Feb. 24, 1 881] 



NA TURE 



401 



In it be treats of the errors of three standard thermometers con- 

 structed for hiin at the Kew Observatory, and after describing 

 minutely the instruments, the manner in which he verified the 

 accuracy of the positions of the fixed point-, and the appliances 

 he u<ed in tlie work, proceeds to state that he then rigorously 

 examined the thermometers for errors depending on calibration. 

 Of these he says ; "The results of our calibration are given in 

 the following table. The observations were made with Appa- 

 ratus II., and speci.al care was taken to guard against any changes 

 of tem;.erature. The reduced results are as follows, where each 

 line is the mean of three observations : — 



Rem.\rks. — The observations were all made by daylight, and 

 at one sitting for each thermometer. The extreme variations of 

 the temperature of the room during the observations as measured 

 by two thermometers, one at each end of the tube being measured, 

 were as follows : — 



Kew, 578 := o-°o F. 



584 = o-i F. 



585 = o-i F. 



The length of the column used for the Kew calibration, and 

 by which the thermometers were graduated, was 5°-026 C. for 

 Kew 578, 10° -405 F. for 584, and 10° '673 K. for Kew 585. We may 

 therefore conclude that between 0° and 100° C. the errors of the 

 three Kew standards depending on the calibration are practically 

 insensible ; for the errors .shown above are too small to be 

 certainly detected, omng to the width of the lines which make 

 up the griduation of the thermometer scales. 



Accidental errors of graduation could not be guarded against 

 excejit by the direct examination of every degree, and that 

 accordiuL^iy has been done. 



The tedious examination of each degree was accomplished 

 with the aid of Prof. J. E. Kershner. We used the apparatus I., 

 and each degree was measured twice. The resulting means were 

 expressed in terms of hundredths of one division of the eye-piece 

 micrometer, and gave a subdivision of about ttsu> li^'aTTi ^""i 

 ^iVo of '° in tli^ cases of Kew 578, 584, and 585 respectively. 

 There were about 2300 separate micrometer readings made, and 

 the result of the reductions shows that no sensible accidental 

 errors have been introduced into the graduations of these 

 standards. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The latest edition of the schedule of subjects 

 for the Moral Sciences Tripos fully recognises physiology. In 

 the advanced part of the examination special knowledge is 

 required (i) of the physiology of the .senses and of the central 

 nervous system ; (2) of experimental investigations into the 

 intensity and duration of psychical states ; and (3) of such facts 

 of mental pathology as are of psychological interest. Questions 

 will also be set relating to the philosophic treatment of the 

 relation of body and mind as regards both the method and the 

 general theory of psychology. Mr. Lewes's "Problems of Life 

 and Mind," vols, iii.- v.. Dr. Michael Foster's "Text-book of 

 Physiology," Book iii., Wundt's " Physiologische Psychologic," 

 Fechner's " In Sachen der Psychophysik," Maudsley's " Physio- 



logy of Mind " and " Patholo'jy of Mind " .ire among the books 

 recommended. 



Mr. J. M. II. MuNRO, D.Sc. Lond., F.C.S., has been 

 elected resident Profes-ior of Chemistry in the Wilts and Hants 

 Agricultural College, Do'.xnton, .Salisbury, and he will act in 

 co-operation with Prof. A. H. Church, M.A.Oxon. Dr. Munro 

 headed the list in first-class honours in chemistry at both of the 

 examinations for the B.Sc. degree, and obtained the chemical 

 exhibition of the University in 1874. He was also classed in 

 botany and vegetable ]>hysiology, and in logic and moral philo- 

 sophy, and took the Doctor's degree in 1877. He recently 

 received a grant from the Chemical Society in aid of a research 

 on which he is at present engaged. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Procce1i»gs nf the Royal Irish Academy (" Science "), part 

 5, vol. iii., series II, December, 18S0, contains — W. R. Roberts, 

 on the .satellite of a line meeting a cubic. — A. H. Anglin, mathe- 

 matical notes. — Prof. _!■ P. O'Reilly, on the directions of main 

 lines of jointing observable in the rocks about the Bay of Dublin, 

 and their relations with adjacent coast-lines ; — al>o on the corre- 

 lation of the lines of faulting of the Palamow coal-field district, 

 Northern Indi.a, with the neighbouring coast lines. — Prof. E. 

 Davy, preliminary report on some new organic nifr.iprussides. — 

 Prof. W. King, preliminary notice of a memoir on rock-jointing 

 in its relation to phenomena in physical geography and jihysical 

 geology. — J. F. Knott, on some anomalies in human anatomy 

 (woodcuts). — Prof. Mackintosh, note on the occurrence of a 

 premaxillo-frontal suture in the skull of the koala {P/iaseolarctos 

 cintreus (with plates 10 to 13). — G. H. and G. A. Kinahan, 

 eurites or basic felstonesof Silurian age. — G. H. Kinahan, sup- 

 posed Upper Cambrian rocks in the counties of Tyrone and 

 Mayo. 



The Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. — "Polite 

 Literature and Antiquities," part 2, vol. ii. series 11, December, 

 1880, contains the following papers of interest to the student of 

 nature : — -W. Frazer, description of a great sepulchral mound near 

 Donnybrook (in Co. Dublin), containing human and animal re- 

 mains, as well as some objects of antiquarian interest referable to 

 the tenth or twelfth centuries (woodcuts). — G. Allmann Armstrong, 

 particulars relative to the finding of human remains in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Dundalk (woodcut). — R. J. Ussher and G. H. 

 Kinahan, on a submarine crannog at Ardmore, Co. Waterford 

 (plate I and woodcut). — Thos. Plunkett, on an ancient settlement 

 found about twenty-one feet beneath the surface of the peat in 

 the coal-bog at Boho, Co. Fermanagh (plate 2). 



The Scientific Proceedings of the Royal DiiHin Society, vol. ii. 

 new series, part vii., November, 18S0, contains: — V. Ball, on 

 the mode of occurrence and distribution of diamonds in India. — 

 A. B. Wynne, on some points in the physical geology of the 

 Dingle and Iveragh Promontories. — Dr. C. A. Cameron, on the 

 action of water upon mercuric sulphate. — J. H. Luby, voluntary 

 act of self-destruction by the worker bee. — G. F. Kitzgerald, 

 F.I.C.D., notes on fluorescence. — Thos. Plunkett, on chert in the 

 limestone of Knockbeg, county of Fermanagh (woodcut). — 

 R. M. Barrington, M.A., on the introduction of the squirrel into 

 Ireland (with a map). 



Vol. iii., new series, part i., January 1881, contains : — C. E. 

 Burton and Howard Grubb, on a new form of ghost micrometer 

 for u-e with astronomical telescopes (plates i ti 4). — E. T. 

 Harduian, on a travertine from BaUisodare near Sligo, containing 

 a considerable amount of strontium. — W. Sn-ith, preliminary 

 note on the manufacture of paper from melic grass (Molinia 

 ccerula). — D. M'Ardle. — On some new or rare Irish epaticffi 

 (with |>lates 5 and 6). — Percy Evans Freke, on North American 

 birds crossing the Atlantic (with tables). 



fonrnal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South 

 Wales, vol. xiii., 1879 (Agents in London Messrs. Triibner 

 and Co.), contains — On the "gem" cluster in Argo, by H. C. 

 Russell. — On the water of Sydney Harbour, by the Kev. W. H. 

 Sharp. — On the anatomy of Distichopora, with a monograyih of 

 the genus, by Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods (two plates). — On the 

 geological formations of New Zealand compared with those of 

 Australia, by Dr. Jas. Hector. — On the languages of Australia 

 in connection with those of the Mozambique and of the south of 

 Africa, by Hvde Clarke.— On Ottelia pmtcnta, F. v. M., by 

 Baron vim MiiUer, with a plate (an alisma-like leaf-impression 

 from the green-bush quarry near to P.irramatta, apparently allied 



