Sir Neer. 
FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1884. 
COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 
Tue University of Edinburgh is making 
arrangements to celebrate, on the seventeenth 
day of April next, the three hundredth anni- 
versary of its foundation, by an academic 
assembly, to which the chief institutions of 
learning throughout the world are_ invited. 
Several American colleges are to be repre- 
sented. With reference to this tercentenary, 
Sir Alexander Grant, the principal, has just 
published two stout octavo volumes, in which 
‘The story of the University of Edinburgh’ is 
elaborately told. ‘The volumes are rich in 
illustrations of all the concurrent influences 
which have given renown to the youngest and 
strongest of the Scotch institutions. The rise 
of each important department of instruction is 
told, and the lives of all the more distinguished 
professors are briefly given. 
Among the natural sciences, medicine has 
been the one most encouraged in Edinburgh, 
although it must be remembered that much of 
the medical reputation of the city is due to the 
peculiar arrangements by which medical men 
not connected with the university give in- 
struction, and prepare young men for medical 
graduation. ‘ Extra-mural’ instruction is the 
term employed. Nevertheless, the roll of uni- 
versity professors includes the name of Charles 
Bell, of whom the story is told, that, when he 
visited the class-room of Roux in Paris, Roux 
dismissed the class, saying, ‘ Sufficient, gentle- 
men: you have seen Charles Bell.’ Another 
university professor was Sir James Y. Simp- 
son, whose bold introduction of chloroform as 
an anaesthetic is world-renowned. 
Scotchman was presented at the court of 
Denmark, the king said, ‘ You come from Edin- 
burgh? Ah! Sir Simpson was of Edinburgh.’ 
Simpson himself said he was more interested 
No. 60. —1884. 
When a- 
in having delivered a woman without pain 
than in having been made physician to the 
queen. At an earlier date the fame of Wil- 
liam Cullen was wide-spread. Among the 
teachers of non-medical sciences, the names 
of Black, John Playfair, Robert Jameson, 
David Brewster, Edward Forbes, James D. 
Forbes, and Wyville Thomson are those which 
come first to mind; while in mental and moral 
science the Scotch philosophers, Dugald Stew- 
art, Thomas Brown, and Sir William Hamil- 
ton, are not likely to be forgotten. It sounds 
strange enough in these days to read that 
Thomas Carlyle thought himself ill-used be- 
cause he could not get the appointment of 
practical astronomy and astronomer royal in 
1834. Instead came Thomas Henderson, who 
won renown as ‘ the first discoverer of our dis- 
tance from a fixed star.’ We do not name 
any of the living professors, and we pass: 
without mention many famous men who are’ 
gone; but what we have said suggests the 
doctrine, which cannot too often be repeated 
in this country, that the standing of a 
university depends upon illustrious teachers. 
The world of scholars, no longer united under 
the sovereignty of the pope, but loyal to the 
higher sovereignty of truth, will with one 
accord extend its congratulations to the great’ 
modern foundation of Scotch learning, and 
will rejoice that in its three-hundredth year it’ 
has reached its greatest numerical expansion, ’ 
with increasing devotion to all that is noble in 
science and education. 
Tur reports of the U. S. signal-office show 
that there were at Cincinnati, during last Feb- 
ruary, four clear days, three fair days, one 
cloudy, and twenty-one on which rain or snow’ 
fell; and that the total precipitation was 8.87 ° 
inches. The following figures give the precip- ” 
itation in inches during February of each year ; 
sincemmow: 167h, 2:27; 1872; 1:67; 1873; + 
3: 16h tas Oo. 90; 1875, -1.83;°1876, 2.92: 
