October i6, 1919] 



NATURE 



'47 



ley, New Glasgow; Dr. M. Chisholm, Halifax; the 

 Hon. Robert E. Harris, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia; 

 H. P. Judson, President of the University of Chicago; 

 the .Most Rev. Neil MacNeill, Archbishop of Ontario, 

 Toronto*; I. Pitblado, Winnipeg; the Right Rev. 

 John Pringle. .Sydney, Moderator of the General 

 .•\ssembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada ; 

 H. S. Pritchett, President of the Carnegie Corpora- 

 tion of New York*; Prof. W. T. Raymond, Univer- 

 sity of New Brunswick, Fredericton ; S. N. Robert- 

 son, Principal of the Prince of Wales College, Char- 

 lottetown, P.E.I. ; J. Gould Schurman, President of 

 the University of Cornell*; J. Seth, professor of 

 moral philosophy in the University of Edinburgh ; 

 F. H. Sexton, Principal of the Nova .Scotia Technical 

 College, Halifax ; the Rev. Prof. Simeon Spidle, 

 \cadia University, Wolfville; J. Stewart, Halifax; 

 Lhe Rev. Prof. J. J. Tompkins, St. Francis Xavier 

 College, .'\ntigonish ; and Dr. F. Woodbury, dean of 

 the faculty of dentistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax. 

 The celebration was a great success in many ways ; 

 it was made the occasion of a reunion of old graduates 

 dating back to classes as remote as 1852. Besides a 

 procession of representatives of as many of the classes 

 as could be got together, there were a dinner, a 

 dance, a smoking concert, a regatta, and amateur 

 theatricals. Addresses on the future of the Uni- 

 versity were given as follows : — On arts and science, 

 bv Prof. H. L. Stewart (philosophy); on law, by 

 Prof. MacRae, dean of the faculty of law; on medi- 

 cine, by Prof. Eraser Harris (physiology), dean of the 

 faculty of medicine ; and on dentistry, by Dr. Frank 

 Woodbury, dean of the faculty of dentistry. The urgent 

 need of increased endowments, and, especially in the 

 professional schools, of increased equipment as well, 

 was urged bv the speakers. There is a large increase 

 in the number of those entering for the coming ses- 

 sion, but the University revenues are as in pre-war 

 days. 



The second annual Streatfeild memorial lecture was 

 delivered by Prof. G. T. Morgan at the Technical 

 College, Finsbury, on October 2. In the course of his 

 remarks on "Applied Chemistry in Relation to Uni- 

 versity Training," Prof. Morgan surveyed the pro- 

 gress of technical education in London from the 

 pioneer college at Finsbury, through the poU'technic 

 movement, to such recent developments as the Im- 

 perial College of Science and Technology and 

 the Salters' Institute of Industrial Chemistry. 

 The view which advocates the concentration of 

 instruction and research in applied science into a 

 single large institute, having the status of a special- 

 ised university with power to grant degrees in tech- 

 nology, was contrasted with that whereby the techni- 

 cal colleges are to be brought into closer union with 

 the existing University of London. Prof. Morgan 

 pointed out that fundamentally and so far as college 

 training is concerned there is no distinction between 

 pure and applied chemistry. The great generalisa- 

 tions of chemical science must, in any case, be mas- 

 tered before the student can hope to become com- 

 petent to enlarge the field of knowledge. Ultimately 

 the difference between university and technical col- 

 lege becomes one of breadth of outlook. In extending 

 the research section of the chemical department at 

 Finsbury, the City and Guilds of London In- 

 stitute had, during the difficult period of the 

 war, done much to render practicable Streat- 

 feild 's ideal of a school of applied chemistry. This 

 objective was an intimate blending of practical ele- 

 mentary training for beginners with specialised inves- 

 tigation in various branches of industrial chemistry 

 carried out by research chemists and other post- 



NO. 2607, VOL. TO4] 



graduate workers sent to the college by interested 

 chemical firms. At the present time when considera- 

 tions of economy are paramount, this mode of de- 

 veloping a technical college of university rank has the 

 merit of involving the least outlay of capital on tne 

 part of the educational body, inasmuch as the cost 

 is borne to a considerable extent by those benefiting 

 from the additional facilities. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



SVDNIiY. 



Liunean Society of New South Wales, July 30. — Mr. 

 J. J. Fletcher, president, in the chair. — Dr. R. J. 

 Tillyard : Mesozoic insects of Queensland. No. 6 : 

 Blattoidea. The paper deals with eleven specimens 

 from the Ipswich Trias, of which nine are named, 

 being placed in three new genera belonging to the 

 family Mcsoblattinidae, Handl. This family occurs 

 from the Carboniferous onwards to the Jurassic, but 

 reaches its dominant position in the Lias. One of the 

 Ipswich genera, Triassoblatta, n.g., is more archaic 

 than any of the known Liassic genera ; while a 

 second, Samaroblatta, n.g., shows close affinity with 

 Mesoblattula, Handl., from the Lias of Dobbertin. 

 The author deals with the venation of the cockroach 

 tegmen, and shows the main lines of its evolution 

 from the Carboniferous onwards. The Ipswich speci- 

 mens, though none of them are absolutely complete, 

 are, on the whole, very well preserved, so that details 

 like intercalated veins, cross-venation, etc., can be 

 easily made out if present. Most of the tegmina are 

 of moderate size, about 13 mm. or 14 mm. long; but 

 there is one species of Triassoblatta that is much 

 larger. Keys are given for distinguishing the genera 

 and species described, and each new species is figured 

 in the text. — Dr. R. J. Tillyard : Studies in Australian 

 Neuroptera. No. 8. Revision of the family Ithonidae, 

 with descriptions of a new genus and two new species. 

 The members of this family are stout-bodied, moth- 

 like Lacewings, very distinct in their appearance, 

 habits, and life-history from any other representatives 

 of the order. Owing to the inadequacy of Newman's 

 original description of Ithone fusca, much confusion 

 has been caused, and two species that were not really 

 even congeneric have been regarded as this species. 

 The doubt as to which was Newman's species had to 

 be cleared uo bv reference to the type in the British 

 Museum. It was then found that Ithone, Newm., 

 with one radial sector in forewing, is a monotypic 

 genus, all the other species going either into Varnia, 

 Walker, which McLachlan erroneouslv suppressed, or 

 Heterithone, n.g. (type Ithone fulva, Till.). Two new 

 species of this latter genus are described, making in all 

 a total of six species for the family. The genus Nespra, 

 Navds, is suppressed, being the same as Varnia, Walker. 

 .^ description of the peculiar sand-plough of the female 

 Ithonidae is given ; the insect uses it to plough up 

 the sand when ovioositing. k note is added describing 

 the imaginal mouth-parts, and comparing them with 

 those of the Psychopsidae. The full life-historv of 

 Ithone, which is verv remarkable, the larva being a 

 blind melolonthoid grub, is reserved for another 

 paper. — Dr. .K. J. Turner : Revision of .Australian 

 Lepidoptera. Part vi. (last instalment). In this paper 

 fiftv-nine species belonging to twenty-six genera (fam. 

 Geometridae, subfam. Boarmianae) are dealt with, 

 eighteen species and five genera being described as 

 new. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, August 6. — 

 Prof. C. E. Fawsitt, president, in the chair. — G. J. 

 Burrows : Volume changes in the process of solution. 



