30 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 153 



logical institute of Vienna, on Nov. 3, a lecture 

 on the means of preventing explosions in coal- 

 mines. Experiments have been made in the Kar- 

 win colliery in order to obtain, if possible, positive 

 results, and these experiments are still being con- 

 tinued. It has been demonstrated that whenever 

 the barometer falls, the quality and intensity of 

 explosive gases increase. The Austrian govern- 

 ment has directed that the weather-charts pub- 

 lished shall be provided by all the managers of 

 c oal-mines in that kingdom, and at Karwin a reg- 

 ulation is in force to the effect that at the approach 

 of a barometric depression all work is to cease in 

 dangerous places. 



— The 'Report on the geology of Marion 

 county, Kentucky,' recently published, is in many 

 respects a curiosity. The history, topography, and 

 drainage, treated of in five pages, is followed by 

 the geology in fourteen pages, archeology in five 

 pages, and a list of fossils and notes on Beatricea 

 in eleven pages. The following selection will 

 illustrate the style of the report : "The soil from 

 the disintegration of the Crab orchard shale is quite 

 poor, and responds very slowly to the toils of the 

 farmer ; while the forest growth is very much 

 dwarfed, although similar in species to that of 

 the tall, well-shaped, large-sized timber-trees of the 

 epoch before it. The forests originally were well 

 timbered " (p. 1?) . This last sentence is particu- 

 larly remarkable. 



— Most of the rivers of New South Wales fall 

 into the sea through sandy estuaries obstructed 

 by extensive bars. The removal of these bars, 

 or rather the formation of practicable channels 

 through them, is of great importance to the de- 

 velopment and trade of the colony. A paper on 

 this subject was read before the Royal society of 

 New South Wales in June, 1884, by Mr. Walter 

 Shellsbear. The formation of bars at the mouths 

 of rivers is stated by the author to be mainly due 

 to the action of waves in lifting large quantities 

 of sand as they pass into shallow water. The 

 sand is carried up the estuary by the incoming 

 tide, and deposited when beyond the action of the 

 waves. The ebb-tide, being unassisted by the 

 waves, is unable to remove the sand, and hence 

 the tendency is to close the entrance. While 

 strong freshets may for a time sweep a portion 

 of the obstruction away, the frequent occurrence 

 of long droughts in New South Wales leaves the 

 river-mouthfl in a very bad state. The author 

 advocates the use of break-waters, jetties, and 

 training dikes, more or less parallel, and running 

 out into deep water, three and a half fathoms or 

 more, — a depth beyond which the waves are 

 stated to have no appreciable effect on the bottom. 



LONDON LETTER. 

 One of the matters which grew out of the edu- 

 cation conference at the International health exhi- 

 bition in London in August, 1885, some account of 

 which appeared in the columns of Science, was the 

 proposal for the establishment of a teaching uni- 

 versity for London. The present University of 

 London is mainly an examining board. In the 

 case of its medical degrees, attendance upon speci- 

 fied courses of instruction in one or other of the 

 medical schools recognized by the university is 

 compulsory. The degrees in arts, science, etc., 

 may be obtained by any persons, of either sex, 

 who can satisfy the examiners as to their attain- 

 ments, no matter whether that knowledge has 

 been acquired by private study, private tuition, or 

 college attendance. In point of mere attainment, 

 the London degrees rank higher than the corre- 

 sponding degrees of any other university ; but 

 they do not imply, as those of Oxford, Cambridge, 

 etc., do, that their holder has been taught in col- 

 leges by men of university rank and standing, and 

 according to university methods. The scheme of 

 examinations laid down by the senate of the Uni- 

 versity of London naturally exercises a very wide 

 influence upon the subjects taiight in schools and 

 colleges all over England ; since more than two 

 thousand candidates annually enter for the matric- 

 ulation, or entrance examination, of the univer- 

 sity. As there is no official connection between 

 the senate and examiners on the one hand, and 

 the principal professors and teachers on the other, 

 the latter (some of whom are men of the greatest 

 eminence and of world-wide fame) naturally feel 

 aggrieved at the dominant influence winch the 

 university exercises over their courses of instruc- 

 tion, since they are practically compelled to teach 

 those subjects prescribed for examination, and 

 almost those alone. Moreover, there is a growing 

 feeling that the enormously wealthy guilds and 

 companies of the ancient city of London will be 

 shortly compelled, either by actual legislation or 

 by the potent force of public opinion, to appropri- 

 ate more of their funds than they at present do, 

 to educational purposes. These were the two 

 main ideas which led to the formation of the 

 Association for the promotion of a teaching uni- 

 versity for London. On this body are representa- 

 tives of all the principal educational institutions 

 of London, in the four great faculties of arts, 

 science, laws, and medicine. Large bodies take 

 time to move, and, where there is much diversity 

 of opinion, it is very difficult to formulate a scheme 

 which shall meet with the acceptance even of a 

 bare majority. This desirable stage has not yet 

 been attained. The members of the existing uni- 

 versity of London, however, naturally had to con- 



