igi^ 



NATURE 



ApF'-II. <), Ujl 1 



tree planting and xh<- formation of f»rass plots went. 1 

 have nionlioncd above how a street such as (Jeorjje Sirct-t, 

 for instance, which has great breadth, could be beautified 

 by an avenue of trees such as black poplars, or sycamores, 

 or elms. In other parts of the city, horticulturists are 

 of opinion that thorns and the service tree might be used, 

 whilst in sheltered situations I should like to try the 

 plane, lime, and even the horse-chestnut. I should like 

 to go into >«reater detail on what might be attempted in 

 Edinburgh on this head, but for one thing time will not 

 permit of it, and for the other I should require to make 

 a closer survey of the city in this respect than I have 

 yet had opportunity to do. 



There is one other point, however, in connection with 

 tree planting in towns which applies alike to Edinburgh 

 and all growing cities and towns. It is concerned, not 

 with tree planting, but with tree felling. It is difficult 

 to speak too strongly in disapprobation of the indis- 

 criminate and pernicious felling of trees which usually 

 takes place when a new block of houses is to be built or 

 a new road laid down. No efTort is made to first mark 

 out the foundations or alignment to ascertain whether 

 the trees must come down or can be left to afford a 

 pleasing amenity to the district. Perhaps for the gain of 

 a few shillings or through ignorance or gross stupidity 

 they arc ruthlessly hacked down, a few hours destroying 

 the work of a century, and the stumps remain a lasting 

 source of regret to those inhabiting the district, for they 

 can never hope in their time to replace the trees so merci- 

 lessly destroyed. 



The fir>;t rule for a town planning comnittec to lay 

 down should be that no trees on areas in which building 

 e.xtensions are to take place should be felled or killed 

 without a special permission being previously obtained. 



In conclusion, I could wish to point one moral with no 

 uncertain note, and that is the great effect on the amenity 

 of a district and on its inhabitants which tree growth 

 exerts. A barren country is depressing, and has a like 

 effect on mankind, resulting in the coarsening of human 

 nature. Can one be surprised at the low scale of morality 

 and the absence of the finer instincts of human nature 

 generally associated with coal-mining districts when one 

 remembers that alike above and below the surface of the 

 earth the miner finds everything black and lifeless? To 

 merely travel through such a country is depressing. How 

 much more so to live in it? And as it is with the Black 

 Country, as it is called, so is it in the narrow street of 

 the slums, where the blue sky is hidden by the smoke of 

 the great city and plant life of all kinds is absent. 



Give the people better homes to live in — it is a first 

 desideratum — but with the houses give them the com- 

 panions of their ancestors, the trees, the green grass, and 

 the flowers, for there are species of each which, if properly 

 looked after, will grow even in the murk of the great 

 city. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — The Senate at its meeting on March 29 

 accepted the Galton bequest, and authorised the issue of 

 an appeal for 15,000?. to defray the cost of the erection 

 and equipment of a suitable building for the Eugenics 

 Laboratory. Hitherto the laboratory has been housed in 

 the applied mathematics department at University College. 



The D.Sc. degree in chemistry was granted to Mr. 

 T. P. Hilditch, an internal student of University College, 

 for a thesis on the relation between chemical constitution 

 and optical activity and other papers ; and the degree of 

 D.Sc. in geology was granted to Mr. A. ^L Finlayson, an 

 internal student of the Royal College of Science, for a 

 thesis on the geology of ore deposits. 



Dr. W. P. Herringham takes the place of Dr. H. A. 

 Caley as a representative of the faculty of medicine on 

 the Senate. 



Sheffield. — The council has made the following appoint- 

 ments, among others : — Mr. R. J. Pye-Smith, as emeritus 

 professor of surgery ; Mr. Arthur M. Connell, to the 

 lectureship in surgery, which was rendered vacant through 



NO. 2162, VOL. 86] 



Dr. Sinclair Whiie'.s app<jmiimiu to uie profeKsorship 

 surgery; and Mr. J. D. Fiddes to the demonstratorshij. 

 anatomy. 



Prof. Beattic has been appoint«.-d representative of 

 University at ihe celebration of the 500th nnnivrsar. 

 the foundation of the Univeriiity of Si 

 held on September 12-15. 



Dr. Alexander Smith has been appointed 

 .Mitchell chair of chemistry in Columbia Univcrsi 

 Vork, vacant by the retirement of Dr. C. F. ( 

 He is a Scotsman by birth, and graduat<.>d at l-'l 

 in 18X6. For a short time he was an assistant in chemistry 

 at his alma mater. In 1890 he went to .\merica, and has 

 since held professorial posts at Wabash College and the 

 University of Chicago. He is president of the American 

 Chemical Society. 



The Joint Matriculation Hoard of t 

 Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and ShclVulU has. arranged 

 to examine pupils in the housewifery forms of girls* • 

 schools. The examination will be suitable for girls of 

 sixteen years of age and upwards who have studied 1 

 domestic subjects up to the standard of the school certifi- 

 cate examination. Candidates must offer, in addition to 

 certain other subjects, elementary general science and 

 c<x)kery and two of the following : — housewifery, laundry, 

 needlework and drawing, elementary biology. There will 

 be a practical examination in all domestic subjects. 



Is The Economic Journal for -March Mr. \V. M. J. 

 vVilliams deals with the subject of Exchequer grants, and 

 establishes the need of inquisition and action upon the 

 relation of national to local taxation. He urges that a 

 term should be assigned to grants from the Exchequer, 

 that a delimitation should be made of present grants, and 

 that the whole should be settled with a due regard to 

 economy and care by local authorities. Taking the educa- 

 tion grants as an example, he considers the problem of 

 a settlement of the relation to be established between 

 national and local finance. We may assume, he says, that 

 the cost of education publicly provided in the United 

 Kingdom is about twenty-seven to thirty millions sterling. 

 Some one half is derived from national sources, and one 

 half of the cost is borne by local authorities, but in addi- 

 tion the central authority bears the cost of central adminis- 

 tration and of grants to educational institutions of various 

 kinds. The quota of the cost borne by taxes has grown 

 very considerably since 1870, and local authorities demand 

 that all education charges shall be borne by the Exchequer. 

 In another place he points out that the same public local 

 authority gets sums of money for educational purposeis 

 from two departments of State. Altogether, he makes out 

 a strong case for the separation of national and local 

 taxation and finance. 



The Legislature of the State of Utah, during its recent 

 session, made an appropriation of 60,000/. to the State 

 University for the construction of the main building of 

 the institution. This building is, says Science, to house 

 the general library, the art gallery, and the administrative 

 offices. The Legislature also passed a Bill, which has 

 become a law, putting the support of the university and 

 the agricultural college on a permanent financial basis. 

 At present the annual income of the university for general 

 maintenance is about 40,000/. New buildings and other 

 constructions are to be provided by special appropriations. 

 The Legislature of Indiana has, we learn from the same 

 source, appropriated nearly 40,000/. to Indiana University 

 for the next biennium. This grant includes 30,000/. addi- 

 tional maintenance. .According to the .American Press, a 

 graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, whose 

 name has been withheld, has offered to give 200,000/. 

 toward the erection of a comprehensive group of three 

 buildings, one of which shall be specially devoted to re- 

 search work, for the institution. Science also records that 

 Mrs. Benjamin Hicks, of Old Westbur>-. N.Y., has be- 

 queathed 20,000/. to Swarthmore College, and that 

 Columbia University has received the sum of 138,600^. 

 from the executors of the estate of the late Mr. George 

 Crocker, for the establishment of the Crocker Cancer 

 Research Fund. 



