February 23, 191 1] 



NATURE 



563 



But there can be no doubt that these godchildren of the 

 German Emperor will in the healthy air of the Grunewald 

 soon develop great strength from the liberal nutrition sup- 

 plied by their patrons, and grow up into renowned centres 

 of research. 



We may therefore confidently hope that in later years 

 the foundation to-day of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft 

 will be regarded as an unmixed blessing to scientific 

 research in Germany. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — It is proposed to alter the regulations for 

 the diploma of agriculture so as to ensure that agricultural 

 physiology shall be one of the compulsory subjects for 

 part ii. of the diploma examination. It is also proposed 

 to abandon the present method of grouping the subjects, 

 and that in part i. of the diploma examination a candidate 

 who has obtained honours in the natural sciences tripos 

 shall be excused chemistry if he has passed chemistry in 

 the tripos, botany if he has passed botany in the tripos, 

 and zoology if he has passed either zoology or physiolog}'. 



Mr. H. Maxwell-Lefroy, Imperial entomologist for 

 India, will give the inaugural lecture of his course on 

 entomology at the Imperial College of Science and Tech- 

 nology on Thursday, March 2, at 5 p.m. 



Prof. V. H. Blackmax, who since 1907 has occupied the 

 chair of botany in the University of Leeds, has been 

 appointed to the professorship of plant physiology and 

 pathology at the Imperial College of Science and Tech- 

 nology at South Kensington. H^e will take up his new 

 duties at the beginning of July. 



On several occasions we have directed attention to the 

 useful work done by Prof. Perry, F.R.S., through his 

 system of bursaries, which he established at the Royal 

 College of Science in 1902 with a contribution of 100/. 

 from the Drapers' Company. The bursary fund was 

 established particularly for the benefit of national scholars, 

 but the scholarships held by these students have now been 

 increased in value sufficiently to render Prof. Perry's 

 bursary fund unnecessary. A final balance-sheet dealing 

 with the period between July 17, 1908, and January 24 of 

 the present year, has been published in the current issue 

 of The Phoenix, the magazine of the Royal College of 

 Science and Royal School of Mines. During the years 

 since Prof. Perry inaugurated the scheme, the sum of more 

 than i6ooi. has been disbursed to students needing judicious 

 assistance in a tactful way. We have reason to know that 

 it is seldom that such a sum of money i? spent with so 

 great an advantage to the beneficiaries. 



The successful students of the City and Guilds of London 



Institute received their prizes from the Lady Mayoress at 



^ the Mansion House on February 17. On this occasion the 



P honorary secretary of the college. Sir John Watney, 

 announced that the name of the City and Guilds Central 

 Technical College will be changed to the City and Guilds 

 Engineering College, and as such will constitute the 

 engineering department of the Imperial College. It will 

 be managed by a delegation representing the City and 

 Guilds Institute, the Imperial College, and the Goldsmiths' 

 Company. After the distribution of prizes. Dr. R. T. 

 Glazebrook, F.R.S., director of the National Physical 

 Laboratory, delivered an address on the interdependence 

 of science and industry. He said the agencies at work in , 

 London applying science to the wants of industry included 

 the university colleges, the polytechnics, and the technical 

 schools. He asked. Is it not possible to conceive some 

 scheme by which the labours of such agencies can be 

 coordinated and linked up with the Imperial College as a 

 centre where the staff and students will be free to conduct 

 original investigations, and, through these, to learn new 

 truths? Under such a scheme the Imperial College would 

 become, first, the Central Technological University for 

 London, and then for the Empire. A body like its 

 governing body, modified so as to include representatives 

 of the other institutions, forming with it the technological 

 side of the University' in London, would become the 

 council of the faculty. He put forward the following pro- 



NO. 2156. VOL. 8^1 



positions : — (i) that a combination of the technological 

 departments of existing institutions and schools into an 

 independent technological faculty is necessary ; (2) that in 

 such a faculty a definite value should be given to technical 

 education in each London scho(d ; and (3) that the techno- 

 logical faculty should confer degrees under conditions to 

 be laid down by the faculty. 



In the French Chamber of Deputies on February 16, M. 

 Maurice Faure, Minister of Public Instruction, summed 

 up the discussion on the estimates for his department. 

 From the report by the Paris correspondent of The Times, 

 we learn that, with reference to higher education, M. 

 Maurice Faure said that the French universities, which 

 are autonomous, thanks to the legislation of 1896, and 

 have been endowed by the State with foundation? amount- 

 ing to more than 1,000,000/., are keeping pace with modem 

 requirements, and are extending their influence abroad as 

 well as at home. New laboratories are being erected by 

 the Sorbonne in the Rue Saint Jacques, the University of 

 Nancy has opened an electrotechnical institute, at Grenoble 

 there is now a new paper-making school, at Lyons a new 

 chemistry school, at Lille various new mining courses, at 

 Dijon an agricultural and oenological institute, and fresh 

 technical subjects have been introduced into the curriculum 

 at Toulouse, Caen, Rennes, and elsewhere. Foreign 

 students are being attracted in increasing numbers, and 

 abroad there have been established French institutes at 

 Florence and at Madrid, which are respectively affiliated 

 to the University of Grenoble and to those of Bordeaux. 

 Toulouse, and Montpellier. The foundation of similar 

 institutes is contemplated at St. Petersburg under the 

 auspices of the Sorbonne, and at Constantinople under the 

 auspices of the University and City of Lyons. The crea- 

 tion of a chair of colonial history in Paris has been pro- 

 posed by the Budget committee, and the faculty of medi- 

 cine is to be asked to consider a proposal in favour of the 

 foundation of a chair of climatol<^y and mineral hydro- 

 logy, the cost of which the various French spas and 

 watering-places have offered to defray. In the secondary 

 schools, the paramount claims of purely scientific studies 

 has been recognised in accordance; with modern require- 

 ments. 



The third annual meeting of the Old Students Associa- 

 tion of the Royal College of Science, London, was held 

 at the college last Saturday, the president. Sir Thomas H. 

 Holland, F.R.S., presiding. Sir Alexander Pedler, F.R.S., 

 was elected president for 191 1, and Mr. T. LI. Humber- 

 stone and Mr. A. T. Simmons were re-elected secretary 

 and treasurer respectively. A draft report, prepared by a 

 special committee, for the Royal Commission on Uni- 

 versity Education in London, was considered and adopted. 

 In the evening, the third dinner of old students was held 

 at the Criterion Restaurant, about ninety being present. 

 Prof. Edgeworth David, F.R.S., an old student of the 

 college, in proposing the toast of the Royal College of 

 Science, referred to the request of the association for the 

 representation of old students on the governing body of the 

 college. It was, he said, the academic thing to do, for 

 no one could better appreciate the needs of a college than 

 the men and women who had graduated there. The prin- 

 ciple was recognised throughout the universities of the 

 world, and had been adopted with marked success in his 

 own University of Sydney. Mr. William Burton, in reply- 

 ing to the toast, expressed the hope that better provision 

 would in the future be made for the financial and social 

 needs of the scholars attending the college. The chair- 

 man. Sir Thomas Holland, in responding to the toast of 

 the Old Students Association, proposed by Mr. G. T. 

 Holloway, referred to the adoption of an academic costtune 

 for associates, which, he said, secured the definite rect^ni- 

 tion of the college. But, in maintaining the rights of the 

 college and the interests of the association, he urged old 

 students not to forget that they belonged to a larger college 

 in which other interests were represented. The associa- 

 tion were indebted to their governors for the sympathetic 

 way in which they had met the demands of members. 

 Sir Alexander Pedler, F.R.S., the new president of the 

 association, proposed the toast of the Guests, for wh<Mii 

 Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., replied. 



In reply to a question in the House of Commons last 

 week, the Home Secretary stated that the Pharmaceutical 



