mucous membrane, by Dr. E. 

 Klein, F.R.S., with plate 7.— Histological notes, by Dr. E. 



Klein, F. R.S. — On the intra-cellular digestion and endoderm 

 of Limnocodium, by E. R. Lankester, M.A., F.R.S., with 

 plates 8 to 10. — On the micrometric numeration of the blood- 

 corpuscles, and the estimation of their h£emoglobin, by Mrs. 

 Ernest Hart. — Preliminary account of the development of the 

 lampreys, by W. B. Scott, M.A. — On some appearances of 

 the red blood-corpuscles of men and other vertebrata, by G. 

 F. Dowdeswell, B.A. 



The Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, Normal and 

 Pathological, vol. .w., part 2, lanuary, 1881, contains — Dr. John 

 Struthers, the bones, articulati )ns, and muscles of the rudimen- 

 tary hind-limb of the Greenland right-whale {Bahena mysticetus), 

 (with four plates). — Dr. Creii^hton, on an infective form of 

 tuberculosis in man identical with bovine tuberculosis. — Dr. W. 

 Osier, medullary neuroma of the brain (plate 18). — A. Doran, 

 case of fissure of the abdominal walls (plate 19). — Dr. D. New- 

 man, description of a polygraph (with woodcut). — Dr. O. H. 

 Jones, on the mechanism of the secretion of sweat. — Dr. P. S. 

 Abraham, anomalous pilose growth in the pharynx of a woman 

 (woodcut). — Dr. R. Saundby, histology of granular kidney 

 (woodcut). — Dr. J. Oliver, two cases of cerebellar disease. — 

 Prof. M'Kendrick, on the colouring-matter of jelly-fishes. — Dr. 

 Cunningham, nerves of hind-limb of the Thylacine and Cuscus. 

 — Dr. W. J. Fleming, pulse dicrotism. 



The American A'aturalist fot ]amiaxy, 188 1, contains: Prof. A. 

 Geikie, the ancient glaciers of the Rocky Mountains. — Fred. W. 

 Simonds, the discovery of iron implements in an ancient mine in 

 North Carolina. — William Trelease, on the fertilisation of Cala- 

 mintha nepeta (woodcuts). — S. V. Clevenger, comparative neuro- 

 logy, — E. L. Greene, botanising on the Colorado desert. — W. 

 J. Beal, on a method of distinguishing species of poplars and 

 walnuts by their young leafless branches (woodcuts). — James L. 

 Lippincott, an address to the fossil bones in a private museum.— 

 The Editor's table : Recent Literature. — General Notes [this por- 

 tion of the journal has been very considerably enlarged with 

 this number. The Botanical, Zoological, Entomological, Anthro- 

 pological, Geological, Geographical, and Microscopical Sections 

 are each under the charge of a special editor as formerly]. — 

 Scientific News. — Proceedin'^s of Scientific Societies. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Royal Society, January 27. — "The Refraction Equivalents 

 of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen in Organic Com- 

 pounds." By J. H. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S. 



Since the communication v\hich I had the honour to read 

 before this Society in 1S69, "On the Refraction Equivalents of 

 the Elements," very little has been done on the subject. 



Of late however its importance in regard to theories of che- 

 mical stiTicture has been recognised by Di'. Thorpe and other 

 chemists in this country, and attention has been recalled to it in 

 Germany by the papers of Briihl, who, following closely in the 

 footsteps of Landolt, has endeavoured to explain the results in 

 the language of modern organic chemistry. 



At this juncture it may be of service to put on record my 

 present views in regard to the refraction equivalents of the 

 four principal constituents of organic bodies^carbon, hydrogen, 

 oxygen, and nitrogen. 



Carbon. — Carbon in its compounds has at least three equiva- 

 lents of refraction, 5'o, 6'o, or 6'i, and about 8'8. 



Whether its refraction should be one or other of these appears 

 to depend on the way in which the atoms are combined. 



When a single carbon atom has each of its four units of atom- 

 icity satisfied by some other element, it has a value not exceeding 

 50. 



When a carbon atom has one of its units of atomicity satisfied 

 by another carbon atom and the remainder by some other ele- 

 ment, it has the value of 5'o. This is also the case if two of 

 its units of atomicity are satisfied by carbon atoms. 



When a carbon atom has three of its units of atomicity satis- 

 fied by other carlion atoms, its value is 6'o. The most striking 

 instance is that of benzol, CgHj (refraction equivalent 437). 



There are other organic compounds in which only some of the 

 atoms of carbon have the higher value. It has been especially 

 the work of Briihl to point this out, and to show that where 

 they occur (as in amylene or the allyl compounds) the carbon 

 atom is in a condition similar to those in the phenyl nucleus, 

 that condition in fact which is generally represented in Pur 



