December 29, 1923] 



NA TURE 



957 



moment of completion. It has been possible in the 

 case of the slabs made by the Triangular Construction 

 Company to reduce the amount of cement to one to 

 twelve of aggregate, and the manufacture of cement 

 bricks by the Crozite process is being carried on in 

 a large scale in America. 



Many waste products such as sawdust, disintegrated 

 wood, and ordinary cheap aggregates such as clinker 

 can be utilised in slabs made from plaster of Paris. 

 There are large and easily available deposits of gypsum 

 in Great Britain, but the industry has never been 

 developed on the enormous scale found in America, 

 where all kinds of materials required by the builder 

 have been turned out made from plaster of Paris as 

 the cement. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



The University Bulletin issued by the Association 

 of University Teachers has hitherto been confined 

 mainly to a record of the activities of the Association, 

 which have been concerned largely with questions 

 of remuneration and other conditions of tenure of 

 university posts. In the November issue an effort 

 is made to widen its circle of readers. Lord Gorell 

 contributes an article dealing with three subjects : 

 (i) expected developments of the functions of the 

 Teachers' Registration Council with the view of the 

 establishment of teaching as one of the unified 

 learned professions ; (2) the financial needs of uni- 

 versities ; and (3) the projected Imperial Education 

 Bureau. Prof. Arthur Thomson's thoughtful and 

 arresting essay on the essentials of education deserves 

 a wider circulation than the Bulletin can hope to 

 give it. Here is a biologist dealing with the ignorance 

 of young Scotland as faithfully as Prof. Burnet in 

 his Romanes lecture dealt with the same subject 

 from the point of view of the humanist. Over the 

 familiar initials M. E. S. appears a plea for large 

 capital grants to universities as recommended by the 

 Royal Commission of 1870 on Scientific Instruction 

 and the Advancement of Science. Prof. Sandbach 

 tells of a committee having been appointed by the 

 A.U.T. to consider and report on the subject of 

 co-operation between libraries, possibly on the lines 

 of the German central information bureau and general 

 card catalogue, for the benefit of research workers 

 in Great Britain and Ireland. There is also a con- 

 tribution from Melbourne on the perils of inbreeding 

 and localism in universities in the Overseas Dominions. 



The North of Scotland and the Edinburgh and 

 East of Scotland Colleges of Agriculture append to 

 their calendars for 1923-24 lists of appointments 

 gained by their students. They illustrate the Scottish 

 propensity, referred to in Mr. Rudyard Kipling's recent 

 rectorial address, for " raiding the world in all depart- 

 ments of life — and government." The lists include 

 gosts in England (53), Canada, the United States, 

 outh America, the West Indies, Australia, New 

 Zealand, South, West, East, and Central Africa, the 

 Sudan, Egypt, Cyprus, Hungary, India, Burma, 

 Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Java, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, Fiji, and Hawaii : only 60 out of 

 the 280 were in Scotland. The director of studies of 

 the North of Scotland College reports that in 1922-23 

 a record number of students (27) obtained the degree 

 in agriculture. Both colleges do a large amount of 

 " county extension " work in addition to the instruc- 

 tion and research carried on at their headquarters 

 and at college and experimental stations. The 

 northern college report records 67,096 attendances 

 and 2929 classes and lecture meetings and 11,840 

 visits to farms and crofts for instruction and advice. 

 A scheme of rural science to be taught in conjunction 

 with school gardening was introduced into several 



schools and proved efficacious " in creating an interest 

 in school gardening which is lacking at present." 



Rhodes Scholars in residence at Oxford in 1922-23 

 numbered 273, namely, 125 from the British Empire 

 and 148 from the United States. Of these, 57 were 

 taking natural science and medicine, 10 economics, 

 and 6 mathematics. Sixty-eight Rhodes scholars 

 were successful in the final honour schools examina- 

 tions, namely, first class 14 (United States 8, Canada 

 2, Austraha 2, New Zealand i. South Africa i) ; 

 second class 31 (United States 16, others 15) ; third 

 and fourth classes 23 (United States 11, others 12). 

 The Ph.D. degree was awarded to 7 (all from the 

 United States), the B.Sc. or B.Litt. to 17, and the 

 B.C.L. to t8. Among other academic distinctions 

 obtained by Rhodes scholars may be mentioned the 

 Christopher W^elch scholarship in biology and the 

 James Hall Foundation essay prize, both won by 

 Americans, the Francis Gotch memorial prize won by 

 a scholar from New Brunswick, the David Syme 

 research prize (Melbourne) won by a scholar from 

 Victoria, the Bourse des OEuvres fran9aises a 

 I'etranger (tenable for one year in a university in 

 France) awarded to a New South Wales scholar, two 

 demonstratorships and a tutorial fellowship at 

 Oxford awarded to tw^o Australians and a South 

 African, and a Rockefeller Medical research fellow- 

 ship, tenable in the United States, to which an 

 Australian scholar was elected. In athletics dis- 

 tinctions were won by 11 scholars from the United 

 States, 10 from Australasia, 6 from Canada, and 4 

 from South Africa. 



A NOTABLE citizen of Bolton, Lancashire, Mr. J. P. 

 Thomasson, made known to the School Board of the 

 Borough in 1876 his intention to allot the sum of 

 750/. annually for a period of ten years, in order to 

 assist scholars from the elementary schools to proceed 

 to higher schools before becoming pupil teachers. 

 His purpose was to secure a body of teachers in 

 elementary schools efficiently educated and properly 

 trained for their duties. The School Board felt that 

 the full benefit to be derived from the scholarships 

 would not be realised if they were restricted to those 

 entering upon the profession of teacher, and Mr. 

 Thomasson consented to enlarge the scope of the 

 scheme so as to encourage pupils from the elementary 

 schools to continue their education at liigher schools 

 and to encourage suitable pupils to become teachers. 

 The scheme provided fees, books, railway fares, 

 and a grant towards maintenance. Mr. Thomasson 

 died in 1904, and Mrs. Thomasson intimated her 

 willingness to continue the benefaction for a further 

 period. Meantime the School Board ceased to 

 act and the Town Council became the Education 

 Authority. The scheme was enlarged in its scope, 

 and provision was made for scholarships for boys 

 and girls between 16 and 17 years of age who 

 had been in attendance at secondary schools in 

 Bolton to continue their education in such schools, 

 for leaving scholarships of the annual value of 150/. 

 tenable for three years at a university and for a post- 

 graduate scholarship at a foreign university of the 

 annual value of 200/. tenable for two years. The 

 scheme has now come to an end. During the 46 

 years of its existence under varying conditions there 

 have been awarded 122 major exhibitions, 427 minor 

 scholarships, 36 scholarships in respect of continued 

 education at secondary schools, 18 university scholar- 

 ships, and one post-graduate scholarship. The total 

 sum received from Mr. and Mrs. Thomasson amounts 

 to 26,438/., and the examination expenses, etc., to only 

 1718/. during the whole period, testifying to the fact 

 that the scheme has been most economically ad- 

 ministered. 



NO. 2826, VOL. I 12] 



