3IO 



NATURE 



[July 30, 1903 



form, even though it was raging as an epidemic in France 

 and Spain in 1884-1885. This immunity may be attributed 

 to the great measures for sewage and refuse removal carried 

 out in Britain, which had slowly resulted in such a purifi- 

 cation of the soil as to make it unsuitable for conferring 

 virulence on the micro-organism of cholera. 



Among the subjects discussed in the sections were the 

 notification of consumption, the several aspects of sewage 

 disposal, construction of hospitals and public baths, and 

 disinfection. 



In addition to the sections, eight technical conferences 

 were held dealing with the aspects of hygiene, particularly 

 in reference to the different professions and various classes 

 of the community. 



In connection with the congress an exhibition of sanitary 

 apparatus and appliances was arranged, containing exhibit's 

 brought by manufacturers from all parts of the country. 

 The visits made to the various municipal undertakings arid 

 sanitary works in the neighbourhood served as a valuable 

 object-lesson, illustrating many of the matters discussed in 

 the meetings of the congress. 



Among the exhibits at the exhibition, which were care- 

 fully examined by a board of expert judges, a special Rogers 

 Field medal was awarded by the institute to the Northern 

 Vacuum Cleaning Company for their apparatus for clean- 

 ing carpets, furniture, and house decorations without re- 

 moving them from the house. The attendance of members 

 and delegates numbered 1550. 



E. White Wallis. 



THE MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION. 



"T* HE fourteenth annual congress of the Museums 

 -'■ Association was held in Aberdeen on July 13-16, and 

 although the place of meeting was so far north, the attend- 

 ance was exceptionally good, while the programme of busi- 

 ness was one of the most varied and useful that has ever 

 been brought before the Association. The president for this 

 year is Dr. F. A. Bather, assistant keeper of geology, 

 British Museum (Natural History), whose presidential 

 address dealt chiefly with art museums. After defining 

 generally the purport and breadth of museums, which he 

 classified into three divisions, (a) investigation for the 

 benefit of specialists ; (b) instruction for the benefit of 

 students ; and (c) inspiration for the guidance of the general 

 visitor, he entered into a critical survey of the Museum of 

 Fine Art, specially condemning the present system of 

 arranging pictures, and the lack of harmony between the 

 architecture, decoration, and contents of an art gallery. 



Mr. James Murray followed with a paper on the Aberdeen 

 Art Gallery, which is about to be greatly extended ; then 

 came a paper by Mr. Alex. M. Rodger, " Method of Mount- 

 ing Fish with Natural Surroundings," which can be com- 

 mended to all curators who wish to make their museums 

 attractive. Mr. W. P. Pycraft was rather severe on some 

 of the methods of representing birds in a museum, and Mr. 



E. M. Holmes briefly described a method of preserving the 

 natural colours of dried leaves and flowers for museum 

 specimens, which had stood the test of many years' ex- 

 posure, while a paper by Mr. H. Bolton treated of the 

 " Re-shelving of Museum Cases." " On Good Form in 

 Natural History Museums " was the title of a paper by Mr. 



F. Jeffrey Bell ; another paper of the same character being 

 " Neglect of Opportunities," by Mr. S. S. Buckman. 



In addition to representatives from the leading museums 

 of Britain, there were some foreign representatives who 

 read papers. Dr. Jens Thiis, director of the Nordenfjeldske 

 Kunstindustri-museum, Trondhjem, explained the practical 

 work connected with that museum ; Dr. G. Johanson Karlin, 

 of the Kulturhistoriske Museum, Lund, gave some good 

 advice in his paper on the museum system ; while Dr. O. 

 Lehmann, of the Altona Museum, advocated the cultivation 

 of the habit of drawing in natural history museums. 



Other papers were contributed by Prof. T. D. A. 

 Cockerell, of the New Mexico Normal University ; Dr. 

 Anton Fritsch, of the Bohemian Museum, Prag ; Mr. B. H. 

 Woodward, of the Perth Museum, Western Australia ; and 

 Prof. Wm. M. Ramsay, of Aberdeen, who treated of the 

 archaic art of the north-east of Scotland, and the urgent 

 necessity for the preservation of existing examples, of it, 

 while Prof. J. Arthur Thomson, in a convincing paper, 



NO. I 76 I, VOL. 68] 



showed the need for a faunistic museum for the north of 

 Scotland. All these papers, together with the discussions 

 which they aroused, will be published in due coursf^ in the 

 Museums Journal. The invitation of the City of Norwich 

 to hold the conference in 1904 in that city was accepted, 

 and Dr. S. F. Harmer, superintendent of the Museum of 

 Zoology, Cambridge, was elected president, Mr. E. 

 Howarth, of the Museum and Art Gallery, Sheffield, being 

 re-elected secretary and editor. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The third reading of the London Education Bill was 

 carried in the House of Commons on July 22, and the 

 second reading passed the House of Lords on July 28. The 

 measure will, therefore, doubtless soon be placed upon the 

 Statute-book. 



The following awards have been made under the research 

 scheme of the Carnegie Trust for the universities of Scot- 

 land, in addition to those announced last week : — Research 

 Scholarships. — Pathological : Mr. C. T. Andrew, Mr. A. 

 Matheson, Mr. M. Logan Taylor, Mr. S. A. K. Wilson. 

 Economical : Mr. John Young. 



Mr. Philip J. Hartog has been appointed academic 

 registrar of the University of London in succession to Dr. 

 H. Frank Heath, and Dr. E. R. Edwards secretary to the 

 registrar of the board to promote the extension of university 

 teaching, in succession to Mr. J. Travis Mills. The 

 Drapers' Company has presented to the university the sum 

 of 1000/. to be devoted to the assistance of Prof. Karl Pearson 

 in his statistical researches at University College and in the 

 higher work of his departnient. 



The Technical Instruction Committee of Leeds has de- 

 cided to give support to the application of the Yorkshire 

 College for the establishment of a university in Leeds, to 

 be entitled Victoria University of Yorkshire, and, in the 

 event of a Charter being granted, to give 4000Z. per annum 

 towards the university funds, in addition to the 1550Z. 

 granted from the " whisky " money. The finance com- 

 mittee also approved of the resolution. The Gazette of 

 Friday last announces that a petition has been presented 

 to the King in Council praying that a Charter be granted 

 constituting an independent university in Sheffield. 



Among many questions of educational interest considered 

 in the report for 1902 of the council of the City and Guilds 

 of London Institute is that of the relation between the 

 amount of State aid for university and higher technical 

 education and that of private munificence for the same 

 purpose. The report states, " that State or public aid does 

 not necessarily take the place of private and voluntary 

 effort is shown by the experience of the United States of 

 America. Notwithstanding the increasing revenue avail- 

 able there from the State land grants permanently assigned 

 to education, the activity and munificence of private effort 

 increases rather than diminishes, as shown by the large 

 contributions which are continually being made to the 

 principal universities and higher colleges. In the three 

 months September to November of last year gifts to higher 

 education, amounting in all to nearly five million dollars, 

 equal to about one million sterling, have been publicly 

 recorded." The report also shows that the executive com- 

 mittee of the institute has had under consideration the 

 question of the length of the sessions of work of colleges 

 providing systematic courses of higher instruction. It has 

 been found that the number of weeks in the session at eight 

 of the principal technical colleges in England varies from 

 thirty-one to thirty-three, leaving between four and five 

 months' vacation during the year. Vacations do not neces- 

 sarily mean holidays, and in most colleges the work of 

 advanced students continues into the vacations ; neverthe- 

 less, the committee suggests that the length of the formal 

 session might with advantage be increased. 



Twenty-eight senior county scholarships and exhibitions 

 have just been awarded by the London County Council 

 Technical Education Board. The awards are made on the 

 work and promise of the candidates, and most of the 

 scholars will pursue their studies at universities or advanced 



