762 



NATURE 



[August 12, 1920 



Liverpool. — A contribution of 10,000/. in support 

 of the University Appeal Fund has l>een made by the 

 Cunard Steamship Co.. Ltd. 



The Pacific Steam Navigation Co., Liverpool, has 

 made a contribution of loooi. to the same fund. 



The directors of Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co. 

 were authorised at an extraordinary meeting held at 

 Liverpool on August 4 to distribute ioo,oooi. out of 

 the investment surplus reserve account to universities 

 or other scientific institutions in the United Kingdom 

 for the furtherance of scientific education and re- 

 search. Proposals for the allocation of this grant 

 are under consideration, but no scheme has yet been 

 adopted by the directors. 



An examination for the Aitchison memorial scholar- 

 ship, of the value of 30L, and tenable in the full- 

 time day courses in technical' optics at the Northamp- 

 ton Institute, Clerkenwell, will be held in September 

 next. The scholarship is open to candidates of both 

 sexes between sixteen and nineteen years of age. The 

 compulsory subjects are English and elementary 

 mathematics. The optional subjects, of which only- 

 two must be taken, are additional elementary mathe- 

 matics, physics (heat, light, and sound), chemistry, 

 electricity, and magnetism. Full particulars are 

 given in a leaflet which can be obtained from the hon. 

 secretary and treasurer, Mr. Henry F. Purser, 

 35 Charles Street, Hatton Garden, London, E.C.i. 



News has just reached us that Prof. A. T. De Lury 

 was appointed some months ago to be head of the 

 department of mathematics in the University of 

 Toronto by the Board of Governors on the recom- 

 mendation of the president of the University, Sir 

 R. A. Falconer. The Staff, Council, and Senate have 

 nothing to do with appointments, and the only check 

 upon the action of the president and the Board of 

 Governors is public opinion. Prof. De Lury has been 

 a member of the teaching staff of the Universit}' for 

 many years, and is the author of a number of mathe- 

 matical text-books which have done service in the 

 schools of the province of Ontario. He possesses 

 high teaching ability, but has not been associated with 

 the research activities which it should be the essential 

 function of a university to create and foster. Without 

 men engaged in the production of new knowledge the 

 work of a university differs little from that of a 

 secondary school preparing students for examinations. 

 Toronto has won much distinction by the scientific 

 Investigations of such men as Profs. Macallum, 

 McLennan, and Brodie, and it was hoped that the 

 chair of mathematics would have been filled by some- 

 one who possesses the highest research qualifications 

 in mathematics that Canada could produce. If Prof. 

 De Lury can and will build up a strong research staff 

 under him, he will be doing the best service to his 

 University and extend the stimulating atmosphere 

 which some of his scientific colleagues have given to 

 the institution by their work. 



Among the recent bulletins issued by the U.S. 

 Bureau of Education, Washington, is one (No. 61) 

 entitled " Public Discussion and Information Service 

 of University Extension." It comprises some fifty 

 pages octavo, and deals with the extra-mural activities 

 of the numerous universities and library commissions 

 of the various States. The bulletin submits that 

 university extension should not only offer the oppor- 

 tunity of self-directed study for the great mass of 

 persons who wish to continue systematically their 

 preparation for personal advancement, but should also 

 provide the indispensable connection between scientific 

 knowledge and the even,'day practice necessary for 

 sound community development, between the facts 



NO. 2650, VOL. 105] 



accumulated through research and their application 

 to the practical problems which must be met by 

 individual communities in a democratic society. Uni- 

 versity education is not merely educational in the 

 limited sense ; it attempts to make facts, knowledge, 

 and truth operative in the daily life of the people. 

 The scope of university extension so interpreted in- 

 cludes bureaux of information, lecture schemes — club 

 study and library service — assistance in debates and 

 in other forms of public discussion, together with a 

 novel institution known as the package-library ser- 

 vice, by which is meant the compilation by specialists 

 at each university or library centre of information of 

 pamphlets, bulletins, clippings from articles in maga- 

 zines and othec sources on subjects and questions 

 of interest to the public, which are sent on 

 application to individuals or organisations in dis- 

 tricts, however remote, within the State. Wisconsin, 

 for example, had in 1918-19 more than 1000 subjects, 

 and the Texas bureau 550, represented in their 

 package-library collections, the contents of each of 

 which are changed from time to time. They cover 

 the whole domain of civic, economic, and State activi- 

 ties. The bulletin gives full particulars of the cost, 

 methods, and organisation of the service, which might 

 with much advantage be introduced into this country. 

 The information bureaux were made much use of, 

 since nearly 180,000 requests for information were 

 received in fourteen States, and in twenty-four States 

 the lectures arranged were attended by upwards of 

 2,000,000 persons. 



Societies and Academies. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July 19. — M. Henri Deslandres 

 in the chair. — F. E. Fournier : The resistance of a 

 fluid to the horizontal translation of a spindle-shaped 

 or spherical body with deep immersion. — A. Haller 

 and Mme. Ramart-Liicas : Bromohydrins and dibromo- 

 derivatives obtained from the alkylallylacetophenones, 



CeH3-CO-CHR-CH,-CH:CH„ and 



c,h,-co-crr,-ch,-ch:ch,. 



Compounds of the latter type give bromohydrins on 

 treatment with bromine ; under the same conditions 

 methylallvlacetophenone gives a stable dibromide, 

 CeH;-CO^-CH(CH,)-CH,-CHBr-CH,Br. — F. Widal, 

 P. Abrami, and N. lancovesco : Proof of digestive 

 haemoclasia in the study of hepatic insufficiency. It 

 has been shown in an earlier communication that for 

 some time after a nitrogenous meal incompletely dis- 

 integrated proteids pass into the portal vein from the 

 intestine, and that these substances are prevented 

 from passing into the general circulation by the 

 normal action of the liver. This has now been 

 applied clinically after a meal of 200 grams of milk 

 or of meat and eggs. No symptoms of haemoclasia 

 are given by healthy subjects or by subjects suffering 

 from various illnesses provided the liver is in a normal 

 condition, but with the liver diseased a similar meal 

 is followed by a haemoclasic crisis, with alterations 

 in the number of white corpuscles, arterial pressure, 

 coagulability of the blood, and refractometric 

 index of the serum. These symptoms have proved 

 capable of detecting latent disease of the liver 

 when the usual signs are wanting. — E. Aries: 

 The determination of the last of the three func- 

 tions which defines the equation of state of ether. — 

 G. Fubini : Automorphic functions. — G. J. Remoundos : 

 The modulus and zeroes of analytical functions.— 

 A. Petot : The spherical representation of surfaces and 

 the correspondence by parallel tangent planes. — G. 

 Bruhat : Remarks on the compression of saturated 



