224 



NATURE 



[December 15, 1910 



The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that the Walsingham 

 medal for 19 ii will be awarded for a monograph or essay 

 giving evidences of original research on any botanical, 

 geological, or zoological subject, zoology being understood 

 to include animal morphology and physiology. The regu- 

 lations for the medal are published in the Ordinances, 

 p. 629. The competition is open to graduates of the 

 University who at the time fixed for sending in the essays 

 are not of standing to be created Master of Arts. The 

 essays for the ensuing year are to be sent to the chair- 

 man of the special board for biology and geology (Prof. 

 Langley, The Museums) not later than October 10, 191 1. 



It is proposed to confer the degree of science, Iwnoris 

 causa, upon Prof. George E. Hale, director of the Solar 

 Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 Mount Wilson, California. 



I 



The Earl of Lytton will distribute the prizes and certifi- 

 cates at the Borough Polytechnic Institute on Monday next, 

 December 19, at 8 p.m. 



A Reuter message from Kimberley states that the 

 De Beers Company has made a donation of 25,000/. towards 

 the founding of a South African university. 



We learn from Science that Yale University has received 

 an anonymous gift of 3000/., the interest of which is to 

 be used as an emergency loan fund in the interest of 

 instructors and assistant professors of the University ; 

 6000/. of a fund of io,oooZ. left to the University by the 

 late Mr. J. Burnett Collins, of Fort W'orth, Texas; 4000/. 

 from Mr. Newton Barney, of Farmington, Conn., toward 

 the fund for the professorship of education, and a like 

 amount from the family of the late Mr. John H. Whitte- 

 more, of Naugatuck, as a memorial gift. From the same 

 source we learn that the University of Vermont has just 

 received 5000Z. by the will of Mr. Lewis L. Coburn, a 

 graduate of the class of 1859. 



The annual meeting of the Mathematical Association is 

 to be held on January 11, 1911, at the London Day Train- 

 ing College, Southampton Row, London, W.C. At 11 a.m. 

 the president, Prof. H. H. Turner, F.R.S., will deliver his 

 address, and this will be followed by a paper on the teach- 

 ing of mechanics by Mr. G. Goodwill. The business meet- 

 ing will begin at 2 p.m., and will be followed by the read- 

 ing of papers. The Rev. Canon J. M. Wilson will deal 

 with two fragments of geometrical treatises found in 

 Worcester Cathedral library, and Mr. C. V. Durell will 

 take as his subject the arithmetic syllabus in secondary 

 schools. A discussion on the report of the committee on 

 the teaching of algebra and trigonometry will take place, 

 and an exhibition of scientific apparatus and books will be 

 held. 



In connection with the Winter School of Agriculture of 

 the Essex Education Committee, a course of instruction 

 on farm crops and livestock is to be conducted at the 

 County Laboratories, Chelmsford, from January 9 to 

 March 17 of next year. The aim of the winter school is 

 to impart instruction in the cultivation of the soil, the 

 growth of crops, and the rearing of stock, based upon a 

 knowledge of the sciences on which the practice of agri- 

 culture depends. The instruction in chemistry and physics, 

 botany and zoology, is accompanied by practical labora- 

 tory work. The lectures on agriculture and surveying 

 are supplemented by field and other demonstrations, but 

 no instruction is given in the actual processes of farm 

 work, it being held that these must be learnt upon the 

 farm itself. The school, in fact, is intended to supple- 

 ment farm training, not to replace it. The instruction is 

 free to students resident in the County of Essex. Appli- 

 cations to attend must be made to the principal on or 

 before December 16, from whom further particulars and 

 forms of application may be had. 



It is proposed to organise in London next July a holiday 

 course of lectures for the advancement of commercial 

 studies. The object of the lectures is to familiarise the 

 students — mainly commercial men and teachers of 

 economics from Continental countries — with the history 

 and practical working of English commerce and industry. 

 The lectures are being arranged by the International 

 Society for Promoting Commercial Education, which has 

 already held similar annual courses in Milan, Mannheim, 



NO. 2146, VOL. 85] 



Havre, and Vienna. The society receives the 'p^tronay 

 and financial support of many European Governments. 

 The London course is to be held at the School of 

 Economics, Clare Market, London, W.C, from July 24 

 to August 12 next. Arrangements are being made for 

 securing the assistance as lecturers of the most eminent 

 liritish authorities on economic and commercial subjects, 

 and promises of help have been received already. An 

 influential committee is in course of formation, and the 

 names will shortly be announced. Persons interested in 

 the subject are invited to communicate with the organising 

 secretary for Great Britain, Mr. E. Cleveland-Stevens, 

 School of Economics, Clare Market, London, W.C. 



The Education Committee of the General Medical 

 Council has been considering for a year the place in a 

 medical student's career that the preliminary sciences should 

 occupy, and it has been engaged also in discussing thi- 

 framing a pattern scheme showing how the subjects re- 

 quired could be studied adequately and the necessary 

 examination passed within the prescribed period. The re- 

 port of the committee was submitted to the General Medical 

 Council at its winter session held at the end of November. 

 The Education Committee has come to the conclusion that 

 the schools of the country generally are not at the present 

 time in a position to take up the work of preparing students 

 in the preliminary sciences, chemistry, physics, and biology, 

 and that the student must study these subjects at a medical 

 school or science institute. The committee further came 

 to the conclusion that any attempt to fix a standard mini- 

 mum curriculum would fail, and eventually recommended 

 only the elimination of some of the more junior examina- 

 tions — which are recognised as preliminary examinations in 

 general education — and their replacement by tests of an 

 intermediate character. After some discussion, in which it 

 was clear that there was a large body of opinion against 

 the committee's recommendations, the further consideration 

 of the subject was postponed until the May session of the 

 council next year. 



At a meeting of the governing body of the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology, held on December 9, 

 it was decided to invite Prof. Friedrich Czapek, of the 

 University of Prague, to occupy the newly founded chair 

 of plant physiology and pathology in the college, and to 

 take immediate steps to afford the accommodation neces- 

 sary for the important work of such a department. It is 

 understood that, in furtherance of the aim of the Imperial 

 College to apply science to industry, this chair has been 

 founded to meet the needs for training young men to act 

 as advisers in matters connected with agriculture at home 

 and in the Empire abroad. Under existing conditions of 

 agriculture it is everywhere recognised — notably by the 

 large planting communities — that the advice of scientific 

 experts has become absolutely necessary. There is, in 

 fact, a demand considerably exceeding the supply for the 

 services of trained scientific men to act in these capacities. 

 Prof. Czapek enjoys a world-wide reputation as one of the 

 leaders in plant physiology and pathology, and he has 

 devoted sjjecial attention to the biochemical aspect of these 

 subjects. It is precisely from this biochemical treatment 

 that results of the highest importance for industry may 

 be expected. We are informed that the college has every 

 reason to expect that Prof. Czapek will accept the invita- 

 tion. It is anticipated that the recognition of the import- 

 ance of the business interests wrapped up in this work 

 will justify the authorities of the college in looking beyond 

 their immediate resources for the heavy initial expense 

 required for buildinf^ and suitablv equipping such a depart- 

 ment and for its subsequent maintenance. 



At the annual Convocation of the Allahabad University, 

 held on November 12 at the Muir Central College, the 

 Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Richards, conferred the degrees and 

 delivered an address. Great strides, he said, have been 

 made with the project for providing the University with 

 a habitation of its own. The plans prepared by Sir 

 Swinton Jacob will be on view in the exhibition shortly 

 to open in Allahabad. The plans include a senate hall 

 with offices and committee rooms, a law college, and a 

 university library. When the buildings are completed tlr^v 

 will amply provide for all the needs of Allahabad Uni- 

 versity. All the money needed for carrying out the whole 

 scheme has not yet been collected, but with Government 



