July i, 1920] 



NATURE 



569 



made to Mr. A. S. E, Ackermann, for researches into 

 the physical properties of clay; Mr. J. T. Carter, for 

 researches on the minute structure of the teeth of 

 fossil mammalia; Mr. L. T. Hoj^ben, for researches 

 on the influence of ductless glands; Miss M. A. 

 Murray, for the study of anthropolgy in Egypt; Dr. 

 F. J. North, for preparing illustrations for work in 

 palaeontology; Mr. A. K. Wells, for the conduct of 

 a geological survey of part of Merionethshire ; and 

 Dr. C. West, for researches on the effect of environ- 

 ment factors on the growth of Helianthus. 



The degree of Bachelor of Science in household and 

 social science for internal students is to be instituted. 



Mr. p. J. Hartog, Academic Registrar of the 

 tJhiversity of London, has been appointed Vice- 

 Chancellor of the University of Dacca, Bengal. 



Dr. R. E. M. Wheeler has been appointed keeper 

 of the department of archaeology in the National 

 Museum of Wales, and lecturer in archaeology in the 

 University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. 



With reference to the recent offer by the Govern- 

 ment of a site for the University of London (see 

 Nature, May 27, p. 404), a largely attended meeting 

 of the council of the University of London Graduates' 

 Association was of the opinion that the "offer of 

 land on the Duke of Bedford's estate, accompanied 

 by an undefined maintenance grant now made by the 

 Government, is in no sense an equivalent for the 

 accommodation as at present guaranteed by the 

 Government, and does not comply with the stipula- 

 tions laid down by the Senate." 



The following bequests, among others, of the late 

 Dr. Rudolf Messel have recently been published : — 

 5000Z. to the Royal Institution of Great Britain ; 1000?. 

 to the Chemical Society ; 20ooi. and his platinum still, 

 "in which I carried out with W. S. Squire my 

 experiments in connection with the decomposition of 

 sulphuric acid," to Mr. Squire, requesting him on his 

 death to leave it to the Society of Chemical Industry ; 

 his platinum crucible to the Society of Chemical Indus- 

 try; and his electric telephone by Reis to the Institu- 

 tion of Electrical Engineers. The residue of the property 

 is to be divided into five parts, four of which are to go to 

 the Royal Society and one to the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, the wish being expressed that the fund shall 

 be kept separate from the funds of the society, the 

 capital to be kept intact, and the whole of the income 

 expended in the furtherance of scientific research and 

 other scientific objects, and that no part thereof shall 

 be applied for charitable objects, as the granting of 

 pensions and the like. 



The first annual conference of the International 

 Federation of University Women will be held at 

 Bedford College, London, on July 12-14. The federa- 

 tion has been formed to promote understanding and 

 fellowship between educated women of different 

 nations, and to unite them into a league to further 

 their common interests and to strengthen the founda- 

 tions of international sympathy which must form the 

 basis of the League of Nations. The practical means 

 by which the federation seeks to realise its aims are : 

 (i) Organisation of a system of exchange of lecturers 

 and scholars of different universities. (2) Provision 

 of international scholarships and travelling fellowships, 

 particularly the endowment of post-graduate and re- 

 search scholarships. (3) Establishment of club-rooms 

 and hostels for international hospitality in the various 

 centres of university life. (4) Useful co-operation with 

 the National Bureaux of Education in the various 

 countries. Further information may be obtained from 

 the acting secretary. Miss T. Bosanquet, L^niversities 

 Bureau of the British Empire, 50 Russell Square, 

 London, W.C.r. 



NO. 2644, VOL. 105] 



Societies and Academies. 



London. 

 Aristotelian Society, June 7.— Prof. Wildon Carr, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Rev. A. E. Davies : 

 Anselm's problem of truth and existence. The famous 

 proof of the existence of God is not purely ontological, 

 but rather the verification of a specific mode of experi- 

 ence termed "faith." In Anselm's words, it is "faith 

 seeking understanding," and by "faith" is meant a 

 mode of immediate apprehension, awareness of 

 God. Two stages are distinguishable in the reason- 

 ing. The first seeks to prove that we must think of 

 ultimate reality in terms of existence. Here the 

 appeal is to logical thought. In the second stage 

 Anselm proves that this ultimate reality is his per- 

 sonal God. Here the appeal is to experience. The 

 argument implies that truth and existence are two 

 ultimate forms of reality : existence is the reality of 

 things, truth the validity of thought-contents. Hence 

 truth must be sought in terms of validity. This is 

 the logical character of the "proof." We can "only 

 know as perfectly as possible." We know existent 

 reality only as our thinking is valid, and we cannot 

 think validly that God is non-existent. Between these 

 two ultimate forms of reality is presupposed a funda- 

 mental agreement, such that the relations of thought 

 validly represent the real relations of things. For 

 Anselm such agreement has its ground in God. A 

 second implication is that when thinking is valid it 

 starts from existence, in the same sense that its con- 

 tents are occasioned by existent reality. So that 

 without experience we cannot know. The ethical 

 character of the basic conception of God proves it to 

 be no mere thought-product — that is, knowledge pre- 

 supposes a mode of reality dissimilar from itself. 



Zoological Society, June 15.— Prof. E. W. MacBride, 

 vice-president, in the chair'. — Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell : 

 Report on the additions to the s6ciety's menagerie 

 during the month of May, 1920. — Prof. J. E. Duerden : 

 Exhibition of and remarks upon a series of ostrich 

 eggs.— Miss Joan B. Proctor; (i) A collection of tail- 

 less batrachians from East Africa made by Mr. A. 

 Loveridge in the years 1914-19. (2) The type-speci- 

 men of Rana Hol'sti. Boulenger.— R. I. Pocock : The 

 external and cranial characters of the European 

 badger (Meles) and the American badger (Taxidea).— 

 Dr. R. J. Tillyard : Life-history of the dragon-fly, 

 with special reference to Australasian forms. 



Mineralogical Society, June 15.— Dr. A. E. H. Tutton, 

 past president, in the chair. — F. P. Mennell ; Rare zinc- 

 copper minerals from the Rhodesian Broken Hill 

 Mine, Northern Rhodesia. Copper minerals, including 

 malachite, chessylite, copper-glance, and undetermined 

 phosphates, are of rare occurrence in the lead-zinc ore 

 of this locality. Still rarer are the copper-zinc minerals 

 aurichalcite and veszelyite; the latter forms minute 

 sky-blue monoclinic crystals (a : 6 : <; = 97i : i : 0-95), 

 and differs from the original mineral from Hungary 

 in its colour and in containing little or no arsenic. — 

 Prof. R. Ohashi ; Note on the plumbiferous bantes 

 from Shibukuro, Prefecture of Akita, Japan. This 

 mineral, which is deposited as a white to brownish- 

 yellow crystalline crust in the fissures and near the 

 orifices of hot springs, is similar to the mineral 

 recently called "hokutolite" from Taiwan ( = For- 

 mosa);' it contains ^69 to 17-78 per cent, of PbO, and 

 is radio-active.— W. A. Richardson : The fibrous 

 gypsum of Nottinghamshire. The relation to the 

 nodular types of gypsum of the fibrous veins of the 

 mineral, which are associated with every other type 

 of gyosum deposit in the district and occur at levels 



