158 



NATURE 



[December i, 1910 



facts relating to cyanogenesis in plants, has already been 

 published elsewhere. 



Among points of general interest we note that Yebb (or 

 Yeheb) nuts from Somaliland, which grow in arid dis- 

 tricts and have formed the principal food of many destitute 

 refugees, were found to contain about 12 per cent, of 

 albuminoids, 11 per cent, of oil, 24 per cent, of sugars, 

 and 37 per cent, of other carbohydrates. They thus show 

 high nutritive value as a foodstuff ; and it is recommended 

 that the cultivation of the plant (Cordeaux'xa edtilis) pro- 

 ducing the nuts should be tried in other countries, especi- 

 ally where a foodstuff is needed which can be grown in 

 arid places. Tea from the Nyasaland Protectorate was 

 found to be analytically of good quality, though on account 

 of its having been packed with tobacco no opinion could 

 be given on its flavour. Nevertheless, it is considered 

 that the cultivation of tea in the Protectorate might well 

 be extended. Some Natal tea, too, appears to be very 

 satisfactory. Its proportion of caffeine is only slightly 

 less than that of Indian tea examined, and as regards 

 tannin it is intermediate between Indian and China teas. 

 In the opinion of the department the cultivation and pre- 

 paration of tea in Natal deserves very full study, with a 

 view to the production of tea of characteristic quality. 



Cocoa grown experimentally in Uganda gave very 

 promising results. So also did some specimens cultivated 

 by the Botanical Department of the Gold Coast Colony, 

 though it was pointed out that more attention was re- 

 (^uired in the fermentation of the beans, since it is on 

 this that the aroma and colour largely depend. Small 

 consignments subsequently sent for actual sale realised 

 fair prices, and from the knowledge gained it was possible 

 to indicate the directions in which further improvement of 

 the cocoa could be effected. Some useful memoranda on 

 miscellaneous matters, such as the constituents of food and 

 their functions, and the harvesting and shipment of maize, 

 are also included in this report on foodstuffs. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The special board for medicine has elected 

 Prof. Marsh, Master of Downing College, as its repre- 

 sentative on the general board of studies for four years, 

 and the special board for economics and politics has elected 

 Mr. G. L. Dickinson as its representative on the same 

 board for the same period. 



Prof. Hughes states that he has received a very valuable 

 gift of fossils, &-c., from the widow of the Rev. G. F. 

 Whidborne, who had previously presented to the Sedgwick 

 Memorial Museum the collection of Devonian fossils which 

 he had described in the Transactions of the Pala?onto- 

 graphical Society. Mrs. Whidborne has now given to the 

 museum the remainder of his collection, with all his 

 scientific books and manuscripts, together with a valuable 

 series of photographs and other illustrations, and has 

 included in her gift the cabinets in which some of the 

 specimens were kept and were being arranged. 



The Vice-Chancellor publishes the following extract from 

 the will of the late John Willis Clark, formerly Registrary 

 of the University : — " I bequeath also to the Chancellor, 

 Masters, and Scholars of the University of Cambridge my 

 Collection of Voyages and Travels as recorded in a special 

 catalogue, forming part of the collection, to be placed 

 under the charge of the Museums and Lectuie Rooms 

 Syndicate. And I request the said Syndicate to deposit 

 the same wherever in their judgment it is likely to be 

 most useful." 



The board of anthropological studies desires the 

 establishment of a special examination in anthropology 

 for the ordinary B.A. degree. The board reports as 

 follows : — " As anthropology is a subject that is rapidly 

 growing in imjxirtance, the board is of opinion that the 

 time has arrived when it is desirable that a specinl 

 examination in anthropology should be held. Anthropology 

 is a science that demands extensive and precise study, 

 and at the same time bears upon other branches of learn- 

 ing, for example, history, economics, psychology, biology, 

 and geography. It may now be considered as a mental 

 discipline not inferior to other subjects comprised in the 

 various special examinations." 



Oxford. — On November 29 Congregation took into con- 

 sideration some of the amendments that had been pro- 

 posed to the statute concerning the. faculties and boards 

 of faculties, of which the preamble was approved on 

 November 8. Exception had been taken in some quarters 

 to certain provisions of the statute which appeared to. dis- 

 qualify the college tutors as such for membership of the 

 faculties. .An amendment proposed by the Master of 

 Balliol providing that the head of any college or similar 

 society within the University might certify any member 

 of Convocation authorised by his society as a member of 

 the faculty in which his teaching is given was carried 

 without a division. Another amendment, proposed by the 

 Master of University College, to the effect that a number 

 of the members of the general board of the faculties should 

 be elected from and by the whole body of members instead 

 of from and by each faculty acting separately, was opposed 

 by the President of Magdalen, Prof. Gotch, F.R.S., and 

 Prof. Oman, and rejected on a division. 



As was generally anticipated, the question of compulsory 

 Greek is not to be allowed to rest in the position to 

 which it was relegated by the division on November 22. 

 A petition to council is being prepared, asking that a 

 short statute may be framed relieving honour students in 

 the schools of natural science and mathematics " from the 

 necessity of taking two ancient languages in Responsions." 

 This movement has the support, amongst others, of Sir 

 W. Anson, Profs. Gilbert Murrav, Mvres, Poulton, 

 F.R.S., H. H. Turner, F.R.S., and Osle'r, F.R.S., the 

 latter of whom, however, has stated " that he is strongly 

 in favour of retaining Greek in the case of candidates for 

 the degrees in medicine." 



Mr. James A. Patten, of Chicago, says Science, has 

 given 40,000^ to endow a chair of experimental pathology 

 in the medical school of Northwestern University. Specinl 

 attention is to be directed to the study of tuberrulc-'^ n"d 

 pneumonia. By the will of the late Mr. S. W'. Bowne, 

 bequests in stocks and bonds of considerable value are 

 made to Wesleyan University and Dickinson College. 

 Radcliffe College, we learn from the same source, has re- 

 ceived from Mrs. Martha T. Fiske Collard a bequest 

 amounting to about 20,000?. 



M. Maurice Leriche has been appointed professor of 

 geology at the University of Brussels. M. Leriche has 

 been until recently " Maitre de Conf(^rences " at Lille 

 University. He has recently issued an important mono- 

 graph on the Oligoccne fish of Belgium, published in the 

 Memoires du Musee Royal d'Historie Naturelle de 

 lielgique, v. Prof. Dollo retains the chair of palaeonto- 

 logy at Brussels University and conservator of the depart- 

 ment of vertebrate remains of the Brussels Museum, and 

 thus will continue in charge of the important collections 

 which his work has rendered famous. 



Prinxe Arthur of Connaught has accepted the position 

 of president of the appeal committee appointed to secure 

 the sum of 70,000?. for the purchase of the site in Gower 

 Place and for the erection thereon of new chemical labora- 

 tories for University College, London. We are glad to 

 notice that the new president in a fyrther appeal through 

 the Press emphasises the national aspect of the appeal 

 committee's object, and asks for a national response. As 

 we have pointed out already, 25,000?. must be raised before 

 December 25 next if the new site is to be secured, and 

 towards this amount upwards of 10,000?. has been raised. 

 It should not be difficult to secure the remaining 15,000?. 

 during the next few weeks. 



The German Emperor opened a new technical 

 university at Breslau on Tuesday, November 29, and 

 delivered an address, in which he referred to the great 

 importance of such institutions for the industrial progress 

 of the Empire. There are now eleven technical universi- 

 ties in Germany, five of which are in Prussia, namely, at 

 Charlottenburg,' Aachen, Hanover, Danzig, and Breslau. 

 The Berlin correspondent of the Morning Post reports that 

 in the course of his remarks at the dedication of this 

 the second technical university founded in his reign — the 

 German Emperor said :— " The close connection between 



NO. 2144, VOL. 85] 



