598 



NATURE 



[April 23, 1896 



instructor in experimental psychology in Harvard University ; 

 Dr. Charles Palache, instructor in mineralogy, and Mr. R. J. 

 Forsythe in metallurgy and metallurgical chemistry ; Baron 

 Eotvos to be full professor of experimental physics in the 

 University at Buda-Pesth ; Dr. O. Hildebrand to be extra- 

 ordinary professor of surgery in Berlin University, and Dr. 

 Oestreich to be privat-docent in general and anatomical patho- 

 logy ; Dr. Klecki to be prival-docent in general and experi- 

 mental pathology at Cracow. 



The new Franco-Scottish Society was inaugurated in Paris 

 last week at the Sorbonne. The objects of the Society are to 

 bring the universities of France and Scotland into connection 

 with each other by study in the one and the other of their 

 respective students, to bring about intercourse between their 

 professors and other officers, to promote historical research con- 

 cerning the ancient relations between the two countries, in 

 general by periodical meetings held in France and Scotland, and 

 all other means, to renew, as far as possible, the bonds of 

 sympathy between them. About forty delegates attended on 

 behalf of the Scottish universities and interest in higher educa- 

 tion ; and on the French side, the Paris University and Upper 

 Schools were represented by their chief authorities. Among the 

 subjects discussed was the place of political science in higher 

 education. The congress terminated with a banquet, at which 

 M. Jules Simon presided, given to the Scottish guests by their 

 French colleagues on Saturday 



Referring to the late Mr. George Holt, whose death we 

 briefly announced a fortnight ago, the Lancet remarks that he 

 took the greatest interest in University College, Liverpool — an 

 interest substantially shown by his first subscription of ;i^io,ooo 

 which was requisite to complete its equipment for incorporation 

 in the Victoria University. It was in its medical school that he 

 took a special interest, and his benefactions to it have been 

 numerous. The chairs of Physiology and Pathology were 

 endowed by him in the amount of ;!{'io,ooo each, to which was 

 added a further sum of ^ 10,000, for the maintenance of labora- 

 tories in those branches of investigation. In addition to these 

 benefactions he presented its medical faculty in 1886 with the 

 sum of ;^2000 for distribution during the ten succeeding years in 

 tutorial scholarships of the value of ;^ioo each. He further 

 fitted up in a complete manner Ashton Hall as a pathological 

 and bacteriological laboratory, which is one of the most com- 

 plete of its kind in this country. This does not exhaust the 

 list of his benefactions ; a. further sum of ;^iooo was given as 

 a donation to the college library, to be expended in annual 

 instalments of ^100. He was also a generous contributor to 

 the maintenance fund of the college and a warm friend of 

 education in general. Indeed, it is probably as a benefactor of 

 University College that his name will live longest in local 

 memory. 



The Teacher's Registration Act, which was recently intro- 

 duced in the House of Commons without comment, is a direct 

 outcome of the work of the late Commission on Secondary 

 Education. Though the Registration Council which it is proposed 

 to establish is not exactly that suggested in the Report of the Com- 

 missioners, it will prove quite satisfactory to most of those whose 

 interests are concerned. The Council is to consist of eighteen 

 members — six, appointed by Her Majesty with the advice of her 

 Privy Council ; six, elected by the Universities, one by each of 

 the following — Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, London, Victoria, 

 and Wales. Two members chosen by registered teachers 

 engaged otherwise than in elementary schools, two chosen by 

 elementary teachers, and two by registered teachers generally. 

 It is provided by the Act that no person shall be admitted to the 

 register unless he possesses [a) " a degree or certificate of general 

 attainments which is granted by some university or other body 

 recognised for that purpose by the Council, and is accepted as 

 satisfactory by the Council ; {b) a certificate or diploma of 

 adequate knowledge of the theory and practice of education and 

 of practical efficiency in teaching, which is granted by some 

 university or other body recognised for that purpose by the 

 council." Teachers in elementary schools are to be admitted to 

 the register on the same terms as those engaged in secondary 

 schools. It is further to be enacted that if any person 

 {a) " wilfully makes or causes to be made any falsification in any 

 matter relating to any register under this Act, or (h) by false 

 representation procures himself to be registered under this Act, 

 or not being so registered fraudulently represents himself as 



NO. 1382, VOL. 53I 



being so registered, he shall he guilty of misdemeanour, and 

 shall on summary conviction be liable to be imprisoned with or 

 without hard labour for any term not exceeding twelve months." 

 Teachers of proved attainments and competence who are at 

 present engaged in teaching are to be admitted to the first 

 register. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



The numbers of \.\\q Journal of Botany for March and April 

 are again almost entirely occupied by descriptive papers. — 

 Mr. G. Murray describes a new species of Caulerpa from 

 South Africa. A number of new fungi are described by Mr. 

 G. Massee, including a new genus Clypeum, with no near 

 affinities. 



The second part of vol. vii. of Cohn's Beitrdge zur Biologie 

 der Pftanzen contains three papers. — Dr. O. Kirchner describes 

 the root-tubercles of the Soja-bean, which, like those of other 

 plants belonging to the pea-tribe, are caused by a microbe ; 

 large quantities are found imbedded in the tissue of the tubercle, 

 and he regards them as belonging to a new species, which he 

 names Rhizobacterimn japonicum, found in the soil of Japan. 

 As in other cases, the relation of the microbe to the host is a 

 symbiotic one, enabling it to absorb into its tissues the free 

 nitrogen of the atmosphere. — T. Rosen contributes a chapter to 

 his Beitrdge zur Kenntniss der PJlanzen-zellen, in an account 

 of the nuclei and nucleoles in meristematic and sporogenous 

 tissues. It is a very important contribution to our knowledge of 

 the intricate phenomena connected with cell-division, and of the 

 part played by the nucleus and its nucleoles in the process. — Dr. 

 E. Heinricher describes the structure and function of the 

 haustoria of the parasitic genus Lathma or toothwort, especially 

 of the two species L. squatnaria and L. clandestina. From 

 various points of structure he concludes that Lathraa is more 

 nearly allied to the typical Scrophulariacece through Rhinanthus, 

 than it is to the Orobanchea:, under which it is usually placed. 



SOCLE TIES AND AC A DEMLES. \ 



London. 



Royal Society, March 10.— " Helium : a Gaseous Con- 

 stituent of certain Minerals. Part II. Density." By William 

 Ramsay, F.R.S. 



The gas obtained from the minerals broggerite, samarskite, 

 and fergusonite is rich in hydrogen, but contains only an 

 infinitesimal quantity of nitrogen ; carbon dioxide and helium 

 are also evolved, but no gas of new spectrum, even in samples 

 not passed through the usual absorbents, soda-lime and phos- 

 phoric anhydride. From i gram of cleveite, 7-2 c.c. of 

 helium is obtainable ; i gram of broggerite yields less than 

 I c.c. ; I gram of samarskite, about 06 c.c. ; and i gram of 

 fergusonite I'l c.c. 



The density of the samples of gas from these various minerals 

 appears to show small, but real differences. That from cleveite 

 was found to be 2-205 (oxygen = 16), but Langlet found a 

 sample from the same source to possess the density 2. The 

 helium from broggerite has the density 2-i8; that from samars- 

 kite 2-12, and that from fergusonite 2-14. These differences 

 are small ; but as they are the means of several determinations 

 with different preparations, and as the individual determinations 

 differ less among themselves than the densities of specimens 

 from different minerals, there appears ground for the supposition 

 that helium is a mixture. The possibility of this conclusion is 

 strengthened by the fact that the relative intensity of the lines 

 in the spectrum of the gas from cleveite is different from that 

 of the samples from broggerite, samarskite, and fergusonite ; 

 and this difference, indeed, is visible without the aid of a spec- 

 troscope, for the cleveite gas has a richer shade of yellow, 

 tending towards orange, than that from the other minerals ; the 

 colour of such samples is a purer yellow. Moreover, there are 

 certain faint lines in the blue-green in the spectrum of the 

 cleveite gas, which have not been observed, even under the 

 most favourable circumstances, with "end-on" tubes, in that 

 of the gas from other sources. 



The author is engaged in an attempt to separate the possible 

 constituents ol' helium. 



