March 17, 1881J 



NA TURE 



471 



pages. Lower mean temperatures of particular months have 

 occurred previously in Shetland, Orkney, and the extreme north 

 of Caithness and Sutherland, January, 1867, having been colder 

 in these northern regions. Other months, notably February, 

 1855, were as cold as, or colder than, January last over England 

 generally except its northwestern counties. But in this latter 

 district and over the w hole of the rest of Scotland January was 

 colder than any month on record, going back for the different 

 districts on observations which extend over periods varying from 

 24 to 118 years. The mean temperature fell below that of any 

 previously recorded month in varied amounts up to 4'"o, this 

 excessive degree of cold being experienced chieBy in the upper 

 narrow valleys of the interior of the country, such as Lairg^ in 

 Sutherland, Upper Deeside, and Tweeddale, and the uplying 

 valleys of the Cheviots. The greatest absolute cold occurred 

 on the nights immediately preceding the great London storm of 

 the iSth, the lowest, S5 far as the facts have reached us, being 



- l6°-o near Kelso ; -l5°-o at Stobo Castle in Peeble-shire ; 



- i3°-o at Paxton House ntar Berwick; - ii°-o at Lairj;, and 

 Thirlestane Castle near Lauder; and -S°-o at Milne Graden 

 near Coldstream. This depression of temperature thus equal- 

 led that of the memorable night of December 4, 1879, when it 

 fell, at Springwood Park near Kelso, to - i6°o, which is abso 

 lulely the lowest authentic temperature that has been recorded 

 in Great Britain since thermometers came into use, leaving out 

 of view as incomparable and misleading all observations made 

 with exposed thermometers. In Scotland, the mean temperature 

 of each of the five months ending with February was under the 

 average, the depression being greatest just where as stated above 

 the cold of January was greatest. The mean temperature of 

 these five months was 5°-6 under the average in West Perthshire, 

 S'o at Lanark, 4°- 5 at Thirlestane Castle, Braemar, and CuUoden, 

 and about 3°-o in the west from North Unst to the Solway Firth. 

 In South Britain, the mean temperature of this period did not 

 fall S3 low owing to the milder weather there during November 

 and December. The snowstorms of this winter are, at least, 

 equally memorable, particularly the great storm of the third week 

 of January in the south of England, and the great storm in 

 Scitland in the first week of March, when railway traffic was 

 paralysed, many trains being buried under snow-wreaths, twenty, 

 thirty, and even in some cases forty feet in thickness. 



THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY COMMISSIONERS 



AND THE PROFESSORIA TE 

 T^HE University Commissioners have i sued a revised edition 

 of the proposed statute; on the professoriate. The scheme 

 laid before the Hebdomadal Council la-t November met with 

 considerable opposition, which re ulted in representations being 

 made by the Council to the Commissioners in favour of certain 

 modifications in the duties assigned to the professors. On com- 

 paring the revised with the old proposals, it is evident that the 

 Commissioners have become convinced that it is desirable to 

 allow each professor a larger individual liberty in the mode of 

 giving instruction in his department than was granted in the 

 former scheme. In the General Regulations of last November 

 Clauses 4 and 5 ran as follows: — 



4. During the period of each term over which his course of 

 lectures shall extend, and on so many days in the week as the 

 particular regulations applicable to his chair require, he shall be 

 ready to givv; private instruction to such students, being members 

 of the university and attending his lectures, as may desire to 

 receive it, in such matters relevant to the subjects of his lectures 

 as may more conveniently be explained in that manner, and also 

 to test by questioris or otherwise, as may be convenie it, the 

 knowdedge of such students in those subjects. Such private 

 instruction shall be open without fee to students who are members 

 of a college out of the revenues of which his chair is wholly or 

 partly endowed, and to other students on payment of such fees 

 (if any) as the professor may require, not exceeding in number or 

 amount the limit set by any statutes of the university in that 

 behalf which may be in force for the time being. 



5. At the end of each term in which he has delivered lectures 

 he shall examine the .students who have attended them, and 

 shall, on the request of the head of any college, infirm the 

 college of the results of the examination as regards the students 

 who are members of such college, and shall also, if requested, 

 give like information to the Delegate; of students not attached to 

 any college or hall. 



In the new statutes the obligation to examine the whole class 



is removed ; but each profess sr at the head of a laboratory or 

 observatory must inform the college authorities of the regularity 

 and proficiency of students attending his department. The new 

 general regulati ms run as follow : — 



Duties of Professors 



1. It shall be the duty of every professor in his department to 

 give instruction to students, assist the pursuit of knowledge, and 

 contribute to the advancement of it, and aid generally the work 

 of the university. 



2. Every professor shall in respect of the lectures to be given 

 by him conform to the particular regulations applicable to his 

 chair. He may lecture in such manner and form as he judges 

 to be best for the instruction of students and the advancement of 

 knowledge. 



3. It shall be his duty to give to students attending his ordinary 

 lectures assistance in their studies by advice, by informal instruc- 

 tion, by occasional or periodical examination, and otherwise, as 

 he may judge to be expedient. For receiving students who 

 desire such assistance he shall appoint stated times in eveiy week 

 in which he lectures. 



4. At the request of any student who has regularly attended 

 any course of lectures he shall certify in writing the fact of such 

 attendance. 



5. The ordinary lectures of every professor shall be open to 

 all students who are members of the university without payment 

 of any fee, unless the university shall otherwise determine. But 

 the university may, if it should deem it expedient so to do, by 

 statute or decree authorise any professor to require payment of 

 fees not exceeding a specified amount in respect of all or any of 

 bis lecture; or of the instruction to be given by him. 



6. Every professor shall in addition to his ordinary lectures 

 deliver from time to time, after previous public notice, a public 

 lecture or lectures to be open to all members of the university 

 without payment of any fee. 



With regard to the manner of election to professorships and 

 to the dispensations and leave of absence granted by the visita- 

 torial boards, little or no alterations have been made. The pro- 

 fessoriate is divided into three schedules. With the exception 

 of the professors of geology, mineralogy, and botany who come 

 under Schedule B, the professors in the different departments of 

 natural science come under Schedule C, to which division the 

 following particular regulations are applicable : — 



[a] The professor shall reside within the university during 

 six months at least in each academical year, between the first 

 day of September and the ensuing first day of July. 



{/)) He shall lecture in two at least of the three university 

 terms. His lectures shall extend over a period not less in 

 any term than six weeks, and not less in the whole than fourteen 

 weeks, and he shall lecture tw ice at least in each week. 



(,:) The laboratory under the charge of each professor, and 

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

 sity Ob-ervatory, shall be open for eight weeks in each term, 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 exceed- 

 ing such amount as may be fixed by any statute of the university 

 inlforce for the time being, as the professor may from time to 

 time require. 



((/) Except for some grave reason to be approved by the 

 Vice-Chancellor, the professor shall, for seven; weeks in each 

 term, and during some part of three days in each week, be 

 ready tj give instruction in the subject of his chair to such 

 students as shall have been ad uitted to the laboratory under his 

 charge (or in the case of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, 

 to the University Observatory) ; and such instruction shall be 

 given in the laboratory or observatory (as the case may be) or in 

 some class-room connected therewith. 



(<r) J he 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 cillege who have been admitted into the laboratory or 

 observatory under his charge, and shall give like information, 

 if requested, to. the Delegates of students not attached to any 

 college or hall. , „ . , ,, , r 



4. The particular regulations next following shall be appli- 

 cable to the several professors named in them respectively (that is 

 to say) — 



