334 



NA TURE 



[August 6, 1896 



scholars are to devote themselves exclusively to study and 

 research in some branch of science, the extension of which is 

 important to the industries of the country. The nominating 

 institutions and the scholars are as follows : — University of 

 (Ilasgow, W. C. Henderson ; University of Aberdeen, A. Ogg ; 

 Mason College, Birmingham, T. S. Price ; University College, 

 Bristol, E. C. Fortey ; Yorkshire College, Leeds, H. M. Daw- 

 son ; University College, Liverpool, IL E. Annett ; University 

 College, London, J. E. Petavel ; Owens College, Manchester, 

 J. L. Heinke ; Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 J. A. Smythe ; University College, Nottingham, G. B. Bryan ; 

 University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, S. W. Richardson ; 

 University College of North Wales, Bangor, D. Williams (con- 

 ditional appointment); Queen's College, Galway, J.Henry; 

 University of Toronto, A. M. Scott ; Dalhousie University, 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia, D. Mclnto.sh ; University of New Zea- 

 land, J. A. Erskine. 



The following scholarships granted in 1S95 have been con- 

 tinued for a second year on receipt of a satisfactory report of 

 work done during the first year : — 



Nominating institution. 



Scholar. 



University of Glasgow. 

 University of St. Andrews. 



University College, Dun- 

 dee. 



University College, Liver- 

 pool. 



University College, Lon- 

 don. 



Durham College of Sci 

 ence, Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne. 



University College, Not- 

 tingham. 

 Queen's College, Belfast, 



Queen's University, King- 

 ston, Canada. 

 University of Sydney. 



University of New Zea- 



W. Stewan 

 H. C. Will 

 J. Henderson. 

 J. T. Farmer. 

 E. Aston- 

 A. L. Mellanby 



M. E. Feilmani 

 W. Hanna. 



R. O. King. 



T. L. Walker. 

 J. A. Watt. 

 E. Rutherford. 



Places of study. 



Univer: 



Berli 

 Marine Labor; 



and Kiel. 

 Polytechnicun 



M; 



of Glasgow and 

 sries, Naples 

 Munich. 



Donald Engineering La- 

 boratories, Montreal. 



University College, London, 

 and University of Geneva. 



MacDonald Engineering La- 

 boratories, Montreal, and 

 Durham College of Scl- 



Polytechnicum, Zurich. 



Laboratory of Royal College 

 of Physicians and Sur- 

 geons, London, and Bacter- 

 iological Institute, Prague. 



MacDonald Engineering La- 

 boratories, Montreal. (Tu 

 change for second year.) 



University of Leipzig. 



koyal College of Science, 

 South Kensington. 



Cavendish Laboratory, Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge. 



A limited number of the scholarships are renewed for a third 

 year when it appears that the renewal is likely to result directly 

 in work of scientific importance. The following scholarships 

 granted in 1894 have been renewed for a third year : — 



Generous gifts to educational institutions in America have 

 often been noted in these cohinins. The New \'ork Critic has 

 collected some valuable information concerning the total amounts 

 of such gifts and legacies received from various benefactors. 

 Perhaps the following summary of these encouragements will 

 create a spirit of emulation in the wealthy men of the British 

 Isles before whom it may come. George Peabody, various, 

 ;^i,035,ooo. Stephen (^lirard, Girard College, present value 

 about /3, 000,000. John D. Rockefeller, University of Chicago, 

 /i, 485, 200; Vassar College, /20,ooo ; Barnard College, 

 ^£'5000. Miss Helen Culver, University of Chicago, ;^205,ooo. 

 Leland Stanford, Leland Stanford funior University, from 

 ^3,000,000 to ;^4,ooo,ooo. Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins 

 University, over /6oo,ooo. John C. Green, Princeton College 

 and Lawrenceville School, ";f6oo,ooo, Anthony J. Drexel, 

 Drexel Institute, ^600,000. Asa Packer, Lehigh University, 

 115 acres of land and /fsoo.ooo. Charles Pratt, Pratt Institute, 

 NO. 1397, VOL. 54] 



/540,ooo; Charles M. Pratt, j^Sooo. Leonard Case, Ca.se 

 School of .Applied Science, /"400,ooo. Henry W. Sage, 

 Cornell University, ^^234,000. C(jrnelius Vanderhilt (deceased), 

 Vanderbilt University, £ioo,<xx)\ William H. Vanderbilt, 

 ^92,000; Cornelius Vanderbilt, ;f8ooo. I'eter Cooper and 

 his family. Cooper Union, ^330,189. Paul Tulane, Tulane 

 University, ^'2 10,000. Seth Low, Columbia University, 

 ;^200,ooo ; Barnard College, ;{^20oo. Washington C. De 

 Pauw, De Pauw University, ;^200,ooo. James Lick, Uni- 

 versity of California, ;,f 150,000. I.sa.ac Rich, Boston University, 

 .,^140,000. Ezra Cornell, Cornell University, ^^134,000. J. 

 Pierpont Morgan, New Vork Trade School, jfioo.oob. 

 Colonel and Mrs. Richard T. Auchmuty, New Vork Trade 

 School, ;^S2,ooo. The total of this list, which is probably not 

 complete, amounts to ^15,080,389. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Symous's Monlhly Meteorological Magazine ,]w\'j . —The ' ' Inter- 

 national Cloud Atlas." Mr. Symons takes the opportunity 

 offered by the publication of this work (of which only a very 

 few copies have yet been distributed) to make a brief reference 

 to the principal works on clouds which have recently preceded 

 the present one, including M. Weilbach's " Nordeuropas Sky- 

 former " (Copenhagen, 18S1), the " \Volken-.\tlas " of MM. 

 Hildebrandsson, Kiippen, and Neumayer (Hamburg, 1890), M. 

 Singer's " Wolkentafeln " (Munich, 1892), " Classificazione 

 delle nubi" by the Specola Vaticana, containing some excellent 

 reproductions of M. Mannucci's photographs (Rome, 1893), and 

 the Rev. W. Clement Ley's "Cloudland" (London, 1894). 

 The " International Cloud Atlas" (Paris, 1S96) has been prepared 

 under the superintendence of the International Meteorological 

 Committee, and contains twenty-eight coloured reproductions of 

 clouds. Although none of them is from an English photograph, Mr. 

 Symons thinks our countrymen may be well content to see how 

 largely the international system of 1S96 is based upon the work 

 of Luke Howard, and that the classification adopted is practically 

 that of the joint work of Dr. Hildebrandsson and the Hon. Ralph 

 Abercroniby. — The spring drouglu of 1896. Mr. Symons selected 

 twenty-eight stations distributed over the United Kingdom ; these 

 show that the rainfall for the first half of the year at eight out 

 of sixteen English and Welsh .stations, the total fell below two- 

 thirds of the average, the lowest values being 48 per cent, at 

 Haverfordwest ; while for the Scotch and Irish stations the 

 average was S3 per cent, and 80 per cent, respectively. The 

 results for April and May show that at three stations the rain- 

 fall was less than 20 per cent, of the average, the total in 

 London being 19 per cent. In 1893 the drought was more 

 severe in parts of England and Wales, but the 1S96 drought in 

 the south of Ireland appears to be unprecedented ; at Cork it 

 lasted for sixty-four days. 



The numbers of the Bullclino dclla Societii Botanica Ilaliana 

 for May-July contain, in addition to papers of more local 

 interest, one by Prof. G. Arcangeli on the elongation of the 

 organs of aquatic plants (chiefly Nyiiiplucaceu-), in which he 

 expresses the opinion that the stress due to the weight of the 

 superposed liquid is the chief stimulus for their adaptation to the 

 depth of the water in which they live. The same author has a 

 note on the sleep of plants, and the benefits which they derive 

 from the varying positions of the leaves by night and by day. 



The contents of the Nuoi'o Giomak Botaiiico Ilaliano for 

 July comprise four papers, of which the titles only can be 

 given : — The conclusion of Sig. L. Nicotra's exhaustive essay on 

 the statistics of the Flora of Sicily ; Sig. A. Lenticchia on 

 morphological variations in wild and cultivated plants ; Sig. F. 

 Tasci on the mycology of the Province of Sienna ; Sig. U. 

 Martelli on a new species of Centaiirea (C. fcrulacca). 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June :8. — " The Determination of the 

 Freezing-point of Mercurial Thermometers." By Dr. J. A. 

 Harker. 



The method adopted is to cool distilled water in a suitable 

 vessel to a temperature below 0°, to insert the thermometer. 



