46 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 80. 



in the mild valleys of Tennessee; but it 

 does seem to make the red man and the 

 animal contemporaries. 



D. G. Brinton. 



UxivEEsiTY OF Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 LORD KELVIN. 



The jubilee of Lord Kelvin's professorship 

 was celebrated by the University of Glasgow, 

 and the corporation of the city on June loth, 

 16th and 17th. More than two hundred dele- 

 gates were present, representing British and 

 foreign universities and learned societies, and 

 congratulatory messages and telegrams were 

 sent from all parts of the globe. At a conver- 

 satzione in the University on the evening of 

 June 15th Lord Kelvin's numerous inventions 

 and the diplomas, medals, addresses, etc. , pre- 

 sented to him by various scientific and other 

 learned societies, were exhibited, and more than 

 two thousand guests offered their congratula- 

 tions to Lord and Lady Kelvin. A cablegram 

 from the University was sent by way of San 

 Francisco and traversed the circuit of 20,000 

 miles in 7^ minutes. On the morning of June 

 16th numerous addresses were presented to 

 Lord Kelvin and the degree of LL.D. was con- 

 ferred upon him and on several of the distin- 

 guished guests, including Prof. Simon New- 

 comb and Prof. Cleveland Abbe. . A banquet 

 was given by the corporation in the evening, 

 and on June 17th there was an excursion on 

 the Firth of Clyde. 



Prof. A. Gray writes to NatU7-e: "As these 

 words are being printed, the Jubilee of Lord 

 Kelvin's professorship is being celebrated in the 

 most enthusiastic and magnificent manner at 

 Glasgow. Delegates from all parts of the world 

 are present, and among them are many of the 

 most eminent representatives of science at home 

 and abroad. From Paris to Moscow, Canada 

 to Mexico, India to Australia, the whole civil- 

 ized world unites in congratulating Lord Kelvin 

 on the great work for science and the good of 

 his fellow men which he has achieved, and in 

 offering good Avishes that he may have health 

 and strength for the continuance of his glorious 

 career. Though for fifty years he has been 



professor of natural philosophy at Glasgow, 

 has seen pass through his classes several gener- 

 ations of students, has been one of the greatest 

 leaders in what has been preeminently a cen- 

 tury of scientific discovery and advancement, 

 has worked as few men can work, and withal 

 has taken the keenest interest in all that ought 

 to interest the true citizen of a great country, 

 yet is his eye not dim nor his natural force 

 abated. It is the hope of all his friends and 

 of all the great army of scientific workers 

 who now are unanimous in doing him honor 

 that he may have before him many long years 

 of happy and successful work." All American 

 men of science will join in offering their most 

 sincere congratulations, for there is no one liv- 

 ing when they honor more highly than Lord 

 Kelvin. 



THE TEACHING OF ANATOMY. 



The last number of the Bulletin of the Johns 

 Hopkins University (May-June, 1896) contains 

 interesting accounts of the anatomical courses 

 and laboratories of the University, including 

 the work on normal histology and microscopic 

 anatomy and the photographic room and appa- 

 ratus. The articles are illustrated by ground 

 plans and photo-engravings and deserve careful 

 study by those engaged in teaching anatomy or 

 indeed any natural science. Prof. Mall holds 

 that anatomy should be taught in the dissecting 

 room and not by lectures. He writes : 



' ' I have asked many professors, even of 

 anatomy, where they had learned their anatomy, 

 and in nearly all cases the reply was ' in the 

 dissecting room.' They all admitted that, in 

 addition to demonstrations, lectures were of 

 little use to students, and some believed them 

 worse than useless. The zoologists and botan- 

 ists have long ago learned the absurdity of the 

 lecture method of teaching, but the anatomist- 

 patiently keeps up this slow and stupid method 

 of instruction. It is stupid because no anato- 

 mist would use this same method if he were to 

 learn instead of to teach. 



' ' We know very well that the burden of re- 

 sponsibility is removed, to a great extent, if 

 the instructor goes over the whole subject care- 

 fully once a year. He then can tell his student- 

 to go to the dissecting room to see for himself^ 



