1 86 



NATURE 



[October 30, igig 



Oxford. — The entry of freshmen at the beginning 

 of the present term is probably the largest on record. 

 Netirly all the colleges have admitted members far 

 in excess of their usual numbers, and very great diffi- 

 culty has been met with in finding accommodation for 

 undergraduates both within the colleges and in the 

 town outside. In some cases quarters have been pro- 

 vided by the erection of Army huts. The science 

 laboratories are overcrowded with students. 



Prof. Vines has resigned the chair of botany as 

 from December 31, 1919. Candidates for the pro- 

 fessorship are requested to send in their applications 

 to the Registrar of the University by November 22 

 next. Applications for the chair of geometry, vacated 

 by the death of Prof. Esson, should be sent in to the 

 Registrar by the same date. Particulars of these two 

 professorships may be seen in the Oxford University 

 Gasette of October 22. 



Mr. R. S. Troup, Assistant Inspector-General of 

 Forests, India, has been elected professor of forestry. 



A Treasury grant of 15,000/. has been received for 

 the University under the condition of an inquiry into 

 the financial resources of the University and colleges. 



Counsel's opinion has been taken on the question 

 of the powers of the University in the matter of the 

 admission of women to matriculation and degrees. 

 Counsel advise that the University has the power, 

 proceeding by statute, to provide for this object ; but 

 they also recommend application to Parliament for an 

 expressly enabling Act. A decree will therefore be 

 proposed on November 4 requesting the burgesses of 

 the University to take steps w'ith the view of securing 

 the requisite legislative sanction. 



Major G. Thorp has been appointed chief instructor 

 in electricity at the School of Military Engineering, 

 Chatham. 



Major Rupert St.'\ni.f,y has been appointed principal 

 of the Belfast Municipal Technical Institute, and 

 director of technical instruction for Belfast, in suc- 

 cession to the late Mr. F. C. Forth. 



Mr. E. de Barry Barnett has been appointed to 

 the post of lecturer in organic chemistry, and Mr. R. H. 

 Humphry to that of lecturer in physics, at the .Sir 

 John Cass Technical Institute, Jewry Street, Aldgate. 



Dr. W. M. McDougall, Wilde reader in mental 

 philosophy in the University of Oxford, has been 

 appointed to the chair of psychology in Harvard Uni- 

 versity, in succession to the late Dr. Hugo Miinster- 

 berg. 



Mr. B. Mou.-vt Jones, assistant professor of 

 chemistry in the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, has been elected to the chair of chemistry 

 in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 

 succession to Prof. .'Vlex. Findlay. 



The council of the Institution of Naval Architects 

 has awarded the Cammell Laird scholarship in naval 

 architecture (150/. per annum for three years) to Mr. 

 H. J. R. Biles, of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and 

 Engineering Co., Ltd. ; and the Parsons scholarship in 

 marine engineering (150/. per annum for three years) to 

 Mr. W. G. Simmonds, of Chatham Dockyard. 



The President of the Board of Education has ap- 

 pointed a Departmental Committee to inquire into the 

 working of the existing arrangements (a) for the award 

 by local education authorities of scholarships tenable 

 at secondary schools or institutions of higher educa- 

 tion other than universities or institutions for the 

 training of teachers ; (h) for the provision of free 

 places in secondary schools under the Regulations of 

 NO. 2609, VOL. 104] 



the Board of Education ; and to make recommenda- 

 tions with the view of improving such arrangements, and 

 thereby rendering facilities for higher education more 

 generally accessible and advantageous to all classes 

 of the population, regard being had (inter alia) to the 

 migration of pupils from one school or area to another. 

 The members of the Committee are : — Lt.-Comdr. E. 

 Hilton Young, M.P. (chairman), Mr. E. K. Chambers, 

 Mr. R. F. Cholmeley, Sir Mark Collet, Bart., Miss 

 E. R. Conway, Miss Phi'lippa Fawcett, Mr. F. W. 

 Goldstonc, Mr. H. J. Hallam, Mr. R. T. Jones, Mr. 

 J. Murray, M.P., Major the Hon. W. G. A. Ormsby- 

 Gore, M.P., Mr. C. J. Phillips, Mr. T. J. Rees, Mr. 

 R. Richardson, M.P., Miss B. M. Sparks, and Mr. 

 H. E. Mann (secretary). All communications should 

 be addressed to Mr: Mann at the office of the Board 

 of Education, Victoria and Albert Museum, South 

 Kensington, S.W.7. 



Early this year an account was given in these 

 columns (January 23, p. 418) of a conference of repre- 

 sentatives of scientific and educational associations 

 interested in both the production and the distribution of 

 knowledge, held to consider proposals for the publica- 

 tion of a monthly journal which should present in 

 popular form the most recent results of research in 

 all the chief subjects of knowledge. This conference 

 appointed a committee to frame a scheme, and the 

 report of the committee was presented and adopted 

 at the adjourned meeting of the conference held on 

 October 24. The meeting approved the title Discovery 

 for the new journal, consent having been given to 

 the use of this title by Sir Richard Gregory and 

 by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., the publishers 

 of his book so named. Mr. John Murray will pub- 

 lish the journal, and Capt. A. S. Russell, recently of 

 the R.G..\., now of the L'niversitv, Sheffield, and 

 reader-elect in chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford, 

 will be editor. The first number will be issued on 

 January 15, ic)2o, at the price of sixpence. It is 

 understood that the journal will at first contain about 

 twenty-four oages of matter, p.nd will undertake in 

 the course of the year to represent in interesting form, 

 though it will make no attempt to describe in full, 

 the progress of knowledge in all its chief branches. 

 Canon Temple has been appointed by the trustees to 

 be the first chairman of the managing committee, of 

 which Dr. .\rmitage-Smith is the treasurer and Prof. 

 R. S. ConwaA', of Manchester, the hon. secretary. 



It will be recalled that in July-August last a joint 

 committee of the Empire Cotton-growing Committee 

 of the Board of Trade and of the British Cotton 

 Industry Research .Vssociation offered five botanical 

 research studentships to graduates and others recom- 

 mended as likely to prove successful research workers, 

 for the prosecution of research bearing upon any 

 of the numerous technical problems affecting the 

 cotton industry. The studentships were of the value 

 of 150!. per annum (or in certain circumstances 200L 

 per annum), and in the first instance were available 

 for one vear. Considerable freedom was allowed in 

 the choice of the line of research, the joint committee 

 recognising that the economic results hoped for can 

 be obtained only by increasing the volume of purely 

 scientific inquiry now being conducted into the physio- 

 logy and genetics of plants. We are now officially 

 informed that, although advertisement was given to 

 the scheme and the heads of the botanical departments 

 of the universities were approached in the matter, 

 the response on the part of graduates has been dis- 

 appointing. The committee hopes that it will be pos- 

 sible to offer similar studentships next year, and 

 desires to give the scheme early publicity in 

 order that senior students mav be able to consider 



