426 



NATURE 



[December 25, 1919 



teriology tenable at the London Hospital Medical 

 College. 



The following doctorates have been conferred : — 

 D.Sc. in Applied Statistics: Mr. E. H. Chap- 

 man, an internal student, of the Sir John Cass 

 Technical Institute, for a thesis entitled "The 

 Application of Statistical Methods to Meteorological 

 Problems." D.Sc. in Botany: Mr. S. C. Harland, 

 an internal student, of King's College, for a thesis 

 entitled " Manurial Experiments with Sea Island 

 Cotton in St. Vincent." D.Sc. (Engineering): Mr. 

 X. -V. V. Piercy, an internal student, of East London 

 College, for a thesis entitled " On the Flow in the 

 Rear of Aerofoils." 



Dr. Thomas I^ewis, of the cardiographic depart- 

 ment of L-niversity College, has been awarded the 

 William Julius Mickle fellowship, of the value of 

 200I., in recognition of the important work which he 

 has carried out on the nervous mechanism of the 

 heart. 



Oxford. — Dr. F. W. Keeble, who has been elected 

 to the Sherardian professorship of botany in succes- 

 sion to Prof. S. H. Vines, was formerly professor of 

 botany and dean of the faculty of science at Univer- 

 sity College, Reading. In 1914 he was appointed 

 Director of the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens 

 at Wisley, and in the following vear became concur- 

 rently Director of Horticulture in the Food Produc- 

 tion Department of the Board of .Agriculture. Since 

 last year he has been .Assistant Secretarv to the Board. 



Dr. Fritz P.aneth has recontiv been appointed to a 

 professorship in chemistry at the University of Ham- 

 burg, which was founded in the spring of this vear. 

 -After obtaining his doctorate at the Universitv of 

 A'ienna Dr. Paneth proceeded to England, and worked 

 for some time in the laboratories of Prof. Soddv at 

 Glasgow, and of Sir Ernest Rutherford at Manchester. 

 Later he was chemical assistant in the Radium Insti- 

 tute at Vienna, and after the appointment of Prof. 

 Honigschmid to a chair of ehemistrv at the Univer- 

 sity of Munich in 1917, Dr. Paneth directed the work 

 of the chemistry department of the German Technical 

 High School in Prague. 



The University of .Manchester, which before the war 

 was preparing to issue an appeal for funds to enable 

 it to make due provision to meet its expanding needs, 

 has now made, in addition to that of 'the College of 

 Technology, which requires i5o,oooL for its much 

 needed extension, an appeal for a sum of 500,000/., 

 towards which 76,000/. has been promised, in addition 

 to 10,000/. for a chair of colloid ehemistrv as an- 

 nounced at the public meeting held in the Town Hall 

 on December 9, to meet the urgent demands which, 

 among other claims, the great influx of students in 

 all departments has made upon its resources. There 

 was recently opened a large new building for the 

 faculty of arts (languages, literature, history, and 

 philosophy), which, as a consequence, enables the 

 departments of chemistry, engineering, medicine, and 

 commerce to be accommodated more adequatelv. But 

 the pressure, especially in respect of students in medi- 

 cine and chemistry, and the growing need for facilities 

 in economics, sociology, and courses of training for 

 social work, cannot be satisfactorily met in present 

 circumstances. .\ new system of oost-graduate train- 

 ing has been instituted and a new degree therein estab- 

 lished, which is certain to retain and attract a large 

 body of well-prepared students to the great advantage 

 of the University and of all concerned. The provision 

 of hostels is an urgent need, together with that of 

 extra-mural teaching in tutorial classes, for which 

 there is a strong demand on the part of working men 

 XO. 2617, VOL. 104] 



and women throughout the area covered by the Uni- 

 versity. A considerable increase in equipment, and 

 especially in that of the teaching staff, in all depart- 

 ments is a pressing requirement, and altogether, 

 having regard to the supremely and increasingly ini-. 

 portant place the University takes in the life of the 

 city and district, makes this appeal for a large addi- 

 tion to its financial resources one that should commend 

 itself to the liberal support of the great and wealthx" 

 community which it so effectively serves. 



A DEPUTATION of members of the governing body of 

 the Imperial CoUe'ge of Science and Technology, intro- 

 duced by Lord Crewe, and received on December 15 bv 

 Mr. Balfour and Mr. Fisher, put forward the request 

 that the college should be empowered to award 

 degrees, either by being constituted a university or 

 bv granting its own degrees as a college. At present 

 each of the constituent colleges of the Imperial Col- 

 lege grants its own diplomas in the form of associate- 

 ships of the Roval College of Science, the Roya:l 

 -School of Mines, and the City and Guilds' Institute 

 respectively, while the Imperial College itself awards 

 a diploma for a course of advanced work. There is, 

 however, a great difference in the market values of 

 a diploma and a degree, and it is on this account 

 that the movement to make the college a degree- 

 conferring institution has the support of most past 

 and present students. The question of constituting 

 another universitv in London has alrea4.v been con- 

 sidered bv two Roval Commissions and adversely 

 reported upon, and the demand for the foundation of 

 the new university will need to l>e strongly supported 

 before it can have the promise of success in the face 

 of these two reports and of the certain opposition of 

 London L'niversity. The simplest course, and the 

 one that would arouse least opposition, would be to 

 grant the college the power of conferring degrees. 

 Whichever plan is adopted, it is to be hoped that the 

 position of past students of the constituent colleges 

 will be effectivelv safeguarded. We assume that, 

 whether the Imperial College grants a degree or a 

 diploma, adequate provision will continue to be 

 made for the studv of pure science. ' It is 

 becoming increasingly difficult to obtain the neces- 

 sary funds for carrying on scientific research not 

 directly concerned with industry, and the neglect of 

 this part of the work of the college would eventually 

 have a disastrous effect on technical education and 

 industrial progress. -\ strong case can, no doubt, be 

 made out for several distinct universities in London, 

 and the appeal made on behalf of the Imperial College 

 has been followed bv a letter from Profs. W. H. Bragg 

 and E. H. Starling in the Times of December 22, in 

 which like claims are made for the freedom of King's 

 College and L^niversity College "as regards teaching, 

 research, and the granting of degrees." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society, December it. — Sir J. J. Thomson, 

 president, in the chair. — C. F. U. Meek : A further 

 study of chromosome dimensions. The degree of 

 somatic complexity of an animal cannot be correlated 

 with (a) the lengths of the chromosomes composing 

 its complex ; (b) the diameters of the chromosomes 

 composing its complex ; (c) the total volume of the 

 chromosomes composing" its complex ; and di) the 

 number of the chromosomes composing its complex. 

 There are many different chromosome diameters. 

 The chromosomes composing the .spermatogonia! 

 complex of an animal are not necessarily identical in 



