206 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



'Sept., 1904. 



meota farms in Northumberland and Cambridge. Chiefly 

 identified with experimental work on finger, and, toe in 

 turnips, and with the influence of manures on the feeding 

 properties of pasture. Graduate of Edinburgh, Munich, Dur- 

 ham, and Cambridge. Has served on Departmental Com- 

 mittees on Forestry, Sheep Parasites, and Fruit. Written a 

 good deal on agricultural and forestal matters. 



Dr. William Somerville. the President of the new Sub- 

 Section of Agriculture, took for his subject "Recent Work ii' 

 .•\gricultural Science " ; and dealt successively with the latest 

 experiments at Rothamsted : German work on the storage cf 

 farmyard manure, forestry, the Woburn Fruit Station, and 

 the improvements in the scientific variation of crops. Dr. 

 Somervelle also devoted son:e paragraphs to that fixation by 

 electricit)' of atmospheric nitrogen, which, as Sir William 

 Crookes hoped, might some daj- provide us with artificial 

 nitrates and cheaper manures and soil stinuilants. This work 

 was going en well, said the President, and he believed agricul- 

 ture would not have long to wait before it was placed in 



attempt to define the limits of investigation which science 

 might usefully set itself in dealing with education. In the con- 

 sideration of these limits it was necessary to give due regard 

 to right ideals of moral and social progress as a primary part 

 of the whole ; and it was necessary to decide what methods of 

 investigation were appropriate and what were inappropriate 

 to the duty of education. The Bishop of Hereford went on to 



Pholo. hy MojTal.] 



DR. WILLIAM SOMERVILLE. 



PUoto. btj IT. H. Btt.-lii,. 

 THE RIGHT REV. 



THE LORD BISHOP OF HEREFORD. 



possession of " that most powerful agent of production." The 

 President also reviewed the partial failure of the attempt to 

 supply artificially the bacterial organisms which are naturallv 

 found at the nodules of leguminous plants, and so stimulate 

 their growth. These bacterial cultures — "nitragin," as the 

 experimental samples were called — had been a failure of late 

 when applied on a large scale ; but both in Germany and the 

 United States, where faith and belief in the value of 

 "nitragin" was considerable, the experiments were being 

 vigorously pursued with what was called " improved nitragin." 



Section L.— Educational Science. 



The Rt. Rev. John Percival, D.D., Bishop of Hereford. 

 Born 1S34, son of William Percival. Brough, Sowerby, West- 

 moreland, and Jane, daughter of William Longmire, Bolton, 

 Westmoreland. Married first, 1S62, Louisa, daughter of James 

 Holland (died 1S96), and second, 1S99, Mar)' Georgina, 

 daughter of the late Frederick Symonds, F.C.S., Oxford. 

 Educated at the Grammar School. Appleby, Westmoreland, 

 and Oueen's College, Oxford, of which he was a Scholar. 

 Junior Mathematical University Scholar 1S55, Double First 

 Mods and Finals ; M..A., i,S6i. Fellow of Oueen's College, 

 Oxford. Ordained, 1S60. .Assistant Master^Rugbv. Head- 

 master Clifton College, 1S62-1S7S. Prebendary of Exeter, 

 1S71-S2. Canonof Bristol, 1SS2-7. President Trinity College, 

 Oxford, 1878-S7. Headmaster Rugby. 1SS7-1S95. Bishop of 

 Hereford since 1S95. 

 The Presidential address to the Educational Section was an 



criticise the various defects in the national outlook on educa- 

 tion : and in the various systems of primar\% secondary, and 

 public school education ; and he laid down the general 

 principle that one of the things needed for the general improve- 

 ment of our secondary education was that every private 

 school, of whatever kind, should be liable to public inspection 

 and public report thereon : that a licence should be required 

 for every such school : and that the staff and their qualifica- 

 tions, and the remuneration given to each of them, the sanitary 

 condition, suitability and educational equipment of the pre- 

 mises, should all be considered in connection with the giving 

 or withholding of a licence. 



THE FOREIGN GUESTS. 



Upwards of 200 American. Canadian, and foreign men of 

 science attended the Cambridge gathering of the .Association. 

 We append a few details respecting the scientific achieve- 

 ments of some of the more familiar names. !imit;itions of space 

 forbidding extended reference. 



AincyictDt and Canadian. — Professor W. O. Atwater, who 

 lectured in the physiological section on " Nutrition Experi- 

 ments on Man in the United States," has occupied the chair 

 of Chemistrj' in the Wesleyan University, Middletown, since 

 1873. On the establishment of the Connecticut .Agricultural 



