March 22, 1900] 



NATURE 



503 



Messrs. Geo. Newnes, Ltd., will add to their Library of 

 Useful Stories :—" The Story of the Alphabet," by Edward 

 Clodd, illustrated ; " The Story of Bird Life," by W. P. 

 Pycraft, illustrated ; " The Story of Thought and Feeling," by 

 F. Ryland. 



Messrs. Sands and Co.'s list contains: — "The Animals of 

 Africa," by H. A. Bryden, illustrated ; " Types of British 

 Plants," by C. S. Colman ; and "Walks round the Zoo," by 

 F. G. Aflalo, illustrated. 



Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co. announce : — " Orthopaedic 

 Surgery," by C B. Keetley ; and " Lectures on the Practice of 

 Medicine," by Dr. W. B. Cheadle. 



Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd., promise : — "The 

 Antarctic," by Dr. Karl Fricker, illustrated ; " Physiological 

 Psychology," by Prof VV. Wundt, translated by Prof. E. B. 

 Titchener, 2 vols., illustrated; "Text-Book of Palaeontology 

 for Zoological Students," by Theodore T. Groom, illustrated : 

 " Text- Book of Embryology: Invertebrates," by Dr.E.Korschelt 

 and Dr. K. Heider, translated from the German by Mrs. H. M. 

 Bernard.'and edited (with additions) by Martin T.Woodward, vol. 

 iv., illustrated ; " Mammalia," by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson ; 

 "Birds' Eggs and Nests," by W. J. C. Ru.skin Butterfield ; 

 " The Romance of the Earth," by Prof. A. W. Bickerton, 

 illustrated ; " Biological Types in the Vegetable Kingdom," 

 by Wilfred Mark Webb ; and new editions of " Handbook 

 of Practical Botany, for the Botanical Laboratory and Private 

 Student," by Prof. E. Strasburger, edited by Prof. W. Hillhouse, 

 illustrated ; " The Dog : its Management and Diseases," by Prof. 

 Woodroffe Hill, illustrated. 



Mr. Fisher Unwin gives notice of: — "In Birdland with 

 Field Glass and Camera," by Oliver G. Pike, illustrated. 



Messrs. Whittaker and Co.'s announcements are: — "Wire- 

 less Telegraphy and Hertzian Waves," by 8. R. Bottone ; 

 " English and American Lathes," by J. G. Horner ; "Electric 

 Wiring Tables," by W. Perren Maycock ; " Electrical Engineers' 

 Pocket Book." by Kenelm Edgcumbe ; "Inspection of Rail- 

 way Material," by G. R. Bodmer ; and new editions of 

 "British Locomotives, by C. J. Bowen Cooke; and "The 

 Atlantic Ferry," by A. J. Maginnis. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



A GRANT of 100/. has been made to Prof. Schafer from the 

 Earl of Moray Endowment Fund, by the Edinburgh University 

 Court, for purposes of original research. 



Another Bill to establish a University of the United States 

 has been introduced into the Senate. It proposes that University 

 Square, recently occupied by the old U.S. naval observatory, be 

 the site for the national observatory. 



Mr. W. E. Plummer, the director of the Bidston Obser- 

 vatory, Liverpool, under the control of the Dock Board, has 

 been elected to an Honorary Readership in Astronomy at Uni- 

 versity College, Liverpool. The appointment has given equal 

 satisfaction in the college and the city. It recognises Mr. 

 Plummer's devoted and efficient service as a teacher, and the 

 distinguished position he has attained in scientific observation 

 and research. Without any violation of confidence, it may be 

 said that his claims to such a recognition were cordially sup- 

 ported by some of the most distinguished astronomers in the 

 kingdom. 



Speaking at Derby on March 12, at the distribution of prizes 

 to students of the Municipal Technical College, Sir William 

 Abney, K.C.B., referred to the fact that at the end of this month 

 the Department of Science and Art will come to an end. It 

 will be merged in a department to be known as the Board of 

 Education, which is to supervise all kinds of education — elemen- 

 tary, secondary and technological. He remarked : In the 

 <^)ueen's Speech they were promised that there should bean Edu- 

 cation Bill introduced, reorganising the authorities for secondary 

 ' fiucation. The introduction of such a bill marked a great ad- 

 ince in public opinion as to the necessity of local co-ordination 

 ( if the kind in question. Speaking in his private capacity, and not 

 officially, he hoped that not only would secondary education be 

 under a local authority, which would supervise it and look after 

 its interests, but that all other education would be similarly 

 managed. 



NO. 1586, VOL. 61] 



Mr. R. Hedgbr Wallace is eriiiiled to .-peak with authority 

 upon the subject of " Agricultural Education in Greater 

 Britain," and his paper, published in the /<>//;-««/ of the Society 

 of Arts of March 9, admirably summarises what is being done 

 for agricultural education in our colonies and dependencies. 

 The facts stated by Mr. Wallace in his survey afford sufficient 

 evidence to justify the following conclusions :— Fir.st, that 

 throughout Greater Britian, irrespective of climatic, racial 

 and political divergences, there is a universal movement tp 

 give all interested in the culture of land every opportunity,, 

 facility and assistance possible to improve themselves, their art 

 and craft, and the land and its produce. Secondly, that the 

 purely educational or teaching facilities in agriculture offered by 

 other portions of the Empire where the general agricultural 

 conditions are somewhat akin to our own are not only .so distri- 

 buted as to cover fairly the area in question, but are also equal 

 in educational value to any of the agricultural training or 

 teaching institutions in this or the other countries of Europe. 



Though University College, Bristol, has not so many gene- 

 rous friends as some of the other provincial colleges of the same 

 rank, the report of the Council shows that it not only continues 

 to impart the highest kind of instruction in the aits and sciences, 

 but also assi-sts in extending the bounds of existing knowledge 

 by means of research. As evidence of the original work carried 

 on during the session 1898-99, an extract is given from the 

 report of the faculty of arts and science. Among the subjects 

 of researches mentioned are : — the physical properties of 

 some hydrocarbons, properties of metal films, velocity of ions 

 in non-conducting liquids, chemical composition of foods, 

 mass of the ions in the silent electric discharge from points, 

 the mammalian remains discovered in the Uphill Caves, and 

 the relation of stimulus to sensation in visual impressions, in- 

 volving a modification of the Weber-Fechner formula. Original 

 work is the most valuable testimony to the efficiency of a 

 University College ; it prevents the members of the staff from 

 falling into merely stereotyped methods of teaching, it is a valu- 

 able example and incentive to students, and it serves to make 

 the college known as a centre of intellectual endeavour. Com- 

 pared with former years, the college was exceptionally fortunate 

 during the session covered by the present report, for it received 

 a legacy of 5000/. from the late Mr. Stuckey Lean, and an 

 anonymous donation of 1000/., as well as a generous legacy of 

 scientific books from the late Mr. J. T. Exiey, who also be- 

 queathed to the college his collection of scientific apparatus. 

 The council are looking forward with confidence to the newly- 

 established Colston Society, which has for its object the en- 

 dowment of Colston Chairs in connection with the college, or 

 the assistance of the Institution in such other manner as the 

 committee of the society may approve. It is to be hoped that 

 the promotion of the cause of higher education in Bristol in this 

 manner will receive the strong support of all classes of citizens. 

 The president of the college, the Lord Bishop of Hereford, has 

 been elected first president of the society. 



The following announcements from recent numbers of Science 

 show that natural knowledge has many liberal friends in the 

 United States : — Mr. John D. Rockefeller has given 100,000 

 dollars to Columbia University to endow the chair of psychology. 

 Mr. Andrew Carnegie has given 300,000 dollars to Cooper 

 Union, New York City, and 200,000 dollars has been con- 

 tributed by Abram S. Hewitt and Mr. Edward Cooper ; this 

 will enable the Union to establish courses in mechanic arts. 

 Syracuse University receives 25,000 dollars by the will of the 

 late Mr. Erastus F. Holden, of Syracuse ; the bequest will be 

 used for the department of astronomy and for the observatory. 

 Oberlin College receives 75,000 dollars by the will of the late 

 Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell, of Michigan City, Indiana ; and 

 40,000 dollars by the will of the late William Osborne, of Pitts- 

 burg. By provision of the will of the late Dr. John Stanford 

 Sayre, Princeton University will receive 40,000 dollars, p.irt of 

 which is for the endowment of fellowships in applied chemistry 

 and in applied electricity. President Schurman has announced 

 an anonymous gift of 80,000 dollars for Cornell University to 

 erect a building for physiology and anatomy. By a decision of 

 the New York Court of Appeal, Yale University will receive 

 the 150,000 dollars bequeathed by William Lampson. Presi- 

 dent Bashford, of the Ohio Wesleyan University, announces 

 that Mrs. Elizabeth Mebarry, of Richmond, Ind., who recently 

 gave 50,000 dollars to the University, has added 10,000 dollars 

 to the fund, thus endowing two chairs. By the will of the late 



