March 23, 191 1] 



NATURE 



133 



some of the changes involved may be announced in the 

 course of this summer, and may become operative in the 

 summer of 19 12. 



In the issue of Science for March 3, Prof. Rudolf 

 Tombo, jun., analyses the registration returns for 

 November i, 1910, of twenty-seven of the leading universi- 

 ties in the United States. Four of the universities show 

 a decrease in their total enrolment of students, viz. 

 Harvard, Iowa, Indiana, and Virginia, as against four in 

 1909, two in 1908, and five in 1907. If the returns of the 

 number of students for 1910 be compared with those of 

 1909, we note that Chicago and Michigan have passed 

 Harvard, that Pennsylvania has changed places with 

 Cornell, that Illinois has been passed by Minnesota, Cali- 

 fornia, and Wisconsin, that North-western has passed Yale, 

 and that Johns Hopkins and Virginia have changed places. 

 For the first time in the annals of American universities 

 the 7000 mark has been passed, Columbia having a grand 

 total of 741 1 students. Pennsylvania is the sixth university 

 in the States to pass the 5000 mark ; Cornell passed it in 

 1909, Chicago and Michigan in 1908, Columbia in 1907, 

 and Harvard somewhat earlier. The number of students 

 of science in American universities is decidedly smaller 

 than in 1909, and more than half these institutions showed 

 a loss of students in these departments as compared with 

 the previous year. The chief gains were made by Illinois, 

 Yale, and Columbia in the order given. Cornell, 

 Mirhigan, Illinois, and Yale each enrolled more than a 

 thousand students of engineering. It is noteworthy that 

 the number of undergraduate women students shows a 

 decrease at the majority of the institutions. All the 

 schools of agriculture continue to show an increase in the 

 number of students, and that in connection with the 

 University of Minnesota is still at the head of the Ust. 



Sir Alfred Keogh, rector of the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology, distributed the prizes and certifi- 

 cates to the students of the South-Western Polytechnic 

 Institute, Chelsea, on March 10. In the course of his 

 address he pointed out the deplorable lack of system which 

 exists in the methods of technological education in London. 

 He advocated the creation of a central institution of 

 university rank to which the other institutions might send 

 their most promisirig students. He also suggested the 

 formation of technological boards of studies composed of 

 the various teachers of technology in London. The annual 

 report of the institute stated that the progress of the work 

 is satisfactory, particularly in the higher branches of 

 science. During the last session twenty-four students 

 attained the London B.Sc. degree, of whom fourteen 

 graduated in honours. Two old evening students obtained 

 thi' D.Sc. degree. In the Board of Education examina- 

 tions fourteen obtained honours certificates. A consider- 

 able amount of research was completed during the year 

 and contributed to various scientific societies and 

 periodicals. Mr. Hayes Fisher, M.P., chairman of the 

 governing body, alluded sympathetically to the recent loss 

 sustained by the death of Mr. R. C. Antrobus, who for 

 nearly twenty-five years was closely associated with the 

 work of the institute, including ten years' service as 

 chairman of the governing body. Mr. Fisher also stated 

 that they would be shortly in a position to start upon the 

 buildings, which will furnish accommodation for 

 il science laboratories and class-rooms, a new 

 al laboratory, and new and efficient social rooms, 

 the meeting, the laboratories, workshops, and other 

 - were thrown open for inspection. About 1500 

 IS availed themselves of this opportunity to inspect 

 uildingfi and apparatus. 



■LYING to a deputation from the Trade Union Con- 

 Parliamentary Committee on March 16, Mr. Runri- 

 President of the Board of Education, dealt with the 

 on of " half-time " pupils in elementary schools. He 

 I lie Board of Education has been at work for some 

 on schemes for linking up continuation classes, and 

 ilsory attendance at continuation classes, with other 

 tional reforms. The Departmental Committee which 

 I'd into the question of " half time " came to the 

 ision that the time had arrived for the raising of the 

 ime age. A Bill will be introduced very shortly into 

 Tile 1 louse of Commons to carrv out some of the recom- 



NO. 2160, VOL. 86] 



m.endations of that committee. Continuation-class work 

 ought not, he said, to end at the age of fourteen, but 

 be carried through that period of adolescence in which the 

 boy has lost his habit of learning and has not acquired the 

 proper taste of learning. The Board wishes to keep alive 

 what are called " humanities " as well as technicalities. 

 In trade schools the Board already gives assistance, and 

 it is revising its educational regulation to assist the schools 

 still further. The deputation asked for an inquiry into the 

 question of endowments, but Mr. Runciman, though he 

 has the subject under consideration, said he was unable 

 to promise the appointment of a Royal Commission on the 

 subject. According to The Times, the Bill which Mr. 

 Runciman will introduce to deal with half-time attendance 

 will follow the recommendations made by the Inter-Depart- 

 mental Committee on Partial Exemption from School 

 Attendance, which reported in August, 1909. In reporting 

 against the continuance of the system, the committee re- 

 commended that total exemption under the age of thirteen 

 be abolished ; that the attendance certificate for total 

 exemption be abolished ; that total exemption at the 

 age of thirteen be granted only for the purposes 

 of beneficial or necessary employment ; that the ordinary 

 condition for total exemption be due attendance at a 

 continuation class, but that, subject to the approval 

 of the Board of Education, an authority may adopt as an 

 alternative condition the passing of a standard not lower 

 than Standard VI. The committee anticipated that the 

 abolition of partial exemption, coupled with the raising of 

 the minimum age for exemption to thirteen, would necessi- 

 tate provision being made in the day schools for the in- 

 struction of about 22,550 additional whole-time scholars, 

 and would result in an increased cost to the Exchequer to 

 the amount of 22,540/. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society, March 16. — Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, in the chair. — L. Doncaster : Gametogenesis of 

 the gall-fly (_Neuroterus lenticularis). Part ii. This paper 

 is a continuation of the paper on the same subject pub- 

 lished in the Proc. Roy. Soc, B, vol. Ixxxii., 1910, p. 88. 

 The previous part dealt with the spermatogenesis and 

 maturation of the eggs of the summer (bisexual) genera- 

 tion. The present part describes the maturation of the 

 eggs in the spring (parthenogenetic) generation. It is 

 found that there are two types of eggs, laid by different 

 females. In one there is a double polar division, by which 

 the somatic number of chromosomes (20) is reduced to 10, 

 and, since the eggs are unfertilised, 10 chromosomes appear 

 in the, segmentation divisions. In eggs laid by other 

 females no maturation division occurs ; the egg nucleus, 

 after moving to the edge of the egg as if preparing for 

 maturation, sinks in again, and immediately undergoes the 

 first segmentation division. In eggs of this type 20 

 chromosomes are found in the segmentation spindles, and 

 polar nuclei are absent. Since experiment shows that 

 some females lay only male-producing eggs, others only 

 female-producing, and since male larva; show the reduced 

 chromosome number (10) in the germ-cells and nervous 

 system, while female larvae have 20, it is concluded that 

 the parthenogenetic eggs which undergo reduction yield 

 males, those which do not, females. — Sir Thomas R. 

 Fraser and Dr. J. A. Ounn : The action of the venom 

 of Echis carinatus. The minimum lethal dose of Echis 

 venom by subcutaneous injection per kilogram was found 

 to be : — ^for the frog, 0-009 gram ; for the rabbit, 00009 

 gram ; for the rat, 0-00075 gram ; for the cat, 0008 gram ; 

 •ind for the pigeon, 0-004 gram. The frog nnd Iho cat, 

 therefore, show a relatively high resistance to this venom, 

 the minimum lethal dose for these animals being about ten 

 times that for the rabbit or rat. In the case of Sepedon 

 venom, which may be taken as a typical Colubrine venom, 

 a different ratio of lethality has been found by us for those 

 animals, the cat showing' a relatively even higher resist- 

 ance, but the frog no increased resistance, as compared 

 with the rabbit or rat. This of itself points to an intrinsic 

 difference between the actions of Viperine and Colubrine 

 venoms. The chief effects produced by Echis venom in 

 the animals investigated are hmnorrhages- oi-nirring 



