March 3, 1881J 



NATURE 



425 



appointed Professor of Mineralogy), Messrs. W. Garnett, F. M. 

 Balfour, and S. H. Vines. 



The Rev. W. Cunningham, M.A., of Trinity College, has been 

 appointed Deputy for the Knightbridge Professor, Prof. Birks, 

 and has resigned the Assistant-Secretaryship of the Local 

 Examinations and Lectures Syndicate. 



Mr. W. Ilillhouse, B.A., of Trinity College, Assistant-Curator 

 of the Botanical Museum, has been approved as a teacher of 

 botany, and Mr. J. J. Lister, B.A., of St. John's College, 

 Demonstrator of Comparative Anatomy, as a teacher of that 

 subject for the purposes of medical certificates. 



It was resolved last Thursday to admit women students at 

 Cambridge to the Previous Examination and to the various 

 Tripos Examinations, to pubhsh separate cla«slists for women, 

 and in cases where order of merit is indicated in the men's class- 

 lists, to indicate the position which any female student would 

 have taken in the corresponding list of men. The examiners 

 may also state that any candidate who does not attain an honour 

 standard is adjudged to have deserved an ordinary degree. It 

 will be necessary to present a further report on minor details of 

 fees and regulations, but it can hardly be doubted that students 

 duly qualified may be admitted formally to the exaniinations 

 coming on in June next. 



The University accounts just published show that examiners 

 cost the University last year 2200/., professors, demonstrators, 

 lecturers, &c., 8400/., in addition to those specially endowed. 

 The ordinary expenses of the museums and lecture-rooms have 

 been 2500/., while the grant from the University is 2000/. The 

 botanic garden has cost nearly 1000/., and 660/. has been so far 

 spent on a curator's house. The Local Examinations and Lectiu'es 

 Board have received S400/., and have invested a further sum 

 of 500/., which at a future time may help to provide a building 

 for this extensive work. The University Library has overdrawn 

 its balance nearly 900/., and the Museums and Lecture Rooms 

 Building Fund is in debt 2725/. On the whole it appears that 

 the Univer-ity has been very careful not to sanction new expendi- 

 ture in this time of transition, and has succeeded in laying by 

 3000/., now possessing a capital of 27,000/. in stocks. 3000/. 

 was the University's income last }'ear from common rents and 

 dividends, while 27,000/. was paid by members of the University 

 in fees for examinations, degrees, cS;c. 



The Calendar of St. David's College, Lampeter, for 1881, is 

 of interest in connection with the forthcoming report of the 

 Commission on Higher Education in Wales. It contains a full 

 account of the foundation and history of the University, the 

 means at its disposal, and the nature of the education it offers to 

 students. The examination for the B.A. degree of this college 

 includes either physics or chemistry. 



In the Special Examinations for the ordinary B.A. degree last 

 year thirty-six candidates entered in Chemistry, nine of whom 

 failed ; two in Geology, nine in Botany, three in Geology ; only 

 one failed, viz. in Botany. The examiners report that in 

 Chemistry the requirement of practical work has exerted a usefiil 

 influence. This requirement however entails much additional 

 work on the examiners in Natural Science, and the appointment 

 of a third examiner is recommended. 



Kext Monday at three o'clock. Dr. W. H. Gaskell mil make 

 a communication to the Philosophical Society on the action of 

 the vagus nerve upon the frog's heart ; and Mr. F. M. Balfour 

 will discuss the ancestral form of the chordata. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Archives des Sciences Physiques et Nattirelles, No. I, January 

 15. — Contributions to knowledge of the family of the Pintinnodea, 

 by H. Fol. — On the use of the microphone in the service of the 

 astronomical hour, by M. W. Meyer. — Exercises of analytical 

 geometry, by L. de la Rive. — On the use of some azoic colours 

 in physiological chemistry, by A. Danilewsky. — Coniptes renins 

 of the Geneva Chemical Society, by S. Walter. — On the botanical 

 geography of Southern Tessin, by S. Calloni. — Annals of Berne 

 Observatoiy, by A. Forster. 



Rivista Scientifico Industriale, No. 24, December 31, 1880. — 

 Description of three new species of the aphides of Sardinia, by 

 L. Marchiati. 



Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Letlere. Rendiconti, 

 vol. xiii. fasc. xx. — On the rotatory movement of the heart, by 

 E. Oehl. — On a new nuclearia ; description and considerations as 

 to its position in the geological system and its importance in 



animal ontogeny, by L. Maggi. — Registering instruments in 

 meteorology, by C. Chistoni. — Synthesis of two new acids iso- 

 meric with vanillic acid, by G. Komer and G. Bertoni. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Royal Society, January 27.— "On the Iron Lines vridened 

 in Solar Spots." By J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S. 



_ The observations put forward with reserve in my last commu- 

 nication to the Society have now been confirmed. 



In the fine spots visible on December 24, January i and 6, 

 many lines in the spectrum of iron were seen contorted, while 

 others h ere steady. 



The facts are given in the following table : — 



The iron lines 

 indicating motio 



Dec. 24, iSSo ... S403'2 



S4°4'8 5410-0 



. ;5409'o 54I4'S 



Iron lines, visible in the same 

 field of view, steady. 



5396-0 



5370-5 

 5369-0 ... 



4919-8 

 4918-0 ... 



5142-2 ... 

 5138-5 - 

 In another part of the same spot — 

 5269-8 ... 

 5268 -s ... 



Jan. I, iSSi 



5323-5 



5327-0 (double) 



5366-5 



4923-0 



5269-8 

 5268-5 



5323-5 



S327-0 (double). 



5269-8 

 5268-5 



Jan. 6,1 iSSi ... 4919-8 



4918-0 4923-5 



All lines between \ 5323-5 

 and 5410-0 except ... 5382'i 



It is to be noted that these observations furnish us with an 

 instance of inversion similar to those frequently obtained in our 

 observations of the most widened lines in spots. 



The inferences to be drawn from these observations, and those 

 on which we are now continuously engaged, must be matter for 

 future communication. But I cannot resist calling attention to 

 the crucial nature of the evidence, at least as regards iron, in 

 favour of the view first put forward by Sir B. Brodie, whom we 

 have s-> recently lost, that the constituents of our terrestrial 

 elements exist in independent foi-ms in the sun.- 



I have thought it right to send in a record of this work at 

 once, with a view to induce other observers to follow the con- 

 tinually varying phases of the spots during the approaching 

 maximum. 



The observations have been made by Mr. H. A. Lawrance, 

 and confirmed by myself in the majority of cases. 



Chemical Society, February 17. — Prof. Roscoe, president, 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — On the estima- 

 tion of organic carbon and nitrogen in water analysis simul- 

 taneously with the estimation of nitric acid, by M. W. Williams, 

 The author has modified the well-known process of Frankland 

 and Armstrong. Instead of reducing the nitrates with sulphurous 

 acid, he uses the copper-zinc couple of Gladstone and Tribe, 

 which converts nitrates into ammonia. The ammonia produced 

 is distilled off and the distillate nesslerised ; the water left in 

 the retort, after distilling off the ammonia, is evaporated to dry- 

 ness and the residue burnt in the ordinary way. The en'ors 

 which accompany the use of sulphurous acid are thus avoided, 

 and the time required for the analysis is much shortened. — Capt. 

 Abney and Col. Festing then gave an account of their recent 

 researches on the influence of the molecular grouping in organic 

 bodies on their absorption in the ultra-red region of the spectrum. 

 The authors have photographed the absorption-spectra of 

 numerous inorganic and organic liquids in the region beyond the 

 red. In many cases the presence of an organic radical seemsato 



?f I In this spot the D lines indicated motion, and did not retain their 

 parallelism. 



^ Lecture delivered before the Chemical Society, June 6, 1867. 



