January 27, 192 1] 



NATURE 



707 



workshop fitted with a circular saw, a planing 

 machine, and a lathe for the instruction of students, 

 rooms for the members of the staff, a students' room, 

 and a library. Additional rooms for the museum 

 and laboratory of the lecturer in forest zoology were 

 also provided in the building. These various parts of 

 ihf building are fitted up with valuable collections of 

 specimens, serving as object-lessons for the training 

 of the students. 



This accommodation was just completed before the 

 outbreak of war. The site and builaing cost 19,500/., 

 and at present prices it is easy to reckon that its value 

 to-dav is nearer 40,000/. than 2o,cxx)/. The equip- 



Praleciion Mu»«iini. Kor.- iry 1 irp .rinient, Uiiiver.ity of luiinburgb. 



iiient and fittings i(>-.t about 2006/., and the same 

 remark applies to them. It is difficult to make 

 even n guess at Itie value of the specimens which fill 

 (lie museums. Towards this outlay, which is ex- 

 ilusive of museum specimens, the University fur- 

 nished 15,200/., the Development Fund contributing 

 6 ;(»)/. The other expenditure on the forestry depart- 

 nt proper for the period of years 1910-11 to 

 ii)--o, to which allusion is made,' on salaries, etc., 

 ..mounted to 8«oo/., of which 6600/. was furnished 

 I fr.>m the University funds and 2200/. from State 

 '•'lids; so that out of a total outlay during the period 

 ;iO,30o/. the University provided '2 1,800/. as against 



8500/. received from the State. In addition, the Uni- 

 versity paid from its own funds the salaries of the 

 lecturers conducting the applied science subjects, 

 forest botany, and so forth. Last year a chair in 

 forestry was instituted and endowed within the Uni- 

 versity with the help of a grant from the Develop- 

 ment Fund. 



For the practical work, through the courtesy of 

 their proprietors, Edinburgh University has had the 

 use of the woods on the estates of the Duke of .AthoU, 

 Col. W. .Steuart-Fothringham of Murthly, the Earl 

 of Mansfield of Scone, and Viscount Novar of 

 Novar and Raith, and of the Speyside Woods. 

 The students are taken out to 

 these areas and instructed in 

 nursery work, in planting and fell- 

 ing, in sylviculture, and in the pro. 

 taction, utilisation, and scientific 

 measurement of the woods. Ar- 

 rangements have recently been made 

 with the War Office by which a 

 forest garden has been established 

 on the War Oflice estate at Dreg- 

 horn, situated a few miles from 

 Edinburgh, where a fine large 

 nursery is being laid out ; and 

 the Stobs estate of several 

 thousand acres, also belonging to 

 the War Oflice, has been made 

 available for practical work by the 

 students, the University in return 

 advising on the management of the 

 woods of these estates. The Forest 

 of Dean is used for advanced prac- 

 tical work, and the visits which 

 were made to Continental forests 

 before the war are now being 

 resumed. 



At the outbreak of war there 

 were 50 students in the depart- 

 ment; last year 168 students 

 took forestry courses in the Uni- 

 versity, and this year the number 

 has reached 170. The 40 students who have 

 taken the forestry degree since 1911 are now serving 

 in the Indian I-'orest S<>rvice and in the various 

 Colonial Forest Services (South .Africa, Canada, and 

 New Zealand), in the Home Forestry Service, and in 

 the Home universities. At the present moment there 

 are in Edinburgh I'niversitv sixteen Indian forestry, 

 nine Colonial Office, and ten South African proba- 

 tioners — a total of thirty-five. 



The University may thus be considered to have met 

 a national need in placing itself in a position to give 

 a full scientific training to the forest officers of the 

 Empire. 



The International Physiological Congress, 1920. 



Summary of Papers. 



CINCE more than two hundred papers and demon- 



»-' strations were given at the above congress, which 



was held in Paris in July, a mere mention of the more 



outstanding communications is all that is possible in 



[this summary. For a general account of the con- 



I gross Prof. Eraser Harris's article in Nature of 



lSe|)f. aiber 16 may be consulted. 



I Of new apparatus, those described by Hess 

 |(Zurich) and Wilson (Cairo) may be specially men- 

 "ie<l. The former demonstrated a cardio-phono- 

 ph, a visrosimeter, and stereoscopic photof^raphs. 

 ' latter exhibited a stethograph, a portable ergo- 



NO. 2674, VOL. I06J 



graph, a micro-nitrometer, a colorimeter, and a 

 chronograph with electro-magnetic signal. The 

 pursuit-meter described by Miles (Boston) for detect- 

 mg the influence of nutrition, fatigue, industrial 

 conditions, etc., on neuro-muscular co-ordination, and 

 the demonstration (without the aid of the microscope) 

 by Fredericq (Liige) of cilia, spermatozoa, etc., in 

 motion, by means of intense illumination, were of 

 particular interest. Philippson (Brussels) demon- 

 strated an apparatus for showing the precise moment 

 of coagulation of an organic liquid; another for 

 recording modifications in the vi.scosity of fluids; and 



