,i8 



NATURE 



[June 14, 1917 



latter process can only begin at about type B. This 

 agrees exactly with Campbell's discussion of spectro- 

 scopic binaries. 



In an actual star internal ionisation and pressure of 

 radiation must be considered, so that a star of suffi- 

 cient mass can break up before B-type is reached, 

 and there can be "giant" double stars. 



The results obtained fit in well with observation and 

 suggest a simple view of stellar cosmogony. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Birmingham. — Mr. G. H. Holcroft has presented to 

 the University a valuable collection of fossils and recent 

 shells which belonged to the late Sir Charles Holcroft. 

 Dr. J. W. Russell has been elected joint professor 

 of medicine, to succeed Prof. Saundby, whose resigna- 

 tion takes effect on September 30 next. The council 

 has resolved to recommend the court of governors at 

 its next meeting to confer the title of " Emeritus Pro- 

 fessor " on Prof. Saundby, " in recognition of his con- 

 spicuous services to the University and his eminence 

 in the general field of medicine." 



Messrs. A. W. Nuthall and J. T. Hewetson have 

 been reappointed honorary curators of the Pathological 

 Museum, in the sections of surgery and gynaecology 

 respectively, for a term of three years from October 

 next. 



OxFORD.^ — On June 12 the honorary degree of D.Sc, 

 was conlerred on Prof. Arthur Schuster, who after- 

 wards delivered tne Halley lecture, in presenting 

 Prof. Schuster, the Public Orator (Mr. A. D. Godlfey) 

 spoke of his eminence in various departments of 

 physical research, deploring the inadequacy of the 

 Latin language for dealing with the tecnnical details 

 of the professor's work in the subjects of electricity 

 and magnetism. He alluded also to Prof. Schuster's 

 services as secretary of the Royal Society, and to the 

 value of his labours to the nation at large. 



The Gilchrist Studentship for Women, of the Univer- 

 sity of London, has been awarded to Miss B. J. 

 Schlumberger, an internal student, of University Col- 

 lege. 



Prof. J. G. Adami's course of Croonian lectures at 

 the Royal College of Physicians of London begins 

 to-day, and will be continued on June 19, 21, and 26, 

 at 5 o'clock. The subject of the course is "Adaptation 

 and Disease." 



A FUND of the value of 2000L, to be known as the 

 Osier Testimonial Fund, has been raised by the medi- 

 cal and chirurgical faculty of Maryland; the income 

 will be devoted to the purchase of books for the library 

 of the facultv and for the upkeep of the Sir William 

 Osier Hall. 



The Prime Minister has informed Mr. Fisher that 

 the urgent demand for further accommodation for war 

 staff which must be housed in the immediate vicinity 

 of the War Office and Admiralty necessitates the re- 

 moval of the offices of the Board of Education. The 

 new quarters of the Board are to be at the Victoria and 

 Albert Museum, South Kensington. A sufficient num- 

 ber of rooms in Whitehall will, however, be retained 

 for the use of the President, Parliamentary Secretary, 

 and Permanent Secretarv of the Board and for confer- 

 ences, deputations, and interviews. 



Dr. T. Brailsford Robertson, professor of bio- 

 chemistry and pharmacology in the University of Cali- 

 fornia, has given to the regents of the University of 

 California his patents for the growth-controlling sub- 

 stance tethelin, isolated by him from the anterior lobe 

 of the pituitary body and used to accelerate repair in 



NO. 2485, VOL. 99] 



slowly healing wounds. The proceeds which may 

 accrue from the sale or lease of these patents are to 

 constitute a fund which will be entitled "The Univer- 

 sity of California Foundation for International Medical 

 Research," and will be expended in the furtherance of 

 medical research, preferalply research in the physiology, 

 chemistry, and pathology of growth. 



We have received a letter from the Rev. A. J. 

 Ashley, hon. secretary of the Church Esperantist 

 League, in reference to the paragraph which appeared 

 in this column in our issue of May 31. Mr. 

 Ashley writes : — " Ido stands now about where 

 Esperanto stood ' in the eighties of last century ; 

 it has no literature worth mentioning, while 

 many of the finest works of every great litera- 

 ture can now be obtained in Esperanto." Mr. Ash- 

 ley is of opinion that Esperanto, having thousands of 

 societies and being used daily by tens of thousands 

 of people, is continually spreading, and that such 

 popular acceptance should be a preliminary condi- 

 tion of any Government support. As regards the 

 teaching of a universal language in schools, Mr. 

 Ashley says that in the Patricroft Council School in 

 Eccles Esperanto is being taught as a regular school 

 subject with great success. An account of this ex- 

 periment will be found in the June-July issue of 

 the Esperanto Monthly, which may be obtained from 

 the secretary of the B.E.A., 17 Hart Street, London, 

 W.C.i. 



The new chemical laboratories at University Col- 

 lege, London, have been planned and designed so as 

 to meet the requirements of modern chemical teaching 

 and research, including provision for physical chern- 

 istry, in which branch immediate and rapid progress is 

 urgent. The funds for these laboratories have been 

 raised by a committee, of which H.R.H. Prince Arthur 

 of Connaught is the president, and Capt. the Hon. 

 Rupert Guinness the chairman and treasurer. The 

 total cost of the site, building, and equipment 

 will be 120,000/. One hundred thousand pounds 

 has already been raised, leaving 20,000/. still 

 to be found. In order to facilitate the imme- 

 diate provision of this 20,000/., Sir Ralph C. 

 Forster, Bt., who has already subscribed generously 

 to the cost of these laboratories, has promised 5000/. 

 on condition that the remaining 15,000/.. is raised 

 speedily. Upwards of 700/. has already been raised 

 towards the 15,000/. required. Those who are anxious 

 to see chemical science in London adequately equipped 

 are invited to assist in completing the sum needed. 

 An appeal has been issued by a sub-committee formed 

 by Lord Glenconner and Capt. the Hon. Rupert Guin- 

 ness for this purpose. Further particulars may be 

 obtained at the college. Subscriptions should be ad- 

 dressed to Lord Glenconner at the college. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London; 

 Royal Society, May 24. — Sir J. J. Thomson, president, 

 in the chair.— Prof. A. Dendy and Prof. J. W. 

 Nicholson : The influence of vibrations upon the form 

 of certain sponge-spicules. It has been suggested recently 

 by one of the authors that the positions of the whorls 

 which appear on certain siliceous spicules in the genus 

 Latrunculia may be determined by vibrations to which 

 the spicule is subjected at a certain stage of its develop- 

 ment, corresponding, in fact, with the nodal points of a 

 vibrating rod. The object of the present communica- 

 tion is to describe a similar case in a closely allietl, 

 but hitherto undescribed, genus, and to subject it to 

 mathematical analvsis with the view of testing this 

 vibratory theorv. The problem was to determine the 



