May 25, 19 1 6] 



NATURE 



27. 



cessity remain unemployed, and the Pioneer Mail 

 :narks that " an educated and unemployable residuum, 

 r growing bigger and bigger, may develop into 

 a very real danger." The ertorts which were made 

 ' during Lord Curzon's \'iceroyalty, and have been 

 [ continued since, to make education in India more 

 i practical appear to have had rather slow growth, and 

 I it is to be hoped that further efforts will be made in 

 [ this direction, as indicated by Dr. Ewing in his Con- 

 vocation address. 



A COPY of the calendar for 1915-16 of the University 

 of Hongkong has been received. The historical sketch 

 which the calendar contains shows that the idea of 

 establishing a Universit}- in Hongkong was first sug- 

 gested in 1905, but it was two years later before the 

 matter took definite shape. In 1907 Mr, H. N. Mod}- 

 offered to erect the necessary, buildings at a cost of 

 30,000/.,- and to give 6000/. towards an endowment 

 fund. In 1908 it was proposed to accept this offer, 

 and to erect a building in which the existing Hong- 

 kong College of Medicine and a Technical Institute 

 should be located, and to incorporate a University 

 under Ordinance. The scheme was somewhat modi- 

 fied in view of its cost, and Mr. Mody undertook to 

 erect the buildings whatever the expense, but if this 

 exceeded 36,000/. not to be responsible for any endow- 

 ment or for furnishing. Before the end of 1909 the 

 Endowment and Equipment Fund had reached 

 255,833/. The University wa§^ incorporated, and came 

 into existence on March 30, 191 1. By March, 1912, 

 the main building was practically completed, and the 

 University formally opened. Sir Charles Eliot, Vice- 

 Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, was appointed 

 principal and vice-chancellor, and arrived in Hong- 

 kong in June, 1912. The cost of the buildings and the 

 preparation of the ground was 69,000/. ; the value of 

 the sites given by the Government is estimated at 

 35,260/. ; the cost of the anatomical school is estimated 

 at about 6000/., most of which was raised separatelv 

 b}- the Chinese. By the founding of the University 

 a service has been rendered already to all the schools 

 of South China, and the success of the University 

 seems assured. Its interests are represented in Lon- 

 don by a consulting committee, many members of 

 which have been nominated by scientific and technical 

 bodies. 



The ninth report of the Executive Committee of the 

 Fund for Advanced University Exlucation and Research 

 at University College, London, has just been issued. 

 Since the issue of the previous report the committee 

 has been reorganised under the presidency of H.R.H. 

 Prince Arthur of Connaught. The attention of the 

 committee during the period under review (1914-15) 

 has been chiefly directed to the completion of the new 

 chemistry building. The work accomplished was the 

 completion of the building itself and installation of the 

 fixed fittings, such as benches and cupboards, and gas 

 and water supplies. TJiis enabled the transference of 

 the department from its old quarters to take place 

 during the summer vacation, 19 15. The apparatus and 

 chemicals now being used in the new department are 

 the old and antiquated stock from the old building, and 

 are hopelessly inadequate. The completion of the 

 scheme for an up-to-date laboratory falls into two main 

 sections. The first is the technical laboratory and the 

 physical chemistry laboratories for teaching and re- 

 search, to the completion of which the chemical staff 

 attaches the greatest importance. These cannot be 

 finished or equipped until the money, estimated at 

 10,000/., is available. It may be pointed out that Ger- 

 many's success in chemical industn.' has been largely 

 due to the application of the methods and principles 

 of physical chemistn,- to technical problems, and that 



NO. 2430, VOL. 97] 



I for the study of this branch of the subject laboratories 

 have hitherto offered few facilities. For the equipment 



I of the rest of the building a sum of 4000/. is required, 



; and a further sum of booo/. is considered necessary 

 for the development of research during the next few 



I years. Towards the estimated total cost of 20,000/. 

 several donations have been promised; of these the 



! most important is one of 5000/. by Sir Ralph C. 



1 Forster, Bart., provided that the balance of 15,000/. 



I is subscribed promptly. Anyone interested in this 

 development of opportunities for study in this impor- 

 tant subject can obtain further information on appli- 

 cation to the Provost, or to the Professors of Chem- 

 istr)', at University College. 



A NOTEWORTHY article by M. Paul Rivals, professor 

 of industrial chemistry in the faculty of science at 

 Marseilles, bearing upon the organisation of higher 

 technical instruction in the universities of France ap- 

 pears in the Revue Generate des Sciences for March 30. 

 It discusses a proposal submitted by M. le Senateur 

 Goy for the establishment by law of new faculties 

 of applied science, for the conversion of certain facul- 

 ties of science into faculties of applied science, and 

 for the transfer of the technical institutions now under 

 the jurisdiction of the faculties of science to the con- 

 trol of the new faculties, the staffs of which would 

 be appointed irrespective of academic diplomas and 

 because of their technical attainments, and the 

 students would be recruited from licentiates in science 

 and from those possessing certificates of higher studies. 

 The faculties would be empowered in certain cases to 

 confer the degree of Doctor of Applied Science. The 

 necessity for the reinforcement and enlargement of 

 the means of higher technical instruction in France 

 is admitted, and that the universities should co-operate 

 in the work, but the proposed measures are not the 

 best, says Prof. Rivals, to achieve this purpose. In 

 the first place there should be established higher 

 technical institutions fully recognised by the universi- 

 ties, and in the second place they should be auto- 

 nomous institutions, the sole aim of which should be 

 the training of the technician, whose ultimate worth 

 would be established by his achievements in the work- 

 shop rather than by his researches in the laboratory. 

 His object is not to become a savant, but to be a 

 thoroughlv sound, well-trained, and practical tech- 

 nician. There is an essential difference between pure 

 science and scientific teaching, and technology and 

 the training of the technician. They cannot be run 

 in the same mould; nevertheless, there should be the 

 closest relation between them, and they should equally 

 enjoy the protection and encouragement of the uni- 

 versity of which they form part. The director of the 

 technical institution w-ill be a technician who, with 

 a mind sufficiently wide and cultivated, will be able 

 and alert to utilise and co-ordinate the enormous and 

 unsuspected resources which lurk in the least of the 

 faculties of science, and vet able, because he is an 

 acknowledged master in his own sphere, to inspire in 

 the students the fullest confidence. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Hoyal Society, Mav 18.— Sir J. J. Thomson, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Hon. R. J. Strutt : An active modi- 

 fication of nitrogen, (i) The production of active 

 nitrogen in various regions of the steady discharge 

 has been studied. If is greatest near the kathode, 

 falls off to a minimum in the Faraday dark space, and 

 increa.ses again in the positive column to a value which 

 is constant along that column, but less than that at 

 the kathode. (2) With a given value of the current. 



