December 14, 191 1] 



NATURE 







January 6, 1912. The meetings will be held at Birkbeck 

 College, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C. There 

 will be addresses and discussions under the heads of 

 specialisation in schools ; chalk, brush, and pencil work in 

 elementary schools ; the doctrine of formal training (mental 

 discipline) ; the treatment of backward children ; and 

 educational experiments in schools. No charge will be 

 made for admission to the conference. Application for 

 tickets of admission should be made to the Chief Inspector, 

 London County Council, Education Offices, Victoria 

 Embankment, W.C. 



It is announced in the issue of The London University 

 Gazette for November 29 that a donation of loooZ. has 

 been made by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Baily, in celebration 

 of their golden wedding, for the purpose of rearranging and 

 decorating the interior of a portion of University College. 

 From the same source we learn that the Galton Laboratory 

 Appeal Fund now amounts to 2629Z. 155. 6d. The list of 

 donations, many of which are conditional on the buildings 

 being commenced within two years, includes gifts of 500/. 

 from Mr. W. E. Darwin, and Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 

 and Mrs. Pearson ; 250Z. each from Prof. Arthur Schuster, 

 F.R.S., and Mr. E. G. Wheler ; and looZ. each from the 

 Earl of Rosebery, Viscount Iveagh, Mr. A. F. Butler, 

 Major Leonard Darwin, the Hon. Rupert Guinness, and 

 Major E. H. Hills, F.R.S. 



An interesting experiment is being tried by the local 

 education authority of Plymouth with the view of arousing 

 an interest in the study of science among the children in 

 its schools. On December 8 Mr. C. Carus-Wilson lectured 

 to five thousand children in the Plymouth Guildhall, taking 

 " Volcanic Outbursts " as his subject. Each child paid one 

 penny for admission to the lecture, and it is expected that 

 no contribution from the rates will be necessary to meet 

 the expenditure incurred. The children seem to have been 

 thoroughly interested, and the education authority is likely 

 to arrange a series of similar lectures in the future. 

 Descriptive accounts of natural phenomena, when 

 judiciously illustrated, appeal to most children, and many 

 men of science trace their first enthusiasm for their subject 

 to a good lecture, supplemented by telling experiments. 

 The Plymouth experiment deserves to be copied in other 

 large towns. 



It is not clear from the reports in the daily papers of a 

 meeting held at Brighton on December 12 whether the 

 intention is to establish a university or a university college 

 in the town. The Times reports that the meeting was 

 " in furtherance of the movement to make Brighton a 

 university town," while The Morning Post states that at 

 the meeting (over which the Mayor of Brighton presided) 

 " the proposal to establish a college of university rank for 

 the county was unanimously approved." There is, of 

 course, a vast difference between the two proposals, but 

 apparently it is a university college which Brighton has 

 in mind, and not a university. Resolutions approving of 

 the principle of the establishment of a university college 

 for Sussex, and the appointment of general and executive 

 committees, were carried unanimously at Tuesday's meet- 

 ing. The Maj'or of Brighton was elected chairman of the 

 executive committee, and Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, who has 

 taken a prominent part in the educational affairs of West 

 Sussex, vice-chairman. 



An interesting account of the way in which American 

 agricultural experiment stations come into contact with 

 the farmer is given in Bulletin 208 of the Agricultural 

 Department of the University of Wisconsin. Crop demon- 

 strations are arranged on twenty farms connected with 

 various public institutions throughout the State, making 

 use of seeds bred at the experiment station, and of methods 

 of cultivation and manures that previous experiments 

 had shown to be advantageous. The fields selected for 

 these demonstrations are, so far as possible, chosen 

 alongside of the public highways, where the operations 

 and results can be seen by the farmer throughout the 

 whole season as he drives to and from town. The local 

 papers also contain accounts from time to time of the 

 work done and the appearance of the crop. Some time 

 during the summer, when the crops are at their best, a 

 demonstration picnic is arranged, to which large numbers 

 <^f farmers are invited, the average attendance last year 



being 320. These meetings occupy an entire day, and a 

 definite programme is arranged dealing with six to eight 

 subjects centring round the field work. The effective feature 

 is the fact that all the practices suggested to the farmer 

 are illustrated in operation on the farm, and the crops are 

 there to show in concrete form what the results have been. 

 The influence of the work is very great, many farmers 

 putting the new methods into operation at once. 



The December issue of The Reading University College 

 Review is one which reflects credit on the college. The 

 most interesting feature to readers in general will be the 

 forty pages of notes on the multifarious activities of the 

 institution. From these we learn that the entry of new 

 students for the present session was very satisfactory. The 

 number of students taking degree courses is 114, of whom 

 44 belong to the faculty of science and 6 to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. During the previous session 80 

 students received instruction in the dairy institute, in 

 which connection it is interesting to record that at the 

 annual meeting of the Berks, and Oxon. Chamber of 

 Agriculture the following resolution was passed : — " The 

 Board of Agriculture having decided to establish a central 

 research station for dairying, we, the Berks, and Oxon. 

 Chamber of Agriculture, strongly urge that University 

 College, Reading, which is already in close touch with 

 agriculturists and farmers in Berks, and the adjoining 

 counties, should be selected as that centre. Our conten- 

 tion is based on the fact that the college is situated in the 

 centre of a large dairying district, and that in Reading it 

 has the headquarters of this Chamber and of the Berks, 

 and Adjoining Counties Dairy Farmers' Association, where 

 it can readily consult the farmers of the district. Believing 

 that such close relations are essential to any scheme of 

 agricultural development, we are anxious to see advantage 

 taken of the exceptional facilities afforded in Reading." 



At a dinner of the Cloth workers' Company held on 

 December 6, the President of the Board of Education, 

 replying to the toast of the Houses of Parliament, referred 

 to the generous assistance rendered by the great City 

 companies to the promotion of facilities for higher educa- 

 tion in this country. The President said he found that the 

 Goldsmiths' Company contributed 50,000/. to the new 

 engineering buildings of the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology. The Drapers' Company contributed 

 io,oooZ. to the building fund of the new college at Bangor, 

 and this year the Drapers' Company contributed 23,000/. 

 to the physiological laboratory at Cambridge and 15,000/. 

 to the University of Sheffield. This year the Cloth- 

 workers' Company contributed 5000/. to the textile indus- 

 tries department at Leeds University. The Merchant 

 Taylors' Company maintain the Merchant Taylors' School, 

 the Mercers' Company are identified with St. Paul's School, 

 the Fishmongers' Company with the Gresham College, the 

 Skinners' Company with Tonbridge School, and the Haber- 

 dashers' Company with Aske's Foundation. The Cloth- 

 workers' Company are second in the list of donors to the 

 City and Guilds of London Institute. Words failed hirn, 

 Mr. Pease said in conclusion, to commend sufficiently their 

 liberality and generosity in the interests of education. The 

 Clothworkers' Company has equipped the textile and dye- 

 ing department of Leeds University to the extent of 

 161,000/., and 75 per cent, of its income is contributed to 

 the promotion of education. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Roval Society, December 7. — Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., president, in the chair.— Miss I. B. Solla* and 

 Prof. W. J. Sollas : Lapworthura : a typical brittlestar of 

 the Silui-ian age ; with suggestions for a new classification 

 of the Ophiuroidea.— Leonard Hill and Martin Flack : 

 The physiological influence of ozone. Ozone, in concentra- 

 tions of one part in a million and more, acts as an irritant 

 to the respiratory tract, and diminishes the respiratory 

 metabolism, as shown by the lessened output of carbonic 

 acid and the diminished fall in body weight, which occur 

 both during the period of administration and for some 

 time after. Concentrations of several parts per million 

 cause acute innnnirnatory congestion of the lungs, and 



NO. 2198, VOL. 88] 



