October 7, 1920] 



NATURE 



199 



^ 



roviding the instruction, so that the greater the entry 

 ae greater the need for money. 

 This session the wortcing of the faculty of science 

 will be rearranged, much of the work previously done 

 In the meetings of faculty being delegated to Boards 

 f Studies. 'J'hc latter consist of professors and 

 -•lected members of the non-professorial staff, and 

 the following boards have been constituted : Mathe- 

 matics, physics, chemistry, engineering, and biology. 

 It is hoped that the new arrangement will do some- 

 thing towards relieving the congestion of business in 

 the faculty, which has recently been serious. The 

 boards will report to the faculty. 



Cambridge. — Dr. Ff. Roberts, Clare College, has 



\>i:en appointed junior demonstrator in physiology, and 



\lr. T. R. Parsons, Sidney Sussex College, additional 



!:monstrator in physiology. 



The Vice-chancellor has announced a very generous 



;ft of 25,(KX)J. from Sir Dorabji Tata, Gonville and 



lius College, towards the expense of new buildings 



•r the engineering school. \ further anonymous gift 



I 2000/. has also been received. Part of the new 



iiildings are already very nearly complete, .\mongst 



'■\i' large entry this year are to be found fifty otlicers 



■ the Royal Engineers and a small number of officers 



: iim the Royal .\ir Force and the Corps of Signals — a 



'Icome connection between the Services and the 



' icntific side of the University. The number of naval 



otTicers in residence has been re<luced owing to the 



hf-avy pressure on the accommodation. The question 



I the admission of women to the University comes 



|) for discussion in the Senate House on Thursday, 



' )rtober 14. 



Dr. James G. Gray, lecturer in physics at the Uni- 

 versity of Glasgow, has been appointed to the newly 

 established Cargill chair of applied physics in the 

 University. 



The Tunes announces that Mr. T. D. Owen, a 

 leading Welsh metallurgist, has given 10,000/. to the 

 University College of North Wales for the foundarion 

 of a chair in his name of electrical engineering and 

 hydro-electrics. 



Dr. J. Newton- Friend, hitherto headmaster of the 

 Science and Technical School, Victoria Institute, 

 Worcester, has succeeded Dr. T. Slater Price as head 

 of the chemistrv department of the Rirmingham 

 Municipal Technical School. 



Dr. Marion B. Richards, of the chemistry depart- 

 ment of .\berdwn I'niversitv, has been appointed 

 [assistant to Dr. R. H. .\. Plimmer, head of the bio- 

 Irhemjcal department of the Rowatt Research Insti- 

 • ite in .Animal Nutrition, Aberdeen. 



It is announced by the Times that Prof. :\. B. 



I icallum, professor of bio<-hemistrv in the I'niversitv 



Toronto, and administrative chairman, honorarv 



\ilvisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 



"f Canada, has accepted the new chair of bio- 



!i'mistry at McGill University. 



Dr. C. Da Fano will begin a .special course of eight 



iures on "The Histology of the Nervous System " 



the physiology lecture theatre of King's toUege, 



I'niversity of London, on Wednesday, October 13, at 



4.^0 p.m. The course is free to all students of London 



lieges and to medical men and others on presenta- 



n of their visiting-cards. 



.At a meeting of the Old .Students' Association of 

 the Roval Collej^e of Science to l)e Iv-ld on Tuesday 

 next, October 12, at the Imperial College Union, 

 Prince Consort Roiid, South Kensington, London, 

 S.W.7, Mr. J. W. Williamson will deliver an address 

 entitled "The Proposed Universitv of .Science and 

 NO. 2658, VOL. 106] 



Technology : Can a Useful and Worthy University be 

 Based on Pure and .\pplied Science? " The chair 

 will be taken at 8 p.m. by the president of the asso- 

 ciation. Sir Richard Gregory. 



In connection with the University Extension Board 

 of the University of London, Prof. John Cox will 

 commence on October 8, at 7.30 p.m., an interesting 

 course of lectures on "The Bases and Frontiers of 

 Physical Science " at Gresham College, Basinghall 

 Street, E.C.2. The first part of the courses will be 

 devoted to a review on the broadest possible lines of 

 the concepts and laws of Nature on which traditional 

 physics has been built up. The later lectures will deal 

 with Einstein's views and the principle of relativity. 

 Admission to the first lecture is free. 



Societies and Academies. 



Paris. 

 Academy ol Sciences, September 13. — M. .itori 

 Guignard in the chair.- -F. E. Fournier : The apparent 

 displacement of some stars in the total eclipse of the 

 sun of May 29, 19 19. — .A. Blondel : The calculation of 

 electric cables by the use of vectorial functions with 

 real notation. The method described has the same 

 advantages as when imaginary quantities are em- 

 ployed, but only real quantities are utilised in the 

 demonstration. It is based on the introduction of 

 vectorial series. — V. SmirnoH : Some points of the 

 theory of linear differential equations of the second 

 order and automorphic functions.— E. Jouguet : The 

 velocity of waves in elastic solids. — C. Camichel : The 

 transmission of energy by the vibrations of water in 

 pipes. Remarks on' some recent publications of 

 M. Constantinescu, and a statement of the work 

 done by the author on the same subject. — E. Canal* : 

 The estimation of calcium and mafjnesium in different 

 saline media. .\ study of the conditions under which, 

 in acetic acid solution's, it is possible to separate com- 

 pletely calcium and magnesium from salts of iron 

 and aluminium.— G. Zell : The rdle of building corals 

 in lithospheric re-adjustments. — C. StSrmer : Some 

 rays of aurora observe<l on March 22, 1920, which 

 reached a height of 500 km. The aurora borealis of 

 March 22 was photographed from seven stations under 

 favourable conditions. The stations were connected 

 by telephone, and simultaneous photographs were 

 taken from two or three stations at a time. .About 

 620 photographs were obtained, and they show that 

 the summits of some of the ravs reached an altitude 

 of 500 km. above the earth.— .\.' Chevalier : The origin 

 of the cider apple-treos cultivated in Normandy and 

 Brittany. — F. Vli« : The spectral properties of the 

 tetanus toxin. Spectrophotometric studies of the ultra, 

 violet absorption spectra of the effects of heating and 

 of the addition of antitoxin to solutions of the tetanus 

 toxin.— A. Marie and L. MacAnllBe : The influence of 

 life in Paris on the race. .A studv of 1509 Parisians 

 of the poorer classes, 850 of whom were born of 

 provincial parents. 294 of Parisian parents, and the 

 remainder of one Parisian and one provincial paretit. 

 The Paris climate and town life lead to modification.s 

 which are thus summarised : The hair and eyes less 

 pigmented than in the rest of France, more marked 

 cranial dcvelopntent in proportion to height, and 

 shortenine of the limbs.— J. L. Dantan : Budding in 

 Anlipalhella subpinnata and Parantipathes larix. 



HOBART. 



Royal Society of Taamanla, .August. — His Excellency 

 Sir W. L. .All.irdvce. president, in the chair.— H. rf. 

 Scott and C Lord : Nototherium Mitchclli. Its evolu- 

 tionary trend : the skull and such structures as related 

 to the nasal horn. In their third paper on the 



