In an

Geologists' Association, Jan. 3, 1873.-The Rev. J. Wiltshire, F.R.S., president, in the chair. "On the Cambrian Rocks of Ramsey Island, St. David's ;" Henry Hicks. exposed coast section which occurs at the north end of Ramsey Island, the three important groups of strata known under the names Lingula Flags, Tremadoc, and Arenig groups are seen resting on one another in the order of their succession, and are probably better exhibited than at any other place in Wales. The two first groups are those now usually recognised as forming the upper part of the Cambrian, and the latter as the lowest group of the Silurian system. This section is therefore at considerable importance bearing on classification, as it shows clearly the relation of the groups to each other. The Lingula Flags occur as hard siliceous sandstones with grey flaky slate, and dip under the others at an angle of about 60°. They contain the usual Lingulella Davisi, in great abundance; also a trilobite of the genus Nesuretus, Sophyton, a supposed land-plant, and numerous worm tracks. The beds are frequently ripple-marked, and give indications of having been shore or shallow water accumulations. The Tremadoc group rests quite comfortably on the Lingula Flags, and at first the beds are much like those of the latter in their lithological characters, but afterwards they gradually assume a darker and more flaggy appearance. Fossils are very plentiful in these beds, and numerous new forms come in. Amongst these may be mentioned the Lamellibranchs, Starfishes, and Encrinites. The tribolites belong to the genera Niobe and Nesuretus. A gentle and gradual depression of the sea-bottom was evidently taking place during the deposition of this group. Resting upon the last-mentioned is the Arenig group, a series of black, iron-stained slates and flags, and with a fauna wholly distinct from that of the Tremadoc group. The Graptolites come in here for the first time, as well as the genera Eglina, Trinucleus, and Ogygia. In many respects the fauna resemble that of the Quebec group of Canada. For the deposition of these beds a deep and decided depression of the seabottom must have taken place, and if the succession here is broken, this must have been sudden. It is probable, however, that a fault has passed along the strike of the beds, and that this has removed the series which should have intervened to connect them more closely, lithologically and paleontologically. As far as can be made out by the section, the boundary line between Cambrian and Silurian should certainly be placed above the Tremadoc group as exhibited at St. David's (the upper part of the Tremadoc group of North Wales will doubtless have to be included in the Arenig group) and below the Arenig group.

LEEDS

Naturalists' Field Club and Scientific Association, Dec. 10.-A paper was read by Mr. W. D. Roebuck upon the habitations constructed by hymenopterous insects, with a few remarks upon so-called parasitism, as observable among the British bees. This subject furnishes some noteworthy evidence bearing upon the question of "protective resemblance." When the bee infested by a parasite is social in its economy, and the nest is consequently never entirely deserted, the parasite assumes the colouring of its host, and is thus enabled to deceive and elude the sentries. On the other hand, if the bee attacked is of solitary habits, the female is consequently and necessarily absent when collecting her pollen and honey. This temporary absence is taken advantage of by her parasite, which does not therefore need any protection; and we accordingly find that in every case the solitary bee and her parasite are most strikingly dissimilar in

appearance.

EDINBURGH

Botanical Society.-Nov. 14, 1872. The President, Prof. Wyville Thomson, delivered an address, giving biographical sketches of several of the deceased members. He then gave an address on "Fermentation and Putrefaction," which appeared in NATURE, vol. vii. p. 61. Mr. Adam Smith, Melbourne, sent a notice regarding the native bread fungus of Australia. It grows in large tubers, clusters of which are found connected together by small fibrous roots. The largest in a cluster is fully as big as a man's head, the others of smaller sizes. When cut they present the appearance of rice pudding, but although es teemed as a great delicacy by the Aborigines, they are too tasteless and insipid to become valuable for food.-Mr. John Sim noticed the occurrence of Bupleurum rotundifolium as a weed in a cottage garden near Perth.--Mr. Sadler exhibited specimens of a species of Lupinus, resembling L. luteus, which he found growing in a turnip-field near Blackshields, about 16

miles from Edinburgh, the seeds having probably been introduced with guano.

December 12.-Alexander Buchan, M.A., Vice President, in the chair.-Mr. James M'Nab, Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, took the chair as president, in room of Professor Wyville Thomson. On the Organisation of Equisetums and Calamites," by William Ramsay M'Nab, M.D., Professor of Botany, Royal College of Science, Dublin. The general conclusions arrived at by the author were:-1. The stem of Equisetum differs but little in construction from that of Calamites. 2. In both Equisetums and Calamites the fibro-vascular bundles are but poorly developed. 3. The mass of tissue (woody wedges of Williamson) forming the most important part of the stem, consists of the small fibro-vascular bundles with the addition of a large quantity of thickened parenchyma and prosenchyma (sclerenchyma Mettenius). 4. The sclerenchyma (Mettenius) is part of the cortical tissues, and not a particle of the fibro-vascular bundles. 5. There is no evidence of any growth having taken place in the fibro-vascular bundles comparable to that observed in the dicotyledons. 6. If the stems of Calamites increased in diameter, it was by large additions to the cortical tissues and not to those of the fibro-vascular bundles. The President, Mr, James M'Nab, read a communication on the Disfigurement of Hedge-row Trees by telegraph wires. He thought the cropping of trees for telegraph purposes should be entrusted to some experienced gardener or forester, and not left to the mercy of men to cut and clear away as if paid by contract on the mile of clear. ance done." Notice of the occurrence in England of Psamma baltica, R. et Sch." By Philip Maclagan, M. D. The addition of Psamma baltica to the British Flora is due to Mr. William Richardson, of Alnwick. Returning one evening in August 1871 from the Holy Island towards Belford, and finding the sand wet, he betook himself to the " bents," not to botanize but to get firmer footing. He had not proceeded far when he met with the stranger growing side by side with Psamma arenaria. Afterwards he found it growing in patches at intervals along the coast for upwards of three miles.-Dr. John Kirk, Zanzibar, presented to the University Herbarium a collection of dried plants from the highest zone of vegetation in the Kilimanjaro, below the line of perpetual snow that crowns the summit. The Kilimanjaro is about 20,000 ft. high, in the country of Jagga, East Africa.

BOSTON, U.A.S.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Nov. 27, 1872.-Dr. Henry J. Bowditch alluded to a case of aortic aneurism, in which he had with the assistance of Dr. J. C. Warren, and Dr. J. J. Putnam, used electricity for the treatment of this usually fatal disease. The patient, an adult man, had a pulsation distinctly felt in the second right intercostal space, which last, with the parts adjacent, was slightly prominent, but not effaced. The respiratory murmur was free throughout both lungs, save in this part, and there it was bronchial to the extent of two or three inches; dull percussion in the same.

Two operations were made, viz. on November 12 and 17, 1872. Three needles coated with vulcanite were used at each operation. They were introduced about an inch from the first, and from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half at the second operation. They evidently were introduced into a freely moving current at the first-as seen by the widely moving

The

needle ends-but into a more solid mass at the second. positive pole of the battery alone was applied to them, the negative resting on the right breast on a level with the tumour. The number of cells used (Stone's battery) was gradually raised from two up to sixteen at the first, and to twenty-eight at the second. The operations lasted 14 and 14 minutes. A little faintness and pulselessness were noticed at the termination of each. They soon passed away. The result of the two operations has been a great solidity of the tumour, with considerable swelling of the parts adjacent, which swelling is now (November 26) subsiding. No superficial redness or sloughing of the skin occurred. No air appeared in the tumour, as noticed often in Europe where needles attached to both poles are usually introduced (viz. Ciniselli Annali di Medicina, November, 1870, Frazer's Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, August 1867). The patient has suffered not at all from the operations. It is impossible as yet to say what influence they will have towards his radical cure, but he is now more comfortable than before the first operation.

December 10.-Professor E. C. Pickering exhibited a new form of theodolite magnetometer, which may be constructed at small expense from a common surveyor's transit. A mirror and magnet like that of a Thomson's galvanometer is attached to the cap of the telescope, and a right-angled prism and cross-hairs are placed in front of its eye-piece. The telescope is turned until the image of these cross-hairs is brought to coincide with those already in the eye-piece, when the axis of collimation will be exactly at right angles to the magnetic meridian. The remainder of the evening was devoted to a discussion of the great fire of November 9, by which sixty acres of the most valuable part of the city of Boston were destroyed. Numerous specimens of the effects of the fire were exhibited, among others a fused mass originally leather, but converted by the heat into a substance resembling resin. A strong wind with a velocity of twenty to twenty-five miles per hour was induced by the ascent of the heated air, although the velocity before the fire was but seven miles. This wind converted a narrow street into a sort of gigantic blow-pipe, and the flames were thus carried across Franklin Street, where it is over 100 ft. in width. The progress of the flames against the wind was noted, and explained by the radiant heat, which was so great that some of the engines were unable to get near enough to play on the fire. Buildings to windward might thus be set on fire, while those to leeward would be comparatively protected by the smoke. The carrying power of the air was remarkably great. Flakes of granite were carried across the water to South Boston, and fell in quantities on the side-walks and roofs, and papers were borne in some cases to a distance of over twenty miles. The light was so strong that it was easy to read by it in the higher parts of Belmont, over fifty miles distant; and the fire was seen at sea to a distance of ninety miles.

RIGA.

Society of Naturalists, March 6 (18 N.s.)-M. Frederking communicated a third section of his history of chemistry, in which he referred to the development of the electro chemical hypothesis, and the discovery of isomorphism, and to that of the vegetable alkaloids.

April 3 (15 N.S.)-M. L. Taube presented a report on a work by M. Fischer, on the disease of bees, colled "foul brood," which is ascribed by the author to the dying and subsequent putrescence of a portion of the larvæ. M. Fischer believes that the fluid given by the worker-bees to the larvæ is secreted by the salivary glands, and that the mortality amongst the larvæ is caused by a deficiency of this secretion brought on by a scarcity of food. He considers that this is proved by the fact that "foul-broodedness" in a hive is caused by the removal of its own workers and the substitution of healthy workers from another hive.

April 10 (22 N. s.)-M. Schroeder referred to the comet which was expected by some people to come in contact with the earth in August.-Colonel von Gotschel read a paper on diseases of cage-birds, in which he especially recommended prophylactic

measures.

April 24 (May 6 N.S.)-M. C. Berg criticised Sir William Thomson's opinion as to the origin of the first organisms from germs conveyed by meteorites.-M. Teich communicated a contribution to the Natural History of Cucullia præcana.

May 1 (13 N.S.)--A discussion took place on the means to be adopted for the protection of small birds, in which MM. Gögginger, Nauck, Westermann, and Burchardt, took part.

May 15 (27 N.S.)-M. Schroeder presented a table of the rainfall at various stations during the summer of 1871, and called attention to the very small amount recorded at Riga.

May 22 (June 3 N.s.)-Dr. Nauck communicated some observations on the torpidity of Myoxus nitela.-M. Westermann exhibited a pane of glass in which a circular hole of two inches diameter had been made by a hailstone on May 10. (22 N.S.) Dr. Nauck exhibited plaster-casts of hailstones from the same fall, and proposed a theory of the formation of hail by the production of a whirlwind caused by warm, moist winds mecting cold winds under angles of 90°, when the aqueous vapour is condensed, causing an inflow of air from above and below, and consequently an increase of precipitation, during which the water, striving to retain its fluid form, may easily fall several degrees below its freezing point, and its congelation into masses of ice may be accounted for by the fall into it of small grains.-M. J. I. Kawall gave an account of the publi. cations of the Society of Naturalists of Charkow, including the titles of all the papers.

July 20 (August I N.S.)—The society assembled in the court of the Polytechnicum to hear an address in honour of Dr. G. Schweinfurth on his return from his African travels.

August 21 (September 2 N.S.)-Dr. Schweinfurth described several types of the inhabitants of Central Africa, belonging to the Ujam-Ujam, Bongo, Djur, Dinka, Mittu, and Akka branches of the Negro, noticing especially their modes of adorning themselves, and a few peculiar habits.-Baron F. Hoejningen-Huene communicated a continuation of his Phenological observations, containing notes on weather and other natural phenomena during the months of July and August, 1871.

PHILADELPHIA

Academy of Natural Sciences, July 2.-"On a new Genus of Extinct Turtles." Prof. Leidy stated that he had determined that the fossil-turtle he had named Bena undata belonged to a different genus. Besides other well-marked distinctive characters, like the genus Platemys, it possessed an additional pair of plates to the usual number found in the sternum of the emydoids. These plates are intercalated between the hyo- and hypo-sternals. In Platemys Bullockis they are quadrate. In the new genus they are triangular, and the sutures defining them cross the plastron like a prostrated letter X, from which character it was proposed to name the genus Christernon.

The

July 9.-Prof. Leidy directed attention to a bottle containing numerous specimens of a minute crustacean from Salt Lake, Utah, caught on the 22nd of June by Mr. C. Carrington, a member of Prof. Hayden's exploring party now in the field. They were received from Prof. Hayden with the remark that Salt Lake has been supposed, like the Dead Sea, to be devoid of life, but its saltest water contains the most of these little creatures." The crustacean is the Artemia salina, which has long been known in Europe, and has been previously found in other locali. ties of this country. The animal has always been viewed with especial interest, in its order, from the fact that it lives and thrives best in a concentrated solution of salt, which would destroy most marine animals. It has not, I believe, been noticed in the ocean, but is found in salt lakes, and salt vats, in which, by evaporation, the brine has become more concentrated than sea water. Artemia is furnished with eleven pairs of limbs, which serve both for progression and respiration. The limbs are four-jointed, and the joints have leaf-like expansions fringed with long featherlike bristles. The narrow abdomen, or tail-like prolongation of the body is six-jointed, and traversed by the intestine. The last joint ends in a pair of processes, furnished each with a bunch of bristles like those of the limbs. The head exhibits a median, quadrate, black eye-spot, and in addition is provided with a pair of pedunculate, globular compound eyes. A short narrow pair of inarticulate antennæ project in advance of the eyes. head of the male is furnished with a pair of singular organs for seizing the female. These claspers are large double-jointed hooks. In the female they are replaced by a pair of comparatively small horn-like processes. The first abdominal segment bears the ovarian sac in the female, and two cylindroid appendages in the male. The female of the Salt Lake Artemia ranges from four to seven lines in length; the male from three to four lines in length. The colour is translucent-white and ochreousyellow, with three black eye-spots, and a longitudinal line varying in hue with the contents of the intestine. The ovarian sac appears orange-coloured from the eggs within. The antennæ end in three or four minute setæ, and are considerably longer in the male than the female. The first joint of the claspers is provided on its inner side just below the middle with a spheroidal knob. The last joint forms a rectangular hook, the angle having an elbowlike prominence. When the clasper is thrown forward, the outer border of the hook is convex; the anterior border straight, slightly or deeply concave, and the inner or posterior border is sigmoid. The antennæ are longer than in the female, and longer than the first joint of the claspers; and in the female are longer than their homologues. The ovarian sac is inverted flask-shaped, and has a pair of lateral conical or mamillary, finely tuberculated processes. The caudal setæ are longer than in the male, and are eight to each process. This description is taken from alcoholic specimens. They exhibit considerable variation in size, and to some extent in detail. Prof. Verrill has described what he views as two species of Artemia distinct from the well-known A. salina. One he names A. gracilis, from near Newhaven, Conn.; the other A. Monico, from Lake Mono, Cal. That from Salt Lake differs from either of them as much as they do from 4. salina, and with the same propriety may be regarded as a distinct species.

I am disposed to view them all as varieties merely of A. salina. Prof. Leidy stated that from time to time he had observed specimens of teeth from various cretaceous formations which were identical in character with those of Lamna elegans and L. cuspidata of tertiary deposits, except that they were devoid of the lateral denticles. He had now in his possession well-preserved specimens of such teeth, unabraded, but exhibiting no trace of the existence of lateral denticles. There were teeth of the L. elegans variety found with the skeleton of Hadrosaurus Foulkii in New Jersey, and others from the cretaceous of Mississippi and Kansas, There were also teeth of the L. cuspidata variety from the cretaceous of Kansas, and one in a block of chalk from Sussex, Eng. land. The absence of the lateral denticles in all the cretaceous specimens he thought could hardly be accidental, and suspected that these teeth represented the oxyrrhina ancestors, of the tertiary Lamna elegans and L. cuspidata, which lived during the cre

taceous era,

PARIS

Academy of Sciences, Dec. 30, 1872.-M. Faye, president, in the chair. The president read the second portion of his paper on the solar spots. He argued in favour of their cyclonic nature, and said that the pores were simply minute spots. He pointed out that Wilson, in 1783, had sug ested that the spots were "eddies and whirlpools," and that Sir J. Her-chel had made use of a similar phrase, but that the knowledge only recently obtained was required before these suggestions could be accepted.— M. Jamin read a note on concealed magnetism (magnétisme dissimulé). The author found that when a current used to magnetise a horse-shoe bar of iron attained a certain power, the bar appeared to return to its natural state; but that, with either stronger or weaker currents, magnetism was produced. This neutral state he calls "concealed magnetism," and supposes it to be due to a particular distribution of the magnetic force.-A note from Mr. A. Cayley on the condition under which a family of surfaces forms part of an orthogonal system, was next read.M. Janssen read the second part of his report on the eclipse of December 31. It was referred to the astronomical section. -M. F. P. Le Roux read a paper on peri-polar induction. The author applies the above name to a new form of electro-mag. netic phenomena, in which the different points of the body acted on remain at the same distance from the active pole.-A paper on the dimensions of the pores of membranes by M. Guerout was presented by M. Becquerel.-M. Delafont sent a memoir on the first elements of the theory of conjugate points and right poles, which was submitted to the examination of M. Serret. MM. Le Clère and Du Plantys sent a note on Phylloxera which were sent to that commission; and a second memoir on fermentation from M. Sacc was referred to a special commission.- General Doutrelaine sent a note relating to the questions of priority concerning the prolongation of the French meridian; M. Bail. laud the elements and ephemerides of 127; and Mr. N. Lockyer an abstract of his late paper on spectrum analysis, communicated to the Royal Society.-MM. Troost and Hautefeuille sent a note on certain reactions of the chlorides of boron and silicon. These bodies decompose porcelain at a high temperature.-M. P. Pichard read a note on the estimation of manganese in iron ores, cast-iron, and steel, by a calorimetric process; and M. A. Houzeau, one on the volumetric estimation of minute quantities of antimony and arsenic.-M. Sorin read a note on the presence of methylamine in methylic nitrate and in methylic alcohol.-M. L. Colin's note on the passage of the blood pigment through the vascular sides in melanemia palustris was presented by M. Larrey, which was followed by a note on the distribution of the tympanic cord, by M. J. L. Prevost.-M. A. Béchamp read a note on the alcoholic and acetic fermentation of the liver, and on the physi ological alcohol of human urine. The author has obtained from two litres of urine from a man of 50, enough alcohol to estimate. -M. A. Bernard presents a memoir on the " degeneration" of nerves after section, by M. L. Ranvier.-M. L. Posaoz sent a note on the estimation of sugar by cupric solutions. He stated that these liquids may be preserved from their usual faults by the passage of a stream of carbonic anhydride, or by the addition of alkaline bicarbonates.-M. J. Chautard sent a note on the absorption spectrum of delorophyll; and M. Sicc a note entitled, "Studies on Marmots," relating principally to the composition of the urine of these animals.-M. Decharme sent a paper on the ascending motion of liquids in very narrow vessels (bands of porous paper) compared with their ascent in capillary tubes.-M. Boileau sent a note on the preservation of potable water. The author kept eighty bottles of water fresh and free

from bad odour 'during the siege of Paris, by leaving them simply covered with caps of paper.-M. Belgrand made some observations on this note.-M. Dausse sent a note on the best position for flood gauges in rivers.

DIARY

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16.

ROYAL SOCIETY, at 8.30.-Note on an Erroneous Extension of Jacobi's Theorem: J. Todhunter.-On a New Formula for a Microscopic ObjectGlass: F. H. Wenham.-Additional Note to the Paper On a Supposed Alteration in the Amount of Astronomical Aberration of Light produced by the Passage of the Light through a considerable Thickness of Refracting Medium: Sir G. B. Airy.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-On Oxidation: Dr. Debus.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 4.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, at 8. 30.-Election of Fellows.-Opening of Exhibition of Bronze Implements and Weapons.

LINNEAN SOCIETY, at 8.-On the Recent Synonyms of Brazilian Ferns: J. G. Baker

CHEMICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-On Ethylamyl: Mr. Grimshaw-On the Hep tanes from Petroleum: C. Schorlemmer - On the Vanadates of Thallium: T. Carnelley. On the Formation of Sulphide of Sodium by the Action of Sulphuretted Hydrogen upon Sodium Chloride: C. T. Kinggeth. NUMISMATIC SOCIETY, at 7.

ROYAL SOCIETY CLUB, at 6.

IT

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1873

THE NAVY AND SCIENCE

T would be difficult to estimate the many excellent effects that are likely to result from the establishment of the Royal Naval College, which, as has been at last authoritatively intimated, is to be opened on February 1, in those noble halls at Greenwich that for so long have been associated in another way with the British Navy. Her Majesty's Government deserve the highest praise for the wisdom-provokingly tardy though it has been-displayed in the thorough and handsome provision they have made for the scientific education of our naval officers. Much that is sarcastic, no doubt, might be said on this tardiness of a Government which seldom moves until it is driven; but as we fear this would do little good, we shall only express a hope that in future when they are compelled to take action in any matter, especially if it be scientific, they will do so as decidedly and sweepingly as they have done in the present instance.

It is usually acknowledged that the very existence of Britain as a first-rate Power depends upon the efficiency of her navy, and yet it is a lamentable fact that hitherto no nation in the world of any consequence has made less systematic provision for the training of the members of her navy than has our own. Our naval officers and seamen have been left pretty much to haphazard to gain a knowledge of their profession, and, indeed, until recently it would have been generally thought derogatory to what is vaguely known as "British pluck," had it been hinted that it would be not less plucky were it well informed; that it would have a better chance to beat all the forces in the universe, did it know the scientific principles on which a few of these forces rested. Happily this is no longer the case; the strong light of science, "the irresistible logic of facts," has shown this old knowledge to be but ignorance; and let us rejoice that this great light has at last dawned upon the magnates of our navy, and dispersed the great darkness in which they have for so long sat. The college to be opened on Feb. 1, if we may judge from the prospectus, will furnish as thorough a scientific education in the branches to be taught as can be obtained at any similar institution in any country in the world.

The immense advantages that are likely to accrue to the British Navy as such, from the excellent training which its officers must undergo at the new Naval College, are evident to all, and have been already pointed out in the columns of the general press. For one thing it will reduce the incompetents and idlers to a minimum. We are inclined to think that the gains to Science from the establishment of such an institution will be of not less importance than the increase in the efficiency of the navy which must be its special result. Our naval officers form a large, important, and influential body, having opportunities for scientific research all over the world which all students of nature must envy. Even under the old régime many of the most important additions to scientific knowledge in various departments were made by naval officers, some of whom have won for themselves deathless names as scientific explorers. What then No. 169-VOL. VII.

must be the conquests of Science in the future when every naval officer who is capable of profiting by the instruction to be furnished at Greenwich will go forth trained and equipped to wrest from Nature some of the many secrets which she still holds in her grasp? What an immense advantage must it be to any scientific or exploring expedition when the officers that command the ship are as capable of unravelling the mysteries of Nature as they are of boxing the compass. But it would be impossible to enumerate all the advantages that we may reasonably expect to accrue to Science from the step taken by the Lords of the Admiralty. The scheme of education as it stands on paper is admirable, and most comprehensive as to subject and as to the classes for whose advantage it has been drawn out; with Rear-Admiral Kay as President of the College, and Dr. Hirst as Director of Studies, we have every reason to hope that the Royal Naval College will "become, not only an educational establishment affording the means of the highest training in theoretical subjects to naval officers of all classes, but also a nucleus of mathematical and mechanical science specially devoted to those branches of scientific investigation which have most interest for the navy."

We can only hope that the excellent example set by the Lords of the Admiralty will in a very short time be followed by the authorities of the War Office. Does not the profession of a military officer at the present day require as thorough a training to be able to fill it efficiently, as does that of a naval officer? Are not the very highest scientific principles being brought to bear on the elaboration of military weapons, and military tactics? and would not military officers, like naval officers, perform the duties of their profession more efficiently if they had a systematic training in the sciences from which modern tactics draw their life? But sad to say, the military authorities have recently shown a tendency to take the very opposite course to that which our more advanced naval authorities have so commendably followed. We hope the example of the latter will ere long shame the former into mending their ways.

The following are some of the principal points in the minute issued by the Lords of the Admiralty ::

"The College, subject to the subjoined Regulations, will be open to officers of the following ranks :-1. Captains and Commanders. 2. Lieutenants. 3. Navigating Officers. 4. Naval Instructors. 5. Acting Lieutenants and Acting Sub-Lieutenants. 6. Officers, Royal Marine Artillery; ditto, Royal Marine Light Infantry. 7. Officers gineers, 1st Class Assistant Engineers, Acting 2nd Class of the Engineer Branch, viz. :-Chief Engineers, EnAssistant Engineers. 8. A limited number of Dockyard Apprentices will be annually selected, by competitive examination, for admission to the College. A course of instruction at the College will also be open to a limited number of:-9. Private students of Naval Architecture or Marine Engineering. 10. Officers of the Mercantile Marine.

"It is not intended to provide at Greenwich for the education of the Naval cadets. My Lords intend that the Royal Naval College at Greenwich shall be so organised as to provide for the education of naval officers of all ranks above that of midshipman, in all branches of theoretical and scientific study bearing upon their profession; but my Lords will continue the instruction given in the Excellent gunnery-ship as heretofore, and arrangements for instruction in practical surveying will also be con

N

tinued at Portsmouth. My Lords desire by the establishment of the College, to give to the executive officers of the navy generally every possible advantage in respect of scientific education; but no arrangements will be made at all prejudicing the all-important practical training in the active duties of their profession. The object of securing, in the interest of the naval service, the highest possible scientific instruction is, in the opinion of my Lords, most effectually to be attained by bringing together in one establishment all the necessary means for the higher education of naval officers and of others connected with the navy. . . . Complete courses of study suitable for the different classes of students admitted will be organised, and will be carried out by professors, lecturers, and instructors. Officers and others admitted as students will have the advantage of these courses of study, whether they reside or not. But officers and others who may not become students will, under certain regulations, have free access to separate courses of lectures, the benefit of which it is desired to extend as far as possible."

The following are the proposed courses of study:— "1. Pure Mathematics, including co-ordinate and higher Pure Geometry, Differential Calculus, Finite Differences, and the Calculus of Variations. 2. Applied Mathematics, viz., Pneumatics, Mechanics, Optics, and the Theories of Sound, Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism. 3. Applied Mechanics, including the Theory of Structures, the principles of Mechanism, and the Theory of Machines. 4. Nautical Astronomy, Surveying, Hydrography, with Maritime Geography, Meteorology, and Chart Drawing. 5. Experimental Sciences :-a. Physics, viz., Sound, Heat, Light, Electricity, and Magnetism; b. Chemistry; c. Metallurgy. 6. Marine Engineering, in all its branches.

7. Naval Architecture, in all its branches. 8. Fortification, Military Drawing, and Naval Artillery. 9. International and Maritime Law; Law of Evidence and Naval Courts Martial. 10. Naval History and Tactics, including Naval Signals and Steam Evolutions. II. Modern Languages. 12. Drawing. 13. Hygiene-Naval

and Climatic. A certain latitude in selecting such courses of study as they may prefer will be allowed to officers voluntarily attending the College. Officers and others required to attend by the Regulations will follow such courses of study as may from time to time be prescribed. "The general organisation of the College will be as follows: A flag officer will be president; he will be assisted by a captain in the Royal Navy in matters affecting discipline, and in the internal arrangements of the College unconnected with study. A director of studies will, under the president, organise and superintend the whole system of instruction, and the various courses of study. There will further be-A professor of mathematics, a professor of physical science, a professor of chemistry, a professor of applied mechanics, a professor of fortification. Such instructors in mathematics and the other branches specified as may be necessary to assist the professors will be added to the staff. Lecturers will be appointed to deliver courses of lectures in naval architecture, metallurgy, civil and hydraulic engineering, maritime law, naval history and tactics, and hygiene. A naval officer will conduct instruction in nautical astronomy and surveying, and there will be two instructors in steam. Such provision will be made for instruction in French and German and in drawing, as the number of students desirous of following courses in these branches may render necessary.

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Arrangements have been made for the admission of naval engineer officers to the College, which will prevent time spent at the College from entailing any pecuniary loss upon them. The School of Naval Architecture at South Kensington will be absorbed in the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The regulations for the admission of engineer students and of dockyard apprentices have been so framed as to provide as nearly as possible the same aggregate time for their instruction as that which is

now afforded at South Kensington. Further regulations will be issued by their lordships in regard to the admission of private students to the course of study at the College on similar conditions to those now existing at South Kensington. My Lords have further determined to admit a limited number of officers of the Mercantile Marine as students of the College, enjoying the full advantages of the whole course of instruction and tuition by the educational staff, while officers of the Mercantile Marine generally will, on application, be allowed to attend courses of lectures.

"The paramount object which my Lords have pursued in the organisation of the College has been to provide the most efficient means for the higher education of naval officers adequate to the constantly increasing requirements of the service; but my Lords also anticipate great advantages from the results likely to accrue from the connection which will be established through the College between men distinguished in the various departments of mathematical, physical, and chemical science, and those practical problems which so vitally interest the navigator, the naval architect, and the naval engineer. My Lords expect the College to become, not only an educational establishment affording the means of the highest training in theoretical subjects to naval officers of all classes, but also a nucleus of mathematical and mechanical science specially devoted to those branches of scientific investigation which have most interest for the navy."

ELECTROSTATICS AND MAGNETISM

Reprint of Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism. By Sir W. Thomson, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1872.)

To obtain any adequate idea of the present state of T° electro-magnetic science we must study these papers of Sir W. Thomson's. It is true that a great deal of admirable work has been done, chiefly by the Germans, both in analytical calculation and in experimental researches, by methods which are independent of, or at least different from, those developed in these papers, and it is the glory of true science that all legitimate methods must lead to the same final results. But if we are to count the gain to science by the number and value of the ideas developed in the course of the inquiry, which preserve the results of former thought in a form capable of being employed in future investigation, we must place Sir W. Thomson's contributions to electro-magnetic science on the very highest level.

science-forming ideas, is that which forms the subject of One of the most valuable of these truly scientific, or the first paper in this collection. Two scientific problems, each of the highest order of difficulty, had hitherto been considered from quite different points of view. Cavendish and Poisson had investigated the distribution of electricity on conductors on the hypothesis that the particles of electricity exert on each other forces which vary inversely as the square of the distance between them. On the other hand Fourier had investigated the laws of the steady conduction of heat on the hypothesis that the flow of heat from the hotter parts of a body to contiguous parts which are colder is proportional to the rate at which the temperature varies from point to point of the body. The physical ideas involved in these two problems are quite different. In the one we have an