twenty-six plates obtained between November 9, 1901, and March 23, 1905, with the No. iv. spectrograph and the 32.5 cm. refractor of the Potsdam Observatory.

The values obtained for the velocity, referred to the sun, vary between +5.3 km. (on November 9, 1901) and -16.9 km. (on December 11, 1902).

EARLY OBSERVATIONS OF EROS.-No. 10, vol. liii., of the Harvard College Observatory Annals contains the details of a number of observations of Eros made at Harvard from twenty-one photographs obtained during the period 1893 (October) to 1896 (June).

The measurements of these plates were published in Circular No. 51 of the observatory, but in the present publication the whole of the data relating to the plates, the original measurements of the photographs, the positions of the standard stars employed, reproductions of the photographs, and many other important matters are dealt with in great detail.

As this number forms the concluding part of vol. iii. of the Annals, several reproductions previously given in the text are now reproduced on plates in a much more satisfactory manner, and published as an appendix.

OBSERVATIONS OF SATELLITES IN 1904 AND 1905.-In No. 94 of the Lick Observatory Bulletins Prof. R. G. Aitken publishes the results of the observations of satellites made at Lick during 1904 and 1905.

Forty-seven observations of the satellites of Uranus were made, the position angle and distance of each object being referred to those of another satellite.

The second part of the publication refers to the observations of Saturn's satellites during 1905, which were, in some measure, a continuation of Prof. Hussey's work in previous years. Only those combinations most likely to improve our knowledge of the orbits of the inner satellites, i.e. Rhea with Dione, Tethys with Enceladus, and, as a check, Tethys with Rhea, were, however, measured. eclipses of Saturn's satellites were also observed.

Four

Observations of Jupiter's fifth satellite, made during 1904 and 1905, referring this object to the three inner satellites, form the subject of the concluding section of the Bulletin.

NEW VARIABLE STARS IN ORION.-From a study of the Heidelberg 6-inch plates, Prof. Max Wolf has discovered seven new variables in Orion.

Photomicrographic reproductions, through a microscope, of the regions containing the stars on the 6-inch plates are given, together with the positions and observed variations of the seven objects, in No. 4085 of the Astronomische Nachrichten.

RECENT ADVANCES IN SEISMOLOGY.1 THE most remarkable development in modern seismology is not the seismic survey of a city, or even of a country, but of the whole world. This branch of inquiry is now in active progress. Since the time of the great earthquake of Lisbon in 1755 it has been known that disturbances of the magnitude of that event, although not directly recognisable as earthquakes in regions distant from the origin, have nevertheless given evidence of commotion by causing the water in lakes and ponds to oscillate. By observing and timing the movements of the bubbles of sensitive levels, astronomers have recorded unfelt pulsatory movements of the ground which they showed to be the result of seismic disturbances in far distant countries. In Japan these unfelt movements have been automatically recorded since 1884 (Seis. Soc. Trans., vol. x., p. 6). They were recognised to have originated at a great distance, but the centres from which they sprang were not determined. Some years later, while seeking for a gravitational influence of the moon, the late Dr. E. von Rebeur-Paschwitz found on his records abnormal movements, several of which he traced to definite but very distant seismic centres. Before this, indeed, it had been predicted that a large earthquake occurring in any one part of the world would produce movements which, with proper instruments, would be recorded in any other part, but it was not until after von Rebeur's announcement that serious attention was directed to what

1 Abridged from the Bakerian Lecture delivered by Prof. John Milne, F.R.S., at the Royal Society on March 22.

2 See "Earthquakes," p. 226, International Scientific Series, 1883.

has proved to be a line of research open to workers in all countries. Many instruments have been designed to record these unfelt breathings of our earth, but there is still much uncertainty in the interpretation of all their records.

Observations also show that large earth-waves are from time to time propagated over the whole surface of the globe. These far-reaching commotions lead to the inference that their originating impulse must have been delivered over a large region. Harboe has shown that within a meizoseismic area blows of varying intensity have been struck A in quick succession at points long distances apart. district appears to have given way, not simply along the line of one large fault, but along many minor faults. Oldham estimated that the Assam earthquake of 1897 had been accompanied by the bodily displacement of 10,000 square miles of country along a thrust plane. If we interpret the time observations made in connection with this disturbance in the light of the suggestion made by Harboe, then this relief of seismic strain originated over an area of 500,000 square miles.

Although a large block of the earth's crust may thus be fractured, our knowledge of the depth to which the effects of fracturing descend is largely one of inference. From the observations hitherto published, which are now in progress at Przibram, it would seem that a seismogram obtained at a depth of 1150 metres differs but little from one obtained on the surface. This is contrary to observations on small earthquakes, which, although they may alarm the inhabitants of a town and shatter chimneys, may pass unnoticed in shallow mines.

The fact that the large earth-waves have what is practically a constant arcual velocity of approximately 3 km. per second, whether the path be across continents, over ocean floors, or over districts which vary greatly in their geological structure, suggests the idea that the crust of the earth is moved as a whole, and that under the influence of its own elasticity and gravity it behaves in a manner similar to a sheet of ice upon an ocean swell. An alternative view is to assume that the wave motion is due to energy retained within the crust itself, the heterogeneity of which is superficial. Whichever be the case, we may picture a crust yielding irregularly, and possibly through its total thickness, until it gives up its energy to a medium which transmits undulatory movements with uniform velocity.

Many hypotheses have been adduced which suggest thicknesses for the superficial covering of our globe. To these as an outcome of recent seismological research we may add one more. Preceding the large waves of a teleseismic disturbance we find preliminary tremors. These are apparently propagated through the body of the globe with an average speed along paths which are assumed to be chords at about 10 km. per second. This high and nearly constant rate of transmission, however, only obtains for paths which represent arcs greater than 30°. For chords which lie within a depth of thirty miles the recorded speeds do not exceed those which we should expect for waves of compression in rocky material. This, therefore, is a maximum depth at which we should look for materials having similar physical properties to those we see on the earth's surface. Beneath this limit the materials of the outer part of this planet appear rapidly to merge into a fairly homogeneous nucleus with a high rigidity. Following closely on the heels of the preliminary tremors, but in advance of the large undulations, a second phase of motion appears, the chordal velocity of which up to distances of 120° is approximately 6 km. per second. These are tentatively When these regarded as the outcrop of distortional waves. are better understood it may be expected that they also will play their part in shedding fresh light upon the physics of

the earth.

I will now turn to a consideration of the regions in which these sudden accelerations of geological change are in operation. They may be grouped as follows:Regions which lie on the western suboceanic frontier of the American and the eastern frontier of the Asiatic continents, and regions which lie on a band passing from the West Indies through the Mediterranean to the Himalayas. In addition to these there are two minor regions, one following the eastern suboceanic frontier of the African continent, which I have called the Malagasy region, and

an Antarctic region which lies to the south-west of New Zealand.

Generally it would appear that regions of instability are to be found along the margins of continents or tablelands which rise suddenly to considerable heights above oceanic or other plains.

At the present time we may, therefore, say that megaseismic disturbances do not occur anywhere, but only in districts with similar contours. Are we dealing with primitive troughs and ridges which are simply altering their dimensions under the continued influence of secular contraction, or do these reliefs of seismic strain represent iostatic adjustments which denudation and sedimentation demand?

These and other activities may be looked to as primal causes leading up to displays of pronounced seismic activity. Their frequency, however, may be dominated by influences which at certain seasons or times cause an increase or decrease in seismic strain.

In the wide variations in position and rapidity of flow of ocean currents and in measured oscillations of sea-level which appear to be seasonal in their recurrence, we see influences which may give rise to seismic frequency in districts that possess a high degree of seismic sensibility. Other causes affecting large areas, and also possibly the frequency of small or after-shocks in different seismic districts, have by Knott and others been sought for in the loads due to the accumulation of snow, and in the seasonal fluctuations in the direction of barometric gradients. It does not seem likely, however, that stresses due to such influences have any marked effect upon the frequency of those reliefs of seismic strain which shake the world.

The data which we possess bearing upon, this question are as yet far too meagre to admit of satisfactory analysis. It is, nevertheless, interesting to note the direction in which they point. In the six years ending in 1904 we find that off the west coast of North America fifty-one large earthquakes originated during the winter months (October to May) and thirty-five during the summer months. Off the east coast of Asia, north of the equator, the numbers for these seasons were forty-nine and forty-three. These numbers added together show that for the North Pacific, as a whole, 100 disturbances took place in winter and seventy-eight in summer, while in the Central Asian or Himalayan region the corresponding numbers are twentyfive and twenty-seven. Beneath an ocean, therefore, some indication has been obtained of seasonal seismic frequency, while on a continental surface no such frequency has yet been indicated.

If we take a chart showing the varying position of our earth's North Pole in relation to its mean position, we see that the secular movement of the pole is by no means always uniform. Although it may at times follow a path about its mean position which is approximately circular, at other times there are comparatively sharp changes in direction of motion which may even become retrograde. If now on a chart of this description we mark the timepositions of very large earthquakes, we find that they cluster round the sharper bends of the pole path.

In a period of nearly thirteen years (1802 to 1904) I find records for at least 750 world-shaking earthquakes, which may be referred to three periods continuous with each other, and each two-tenths of a year or seventy-three days' duration. The first period occurs when the pole movement followed an approximately straight line or curve of large radius, the second equal period when it was undergoing deflection or following a path of short radius, and the third when the movement was similar to that of the first period. The numbers of earthquakes in each of these periods taken in the order named were 211, 307, and 232, that is to say, during the period when the change in direction of motion has been comparatively rapid, the relief of seismic strain has not only been marked, but it has been localised along the junctions of land blocks and land plains where we should expect to find that the stress due to change in direction of motion was at a maximum. Until the magnitude of these induced stresses has been estimated, it would be premature to assume that the frequency under consideration is directly due to change in direction of pole movement, it being quite as likely that both phenomena may result from a general cause.

A world-shaking earthquake, wherever its motion is pronounced, gives rise to movements which may extend over three or four hours. They come to a close as a series of pulsations, each lasting a few minutes, and separated from each other oy approximately equal intervals of rest. The expiring efforts of an earthquake present something more akin to musical reverberation than to intermittent and irregular settlement of disjointed material.

If instead of studying the life-history of an earthquake as recorded at a given station, we compare the seismograms it has yielded at different distances from its origin, we learn something of the manner in which its energy has been radiated and dissipated. An earthquake which in the vicinity of its origin has a duration of sixty minutes may appear at its antipodes ninety or 100 minutes later as a feeble movement with a duration of only four or five minutes. From the time this movement has taken to travel the half circumference of the globe the inference may be drawn that the surviving phase of such an earthquake is that of the large waves. The compressional and distortional precursors, together with the rhythmical succession of followers, are no longer visible on seismograms. The importance of this knowledge to those who are engaged in the analysis of earthquake registers is apparent. The paucity of available data renders it premature to

make deductions respecting possible alternation in seismic frequency in various localities. But if, instead of confining our attention to a relationship between earthquakes, we consider the question of the relief of volcanic strain, many illustrations may be adduced which indicate a close connection between such activities. For example, all the known volcanic eruptions which have occurred in the Antilles, from the first which took place in 1692, have been heralded or closely accompanied by large earthquakes in that region, but more frequently by like disturbances in neighbouring rock-folds, particularly that of the Cordilleras. This was notably the case in 1902. On April 19 of that year an unusually large earthquake devastated cities in Guatemala. Small local shocks were felt in the West Indies, and on April 25 it was noticed that steam was escaping from the crater of the Mont Pelée, in Martinique. These activities continued to increase until May 8, when they terminated with terrific explosions, submarine disturbances, and the devastation of great portions of the islands of Martinique and St. Vincent.

The last illustration of hypogene relationship between these regions occurred on January 31 of the present year. On that date a heavy earthquake originated off the mouth of the Esmeralda River, in Colombia. Sea-waves inundated the coast, islands sank, and a volcano erupted. The news

papers of February 2 announced that cables between Jamaica and Puerto Rico had been interrupted, and on later dates it was reported that severe shocks had been felt among the West Indian islands, that six or seven submarine cables had been broken, and that Mont Pelée and La Soufrière, in St. Vincent, were again active.

In concluding this short discourse, I wish to direct attention to a class of phenomena from which the working seismologist cannot escape. At certain times horizontal pendulums may be fitfully moving continuously for hours or even days. Similar movements have often been noticed with balances and with other instruments. They are frequently referred to as microseismic disturbances. Inasmuch as they vary with varying meteorological conditions, and

may be different in neighbouring rooms, I am inclined to think that it would be more accurate to describe these unwelcome visitors, with which not only seismologists, but also astronomers and others, have to contend, as air tremors. When, however, these irregular movements are replaced by movements which have definite periods very different from those of the recording instrument itself, and are at the same time regular in amplitude, it seems possible that they may be connected with actual pulsatory motion of the surface of the ground.

In addition to tremors and pulsations, the records on the films from seismographs show that nearly at all times

with barometric loading. The quantity of water in wells and that flowing in drains and from springs has been observed to vary with fluctuations in atmospheric pressure. Where this takes place, subsurface operations are revealed which may be sufficient to give rise to changes in surface level. Very marked changes of level take place at certain stations during wet weather. In the Isle of Wight, at Shide, which is situated on the side of a valley cut through an anticline of chalk, when heavy rain occurs, levels and horizontal pendulums indicate a tilting towards the bed of the valley. An instrument on the opposite side of the valley behaves in a corresponding manner. In other words, if these observed movements can be regarded as extending to the bed of the valley, it may be said that with rain the steepness of each of its sides is increased. During fine weather the direction of movement is reversed. A more regular movement is, however, found in a tilting known as the diurnal wave. With the same assumption as to the extent of corresponding motion we find, but only during fine weather, that the direction of movement of the sides of the same valley during the night corresponds to that observed during wet weather. During the day it is the same as that which takes place during fine weather. For convenience we may regard the valley as opening and closing. Similar observations have been made on the two sides of a valley which has been cut through alluvium in Tokio.

Probably an important part in the production of these diurnal movements is played by the differential loading and unloading of neighbouring areas by solar influences. During wet weather, in virtue of subsurface percolation and lateral drainage generally, the sides and bottom of a valley where water-level is raised carry a greater load than the bounding ridges. Under these conditions the bottom of a valley may sag and its sides close inwards. During fine weather, in virtue of evaporation and drainage, a movement in the opposite direction may be established. The fine-weather diurnal movement corresponding to the opening of a valley may find a partial explanation in the removal of load by evaporation, but more particularly by plant-transpiration. These activities are more pronounced during the day than at night, and they tend to reduce subsurface percolation and drainage towards the bed of a valley. The comparatively small retrograde nocturnal movement may be partly attributed to an increase of valley load at night, at which time transpiration and evaporation are replaced by surface and subsurface condensation. Transpiration and evaporation being at a minimum at night, it may be assumed that lateral percolation and surface drainage towards the bed of a valley are increased, and, possibly as a consequence of this action, the volume of water in certain wells and that flowing in certain streams and drains has been found to be greater at night tham during the day.

Another activity which may result in a nocturnal increase

a slow change of level is taking place. For years a pier may be undergoing a tilt in one direction. Besides this general movement the instruments reveal the existence of waves that indicate a difference in the direction of movement in different seasons. Superimposed upon these again we find records of changes of level which may be associated with variations in the difference in loads on two sides of an observing station. When a horizontal pendulum swings towards the area of greatest atmospheric pressure it apparently indicates a change directly or indirectly connected

Scale 108 mm. =1 hour.

GERMAN CONGRESS OF EXPERIMENTAL

PSYCHOLOGY.

THE second congress of the German Society for Experimental Psychology took place on April 18-21 in the picturesque old town of Würzburg, partly at the old university and partly at the well-known psychological laboratury of Prof. Kulpe. Two visits were paid to Prof. Rieger's nerve hospital. The attendance amounted to nearly 200, and thus was even more numerous than at the first congress two years previously in Giessen. Prof. b. Muller was in the chair. Fewer papers were read! than before, but nevertheless they could with difficulty be got through in the three and a half days available, reading eight hours a day.

A new feature in this congress-and one that indicates the rapid growth and advancing specialisation of experimental psychology-was that several members of the society had been commissioned to make general reports (Sammelderate) on particular branches of research with which they were known to have an exhaustive acquaintance. Conspicuous among these reports was that of Külpe (Würzburg), on the general state of experimental æsthetics. In methods of experiment were grouped under three general heads, impression (Eindruck), formation (Herstellung), and expression (Ausdruck); each of these admitted of many further subdivisions. The interesting results communicated were mostly of American and very recent origin. In general, Külpe emphatically maintained that æsthetic alurs are not wholly of a subjective nature (Einfühlung, zustandlich, &c.), but are to some degree at least objective egenstandlich). The time was near, he said, when these experimental investigations would claim serious attention from botn art critics and artists.' Sommer (Giessen) gave very interesting report on psychiatry and individual psychology, tracing back the modern close union and wonderful development of these two sciences to ideas which are in the eighteenth century, as the natural sequel to the psychological researches of Descartes and, above all, Licze. The exccution of these ideas has only been delayed util now for want of adequate methods. Sommer indicated the essentials of good methods of psycho-pathological investigation, particularly insisting upon the necessity of a uniform system of tests, thoroughly tried in normal, border, and distinctly pathological cases. Weygandt (Würzburg) presented a full report on the psychological examination of weak-minded children. Krueger (Leipzig) reported on the relation between phonetics and psychology. In the course of an exhaustive and lucid exposition of the previous methods and results, he showed that hitherto attention had been almost exclusively confined to the bare morphoogical elements of speech, as represented by the letters of the alphabet. He himself had chiefly investigated how one ind the same syllable can be represented by very varying Sounds, according to nationality, emotion, or shade of maning; his graphic registrations of the modulations of soite as regards speed and pitch excited considerable interest aming the audience. On a subsequent day Krueger gave a practical demonstration of his ingenious apparatus for registering the vibrations of the larynx (Kehltonschreiber), designed by himself together with Wirth. Schumann (Zurich) gave a report on the psychology of reading. He described the remarkable success with which reading had been taught by whole words, instead of by single letters. A large portion of the paper dealt with tachistoscopy, and especially with the best means of exposing letters to view for very short periods of time; the difficulty is to prevent a persistent after-image, and the remedy recommended is to let the exposed letters be replaced, not by a blank surface, but by another arrangement of letters.

Turning to the exclusively original papers, a remarkable one was read by Stumpf (Berlin) on the "sensations of feeling" (Gefühlsempfindungen). The feeling (i.e. the pleasantness or unpleasantness) that characterises a sensa

tion

must be sharply distinguished, he finds, from the foling characterising intellectual states. The former may crareived in three ways: first, as a "feeling-tone " or mere quality of the sensation; secondly, as a peculiar element of consciousness, closely associated indeed with Kupe's paper will be somewhat amplified in the official account of the proceedings of the Congress. (Published by Barth, Leipzig.)

the sensation, but just as self-existent as the latter; and thirdly, as only another kind of sensation in addition to, and independent of, those of touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell. He expounded the grounds which had now at last compelled him to adopt the third alternative. The paper found warm appreciation, but very little acquiescence. Dürr (Würzburg) had, by means of reaction experiments, investigated voluntary action and association. These two had proved themselves perfectly different from one another; the former was either a making distinct (Verdeutlichung) or else a production (Produktionserfolg); the latter was a reproduction (Reproduktionserfolg). Further, his results were in flat contradiction to the popular theory that the ultimately victorious motive must be the one accompanied by the idea of greatest pleasure or least pain. At the same time, he attributed little causal importance to the consciousness of self (Ichbewusstsein). In harmony with his results was a notable experimental investigation of the will by Ach (Marburg). Here too reaction experiments were used, but cleverly devised so that the force of the will and that of association acted in direct opposition to one another. By this means the manifestations of the two forces could be vividly contrasted, and even subjected to a certain degree of measurement. Ach, like Dürr, finds the pleasure-pain theory to be totally discordant with actual observation. Bühler (Würzburg) discussed the experimental analysis of complicated processes of thought. Each of his observers had had to reply to a series of questions, and at the same time to observe carefully the mental process thereby involved. The result had been to corroborate the statement of Ach and Binet, that the real elements of thought are not faint presentations (verblasste Vorstellungen), but ideas (Bewusstheiten). Messer (Giessen), in his experimental psychological investigation of thought (again by means of reaction experiments), had been able to detect and observe the process of 'judgment as a specific conscious experience. He admitted that this was only possible under certain very favourable conditions, and to this cause he attributed the fact that the experiments of Marbe had resulted in a denial of any such specific experience.

Wirth (Leipzig) dealt with the distribution of attention in different senses (sight, sound, and touch). The allotted three-quarters of an hour barely sufficed for enumerating swiftly the chief features of his wonderfully skilful and complicated mechanical arrangements. Of his rich harvest of psychological results he had only time left to exhibit some numerical tables, showing that all parts of each sensory field presented a regular gradation of sensibility, the maximum of which lay wherever the attention happened to be focused. Fortunately, this research will very soon find more adequate expression in print (Psycholog. Studien, ii., 2). Unexpected results had been obtained by Specht (Leipzig) concerning the divergence of the relative and absolute thresholds of sensibility under the influence of alcohol; though the power of discriminating between two sounds of different intensity is much weakened by alcohol, the power of hearing a sound at all is actually increased by it. Rupp (Göttingen) had analysed (by reaction experiments) the localisation of touch stimuli on the fingers into two distinct processes: the localisation of the sensation in space, and its attribution to a particular finger. The former process was the quicker one. By means of certain unusual postures the two processes could be brought to give contradictory indications; thereupon the reaction-time was always lengthened, and sometimes the sensation was even attributed to the wrong finger. Linke (Naumburg) showed by his new stroboscopical experiments that stroboscopical effect is not wholly due to after-images, but also in large measure to causes of a more intellectual nature. The investigation by Veraguth (Zürich) of the galvanic psychophysical reflex had revealed that mental excitement has a marked effect on an electric current passing through any part of the body; but Sommer explained that these electric phenomena were of a secondary character, arising from changes of pressure and sweat-excretion. Marbe (Frankfort) exhibited an ingenious, practical, and comparatively inexpensive experimental arrangement for brief optical stimuli; a ray of light of any desired briefness, intensity, or colour is projected beside another similar but continuant ray. Ebbing

haus demonstrated his new, but already widely adopted, fall apparatus for the control of chronoscopes and other timemeasuring instruments (for full description, see Zeitschr. f. Psychologie, xxx., 292). Several other apparatus were exhibited, but unfortunately not in such rich variety as at Giessen.

The other papers were those of Jerusalem (Vienna), on remembering and forgetting; Witasek (Gratz), on the methodics of measuring memory; Pfeiffer (Würzburg), on a method of determining qualitative types in school-work; Lipmann (Berlin), on the effect of suggestive questions; Asher (Bern), on the law of the specific energies of the senses; Detlessen (Wismar), on colour-values and colour-measurement; Hughes (Soden), on single affective states; Schultze (Würzburg), on accentual effects (Wirkungsakzente); Decroly (Brussels), on anthropometrical and psychological tests for children; v. Aster (Munich), on the third dimension of the spatial presentation (visual); and Kobylecki (Cracow), on psychological experiment without introspection.

On the whole, the congress showed itself strongly influenced by the universal and increasing reaction against the materialistic atomism of the early days of experimental psychology. The admission is ever gaining ground, that consciousness is something more than a mechanically changing conglomeration of sensations and feelings in varying quality, intensity and complication.

The earnest scientific tone and strict attention to business which had so favourably distinguished the Giessen congress from the international ones was on the present occasion even more marked. The members allowed themselves no relaxation until after the close of the proceedings, when a general picnic was made to the beautiful Veitshöchheim "Pleasure Palace" of the former Prince

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD. The University Alembic Club celebrated its hundredth meeting on Saturday, April 28, by holding a dinner in the banqueting room of the Town Hall. The professor of chemistry, the Lee reader, and the Aldrichian demonstrator were present. All the past-presidents of the club and a number of old members attended.

The 283rd meeting of the Junior Scientific Club was held on Friday, May 4, when papers were read on "Bubbles and Emulsions, by Dr. W. Ramsden, and "Who were the Greeks?" by Mr. J. L. Myres.

CAMBRIDGE.-The council of the Senate has nominated Prof. Woodhead, Mr. A. Sedgwick, and Mr. A. E. Shipley, and the special board for biology and geology has nominated Prof. Langley, Mr. J. J. Lister, and Mr. F. F. Blackman, to be members of the board of managers of the Quick fund. The election to the Quick professorship of protozoology rests with the board of managers, who will also control the expenditure of the income derived from the bequest of the late Frederick James Quick.

Mr. F. G. Hopkins, of Emmanuel College, and Mr. W. M. Fletcher, of Trinity College, have been elected examiners to the Gedge prize in physiology.

It is arranged that the voting on the proposals of the Studies and Examination Syndicate with reference to the doing away with compulsory Greek for mathematical and natural science students will take place on the afternoons of Friday, May 25, and Saturday, May 26.

Prof. Macalister, Prof. Langley, and Dr. Hill have published a time-table of courses in human anatomy, physi

C. SPEARMAN.

THE MILAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. THE Milan exhibition, which was opened in state by the King and Queen of Italy on April 28, is still far from complete. The reason for its unfinished condition is to be found in the increased scope of the exhibition. As originally planned, it was intended to commemorate the opening of the Simplon Tunnel by confining the exhibition to a display of progress in transport by land and water. Gradually other branches of industry were added, and support has been accorded by the leading European countries, France predominating with an area of 250,000 square feet. Austria follows with 180,000 square feet, Germany with 160,000 square feet, Belgium with 108,000 square feet, Great Britain with 75,000 square feet, and Hungary with 32,000 square feet. The exhibition covers an area of 400 acres, of which more than half is covered by buildings of a decorative character. Italian exhibitors occupy about one-half of the space, and the exhibits afford striking evidence of the remarkable industrial progress that has been made in Italy of late years. Altogether the exhibition is exceptionally attractive from a popular and a business point of view, whilst from a technical point of view its chief interest is due to the fact that it is the first international exhibition in which electricity has been used for driving the machinery shown in operation.

Of the exhibits of scientific interest, the most interesting are those of the Italian Admiralty. The methods employed in the preparation of charts and the manufacture of torpedoes are well shown. The retrospective exhibition associated with the transportation section is also of great interest. The early history of navigation and of steam transport is illustrated in an admirable manner. Exhibits of historical interest are contributed by the Board of Education, the Corporation of London, Lloyd's Register, the Institutions of Civil and Mechanical Engineers, and the Iron and Steel Institute.

In the various international sections valuable prizes are offered by the King of Italy. They include 400l. for the best exhibit of machinery, 400l. for the best type of workman's dwelling, 400l. for the best flying machine, 40ol. for the best motor omnibus, 200l. for automatic railway couplings, 2001. for the best method of testing high-voltage electric currents, 200l. for motor-boats, and 200l. for the best motor-plough.

beginning on July 4.

In addition to the ordinary classes in general pathology and pharmacology to be given at the New Medical Schools during the long vacation, the series of shorter courses dealing with more advanced work will be repeated this year. These courses are open to medical men and senior students only.

A COURSE of seven lectures on "The Morphology of the Bryophyta " was commenced by Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S., at the Chelsea Physic Garden on Tuesday, May 8. Admission is free by ticket, obtainable on application to the Academic Registrar of the University of London.

A COURSE of eight lectures on the "Structure and Functions of the Central Nervous System," with special reference to the brain stem, will be commenced in the physiology department of University College, London, by Dr. W. Page May, on Wednesday, May 16. The lectures are open to all students of the University of London, also to qualified medical men on presentation of their cards.

THE following benefactions to higher education in the United States are announced in Science :-The University of California has received a gift of 20,000l. from the widow of the late Judge John H. Boalt. Mr. Andrew Carnegie has offered 8000l. to Denison University for a new library building on condition that a like sum is secured elsewhere for the endowment of the library. Through the generosity of Mr. Robert S. Brookings and Mr. Adolphus Busch, the medical department of Washington University (St. Louis) has received a gift of 10,000l.

AN earnest and well-informed plea for the provision of more adequate funds for the University of Cambridge is made in the current number of the Quarterly Review. Though it is a mistake to suppose that the flow of benefactions to the old universities has ceased entirely, the fact remains that Cambridge has twice appealed, once in 1898 and again in 1904, for help to meet her responsibilities. It is alleged that the demands of science have emptied the University chest, and yet there is a popular belief that the university of Newton and Charles Darwin, of Maxwell and Rayleigh, is still shrouded in mediæval shadow. When it is remembered that the expenditure on buildings devoted to science alone since 1862 must have exceeded 300,000l., and that other great expenses have been incurred in the same direction, it is not difficult to understand that it has been done only with external help, and that unless more