666 



NATURE 



[February io, 191 6 



have been carried out by them on the nature of cancer- 

 ous growths. Sir Alexander McRobert has now placed 

 the foundation on a permanent footing by handing 

 over securities to the University which will yield an 

 annual return of about 750Z. It has been arranged 

 that the foundation shall take the form of a lecture- 

 ship, attached to the department of pathology. The 

 lecturer will conduct research with a view to the 

 elucidation of the problems o'f cancerous and other 

 malignant diseases, and will also give instruction on 

 subjects connected with his investigations. 



Sheffield. — The council, at its meeting on February 

 7, appointed Dr. A. J. Hall (senior physician, Sheffield 

 Royal Hospital) to the professorship of medicine, in 

 succession to Dr. D. Burgess. 



A NOTE in the Sunday Times records that on Febru- 

 ary 4 Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy of India, laid the 

 foundation-stone of the new Hindu University build- 

 ings to be erected at Benares. The estimated cost will 

 amount to about 2,ooo,oooi. 



The following appointments have been made in con- 

 nection with the Royal College of Physicians of Lon- 

 don : — Sir Thomas Barlow to be the Harveian orator 

 for the present year, Dr. H. W. G. Mackenzie the 

 Bradshaw lecturer, and Dr. W. J. Howarth to be the 

 Milroy lecturer for 1917. 



It was stated in the manifesto issued last week on 

 the position of science (see p. 640) that communications 

 to the Reorganisation Committee should be addressed 

 to 107 Piccadilly, London, which is the address of the 

 Savile Club. The secretary of the Reorganisation 

 Committee now asks that such communications should 

 be addressed to him at 11 Airlie Gardens, London, W. 



The Government of Madras has inaugurated a 

 scheme of lectures for the education of villagers in 

 sanitary principles. Model lectures on various subjects 

 affecting the daily life of the villagers have been pre- 

 pared by the Sanitary Commissioner, and the idea is, 

 we learn from the Pioneer Mail, to translate these lec- 

 tures into the principal vernaculars of the Presidency 

 in language easily understood by the people, and to get 

 them delivered to villagers through the agency of the 

 sanitary and educational staff, surgeons, and other 

 competent persons, who may have sufficient interest in 

 the movement. 



In addition to the war work being done in the de- 

 partments of physics and arts and crafts of the Read- 

 ing University College, to which reference was made 

 in our recent note on the December issue of the Read- 

 ing University College Review, we learn that the 

 chemical department of the college is active in a 

 similar direction. The work consists in the prepara- 

 tion of synthetic drugs for the Admiralty, and in con- 

 nection with the Royal Society's Sectional Chemical 

 Committee. Several old students have obtained tem- 

 porary posts as chemists in explosive works, and a 

 number are on the waiting list of the National Physical 

 Laboratory for assisting in physical and engineering 

 experiments upon war problems. 



The following gifts to higher education in the United 

 States are announced in the issues of Science for 

 December 31 and January 7 last : — A gift of 15,000^. 

 to the Harvard Medical School ; this is the balance of 

 the bequest of Morrill Wyman, who established the 

 Morrill Wyman Medical Research Fund, the income 

 of which is to be applied in promoting investigation 

 concerning the origin, results, prevention, and treat- 

 ment of disease. Dr. Rudolph A. Witthaus, known for 

 his work in chemistry and toxicology, who died on 

 December iq last, left most of his estate of more than 

 30,000?. to the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. 

 NO. 2415, VOL. 96] 



Witthaus left to the Academy of Medicine all his 

 books and the estate for the benefit of the library. 

 Grinnell College has received io,oooL from an anony- 

 mous donor. The college is conducting a campaign 

 for new endowment and buildings. Recently a parcel 

 of land in Kansas City, valued at 30,000?., was turned 

 ! over to the college. The alumni of the college are 

 raising funds for new buildings, the construction of 

 which will be commenced next spring, which will cost 

 about 50,000?. It is now said that the estate left by 

 the late Mr. Amos R. Eno is likely to amount to 

 3,000,000?. Provided the will filed for probate last 

 October stands, in the face of the contest being made 

 by Mr. Eno's next of kin, Columbia University's share 

 of the estate will be about 1,400,000?. 



Further gifts to higher education in the L'niud 

 States are recorded in the issue of Science for January 

 21. Mr. George T. Baker has made a further gift of 

 10,000?. to Cornell University ; Barnard College, 

 Coluinbia University, has received 20,000?. from Mr. 

 James Talcott; a new chair at the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, to be known as the Dr. Isaac Ott chair in 

 physiology, has been endowed through the legacy 

 received from the estate of the late Dr. Isaac Ott ; 

 and the sum of 50,000?. has been given by Mrs. Russell 

 Sage to the Emma Willard School in Troy to found 

 a department of domestic and industrial art. The 

 new department will occup}^ the buildings recently 

 vacated by the school on the completion of new build- 

 ings made possible by a gift of 200,000?. from Mrs. 

 Sage in 1907. 



The Department of Agriculture and Technical In- 

 struction for Ireland has issued a circular (Form 

 S. 125) giving particulars of the technical school exam- 

 inations it will hold during the present year. The 

 Department's scheme of examinations is designed to 

 follow courses of instruction extending over four years 

 in commerce, building trades' work, applied chemistry, 

 electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, domes- 

 tic economy, and art. Examinations in all subjects of 

 the courses will be held this year in May. Certificates 

 will not be issued by the Department in respect of the 

 first and second }-ears' examinations of any course, but 

 pass lists will be issued to the local school authorities. 

 It is intended that the courses of instruction of which 

 these examinations will provide a test should include 

 not only theoretical, but also practical and laboratory 

 work. 



Notice has been given that the fourth election to 

 Beit fellowships for scientific research will take place 

 on or about July 15 next. Not more than three fellow- 

 ships will be awarded. Applications must be received 

 on or before April 15. Forms of application and all 

 information may be obtained, by letter only, addressed 

 to the Rector, Imperial College, South Kensington, Lon- 

 don, S.W\ The annual value of every fellowship is 150?. , 

 and its tenure is for one year, which may be extended 

 by the trustees for a further period not exceeding one 

 year. So long as the fellow is a graduate of a British 

 University, or holds some approved diploma, he may 

 be of any nationality provided he is of European 

 descent by both parents. Every candidate must be 

 under the age of twenty-five years on the date of elec- 

 tion. Fellows are attached to a department of the 

 Imperial College of Science and Technology, and work 

 under the supervision of a professor in accordance with 

 the arrangements made by the head of the depart- 

 ment. 



The returns of the registration of students for 

 November, 1915, of . thirty of the universities in the 

 United States are tabulated and analysed in an article 

 by Mr. J. C. Burg, of Northwestern University, in the 

 issue of Science for January 21. The largest gains in 



