5So 



NATURE 



[January 21, 19 15 



The president, vice-president, and council of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland have decided to 

 place in the college a permanent' record of the names 

 of all the students, licentiates,- and fellows of the 

 college who are at present serving with his Majesty's 

 Navy and Expeditionary Forces, and further to erect 

 a suitable memorial to all such as fall in the war. 

 The president, vice-president, and council will be glad 

 if the relatives and friends would communicate the 

 names of such students, licentiates, and fellows to the 

 registrar of the college. 



In an article in Science for December 25, Mr. John 

 C. Burg, of North-Western University, Chicago, 

 examines and summarises the registration statistics 

 for November i, 19 14, of some thirty universities in 

 the United States. The largest gains for the year in 

 the number of students were as follows : — Columbia, 

 1365; California, 1109; Pittsburgh, 1069; Ohio State, 

 832; Wisconsin, 806; Harvard, 784; New York, 634; 

 Minnesota, 552 ; Pennsylvania, 536. The eight univer- 

 sities with the largest total number of students are 

 g^iven in the article as : — Columbia, 11,294; California, 

 8180; Chicago, 7131; Wisconsin, 6696; Pennsylvania, 

 6505; Harvard, 641 1; Michigan, 6319; New York 

 University, 6142. In the scientific schools, that is, 

 including the schools of mines, engineering, chem- 

 istry, and related subjects, Illinois takes the lead with 

 1406 students, followed by Cornell, 1363, Michigan, 

 1347. Yale, 1056, Pennsylvania, 906, Ohio State, 851, 

 Wisconsin, 796, and California, 763. 



It is announced in the issue of Science for January 

 8 that the sum of 486,000/. was obtained for Wellesley 

 College in the fourteen months ended in December, 

 19 14, according to a statement given out by the 

 treasurer. Of this amount 86,ooo^, including a con- 

 ditional pledge of 4o,oooZ. from the General Educational 

 Board, was raised before the fire of March 17, when 

 College Hall was burned. The remaining 400,000/. 

 includes a pledge from the Rockefeller Foundation of 

 150,000/. Only three gifts of more than 2000/. were 

 received since last August. One of these was a gift 

 from Mr. Carnegie of 19,000/. for the enlargement of 

 the library. From the same source we learn that the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology received in 

 gifts during the past year the sum of 80,000/., besides 

 two items wherein the institute is residuary legatee, 

 and the amounts have not been determined. Among 

 the gifts may be mentioned : bequest of Caroline L. W. 

 French (outrig-ht), 20,000/. ; (residue), 20,000/. ; Lucius 

 Tuttle, 10,000/. ; and Nathaniel Thayer, 10,000/. 



The issue for January of the Technical Journal of 

 the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions 

 contains an interesting article on the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. This article is written by 

 Dr. Tyler, Walker professor of mathematics, and 

 Mr. R. C. Maclaurin^ president of the college. It 

 may be noted that not only is admission to the college 

 regulated by means of entrance examinations, but 

 there is a continual weeding out of those students 

 who do not display the requisite ability and applica- 

 tion. New students are examined periodically, and if 

 their work proves to be unsatisfactory they are re- 

 quired to withdraw. Some of our own colleges could 

 copy this sj'stem, and thereby show a considerable 

 improvement in their produce. In the same journal 

 there is an article on laboratories for building trade 

 students, by Mr. G. Arnall. This article suggests that 

 the time is ripe for the institution of separate labora- 

 tories for such students, in which the testing of 

 cements, timber, ferro-concrete, etc., could be studied 

 practically. The scheme will probably involve con- 

 siderable modification of building courses, and the 

 author invites his colleagues in this branch of teach- 



NO. 2360, VOL. 94] 



ing to submit model syllabuses of laboratory experi- 

 ments. 



In Circular 885, issued on January 11, the Board 

 of Education states that there is likely to be some 

 difficulty in procuring in this country adequate supplies 

 of chemical laboratory glassware. These articles have 

 ordinarily been imported from Germany and Austria, 

 and they have not hitherto been manufactured in this 

 country except in negligible quantities. Steps to 

 ensure the production of chemical glassware in this 

 country are being taken, but in view of the technical 

 and other difficulties which have to be overcome it 

 must necessarily be some considerable time before 

 there can be production on a large and sufficient scale. 

 Having regard to the extent to which many of the 

 manufacturing industries of the country, including 

 some of special value at the present crisis, require 

 chemical glassware for analytical and other purposes 

 connected with the various industrial processes, it is 

 important that every effort should be made to 

 economise in the use of stocks of such ware now in 

 the hands of educational establishments. These stocks 

 should be examined and a careful record kept of 

 quantities and consumption. Every effort should be 

 made to avoid breakages, and it will probably be 

 found possible to economise in the consumption of 

 " Jena " vessels by the substitution in certain cases 

 of other kinds of glass receptacles. Fresh orders 

 should not be given to manufacturers or supplying 

 agencies for the present, where this can possibly be 

 avoided. The Board of Education is confident that 

 local education authorities and schools and colleges 

 will do their best to assist the Government in the 

 matter. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Mathematical Society, January 14. — Sir Joseph 

 Larmor, president, and afterwards Prof. A. E. H. 

 Love, vice-president, in the chair. — Prof. H. M. 

 Macdonald : A class of diffraction problems. — H. E. J. 

 Curzon : Halphen's transformation. — Dr. A. Young: 

 A Christmas problem in probabilities. — W. E. H. 

 Berwicli : The condition that a quiritic equation should be 

 soluble by radicles.- — Sir J. Larmor : The variation of 

 the earth's angular velocity of rotation. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, January 4. — M. A. Perrier in 

 the chair. — G. Bigourdan : The rapid testing of small 

 telescopes. The method proposed, which is easily and 

 rapidly carried out, is a relative one, comparison being 

 made with a standard telescope. The instrument is 

 focussed on a square, one centimetre in the side, 

 containing a group of black lines ruled at equal dis- 

 tances. The number of lines in the centimetre varies 

 from 4 to 20, and the white interspaces are equal in 

 width to the black lines. Details of the mode of test- 

 ing separating power, astigmatism and field are 

 given.— L. Landouzy : a flexible and non-inflammable 

 gelatine film, suitable for radiology. A description 

 of the preparation and use of thin gelatine plates 

 designed to replace the ordinary glass-coated plates. 

 The unexposed plates, with cardboard supporting 

 frame, weigh 8 per cent, of the weight of the ordinary 

 plate, and after exposure and removal of the film 

 from the frame, this is reduced to 28 per cent. Addi- 

 tional advantages as compared with glass plates are 

 cheapness, non-fragility, flexibility, enabling the plate 

 to be inserted into awkward positions without damage, 

 and as compared with celluloid, non-inflammability 

 and perfection of detail. — Edouard Heckel : Solanmn 



