March 9, 19 16] 



NATURE 



49 



j The explanations that have been proposed of the 

 jxistence of compensation fall into two classes. One 

 supposes the relief of the surface to be due to an 

 ilteration in the volume of the underlying rock, and 

 nay be regarded as hypotheses of tumefaction. They 

 nvolve no addition ot matter to the crust under a 

 nountain-range, and do not provide, either for any 

 departure from a balance between topography and 

 :ompensation, or for a restoration of the balance when 

 disturbed by denudation. The other group of hypo- 

 ;heses attributes the origin of the range to a com- 

 oression of the crust, the injection of molten matter, 

 yc the "undertow" of the lower part of the crust. 

 To provide for compensation any hypothesis of this 

 ;lass will require a downward protuberance of the 

 aether surface of the crust, causing a displacement of 

 denser by lighter material, as also an effect of buoyancy 

 owing to this difference of density : this group of 

 lypotheses, therefore, may be regarded as one of 

 isupport by flotation. They involve a migration of 

 natter from outside to beneath the range, they allow 

 bf a considerable local departure from exact balance 

 een load and support (or topography and com- 

 aion), so long as the defect in one tract is 

 jaianced by an excess in an adjoining one, and they 

 provide for an adjustment of any disturbance of this 

 balance. 



The geodetic observations in the Himala\-as show 

 chat there is a defect of compensation in the outer 

 hills, which increases in amount until at about 50 miles 

 jfrom the edge of the hills it reaches an equivalent to 

 tan overload of about 2000 ft. of rock. In the interior 

 jof the Himalayas the only observation yet published 

 shows that at about 140 miles from the edge of the 

 hills this overload has disappeared, and compensation 

 is in excess. The variation in the balance between 

 topography and compensation points to one of the 

 'second group of hypotheses, to a support of the range 

 by flotation, and to the conclusion thai: the growth 

 jof the support has been more rapid than that of the 

 Irange. The primary problem then becomes, not as 

 ,to how the Himalayas are, supported at their actual 

 height, but why they are not even loftier : in other 

 words, the problem is carried one stage farther back, 

 from the origin of the range to the origin of its 

 i'root." 



' This result of the examination of the geodetic data 

 i simplifies the explanation of some difficult geo- 

 logical questions. It affords an easy explanation 

 of the indications which are found in the interior of 

 the Himalayas, and of other similar ranges, of simple 

 vertical uplift without disturbance, and also of the 

 manner in which the contorted and faulted strata, the 

 disturbance of which must have taken place under the 

 pressure of some thousands of feet of rock, have been 

 brought up to a level where they are exposed to denu- 

 dation and their structure revealed ; but it brings us 

 very little nearer to an explanation of the ultimate 

 origin of the range. It is a distinct step forward in 

 illustration of the mechanism of the production of 

 mountain-ranges of the type of the Himalayas and the 

 Alps, but we are as far as ever from an understanding 

 of the power by which this mechanism is driven. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 j INTELLIGENCE. 



j Birmingham.— The Huxley Lecture is to be delivered 

 ;on Friday, March 10, by the Right Hon. the- Viscount 

 ' Bryce, who has chosen as his subject, "War and Pro- 

 gress : an Inquiry from Historv of how far War and 

 ; Peace have respectivelv contributed to the Progress of 

 j Mankind." 



NO. 2419, VOL. 97] 



O.xFORD. — On March 7 the statute providing for the 

 introduction of research in the honour school of chem- 

 istry was promulgated in Congregation. The adoption 

 of the statute, which had received the support of every 

 teacher of chemistr>' in the University, was warmly 

 advocated by the Rev. G. B. Cronshaw, fellow of 

 Queen's College, who spoke especially of the educa- 

 tional aspect of the proposed change, and by the Wayn- 

 flete professor of chemistr}' (Prof. Perkin), who urged 

 that Oxford should lead the way in a matter of press- 

 ing national concern. Similar changes were fore- 

 shadowed in the physiology and other natural science 

 examinations. The preamble of the statute was ap- 

 proved without a division. 



Cornell University has recently suffered the loss 

 of its valuable chemical laboratories, housed in Morse 

 Hall, which has been destroyed by fire. The damage, 

 estimated at 60,000/., is partly covered by insurance. 

 Fortunately the students were able to remove about 

 5000 books from the libran,' on the ground floor; 

 platinum w'orth 400/. and radium worth 200Z. were 

 also saved. 



We learn from the issue of Science for February 18 

 that the U.S. General Education Board has announced 

 the following grants to American colleges : — Mary- 

 ville College, Maryville, Tennessee, 15,000/. toward 

 an endowment fund of 60,000?. ; Western College for 

 Women, Oxford, 2o,oooZ., toward an endowment fund 

 of 100,000/. ; Milwaukee-Downer College for Women, 

 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 20,000/., toward an endowment 

 fund of 100,000/, Including the foregoing, the General 

 Education Board has since its organisation thirteen 

 years ago appropriated to colleges 2,464,492/. toward 

 a total sum of 11,475,105/. to be raised. Our contem- 

 porary also states that the board of trustees of the 

 Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, announces the gift of 

 50,000/. from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 

 the money to be used for the purchase of ground north 

 of the present campus. 



At a meeting held in Paris in April, 1914, the 

 International Commission on Mathematical Teaching 

 decided to undertake an inquiry' regarding the pre- 

 paration, both academic and practical, of teachers of 

 mathematics in various countries. The continuation 

 of this inquiry has naturally been checked by the 

 present war; at the same time, it is hoped that the 

 various national sub-commissions will continue their 

 work at least so far as the preliminaries are concerned. 

 For this purpose a series of questions in English, 

 French, Italian, and German has been drawn up under 

 the editorship of M. H. Fehr, from whom it may be 

 obtained (address no Route de Florissant, Geneva). 

 The replies were to be sent to Prof. Gino Loria, 41 

 Piazza Manin, Genoa. Most of the questions are 

 evidently suggested by conditions differing widely from 

 those which prevail in Great Britain. 



The issue of Science for February- 18 gives the 

 following particulars as to numbers of students in 

 attendance at German universities and technical schools 

 from a report by the Berlin correspondent of the 

 Journal of the American Medical Association :— During 

 the semester preceding the opening of the war 79,077 

 students (of whom 4500 were women and about 9000 

 foreigners) attended the fifty-two universities and other 

 higher institutions of the German Empire. Of this 

 number 60,943 (4,117 women, 4,100 foreigners) were 

 enrolled in the twent}--one universities; 12,232 (82 

 women, 2500 foreigners) were enrolled in the eleven 

 technical schools. The siS schools of commerce (Ber- 

 lin, Cologne, Frankfort, Leipzig, Mannheim, and 

 Munich) had 2625 students, and the four veterinary 

 colleges (Berlin, Dresden, Hanover, and Munich) had 



