SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. III. No. 76. 



elected President of St. Lawrence University at 

 Canton, N. Y. 



Frank L. McVey, Ph. D., has been ap- 

 pointed instructor in economics at the Univer- 

 sity of Minnesota. 



Me. F. p. Sheldon, for the past six years in- 

 structor in plant taxonomy at the University 

 of Minnesota, has tendered his resignation in 

 order to devote his energies to the management 

 of his jsrivate business affairs and the profession 

 of the law. Mr. A. A. Heller, late fellow of Co- 

 lumbia College and well known for his exploring 

 trips in South Carolina, Texas, Idaho and the 

 Sandwich Islands, will succeed Mr. Sheldon 

 and will act as curator of the growing herbarium 

 of the University. 



The following fellows in the sciences have 

 been appointed at Cornell University : Ento- 

 mology, James G. Needham, now instructor in 

 Knox College, Illinois ; mathematics (traveling 

 fellowship), jProf. Paul Arnold, University of 

 California ; geology, Thomas L. Watson ; agri- 

 cultui-e, Leroy Anderson ; mechanical engineer- 

 ing, W. O. Amsler ; electrical engineering, L. 

 A. Murray. 



The incomes of most of the colleges of Cam- 

 bridge and Oxford have been greatly reduced 

 by the agricultural depression. During the 

 last university year the sum of only £72,943 

 was divided among the heads and fellows of the 

 various colleges, as compared with £111,000 in 

 1882. The amovmts contributed by the colleges 

 for university purposes has been again de- 

 creased. 



Dr. Donald MacAlistee has compiled, at 

 the request of Syndics of the University Press, a 

 guide entitled : Advanced Study and Research in 

 the University of Cambridge, giving a clear ac- 

 count of the admirable opportunities offered for 

 advanced study and research at Cambridge. 

 As has already been stated in this Jouenal, 

 students holding degrees from other universities 

 or having an equivalent training may pursue 

 studies at the university and after two years of 

 residence are admissable to the regular degrees. 

 The facilities for study and research at Cam- 

 bridge and Oxford are equal to those of German 

 universities, and should attract an equal num- 

 ber of American students. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 PROF, bigelow's solar-magnetic work. 

 To THE Editor of Science : Prof. W. S. 

 Franklin, in his review of Prof. Bigelow's so- 

 lar-magnetic work (this Journal, Vol. III., No. 

 74), has performed a duty for which all meteor- 

 ologists and physicists must thank him; but the 

 question may fairly be raised as to whether the 

 tone and temper of the performance were such 

 as ought to characterize a report of an examina- 

 tion of even alleged scientific work. As one of 

 many who have been more or less familiar with 

 Prof. Bigelow's work during the past five or six 

 years, I have all along been puzzled by the ob- 

 scurity of his statements and the fact that I was 

 unable to gain any intelligent idea of his meth- 

 ods. There was a certain satisfaction in find- 

 ing that others met with no better success, al- 

 though no one could deny the tremendous im- 

 portance of the results which he thought he had 

 reached. For most people life is too short for 

 going over all the details of work which is 

 being done by others, and usually a complicated 

 scientific hypothesis receives its confirmation 

 from verified prediction rather than from an 

 analysis of methods and material. But while 

 others have been waiting for Prof. Bigelow's 

 work to prove itself by the practical application 

 of which it was alleged to be capable, it is grati- 

 fying to know that some one was overhauling it 

 and endeavoring to ascertain the foundation 

 principles upon which it rests. It is quite 

 proper that this should be done, and Prof. Big- 

 elow or his friends can object only to the man- 

 ner in which the reviewer has expressed him- 

 self. It will be admitted that there is a chance 

 that Prof. Bigelow knows what he is doing, 

 difficult as it seems to be for him to show other 

 people, and it is to be hoped that he will not 

 find in the unnecessarily harsh language of the 

 review an excuse for ignoring it, but rather 

 that he will not further delay an exposition, 

 couched in simple and intelligible language, of 

 the elementary and fundamental notions, defi- 

 nitions and principles on which his work rests. 

 This might enable his friends to determine 

 whether his theories ' are peculiarly wild and 

 vagarious' or his results 'meaningless.' And 

 he must not forget that their judgment has been 

 in suspension for a long time. M. 



