454 



NATURE 



[July i"], 191 6 



London. — At a meeting of the Senate held on July 

 19 offers were accepted with thanks from (i) an 

 anonymous donor to establish an endowment fund 

 producing 200Z. a year, to be devoted to the prosecu- 

 tion of experimental scientific research at King's 

 College by members of the staff and post-graduate 

 students of the college; (2) Dr. R. VV, Seton-Watson 

 to provide looZ. a year for five years towards the 

 expenses of the library of the School of Slavonic 

 Studies at King's College; (3) the War Office to pre- 

 sent to the University a German aeroplane which had 

 been shot down in France by the Royal Flying 

 Corps. 



The following doctorates in science have been con- 

 ferred : — Botany : (i) Mr. W. Brown, an internal 

 student, of the Imperial College (Royal College of 

 Science), for a thesis entitled "Studies in the Physio- 

 logy of Parasitism : L — The Action of Botrytis 

 cinerea" ; (2) Mr. Franklin Kidd, an internal student, 

 of the Imperial College (Royal College of Science), 

 for a thesis entitled "The Controlling Influence of 

 Carbon Dioxide." Psychology : Miss Nellie Carey, an 

 internal student, of University College, for a thesis 

 entitled " Factors in the Mental Processes of School 

 Children." Engineering : Mr. F. T. Chapman, an 

 external student, for a thesis entitled " The Air-Gap 

 Field of the Polyphase Induction Motor." 



The directors of British Dyes, Ltd., have pro- 

 mised to contribute 5000Z. towards the scheme for the 

 erection of a new chemistry department at Hudders- 

 field Technical College for the development of ad- 

 vanced teaching and research in applied chemistry, 

 referred to in Nature of June 29, p. 373. Half of 

 the contribution is towards the building fund and the 

 remainder for scholarships and research. 



The Executive Committee of the City and Guilds 

 of London Institute has appointed Dr. W. Eccles to 

 the professorship of electrical engineering and applied 

 physics at the institute's Technical College, Finsbury, 

 rendered vacant by the death of Prof. Silvanus P. 

 Thompson. Dr. Eccles is at present university reader 

 of graphics at University College, and is the author 

 of a work on "Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony," 

 and numerous papers and inventions on subjects con- 

 nected with electrical engineering. 



The issues of Science for June 30 and July 7 

 announce further gifts to higher education in the 

 United States, among which the following are most 

 important. Members of the Du Pont family, who are 

 alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 have given i6o,oooZ. for the extension and mainten- 

 ance of the new buildings. Four other alumni have 

 subscribed sums amounting to 40,000^. It is under- 

 stood that an anonymous donor who has already made 

 large gifts to the institute has undertaken to give 

 five dollars for each three dollars subscribed by the 

 alumni during the present year. The will of Mrs. 

 Helen C. JulHard gives io,oooI. to the American 

 Museum of Natural History, and 5000Z. to Colorado 

 College. Mrs. Russell Sage has given 15,000?. to 

 Knox College of Galesburg, 111., to make possible the 

 securing of the amount to complete its ioo,oooL en- 

 dowment fund. 



A COPY of the report of the Secretary of the United 

 States General Education Board for 19 14-15 has been 

 received from New York. During the year grants 

 were made to eight American colleges and universities 

 amounting to 255,000?. towards funds amounting to* 

 1,040,000?., which were being raised by them. Refer- 

 ence is also made to grants totalling 550,000?. in the 

 previous year to Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Washing- 



NO. 2439, VOL. 97] 



ton Universities for the purpose of reorganising 

 clinical instruction on the basis that the hospital and 

 teaching staff in medicine and surgery may devote 

 their entire time to the service of the hospital and 

 medical school, withdrawing altogether from paid pri- 

 vate practice. The scheme has not yet been inaugu- 

 rated at Yale or at Washington; but at the Johns 

 Hopkins University it had at the date of the report 

 been in operation a year. The Board continued during 

 the year under review to support rural schools in eleven 

 southern States, professors of secondary education in 

 eleven, and negro education in seven States. The 

 report also states that the General Education Board 

 has decided, by means of grants, to aid promising 

 workers in the investigation of problems in educa- 

 tional theory and practice. 



The report of the council to the members of the 

 City and Guilds of London Institute for the year 

 1915 has now been published. The continuance of 

 the war has led to further modifications of the work 

 of the institute. The absence of many members of 

 the staff has thrown much extra work on those left 

 behind, especially upon the heads of departments. 

 The staff and some senior students have undertaken 

 much new and original work in the design and manu- 

 facture of munitions of war. The institute's labora- 

 tories and workshops are being utilised for war work 

 to their full extent. The roll of honour of past and 

 present students and members of the staff of the City 

 and Guilds College who have taken service in the 

 Navy or Army had on November 10 last a total of 

 811 : 514 commissioned officers and 297 non-com- 

 missioned officers and men. As a result of the ab- 

 normal conditions the work of the department of 

 technology has suffered ; the number of students in 

 attendance at registered classes fell from 55,996 in 

 1913-14 to 47,050, while the number of candidates 

 for examinations in technology in the United King- 

 dom was 15,623, as compared with 23,119 in the 

 previous year. The report shows that the total 

 amount of the donations and subscriptions to the 

 funds of the institute since its foundation in 1878 to 

 the year of the report (1915) was 952,773?. 



The first volume of the report of the U.S. Commis- 

 sioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 

 1915, has been received from "Washington. It is a 

 volume of 780 pages, and, in addition to a full treat- 

 ment of all grades of education in the United States, 

 provides chapters on the condition of education in the 

 chief countries of the world. A chapter on higher 

 education in the States, by Mr. S. P. Capen, is of. 

 special interest. He tells us that the conviction that 

 both higher and secondary education must be made 

 more sound and serious has been reiterated in educa- 

 tional gatherings throughout the United States, and 

 has been reflected in numerous intensive studies of 

 college and university administration and standards. 

 The organisation and management of State-supported 

 institutions for higher education have, at the request 

 of various legislatures, been critically investigated with 

 a view to render their work sound and efficient. The 

 question of academic freedom, too, has been widely 

 discussed. Within the past two or three years there 

 have been so many recurrences of disciplinary action 

 directed by trustees and presidents of prominent insti- 

 tutions against professors reputed to hold unorthodox 

 political, economic, or religious views that the ques- 

 tion of academic freedom has become temporarily one 

 of the foremost issues in university administration. 

 As Mr. Capen says, upon Its correct settlement depends 

 not only the integrity of the universities, but, more 

 remotely, the whole welfare of American education. 



