1 66 



NA TURE 



[June i8, 1903 



At a subsequent meeting of the newly-formed council, Sir 

 Charles Metcalfe was unanimously elected president for 

 the ensuing year and the 1904 meeting to be held at 

 Johannesburg. 



The following officers were also elected : — vice-presidents, 

 Mr. Sidney J. Jennings, Dr. Muir, Mr. Gardner F. 

 Williams, and Mr. J. F"letcher (Natal); hon. secretaries, 

 Dr. Gilchrist (Cape Town), and Mr. Theodore Reunert 

 (Johannesburg) ; hon. treasurer, Mr. W. Westhofen (Cape 

 Town). 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Prof. Darwin and Prof. Larmor have in- 

 formed the Vice-Chancellor that certain donors desire to 

 contribute a sum of 400Z. a year, for five years, for the pur- 

 pose of augmenting the stipends of two university lecturers 

 in mathematics. The object is to enable the lecturers, 

 whose present stipend is 50Z. a year each, to devote them- 

 selves by study and research to the advancement of mathe- 

 matical science. The donors hope that by additional con- 

 tributions a sum may be procured which will enable the 

 arrangement to be continued, should it prove successful in 

 the first instance. The general board recommends that the 

 offer should be gratefully accepted, and it proposes that 

 it should be authorised to appoint in October two 

 lecturers in mathematics, who, for the sake of distinction, 

 and to commemorate two of the most eminent of Cambridge 

 mathematicians, shall bear the title of the Stokes lecturer 

 and the Cayley lecturer respectively. The new offices are 

 to be tenable with university and college lectureships. 



The general board has been in communication with the 

 council of the Royal Geographical Society respecting the 

 reorganisation of geographical studies within the Uni- 

 versity. • It suggests that a board of geographical 

 studies should be appointed, on which the Society should 

 have representatives ; that this board should arrange courses 

 of instruction and administer funds ; and that a special 

 examination in geography for the ordinary B.A. degree 

 should be instituted. The council of the Society has 

 agreed to contribute 200Z. a year for five years, to be met 

 by a corresponding grant from the University, for the 

 expenses of the scheme, and it is hoped that other con- 

 tributions to the geographical fund may be received. The 

 tenure of the present reader in geography expires at Mid- 

 summer, but the general board has postponed making 

 fresh arrangements until the Michaelmas term, when a 

 complete scheme is promised. 



The annual reports of the Botanic Garden Syndicate and 

 of the antiquarian committee have been published in the 

 University Reporter for June 13. They record a large 

 number of gifts to the collections from many sources. 



The professorship of surgery and the new lectureships in 

 electrical and mechanical engineering were duly established 

 by the Senate on June 11. An election to the former will 

 be made during the summer. The latter will be held by 

 Mr. Lamb and Mr. Peace, the present demonstrators of 

 applied mechanics. 



At the same congregation the grace which brings to an 

 end the long reign of Euclid, as the sole arbiter of geometry 

 in the pass examinations, was passed without a dissentient 

 voice. 



Dissertations and memoirs, constituting records of 

 original research, and qualifying for the B.A. degree, have 

 been approved in the case of Mr. J. C. Simpson, Caius 

 (pathology), and of Messrs. R. K. McClung and J. J. E. 

 Durack, Trinity, Mr. F. Horton, St. John's, and Mr. M. 

 Varley, Emmanuel (physics). 



In the mathematical tripos, part i., Messrs. Bateman 

 and Marrack, Trinity, divide the senior wranglership. For 

 the third place four candidates are bracketed, Messrs. 

 Gold and Phillips, St. John's, and Messrs. Barnes and 

 Hills, Trinity. Miss P. H. Hudson, .Newnham, is 

 bracketed seventh wrangler. She is the daughter of Prof. 

 Hudson, of King's College, London, and the sister of the 

 senior wrangler of 1898. Her sister was bracketed eighth 

 wrangler in 1900. Six men and one woman obtain first 



^O. 1755, VOL. 68] 



classes in part ii. of the tripos. In the mechanical sciences 

 tripos, part i., thirty men obtain honours. 



The department of psychology and education of the 

 University of Colorado publishes from time to time booklets- 

 dealing with the investigations carried out by its staff. 

 The most recently published number is concerned with 

 certain aspects of educational progress, and includes fiva 

 original articles dealing with subjects as different as the 

 function of habits and the English Education Act, 1902.. 

 Under the title " Miscellanea " are given extracts from 

 educational papers published in different parts of the world, 

 and amongst them are two from Nature. 



An instructive example of the close connection maintained 

 between the needs of the American commercial community 

 and the technical colleges of the United States is provided 

 by a recent announcement from Chicago. In response ta 

 requests from insurance companies, architects, and con- 

 tractors, the Armour Institute of Technology of Chicago 

 is now offering a four years' course in fire protection 

 engineering, leading to the degree of bachelor of science. 

 This course will be inaugurated in September next under 

 the direction of Prof. Fitzhugh Taylor, formerly engineer 

 of the Underwriters' Laboratories. The requirements for 

 admission are to be identical with those for the mechanical, 

 electrical, civil, and chemical engineering courses. .A 

 special feature of the course will be a series of lectures by 

 prominent insurance officials, architects, and contractors- 

 upon the practical features of their work. The technical 

 laboratory work of this course will be given at the Under- 

 writers' Laboratories of Chicago. These laboratories, 

 maintained by the stock fire insurance companies, are well 

 fitted for the work, because all new devices, appliances, and 

 materials that enter into the question of fire protection, or 

 have a bearing on fire risk, are taken there to be tested. 



The papers relating to the appointment and resignation 

 of Mr. M. E. Sadler, Director of Special Inquiries and 

 Reports on Education, have been published in a Blue-book 

 (Cd. 1602). It is evident from the documents that Mr. 

 Sadler was anxious to secure that education should have 

 an open-minded and impartial intelligence office as much 

 as the War Office or the Admiralty. With this object in 

 view, and the desire to obtain increased efficiency, Mr. 

 Sadler asked for increased facilities for his work, including 

 " the creation of a new post of scientific assistant in the 

 office of the Director of Special Inquiries and Reports of 

 the Board of Education. The increase in the number of 

 cases, referred to the office of Special Inquiries and Re- 

 ports, in the consideration of which an expert knowledge 

 of scientific terminology and a general acquaintance with 

 scientific investigation and discovery are indispensable, 

 renders it desirable that one of the officers attached to the 

 staff of the Director of Special Inquiries should be specially 

 charged with the duties of scientific assistant." This was 

 in 1900, but objection was raised to the proposal by the 

 vice-president. An inquiry into the nature of the demands 

 was then asked for by Mr. Sadler, but was not approved. 

 The result of this and other suggestions showed that there 

 was no desire to develop the work of the Special Inquiries 

 Office, but rather to limit it. Matters came to a climax 

 early in this year, when a request for permission to prepare 

 certain reports was made, but was met with objections. 

 Subsequently, the Director framed a memorandum setting 

 forth further needs of the Office of Special Inquiries, and 

 stating that without additional assistance he could not con- 

 tinue to hold himself responsible for the collection and 

 supply of accurate and well-digested information on educa- 

 tional work at home and abroad. The Board of Education 

 failed to agree with the proposals made, and laid down 

 certain new conditions for the conduct of the Special 

 Inquiries Office. The result was that on May 9 Mr. Sadler 

 wrote : — " The arrangements which have been proposed to 

 me for the future conduct of the Special Inquiries Office 

 would, in my judgment, gravely impair the scientific 

 thoroughness and independence of the work of the office, 

 and prove incompatible with future efficiency," and on this 

 account he resigned his post. 



