June 24, 1897] 



NATURE 



181 



accurate rule than the Gregorian ; and as by either 20cx) 

 would be a leap-year, the difference would first show 

 itself in 2028, which, according to this arrangement, 

 would not be a leap-year, whilst by the Gregorian scheme 

 the next omitted leap-year would be 2100. The omission 

 of a leap-year at the end of each period of 128 years was 

 advocated, it may be mentioned, by Sir E. Beckett 

 Denison (now Lord Grimthorpe) in his "Astronomy 

 without Mathematics," and by the present writer in the 

 '•Companion to the British Almanac for 1882." Its 

 accuracy may easily be shown. It signifies having 31 

 instead of 32 leap-years of 366 days in 128 years, and 

 therefore 97 common years of 365 days. Now 365 x 

 97-1-366x31=46,751, which, divided by 128, gives 

 365-2422, the actual length of a tropical year to the fourth 

 decimal. We cannot close without expressing a further 

 wish that some agreement may hereafter be come to 

 amongst Christian nations to celebrate Easter also 

 according to an exclusively solar chronology, by observ- 

 ing it on the first or second Sunday in April. That, 

 however, is independent of the plan now proposed in 

 Bulgaria to abandon the Julian style of the calendar. 



W. T. Lynn. 



I 



GRANTS TO UNIVERSITY COLLEGES. 

 N accordance with an undertaking given by the 



Chancellor of the Exchequer to a deputation which 

 waited upon him at the end of 1895, with reference to in- 

 creased aid from public funds for the University colleges, 

 three gentlemen, viz. Mr. T. H. Warren (President of 

 Magdalen College, Oxford), Prof D. G. Liveing, F.R.S., 

 and Mr.Robert Chalmers, of the Treasury, were appointed 

 in March 1896 to visit the colleges sharing in the grant 

 made to universities and colleges in Great Britain, and 

 to investigate the character and quality of university 

 work done, as well as to inquire generally into the posi- 

 tion which each college occupied both financially and in 

 other respects The visits were concluded by the end of 

 last year, and the report came before the Lords of the 

 Treasury about two months ago. The results of the 

 inquiry showed the Chancellor of the Exchequer that a 

 case had been made out for asking Parliament to 

 increase the sum to the colleges sharing in the grant ; 

 he therefore reconmiended that the total grant to the 

 colleges should be increased from 15,000/. to 25,000/. as 

 from April i, 1897. The question of the apportionment 

 of this total sum was thereupon referred to a special 

 Committee, whose recommendations, as will be seen from 

 the subjoined Treasury Minute, have been accepted : — 



My Lords read the report of the 20th ult. from the Committee 

 appointed by the Treasury Minute of April 5 last to advise this 

 Board in the matter of the apportionment of the increased sum of 

 25,000/. which Parliament has been asked to vote in the current 

 financial year for University colleges in Great Britain. 



My Lords accept the apportionment which the Committee 

 propose, viz. : — 



The Owens College, Manchester ;i^35oo 



University College, London ... 3000 



Total ;i^25,ooo 



In deference to the express recommendation of the Com. 

 nittee, my Lords have consented to grant to the Owens College, 



NO. 1443. VOL. 5c'', 



Manchester, a sum in excess of the maxiniuin of 3000/. speci- 

 fied in the Board's Minute of April 5, 1897, They desire, 

 however, to make it clear that this increase is made solely in 

 recognition of the pre-eminence of the Owens College, and must 

 not be construed as a precedent for increasing the grant of any 

 other college beyond the normal maximum. 



My Lords take note of the term of the Committee's report 

 with regard to the Dundee College. In acceding to the Com- 

 mittee's recommendation that " for the present " the college 

 .should receive 1000/. a year, my Lords are guided, as they 

 understand the Committee to have been guided, by the excep- 

 tional position in which the college is now placed with regard to 

 St. Andrews University. My Lords, however, are of opinion 

 that, when the relations between the University and the college 

 are settled, this matter should be subject to reconsideration ; and 

 they must not be understood to admit the claim of the college to 

 share permanently in the grant to University colleges. 



The Board accept, so far as they are concerned, the recom- 

 mendation that, with the exception of Dundee College, the 

 above allocation should be settled for a term of five years from 

 April I, 1897. They also agree that before the end of such term 

 a further inspection should be made on behalf of the Treasury. 



My Lords will communicate to the colleges concerned the 

 Committee's recommendation in paragraph 6 of their report that, 

 in certain cases, three-fourths of the additions to the several 

 grants should be devoted to staff purposes. 



The future inspection, as recommended by the Committee, 

 should extend to the University Extension colleges at Reading 

 and Exeter, as also to the Hartley Institute at Southampton, 

 and to any other college which, being located in a populous dis- 

 trict, may claim to be treated as a fully-equipped college in arts 

 and science. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer invites the Board to con- 

 sider the qualifications, other than educational, which should be 

 required from a college seeking to share in the grant in future. 

 The Chancellor of the Exchequer submits to the Board that 

 public money should not be contributed to a college which is 

 still in the experimental stage or which has not yet succeeded, 

 though fully equipped, in attracting a considerable number of 

 students in arts and science. He therefore recommends that 

 the financial conditions of participation should be — (l) A total 

 local income for arts and science of at least 4000/. a year ; and (2) 

 a receipt from fees in the same subjects of at least 1500/. a year. 



My Lords approve. It only remains for them to record 

 their appreciation of the valuable services which the Committee 

 has been .so good as to render to this Board in considering the 

 claims of the respective colleges. 



HONOURS FOR MEN OF SCIENCE. 



THE honours list issued on Tuesday in connection 

 with the Diamond Jubilee contains the names of a 

 number of men of science upon whom her Majesty has 

 been pleased to confer distinctions. 



Dealing first with Fellows of the Royal Society, Mr. 

 Crookes and Dr. Gowers receive knighthoods. In the 

 order of the Bath, Mr. Wolfe Barry, President of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, Dr. Frankland, Foreign 

 Secretary of the Royal Society, Dr. Huggins, Mr. Nor- 

 man Lockyer, Director of the Solar Physics Observatory, 

 Dr. Thome Thorne, Principal Medical Officer to theLocal 

 Government Board, and (naval promotion) Admiral 

 Wharton, Hydrographer of the Admiralty, are appointed 

 K.C.B. 



Mr. Christie, Astronomer Royal, and Mr. Niven, 

 Director of Studies at the Royal Naval College, are 

 appointed C.B. 



In the Order of the Star of India, Sir Joseph Hooker 

 and Lieut. -General Strachey are promoted to the grade 

 of G.C.S.I. 



In addition to the foregoing. Baronetcies are conferred 

 upon Sir Wm. MacCormac, President of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons ; Mr. Wilks, President of the Royal 

 College of Physicians ; and Mr. Thomas Smith, Surgeon- 

 Extraordinary to her' Majesty. Mr. Durston, Engineer- 

 in-Chief to the Navy, is made a K.C.B , and knighthoods 

 are conferred upon Mr. A. R. Binnie, the Engineer to 

 the London County Council, and Dr. Felix Semon. 



