6o6 



NATURE 



[June 29, 191 1 



" From the point of view of a council which is to be, 

 above all things, representative of the whole teaching pro- 

 fession, it is obvious that there must be a university group 

 just as much as an elementary group and a secondary 

 group. To speak of a professional council of the teach- 

 ing profession without a full inclusion of the universities 

 would obviously be absurd." 



" Now the number of universities in England and Wales 

 is eleven, and it is obvious that it would be quite 

 Impossible for these eleven universities to combine as an 

 electoral college to name (say) five or six individuals to 

 represent them, collectively, on such a council as is here 

 in question, and the only conceivable method of meeting 

 the case is that each of the eleven should have one repre- 

 sentative. 



" If, then, this group is to be composed of eleven 

 members, this must be equally so in regard to the other 

 three groups, according to the principle already proposed 

 and accepted. . . . The council would thus be composed 

 of four groups, each having eleven members." 



The four groups which are each to be represented by 

 eleven members are the university, elementary, secondary, 

 and technological and specialist. In defining the last- 

 named group. Sir Robert Morant remarks : — 



" From some of the difficulties that have specially arisen 

 in respect of that part of the scheme, it would seem that 

 its nomenclature is, in some senses, inappropriate, and 

 that what is really in question, on this side, is the need 

 of representation of what may be called ' specialist 

 teachers ' (as well as technological teachers), as contrasted 

 with what are usually regarded as teachers in the field of 

 general education, or as 'general practitioners,' as was 

 suggested at my second conference." 



" It would therefore seem essential that the Teachers' 

 Council, to be really representative of the whole profession, 

 must comprise a representation of university teachers just 

 as much as of elementary teachers, of secondary teachers, 

 and of technological and specialist teachers ; a council 

 composed of these four elements would, in fact, be repre- 

 sentative of, the whole teaching profession, which other- 

 wise would not be the case." 



Again to quote the secretary of the Board of Educa- 

 tion : — 



" It will probably, however, be the case, from the verv 

 fact that the council will comprise representatives of widely 

 different points of view as belonging to widely different 

 branches of the profession, that its deliberations vyill best 

 be managed under the chairmanship of someone not 

 identified with any one of the several branches or sections ; 

 and from this point of view it would probably be desirable 

 that the Order in Council should provide one vacancy for 

 a chairman, to be chosen by the council from outside their 

 numbers, who would doubtless be a man of distinction 

 and possessing the characteristics requisite in an effective 

 president of a body of this kind, whose deliberations would 

 constantly be upon matters in which divergent interests 

 and opposing points of view would frequently occur." 



" This would bring the total number of the council to 

 forty-five — a large body, but by no means too large to 

 represent _ adequately the whole of so vast and important 

 a profession as the teaching profession, nor, on the other 

 hand, too large for arriving at effective decisions on the 

 points likelv to come before it, seeing that many of the 

 more technical points would first have been thrashed out 

 in special committees, and in meetings of one or more 

 special committees meeting together, before coming before 

 th" council to be decided finally." 



Mr. Runciman appends a note to the report signifying 

 his agreement, and requesting Sir Robert Morant to have 

 a draft made, as soon as possible, of an Order in Council 

 on the lines outlined above. 



Mr, F. T. Brook.s has been appointed senior demonstrator 

 of botany, and Mr. D. Thoday junior demonstrator of 

 botany, both for two years ending Sf-ptember 30, 19 13. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Harkness scholarship for 10 11 has been 

 awarded to Mr. T. C. Nicholas and Mr. J. Romanes. 

 The Frank Smart prizes have been awarded to Mr. S. R. 

 Price (botany) and Mr. S. T. Burfield (zoologyl. 



Mr. C. T. R. Wilson has been reappointed demonstrator 

 of^ experimental physics for a period of five years from 

 Michaelmas, 191 1. 



NO. 21/4, VOL. 86] 



We learn from The Times that .Mr. Robert Christison, 

 of Burwell Park, Lincolnshire, and late of Lammermoor, 

 Queensland, has telegraphed to Sir William .MacGregor, 

 the Governor of the State of Queensland and Chancellor 

 of the University of Brisbane, his willingness to contribute 

 a further 1000/. (having already given 1000/.) for the 

 foundation of a chair for tropical and sub-tropical agri- 

 culture. 



It is announced in Science that Mr. Morton P. Plant 

 has offered to give an endowment of 200,000/. for the 

 woman's college which is to be established at New London, 

 Conn. ; it is a condition that the name shall be changed 

 to the Connecticut College for Women. From the same 

 source we learn that the General Educational Board has 

 made public a list of its latest grants for colleges and 

 schools, amounting in all to 126,800/. All the gifts to 

 colleges are conditional and are applied to endowment only. 

 Other gifts may be applied to current expenses. The 

 grants include : — 



t ollege .Approprirttioii To be raised 



Converse, Spartansburg, S.C. ... 10,000 ... 20,000 



Drury, Springfield, Mo 15,000 ... 65,000 



Franklin, Franklin, Ind 15,000 ... 65,000 



Franklin and Marshall, Lancaster, 



Pa 10,000 ... 45,000 



Huron, Huron, S.D 20,000 ... 20,000 



Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Pa. ... 10,000 ... 30,000 



Totals 80,000 ... 245,000 



Science also states that Brown University receives a 



bequest of 17,000/. from Dr. Oliver H. Arnold, of 

 Providence. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society June 15. — Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, in the chair. — Prof. T. G. Brodie : Croonian 

 lecture : A new conception of the glomerular activity. 

 All the more recent work upon the kidney has proved 

 conclusively that Ludwig's explanation of the glomerular 

 function, viz. that the glomerulus is a filtering mechanism, 

 is incorrect. The structural details of this highly charac- 

 teristic portion of the renal apparatus strongly suggest 

 that in some way or other the blood pressure is made use 

 of in the work of the glomerulus. Having excluded 

 filtration in this connection, there is yet another way in 

 which it could be directly utilised, viz. in setting up a 

 pressure-head by means of which the watery part of the 

 urine could be driven through the very long and narrow 

 tubule. In reference to this side of its activity, it is sug- 

 gested that the glomerulus be termed a "propulsor. " .An 

 approximate calculation of the pressure-head necessary to 

 drive the fluid along the tubule during the height of 

 activity proves that one about equal to that present within 

 the glomerular capillaries is required. Evidence of the 

 action of a high intra-tubular pressure is at once obtain- 

 able from the microscopic examination of a kidney after 

 activity. The capsules of Bowman are greatly distended 

 and approximately spherical in shape, the glomeruli are 

 moderately enlarged and no longer fill the capsular spaces. 

 The tubuies are straightened out, stretched, and possess a 

 conspicuous lumen. All these changes are exaggerated by 

 any procedure which favours the action of this intra- 

 tubular pressure, such as a high arterial blood pressure, 

 obstruction to the outflow of urine from the ureter, or the 

 stripping of the capsule from the kidney. Further, the 

 kidney during activity is tense and hard, and distends its 

 capsule to the utmost. This conception of the glomerular 

 function affords a complete explanation of the existence 

 of a firm and inextensible capsule surrounding the kidney, 

 as also of such phenomena as the ma.ximum ureter 

 pressure, the dependence of the rate of discharge of urine 

 from the kidney upon the general blood pressure, and the 

 degree of dilatation of the renal arterioles. &c. .Applying 



