638 



NA TURE 



[October 29, 1903 



courtyard, an arrangement whjcb is unique in England. 

 Sbme interesting mosaics have been found, and near the 

 north gate the remains of an amphitheatre within the city 

 walls. 



Mr. John Garstang described the Roman fortress 

 Bremettenacum (Ribchester), to which an excursion was 

 made in the course of the meeting. Excavations made in 

 1898-q have shown that this station was one of a series 

 of fortresses which, with the wall of Hadrian, formed the 

 northern frontier defences of Roman Britain. It is entirely 

 of the earlier character, severely rectangular, with internal 

 buttresses, mural towers, and double-arched gates, and 

 filled within with rows and streets of stone-built barracks 

 and stables. 



Mr. Garstang also gave a preliminary account of the 

 Roman fort at Brough, where exploratory excavations have 

 been made quite recently. Like Ribchester, it belongs to 

 the earlier type of fort, and was situated in the favourite 

 position at the junction of two streams. In clearing a 

 deep enclosure within the walls, two inscribed altars were 

 found, and portions of a large inscribed tablet set up by 

 a Praefect of the First Cohort of Aquitani under Julius 

 Verus, Governor of Britain in the time of Antoninus Pius. 



The committee on excavations on the Roman site at 

 Gellygaer, near Cardiff, reported that the work was now 

 completed, the results published, and the movable finds 

 installed in the Cardiff Museum. 



The convnittee appointed to report on the excavations at 

 Silchester summarised the last season's work, and strongly 

 urged that, in the small part of the site which remains to 

 be explored, special care should be taken to secure accurate 

 registration of the stratification (if any exists) of the 

 smaller finds, and to investigate the relation in which the 

 rectangular street plan stands to the irregular trapezium 

 of the town wall. 



As a result of this and similar recommendations, the 

 Silchester committee of the Association has been recon- 

 stituted as a committee " to cooperate with local effort on 

 Roman sites in Britain," and starts work anew with a 

 small grant, to be expended in facilitating special researches 

 of the kind suggested at Silchester, on sites where local or 

 other subscriptions are already providing the funds for 

 a general exploration. The opportunities for work already 

 offered at Silchester on the plant-remains, the frequent 

 occurrence on Roman sites of animal or human bones which 

 need special precautions and expert examination, and the 

 necessity for more detailed and accurate registration of the 

 smaller finds than has been customary hitherto, even in 

 the best conducted excavations, are examples of classes of 

 observation which are only too liable to be neglected by 

 local explorers, and the committee will be doing good service 

 if it can secure for them the attention which they deserve. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — An examination in mathematics and physics 

 will be held at St. John's College on March i6, 1904, for 

 the purpose of electing a fellow in those subjects. Candi- 

 dates will be given an opportunity of showing their know- 

 ledge of experimental physics. All persons are eligible who 

 shall have passed all the examinations required for the 

 degree of Bachelor of Arts on the day of election (April 20). 



Cambridge. — The general board of studies has issued a 

 report proposing a more comprehensive organisation of 

 geographical studies and examinations in the university. 

 The proposals include the establishment of a board of geo- 

 graphical studies, a geographical education fund, to which 

 the university and the Royal Geographical Society each 

 contribute 200I. a year, a special examination in geography 

 for the ordinary B.A. degree, and a diploma in geography 

 for advanced work in the subject. The stipend of the 

 reader in geography is fixed at 200/., and his lectures and 

 those of the other teachers to be employed will be under 

 the direction of the board, on which the council of the 

 Royal Geographical Society will be represented. 



A memorial urging the desirability of some similar 

 organisation of anthropological study has been presented 

 by thirty members of the senate, and is at present under 

 the consideration of the council. 



Twenty-two candidates have passed the half-yearly ex- 

 amination in sanitary science, and have thus become entitled 

 to the imiversity diploma in public health. 



On October 21, 886 freshmen, including 13 "advanced 

 students," were matriculated. The corresponding number 

 for last year was 868. 



Mr. F. F. Blackman, St. John's, has been appointed 

 deputy for the reader in botany, Mr. F. Darwin, F.R.S. 



The Ven. E. H. Gifford, D.D., senior classic and fifteenth 

 wrangler in 1843, has been elected an honorary fellow of 

 St. John's College. 



The grace for the establishment of the Stokes lecture- 

 ship and the Cayley lectureship in mathematics, for which 

 a temporary endowment was recently offered to the uni- 

 versity by certain anonymous donors, will be offered to the 

 senate to-day (October 29). 



Mr. R. J. T. Bryant, Ley ton Technical Institute, has 

 been appointed organiser of higher education to the Borough 

 of Lowestoft. 



It is stated in the Petit Journal that Harvard University 

 has come into possession of a legacy of about 5,000,000/., 

 the whole of the estate of the late Mr, Gordon Mackay. 



On the invitation of Yale University, Prof. Sherrington, 

 F.R.S., of Liverpool University, has undertaken to deliver 

 the second series of Silliman memorial lectures next year. 



Prof. H. S. Hele-Shaw, F.R.S., has been appointed, 

 through the Colonial Office, to organise technical educa- 

 tion in the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, and 

 to consider the future university scheme of these colonies. 

 The appointment is not a permanent one, and Prof. Hele- 

 Shaw has been granted leave of absence by the council of 

 the University of Liverpool until September next. 



The County of Essex Education Committee announces that 

 an elementary course of instruction in dairy bacteriology 

 will be given in its biological laboratories at Chelmsford. 

 The course will commence on Thursday, November 5, and 

 will be continued on the ten succeeding Thursdays. The 

 course seems to be a comprehensive one, and should be of 

 considerable value. Normal classes for the training of 

 teachers in natural and experimental science have also been 

 instituted by the committee at Chelmsford. These classes 

 are intended for the practical instruction and training of 

 persons resident in Essex who desire to qualify themselves 

 to teach under the County Council. The classes meet on 

 Saturdays from 10 to 5 o'clock during the winter months. 



The inaugural address to the students of the medical de- 

 partment of University College, Sheffield, was delivered by 



Sir Michael Foster, K.C.B., on October 



He directed 



NO. 1774, VOL. 68] 



attention to the variety and complexity of the studies con- 

 sidered necessary for medical students ; and he remarked that 

 the question whether the burden was becoming too great 

 for the student, and what things in the curriculum could 

 with advantage be thrown on one side, must be considered, 

 for the least important subjects would have to give way in 

 the future. 



The Home Counties Nature-Study Exhibition will be 

 opened in the offices of the Civil Service Commission, 

 Burlington Gardens, W., to-morrow, October 30, at 3 p.m. 

 Lord Avebury will preside. Admission tickets at special 

 rates can be obtained by teachers and pupils by application 

 to the honorary secretary, Mr. W. M. Webb, 20 Hanover 

 Square, W. The programme includes conferences for 

 teachers on practical methods of nature-study in elementary 

 and secondary schools. The latest scientific developments 

 of the Urban-Duncan microbioscope will be shown on the 

 evenings of Friday and Saturday, and well-known lecturers 

 on natural history subjects, such as Mr. Douglas English, 

 Mr. Richard Kearton, Mr. R. B. Lodge, and Mr. Oliver 

 Pike will give addresses from time to time, and exhibit 

 their slides during the exhibition. Special meetings of the 

 Middlesex Field Club and Nature-Study Society and of 

 the Selborne Society will be held at the exhibition on 

 Monday and Tuesday. 



We have received an admirably illustrated booklet de- 

 scribing the Montefiore Electrotechnical Institute of the 

 University of Li^ge, and containing a programme of the 

 courses of instruction. In glancing through the illustra- 



