October 4, 1917] 



NATURE 



99 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — During the session 1917-18 Prof. John 

 Adams, professor of education in the University, will, 

 give two courses of lectures which will be open without 

 fee to teachers. The first course will begin on October 

 13, and will be on "Collective Psychology." The 

 second course will be on " Attention," and will begin on 

 January 19, 1918. A course of lectures on "The Prac- 

 tical Applications of the Study of Weather" will be 

 given at the Meteorological Office, South Kensington, 

 by Sir Napier Shaw, on Fridays during the second 

 term, beginning on January 25. The fortnightly meet- 

 ings of the Meteorological Office for the discussion of 

 important contributions to current meteorology, in 

 Colonial or foreign journals will be resumed at 5 p.m. 

 on Monday, October 22. The lectures are addressed 

 to advanced students of the University and to others 

 interested in the subject. Admission is free, by ticket 

 to be obtained on 'application at the Meteorological 

 Office. The following are arnong the public lectures 

 in Imperial studies arranged for the first term of the 

 session 1917-18 :—At L'ntversity College : October 8, 

 Types of Climate in the Empire, Prof. L. W. Lyde; 

 October 18, The Effect of the War on Municipal En- 

 gineering and Public Health, H.Percy Boulnois ; Octo- 

 ber 22, Phonetics and its \alue from the Imperial 

 Standpoint, D. Jones; October 31, Scientific Methods 

 of LangL'^ige Study and their Importance to the Em- 

 pire, Harold E. Palmer; six Newmarch lectures on 

 Statistics, Economics, and some Problems of the 

 Day, Henry Higgs, beginning on November 7. At 

 King's College: October .31, The Problems of the 

 Pacific, Basil H. Thomson; November 14, The De- 

 velopment of Tropical Africa (the name of the lecturer 

 will be announced later). At the London School of 

 Economics : October 12, The Commercial Geography 

 of the Empire, Prof. A. W. Kirkaldy; October 19, 

 Coal, Arthur F. Pease; November 2, Mineral Oil, 

 Prof. J. S. S. Brame; November 16, The Rarer Key 

 Minerals, Sydney J. Johnstone. Arrangements as to 

 further lectures will be announced later. The subjects 

 dealt with will be iron and manganese ores, artificial 

 manures, fodder, timber, wood-pulp and paper-making 

 materials, fibres, tea, meat, leather and tanning mate- 

 rials. 



A MESSAGE from the New York correspondent of the 

 Times states that the trustees of Columbia University 

 have e.xpelled Prof. H. J. L. Dana and Prof. J. 

 McKeen Cattell, professor of psychology, whose dis- 

 loyal attitude was " doing grave injustice " to the in- 

 stitution. Dr. Murray Butler pointed out, in a state- 

 ment recently made by him, that before the entrance 

 of the United States into the war complete freedom 

 of expression could not be denied to members of 

 faculty, but after the declaration of war, by Congress 

 it became the duty of everyone either on the rolls of 

 the faculty or on the rolls of students to support the 

 loyal enforcement of all the laws of the United States. 



A MEETING will be held in the theatre of the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers on October 25, at 3.30 p.m., 

 for the purpose of considering the establishment of a 

 central organisation for improvement in, and better 

 co-ordination of, engineering training and the appoint- 

 ment of a representative committee of engineering and 

 educational interests t» initiate action. Sir Maurice 

 Fitzmaurice, C.M.G., president of the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers, will preside, and representative en- 

 gineers and educationists from all branches of these 

 professions have signified their intention to be present. 

 Those interested are requested to communicate with 

 Mr. A. P. M. Fleming", British Westinghousc Co., 



NO. 2501, VOL, 100] 



Trafford Park, Manchester, or NIr. A. E. Berriman, 

 chief engineer, Daimler Co., Coventry, who are acting 

 as honorary organisers for the committee responsible 

 for arranging this meeting. 



The summer course of lectures given by Prof. Con- 

 rady, on the designing and computing 6\ telescope 

 systems, in connection with the newly formed depart- 



I ment of technical optics at the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology, South Kensington, has been 

 a great success. SiKty-six students enrolled, of which. 



] number no fewer- than forty-two came direct from the 



: workshop. This result is especially gratifying when 

 it is remembered that the course was an entirely new 



I experiment, as it constituted the first attempt, it is. 



. believed, in the history of optics to deal with the sub- 



I ject of designing and computing in a course of public 



[ lectures. At an early date — of which due notice will 

 be given — further courses of lectures will be given on 



I optical designing by Prof. Conrady, and on "The Con- 

 struction, Theory, and Lse of Optical Measuring In- 

 struments" by Mr. L. C. Martin. 



The number of universities and colleges in the 

 British Isles providing training for medical men and 

 professional chemists is now large enough to make 

 many parents and miardians feel the need for guidance 

 in making a selection, and they will welcome the 

 special educational issues recently published by the 

 Lancet (August 25), the British Medical Journal' (Sep- 

 tember 8), and the Chemical News (September 7). In 

 each case detailed information is given of the courses 

 of study, the staffs, fees, and so on, at each impor- 

 tant college, and in the case of our medical contem- 

 poraries guidance is provided as to the facilities for 

 practical study at the more important hospitals. De- 

 scriptive articles by writers of experience also explain 

 the steps necessary for students who desire to become 

 practising medical men or chemists. From the British 

 Medical Journal we gather that the effects of the war 

 upon the medical profession^ and especially upon medi- 

 cal education, have been profound and far-reaching. 

 Last year the .\rmy and Navy together were employ- 

 ing upwards of 12,000 medical men, and this number 

 must now be much greater. Before the war some 

 3300 medical officers were accredited to the Services 

 year by year. As regards the number of medical 

 students, between the years 1910 and 1914 the annual 

 entry of first-year medical students averaged some 

 1440. Since the war the number of these entries has: 

 increased by several hundreds a year. In Mav, 191b, 

 the whole number of medical students was 6103, in- 

 cluding 1379 women; in January, 1917, the whole 

 number was 6682, including 1735 women. The third- 

 year students, from whom most of the newly qualified 

 practitioners of 19 19 will come, numbered in January 

 last only 572 men and 261 women. It is now clear 

 that certainly in 1918 and 1919 a serious shortage of 



I newly qualified medical practitioners must be looked for. 



' though an increase may be expected in 1920 and 192 1. 



j CvLFNOARS and prospectuses continue to reach us 

 from colleges and technical institutions in different 

 parts of the country, and the particulars they provid'' 

 I of the courses of study which have been arrangr ' 

 i for the forthcoming session show that the authonti< - 

 have spared no pains to meet the need for scientific 

 ^ and technical education in the districts for which 

 : thev are responsible. The character of the work car- 

 I ried on at Birkbeck College, London, is indicated by 

 I the fact that thirty members of the staff are recognised 

 1 teachers of the L'niversity of London, sixty-eigh' 

 j students passed University examinations during la- 

 I session, of whom twenty-three graduated in arts an 

 '< science, and four war degrees also were conferred. 

 I The usefulness of the college is much curtailed by its 

 ' limited accommodation. The Dressing need is for in- 



