may 1899] NEWS 415 



recognition of the subject as a field of investigation of the first importance. One 

 satisfactory result of this movement was the establishment, some twelve years 

 ago, of Readerships in Geography at Oxford and Cambridge. These Reader- 

 ships were substantially subsidised by the Royal Geographical Society. At the 

 end of ten years the subject had obtained so firm a hold at Oxford through the 

 activity of the Reader — Mr. H. J. Mackinder — that the University undertook 

 to maintain the chair without further assistance from the society. Owing to 

 certain local circumstances which it is unnecessary to specify, matters have not 

 advanced quite so far at Cambridge, though the present Reader — Mr. Yule 

 Oldham — is doing excellent work, which has been appreciated at the 

 University. 



At Oxford, as has been stated, a further step forward has been taken. 

 Hitherto Mr. Mackinder has performed the ordinary functions of a Reader, 

 which consist mainly in giving a certain number of lectures in each term ; but 

 it has been realised that the utility of the subject in various directions is so 

 great that something more is now required. The result is, that there is little 

 reason to doubt that before the end of the year a fully equipped School of 

 Geography, or a Geographical Institute, will be established at Oxford, under 

 the superintendence of the Reader, Mr. Mackinder. The Royal Geographical 

 Society has offered £400 a year, for five years, towards the maintenance of this 

 school, on condition that the University contribute an equal sum. The delegates 

 of the Common University Fund have agreed to contribute £300 towards the 

 University's share, and early in the Easter term the Curators of the University 

 chest will be asked to add another £100, and there is every reason to believe 

 that Congregation will approve the decree. The scheme will be under the 

 supervision of a committee of eight, — four, with the addition of the vice- 

 chancellor ex officio, to represent the University, and three the Royal Geograph- 

 ical Society. The Reader will act as director of the school, and will have an 

 assistant, besides two lecturers who will deal with special aspects of the subject. 



The late Prof. O. C. Marsh, who died at Newhaven, on March 18, is said to 

 have left his entire estate to Yale University. It is thought that it will amount 

 to 8150,000. He has left his house and grounds to form a botanical garden 

 for the University. It will be remembered that in January 1898, Prof. Marsh 

 presented his magnificent palaeontological, geological, and ethnological collec- 

 tions to the University of Yale. 



An anonymous offer of £25,000 has been made to Birmingham University, 

 on condition that a total amount of £225,000 is reached in a year. 



The Chelsea Physic-garden has been saved from the builder. We learn from 

 the Times that " The garden has been handed over to the trustees of the London 

 Parochial Charities, who have agreed to dedicate a sum of £800 yearly to its 

 maintenance. Under the new scheme the garden is to be administered ex- 

 clusively for the promotion of the study of botany, with especial reference to the 

 requirements of general education, scientific instruction, and research in botany, 

 including vegetable physiology, and instruction in technical pharmacology, as 

 far as the culture of medical plants is concerned. The practical management of 

 the garden will be vested in a committee formed of representatives nominated 

 by the trustees of the London Parochial Charities, the Treasury, the Lord 

 President of the Council, the Technical Education Board, the Royal Society, the 

 Royal College of Physicians, the Society of Apothecaries, the Pharmaceutical 

 Society, the London County Council, and the Senate of the University of 

 London. Earl Cadogan, and his successors, as representing Sir Hans Sloane, 

 who conveyed the garden in 1722 to the Apothecaries' Company in trust for the 

 encouragement of botany, is also a member of the committee. The garden, 

 which comprises nearly four acres, facing the Embankment, was founded about 

 1G73 by the Apothecaries' Company, and held by them on lease until 1722, 

 when it was conveyed to them by Sir Hans Sloane on the trusts already 



