94 



NATURE 



[March 23, 1916 



has an instrumental value only, and that it is instru- 

 mental to the nation. 



Sheffield. — The council of the University has 

 decided to institute a lectureship in Russian. It is 

 understood that in view of the urgency of a knowledge 

 •of Russian in the trade of Sheffield, the necessary 

 funds have been secured locally, and that an appoint- 

 ment to the lectureship will shortly be announced. 



Among the bequests of Mr. J. S. N. Boyd, who died 

 on February i, leaving estate of the value of ^2,646^., 

 are 2,iooZ. to Epsom College, for one foundation 

 scholar, and the ultimate residue of the estate, after 

 the death of his mother and sister, to the University 

 of London for a professorship of pathology in the 

 Medical School of Charing Cross Hospital. 



In the fire which, as stated last week (p. 49), de- 

 stroyed the chemical laboratories of Cornell University, 

 several members of the staff appear to have lost very 

 valuable records and data, the work of 3'ears. We 

 learn from Science that many notes of experiments 

 and researches, manuscripts, and treasured records 

 have been lost. In a business house such records 

 would be placed in a fire-proof safe every day when 

 not required, but the use of safes in laboratories is 

 very rare. Perhaps the lire at Cornell University will 

 lead to the introduction of fire-proof rooms or safes 

 in all laboratories where records of original work are 

 kept, in order to avoid the destruction of scientific 

 material upon which no monetary value can be placed 

 because it is unique. 



It is announced in the issue of Science for March 3 

 that the University of Buffalo has received actual and 

 provisional endowment for the new department of arts 

 and sciences amounting to 150,000/. ; 20,oooL of this 

 sum to be given outright by Mrs. Seymour H. Knox, 

 Avho, with her children, proposes to increase this 

 •eventually to a total of ioo,oooZ. ; 50,000^ is given by 

 General E. Hayes, for the first building upon the 

 University site, provided 2oo,oooi. be raised for like 

 purposes before June, 19 19. From the same source 

 we learn that President Goodnow, at the commence- 

 ment exercises of the Johns Hopkins University, on 

 February 22, announced that the Consolidated Gas 

 Company of New York, the American Gas Company 

 of Philadelphia, and the Consolidated Gas Company 

 of Baltimore, had interested themselves in the estab- 

 lishment of a laboratory at the University for research 

 work as to the possibilities of coal-tar products. The 

 purpose is to develop the aniline dye industry and other 

 important branches in the coal-tar field. 



The experiment of holding a " Summer Assembly in 

 Science " at the Scripps Institution for Biological Re- 

 search at La Jolla, on the sea coast near San Diego, 

 will be tried by the University of California next 

 summer for the first time. The purpose is to dis- 

 seminate ^among teachers and others interested in 

 modern science the discoveries and new points of view 

 which are resulting from the investigations of the 

 research department of the University. There will be 

 lectures, conferences, and demonstrations every after- 

 noon of the six weeks by members of the scientific 

 staff of the institution, and Tuesday and Thursday 

 mornings will be devoted to lectures, laboratory, 

 museum, and field work for small groups of students 

 ■on the characteristic animal and plant life of the ocean 

 waters along the shore of southern California. A 

 -course on " Local Coastal Physical Geography " 

 will be conducted by Mr. W. C. Crandall, 

 who as master of ' the Alexander Agassis, the 

 institution's sea-going scientific collecting vessel, 

 has wide familiarity with the CaliTornia coast. Half 



NO. 2421, VOL. 97] 



a mile of ocean frontage, with cliffs, sand beachfc!^, 

 and tide pools inhabited by a wide variety of sea-life, 

 is the ideal locality which the Scripps Institution for 

 Biological Research occupies. Any persons interested 

 in science who wish to attend the assembly at the 

 Scripps Institution from June 25 to August 5 next 

 are requested to write as soon as possible to Prof. 

 William E. Ritter, scientific director of the institu- 

 tion, at La Jolla, so that proper provision may be 

 made. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royai Society, March 16. — Sir J. J. Thomson, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — C. Reid and J. Oroves : Prelimuiary 

 report on the Purbeck Characeae. The investigations, 

 in aid of which a Government grant was made, relate 

 to the remains of Characeae found in the cherts and 

 limestones of the Middle Purbeck beds of Dorset. A 

 large amount of new material has been collected, and 

 by treating the limestones to a long-continued drip of 

 slightly acidulated water it has been possible to obtain 

 specimens throwing much additional light on the 

 structure of these plants. The principal results ob- 

 tained up to the present are : — (i) The discrimination 

 of a new genus, Clavator, characterised by (a) the 

 production of remarkable thickened club-like nodes ; 

 {b) the presence of a utricle enclosiig the oogonium ; 

 (c) the production of numerous rosette-like groups of 

 clavate processes on the stem and branchlets. (2) The 

 discovery of a number of different types of fruit and 

 vegetative parts show-ing that the Chara-flora of the 

 period was rich and varied. The remains found be- 

 long to both divisions of the family Chareae and 

 Nitelleae.— Prof. H. G. Plimmer : Notes on the genus 

 Toxoplasma, with a description .of three new species. 

 Organisms bearing the above name have been found 

 in the rabbit, gondi, dog, mole, and pigeon during 

 the seven years that have elapsed since their discovery 

 by Splendore in Brazil. Their systematic position is 

 uncertain, but they are widely distributed geographic- 

 ally and as regards hosts. They are found as para- 

 sites in the mononuclear leucocytes, in which they 

 occur in large numbers. Those described in the paper 

 were found in a Fossa from Madagascar, in a fruit 

 pigeon from the Aru Islands, and in a Say's snake 

 from Mexico, this latter being the first found in a 

 reptile. The results of the study of these parasites in 

 the above-named animals point rather to their rela- 

 tionship with the Haemogregarines than with th- 

 Leishmania or the Yeasts, as has been suggested. ^ — F. 

 Sano. The convolutional pattern of the brains of iden- 

 tical twins, a study on hereditary resemblance in the 

 furrows of the cerebral hemispheres. This monograpli 

 is a contribution to the study of the comparativt 

 morphology of relative brains inaugurated by Spitzka. 

 Karplus, and Schuster. Its interest lies in the fact 

 that it describes the brains of identical twins. It also 

 includes a study of nerve plexuses and other morpho 

 logical points of interest, thus serving as a morpho^ 

 logical contribution to the observations of the late Sir 

 Francis Galton on the history of twins. 



Royal Meteorological Society, March 15. — Major H. G. 

 Lyons, president, in the chair. — Sir Napier Shaw : The 

 meteorology of the globe in 191 1. The j-ear 191 1 i^ 

 still remembered for its fine, warm summer. As the 

 sequel of a long series of discussions at meetings of 

 the International Meteorological Committee and its 

 commissions, the International Solar Commission, the- 

 International Commission for Maritime Meteorology 

 and Storm Warnings, the International Commission 

 for Reseau Mondial, as well as the Solar Physics 



