February 2, 1922] 



NATURE 



55 



insect by means of fungus-parasites. Prof. A. H. R. 

 Buller describes the mechanism by means of which 

 the common mould-fungus, Pilobolus, is able to shoot 

 its spore-case, containing many thousands of spores, 

 a distance of several feet. Sunlight striking obliquely 

 on the protoplasm of the cell beneath the spore-case 

 gives rise to a stimulus resulting in a movement 

 which places the axis of the stalk on which the spore- 

 case is borne in the line of the light-ray. The fungus 

 may be described as having an optical sense-organ or 

 simple eye which it uses for laying its gun in a 

 definite direction. Pilobolus lives in fields on the dung 

 of herbivorous animals, and by directing its guns 

 towards the source of brightest light is enabled to 

 shoot its sporangia into open spaces on to grass and 

 other herbage. Herbivorous animals eat grass and 

 sporangia together, and the spores are passed un- 

 harmed in the solid excreta in which they germinate. 

 Mr. F. T. Brooks discusses the inheritance of disease- 

 resistance in plants in the light of recent Mendelian 

 work. It has been shown that susceptibility and im- 

 munity to yellow rust disease among varieties of wheat 

 are genetic factors operating in a Mendelian way, and 

 Mr. Rrooks suggests that resistance and susceptibility of 

 potatoes to wart disease may afford a similar case. 

 He points out, however, that we are very much in the 

 dark as to what is the essential factor conferring resist- 

 ance, and the possibility that changed conditions of 

 environment may break down to some extent the 

 resistance-powers of the host as regards certain 

 diseases. There are also short papers of local interest 

 and on new or rare British species. Mr. Ramsbottom 

 explains the "Californian bees," the identity of which 

 has been puzzling folk during the past two years. The 

 organism is the well-known ginger-beer plant which 

 was investigated by the late Prof. Marshall Ward, and 

 consists of two organisms, a yeast and a bacterium, 

 living in symbiosis and causing alcoholic fermentation 

 in a sugary solution. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — A special Syndicate appointed to con- 

 sider possible alterations in the regulations for the 

 Mathematical and Natural Sciences Tripos with the 

 object of facilitating the acquisition by candidates in 

 one subject of a knowledge of the other has reported 

 in favour of the addition of mathematics to the list of 

 sulijects for the Natural Sciences Tripos, Part I. 

 .Arrangements are proposed by which part of the 

 papers set in the Mathematical Tripos, Part I., may 

 be used as papers in the Natural Sciences Tripos, 

 Part I. The reform will be of considerable assist- 

 ance to students reading physics, physical chemistry, 

 and chemistry. 



London. — The Senate has received with great satis- 

 faction a communication from the executors of the 

 late Sir Ratan Tata intimating their continuance for 

 a further period of five years of his benefaction of 

 1400/. a year to the Ratan Tata Foundation. This 

 will henceforth be administered as a distinct depart- 

 ment by the London School of Economics. 



The following doctorates have been conferred : — 

 D.Sc. (Economics): Mr. T, E. G. Gregorv, an 

 internal student, of the London School of Economics, 

 for a thesis entitled "Tariffs: A Studv in Method." 

 D.Sc. (Chemistry): Mr. S. C. Bradford, an external 

 student, for a thesis entitled " On the Theory of 

 Gels," and other papers; and Mr. E. B. Maxted, an 

 external student, for a thesi? entitled "The Influence 

 of Tnhibitants on the Occlusion and Activation of 

 Hydrogen by Palladium and Platinum," and other 

 papers. 



NO. 2727, VOL. 109] 



Manchester. — The executors of the late Mr. Her- 

 mann Woolley, who was for many years treasurer of 

 the University, have given a donation of loool. 

 to\V<ards the endowment of a lectureship in pharma- 

 ceutics. 



The following appointments have been made : — 

 Reader in geography, Mr. \V, H. Barker, of Univer- 

 sity College, Southampton ; assistant lecturer in 

 physics, Mr. VV, S. Vernon ; and assistant lecturer in 

 chemistry (technology), Mrs. M. B. Craven. 



Oxford. — The Romanes lecture for 1922 will be 

 delivered at 6 p.m. on May 24 in the Sheldonian 

 Theatre by Prof. A. S. Eddington, Plumian professor 

 of astronomy at Cambridge and president of the Royal 

 Astronomical Society. The subject will be "The 

 Theory of Relativity and its Influence on Scientific 

 Thoug'ht." 



On January 31 Congregation rejected by 65 votes 

 to 62 the preamble of a statute by which it was pro- 

 posed to discontinue the Delegacy of the University 

 Museum, and to establish in its place a Board con- 

 sisting of the heads of the departments of natural 

 science in the University. The opinion of the teachers 

 of science was divided on the question, some, both 

 of the professors and of the college tutors, being 

 opposed to the change. It is, however, probable that 

 there is an almost general conviction that the present 

 constitution of the Delegacy is capable of amend- 

 ment, though the particular scheme of reform pro- 

 posed by the Council did not commend itself to the 

 majorit3\ The statute was introduced by the Rev. 

 G. B. Cronshaw, fellow of Queen's, and was sup- 

 ported by Sir C. S. Sherrington and Prof. W. H. 

 Perkin and by the president of Magdalen. It was 

 opposed by Mr. H. B. Hartley, fellow of Balliol, and 

 by Mr. N. V. Sidgwick, fellow of Lincoln. 



Field-Marshal Lord Haig has been elected Chan- 

 cellor of the University of St. Andrews in succession 

 to the late Lord Balfour of Burleigh. Lord Haig was 

 elected Rector of the University in 1917, and the office 

 of Chancellor, to which he has now succeeded, is held 

 for life. 



On Wednesday, February 8, at the Sir John Cass 

 Technical Institute, Aldgate, E.G., Prof. W. Rothen- 

 stein, principal of the Royal College of Art, will dis- 

 tribute the prizes and certificates gained by the 

 students during the past session and give an address 

 on "Education and Industry." 



Two Theresa Seessel research fellowships at Yale 

 University are being offered, the object of which is the 

 promotion of original research in biological studies. 

 Applications for the fellowships, which are each of the 

 value of 3ooi., should be made to the Dean of the 

 Graduate School, New Haven, Conn., U.S.A., before 

 May I next, accompanied by reprints of scientific pub- 

 lications, letters of recommendation, and a statement 

 as to the particular problem which the candidate 

 expects to investigate. 



It is announced in the British Medical Journal that 

 three Canadian universities — Toronto, Western, and 

 Queen's— are co-operating with the Ontario Medical 

 .Association in a scheme similar to that adopted by the 

 University of Bristol to keep medical practitioners in 

 outlving districts in touch with recent developments in 

 medicine by means of extension courses. The pro- 

 vince has been divided into ten sections, and at a 

 central point in each it has been arranged to hold 

 various courses and give lectures covering a period 

 of six weeks in each year. The courses have already 

 commenced and have proved very popular, many prac- 

 titioners travelling hundreds of miles to attend them. 



