'34 



NATURE 



[September 22, 192 1 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



LoxDON.^ — The following special advanced lectures 

 have been arranged at King's College for post- 

 graduate and other advanced students. The dates 

 given are those on which the courses begin : — " Liquid 

 Fuels," Mr. Harold Moore, October 17; "Liquid Fuel 

 Engines," Dr. W. R. Ormandy, October 24 ;" Bridge 

 Construction," Mr. H. W. FitzSimons, October 13; 

 " Cascade Induction and Synchronous Motors and 

 Generators," Mr. L. J. Hunt, October 18; "Re- 

 inforced Concrete," Dr. Oscar Faber, January 19, 

 1922; "Accurate Measurements in Mechanical En- 

 gineering : The Use and Testing of Gauges," Mr. 

 F. H. Rolt, January 24 ; " Wireless Transmitting 

 Valves," Prof. C. L. Fortescue, January 23; and 

 "The Cheapening of Electrical Energy in Great 

 Britain," Mr. C. H. Wordingham, February 27. 



Oxford.— Mr. J. H. Jeans, secretary to the Royal 

 Society, has been appointed Halley lecturer for 1922. 



Birmingham.— By the retirement of Mr. W. H. 

 Cope, the University librarian, the University loses 

 a valuable servant whose place will be difficult to 

 fill. In forty years of strenuous and whole-hearted 

 devotion to duty Mr. Cope has brought the rapidly 

 growing library to a state of efficiency out of all pro- 

 portion to the expenditure involved. Regardless of 

 the fact that his salary was a mere pittance and that 

 the library was deplorably understaffed, he always 

 gave of his best ; and by his ever-ready assistance he 

 earned the gratitude of many generations of staff and 

 students whose good wishes will follow him into his 

 retirement. 



The Herter lectures are to be delivered at Johns 

 Hopkins University, Baltimore, on October 5, 6, 

 and 7 by Sir Arthur Keith, who will take as his 

 subject "The Differentiation of Human Races in the 

 Light of the Theory of Hormones." 



Dr. D. Burns, Grieve lecturer on phvsiological 

 chemistry in the University of Glasgow, 'has been 

 appointed professor of physiology in the Universitv 

 of Durham College of Medicine, Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne, in succession to the late Prof, J. A. Menzies. 



Among the free public Gresham lectures shortly to 

 be delivered at Gresham College are the following :— 

 Physic, Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, October 11, 12, 

 13, and 14; Astronomy, Mr. A. R. Hinks, October 18, 

 19, 20, and 21 ; and Geometrv, Mr. W. H. Wagstaff, 

 November 7, 8, 10, and li. The lecture-hour is 

 6 o'clock. 



The Prospectus of Universitv Courses in the 

 Municipal College of Technology, 'Manchester, for the 

 session 1921-22 has recently been issued. Systematic 

 training extending over a period of three or four years 

 is provided in mechanical, electrical, municipal, and 

 sanitary engineering, the technology of the chemical 

 and textile industries, photography and printing, etc. 

 University courses leading to the degrees of Bachelor 

 and Master of technical science in these subjects are 

 available, and, in addition, there are numerous part- 

 time day and evening courses for the benefit of en- 

 gineers, apprentices, and others who cannot attend for 

 full-tirtle instruction. In conjunction with the 

 Students' Union there is a technical section consisting 

 of the Chemical, Engineering, and Textile Societies, 

 the objects of which are to discuss technical subjects 

 of interest to the members and to arrange for 

 periodical visits to works and factories. These visits 

 serve to amplifv the generous arrangements made in 

 the college itself for practical work in the laboratories. 



NO. 2708, VOL. 108] 



Calendar of Scientific Pioneers. 



September 22, 1703. Vincenzo Yiviani died.— The 



last pupil of Galileo, Viviani took a prominent place 

 among the geometers of the seventeenth century, and 

 became mathematician and chief engineer to the 

 Grand Duke of Tuscany. 



September 22, 1874. Jean Baptiste Armand Louis 

 Leonce Elie de Beaumont died. — Professor of geology 

 in the College de France and successor to Arago as 

 permanent secretary of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, Elie de Beaumont had a leading share in 

 the geological survey of France, and among his best- 

 known works are those relating to the age and 

 origin of mountain systems. 



September 23, 1738. Hermann Boerhaave died. — 

 The most famous physician of his day, Boerhaave 

 as a professor of botany, medicine, and chemistry 

 raised the University of Leyden to the summit of its 

 fame. His writings were translated in many 

 languages. 



September 23, 1877. Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier 

 died. — Sharing with Adams the honour of the dis-j 

 covery of Neptune, Leverrier was one of the greatest 

 French astronomers of last century. He succeeded [ 

 Arago as director of the Paris Observatory, where' 

 he carried out the complete revision of planetary 

 theories and the formation of new tables. 



September 23, 1882. Friedrich Wbhler died.— Born 

 in 1800, Wohler while a teacher in the Berlin Trade 

 School first prepared the metal amminium, and in 

 1828 effected the synthesis of urea. He collaborated 

 with Liebig, and,"^ like him, was a great teacher. 

 From 1836 he held the chair of chemistry at Got- 

 tingen. 



September 24, 1541. Paracelsus died.— A remark- 

 able figure in the annals of science, Paracelsus — or 

 Theophrastus Bombastus von 'Hohenheim — was the 

 contemporary of Copernicus and Luther. An erratic 

 genius of extraordinary insight, but notorious habits, 

 he was a leader in the revolt against authority which 

 marked the beginning of modern scientific progress. 



September 25, 1777. Johann Heinrich Lambert 

 died. — One of the group of learned men attracted to 

 Berlin by Frederick the Great, Lambert enriched 

 both mathematics and astronomy by his researches 

 and discoveries. 



September 26, 1703. Johann Christoph Sturm died. 

 —Sturm has been called the restorer of the physical 

 sciences in Germany. He was for many years at 

 the Academy of Altdorf, and persistently advocated 

 the introduction of science into the schools of 

 Germany. 

 September 26, 1868. August Ferdinand Mobius 



died. Holding the chair of higher mathematics and 



astronomv at Leipzig, Mobius was regarded as one 

 of the leaders in modern projective geometry. 



September 27, 1908. John Macon Thome died.— 

 As assistant and successor to Gould at the Cordoba 

 Observatory, Thome did much for astronomy in 

 South America. 



September 28, 1895. Louis Pasteur died.— 

 Honoured as a benefactor of mankind, Pasteur was 

 a great chemist and a great biologist. He was drawn 

 to the study of chemistry by the lectures of Dumas, 

 and became a professor first at Strassburg, then at 

 Lille, and in 1867 at the Sorbonne. The_ Pasteur 

 Institute in Paris contains his tomb, and his record 

 of services is inscribed upon it thus : — 



" 1848, Molecular dissymmetry. 1857, Fermenta- 

 tions. 1862, Spontaneous generation. 1863, Studies 

 on wine. 186.;, Silkworm diseases. 1871, Studies on 

 beer. 1877, Contagious diseases of animals. 1880, 

 Vaccination against contagious diseases. 1885, Pre- 

 vention of hydrophobia." E. C. S. 



