June 23, 19 10] 



NATURE 



1 1 



I u\ss opened in the presence of a large company on June 21. 

 The Master of the Drapers' Company, Mr. K. R. Fletcher 

 (upon whom the degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris 

 causa was conferred), made the presentation of the labora- 

 tory, and the Chancellor (Lord Curzon) acknowledged the 

 gift In a speech, in the course of which he said that eight 

 years ago, when a statement was drawn up of the needs 

 of the University, a very prominent place was given in it 

 to the need for a laboratory for the Wykeham professor 

 of physics, and only three years ago, when the Vice- 

 Chancellor and he wrote their first letter to the Press on 

 behalf of the appeal for the re-endowment of the Uni- 

 versity, they summed up the requirements of the University 

 in this respect in the laconic phrase, ' We need an elec- 

 trical laborator\'. ' Oxford needed it, not merely to enable 

 the professor to give the best teaching to candidates for 

 honour degrees, but also to enable him to keep in touch 

 with- the most modern scientific discovery by the pursuit 

 of independent research with the aid of the most recent 

 appliances, and also, of course, to provide opportunities 

 for similar investigations to outside people. He would not, 

 however, li. : anyone to go away with the idea that, even 

 after this splendid gift, the scientific requirements of the 

 University were exhausted. The department of chemistry, 

 both in respect of teachers and of laboratories, was quite 

 unfit for the great institution to which it belonged. He 

 was sure, also, that in the department of engineering 

 science a laboratory was badlv wanted. 



Columbia University has conferred its doctorate of 

 science on Sir William White, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



It is announced in Science that Bryn Mawr College has 

 obtained money sufficient to pay its debts, and in addition 

 50,000/., which entitles it to the appropriation of 50,000/. 

 of the General Education Board. The sum raised by the 

 Alumnne Association was 6o,8ooZ., which is to be used for 

 the endowment of chairs in mathematics, English, and 

 economics. 



The Imperial University Congress, which will be held 

 in London in 1912, is likely to be one of great import- 

 ance and of far-reaching influence. All the universities of 

 the Empire are to be invited to send representatives to the 

 congress, and the invitations are being issued in the names 

 of the Universities of London, Oxford, and Cambridge. 

 while the University of London will have the duty of 

 organising the congress. It has been suggested that a 

 preliminary meeting of representatives of British universi- 

 ties might be held next year with the view of preparing 

 materials for the congress. Dr. R. D. Roberts, formerly 

 Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and one of the 

 registrars of the University of London, will act as 

 secretary of the congress. 



As announced already, the third International Congress 

 on School Hygiene is to be held in Paris on August 2-7 

 next. The organising committee of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, of which Sir Lauder Brunton, Bart., F.R.S. , is 

 president, is appealing specially to all who were associated 

 with the London congress in 1907 to attend the Paris 

 meeting. Travelling and hotel accommodation are being 

 arranged by the committee at moderate charges, and full 

 particulars concerning them can be obtained from Mr. 

 Durrie Mulford, assistant secretary-, 90 Buckingham Palace 

 Road. S.W. The general meetings of the congress will 

 deal with uniformity of method for physical examinations i 

 in schools, sexual education, and the training and appoint- ' 

 ment of the school doctor. The other business of the 

 congress will be done in eleven sections, dealing with every 

 aspect of the question of securing the health of the teachers 

 and pupils in schools. 



1 HE Johns Hopkins University Register, 1909—10, which 

 has reached us from Baltimore, contains an interesting 

 historical statement. From this we find that the original 

 endowment of the University amounted to a little more than 

 600,000/. This sum has been supplemented by several gifts, 

 including the endowment fund of 1902, amounting to 

 200,000/., and the John W. McCoy fund of 100.000/. The 

 income-bearing funds have a " book value " of 916.000/. 

 The real estate and buildings, books, scientific apparatus, 

 and general equipment are valued at 380.000/. The total 

 value of the assets of the I'niversity is thus about 



NO. 2 12 I, VOL. 83] 



1,300,000/. In June, 1909, the General Education Board 

 offered to contribute 50,000/. towards the endowment of 

 the University provided the institution is able to secure 

 150,000/. on or before December 31 next. It is expected 

 that the conditions of the gift will be met by the date 

 specified. The Legislature of Maryland recently made 

 an appropriation of 5000/. a year for 1911 and 1912. 



We have received a copy of a syllabus for the " teach- 

 ing of science of home affairs," drawn up by a committee 

 of the Association of Teachers of Domestic Science, in 

 ' conjunction with certain teachers of chemistry and hygiene. 

 The object of the syllabus is to indicate a course of 

 instruction up to a " matriculation " or " school-leaving " 

 standard suitable for girls in a secondary school. The 

 course is designed to include those portions of elementary 

 physics, chemistry, hygiene, and physiology necessary for 

 the proper understanding of the scientific principles under- 

 lying home management. It is hoped that courses, some- 

 what on the lines of those suggested in the syllabus, will 

 in the future be generally adopted in girls' secondary 

 schools, thereby bringing about a much needed correla- 

 tion of the science teaching with the instruction in cookery 

 work, laundry work, &c. The committee suggests the 

 desirability of the inclusion of this modified science course 

 as one of the optional subjects for girls in the scheme of 

 examinations held by the authorities now conducting public 

 examinations of a " matriculation " or " school-leaving " 

 standard. 



The Royal Commission on University Education in 

 London has issued its first report, which consists of the 

 minutes of evidence taken up to April, 19 10. It will be 

 remembered that the commissioners were appointed to 

 inquire into the working of the present organisation of the 

 University of London, and into other facilities for advanced 

 education (general, professional, and technical) existing in 

 London for persons of either sex above secondan,-school 

 age ; to consider what provision should exist in the metro- 

 polis for university teaching and research ; to make recom- 

 mendations as to the relations which should in consequence 

 subsist between the University of London, the incorporated 

 colleges, the Imperial College of Science and Technology, 

 the other schools of the University', and the various public 

 institutions and bodies concerned ; and, further, to recom- 

 mend as to any changes of constitution and organisation 

 which appear desirable, regard being had to the facilities 

 for education and research which the metropolis should 

 afford for specialists and advanced students in connection 

 with the provision existing in other parts of the United 

 Kingdom and of our dominions beyond the seas. In a 

 letter to the Times of June 17, Prof.' M. J. M. Hill, Vice- 

 Chancellor of the L'niversity of London, points out that, 

 in addition to the evidence already published, further 

 evidence from persons representing other views held in the 

 University will be submitted to the Royal Commission, and 

 suggests that it would be well to suspend judgment and to 

 abstain from drawing conclusions from the evidence now 

 available until the whole inquiry hns been completed and 

 (he commission has issued its final report. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society, June 16. — Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, in the chair. — D. Thoday : Experimental re- 

 searches on vegetable assimilation and respiration. VI. — 

 Some experiments on assimilation in the open air. In 

 these experiments Sachs's half-leaf dn,-weight method has 

 been employed, with modifications suggested in a previous 

 paper for avoiding errors due to shrinkage of the insolated 

 half-leaves. Turgid leaves of Helianthus annuiis were 

 found in bright sunlight to increase in dry weight 17 mg. 

 per hour per sq. decim. ; thus Sachs's high value is con- 

 firmed. Even a slight loss of turgor, however, was accom- 

 panied by a diminution in the rate of increase. For this 

 high rate of assimilation a leaf-temperature of 23° C. to 

 24° C. is probably required. It is suggested that Brown 

 and Escombe's low results in bright diffuse light indicate 

 that the stomata of Helianthus leaves open to their full 

 extent only in light which is similar in quality to sun- 

 light and approaches it in intensity'. Detached leaves of 



