NATURE 



[October i8, 1917 



the disposal of the large quantities of coke, oil, and 

 gas which would be produced in the regular course of 

 experimental work, and that a supply ot labour, skilled 

 and unskilled, should be available. It was realised that 

 these conditions could be fulfilled only by a site in the 

 neighbourhood of a large gasworks, and some months 

 ago the Director of Fuel Research approached Dr. 

 Charles Carpenter on the subject. Dr. Carpenter is 

 chairman of the South Metropolitan Gas Company, 

 and he is a member of the Carbonisation Sub-Com- 

 mittee of the Coal Conservation Sub-Committee of the 

 Reconstruction Committee, of which the Director is 

 vice-chairman. Following this conference. Dr. Car- 

 penter, on behalf of the board of the South Metro- 

 politan Gas Companv, made the following very gener- 

 ous offer to this Board :— (i) To lease to the Govern- 

 ment at a peppercorn rent sufficient land at the East 

 Greenwich gasworks for the erection of a research 

 station ; (2) to prepare drawings and specifications for 

 this station on lines to be laid down by this Board, 

 and to make contracts for its erection ; (3) to give 

 every facility for the transport of coal and other sup- 

 plies' to the station, and to take over at market prices 

 the surplus products, gas, tar, liquor, and coke result- 

 ing from the operations at the station. After further 

 conferences a suitable site was agreed upon. The pro- 

 posed site is a strip of level ground about 250 ft. wide 

 by 700 to 800 ft. long, situated on the main siding 

 which connects the gasworks with the South-Eastern 

 Railway and with access to an existing road. 



The foregoing scheme of research is obviously not 

 intended to cover the whole of the territory which is 

 open for exploration to-day. Still less ought it to be 

 regarded as setting any limits to the exploration of 

 new territories in the future. The root idea of the 

 scheme is that certain fundamental changes in the 

 preparation and use of fuel which have been proposed 

 are of such far-reaching importance that the solution 

 of the technical and economic problems involved ought 

 to take precedence of all other matters. This does not 

 mean that other lines of research will be ignored, but 

 only that the larger issues must be 'kept well to the 

 front until definite solutions of those technical and 

 economic problems can be given. Though no direct 

 reference has been made to the preparation and use of 

 fuels from oil shales, brown coals, and peat, it is 

 obvious that experimental inquiries on these matters 

 will naturally find a place in the developments of the 

 present scheme. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The term has begun with a greatly de- 

 pleted number of undergraduates. The entry of fresh- 

 men, which used to average nearlv 1000, fell in 1914 to 

 550, in 1915 to 238, and last year to 150. The number 

 for the present academical year is about 100. Some 

 colleges have none. The American Rhodes scholars, 

 who have hitherto helped to raise the numbers above 

 the vanishing point, are now called up for military 

 service. Among the men who are now coming into 

 residence for the first time are some who, after service 

 at the front, have been discharged on the ground of 

 wounds or sickness. 



On October 10 a memorial tablet was unveiled at 

 Oxford, commemorating the life and work of Roger 

 Bacon. The tablet has been fixed to the old wall of 

 the city, dating from early in the thirteenth century, 

 close to the site of the Grey Friars Church in the 

 precincts of w^hich Roger Bacon was buried. The 

 church has long since disappeared, but the position 

 of the burial ground, though not the exact spot of 

 Bacon's grave, is known. After the celebration at 



NO. 2503, VOL. 100] 



Oxford in 1914 of the seven hundredth anniversary of 

 Bacon's birth, it was thought fitting that in addition 

 to the statue then erected in the University museum, 

 a permanent and public memorial should be set up as 

 near as possible to the site of the Franciscan friary 

 in which Bacon passed so many years of his strenuous 

 life. This has now been accomplished, and the 

 prophecy uttered by the Elizabethan dramatist Greene, 

 which was recalled by Prof. James Ward, of Cam- 

 bridge, at the ceremony in 1914 (see Nature, June 18, 

 19 14, p. 406), has at length been virtually fulfilled. 

 The Latin inscription on the tablet is as follows : — 



ROGERUS BACON 



Philosophus insignis Doctor Mirabilis 



Qui methodo experimentali 



Scientiae fines mirifice protulit 



Post vitam longam strenuam indefessam 



Prope hunc locum 



Inter Franciscanos suos 



In Christo obdormivit 



ASMCCXCII. 



The College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Medical 

 School of Columbia University, has decided to admit 

 women on an equal standing with men. This step has 

 been taken after long consideration, and has been has- 

 tened by a great change in woman's position in 

 Europe since the outbreak of the great war. For many 

 vears past a large number of women have worked in 

 the laboratories of the Department of Health of New 

 York, and have done admirably. The laboratories in 

 the hospitals, also, frequently employ women, and with 

 the repeated disappearance of men owing to the draft 

 and enlistments in the Medical Reserve Corps, many 

 places will be vacant which can only be filled by 

 women. The opening of the Columbia Medical School 

 to women has been made possible by a gift of io,oooI. 

 from Mr. G. W. Brackenridge, of San Antonio,* Texas. 



The Glasgow libraries have taken a step in the 

 right direction in publishing a detailed catalogue of 

 all the works on aeronautics to be found on their 

 shelves. The list is not a long one, owing to the lack 

 of books upon the new science, but it is fairly com- 

 plete, the most notable omission being the works of 

 Eiffel, or the excellent English translation thereof by 

 Mr. J. C. Hunsaker. The pioneer experimental work 

 of Eiffel should certainly find a place in any aero- 

 nautical library pretending to completeness. The 

 committee representing the public and other libraries in 

 Glasgow announces that this aeronautical list is to be 

 the first of a series dealmg with special subjects, and 

 that the second of the series will deal with the in- 

 ternal-combustion engine. Other libraries would do 

 well to follow Glasgow's example, for the catalogues 

 ordinarily issued are of very little use as reference 

 lists for any particular subject, and the increasing 

 number of technical readers has created a demand for 

 a convenient means of reference to technical subjects. 



A COPY has been received of the calendar for the 

 present session of the Merchant Venturers' Technical 

 College, in which the faculty of engineering of the 

 University of Bristol is provided and maintained. 

 Among the varied and comprehensive arrangements 

 explained in the calendar we note the Bristol " sand- 

 wich " scheme of training for engineers. The method 

 is optional. The total length of the course is five 

 years, of which about half is spent in the University 

 and the rest in a works. Fourteen months are spent 

 in a works at the end of the first session, and these 

 enable a student to return to the University better 

 qualified to understand the theory of engineering and 

 the laboratorv work than if he had had no such 

 experience. Two months of the third year and 



