Dec. 25, i873_ 



NA TURE 



141 



and Rankine. The lecture on Energy is followed by one 

 on the Dynamical Theory : which embraces to some 

 extent the relations of different forces, and the " varied 

 modality " of chemical, thermical, and electrical action. 

 The next lecture relates to Molecular Dynamics. Then 

 in succession : — Electromotive force produced by Chemi- 

 cal Action, by Heat, by mechar.ical means, and by Induc- 

 tion. JNIutual action of Currents and Magnets, Terrestrial 

 Magnetism, Polar Aurorse ; Atmospheric Electricity ; 

 DiamEgnetism ; Rhumkorff's Coil; Winds; Marine Cur- 

 rents; the Sun ; the Doctrine of La Place; the Doctrine 

 of Lycll ; Thermogencsis ; Atmolysis and Osmosis ; 

 Capillarity ; the Doctrine of Mayer. The second course 

 treats of electricity, undulations, sonority, musical timbre, 

 echoes, photometry, dispersion and the spectroscope, 

 chromatism, vision, luminous undulations, diffraction, 

 polarisation, radiant heat, action of electricity on 

 organic bodies, the muscular current, electrical nervous 

 phenomena, electrical fishes. 



The arrangement is really wonderful. What can 

 possibly warrant the following order for lectures : — dia- 

 niagnetism, Rhunikorft s coil, winds, marine currents ; or 

 again — thermogencsis, atmolysis, capillarity ? One 

 lecture ends with " Che cosi mirabiimente si svolgono 

 dall' evoluzione Darwinians ; " and the next commences 

 " E impossible proseguire un corso di Fisicaepiu ancora 

 quella parte, die tratta de'le azioni senza prima definire 

 le p.arole, atomo, molecula. " The Prof. Pozzo can scarcely 

 be expected to kctiue on all science : to pass from the 

 sun to an atom, frnm Darwinism to electio-dyijamics, 

 from geology to elliptical polarisation. If he is, the 

 system is a bad one, and his students may get a 

 smattering of many things, and know nothing well. 

 Mechanical philosophy seems to be almost ignored. The 

 book is devoid of mathematics, ar.d without woodcuts; and 

 we imagine the youth of Peiugia must yawn over it ; and, 

 if the lectures are as dry as the book, spend much of the 

 time which ought to be given to physics in saying 

 " felicissima notte " to each other. G. F. R. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



\TJic Edilor doa not hold himself nsf on sihle for ofinmisexpnsscd 

 by his comstondcn/s. A''o notice is inhen of ntiouymcus 

 communications. ] 



Picposed Alterations in the Medical Curriculum 

 TUF. remarks made in yournumber of Decemlier 18 by my 

 fiioi-d Piof. Balfour are founded on tlie mistake he has made in 

 supposing that it is proposed to abolish ihe regulation requiring 

 attendance on the courses of lectures on Botany and Zoology. 

 There is no question raiicd between mere examining b ards ar;d 

 t»acliing institutions, between compulse ry and optional attendance 

 on professors' lectures. It is simply that the candidate for medical 

 rieg.ees be allowed to take the examination in Zoology and 

 Botany earlier than is at present permitted. At present the 

 examination in these subjects in Edinburgh University is fixed 

 by ordinance at the end of the second of the four years of me- 

 dical study, and in this University, while the Botany comes at 

 that time, the Zoology is actually not till the end of the third 

 year, so that our case is even worse than that of Edinburgh. 

 Prof. Balfour says, "The student might be encouraged to take 

 his science examination at an early period of his curriculum, !ay 

 at the end of his first year of study." That is exactly the result 

 practically aimed at here, and I am o^uite at one with him on the 

 suljject. But why prevent the student from taking the exami- 

 nation in Botany and Zoology before entering on his mcdicsl 

 curriculum proper, if lie has attended the professor's class and is 

 ready for it ? Very few would at present do so, as it would 

 imply a preliminary year of attendance at the Universities to 

 obtain the courses of Zoology and Botany. But is it not a very 

 desir.ablc thing, from every point of view, to encourage this? 

 So far from lowering the standaid in these subjects, or pro- 

 moting cramming, it would do exactly thereverse. It would 

 enable real study to take the place of the cramming which is 

 inevitable when these subjects are left over to be mixed up with 

 medical studies proper. 



For some time there has been a strong feeling here that the 

 examination in Zoology and Botany should take place not later 

 than the end of the first year, and the Lord Rector of our 

 University in taking this matter up, instead of tinkering as 

 to particular dates, has announced the sound general principle 

 that the student should be encouraged to take the subjects 

 of Botany and Zoology before beginning his medical curri- 

 culum proper, with the viev/ both of promoting a more 

 real study of these sciences, and of clearing the subsequent 

 medical curriculum for a more real study of the subjects which 

 belong to it. I see nothing in the resolutions which our dis- 

 tinguished Lord Rector has laid before the University Court 

 either suggesting or implying abolition of compulsory attendance 

 on the professors' courses of Zoology and Botany, and Prof 

 Balfour might well have taken it for granted that the mere fact 

 of the proposal emanating from Prof. Huxley is security enough 

 that the object could not possibly be to lower the position of the 

 natural sciences or to promote cramming instead of real study. 

 Our Lord Rector has as yet only intimated his resolutions, but 

 when the oracle speaks we shall no doubt hear such good reasons 

 for them that even so enthusiastic a botanist as Prof. Balfour will 

 have his alarm turned into joy. 



Will any of those who are so strong on the point of compulsory 

 attendance on courses of Zoology and Botany tell us why they do 

 not say a word for Katural Philosophy ? Including such subjects 

 as heat, light, electricity, hydrostatics, pneumatics, optics, acous- 

 tics, it is surely of more importance than either of the other two, 

 whether regarded educationally or in its bearing on modern 

 medicine. Yet in the Scotch Universities there is no compulsion 

 to attend a course of lectures on Natural Philosophy, and it is 

 relegated to the preliminary examination in general education. 

 The day is past for laying on additional compulsory courses of 

 lectures, but it is surely not too much to say that the student 

 might be allowed to profess and be examined in Natural Philo- 

 sophy instead of one of the other two. 



Aberdeen University, Dec. 20 John Sti«jthers 



The Distribution of Volcanoes 

 Some of the correspondence in your paper has latterly been so 

 caustic, that timid people may be pardoned for shrinking from 

 writing letters which bring down upon tliem the hammers ot 

 scorn and contempt '- o vigorously. 



Notv/ithstanding this, the discussion between Mr. Malltt and 

 Dr. Forbes about volcanoes tempts me to write to you on a side 

 issue of that controversy in which I have been interested for seme 

 time. What I have to say may not be new, although I bslieve 

 it to be so. At all everts it is not commented upon in the books 

 accessible to me. I will premise that, caring little for laurels of any 

 kind but a good deal for instruction, that if it be discovered that 

 what I say is stale and old, I hope I may be treated as an ignorant 

 scholar, wiUing to learn, and not as a rival to be crushed, and 

 fur;her, that my results having been obtained independently, they 

 support and make more sure the position of my predecessors. 



Vou were good enough, some months ago, to print some 

 letters of mine on the current elevation of the circumpolar regions 

 of the earth. I have since accumulated much new matter on 

 this subject, which will be shortly published in part in the 

 Journal of the Geographical Society. The general result of my 

 inquiry is, that all the large land surfaces of the earth, the large 

 continental and insular suvr'aces, are more or less in process of 

 gradual or rapid elevation. Tlure are a few small areas of de- 

 pression on the outskirts and boi'ders of the great land-masses, 

 but these are very local and unimportant. And with this slight 

 exception the continents of North and South America, Asia, 

 Europe, Africa, and Australia, are all more or less rising. This 

 rise of the land-surfaces necessitates a coriesponding sinking, 

 either an absolute or a i-elative sinking, in the surfaces 

 covered with water. It is comparatively easy to test where a 

 land surface is gradiuilly protruding from the water. It 

 is not such a simple matter always to know whether 

 this rise is relative or absolute, for the same effect may be 

 produced by the sinking of the sea- floor as by the actual 

 tiding of Ihe land. One thing only we know, that when our 

 measure is water, there nmst be a corresponding sinking either 

 relative or absolute where there is a rising elsewhere. Direct 

 evidence of the sinking of the sea-bottom is not very easy to find, 

 but such does exist. Students are familiar with the facts col- 

 lected by Darwin and others, showing from the growth of coral 

 islands, &c., that the Pacific is an area of depression ; other 

 evidence consists in the disappearance of well-known rocks, the 



