Vines has now succeeded in obtaining similar results from one of the higher flowering plants. He found an extract in a solution of common salt of the seeds of the blue lupin (Lupinus varius), to contain the proteids belonging to the group of globulins, and hitherto known only to occur to animals. One of them is myosin, a constituent of dead muscle, and the other is vitellin, a constituent of the yolk of egg. Both vegetable vitellin and vegetable myosin were found to have the same reactions as the animal substances

of the same name. An aqueous extract of the same seeds contained another proteid compound, having all the properties of an easily decomposable peptone formed in the animal body by the action of the gastric or pancreatic juice on proteids.

:

Function of the Chlorophyll in Green Planaria.-Chlorophyll, the substance which gives the green colour to plants, is found also in animals belonging to very diverse groups. Among these are the green worms of the Planaria family, on which Mr. P. Geddes has been lately experimenting with a view of ascertaining what is the function of the chlorophyll which they contain. He seems to have succeeded in proving that the chlorophyll of the worms is physiologically identical with plant chlorophyll that is, it has the power of decomposing carbonic acid. A number of these Planaria when placed in water and exposed to direct sunlight, gave off bubbles of gas containing from 40 to 55 per cent. of oxygen: enough to re-kindle a glowing taper; further experiments with potash showed that the gas contained scarcely any carbonic acid. The habits of the animals correspond with this; they are found on the sea-shore exposed fully to the sunlight, and covered with an inch or two of water. Light is so essential to their existence, that when kept in the dark they soon die. By treating the worms with alcohol, Mr. Geddes dissolved out the chlorophyll which they contained, and on adding iodine to an aqueous extract of the bleached and coagulated residue, he obtained the blue colour, disappearing by heat, and appearing again on cooling, which is so characteristic of the distinctly vegetable substance, starch. The physiological processes of these animals appear to produce not only chlorophyll, but starch, both of which are products of the action of vegetable life. The whole investigation of Geddes shows how nearly the chemical processes in some kinds of animals approach to those of plants. As he himself says:-"The Drosera and Dionea have received the name of Carnivorous Plants; with equal reason these Planarians may be called Vegetating Animals." J. F. ISELIN.

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THE MUSIC OF THE YEAR 1879.

MOVEMENT in the world of music, as in every other art, must be judged rather by general evidences of progress or retrogression than by any particular and specific achievements, for just as a few great pictures which have a constant crowd of admirers at Burlington House form no guarantee of the general excellence of the exhibition of the year, or of the character of the average work of our painters, so the success of a new composition here and there, even when it is really excellent, may only serve to show that the general standard of the year has been falling rather than rising. In England, during 1879, the novelties in any branch of the art have, unfortunately, been few and far between, and we are thus compelled to look for the indications which any marked change of the public taste, or any movement in the way of musical education, may afford to guide us in our endeavour to put an approximate value upon the work of the twelve months. Looked at thus broadly, it will be found that the year will bear inspection, and that its movement, where any has taken place, has been in the right direction.

Taking first the educational work of the year, we find that the Government has given a decided proof of its desire to promote the instruction of the people in sight-singing by authorising Dr. John Hullah, Her Majesty's Inspector of the Training Colleges in Music, to proceed to the Continent to report as to the system best calculated to secure the desired result. Dr. Hullah, whose name has been connected with popular musical education in England since the days when, under the sanction of the Committee of Council, he commenced his sight-singing classes on the Wilhem method, with what is technically known as the Old Notation and the fixed Do, is understood to be in favour of the Dutch plan of teaching, which is based on the accepted staff notation with the use of numbers for the purposes of Sol-faing. The main point is, however, that some definite musical instruction shall be given in our elementary schools as a condition for the receipt of the grant already paid for singing by ear, and, as Lord George Hamilton has practically pledged the Government to the adoption of this course, there is some ground to hope that good work will ultimately be accomplished. The examination in music, conducted by Dr. Hullah and his assistants in the training colleges, has already given an impetus to the musical educa

tion of the pupil teachers, who will, on the conclusion of their training college course, become the masters and mistresses on whom the instruction of the children will depend, and if Dr. Hullah's suggestion for the extension to the schools of the inspection by competent musicians now practised in the colleges, referred to in the "Companion" for 1878, is carried out, it will be possible to secure results in music, as a condition of payment, which have long been obtained in all other subjects. In the higher grades of musical education the Royal Academy and the South Kensington Training School still continue to work separately, although a proposal for the union of the two institutions has been under the discussion of a committee presided over by Prince Christian during the year. This committee consists almost exclusively of persons who are favourable to the amalgamation, but there is good reason to believe that the authorities of the Academy will maintain their policy of independence, and will refuse to consent to a union the benefits of which would, as far as can be seen, be entirely confined to the new institution. Why the directors of the Royal Academy should be solicited to consent to what would, as far as they are concerned, resolve itself into a scheme of absorption, it is difficult to see, and although theoretically it may be desirable that England should possess a national music school drawing a subsidy from the State, no logical reason can be given for the immolation of an Academy which has for a long period formed the only training school for the profession, and which has given us some of the most eminent of our native artists. As the five years for which many of the scholarships at South Kensington were endowed have nearly slipped away, the desire of the managers to secure permanence for the school by amalgamation with the Academy is perfectly intelligible, but this struggle for existence forms no adequate reason for the virtual extinction of an institution which, without the adventitious assistance accorded to its rival, has done real work under many disadvantages, and which has, in Dr. G. A. Macfarren, one of the ablest of English professors and composers for its head. If the proposed union ever takes place, there ought to be a far greater disposition than has hitherto been shown to give the Academy the advantages to which it is fairly entitled. As at present planned, the scheme would amount to little more than the incorporation of the Academy in the Kensington School, whose income would be materially increased by its endowments, Trinity College, London, is con

tinuing its useful work, and has examined at various local centres 3,073 candidates, to whom certificates have been furnished. The importance of the stimulus thus given to musical education in public and private schools can scarcely be overestimated, while at the College House in London students have received regular instruction. The Council of the College of Organists have just decided to enlarge their operations, in order to supply courses of lectures and classes for students on a more extended scale than has hitherto been attempted, and thus another new centre for students will be available.

The last session of the Musical Association was fruitful in papers which came fairly within the scope of the Society-the nvestigation and discussion of subjects connected with the art and science of music. Among topics of the latter class, Mr. Shelford Bidwell, M.A., LL.B., gave an exhaustive account of the telephone, microphone, and phonograph; and Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., described a scheme, which he declared to be perfectly practicable, of determining absolute pitch by the notes of a harmonium. Combining both the science and the art of music in a paper of exceptional interest, Mr. Ebenezer Prout, B.A., reviewed the growth of the modern orchestra during the past century, commencing with the opera orchestra directed by Hasse of Dresden in 1754, and leading up to the present band. The relative proportion of the strings to each other in Hasse's staff of players was nearly the same as at the present day, the main distinction lying in the preponderance of oboes and bassoons, which was, however, to be explained by the fact that the parts for these instruments were doubled. Mr. Prout then described the orchestra used by Haydn, so often called its “father;" the novel combinations of Mozart, especially seen in his treatment of small and incomplete orchestras; the grand effects produced by Beethoven, who perfected the orchestra by his plan of individualising every instrument in a way never before attempted by his predecessors, and by his original and vigorous treatment of the brass; the characteristic colouring of Mendelssohn, whose moderation in the use of the brass members of the orchestral family was commended to the notice of students; and, lastly, the strange effects of Wagner, often recalling the instrumentation of the 16th and 17th centuries, by the employment of families of instruments alone; while, by way of moral to his interesting tale, Mr. Prout condemned the modern tendency in favour of noise, and the too prevalent abuse of brass and per

cussion instruments. Still more popular in style was Mr. G. A. Osborne's happy and genial reminiscence of Berlioz; and then, returning to graver matters, the President of the Association, the Rev. Sir F. A. Gore Ouseley, Bart., read a learned paper "On the early Italian and Spanish Treatises on Counterpoint and Harmony." The other subjects treated during the session were "The Construction of Buildings, considered with reference to Sound," by Mr. C. G. Saunders; "Beats and Combination Tones," by Dr. W. Spottiswoode, President of the Royal Society; and "Form in Musical Composition," by Mr. C. E. Stephens, who avowed himself a champion of form, as exemplified in the works of Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but which there had of late years been a disposition among certain of our continental neighbours to ignore. The element of discussion at the Association's meetings was more noticeable than in previous sessions, among the members taking part in the proceedings, in addition to the readers of papers, being Dr. Stainer, Dr. Bridge, Mr. W. Chappell, F.S.A., Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, Professor G. A. Macfarren, and Mr. Bosanquet. As it is only by free and full discussion that the true objects of the Association can be attained, it is satisfactory to find a greater disposition on the part of the most eminent of the members to contribute in this way to the business of the meetings. Mr. James Higgs, Mus. Bac. Oxon., has succeeded Mr. Charles K. Salaman as hon. secretary to the Association.

In the music of the church it cannot be said that there is any progress discernible; in fact, the activity which has been so noticeable of late years seems to have resulted in some respects in actual deterioration; the secret of this failure to profit by the unquestionable increase in earnestness of effort, which the clergy, organists, choirmasters, and choirs have alike displayed, is to be found in the absence of any adequate directing influence, the uncontrolled energy of the ill-educated musician having not unfrequently resulted in the overloading of services with musical ornament, to the utter weariness of congregations and the development of a most unwholesome spirit among choirs, who have come to regard themselves as masters of the situation, as indeed they too often are. The increased musical force available has demanded room for its exercise, and this has not unfrequently been granted at the expense not merely of ecclesiastical and artistic propriety, but of the ears of the people who are not only robbed of their proper share in musical worship, but are con