82 NEWS [JANUARY 



has been demonstrator and lecturer at Oxford ; and Mr. W. Baldwin Spencer, 

 formerly demonstrator to Prof. Moseley and now professor of zoology at 

 Melbourne. The last mentioned is now visiting "the old country." The field, 

 it will be seen, is a strong one. 



Prof. Ch. Deperet has been elected a member of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, in the Section of Mineralogy, in succession to the late N. A. Pomel. 



The Special Board for Biology and Geology of Cambridge University, has 

 adjudged the Walsingham Medal for 1898 to J. Graham Kerr, B.A., Fellow of 

 Christ's, for his essay entitled " Notes upon a Research into the Life-History of 

 Lepidosiren." Proxime accessit : A. C. Hill, B.A., Trinity, for his essay 

 entitled : " Enzymes and Assimilation." 



Dr. O. Seydel, lecturer on Osteology at Amsterdam University, has resigned 

 and returned to Germany. 



Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. — Isaac Bayley Balfour, 

 M.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh ; 

 Leonard Dobbin, Ph.D., Lecturer on Chemical Theory in the University of 

 Edinburgh; Alexander Davidson, Montrose; James Laidlaw Ewing, J. P., Edin- 

 burgh ; James Jack, F.L.S., Arbroath ; George Lunan, Edinburgh ; Thomas 

 Maben, Hawick ; and John Nesbit, Portobello, have been appointed members of 

 the Board of Examiners for Scotland for 1899, under the provisions of the 

 Pharmacy Acts, 1852 and 1868. 



As a result of the litigation consequent on the Nobel bequest, a compromise 

 has been effected by which the relatives of the deceased will receive about 

 £211,000, while a sum of nearly £1,400,000 remains for the prizes. The 

 interest on this will make five annual prizes of £8300 each. The subjects of 

 the prizes are given in Natural Science for February 1897, vol. x. p. 139. 



The subject of the first competition for the Nansen prize is some original 

 research in embryology. The prize, which amounts to about £83, will be 

 awarded at the annual meeting of the Christiania Academy of Science, on 

 May 3, 1900. 



The scientific staff proposed for the University of Birmingham, which is 

 intended to absorb and expand the Mason College, includes professors of mathe- 

 matics, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, zoology, botany, geology and physio- 

 graphy, mining, engineering, anatomy, physiology, bacteriology, and the usual 

 medical subjects. In most cases there is to be a lectureship associated with 

 each professorship. Mr. Chamberlain insisted at the preliminary meeting in 

 November that a provincial University should be in some sense distinctive, 

 " redolent of the soil and inspired by the associations in which it exists," and 

 while recognising the prestige of the medical school and the necessity for giving 

 science a prominent place, maintained that the special feature to be developed 

 should be an organised commercial education. Another of his conclusions will 

 also command sympathy — " that no University will be anything in which the 

 teaching staff is insufficient or is starved." 



A hearty response has been given to Lord Kitchener's appeal for £100,000 

 to found a college at Khartoum as a memorial to General Gordon. But con- 

 sidering the enthusiasm of the public and the amount of idle money in the 

 country, it seems surprising that the money was not at once subscribed many 

 times over. The nobler aspect of the temper of the hour was well expressed in 

 Mr. Rawnsley's "Farewell to Lord Kitchener," in The Outlook of Dec. 10. 



Under the bequest of the late A. W. G. Allen, the General Board of Studies 

 of Cambridge University proposes to establish a research studentship of the 

 value of £250, tenable for one year, and allotted alternately for scientific and 

 for literary study. 



