Septembeh is, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



247 



ing," give Leipsic its advantages. An attempt 

 is made to discover the social position of tlie 

 fathers of students, but without much result, 

 except in respect to Halle, the author's own 

 sphere. His conclusion is, that it is " the 

 custom for people who have had a university 

 education" to give their sons like advan- 

 tages ; and, when an unusual increase in at- 

 tendance is apparent, it is due to a recruiting 

 from the families of subordinate officials, ele- 

 mentary teachers, etc. : though it is also ob- 

 vious that people in the higher walks of busi- 

 ness send more students to the universities 

 now than formerl3\ 



We pass by what is said in respect to the 

 other faculties, in order to give such space as 

 we can command to the philosophical facultj^, 

 the importance of which has increased actuall}^ 

 and relatively. The time is almost within the 

 memor}^ of our older contemporaries when 

 every student belonged to one of the three 

 faculties of law, medicine, or theology ; and if 

 he also followed lectures in the philosophical 

 department, it was as supplementary or pre- 

 liminarj' to his professional course. All this 

 is now very different, in consequence of the 

 enormous importance which science has gained 

 in the whole development of our culture. In 

 forty 3^ears the number of students of science 

 has increased tenfold : the students of philos- 

 ophy and history have not j^et been tripled, 

 but even they have increased faster than the 

 students of medicine. This faculty also shows 

 the largest increase in the number of teachers, 

 so that at present more than half the entire 

 teaching-body at all the universities belong 

 to the philosophical group. The new founda- 

 tions are especiall}^ for comparative philology, 

 modern languages, archeology, Egyptology, 

 geography, agriculture, etc. The professor- 

 ships of history have been increased with refer- 

 ence to better instruction in modern history. 

 ' Exercising-classes,' seminaries, private train- 

 ing-schools, are coming more and more into 

 vogue, as complementary to the ordinary lec- 

 tures. " We admit to the teaching-office only 

 men of proved ability and capacity to promote 

 learning. This is the sole test." Some would 

 even think that " too little weight is attached 

 to power of communicating, and that too ex- 

 clusive regard is had to literarj^ activity." 



Those who would see with what painstaking 

 accuracy the statistics which underlie these 

 statements have been brought together, must 

 go to the volume itself. We have only en- 

 deavored to arrest attention to the many 

 suggestive lessons with which the work 

 abounds. 



THE CHANGE IN T.HE GREAT NEBULA 

 IN ANDROMEDA. 



The remarkable change in the great An- 

 dromeda nebula, discovered by Dr. Hartwig, 

 the news of which has just been received 

 by cable, is an event of capital importance to 

 astronomy. It will be a disappointment if it 

 should fail to afford substantial aid in direct- 

 ing conjecture, and narrowing the field of hy- 

 pothesis, as to the construction of the sidereal 

 universe ; a problem in regard to which our 

 present knowledge is so defective, that the 

 imagination has hitherto wandered, guideless, 

 in a vague region of speculation. 



The sudden appearance of a star of about 

 the eighth magnitude, in the middle of this 

 well-known object, is a phenomenon which, al- 

 though extraordinary, is not unique in astro- 

 nomical history. An exact counterpart seems 

 to be furnished by the star, which, in May, 

 1859, suddenly shone out in the nebula or 

 cluster 80 Messier. The analogy is so strik- 

 ing, that it is worth while to recount the various 

 features presented. 



The object 80 Messier, or 4,173 of Sir J. 

 Herschel's general catalogue, was described 

 by its discoverer in 1763 as a ^ nehuleuse sans 

 etoiles.' Sir W. Herschel characterized it, 

 however, as the richest and most condensed 

 cluster in the heavens. Other observers, in- 

 cluding Sir J. Herschel, Argelander, d'Arrest, 

 and Pogson, have always described it as com- 

 etary or nebulous. In ordinary telescopes, 

 and with moderate powers, it is certainly irre- 

 solvable. I am very familiar with its aspect 

 in the six and one-fourth inch Clacey refractor 

 in the west dome of the Harvard observatorj', 

 having had occasion to examine it, and the 

 surrounding region, a great many times in 

 observing the variable stars R, S, and T Scor- 

 pii. I have always seen it as a beautiful, 

 bright, circular, nebulous mass, running up 

 towards the centre into a strong condensation 

 of light. 



It was nearly in the middle of this nebula, 

 that Auwers, at Konigsberg, found, on Ma}' 

 21, 1859, a bright star, which, on many 

 previous occasions, the last only three days 

 previous, had certainly not been visible. He 

 estimated it as 7th magnitude, and Luther as 

 6.5. On May 25 it had become sensibly faint- 

 er. It was independently discovered bj^ Pog- 

 son, in England, on Ma}^ 28, when, on looking- 

 for the neighboring known variable stars, he 

 was startled to find in the nebula itself a star 

 of the 7.6 magnitude. He is certain that on 

 May 9, his last previous examination of the 



