SYNOPSIS OF LECTURES IN THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM, OXFORD,

The University Laboratory is open daily from 10 A.M. tɔ 4 P.M.

Classes are formed for practical instruction in Anatomy and Physiology. Gentlemen who join these Classes come to the Lecture on Saturday, and also attend on two other days in the week for study and demonstration.

Dr. Beale will give Demonstrations in Histology on Tuesday, January 26, at 8 P.M., and on following Tuesdays, at the same hour.

Mr. Chapman will continue his Course of Lectures on Physiology.

Mr. Wyndham will continue his Course of Lectures on Chemistry in Merton College.

J. PHILLIPS, Keeper of the Museum.

Passing on to the sister University, some of our readers have unfortunately been led by Dr. Lankester's article to think that the two lectureships named by him, as having been recently established, are the only chairs in natural science in the University; but this impression is not correct. At Cambridge there are professorships of physic, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, and experimental philosophy, anatomy, botany, geology, a second of astronomy, geometry, medicine, natural and experimental philosophy, mineralogy, and archæology; and examinations in all those subjects, as well as in mechanical and applied science.

Of London University it is hardly necessary to speak. Its numerous scholarships and its degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Science have done as much, perhaps more than any institution. in the world, for the promotion of scientific education. Nor must the large public schools and colleges in London and the provinces which are connected with it be overlooked. Of these it is only necessary to mention University and King's Colleges, London; Owen's College, at Manchester; Queen's Colleges, at Birmingham and Liverpool, to remind our readers that great efforts are made to provide scientific instruction for those who seek it.

The Scotch Universities have not been idle. One of our correspondents, who complains that justice has not been done to Edin

burgh University, sends us the following details, to which we gladly give publicity:

"Systematic instruction in botany, chemistry, natural history (in which are included zoology, geology, mineralogy, physical geography, and meteorology), natural philosophy, including optics, heat, electricity, magnetism, hydrostatics, and mechanics, has for a very long period been imparted in the University of Edinburgh. The chair of botany was founded in 1676, that of chemistry in 1713, and that of natural history in 1767; the chair of natural history is also old-established. The instruction imparted from these chairs is not merely in the form of lectures; but laboratories, museums, and a botanic garden are provided for the practical instruction of the students. The students attending botany, chemistry, and natural history are, to a considerable extent, medical, but a very fair proportion of general students participate in the instruction. Attendance in the class of natural philosophy is imperative on all candidates for the degree in Arts conferred by the University, but many students who have no intention of proceeding to the Arts degree also attend. Candidates for honours in the faculty of Arts can, if they choose, present themselves for examination in geology, zoology, chemistry, and botany.

"The University also confers the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Science. Candidates are examined in botany, chemistry, zoology, geology, natural philosophy, and mathematics. Through the liberality of Sir D. Baxter, scholarships in the natural and physical sciences have been founded."

Speaking of other Scottish institutions, our correspondent goes on to say that in Glasgow and Aberdeen there are corresponding chairs in the biological and physical sciences; and he also forwards us a programme of the course of science-teaching in the High School at Edinburgh, which embraces chemistry, natural philosophy, zoology, and botany.

Turning now to Ireland, from whence, too, an admonition has reached us, we believe we can safely say that whilst the Universities (Dublin and Queen's) do all they can to set a good example, nothing is done by the public schools.

At Dublin, moderatorships in experimental science were first given in 1851, the course consisting of physics, chemistry, and mineralogy. Subsequently geology was introduced, and in 1858 zoology and botany were added; and the name of the moderatorships changed to "Experimental and Natural Science."

There are professorships of mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, zoology, botany, civil engineering, geology, applied science, and mineralogy; to these, museums of natural philosophy, zoology, and archæology, anatomy, engineering models, and botany are made subservient.

At the Queen's University, science is largely cultivated, and there are professorships of natural philosophy, chemistry, natural history, geology and mineralogy, anatomy and physiology, and engineering; scholarships are awarded in science, and a special diploma for engineering.

Thus it will be seen that in all our large Universities ample provision is made for science-teaching, and it is greatly to be feared that the reason why this branch of human intelligence has not been hitherto more largely cultivated there, is not so much on account of the indisposition of the College authorities to afford instruction, as to the unwillingness of the students to receive it.

The late respected Dr. Daubeny wrote to the writer of this article some time before his death, expressing his regret that more encouragement is not given to the study of science by the middle classes. A demy-ship in natural science at Magdalen College, he said, was literally going a-begging, and the writer was asked whether he could recommend a candidate. One reason for this indifference-probably the chief one-was soon made apparent when the attempt was made to comply with the Doctor's wishes. "What am I to do for a living, after I have completed my studies?" asked one young man. And this question contained the solution of the mystery-science does not pay. The great prizes are to be found at the Bar, or in the career of a statesman, and unfortunately scientific knowledge is not yet appreciated in those professions.

But why the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge should withhold honour where there is no profit; should offer facilities for instruction and yet deny the student the reward of merit, is a mystery. The sooner they encourage the pursuit of science by conferring degrees for its proficiency, and thus making it at least an honourable profession, the better it will be both for the teacher and the taught. We trust the day is not far distant when the example of the Universities of London and Edinburgh will, in this respect, be followed by the older Universities, which should rather lead than follow in every intellectual movement of the day.

IV. THE MINERALOGICAL RESOURCES OF IRELAND. As compared with either England or Scotland, the mineral resources of Ireland are limited in extent, and not very rich in kind. Of several species of rocks and formations, which are of economic value, there is indeed an abundance. Ireland can produce the noblest specimens of granite, serpentine and marble, and prodigious quantities of limestone, chalk, and other massive rocks; but when we

come to consider the extent and nature of her resources in coal or iron, we cannot but feel that she labours under disadvantages which go far to explain the causes of the comparative impoverishment and the almost purely agricultural habits of her population.

Without large supplies of coal and iron, especially the former, it is needless to say that no country can take a foremost rank in those arts and manufactures which are the sinews, not only of war, but of peace. And notwithstanding the deficiency in these commodities, from which Ireland suffers, it is highly to the credit of the inhabitants of Ulster that in one branch of manufacture-the linen trade-this province has no superior, scarcely a rival. This branch of manufacture, introduced by the Protestant refugees from France, is carried on by the aid of imported coal and native-grown flax, and has been the means of making the town of Belfast the second in importance only to Dublin, and amongst the most thriving, spirited, and industrious centres of industry in the British empire.

But notwithstanding several successful attempts in Belfast, Dublin, and elsewhere, to compete with the sister-country in engineering, ship-building, and iron manufacture, Ireland is, and must ever be, an agricultural and pastoral country. For this she is peculiarly adapted by the genial character of the climate and the richness of the soil; for any other she is disqualified. We look in vain for those vast deposits of coal, or those stores of iron ore, with which England and Scotland have been so richly endowed, and from which they derive such solid advantages. Nature has, we think, dealt hardly by the sister-isle; for we have very good evidence for believing, on geological grounds, that the coal-fields of Ireland must have been, at some distant period, proportionably greater, as regards the area of the country, than those of Britain. This assertion may startle some persons who are not versed in the process of inductive reasoning on geological principles; and, for their sake, we shall shortly state the grounds upon which we base this conclusion.

If we examine the coal-fields of England, we shall find that, with few exceptions, their lowest strata repose upon a basis of Carboniferous limestone. Whether we examine the coal-bearing tracts of South Wales, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire on the south, or of North Wales, Lancashire, Cumberland, &c., on the north, we find layers of this limestone supporting strata of shale, sandstone, and grit, which become more carboniferous as we ascend in the series; and ultimately pass up into the series of strata which, on account of their most important feature, are denominated "Coalmeasures." Now, throughout this series of strata we observe a gradual change from the calcareous beds at the base to the coalbearing shales and sandstones of the upper part; the limestones near their junction with the Millstone grit and Yoredale beds

becoming gradually more earthy, and being split into separate layers by the intercalation of shales and sandstones. Throughout the whole series, amounting vertically to several thousands of feet of strata, there is no abrupt change, or break, in the succession of the beds of any importance; a fact which should be borne in mind, because on it depends much of the strength of our reasoning from analogy when we come to the case of Ireland.

Now, reverting to this country, what do we find? We find the very same succession of strata, from the base upwards, through a certain distance in the vertical scale, but no farther. We may observe the Carboniferous limestone-the basement layer of the coal-bearing superstructure in Britain-spread over an enormous tract of country, and forming nearly the whole of the central plain of Ireland; and resting on this, at intervals, we have small tracts of strata, with a few thin seams of coal, representing the Millstone grit and Yoredale series of England and Wales; but here the succession ends. We look in vain for the deposits of coal-bearing strata -or true Coal-measures-which in Britain are the repositories of the most important beds of mineral fuel.

To account for this want-this truncation, in fact, of the most economically important portion of the great Carboniferous formation in Ireland-the geologist has a theory which is intelligible and consistent with experience as obtained in some parts of Britain itself. Our readers are probably familiar with the tracts of hilly ground in parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, called "the Penine Chain," which separate like a "backbone" the coal-fields of Lancashire and Cheshire on the one hand from those of Derbyshire and Yorkshire on the other. These hills are composed of Carboniferous limestone and Millstone grit, the basement series of the Coal-measures; and no one familiar with the similarity of the strata on either side of this dividing ridge can doubt for a moment that the strata of which the ridge is formed were originally overspread by deposits of coalbearing strata. Equally certain is it, that a large portion of the Carboniferous limestone of the central plain of Ireland was once overlaid by coal deposits; but they are gone, as are those of the Penine Chain in Derbyshire; and in both cases they have disappeared through the agency of "denudation," a term by which we express the removal of masses of strata, by the agency of rivers, seas, and other forms of water at distant periods of the earth's history.

Denudation, then, has despoiled Ireland of her mineral resources, and for all time has moulded the character of her inhabitants. Who can say, how different might have been her history had an abundance of mineral wealth stimulated the natural genius of her sons, and rendered her the centre of mining and manufacturing industries!

From these speculations let us now turn to the consideration of