744 



NATURE 



[February 3, 192 1 



land is sheer gain to the cultivated area, and means 

 an increase noL only in production, but also n\ national 

 wealth by the cummerciai exchange promoted and 

 the new addition ol rates and taxes. 



The scientific and technical problems of land re- 

 clamation are dealt with by Dr. E. J. Russell, who 

 discusses especially the reclamation of sandy and 

 clay soils. In devising reclamation schemes for a 

 given area the first essential is to find the defects of 

 the soil and then to decide on some means of remedy- 

 ing them. This cannot be done simply by analysis ; 

 field trials must be made, though analysis affords 

 considerable aid bv indicating the points on which 

 the field tests should give intormation. Of the tv^'o 

 methods possible the safer, but also the slower, 

 is to set up on a typical part of the land to be 

 reclaimed a series of trials based on the analytical 

 data. The other method, which is quicker and almost 

 as safe, is to compare in detail the waste land and 

 the cultivated soil immediately surrounding it. In 

 this way any important defects would be revealed and 

 remedies could be considered. 



For farming reclaimed sandy lands three methods 

 are in general use : the winter feeding of sheep, 

 market-gardening, and the growing of special crops. 

 The last-named is practised at Methwold, where the 

 reclamation scheme has been very successful. The 

 crops grown are specially suited to the conditions, and 

 an intelligent use of artificial fertilisers is required so 

 as to reduce to a minimum the possibility of loss. 



With regard to clav soils, reclamation can generally 

 be effected either by conversion into arable land or by 

 utilisation as grass land. In the arable land scheme 

 lime is absolutely indispensable, while other manures, 

 especially basic slag, are also necessary. If the land 

 is to be used as grass land, there must be adequate 

 drainage and heavy dressings of basic slag. If, 

 however, the percentage of clay rises above certain 

 limits — J7 per cent, for a 30-in. rainfall and 35 per 

 cent, for a 40-in. rainfall — then the grass scheme does 

 not pay, for not onlv does drainage become too expen- 

 sive., but also the grass suffers in dry weather by the 

 shrinking and cracking of the soil. Such land, if 

 allowed to run wild in England, is soon covered with 

 a dense growth of bushes, and to reclaim this it is 

 necessary first to clear the land and stub the roots, 

 and then to improve the soil. These are expensive 

 processes, and, although such schemes have been 

 worked in some cases, it is improbable that any 

 individual would undertake them at the present day. 

 The only thing, therefore, is to hope that propel 

 afforestation methods will be used. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



C.\MURI15GE. — Dr. \\'. L. H. Duckworth, Jesus 

 College, has been appointed to the newly created 

 readership in anatomy, and Mr. V. C. Pennell, Pem- 

 broke College, as an additional junior demonstrator 

 in anatomy. 



New statutes have been framed for the establish- 

 ment of the degrees of M.Litt. and M.Sc. for research 

 students of the University. These will not be opera- 

 tive when approved until the change in the statutes 

 can be effected, but they should be in operation in the 

 coming academical year. 



In connection with the growth of the department of 

 biochemistry, it is proposed that two additional Uni- 

 versity lecturers and one additional demonstrator in 

 biochemistry should be appointed. 



Two fly-sheets have been circulated to resident 

 members of the Senate in opposition to the scheme for 

 a separate women's university at Cambridge — a scheme 



NO. 2675, VOL. 106] 



which is to be voted on next week. One comes, naturally, 

 from the supporters of scheme .\, which was defeated 

 last term. The alternative offered by the other 

 members of the Syndicate obviously has no more 

 attractions now than formerly to those who wish 

 to offer women full membership of the University. 

 The second fly-sheet comes from the party which 

 claims a desire to redress any real grievance under 

 which women students suffer without giving them 

 any hand in the control of men's education. The 

 signatories of this report include three of the original 

 signatories of report B, who now definitely oppose 

 their own proposal. They urge the appointment of a 

 new Syndicate to draft a statute giving women titular 

 degrees with no voting power in the University, and 

 reserving rights to the University over the numf*r 

 of women students whom it will undertake to teach. 

 Other privileges, but no powers, are to be granted to 

 the women, and machinery is to be provided by which 

 women teachers could confer with the Boards of 

 Studies in the University. It is something that the 

 centre party on this question, with w'hom lies the ulti- 

 mate decision between the two extreme wings, should 

 have got so far forward as to admit the justice of the 

 women's claims to degrees. The nature of the recep- 

 tion of their proposal by the women's colleges will be 

 awaited with some interest, but it may be anticipated 

 that at most it will amount to lukewarm acceptance, 

 and that it will satisfy neither the women's desires 

 nor demands. 



The Lees Knowles lectures will be given by Major- 

 Gen. Sir F. H. .Svkes on ".Aviation Before, During, 

 and .\fter the War." 



London. — H.R.H. the Prince of Wales has con- 

 sented to accept the honorary degrees of Master of 

 Commerce and Doctor of Science, which will be con- 

 ferred on him on Presentation Day in May of this 

 year. On onlv one occasion in the history of the 

 University have honorary degrees been conferred — in 

 igo3, when their Majesties the King and Queen (then 

 Prince and Princess of Wales) received respectively 

 the Doctorate of Laws and the Doctorate of Music. 

 On the same day degrees were also conferred on 

 Lords Kelvin and Lister, both of whom have since 

 died. The Prince will thus be only the fifth honorary 

 graduate of the University — the third on the roll of 

 living persons on whom such degrees have been 

 conferred. 



Sir Frederick Bl.^ck will distribute prizes and 

 certificates at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute, 

 -Mdgate, on Thursday, February 10, and will unveil 

 the memorial window erected by the governors of 

 the institute to the memory of members of the staff 

 and students who fell in the war. He will also give 

 an address on "Liquid Fuel in Peace and War." 



On Tuesday next, February 8, at 8 p.m., Mr. 

 F. H. Carr will open a discussion on " Post-Graduate 

 Training in Industrial Chemistry" at a meeting of 

 the Old Students' Association of the Royal College 

 of Science, London, to be held in the Imperial Col- 

 lege LTnion, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington. 

 \on-members of the association interested in the sub- 

 ject are invited to be present. The annual dinner of 

 the association, which had been arranged for 

 February 8, has been postponed to Tuesday, March 8, 

 when the annual general meeting will be held. 



The eighteenth annual dinner of "Old Cen- 

 tralians " (the Old Students' .Association of the City 

 and Guilds (Engineering) College of the Imperial Col. 

 lege of Science, London) will be held at 7 p.m. on 

 Friday, February 11, at the Hotel Cecil, London, 



