November 27, 1902] 



NA TURE 



93 



when Mr. A. D. Hall, director of the Rothamsted Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, will give an address. The chief object of the 

 conference is the development of the work of the museum with 

 the schools. 



About six hundred teachers and school managers from all 

 parts of the East Riding met at Beverley on Saturday last, at 

 a conference on nature-study. Lord Hemes, chairman of the 

 Technical Education Committee of the East Riding County 

 Council, presided, and an address was given by Prof. Miall, 

 who advised his hearers not to use stuffed animals and dried 

 plants in the class-room, but wherever possible to study living 

 animals and plants. A representative committee was elected to 

 promote nature-study in the East Riding and Hull. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that the Board of 

 Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, has 

 accepted an offer made by Dr. and Mrs. Christian Herter, of 

 New York, to give 5000/. to found a memorial lectureship in the 

 medical department of the University, " designed to promote a 

 more intimate knowledge of the researches of foreign investi- 

 gators in the realm of medical science." This end is to be 

 secured by inviting each year some eminent worker in physio- 

 logy or pathology to deliver one or more lectures at the Johns 

 Hopkins University upon a subject with which his name is 

 associated. The lecturer will receive as an honorarium the 

 annual income of the endowment. The selection of the lecturer 

 will be made by a committee consisting of Dr. Welch, Dr. Osier 

 and Dr. Abel. 



The Gordon Memorial College at Khartoum, which Lord 

 Kitchener opened recently, is now ready for the chemical 

 and bacteriological research laboratories presented by Mr. 

 Henry S. Wellcome during his recent visit to the Soudan. 

 The fixtures and appliances, made in England, have already 

 been shipped. The equipment for scientific work is most com- 

 plete in every detail, and will be equal to that in any similar 

 laboratories in Europe. The Sirdar has appointed as director of 

 these research laboratories Dr. Andrew Balfour, of Edinburgh, 

 who has done good work in bacteriology. The Soudan pre- 

 sents exceptional opportunities for the study of tropical diseases, 

 especially malaria, typhoid and dysentery, and it is anticipated 

 that the results of the investigations of Dr. Balfour and his staff 

 will be of the greatest importance. Apart from the original 

 researches and general sanitary work, Dr. Balfour and his staff 

 will devote their attention to the study of the cereals, textile 

 fibres and various matters affecting the development of the 

 agricultural and mineral resources of the country. Dr. Balfour 

 leaves England on December 11, and will be entertained at 

 dinner at the Princes' Restaurant, Piccadilly, on December 8. 



A post-graduate course for the training of teachers in 

 secondary schools will be commenced in January at the London 

 Day Training College, Clare Market, W.C. Candidates for the 

 one year's course of professional training must be graduates, or 

 must have undergone a course of university study and passed an 

 examination equivalent to that for a university degree in arts or 

 in science. All students will receive instruction in the theory, 

 history and art of education, so as to prepare them for the 

 examination for the teacher's diploma of the University of 

 London, and will also go through a course of practical work in 

 approved secondary schools. All the principles studied in the 

 lecture room will be exemplified in the schools, and visits of 

 observation will be made to schools of marked excellence or of 

 special educational interest. Candidates should make applica- 

 tion for admission to the course for graduates not later than 

 December 8. Applications should be addressed to the Secretary 

 of the Technical Education Board of the London County Council, 

 116 St. Martin's Lane, W.C. 



The report of the Indian Universities Commission, to which 

 attention was directed in these columns on September 4, has given 

 rise to many expressions of dissatisfaction in the native Press of 

 India. A resolution explaining the attitude of the Governor- 

 General in Council towards the report was recently circulated 

 among local governments and administrations with a view to 

 evoke full discussion, so that, before coming to a final conclusion, 

 the Government of India may know exactly what is thought 

 by all persons concerned in Indian education. The resolution 

 makes it quite clear that neither the Government nor the Com- 

 mission desires to initiate a policy tending to make education 

 the monopoly of the rich. At the same time, it is pointed out 

 that a certain minimum standard of efficiency is necessary, and 



NO. 1726, VOL. 67] 



this is only possible if the expenditure reaches a certain amount 

 which entails fees that some would-be students may find it 

 difficult to pay. The Government, however, contemplates the 

 provision of scholarships for the more able boys and an endow- 

 ment to cheapen education for poor students. The Pioneer Mail 

 is of opinion that the resolution may indefinitely postpone the 

 thorough reform of Indian university education. 



On Monday afternoon, Lord Dudley, in laying the foundation- 

 stone of a new technical institute at Belfast, remarked that if 

 we are to hold our own in the greit war of the world, we must 

 see that the soldiers of industry are equipped with the best 

 training that can possibly be uiven. Replying to the toast of 

 his health at a dinner on Monday evening, Lord Dudley is 

 reported by the Times correspondent to have said that the 

 scheme of technical instruction in Belfast was, he understood, 

 incomplete in respect to the fact that it did not include oppor- 

 tunities of learning all that modern science had to tell about the 

 different subjects included in its course. How this defect could 

 be remedied was a subject for careful consideration on their part. 

 The most obvious course would lie to make their scheme culmin- 

 ate in the Queen's College and to link that college to their 

 institute. The great obstacle was one of expense ; but he could 

 promise them, if they put forward a scheme of that nature, and 

 it was sufficiently supported by local efforts, that the Irish 

 Government would consider it carefully on its merits and bring 

 before the Treasury its claims for assistance from the public 

 funds. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Journal of Botany, November. — The article by Mr. H. N. 

 Dixon on new varieties of British mosses will interest 

 bryologists. In addi.iun, Mr. E. S. Salmon contiibutes some 

 bryological notes. The monotypic genus Osculatia instituted 

 by De Notaris is referred to Rryum. and three species of 

 Schwetschkea, C. Mttller, are confirmed, while a fourth is 

 assigned to Leskea. — Mr. Spencer Moore describes South 

 African plants, collected mostly by Mr. T. Ommaney and Capt. 

 Barrett-Hamilton, of which several species are new. — The 

 catalogue of British Algje compiled by Mr. A. E. Batters 

 continues the RhodOphycere which began in the last number. 

 — There is presented a brief sketch and portrait of Mr. T. 

 Comber, who made a special study of the Di.itomacese. 



American Journal of Science, November. — Observations on 

 the eruptions of 1902 of La Soufriere, St. Vincent, and Mont 

 Pelee, Martinique, by E. T. Hovey. The first ascent of La 

 Soufriere after the eruption was made on May 7, when the crater 

 was found to be practically unchanged in diameter. The 

 " new " crater of 1S12 appears to have taken no part in the 

 eruptions, and although there are many ancient lava beds in the 

 island, no stream of melted lava has issued from the Soufriere 

 during the present eruption. The paper is accompanied by two 

 maps, showing the devastated areas on the two islands, and six- 

 teen photograph*. — On the reflection of electric waves at the 

 free end of a parallel wire system, by H. A. Bumstead. — The 

 Upper Permian in Western Texas, by G H. Girty. — The 

 reduction of vanadic acid by the action of hydrochloric acid, by 

 F. A. Gooch and L B. Stookey. The reduction of vanadium 

 pentoxide to the trioxide by the action of hot concentrated 

 hydrochloric acid has been suggested as the basis of a quantita- 

 tive method for the estimation of vanadic acid, but the results of 

 previous work have been contradictory. It is shown by the 

 author that, by the adoption of suitable precautions, the reaction 

 can be made nearly complete, but the method is not a suitable 

 one for the determination of vanadic acid, except when this 

 substance is present in very small amount. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Physical Society, November 14. — Prof. S. P. Thompson, 

 president, in the chair. — A paper on the theory of the aluminium 

 anode, by W. W. Taylor and j. K. II. Inglis, was read by Mr. 

 Inglis. Aluminium is very slowly acted upon by dilute sulphuric 

 acid even at moderately high temperatures. With dilute hy- 

 drochloric acid, the action is violent, and it is found that if a 

 little hydrochloric acid or soluble chloride be added to dilute 

 sulphuric acid, the action is as violent as with hydrochloric acid 



