88 



NATURE 



[March i)8yJ9GO 



Experiments were made with the object of testing 

 whether the friction between the wall and the backing 

 was of importance, and these showed that this friction 

 did not affect the horizontal thrust. 



The second paper, by Mr. Angus Robertson Fulton, 

 gives an account of experiments made on the over- 

 turning moments on retaining walls. The method 

 of direct measurement of the moment was employed ; 

 the filling was of three kinds : (i) clean river sand, 

 (2) gravel, and (3) garden soil. The total height 

 without surcharge was limited to 7 ft., and with sur- 

 charge it reached g ft. The experiments without sur- 

 charge show that results calculated from the Rankine 

 theory are greatly in excess of the observed values, 

 while those obtained from the wedge theory approxi- 

 mate fairly closely to experiment. For surcharged 

 vertical walls with unlimited slope the wedge and 

 Rankine formulae give values too great by 20 and 

 50 per cent, respectively. In the whole series of 

 experiments the greatest discrepancy occurred with 

 the 7-ft. levels (no surcharge) when gravel-filling was 

 used, and was worst with the wall inclined outward. 

 Low experimental values were also obtained in the 

 sand tests at the lower level under surcharge. Mr. 

 Fulton concludes that the wedge theory gives good 

 results with material uncompacted for walls in which 

 the inclination of the inner face is not greater than 

 usuallv obtains in practice. 



Fellowship of the New Zealand Institute. 



AT the annual meeting in 1919 of the Board of 

 -^^ Governors of the New Zealand Institute it was 

 decided to establish a fellowship of the institute, since 

 — apart from Hutton and Hector memorial medals, 

 which can be gained only by very few^ — there are 

 no honours attainable in the Dominion for those 

 engaged in scientific research, the number of whom 

 has greatly increased in recent years, while more 

 branches of science are pursued than formerly. This 

 fellowship, which entitles the recipient to place the 

 letters " F.N. Z.Inst." after his name, is limited to 

 forty fellows, and not more than four are henceforth 

 to be elected in any one year until the number is 

 complete, after which only such vacancies as occur 

 may be filled. 



In order to make a commencement, and as there 

 were many who well deserved recognition for their long 

 and valuable services to science, it was resolved that, 

 in the first place, twenty original fellows should be 

 appointed, these to consist of the living past-presidents, 

 together with Hutton and Hector medallists (ten in 

 all)^ and of ten more members of the institute who 

 were to be elected by the past-presidents and medal- 

 lists from persons nominated by the various affiliated 

 branches of the institute. 



The fellowship is to be given only for research or 

 distinction in science, and it is plain that the dis- 

 tinction even now is far from easy of attainment, and 

 that, as time goes on, its value will greatly increase. 

 The election and appointment of the original fellows 

 took place at the close of iqiq. and resulted as 

 follows :— Mr. B. C. Aston. *.tProf. W. B. Benham, 

 + Mr. Elsdon Best, *tMr. T. F. Cheeseman. *+Prnf. 

 Chas. Chilton, *+lDr. L. Cockavne, tProf. T. H. 

 Easterfield, Prof. C. C. Farr. Mr. G. Hogben, Mr. 

 G. V. Hudson, Prof. H. B. Kirk, ttDr. P. Marshall, 

 *Dr. D. Petrie, +Sir Ernest Rutherford, Prof. H. W. 

 Segar, Mr. S. Percv Smith, Mr. R. Soei^ht, Prof. 

 A. P. W. Thomas. *the Hon. G. M. Thomson, and 

 Dr. J. Allan Thomson. * signifies oast-president; 

 + Hector medallist; and % Hutton medallist. 



n6. 2629, VOL. 105] 



The Proposed University of Reading. 



T ORD HALDANE'S conception of the division of 

 ■*-^ the country into areas in each of which a " civic 

 university " caps the provincial education scheme is 

 coming to be recognised as not only wise and far-seeing, 

 but also essential. In Georgian and Victorian days 

 a university was looked upon as primarily an institu- 

 tion for the completion of the teaching work of public 

 schools. The wider view is taken now of the univer- 

 sity as a focus of the intellectual life of the com- 

 munity which it serves and as a centre for research. 



When in 1902 it was proposed that the Victoria 

 University should be split up into the Universities of 

 Manchester and Liverpool, many regarded, the multi- 

 plication of degree-giving bodies with apprehension. 

 I It was feared that it would lead to a competition 

 downwards. The reverse of this has happened. 

 Leeds, Sheffield, and Bristol have secured independent 

 universities, and each of them fears, above all things, 

 the imputation that its degrees are less desirable than 

 those of any other. 



Reading is now seeking a charter. This project is 

 not new. In 191 1 the college received great endow- 

 ments from Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Palmer, Lady 

 Wantage, and Mr. Alfred Palmer, given for the pur- 

 pose of enabling it to qualify for a charter. The 

 scheme was interrupted by the war, but has now been 

 taken up again with the utmost vigour. Three or 

 four only of our modern universities have so large 

 a permanent source of income. Its students are now 

 more numerous than were those of two chartered 

 English universities before the war. 



In the provision of residential, accommodation 

 Reading is unique. Its six hostels lodge upwards of 

 four hundred students. The college has also certain 

 definite claims to be regarded as a national institu- 

 tion. In addition to the faculties of letters and science 

 and the departments of fine arts, music, and domestic 

 subjects, its distinctive line of study is agriculture, 

 horticulture, and dairying. In these subjects it is a 

 most important centre of research. Students go to 

 it, not only from the whole of the United Kinedom, 

 but also from the Continent and the British 

 Dominions overseas. 



The desire for independence is most natural. As 

 matters stand at present, its professors and lecturers 

 have no voice in determining the conditions for 

 degrees, in settling the syllabuses of teaching, in 

 carrying out the examinations, or in marking their 

 students' answer-papers. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — Prof. Horace Lamb, Sir Thomas L. 

 Heath, Prof. W. H. Bragg, and Dr. Henry Head have 

 been elected honorary fellows of Trinity College. 



Mr. A. Amos, Downing College, has been appointed 

 University lecturer in agriculture, and Mr. G. U. 

 Yule, St. John's College, re-appointed University 

 lecturer in statistics. 



A Smith's prize has been awarded to S. Pollard, 

 fellow of Trinity College, for an essav on "The 

 Stifltjes Integral and its Generalisations." 



The following grants have been made from the 

 Gordon-Wigan fund :- — 50?. for plant-breeding experi- 

 ments. ;oZ. for an experimental gas chamber in the 

 physiological laboratory, 50Z. to assist in the provision 

 and display of entomological specimens, 30I. to help 

 in the studv of Pleistocene deposits round Cambrid£»e, 

 and co^ towards a deficit on the working of the 

 botanical department. 



