582 



NA TURE 



[October 14, 1897 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge.— Mr. J. B. Peace, of Emmanuel College, has 

 been appointed Demonstrator of Mechanisni and Applied 

 Mechanics, in the place of Mr. Dunkerley, resigned. Mr. H. 

 Higgins, of King's College, has been re-appointed Demonstrator 

 of Anatomy. 



Prof. Bradbury has been re-appointed Assessor to the Regius 

 Professor of Physic. 



Mr. A. Munro (Queens') and Mr. Lay (St. Catharine's) 

 have been appointed Moderators, and Mr. Macdonald (Clare), 

 with Mr. Bennett (Iilmmanuel), Examiners, for the Mathematical 

 Tripos 1898. Sir R. S. Ball has been appointed an Elector to 

 the Isaac Newton Studentships. 



Mr. W. G. Eraser, Senior Wrangler 1896, has been elected 

 to a Fellowship at Queens' College. At Trinity College Mr. 

 W. Morley Fletcher, First-class Natural Sciences Tripos 

 1894-95, ^"d Mr. F. W. Lawrence, bracketed fourth Wrangler 

 1894, bracketed second Smith's Prizeman 1896, have been 

 elected to Fellowships. 



At the opening of the session of the Royal College of Science 

 on Wednesday, October 6, Prof Roberts- Austen, C. B., D.C.L., 

 delivered an address and distributed the prizes. He said that 

 in this memorable year they would remember that the part 

 taken by His Royal Plighness the Prince Consort in establishing 

 the School of Mines, out of which the Royal College of Science 

 had grown, made the students participants in the beneficent 

 care which Her Majesty the Queen had ever taken to promote 

 the advancement of science and the industrial progress of her 

 people. At the opening ceremony, on May 12, 1851, at the 

 museum in Jermyn-street, where the School of Mines found a 

 home, the Prince Consort had used the following words : — " I 

 rejoice in the proof thus afforded of the general and still increas- 

 ing interest taken in scientific pursuits, while science herself, by 

 the subdivision into the various and distinct fields of her study, 

 aims daily more and more at the attainment of useful and prac- 

 tical results. In this view it is impossible to estimate too highly 

 the advantages to be derived from an institution like this, in- 

 tended to direct the researches of science and to apply their 

 results to the development of the immense mineral riches 

 granted by the bounty of Providence to our isles and their 

 numerous colonial dependencies." Prof. Austen said that the 

 last words he had quoted, struck a note which was singularly 

 tuneful and harmonious in this year when the bonds which join 

 the mother country to her possessions had been so materially 

 strengthened. It might fairly be claimed that the Empire had 

 derived advantages from the establishment of the Royal School 

 of Mines, and from the Royal College of Science. Having 

 taken the Prince Consort's words as his text. Prof. Austen 

 passed in review the position of technical teaching in the fifties, 

 and indicated the nature of the work done by the distinguished 

 body of men, including Playfair, Hofmann, Huxley, Tyndall, 

 Percy, Warrington Smyth, and others, who had gathered round 

 Sir Henry de la Beche, and he showed that the great success of 

 the students in all parts of the world had been attained by re- 

 cognising that the main duty of the professors had been, not to 

 train specialists but to give men such all-round training as should 

 enable them to deal successfully with any problems they might 

 encounter in life. He then spoke of the great importance to 

 students of general culture, pointing out that it was not without 

 reason that the designer of the Jermyn Street Museum had 

 placed a statue of Athena in a prominent position in the lecture 

 theatre, for Mr. Ruskin had said that the myths which had 

 gathered round the name of Athena pointed to her as "the 

 directress of human passion, resolution, labour, and of prac- 

 tically useful art. She does not make men learned, but prudent 

 and subtle ; she does not teach them to make their work beauti- 

 ful, but to make it right." Prof. Austen said that the students' 

 work would never be right if they neglect the treasures of 

 thought which come to us from antiquity. He urged them day by 

 day to devote a few moments to the effort to really understand 

 some marvel of the fifteenth century construction, by Da Vinci 

 or by others who designed it at a time before the professions of 

 engineer and architect were divided. Or they might examine 

 some fragment of Japanese art metal work which in itself epito- 

 mised an advanced knowledge of metallurgy. If they used the 

 museum in this way they would find that they were insensibly 

 widening their intellectual field, and, at the same time, cultivating 

 it with success. 



NO. 1459, VOL. 56] 



The new University Hall at Bangor, for women students of 

 the University College of North Wales, was formally opened on 

 Saturday last by Miss Helen Gladstone. Mr. Acland delivered 

 an address on " Secondary Education in England and Wales." 



After an examination by the Agricultural Department of the 

 Reading University Extension College, Mr. J. C. Fryer has 

 been elected to the Senior Agricultural Scholarship given by the 

 County Council. The Scholarship is of the annual value of 30/. 

 (which may be increased at the discretion of the sub-committee 

 to 50/. ) per annum for two years, and is tenable at the Reading 

 University Extension College. 



The Committee for the establishment of University Fellow- 

 ships in the University of Wales have just presented their 

 report to the Senate. The proposed Fellowships are to be con- 

 fined to graduates of the University who are in the active 

 pursuit of original investigation, and in residence at some con- 

 stituent college or other seat of learning. They are to be tenable 

 for two years, with possible renewal for a third year in cases of 

 exceptional merit. It is proposed that the Fellowships should 

 not be tenable concurrently with other similar endowments or 

 paid appointments, as the Fellowships contemplated are to be of 

 sufficient value to enable the holders to devote their whole time 

 to research. 



As the result of the past session's work students of the 

 Engineering Department of University College, Liverpool, 

 have gained the following successes : — Mr.W. H. Riddlesworth, 

 holding a County Council Scholarship, succeeded in gaining the 

 University Scholarship in open competition, which is the blue 

 ribbon of the University in this subject. Mr. Riddlesworth has 

 since been appointed private assistant to Dr. Francis Elgar, 

 Manager Director of the Fairfield Engineering and Shipbuilding 

 Company, Limited. Mr. E. Brown, holding a Ranger Scholar- 

 ship, has been awarded the Sir David Gamble Scholarship for 

 the purpose of prosecuting a research and continuing his 

 studies in electrotechnics. Mr. P. S. Couldrey and Mr. C. H. 

 Stewart, holders of City and County Scholarships respectively, 

 have been awarded National Scholarships. Mr. E. J. Kipps, 

 holding a Derby Exhibition from the Bootle Technical School, 

 succeeded in securing the second place in the list of Whitworth 

 Exhibitions. Mr. R. Nelson, the Sir Edward Harland Scholar, 

 also obtaining a Whitworth Exhibition. Mr. F. H. Phillips, 

 the holder of the Sir Richard Moon Scholarship from Crewe, 

 has been awarded a Royal Exhibition in connection with the 

 Science and Art Department examinations. Mr.W. L. Brown, 

 after completing a lengthy research upon the Elasticity and 

 properties of cement in connection with his University Research 

 Scholarship, which has been accepted by the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers, has been appointed by Sir Benjamin Baker to a 

 position on the Central London Railway. Mr. J. T. Farmer, who 

 was awarded an 185 1 Exhibition Scholarship, after completing 

 a research at Montreal on the action of jets of water, which 

 was published by the Royal Society of Canada, has been the 

 recipient of the honorary degree of M.Sc. of the Montreal 

 University. 



The recent munificent gifts to Owens College, Manchester, 

 were briefly mentioned in last week's Nature. A full report 

 of the meeting of the Court of Governors of the College at which 

 the announcements of the donations were made, appeared in 

 the Manchester Guardian of Wednesday, October 6, from which 

 we reprint the resolutions of thanks passed by the Court. No 

 apology is needed in referring again to gifts so liberal as those 

 which Owens College has just received. The following are the 

 resolutions which were adopted by the Court : — (l) "That 

 the Court has heard with the greatest satisfaction and pleasure 

 of the magnificent offer by Mr. Christie of a sum not less than 

 50,000/., being the third at his disposal of the balance of the 

 estate of the late Sir Joseph Whitworth, for the erection of a 

 College hall and the completion, so far as the amount available 

 will extend, of the College buildings ; that the Court de- 

 sires to express to Mr. Christie its sincere thanks for his 

 splendid gift, which will meet a most important and long-felt 

 need, and, besides adding to the outward importance and 

 dignity of the College, greatly promote the cohesion of its inner 

 life ; that the Court requests the Council to provide for the 

 association of the late Sir Joseph Whitvvorth's name with the 

 proposed new buildings, in accordance with Mr. Christie's de- 

 sire ; and that the Court recognises with the deepest pleasure 

 the proof furnished by Mr. Christie's present magnificent offer, 

 as well as by his former gift of the buildings of the Christie 



