492 



NA TURE 



[September 24, iSy6 



One of its main contentions, however, is this — that hardly any 

 of the colleges at Oxford do much, and that none do more than 

 ihey are oliliged, to encourage natural science by means of their 

 endowments. 



I think that if I may be allowed briefly lo state what the 

 college which I know best, and the only one for which I have a 

 right to speak, is doing in this matter, it will enable your readers 

 to see that this contention is not universally applicable, and that 

 there are at least some exceptions with regard to which the writer 

 seems very imperfectly informed. 



Magdalen College is spending at this moment in the 

 direct endowment of natural science through professorships, 

 fellow.ships, scholarships, and exhibitions, over /3500 a year, 

 besides maintaining a laboratory of its own, and subsidising in 

 other ways the teaching of natural science both in the University 

 and within its own walls. 



We support four professors of natural science. It may be said 

 that we are obliged by statute to do so. That is true, but we 

 were not bound to establish these professorships as rapidly as 

 we have done, and we have been obliged at times to suspend 

 fellowships in order to do so. We have, besides our four pro- 

 fessor-fellows, three other fellows on our Governing Body 

 voluntarily elected by the college for natural science. 



The writer of the article complains that so few colleges have 

 even a single tutor in natural .science. More than twenty-five 

 years ago we started a tutor, and for the last dozen years we 

 have had a lecturer as well in natural science upon our regular 

 staff. 



We are not absolutely bound to offer any scholarships for 

 natural science. We have always offered one a year ever since 

 our demyships were thrown open, and we have frequently 

 elected two and sometimes three demies in natural science in 

 the same year, and often exhibitioners as well. Of the two 

 senior demies, which are all we can at present afford ourselves, 

 one was elected for natural science. 



I believe that several other colleges at Oxford could point to 

 facts analogously ignored or underrated by the writer of the 

 article. What I have stated will at any rate, I think, show that 

 my college, which was barely alluded to by him, has not been 

 backward to recognise the claims or encourage by endowment 

 the study of the natural sciences at Oxford. 



T. IlERBERf Warren. 



Magdalen College Oxford, September 17. 



A Remarkable Lightning Flash. 



One of the fla.shes of lightning during the lieav)- storm of 

 September 8-9 at Oxford, was of so unusual a form that I 

 venture to send a sketch of it to Nature. Although a good 

 many of the discharges struck downwards to earth, a considerable 

 number passed horizontally from cloud to cloud, and most of 

 these were very evidently branched at both ends. There had 

 been some six or seven of this character in rapid succession in a 

 cloud opposite the window at w-hich I was sitting, and after a 



Lightning Flasti .-it O.\ford 



ber 9. 



pause of two or three minutes I saw the appearance I have tried 

 to represent. From the red glare by which it was surrounded, 

 it was evidently within the cloud, but it was so dazzlingly bright 

 that the after-image remained visible long enough for nie to trace 

 the convolutions and sketch them from memory. The main 

 body of the flash made one complete loop, and the two ends, 

 which were much branched, nearly completed a second turn. It 

 a|ipeared almost due north, about 35° above the horizon, and 



NO. 1404, VOL. 54] 



might have been comprised within a circle of about 5" in 

 diameter. Evidently the jjath of the fla.sh was an irregular 

 spiral, and, with the exception of the branched ends, it looked 

 exactly like the discharge of a large induction coil, seen end on. 

 I much regretted not being provided with a camera. 



(lEORlJE J. liURCH. 

 21 Norham Road, Oxford, September 9. 



A Peculiarity in Perch. 



I VENTURE to bring the following observation before the 

 readers of Nature, because I lielieve it to be uncommon, and 

 that it will be a matter of interest to naturalists. My brother, 

 whilst fishing in a pond in East Lancashire, caught twelve perch, 

 the smallest weighing 3 ozs. and the largest 10 ozs., and eight 

 of them exhibited a very marked peculiarity. 



On the left side of the fish the cover of the gill was very small, 

 being only less than half the natural size, and as a consequence 

 a large portion of the gill was exposed. The largest fish pre- 

 sented this appearance. 



The remaining four had covers to their gills, perfectly normal 

 and similar on both sides. 



The peculiarities about this malformation are that it ap- 

 parently is confined to the gill-cover on the left .side of the head, 

 the one on the right side being perfectly normal ; and is only to 

 be found in certain of the fish in the pond. 



It may po.ssibly be the result of a disease ; but if this is the 

 case, the fact of it affecting always the same gill-cover appears 

 somewhat remarkable, and to my mind is more than a coincidence. 

 Besides every part of the fish, including the gill-cover itself, 

 ajipears to be perfectly healthy. 



The water has no predominant feature, and gives on analysis 

 results similar to any common spring-water. I have known at 

 rare intervals water containing iron to be discharged into the 

 pond, but this has been almost immediately noticed and pre- 

 vented. 



As I have been unable to find an accfumt of any disease ex- 

 hibiting such a characteristic as above described, I have come 

 to the conclusion that it is a very peculiar malformation of the 

 cover of the gill. I should be glad to have some further in- 

 formation respecting this phenomenon if any reader of Nature 

 is in a position to give it. K. J. Fl,lNroi"F. 



The Siemens Gas and Coke Fire. 



I HAVE had a Siemens gas and coke fire in my study for 

 fifteen years. There was much trouble in getting it put in pro- 

 perly, and Sir W. Siemens kindly advised me about it. It burns 

 \ery little gas, and the coke is cheap. The gas is only used to 

 kindle or liven up the coke. Everybody admires the beautiful 

 fire it makes, and there is no smell and no smoke. The coke 

 requires to be broken to the size of a small apple, and it is 

 needful to clear out the bottom of the fire. I do this with an iron 

 shovel, and thus remove the ash which, without this removal, 

 would choke the fire. It is the neglect of this essential process 

 which makes the Siemens fire sometimes a failure. Mine is, in 

 all respects, a brilliant .success. I'. W. Cl.AYiiEN. 



13 Tavistock Square, September 18. 



P.S. — I read of the grate in Nature in 1S80. saw it at 

 the Smoke Abatement Exhibition in 1S81, and adopted it 

 at once. 



THE LIVERPOOL MEETING OF THE 



BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 



X. 



LiNEKi'OOL, Wednesday. 



THE dominant note throughout this meeting has been 

 " Listerism "— the germ theory, the application of 

 biology to medicine. The reception given to the Presi- 

 dent by the people of Liverpool, especially by the medical 

 profession, has been splendid and enthusiastic. The 

 Philharmonic Hall was crowded to the doors by an 

 attentive and appreciative audience on the occasion of 

 the Presidential Address ; and the vote of thanks was 

 most appropriately and happily proposed by the Lord 

 Mayor (Lord Derby), and seconded by Sir William 

 Turner, an early friend and colleague of the President. 



