August io, 191 6] 



NATURE 



481 



distant. On March 28, 1914, their educa- 

 tional authorities said : "The scheme for founding 

 a great residential university at Groote Schuur 

 has our hearty and unanimous support. We are 

 prepared to abandon any local ambitions we may 

 have had in favour of this truly national enter- 

 prise, even though it involves our losing the 

 revenue we at present derive from the Beit be- 

 quest." It is difficult to see why objections should 

 now be brought to the very university which two 

 years and a half ago had the unanimous approval 

 of the Rand. Public meetings have recently been 

 held at which most of the speakers showed but little 

 knowledge either of the history of the subject or 

 of what is meant by a university. They have sud- 

 denly discovered that their rich district is being 

 exploited for the benefit of Capetown, and that 

 their great thirst for university education has been 

 left unslaked, deliberately, by the Union Govern- 

 ment. They are greatly mistaken. If these public 

 meetings create such a thirst they will prove 

 a godsend, for such a thirst cannot exist in 

 rich Johannesburg without almost immediately 

 creating a worthy university. We think that the 

 people of South Africa ought to be ven,^ well satis- 

 fied with the recent university legislation. Some 

 years ago the question was a very vexed one. 

 There were great jealousies between north and 

 south, but still greater were the racial difficulties, 

 both in the north and south, and of all these 

 troubles nothing remains except an apparent griev- 

 ance at Johannesburg. It is to be hoped that the 

 men who drew up that magnanimous statement of 

 two and a half years ago will take advantage of 

 the present agitation to give Johannesburg. a teach- 

 ing university of its own. 



THE NEWCASTLE MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



WHEN it was first suggested that the 1916 

 meeting of the British Association should 

 be held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne the conditions in 

 that city were very different from what they are 

 now. The same might be said of any town in 

 Great Britain ; but the war has affected Newcastle 

 Itself with no uncertainty ; and the Northumber- 

 land and Durham miners, as well as the shipyard 

 and engine workers, have contributed handsomely 

 to the ranks of our New Army. 



With this war atmosphere thickening as the 

 demands of the Navy and Army became greater, 

 it was natural that considerable discussion should 

 arise as to the wisdom of holding the meeting in 

 Newcastle this year. It was, however, finally 

 decided to hold the meeting on September 5-9, 

 on the understanding that it would be a purely 

 business meeting, shorn of all the festivities, such 

 as garden parties and excursions, to which the 

 members are accustomed. In fact, the meet- 

 ing will be on similar lines to those on which the 

 Manchester meeting was run last year. 



In normal times the meeting would have centred 

 itself round Armstrong College, and in conse- 

 quence the work of the Sectional Arrangements 

 NO. 24.4.1, VOL. Q7l 



Committee would have been comparatively light; 

 its spacious halls and lecture-rooms and its well- 

 equipped laboratories would have provided that 

 arrangement which is so eminently suited to a 

 British Association meeting, viz. the reception- 

 room and its adjuncts, as well as a large proportion 

 of the section-rooms, in one building. Armstrong 

 College, however, was taken over by the War 

 Office during the early part of the war, and 

 became, and still is, the ist Northern General 

 Hospital. Nevertheless, ample and satisfactory 

 accommodation has been obtained ; in several in- 

 stances two or more sections will meet in the 

 same building, and all the section-rooms are in 

 close proximity to one another. 



As in 1889, the reception-room will be tht 

 library' of the College of Medicine, where also 

 several section-rooms, smoke-rooms, writing- 

 rooms. Press and general offices will be provided. 

 The following list shows where the various sec- 

 tions will meet : — A (Mathematical and Physical 

 Science), Trinity Church Rooms ; B (Chemistry), 

 College of Medicine; C (Geology), Friends' Meet- 

 ing House ; D (Zoology), Grand Assembly Rooms ; 

 E (Geography), Friends' Meeting House; F 

 (Economic Science), Literary and Philosophical 

 Society; G (Engineering), Institute of Mining and 

 Mechanical Engineers; H (Anthropology), Friends' 

 Meeting House ; I (Physiology), College of Medi- 

 cine; K (Botany), Grand Assembly Rooms; L 

 (Educational Science), St. James's Church Rooms; 

 M (Agriculture), Grand Assembly Rooms. 



Sir Arthur Evans, F.R.S., the president-elect, 

 will deliver his address on Tuesday evening, 

 September 5, at the inaugural meeting, which will 

 be held in the Town Hall. In the same hall on 

 Thursday evening, September 7, Prof. William A. 

 Bone, F.R.S. , will deliver a discourse on "Flame 

 and Flameless Combustion," and on September 8 

 Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S. , will deliver a 

 discourse on evolution and the war. 



Owing to circumstances incident to the war, it 

 has been found to be impossible to arrange this 

 year visits to the armament factories or the great 

 shipbuilding and engineering works on the North- 

 East Coast. A further announcement, however, 

 may be made in the early future with regard to 

 this matter. Nor will there be any excursions of 

 the usual type, although it is understood that a 

 number of the sections are promoting shorter 

 excursions of special interest. 



The Literary and Philosophical Society's Li- 

 brary, the Laing Art Gallery, the Hancock Museum 

 of Natural History, and the Black Gate Museum 

 w^ill be open to members of the .Association during 

 the meeting. The majority of the clubs of New- 

 castle have granted temporary membership to 

 those attending the meeting. 



Following the course adopted at Manchester, 

 the Association has again offered students and 

 teachers of Newcastle and district associates' 

 tickets at a reduced fee, and it is hoped that a 

 large number will show their appreciation of this 

 encouragement. Lectures to the public will be 

 given in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, and 

 Ashington by distinguished men. 



