396 NATURAL SCIENCE. May. 



specimens, chairs, and the services of an attendant, it is to be hoped that the general 

 pubUc will benefit by this innovation, and that the A.W.P.L. will not be the only 

 body to secure a commission on the receipts. 



The Museums Association meet this year in Dublin during the last week in 

 June, under the presidency of Dr. Valentine Ball, C.B., F.R.S. There is every 

 promise of a successful meeting, as a strong local committee has been formed in 

 Dublin, and we note that the council invite the attendance of members of Museum 

 committees as well as curators. P'urther information may be obtained from H. M. 

 Platnauer, Museum, York, or E. Howarth, Museum, Sheffield. 



The Rutherford College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, which may be described, in the 

 words of Lord Armstrong, as " a cheap working-man's college, designed chiefly for 

 useful technical education, but intended, also, for the advancement of all pupils of 

 excessive ability who aspire to professional life or to the attainment of academical 

 honours," was formally opened by the Duke of York on April 5. This College, 

 which is raised as a monument to the late Dr. J. H. Rutherford, who did so much 

 for education among the masses, provides accommodation for 2,000 students. The 

 Trustees have established some 30 scholarships, tenable for three years, ranging 

 from £g to £15 a year, and also an exhibition of £50 a year to the University of 

 Cambridge. The building contains fine art, physical, chemical, biological, metal- 

 lurgical, and engineering departments, with workshops, lecture theatre, library, and 

 reading-room. The College is affiliated to London University, and associated with 

 the Science and Art Department at South Kensington. A tower at one end of the 

 building will be utilised as an astronomical observatory. 



The date of the Robert Boyle lecture at Oxford is now definitely fixed^ for 

 May 8. Professor Alexander Macalister's subject, "Some Points of Morpho- 

 logical Interest in Human Variations," is much "on the moment," as the newest 

 journalism phrases it. At the conversazione of the Junior Scientific Club, on 

 May 22, Captain Lugard will speak. We thought, by the way, the Robert Boyle 

 lecture had been founded to remove lectures from the conversazione. Professor 

 August Weismann, who is to deliver this year's Romanes lecture, arrived in England 

 on April 10. 



The Summer Educational Plans of Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, contain the 

 following alterations in the lecture list that we published last February (p. 156). 

 Dr. Fison's subject is now " Light Waves and the Ether," while Mr. Parkyn talks on 

 " The Tissues of the Body." On April 27, Mr. C. G. Moor begins a short course on 

 " The Chemistry of Common Life," with practical laboratory classes. Dr. A. S. 

 Gubb now takes a Sunday class in Physiology. The Natural History Society 

 announces several excursions ; its evening meetings are on the first Monday of each 

 month. 



The London Amateur Scientific Society appears to have ceased publishing, but 

 in the form of meetings at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, its activity still 

 continues. The secretary is Mr. S. Pace, 252 Fulham Road. Papers have lately 

 been read, "On the Ascent of Water in Trees," by L. A Boodle; "On the 

 Occurrence of Gold in Eruptive Rocks from South Africa," by G. Holbrook ; and 

 " Some facts about Parasitism and kindred Phenomena in Plants," by Jesse Reeves. 

 On April 27, F. A. Bather is announced to discuss the vexed question, " What is a 

 Genus?' 



The chief features of the report of the Zoological Society of London in the 

 accounts for 1893 are an increase of /300 in cost of provisions, of ;^200 in 

 menagerie expenses, and of ;if40o in the cost and carriage of animals. There is, 

 fortunately, an increase of ;^i,6oo in admissions to the Gardens, which assists in 



