120 



NA TURE 



[Settember 24, 1896 



and we had the seconds of totality properly counted, in the faint 

 hope of a break in the clouds, but nothing came of it, and the 

 brightening sky soon told us that all was over." 



Comet Giacobini. — The following ephemeris for the ensuing 

 week is a continuation of that previously given, the elements 

 remaining the same. September 5 is taken as the unit of 

 brightness : — 



1-6 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



A posT-ORAni'ATE course of Bacteriology has been established 

 at the University of Sydney, New South Wales. 



It is announced that Prof. F. F. Jerisman has resigned the 

 chair of Hygiene in the University of Moscow. 



Mr. W. R. Bower has been appointed Lecturer in Physics 

 and Applied Mechanics at the Huddersfield Technical .School. 



Preside.mt G. T. Winston, of the University of North 

 Carolina, has been elected President of the University of Texas. 



Science states that by the will of the late Martin Brimmer, of 

 Boston, Harvard University, on the death of Mrs. Brimmer, is to 

 treceive the sum of ;^io,ooo. 



The six buildings of the New York State Veterinary College 



■ of Cornell University have, according to 6'<v>«r(?, been completed, 

 and the fitting-up of the laboratories and museums is taking 

 place. 



In the Owens College Zoological Laboratory, Mr. Gamble 

 will conduct an evening class on British Marine Zoology. 

 Demonstrations of the structure, life-histories, and methods of 

 capture of examples of the chief groups of animals found in the 

 British seas, will be given at each meeting. 



Sir Philip Magniis, Director of the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute, Mr. Gilbert Redgrave, of the Science and 

 -Art Department, Mr. Smith, of Keighley, and Mr. W. Woodall, 

 J\iI.P.,who were colleagues on the Royal Commission on Technical 

 Education which reported in 1S83, are at present engaged in an 

 unofficial tour of in.spection of exhibitions, schools, and factories 

 in Germany. 



The following appointments abroad have taken place : — Dr. 

 C. Winkler to the chair of Nervous and Mental Diseases, and 

 Dr. Lobry van Froostenburg de Bruijn to that of General and 

 Pharmaceutical Chemistry, each at Amsterdam ; Dr. E. Lesser 

 ,a« Extraordinary Professor of Dermatology at Berlin, Dr. 

 Chermak to the chair of Comparative Anatomy and Embryology 

 ,at Jurieff (Dorpat), Dr. L. Niemilovicz to be Ordinary Professor 

 of chemistry. Dr. Wenzel von Sobieranski to be ordinary pro- 

 . fessor of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosis, Dr. Andreas 

 Obezut to the chair of Anatomy, and Dr. Prus to the chair of 



■ . General and Experimental Pathology, each at Lemberg. 



The prospectus of day and evening classes in connection with 

 the South-west London Polytechnic Institute during the coming 

 session has just been issued, and contains all necessary infor- 

 mation respecting the fourteen sections into which the general 

 scheme of work may be divided. The Institute was opened 

 rather less than a year ago, but already 1400 students have 

 availed themselves of its great educational advantages. Judging 

 from the well-executed illustrations in the prospectus, the 

 various laboratories and workshops are well arranged and fitted 

 with latest appliances. Hitherto the work of the Institution 

 has mainly taken place in the evening, but on September 29 a 

 new departure is to be made, and it will from that time be open 

 to day students m mathematics, mechanics, mechanism, archi- 

 tecture and building construction, drawing-ofiice work, electrical 

 technology, physics, chemistry, and applied art. The objects 

 of the day classes are: (l) To give that preparatory training 

 which will fit students over fifteen years of age for practical 

 work in the factory or engineer's shop, or prepare them for 

 colonial life. (2) The education of pupils from middle-class and 

 other schools, who are preparing for a higher technical and 

 scientific course of instruction, .such as is provided at the Central 

 Xechnical College, Exhibition Road. 



NO. 1404, VOL. 54] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 14. — M. A. Chatin in 

 the chair. — On an exceptional rainbow, by M. Berthelot. — On 

 the stability of the rods employed as provisional bench-marks in 

 levelling of precision, by M. C. Lallemand. Small errors are 

 introduced into accurate levelling by the slight settling down of 

 the temporary wooden bench-marks. It is .shown that these 

 errors can be readily distinguished from errors due exclusively to 

 accidental causes. The error due to settling is practically a 

 linear function of the time elapsing between successive measure- 

 ments on the same rod. — On the tornado observed at Paris on 

 September 10, 1896, by M. A. Angot. The cloud, seen from a 

 distance of about 1000 metres, was in obvious rotation, the 

 direction being from right to left, in the opposite direction to 

 the hands of a watch ; the rotation was also accompanied with 

 an ascending movement, easily traced by watching an isolated 

 piece of cloud. Not the least remarkable point was the absolute 

 sharpness and small size of the destructive zone, at a com- 

 paratively small distance from which the wind velocities were 

 quite normal. The slight fall of the barometer, preceding the 

 disturbance, w.as no greater than would occur during an ordinary 

 rain shower. — On the .same, by M. J. Jaubert. The direction 

 of rotation could be determined from the direction of the trees 

 torn down by the passage of the tornado, and was from right to 

 left. The direction of translation was in a straight line from 

 south-west to north-east ; with a velocity of at least 40 to 50 

 metres per second. — On the simultaneous presence ot laccase 

 and tyrosinase in the sugar of some mushrooms, by M. G. 

 Bertrand. Both these ferments were found in the extract from 

 Russula cyaiw.x-antlm, ^n&falcns. — Stability of blood rendered 

 inco.agulable by extract of the leech, by yCs\. Bosc and 

 Delezenne. Two specimens of blood from the same animal, 

 taken before and after intravenous injection of extract of leech, 

 and placed .side by side at a temperature of 20' to 22° C, show 

 a marked difference in their rates of putrefaction, the second 

 specimen decomposing much more slowly than the first. This 

 result cannot be due to any special antiseptic action of the 

 extract, since numerous species of bacteria can be readily 

 cultivated in it. It is shown that active amceboid movements of 

 the white corpuscles continue in the treated blood at the ordinary 

 temperature, and hence it appears probable that putrefaction 

 occurs only in dead blood, in which there are no living leucocytes. 

 It is also possible that the extract from the leech may provoke 

 secretions by the leucocytes which augment the bactericidal 

 action of the blood. — New adaptation of the muscles of the leg 

 after recovery from a club-foot, by M. Joachimstal. — On the 

 sulphide of magnesium, and on some salts of alumina, by M. 

 Bignan. 



CONTENTS. PACK 



Babylonian Magic and Sorcery 4S9 



Micro-organisms and Disease. By Joseph Lunt . 490 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Boas: "Text-book of Zoology" 491 



Keane : " The Antichrist Legend " 491 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Utility of Specific Characters.— Prof. E. Ray 



Lankester, F.R.S 49i 



The Position of Science at Oxford.— T. Herbert 



Warren 49' 



A Remarkable Lightning Flash. [lUuslrated.) — 



George J. Burch 492 



.•\ Peculiarity in Perch. — R. J. Flintoff 492 



The Siemens Gas and Coke Fire.— P. W. Clayden . 492 

 The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. 



V. By Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S 492 



Section C—Gcol,,^.y.— Opening Addres. l,y J. E. 



Marr, F.R.S., President of the Secli.m 494 



Section D — Zoology. — Opening Address by Prof. E. 



B. Poulton, F.R.S., President of the Section . . 500 

 Section (J — Mechanical Science — Opi-ning Address 

 by Sir Douglas Fox, President of the Section . . 510 



The Iron and Steel Institute 514 



Notes 517 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Recent Solar Eclipse 5'9 



Comet t;iac.ibini . . 52° 



University and Educational Intelligence 520 



Societies and Academies 52° 



