56S 



NA TURE 



[October F, 1896 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



CAMHRinr.K. — By ihe resignation of Dr. A. Sheridan Lea, 

 F. K.S., the University Lectureship in Chemical Physiology is 

 vacant. Candidates are instructed to .send in their applications 

 to the Vice-Chancellor not later than October 19. 



Mr. W. T. N. Spivey, of Trinity College, has been appointed 

 Jacksonian Demonstrator of Organic Chemistry, in succession to 

 Dr. A. Scott ; and Mr. Stanley Dunkerley has been appointed 

 Demonstrator in Mechanism and Applied Mechanics, in the 

 place of Mr. Dalby. 



The following candidates have passed the Examination in the 

 Science and Art of Agriculture, and are entitled to receive the 

 University Diploma: — W. Burkitt, T. R Robinson (Downing), 

 J. T. Smith (Downing), J. P. Wilton. 



The King of the Belgians has presented to the Museum of 

 Zoology a series of casts from tlie famous Wealden Ii(uajiodon 

 bernissarlensis preserved in the Royal Museum of Natural 

 History at Brussels, constituting an entire skeleton. This has 

 been mounted in the Comparative Anatomy Lecture Theatre, 

 standing erect ; it measures 15J feet in height, and over 2j feet 

 horizontally. The group of Dinosaiiria has hitherto been 

 unrepresented in the Cambridge Museum. 



The election to the Professorship of Surgery, vacant by the 

 death of Sir George Murray Humphry, has been postponed till 

 after the middle of the term. This will enable new arrange- 

 ments to be made as to the tenure and the emoluments of the 

 chair. Dr. Joseph Griffiths is to carry on the official duties of 

 the Professorship in the interval. 



The London School of Medicine for Women has received a 

 gift of ^1000 from a lady who a short time since attended as a 

 student some of the classes held in the school. The interest on 

 this sum is to be divided between bursaries to promising students, 

 and an annual contribution to the library and common room 

 funds. The Helen I'rideaux prize, value ^50, has been awarded 

 to Miss Edith Knight, M.B. (London), for an essay on the 

 Pseudo-Bacillus of Diphtheria, and its relations to the Klebs- 

 Lceffler Bacillus. The research work upon which the essay is 

 based was carried on in the laboratory of the Institute of 

 Preventive Medicine, (Ireat Russell Street. 



For the following announcements of extended opportunities 

 for scientific work in America, we are indebted to Science: — 

 .Mrs. Edward Roby, Mr. F.. A. Shedd and Mr. C. B. Shedd 

 have offered the University of Chicago a large tract of land 

 around Wolf Lake and the channel connecting it with Lake 

 Michigan, for the purpose of a lake biological station, and it is 

 also understood that they will erect the buildings for the purpose 

 if the offer is accepted. The gift is valued at ;^"ioo, 000. — The 

 Lewis Institute, the new Chicago school of technology, the 

 foundation-stone of which was laid two years ago, has now been 

 dedicated. The late Allan G. Lewis left, in 1877, j^ioo.ooo for 

 the purpose, which has now accumulated .so as to make the 

 value of the endowment ^^333. 000 — The Ohio State University 

 is now erecting two new buildings, viz. Town.shend Hall, for 

 the accommodation of agriculture and agricultural chemistry, 

 to cost ^15,000; and a hall for physiology, zoology, and 

 entomology, to cost ^7000. 



The following are among the entrance scholarships in science 

 awardeil at the London 'Medical Schools :— Guy's Hospital 

 Medical School : Myers Coplans, scholarship ^^150 ; John Ford 

 Norlhcolt, scholarship ;^6o. London Hospital Medical College : 

 Ep.som Scholarship, i," 1 26, Mr. E. F. Fisher; Price Scholar- 

 ship in Science, ;£'i20, Mr. II. E. Ridewood ; Entrance Science 

 Scholarship, ^60, Mr. A. B. Lindesey ; Entrance Science 

 Scholarship, /js, Mr. C. E. Ham ; Price Scholarship in 

 Anatomy and Physiology, open to students of the Universities 

 of Oxford or Cambridge, Ito, Mr. E. W. A. Walker. St. 

 Mary's Hospital Medical School — Natural Science Scholarships : 

 /105, Mr. C. C. C. Shaw; ^52 lOi-., Mr. W. J. Morrish ; 

 £-~,2 lOi-., Mr. J. Gay-French ; University Scholarship, ^52 io.t., 

 -Mr. A. G. Witson. St. Thomas's Hospital — Entrance Scholar- 

 .ships in Natural Science : ;(Jl50, .\lfred Barton Lindsey ; £(iO, 

 Robert Ellis Roberts ; Entrance Scholarship for University 

 Students, ^'50. Mr. Raymond J. Ilorton Smith, of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 28. — M. A. Cornu in the 

 chair. — Cryoscopy of precision; application to solutions of 

 .sodium chloride, by M. F. M. Raoult. The data given for 

 weak solutions of common salt show that the expression pre- 

 viously proposed by the author, Cj = C„(i + </), where Ci is the 

 apparent lowering of the freezing-point, C„ the true lowering, 

 and (/ a very small con.«ant (002), holds within the limits of 

 experimental error. The criticism of this expression by M. 

 Ponsot is thus shown to be incorrect. — Observations of the 

 Brooks comet (September 4), made with the Brunner equatorial, 

 and of the Giacobini comet, made also with the large 

 Gautier telescope at the Observatory of Toulouse, by M. F. 

 Rossard. — Observations of the Giacobini comet (September 4), 

 made at the Observatory of Lyons, by M. G. Le Cadet. 

 — Solar observations made at the (Jbservatory of Lyons 

 during the third quarter of 1896, by M. J. Guillaume. — 

 Sun-spots in relation to time, by M. Marcel Brillouin. — On thi.- 

 laws of reciprocity, by M. X. Stoutf. — On the distribution of 

 deformations in metals submitted to strain, by M. li. Charpy. 

 A reply to a paper on the same subject, by M. Hartmann. — On 

 the absorption of ultra-violet light by crystallised bodies, by 

 M. V. Agafonoff. — On a spectrum from the kathode rays, Ijy 

 M. Birkeland. — On the existence of acid properties of nickel 

 dioxide, by M. E. Dufau. — Researches on double bromides, by 

 M. R. Varet. — On the immunity conferred by some anti- 

 coagulating substances, by MM. Bosc and Delezenne. — On 

 the presence of the agglutinating property in the plasma, and 

 other liquids from the organism, by .MM. Ch. Achard and R. 

 Bensaude. — Influence of rest, physical exercise, intellectual 

 work, and the emotions upon the capillary circulation in man, 

 by MM. A. Binet and J. Courtier. — On the structure of the 

 body-wall of I'lathelminthus parasites, by M. Leon Jammes. — 

 On the existence of "epitoque" forms in Annelids, by MM. F. 

 Mesnil and Caullery. — Experiment establishing the prcseivatinn 

 of venomous properties of the venom of serpents, by M. P. 

 Maisonneuve. — On the results of lesearches on mineral coal 

 recently made in Siberia, by M. Venuk off. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Alternate Current Transformer 545 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Cumming : " Mechanics for Beginneis " 546 



Haig-Brown : " Hints on Elementary Physiology''. . 546 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



The Utility of Specific Characters. — Prof. W. F. R. 



Weldon, K.R.S 546 



An Error Corrected.— Profs. 'William Ramsay, 



F.R.S., and J. Norman Collie, F.R.S 546 



The Departure of the Swallows.-— Lord Hobhouse . 546 

 "The Scenery of Switzerland. "—Right Hon. Sir 



John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S 547 



The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. 

 VI. The Excursion to the Isle of Man. By Prof. 



W. A. Herdman, F.R.S 547 



Sir John Eric Erichsen, Bart., F.R.S. By Prof E. 



A. Schafer, F.R.S 54!> 



Notes 549 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Comet Giacobini 55' 



Comet Sperra 55' 



Prof. Ludwig Philipp v. Seidel 551 



The British Association : — 



Section I — Physiology. (///Ki/n!/<;</.)— Opening Ad- 

 dress by Dr. 'W. H. Gaskell, F.R.S., President 



of the Section 55' 



Physics at the British Association 565 



University and Educational Intelligence 568 



Societies and Academies S^^ 



NO. 1406, VOL. 54.] 



