192 



NATURE 



[October 14, 19 15 



— chromidiosome or chromiole — of true cells. In sup- 

 port of this view, of which I am not the originator, 

 I have set forth the reasons which have convinced 

 me that the extraordinary powers and activities ex- 

 hibited by the chromatin in ordinary cells are such as 

 can only be explained on the hypothesis that the ulti- 

 mate chromatinic units are to be regarded as inde- 

 pendent living beings, as much so as the cells com- 

 posing the bodies of multicellular organisms ; and, so 

 far as I am concerned, I must leave the matter to 

 the judgment of my fellow-biologists. 



I may point out, in conclusion, that general dis- 

 cussions of this kind may be useful in other ways 

 than as attempts to discover truth or as a striving 

 towards a verity which is indefinable and perhaps un- 

 attainable. Even if my scheme of evolution be but a 

 midsummer night's fantasy, I claim for it that it 

 co-ordinates a number of isolated and scattered pheno- 

 mena into an orderly and, I think, intelligible 

 sequence, and exhibits them in a relationship which 

 at least enables the mind to obtain a perspective and 

 comprehensive view of them. Rival theories will be 

 more, or less, useful than mine, according as they 

 succeed in correlating more, or fewer, of the accumu- 

 lated data of experience. If in this address I succeed 

 in arousing interest and reflection, and in stimulating 

 inquiry and controversy, it will have fulfilled its 

 purpose. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Birmingham.— A portrait of Prof. Lapworth (by 

 Mr, B. Munns) has been presented to the University 

 by Mr. W. Waters Butler. 



Dr. Elgood Turner has been appointed demonstrator 

 in anatomy for women students in succession to Dr. 

 Violet Coghill, who has resigned. 



Dr. Mary Clarke has been appointed lecturer in 

 hygiene to the students of the Training College for 

 Women. 



Mr. B. Lloyd has been appointed demonstrator in 

 anatomy for the session. 



Glasgow. — Prof. John Ferguson has resigned the 

 Regius chair of chemistry, to which he was appointed 

 in 1874. He had previously for nine and a half years 

 been a junior teacher in the department. He has 

 therefore been a member of the staff for more than 

 fifty years. During his tenure of office the chemical 

 laboratories of the University have been greatly en- 

 larged, and separate departments of organic chem- 

 istry, metallurgical chemistry, and physical chemistry 

 have been instituted under the charge of special lec- 

 turers. Among Prof. Ferguson's former pupils are 

 many distinguished chemists, including Prof. Millar 

 Thomson, Sir William Ramsay, Sir J, J. Dobbie, 

 Carrick Anderson, Profs. Henderson, Boyd, Long, and 

 Parker, and Dr. A. W. Stewart. 



Leeds. — The Vice-Chancellor has received the fol- 

 lowing message from the King : — " His Majesty feels 

 that the assistance of the universities is a gi"eat asset 

 to the cause for which we are fighting, as science plays 

 such a prominent part in modern warfare." 



London. — A course in dynamical meteorology with 

 practical work will be given at the Meteorological 

 Office, South Kensington, on Fridays, at 3 p.m., 

 during the second term by Sir Napier Shaw, director 

 of the Meteorological Office and University reader in 

 meteorology. The fortnightly meetings at the 

 Meteorological Office for discussion of important con- 

 tributions to current meteorology in colonial or foreign 

 journals will be resumed at 5 p.m. on Monday, Octo- 

 ber 25, and will be continued on alternate Mondays 



NO. 2398, VOL. 96] 



until March 27, 19 16, with the exception of December 

 20th and January 3. Students wishing to attend 

 should communicate with the reader at the Meteoro- 

 logical Office. The lectures are addressed to advanced 

 students of the University and to others interested in 

 the subject. Admission free, by ticket, to be obtained 

 on application at the Meteorological Office. 



A COPY of the September issue of the Reading Uni- 

 versity College Review has been received. It con- 

 tains a revised list of the names of present members 

 of the staff, past and present students, and present 

 servants of the college who are serving with his 

 Majesty's Forces, or in the French Army. The 

 college may well be proud of its roll of honour. Mr. 

 W. E. G. Atkinson, who was formerly a lecturer of 

 the Department of Agriculture, has been killed in 

 action in the Dardanelles, and Mr. T. G. Malpas, 

 demonstrator in the physics laboratory, has been 

 wounded. The review also contains a list of recent 

 original contributions to science by members of the 

 staff. 



The various courses of instruction to be given at 

 the North of Scotland College of Agriculture during 

 the present session are set out in detail in the current, 

 calendar of the college. The courses are designed to 

 prepare Students for the degree of B.Sc. in agricuj- 

 ture in the University of Aberdeen, the uni- 

 versity diploma in agriculture, the national diplomas 

 in agriculture and dairying, the degree of 

 B.Sc. in forestry, and the certificate in forestry granted 

 by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. 

 .'Ml courses are open to women as well as to men. 

 With the aid of a grant from the Development^ Com- 

 mission, a research department has been instituted. 

 In accordance with the conditions under which the 

 grant is received from the Commission, this depart- 

 ment is managed by a joint committee representing 

 the governors and the University Court. We notice 

 the governors have acquired a college farm. Experi- 

 ments and demonstrations will be carried out. Ex- 

 perimental plots, an experimental and demonstration 

 garden, and a horticultural department, are in course 

 of construction. It is also intended to carry on feed- 

 ing and other experiments upon stock. The farm is 

 conveniently situated about five miles from Aberdeen. 

 It is proposed to institute a school of rural domestic 

 economy for girls. There is a large mansion house 

 on the college farm estate which will be equipped 

 as a residence for the girls attending the school, and 

 in which classes will be carried on. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, Octoljer 4. — M. Ed. Perrier in 

 the chair. — J. Boussinesq : The correct calculation of 

 the influence of climatic inequality on the velocity of 

 increase of terrestrial temperatures with depth from 

 the surface.— H. Douville : The orbitoids of the penin- 

 sula of California. A study of material arising from 

 the geological explorations of Arnold Heim. Some 

 specimens belong to the genus Orthophragmina, and 

 it is the first time these have been discovered in this 

 region. Some rare Foraminifera include specimens of 

 Amphistegina Niasi. — E. E. Barnard : Some supposed 

 movements in stars near the cluster Messier 11 = 

 N.G.C. 6705. The observation of J. Comas Sold on 

 movements of stars in the neighbourhood of this 

 cluster do not appear to be well founded. They were 

 based on the stereoscopic examination of photographs 

 taken at an interval of three years. The 

 author has examined photographs of the same 



