Mr. Lockhart says: "If willing helpers can be found to assist in the work of collection, the success of the scheme is assured. Failure can only result from want of co-operation and support."

IN a paper entitled "Thirty-six Hours' Hunting among the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middlesex," reprinted from the Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science, Mr. Sydney T. Klein has some interesting notes on the best methods of capturing Lepidoptera. He has found it very useful to take advantage of "the attractiveness of the ladies among the Lepidoptera gentry." To those who have not had experience, or have not persevered in, this art, he says, the result is truly marvellous, and will sound very much like a fairy tale. The good taste possessed by the males of Lepidoptera is shown to the greatest perfection among the Bombycidae. On several occasions, when on botanical excursions in Hertfordshire, Mr. Klein has taken with him a female of Bombyx quercus, or other Bombycidæ, fresh from the pupa; and, in a wooded country, provided the sun was hot and a gentle breeze blowing, he was certain of having, within ten minutes, a dozen of the opposite sex flying round him, and from time to time even settling on his shoulders or hands. On one occasion, after remaining, as an experiment, for some time on the same spot, he counted over forty of these large moths within fifty yards.

NEGOTIATIONS are being carried on in Denmark for the holding of a Fisheries Exhibition in Copenhagen next year.

AN enthusiastic fish-culturist is trying to introduce scaleless fishes into English fresh waters. In a lecture on Fish, lately delivered at Worcester, and now published, Dr. Francis Day, C.I.E., expresses his belief that they will prove worthless for sport, almost, if not entirely, useless as food, and dangerous to handle on account of the spines with which they are protected. These fishes delight to eat other forms of fish-life. "I obtained," says Dr. Day, "a specimen of a common Indian catfish at Madras, which I placed in an aquarium that contained some carp. It rushed at one of my poor little fishes, and, before I could interfere, seized it by the middle of its back and shook it until it was dead, as a dog kills a rat."

AT the monthly meeting of the Council of the Sanitary Assurance Association on January to, the Sanitary Registration of Buildings Bill was re-considered. A report on the draft Bill was submitted, with several clauses re-drawn. The Bill was further amended, and ordered to be printed for final consideration at the next meeting of the Council. It is proposed that the new Bill shall be compulsory with regard to schools, hotels, asylums, hospitals, and lodging-houses, and Clause 6 has been made much more stringent in the matter of qualification of persons entitled to give sanitary certificates.

BARON VON MUELLER, who retains the office of Government Botanist to the colony of Victoria, is about to issue a series of plates with descriptions of the acacias (wattles) of Australia.

The work will be similar to the " Eucalyptographia," probably

the best and most useful of his publications. For diagnostic purposes he makes use of two characters hitherto overlooked, viz. the number of divisions in the pollen-mass and the position of the seed. The retirement of Baron von Mueller from the direction of the Botanic Garden, some few years since, his enabled him to devote more attention to scientific botany and its applications to practical purposes.

DR. GILES, who was attached as scientific member to the Chitral-Kafirstan Mission, is now stated to be in Calcutta, engaged in writing a report on the geology of that region.

CAPT. PEACOCKE, R.E., is said to be preparing a report, with sketches, of his experiences with the Afghan Boundary Commission.

ON Thursday evening last the Society of Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians held the first general meeting of the session of 1887. Sir Charles T. Bright, the new President, delivered an address on the history of the electric telegraph. Speaking of the progress which has been made since the property of the Telegraph Companies was bought by the State, he said that in 1870, when the transfer was completed, there were 48,378 miles of land wires, and 1622 miles of cable wires (irrespective of

railway wires), connecting together 2488 telegraph stations. Now the Post Office has 153,153 miles of wire (including submarine wires) in communication with 5097 offices. In addition, the railway companies have 70,000 miles of wire, making a total of 223,153 miles.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Red-fronted Lemur (Lemur rufifrons 8) from Madagascar, a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii 8 ) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Pawelzig; a Patas Monkey (Cercopithecus patas ?) from West Africa, presented by Mr. George Ellis; a Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris), British, purchased.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN

NEW VARIABLES IN CYGNUS. -A new variable of the Algol type (D.M. + 34°, No. 4181, R.A., 1887 0, 20h. 47m. 32 5s., Decl. 34° 13′ 59′′ 5 N.), has been discovered by Dr. Gould. Its period is about three days in length, and it varies from 7'1 mag. to 79 mag. A minimum occurred at about 10h. 19m. G. M.T. on January 17. This discovery raises the number of stars of the type to eight, the other seven being Algol, period 2'49d.; A Tauri, 395d.; S Cancri, 9:48d.; Libræ, 232d.; U Coronæ, 3'45d.; U Cephei (D.M. 81°, No. 25), 2'49d.; and U Ophiuchi (DM +1°, No. 3408), o'839d.

Mr. S. C. Chandler, Jun., in a note in Gould's Astronomical Journal, No. 148, calls attention to a new short-period variable. very close to the above. This star (Lalande 40083, R.A., 18750, 20h. 38m. 30 2s.; Decl. 35° 8′ 24′′6 N.) varies from 63 m. to 76 m. in a little over fourteen days, the increase occupying about four days, the decrease ten days, with a halt in the latter about midway of its course. Mr. Chandler gives for first elements of the star, 1886 October 360 G.M. T. + 14.04 E.

NEW MINOR PLANET.-Prof. C. H. F. Peters, at Clinton, discovered a new minor planet on December 22. This will be No. 264, and the forty-sixth discovered by Prof. Peters. A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE CONSTANT OF ABERRATION.-In the Comptes rendus, tome civ. No. 1, M. Loewy explains how the principle of his method of determining the amount of astronomical refraction (NATURE, vol. xxxiii. p. 303) can be applied to the determination of aberration also. By means of the two reflecting surfaces forming the double mirror placed in front of the object-glass of an equatorial, the images of two stars situated in different parts of the sky appear, in the field of view, side by side; their angular distance is then to be measured in a known direction. To obtain the amount of aberration it is, of course, necessary to measure a properly chosen pair of stars at successive epochs. The first observation is to be made when the stars are at the same height above the horizon, and the second, after a certain interval, under similar conditions. The comparison of the two measures will give a multiple value of the aberration which is independent of instrumental errors. By a proper choice of the angle of the double mirror employed, of pairs of stars selected for measurement, and of the circumstances of observation, M. Loewy contends that, by attention to the details which he specifies, a more accurate value of the constant of aberration can be obtained by his method in an interval of three months than could be deduced by the methods hitherto in vogue, liable as these are to systematic error.

THE MADRAS OBSERVATORY.-In his Report for the year 1885, Mr. Pogson states that the volume of telegraphic longitude determinations in India, and the two volumes of hourly magnetical observations made at Singapore between 1841 and 1845, and at Madras between 1851 and 1855, which were men

tioned as ready for issue in the last Report, were distributed in 1885. Mr. Pogson's attention was chiefly directed, during the year, to the necessary preliminary investigations for the publication of the meridian-circle observations from 1862 to the present time. The formation of the star ledgers and the deduced catalogues of mean positions for each year were completed for the years 1862, 1863, and partly for 1864, which will form the first of the eight volumes about to be published. The star ledgers for the next three years-1865-67-are also in progress, for the second volume of the series. Except for time observations and determinations of positions of a few comparison stars for equatorial observations, the meridian-circle will be little used until the publication of its past results is accomplished. Only 352 complete positions of stars were determined in 1885, making 52,074 during the past twenty-four years. A few observations of minor planets were made with the equatorials during the year. We are glad to find that there is at length a prospect of the publication of the Madras meridian observations, the long delay in which has been a serious blot on the fair fame of the Observatory.

Port Said he will meet with Dr. Junker, who may give him information of critical importance. At all events, Mr. Stanley and his staff and the whole of the baggage will proceed, in the first instance, to Zanzibar. If a steamer is handy, the Expedition, after recruiting a caravan and laying in a store of suitable goods for trade by the way, will sail round the Cape to the Congo; that at least is Mr. Stanley's present intention. All the available steamers belonging to the King of the Belgians will be placed at his disposal, and probably by the beginning of May he will be at the limit of navigation and ready for his land journey eastwards to Lake Albert Nyanza ; if, indeed, he does not give the lake a wide berth westwards and go direct to Wadelai. A camp as a base of operations will be established, as far as safe from the Congo, and left in charge of a trustworthy member of the staff. About fifty donkeys will be taken to carry the heavy baggage, and the caravan will consist of about 100 men, with a few Egyptian soldiers to maintain discipline. The staff consists of half-a-dozen carefully selected men, among whom are two able engineer officers, under whose care the interests of science will be attended to. Four or five carefully rated chronometers and other instruments are being taken, so that we may expect some good results. It is probable that Mr. Stanley will endeavour to solve the Albert Nyanza and the Wellé-Mobangi problem, as well as other obscure points in African hydrography, on his return journey. It is to be hoped that Emin Pasha will not think of coming away, as Dr. Junker states he wishes to do; but if he does, then no doubt Mr. Stanley will be able to make arrangements to carry on the work which Emin has begun so well. Mr. Stanley leaves England to-morrow, and the good wishes of all will go with him. He is confident of being able to reach Emin Pasha by July 1, and possibly may be back in Europe about Christmas; in that case, we fear, he could not do much exploring work.

DR. LENZ has at last arrived at Zanzibar, having taken less than eighteen months to cross the African continent from the mouth of the Congo. A fortnight ago we gave some account of his journey up the Congo from Stanley Falls to Nyangwe and Kasonge; it will be interesting to know what route he followed after leaving the Upper Congo. It will be remembered that Dr. Lenz went out eighteen months ago for the purpose, if possible, of reaching Emin Pasha and Dr. Junker. From Zanzibar the late Dr. Fischer started through Masai Land on a similar errand. In both cases the object has not been accomplished, and no wonder, now that we know the real facts. Much good work, however, has been done by both men. Dr. Lenz is a man of scientific training and experience in African travelling, and there can be no doubt that the results of his just completed journey will be a gain to science. It is possible that Mr. Stanley may meet with Dr. Lenz on his way to Zanzibar; and if so may obtain some information that will be of service on his great expedition.

THE Rev. Thomas Brydges, a missionary in Tierra del Fuego, in the large island of Onisin, among the Ona and the Yagbons, mentions a curious circumstance with reference to the people, illustrating the influence of environment on the acquirement of habits. Between men and women there is a fair subdivision of labour. Among other things, the men make and fit up the canoes, but the women are the rowers. The result is that the women are good swimmers, but the mer. cannot swim at all. The reason is that often on the coast there is not a single tree to which to fasten the canoes. The women, therefore, after landing their husbands, have to row the canoes to a spot where sea-weed has been massed together, in order to moor the canoes thereon; after which operation they are compelled to swim back. So, also, when the canoe is wanted, the woman has to swim out for it and row back for her husband.

THE current number of the Mittheilungen of the Geographical Society of Vienna (Band xxix. No. 10) has a large map of the route from Ango-Ango to Leopoldville, made by Herr Baumann, of the Austrian Congo Expedition, with accompanying remarks, and a comparison with other recent maps of the same part of the river. There is an interesting note by Herr Baumann on the numerical systems of the Why or Wai Negroes and of the Mandingoes. The former, although they have a writing of their own-the Mandingoes use Arab letters-have no expression in their language for 100, and use the English, while the Mandingoes, Bantus, and other tribes can count with ease up to 1000. Herr Baumann also writes on the region around Stanley Falls,

and its inhabitants. The two remaining papers are mainly geological, one being on the geography of Persia, by Dr. Tietze, the other the conclusion of Dr. Diener's paper on the hypsometry of Central Syria.

EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS
AND UNIVERSITIES

PROF. G. F. FITZGERALD, as Vice-President of the Dublin University Experimental Science Association, delivered an address at the opening meeting, held on November 23 in the Museum Buildings of Trinity College, under the presidency of the Rev. the Provost, on "Experimental Science in Schools and Universities."

Prof. Fitzgerald, at the outset of his address, dealt with the history of Universities, and showed how they gave such preponderance to book as against experimental knowledge. That had led, the Professor continued, to a dual system of education -the professional and the commercial. That gap between the classes was much to be lamented, and necessitated, from a political point of view, the desirability of having all classes educated in the same institutions. The commercial classes would not, however, enter the Universities at present, because they required to be taught useful subjects, and they would not learn the Latin and Greek now required in our Universities. From the political side of the question, he thought, they had got these results that they must be content to have useful subjects taught in their schools and Universities if the schools and Universities were to be used by the large body in the country who were willing and able to pay for it. What they must have, if possible, was a single school and college system for all classes of the community who were able to spend the first twenty years or so of their life in education, and they ought to have a system that was complete, a training which gave both those who could not afford to go on the whole length up to twenty years, and which ought to be able to train those who desired to go on for the higher culture. Returning to the education side of the question, he insisted that almost the whole importance was as to how the subject was taught. He thought the use of the Latin Grammar had been reduced to a very good system, but he thought it was perfectly evident from the course that things were taking and the reasonableness of things, that they must teach their youth some knowledge of science. People who felt responsibility in the matter were being more and more convinced that it was not right for them to allow their children to grow up ignorant of the laws of the world in which they live. Others made answer to that that they left those laws of the world to the doctors. But how were they to know under what circumstances it was well to consult a specialist? It was very necessary for us to have a knowledge when we required to consult a doctor. Hundreds of people were killed by ignorance of the fact that dirt was the cause of disease. That was a very elementary subject. Nevertheless, people were dying every day from ignorance of that very fact; and, unless they were taught to believe in the fact that there were laws of Nature, they would not believe that dirt was the cause of disease, because they saw some people living in dirt and yet not the victims of disease. He thought that time for teaching science must be found for these two reasons--it was necessary that our youth should learn the laws of the world in which they live, and that they also should learn how to discover those laws. Unless our people were taught the laws under which plants and animals were best grown, the people of other countries would rival them in the manufacture of butter and beef, and the result would be that our people must starve. Another advantage of such training was to prevent superstition such as that of the people of Spain, who preferred the use of charms as a safeguard against cholera to the cleansing of their wells. All the classes of the country required this training they would die without it, so they must have it.

Having shown that the cultivation of Latin and Greek was originally with the view of acquiring the information contained in the ancient books in those languages, the Professor combated the five reasons formulated by the German professoriate as to why they thought that the cultivation of Latin and Greek was so important, observing, with regard to the fourth reason-that these languages were the best varied exercise in thinking-that if the connection between words and ideas was a thing that must be taught in every system of education, his impression was that t nat would be a great deal better

attained by describing accurately and thinking out the consequences of physical experiment. In choosing the sciences that they should teach, there were three conditions that should be fulfilled. First of all, the sciences chosen ought to be within the grasp of children, because it was highly important that the science begun with childhood should be continued on in the University days; secondly, it ought not to require any expensive apparatus, because schools and people who trained children could not be expected to buy elaborate apparatus, and children could not be expected to work with them satisfactorily; and, thirdly, he thought the sciences should be chosen so as to be concerned with a large number of the laws of the world in which we live. There were two large branches of science which included nearly all the laws of the world, namely, the physical and the biological; and, therefore, he thought it would be desirable to choose two sciences-one on the physical and one on the biological side, so that children might learn something about the laws of living things, and something about the laws of physical things. He therefore suggested chemistry and botany, and he thought the whole weight of their efforts should be devoted to trying to get the children in schools to learn the elements of chemistry and the elements of botany, for there were no other two sciences the elements of which were almost similar, and at the same time there were no other two sciences that led up to a greater number of the laws of life, nor that gave a wider and more extended view of the laws of the world in which we live. The objections to the present system of teaching a knowledge of experimental science was that it almost entirely concentrated the person's attention upon phenomena instead of upon reasoning. Therefore, in choosing their system of teaching, all their weight ought to be thrown into making sure that their plan had the effect of making the child learn to think a good deal. Another thing they had to consider was the enormous time that children were made to remain in school without being engaged in anything except mischief. He thought a child should n t spend more than four hours a day at literary work. Well, that occupied but a small part of a child's day; and one of the great advantages of having experimental subjects introduced into school teaching would be that they were subjects at which a child could work without experiencing very much fatigue. He could not help calling attention to the flagrant abuse of the teaching of experimental science in Irish schools. Experimental science in Irish schools was very nearly the same as snakes in Iceland. Having pointed out the fallacy of an examination-as exemplified in the Intermediate Education system-that was satisfied with a reading of the musical signs unwedded to a knowledge of the sounds they represented, the Professor said it would be an enormous advantage if the Intermediate Commissioners could be induced to keep up a peripatetic system of periodical examinations that would insist upon practical knowledge. That, however, should not interfere with the giving of papers also. After observing that it was at the present time impossible to carry out a proper examination in laboratory work, and stating that he considered it would be very desirable that the actual work in the laboratory and analyses in practical subjects should count towards the University prizes, Mr. Fitzgerald said he considered that the present system of analysis was not very satisfactory, and he urged the introduction of a system that would teach chemistry practically. Though that might be harder to teach than Latin and Greek, it would not be so if they had a system worked out and teachers to promote it, and it would have the inestimable advantage that, in addition to training the child to think-which he thought it would do equally well with Latin and Greek—it would teach him the laws of things, and how to see and learn the laws of things. It would also teach the child to use language to express real ideas, and not merely phrases. They would also learn a good deal more of the laws of language from a modern language that they learned with the grain than they would by learning an ancient language against the grain. He thought that literature and history were co-ordinate with science, and they certainly ought to be a large part of education. Literature and history were grievously neglected in the present day-practically they had no place, and that was substantially because Latin and Greek were supposed to be a literary education. One of the reasons was that those subjects were hard to examine in, but there was an easy way out of that difficulty in Universities. They need not examine, but they could require attendance at lectures-attendance on good lecturers; and the student would pick up more

culture and would be cbtaining a better literary education from hearing a good lecturer and being inspired by his enthusiasm than he would get by learning off one of Shakespeare's plays, and answering it at an examination. Those two aspects of education, the literary and scientific, were often put in opposition, just as the freedom of the individual and the power of the State to control the individual were very often set up in opposition to one another; but he did not think any one would believe that that opposition really arose, for the freest States were those in which the power of the State was the strongest. In conclusion, he would say that we must equip our youth for the battle of life physically and ethically. The present is a great crisis in Irish education. There is danger of science schools starting, and all the evils of dual education. There are a large body who like Latin and Greek, because they exclude literature and history. These are to be fought tooth and nail. There are those who would sacrifice the rising generation on an altar of so-called culture to starve and die, with their only comfort that they can describe their agony in well-expressed phrases. There are those who would grind all soul out of mankind in a mill of manual labour, constructed on scientific principles. All those are to be guarded against. We must have literature and history. We must have knowledge of the laws of the world in which we have to work. We can have both if we will but work out a reasonable system of education, instead of pretending that the lop-sided corpse that occupies our schools and Universities is a welldeveloped, symmetrical giant.

ABORIGINAL ART IN CALIFORNIA AND QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLAND

66

IN the fourth volume, recently issued, of the Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences there is a valuable article by Dr. W. J. Hoffman on Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte's Island." In the summer of 1884 Dr. Hoffman visited the Pacific coast for the purpose of continuing his researches on primitive art, and he was fortunate enough to find a number of localities in which there are painted and "etched" records, of considerable interest, made by Indians belonging to tribes now unknown. These records occur in groups. One group, the first described by Dr. Hoffman, is in the neighbourhood of Santa Barbara. The best preserved paintings in this series are in a cavity which measures about twenty feet wide and eight feet high. The rock consists of gray sandstone, but the ceiling and back portion of the cave have a yellowish appearance. The colours employed were red ochre, white, and bluish black. Some of the paintings Dr. Hoffman takes to be representations of gaudily-coloured blankets. In several instances a grotesque human figure is drawn over or in front of what seems to be a blanket, as if the latter were intended as a body blanket or serape. In the Azuza cañon, about thirty miles north-east of Los Angeles, Dr. Hoffman examined a second series of painted records. Rudely sketched human figures are represented a pointing in certain directions, and the intention evidently was that they should serve as guides to travelling parties. For instance, the left arm of a figure on a white granitic boulder points towards the north-east. The precipitous walls of the cañon make egress in that direction impossible, but two hundred yards further on the cañon makes a sharp turn towards the northeast, and in rounding the point of land to the right the traveller comes to another boulder, on which are numerous faint drawings of various kinds. This boulder is on the line of an old trail leading from the country of the Chemehuevi, on the north of the mountains, down to the valley settlements of San Gabriel and Los Angeles. A third series of records was found in the southern part of Owens Valley, California, between the White Mountains on the east and the Benton Range on the west. They are "etched," not painted. The most common characters in this group are circles, either plain, nucleated, bisected, concentric, or spectacle-shaped, by pairs or threes, with various forms of interior ornamentation. This group resembles. etchings in the Canary Islands so closely that the illustrations given by Dr. Hoffman serve for both localities. On one of his plates he presents a number of circles with ornamented interiors, from a simple bisection to the stellate and cruciform varieties. Similar circles bearing cross-lines occur at Grevinge, Zeeland; and other forms resembling some at Owens Valley are found at Slieve-na-Calliagh, Grange, and Dowth, in Ireland. The spectacle-shaped variety resembles the mysterious symbol on

some Scottish monuments which has given rise to so much vague speculation. The reversed Z, however, is wanting in the Californian examples. Of the various outlines of the human form presented by Mr. Wallace from Brazil, and referred to more recently by Prof. Richard Andree in "Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche," a considerable number are almost identical with etchings in the Owens Valley series. Many of the characters in these three Californian groups are similar to, and some are indistinguishable from, those made by the Moki and other tribes of the Shoshonian linguistic stock. Further research on the same lines may, therefore, enable anthropologists to determine the former geographical area of the Shoshonian family, as has already been done in the case of the Algonkian tribes.

In the neighbourhood of Los Angeles Dr. Hoffman obtained a portion of an old Indian gravestone. On this slab there are incised characters which seem to represent a whale-hunt, and no doubt they were intended to denote the occupation of the person to whose memory the tablet was erected. Honour is done to the dead in a similar manner by the Innuit of Alaska and by the Ojibwa. Among the Innuit, the posts erected for men usually bear rude drawings of weapons and animals; those for women have representations of household utensils and implements. On Ojibwa gravestones, as Mr. Schoolcraft has noted, the totem of the deceased is drawn in an inverted position.

Dr. Hoffman offers some interesting remarks on the subject of tattooing. In former times, in the vicinity of Los Angeles, every chief caused the tattooed marks upon his face to be reproduced upon trees or poles which indicated the boundaries of his land; and as these marks were well known to neighbouring chiefs, they were a sufficient warning that trespassers would be punished. A custom akin to this prevails in Australia, where the tattooed designs upon the face of a native are often engraved upon the bark of trees near his grave. Among many of the tribes west of the Mississippi there are still numbers of persons who bear tattoo marks upon the chin, the cheeks, and even upon other parts of the body, but the marks seldom occur in any forms other than narrow lines, except among the Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte's Island, where the art of tattooing has reached a higher degree of development than on the mainland. The Haidas tattoo upon the back, breast, fore-arms, thighs, and the legs below the knees; and women submit to the operation as well as men. The characters are totemic, and represent either animate or mythologic beings. They are usually drawn in outline, with interior decorative lines, red being sometimes introduced to form what is supposed to be a pleasant contrast. The ceremonies at which the tattooing is done are held in the autumn, and extend over a period of several weeks. Among the figures generally adopted are the thunder-bird raven, bear, skulpin, and squid. A former Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company told Dr. Hoffman that when he first went to the country occupied by the Haida Indians he saw no tattooing upon the bodies of the older members of the tribe; and he contends that they have learned the art from natives of some of the South Pacific Islands, which they occasionally visit as traders.

The Haidas display considerable skill as carvers in wood and slate. Totem posts are often placed before the council-houses, and more frequently before private dwellings. When the posts are the property of some individual, the personal totemic sign is carved at the top. Other animate and grotesque figures follow in rapid succession down to the base, so that unless one is familiar with the mythology and folk-lore of the tribe the subject would be utterly unintelligible. On one post to which Dr. Hoffman refers there are only seven pronounced carvings, but they relate to three distinct myths. On household vessels, the handles of wooden spoons, and other objects, the Haidas often carve the head of a human being in the act of eating a toad. Sometimes the toad is placed at a short distance below the mouth. The idea is that in the wooded country there is an evil spirit who has great power of committing evil by means of poison extracted from the toad. The Indians are not willing to acknowledge the common belief in this mystic being, even when they are aware that the inquirer is in possession of the main facts.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE

OXFORD. The Jong-expected reform of the examination system which makes it unnecessary for men reading mathematics and natural science to pass any examinations of a non-scientific

character after coming into residence has at last been accomplished. The arrangement, which comes into force with the beginning of this year, is that candidates for degrees in mathematics and natural science take up responsions (or some equivalent examination at school) like other people, but by passing in one extra subject they are excused the second classical examination, in preparing for which they used to waste a gool part of their first year of residence. The extra subjects from which candidates may choose include Greek, Latin, French, and German authors, Bacon's "Novum Organum," and the elements of logic. This alteration will be an undoubted benefit to science men, for, as the new examination involves no preliminary residence and occurs four times a year, they can proceed at once to take up the subject which they have chosen for their final schools.

The following courses of lectures and practical classes are announced for this term :-

Prof. Pritchard is to lecture at the Observatory on “Planetary Theory" and on "Astronomical Instruments and Methods,' and offers practical instruction. Prof. Bartholomew Price lectures at the Museum on Optics."

At the Clarendon Laboratory Prof. Clifton continues his course on "Electricity," and Mr. Walker lectures on "Double Refraction treated Mathematically." The practical work remains in the hands of the Professor, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Selby. Sir John Conroy, who has undertaken Mr. H. B. Dixon's work at Balliol and Trinity, lectures on "Elementary Electricity."

In the Chemical department Prof. Olling will lecture on the "Benzoic Compounds"; Mr. Fischer and Mr. Watts continue their systematic courses on "Inorganic" and "Organic Chemistry" respectively. Mr. C. J. Baker and Mr. Marsh assist in the laboratory teaching. In Mr. Vernon Harcourt's laboratory at Christ Church and in the Balliol Laboratory the usual work is to be carried on.

The arrangements in the department of Morphology have been somewhat disturbed by the appointment of Mr. Baldwin Spencer to the Biology Professorship at Melbourne. Prof. Moseley is to lecture on the "Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrata," and is to have Mr. G. C. Bourne as Ássistant Lecturer and Demonstrator. M. Barclay Thompson lectures on the "Osteology and Distribution of the Ichthyopsi la."

In the new Physiological Laboratory, Prof. Burdon Sanderson lectures on the "Physiology of the Nervous System," Mr. Dixey on "Histology," and Mr. Buckmaster gives an elementary course of Physiology for the newly-organised preli ninary examination. Practical instruction is given in Physiology by Mr. Gotch, in Histology by Mr. Dixey, and in Physiological Chemistry by Mr. Haldane.

Quite a number of men are beginning to read for the new Medical School. The dissecting-room is under the charge of Mr. Arthur Thomson, who lectures on the "Digestive System.'

Prof. Prestwich is to lecture chiefly on "Ternary and Quaternary Geology," including the Glacial period and questions relating to the antiquity of man. Prof. Westwood lectures on the "Arthropoda.'

At the Botanic Garden, Prof. Bayley Balfour lectures on "Vegetable Morphology and Physiology," and has both elementary and advanced instruction in practical Botany.

The Pitt-Rivers Anthropological Collection is now so far arranged that the formal opening will probably take place this term. All the cases on the ground floor of the new building have been arranged by Mr. Balfour. Dr. Tylor is to lecture on the "Development of Arts" as illustrated by the collection. Next week the annual examination for a Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship begins.

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS

Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, tome 9ème, 3ème fascic. 1886.—On the relations between the organs of touch and smell, by Dr. Fauvelle. In this paper the author considers the proposition advanced by M. Pozzi that the attitude of an animal is always in accord with the exercise of its predominant organ of sense. On this assumption the biped station would be the consequence of the predominance of vision over smell, and the attitude of quadrupeds the result of the relatively higher development of their sense of smell. In refutation of this view the writer argues that the relations between the organs of sight and smell in bipeds and quadrupeds are the result, rather than the cause, of their different stations, while he shows that wherever in the animal series the organs of sight would seem to

have lost their importance in proportion to the development of the sense of smell the latter is aided by delicate organs of touch situated on those parts of the body which form its anterior side when moving forward. Thus in the vertebrates all the organs of the senses are situated at the cephalic extremity of the body. On a woman with a tail. The case, reported by M. Melikoff, was observed by Dr. Eliséeff, of St. Petersburg, author of an interesting work on men with tails. According to the statement of the woman, who suffered great pain from her caudal appendage, a similar abnormality had been observed in several female members of her family, in all of whom it had appeared between the ages of 12 and 17 years. Dr. Eliséeff refers this formation to embryogenic causes, such as an arrest of development in the foetus, and observes that such cases are more frequent in males than in females, the latter, according to him, presenting a much more advanced corporeal development than men.-A case of double uterus, by Dr. Landowski. --On short-tailed dogs, by M. Duval.-Observations on the crania of several insane subjects, by M. Manouvrier. On the weight of Gambetta's brain, by M. Duval. This paper, and the discussion to which it gave rise, are especially interesting from the new light which they throw on the assumed relations between the large volume of the brain and intellectual capacity, the weight of Gambetta's being only 1160 grammes, or, according to M. Duval, 1246 after making all possible allowance for accidental diminution by faulty methods of preparation, while the mean for persons not gifted with more than ordinary intelligence is 1360 grammes.-On a new variation of the ossa wormiana, by M. Manouvrier.-A case of pilosity in a young Laotian girl, by Dr. Fauvelle.-On acclimatisation in reference to French colonisation, by Dr. Fauvelle.-On the anthropological characteristics of the Indo-Chinese peoples, by Dr. Maurel.-On the origin of the bronze and tin of prehistoric times, by Mme. Clemence Royer. The writer believes that Europe supplied the sources whence bronze implements were fabricated by early man, while M. Mortillet considers that both the material and the production of the weapons, ornaments, and other objects of this kind which belong to prehistoric times must be referred to In lia and the Far East. -Enumeration of the megalithic remains of Nièvre, by Dr. Jacquinot. The number of such remains in the whole of France, as certified by official inquiry, amounts to 6310, of which thirty-five belong to Nièvre. Among these special interest attaches to the horizontal slabs of Saint Agnan, which Dr. Jacquinot considers to have been altars for human sacrifices. -Summary of the answers given by New Caledonians to the interrogatories of the Society of Sociology and Ethnography, by M. Moncelon. These answers supply interesting materials for the ethnographic study of these races, and show the importance of following a definite plan in pursuing such inquiries.Anthropological observations of the Khmer tribes of Cambodia, by Dr. Maurel. The writer, who supplies numerous anthropometric measurements, believes that these peoples belong to the Mongolian group.

Rendiconti del Reale Istituto Lombardo, November 11, 1886. -Meteorological observations made at the Brera Observatory, Milan, during the months of August and September.

November 25.-Results of the experiments carried out at the experimental farm of the Royal Milanese School of Agriculture against the mildew of the grape-vine, by Prof. Gaetano Cantoni. Of the various methods of treatment here described, the prepara tion of a sulphate of copper dissolved in water in the proportion of three per thousand is shown to be the most efficacious. The analysis of the wines obtained from crops so treated shows that they usually contain a scarcely appreciable quantity of the copper.

Bulletin de l'Academie des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, tome xxi. No. 2.-Report on a memoir by M. Harzer on a special case of the problem of the three bodies, by O. Backlund. It is considered a most valuable work, being the first attempt to apply the method of Prof. Gyldén.-New transcription of the Castren's Koibal dictionary and Koibal poetry, made by M. Katanoff (who is himself of Sagai origin), from the Abakan, with a preface by W. Radloff.-Photometric researches on the diffusion of light, by O. Chwolson, being numerical data of new experiments mathematically treated.-Hydrological researches, xlv. to xlvii., by C. Schmidt.-Chemical analyses of water from lakes in Northwest Mongolia and in North Tibet.-On a differential equation, by B. Ichmenetzky.