March 17, 192 1] 



NATURE 



91 



Glasgow. — The Lord Rector is ex-officio president 

 of the University Court, and takes the chair at least 

 once during his three years' term of office. On 

 Friday, March ii, Mri Bonar Law, after his installa- 

 tion in the forenoon, presided at a formal meeting of 

 the Court. The business was of special interest, as 

 testifying to the sympathy and support which the city 

 has for many generations accorded to the University. 

 Securities for 21,050/. were received from Sir D. M. 

 Stevenson, Bart., ex-Lord Provost, for the foundation 

 of a Citizenship Trust. The purpose of the Trust is 

 to establish a Stevenson lectureship or chair analogous 

 to the Gifford foundation, "to make provision in 

 Glasgow for instruction in the rights, duties, and 

 obligations of citizens in relation to the city, the 

 State, and the commonwealth of nations ; to promote 

 study, inquiry, and research in subjects bearing on 

 local government, national polity, and international 

 ' comity ; and thereby to emphasise the compatibility 

 of civic or local with national patriotism, and of both 

 with full and free international co-operation." 



Lord Weir next presented to the Lord Rector a 

 cheque for 30,200/. on behalf of the Institution of 

 Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. The sum 

 had been contributed by members and friends of the 

 institution by way of commemorating the centenary 

 of the death of James Watt, formerly mathematical 

 instrument maker to the University, for the purpose 

 of increasing the facilities provided in the James Watt 

 (University) laboratories for the scientific study of 

 engineering. It is proposed to use the fund for the 

 purpose of erecting into James Watt professorships 

 the two lectureships in electrical engineering and in 

 heat engines already established in the department. 

 Lord Weir took the opportunity to announce that 

 the institution had resolved to confer the rare dis- 

 tinction of its honorary membership on Mr. Bonar 

 Law, "formerly iron merchant in Glasgow." 

 i Lastly, it was intimated to the Court that the late 

 ' Mr. Robert Wvlie, chairman of Wylie and Lochhead, 

 Ltd., had bequeathed the residue of his estate for the 

 further endowment of the Regius chair of engineer- 

 ing and of engineering teaching in the James Watt 

 laboratories of the University in commemoration of 

 the benefits conferred on mankind by the labours of 

 James Watt. He had also bequeathed his library of 

 books relating to Glasgow, and all his engravings, 

 etchings, and water-colour drawings. It is under- 

 stood that the bequest, after the expiry of certain 

 ! life-rents, will amount to a larger sum than any 

 previous benefaction of the kind. 



A large extension of the James Watt laboratories, 

 in which the engineering department of the University 

 is housed, is nearing completion. It has been rendered 

 necessary by the great influx of students after the 

 war. In October, 1920, many applicants had to be 

 denied admission. 



Dr. F. C. Thompson, of the University of Sheffield, 

 has been appointed to the chair of metallurgy in the 

 University of Manchester. 



The Prince of Wales will be present at the London 

 University graduation dinner to be held at the Guild- 

 hall on May 5, and, as the recipient of the degrees of 

 Doctor of Science and Master of Commerce, will 

 respond to the toast of "The New Graduates." 



On June 28 the University of Durham will confer 

 the honorary degree of D.Sc. upon Sir E. H. W. 

 Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, director of naval construction at 

 the Admiralty, and Prof. A. Meek, professor of 

 zoology at Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



Notice is given by the Royal Society of Medicine 

 of the award in June next of the William Gibson 

 NO. 2681, VOL. 107] 



research scholarship of 250/. for two years for a 

 qualified medical woman. Particulars may be ob- 

 tained from the secretary of the society, i Wimpole 

 Street, W.i. 



On Saturday last the University of Dublin con- 

 ferred the honorary degree of Sc.D. upon Prof. 

 W. M. Bayliss, professor of general physiology in 

 University College, London; Prof. E. Borel, professor 

 of the theory of functions at the Sorbonne, Paris ; and 

 Prof. A. A. Michelson, professor of physics in the 

 University of Chicago. 



Applications are invited for the John Lucas Walker 

 studentship in pathologv' in the University of Cam- 

 bridge. The studentship is of the annual value of 

 300Z. and tenable, under certain conditions, for three 

 years. Candidates must be prepared to devote them- 

 selves to original research in pathology, and must send, 

 their applications, with copies of published work and 

 references, before April 5 next to Prof. Sir German 

 Woodhead, Pathological Laboratory, Medical School^ 

 Cambridge. 



The annual report of the Delegates for Forestry of 

 the University of Oxford contains a record of the 

 valuable work which has been accomplished at the 

 school during the past year. More than 100 students, 

 of whom 80 were first-year men, have been attend- 

 ing classes, and temporary assistance in the work of 

 instruction was afforded by the loan of four officers, 

 three of them from the Forestry Commissicm and one 

 from the India Office. Practical work was under- 

 taken in the Forest of Dean, High Meadow Woods, 

 and Tintern Crown Forests, and in September a 

 party of twenty-five students accompanied the pro- 

 fessor on a tour through some of the forests of 

 France. The scheme for raising plants for sale in 

 the Bagley Forest Nursery was abandoned during 

 the year on account of the high cost of labour, but 

 the nursery will be maintained for raising plants for 

 local use and for demonstration- purposes. During 

 the year thirty-six students qualified for the diploma 

 in, forestry, two of whom, we note, are ladies. The 

 delegates also pay eloquent tribute to the work of 

 Sir William Schlich, who has resigned his professor- 

 ship after a tenure of fifteen years. 



In the annual report of the Commissioner of Educa- 

 tion for the United States for the year ending June, 

 1920, brief summaries of progress in some phases of 

 education in America are given, together with a short 

 statement of the activities of the Bureau of Educa- 

 tion. Formerly the annual report was printed in two 

 large volumes, but four years ago it was decided to 

 issue this form of report biennially and to supple- 

 ment it with a brief annual sketch, such as the one 

 before us of 134 pages. In the section dealing with 

 higher education attention is directed to the large 

 increase in the numbers of students receiving instruc- 

 tion and to the financial embarrassment in which most 

 of the universities and colleges find themselves. A 

 comparison of the total enrolments for the academic 

 year 1916 with those of 1919 show an increase of 

 25 per cent, at the 250 institutions from which 

 statistics were obtained. Reference is also made to 

 the low salaries which are being paid at public and 

 private institutions for higher education. Another 

 point of interest is the introduction of general intel- 

 ligence tests such as are used in the American Armv 

 as an alternative to entrance examinations, and it is 

 estimated that some 200 colleges and universities are 

 using such psychological tests. Attempts are also 

 being made by co-operation with industrial associa- 

 tions to bring higher educational institutions into 

 closer relations with the needs of the industries of 

 the country. 



