January 17, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



39 



would have proved more digestible than was either the silage or 

 the fodder. The experiment shows merely that the process of en- 

 silage lowered the digestibility of the material more than the 

 process of field-curing. Furthermore, the relative digestibility of 

 •corn fodder and silage is but one element in determining their re- 

 lative value. It would be a mistake to condemn silage because it 

 appears to be slightly less digestible than the field- cured material. 

 In forming a judgment of the comparative value of the two pro- 

 cesses, account must be taken not only of the digestibility of the 

 resulting fodder, but of the amount of material lost in the process, 

 and of the hutritive value as well as the digestibility of the pro- 

 duct ; and also of its influence upon the health of the animals, and 

 ■of the important practical questions of the relative convenience and 

 •economy of harvesting, storing, and handling. 



— A few years ago some of the leading photographers in Lon- 

 don went to the expense of equipping their establishments with 

 engines and dynamos, so that, by means of the electric light, they 

 might be to some extent independent of the sun in their work. 

 The results were satisfactory though the cost of equipment and 

 maintenance was high. Most of these photographers have now 

 discarded their engines arid dynamos, though still adhering to the 

 electric light. They find it much less expensive and satisfactory to 

 take their current from the street mains of the different electric 

 'light companies, paying only for the quantity consumed. 



— In a recent lecture by Dr. A. W. Schi.iddekopf, on " Univer- 

 sities and University Life in Germany," after a short sketch of the 

 'history of German Universities, showing how they have gradually 

 developed from the schools founded by the Church for the educa- 

 tion of persons intending to enter its service, the lecturer explained 

 the constitution of German Universities, their officials and teaching 

 staff, with a digression illustrating the high social position of a 

 German professor, despite the fact that his salary seldom exceeds 

 $1,500 or $2,000 a year. The Lecture also explained at some 

 length the position of a " privat-docent," a class of teachers pe- 

 culiar to German Universities, who receive no salary for their work, 

 but render their services gratis in the hope of being some day ap- 

 pointed to a professorship. He also reminded his audience of an 

 important distinction made in Germany between the " professor 

 ordinarius " who has a seat in the Senate of his University and is 

 •eligible for all the honorary offices — rectorship, deanship, etc., — 

 and the " professor extraordinarius," who does not enjoy these 

 privileges. Dr. Schiiddekopf then proceeded to describe the Ger- 

 man Universities as teaching centres. He compared the English 

 ■system of higher education with the German system, stating that 

 Universities of an exclusively examining character do not exist in 

 ■Germany ; whereas, on the other hand, the educational feature of 

 Oxford and Cambridge life is absent from German Universities. 

 The latter are of a teaching and examining character at the same 

 time. The lecturer next laid emphasis on the looseness of the 

 discipline for the students, compared with that maintained in Eng- 

 land, and explained the possibility of such laxness by the greater 

 average age of the student — it being necessary for every person 

 matriculating at a German University to have pased his " maturi- 

 tatsexamen " at his gymnasium, which is rarely tried by persons 

 under nineteen or twenty years of age. The German student is 

 ■much less frequently examined than his English brother ; but then 

 what an ordeal when it comes ! Unlike the English system there 

 •is little or no paper work, the candidate being examined vii'd voce, 

 more importance being attached to the grasp he shows of his sub- 

 ject, and his manner of manipulating it, then to his knowledge of 

 facts. Besides the vzvd voce, candidates have to write one or 

 several " dissertations," which may take many months to prepare. 

 Dr. Schiiddekopf reminded his audience that, in Germany, Univer- 

 sity degrees are not considered to qualify candidates for master- 

 ships, for a license to practice medicine, and other offices, except 

 in the case of candidates for a University professorship ; but that 

 ■candidates for such offices must have passed the " staatsexamen," 

 which in most cases is much more difficult than the degree ex- 

 aminations. Relating his own experiences in passing his " staats- 

 examen," Dr. Schiiddekopf caused a tremor to run through a 

 sympathetic audience when he told that, after a year passed in 

 writing " dissertations " on philological and philosophical subjects. 



he underwent nine hours vivd. voce examination in one day by 

 eight German professors in as many different subjects ! The ma- 

 jority of German students — except in the faculty of medicine — 

 do not take a degree at all, but only pass their " staatsexamen." It 

 is the custom in Germany for a student to have been to several 

 Universities before settling down at one for e.xamination purposes 

 — a system which the lecturer thought a very good one, on account 

 of the facility it affords the student for becoming acquainted with 

 the leading men in his subject. 



— For the benefit of delegates and others attending the eleventh 

 convention of the National Electric Light Association, to be held 

 at Kansas City, Feb. 11-14, arragements have been made with the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad to provide a vestibule train to be known as 

 the " Electric Limited," to be run through without change to Kan- 

 sas City, via Chicago and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 

 Railroad. This train will leave Jersey City on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 9.45 

 A.M., arriving at Chicago, Monday morning, at 9 a.m. Monday 

 will be spent in Chicago, the Chicago Electric Club having kindly 

 invited the Eastern delegates to enjoy its hospitality during their 

 stay in that city. The " Electric Limited " will leave Chicago on 

 Monday evening at 5 o'clock, arriving at Kansas City early Tues- 

 day morning. Passengers should be careful to take the ferry at 

 foot of Cortlandt or Desbrosses Streets, New York, not later than 

 9.30 Sunday morning. No effort has been spared by the transpor- 

 tation committee in obtaining the very best equipment, and the 

 committee is assured that this train will be the finest ever run out 

 of New York. It will be composed of the latest Pullman ves- 

 tibule sleeping cars, lighted by electricity, a dining car, composite 

 car containing barber shop, bath room, card room, library, writing 

 desk, smoking room, etc., and an observation car with a large open 

 room luxuriously furnished, as well as an observation platform. 

 The train will be supplied throughout with fixed and portable elec- 

 tric lamps. Special accommodations will be provided for members 

 accompanied by their wives. The rate of fare going, includmg 

 sleeping car accommodations, will be 839-75. and inasmuch as it is 

 necessary to guarantee a certain number of people in order to se- 

 cure this superb train, it is important that those who propose at- 

 tending the Convention notify, with remittance, as promptly as 

 possible, C. E. Stump, chairman transportation committee. Times 

 Building, New York. Extensive preparations have been made to 

 render this one of the most interesting conventions ever held, and 

 it is expected that members will do their utmost to induce as large 

 an attendance as possible. 



— In the town of St. Emilion, near Bordeaux, France, is a re- 

 markable monolithic church, probably one of the most curious of 

 its class. According to Mr. J. H. Parker, who describes it in a re- 

 cent issue of the American Architect, it is cut entirely out of the 

 solid rock, and is of early Romanesque character. The precise date 

 is uncertain, but it appears most probable that the work was com- 

 menced in the eleventh century, and carried on through the whole 

 of the twelfth. A fragment of an inscription remains, the charac- 

 ters of which agree with the eleventh century ; but some of the 

 French antiquaries attribute it to the ninth. Others consider it as 

 merely the crypt of the church above on the top of the rock ; but 

 that church is of much later character, and it is much more proba- 

 ble that the subterranean church was first made, and the other 

 built long afterwards, when the country was in a more settled 

 state. This church is one hundred and fifteen feet long by eighty 

 feet wide. It consists of three parallel aisles, or rather a nave and 

 two aisles, with plain, barrel-shaped vaults, if they can be so called, 

 with transverse vaults or openings, and round arches on massive 

 square piers. The imposts are of the plain early Norman charac- 

 ter, merely a square projection chamfered off on the under side, 

 but one of them is enriched with the billet ornament. There are 

 recesses for tombs down the sides, and a fourth aisle or passage 

 has been cut out on the south side, apparently for tombs only, as it 

 has recesses on both sides to receive the stone coffins. Still far- 

 ther to the south, but connected by a passage, is a circular cham- 

 ber in an unfinished state, with a domical vault, and an opening in 

 the centre to a shaft which is carried up to the surface. Whether 

 this was intended for a chapter-house, or for a sepulchral chapel in 

 imitation of the Holy Sepulchre, is an undecided point. This sub- 



