35§ 



NA TURE 



[February i 2, 190^ 



The trustees of the Michigan College of Medicine and 

 Surgery have established, the British Medical Journal stales, 

 two new chairs in tropical diseases with the object of preparing 

 medical practitioners to deal with those affections in the 

 Philippines and in Cuba. Dr. Robert S. Linn and Dr. V. J. 

 Hooper have been appointed to the chairs. 



The fifth annual dinner of the Association of Old Students 

 of the Central Technical College will be held at the Trocadero 

 Resiaurant, Piccadilly Circus, on Friday, February 20, at 

 7.30 p.m. Prof. W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., president of the 

 Association, will take the chair. Tickets (price 51. 61I ) can be 

 obtained on application to the hon. secretary, Dr. E F. 

 Armstrong, 55 Granville Park, Lewisham, S.E. 



It is stated by the Times that the announcements recently 

 made that Rhodes scholars have been elected in South Africa 

 and the United States are inaccurate. The trustees have not yet 

 awarded any scholarships. It is hoped that the scholars from 

 the Cape Colony, Natal and Rhodesia may be elected in time 

 to go into residence in Oxford in October next and also the first 

 students from Germany, who are to be elected by the German 

 Emperor, but the other scholarships will not commence before 

 October, 1904. 



The effort made to clear oft' the debt of 5000/. on Bristol 

 University College has, we learn from the Times, been success- 

 ful. Sir William II Wills and Sir Frederick Wills, M.P., 

 agreed to give 1000/. each, provided that three like donations 

 could be secured. In this the council of the college was not 

 successful, but the offer was allowed to remain open on the 

 understanding that the remaining 3000/. should be raised in 

 any sums during the year. On the occasion of the recent 

 University Colston dinner, it was announced that the 5000/. had 

 been raised all but 500/. In the course of the evening, one of 

 the guests gave 250/. , and since then 700/. has been received, 

 the total of 55°°^ now reached including a contribution from 

 the Bishop of the diocese, who presided at the jjinner. 



The Government of the United Provinces is, the Pioneer 

 Mail understands, considering the possibility of establishing a 

 teaching university at Allahabad. The evidence given betore 

 the recent Universities Commission showed that the higher 

 learning is almost entirely neglected by the Indian Universities, 

 all the energies of their professors being taken up with pass 

 work lor the intermediate and B. A. examinations. The scheme 

 which is being considered by the Local Government is that the 

 Muir Central College should be strengthened and devoted to the 

 higher branches of learning. The intermediate classes would be 

 given up, and this work would be undertaken by a new college 

 to be created for the purpose in Allahabad with its own princi- 

 pal and its own professors. Several new chairs would be added 

 to the present college, and it would thus be able to devote its 

 time to scholarship in the sense understood in Europe and to 

 advanced work in science. In a recent speech, the Agha Khan, 

 president of the Mohammedan educational conference, suggested 

 that ten million rupees should be raised by voluntary subscrip- 

 tion among the Mohammedan community to convert the 

 Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh into a uni- 

 versity. It seems clear fr. m such facts as these that educational 

 requirements are receiving great attention in India. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Chemical Society, January 21.— Prof. Emerson Reynolds, 

 I'.R.S., in the chair. — The following papers were communi- 

 cated : — Researches on silicon compounds. Part viii. Inter- 

 actions of silieophenylamide with thiocarbimides, by Prof. 

 Emerson Reynolds. Silieophenylamide readily combines 

 with one or two molecules of the thiocarbimides to form 

 crystalline compounds, which dissociate into their generators 

 at 100 C. ; it also reacts with thiocarbimides when heated 

 in sealed lubes, with the formation of silicodiphenvlimide 

 and a disubstituted thiocarbatnide. — On the relation between 

 the absorption spectra and the chemical structure of cory- 

 daline, berberine and other alkaloids, by Drs. Dobbio and 

 Lauder. It is shown that corydaline' and tetrahydrober- 

 berine, which are known to possess similar constitutions, 

 give absorption spectra which differ in general absorption, 

 but show no specific absorption differences. This is found 



NO. 1737, VOL. 67] 



to be the case generally for related alkaloids, and the authors 

 suggest that such observations may occasionally be useful 

 in deciding between possible formulae for an alkaloid. — 

 Absorption spectra of laudanine and laudanosine in relation 

 to their chemical constitution, bv Drs. Dobbie and Lauder. 

 An application of the results of the foregoing paper to these 

 two alkaloids, which are shown to belong probably to the 

 reduced berberine group. — Phenocyc/oheptene, by Dr. 

 Kipping and Mr. Hunter. A description of the properties 

 of this hydrocarbon. — The influence of molvbdenum and 

 tungsten trioxides on the specific rotations of /-lactic acid 

 and potassium /-lactate, by Dr. Henderson and Mr. 

 Prentice. These oxides increase the specific rotations of 

 /-lactic acid and of its potassium salt, probably as the result 

 of the formal inn ol ^:ilts of the tartar emetic type. — Estim- 

 ation of ethyl alcohol in essences and medicinal preparations, 

 by Dr. T. E. Thorpe and Mr. Holmes. The mixture is 

 diluted with water, saturated with sodium chloride and 

 shaken out with light petroleum to remove volatile sub- 

 stances other than alcohol ; the latter remaining in the 

 residue is estimated in the usual manner. — Carbon monoxide 

 as a product of combustion of the Bunsen burner, by Dr. 

 Thorpe. A laboratory burner consuming cubic feet of 

 coal gas per hour under 0.95 inch pressure evolves 0.022 

 cubic toot of carbon monoxide when burnt under a sand 

 bath at such a height that the inner cone just impinges on the 

 n etal of the bath. — The following papers are descriptive of 

 the compounds mentioned, and are not of general interest : — 

 Derivatives of S-resorcylic acid and of protocatechuic acid, 

 M Dr. W. II. Perkin, jun., and Mr. Schiess. — Synthesis 

 of .Y-ethvl-, JV-methyl- and .Y-benzyl-benziminoethers, by 

 Dr. Lander. — The condensation of phenyl ethyl ketone with 

 benzalacetophenone and of acetophenone with benzalpro- 

 piophenone, by Dr. Abell. — Synthesis of 1:3:5 triphenyl- 

 2 : 4-dimethylcyc/opentane and of 1:3: 5-triphenvl-2-meth\ 1- 

 eve/opentane, bv Dr. Abell. — Formation of carbazoles by the 

 interaction of phenols, in the orthoketonic form, with aryl- 

 hydrazines, by Prof. Japp and Mr. Maitland. (1) Di- 

 morphism of a-methvlanhvdracetonebenzil. (2! The oxida- 

 tion products of the methyl homologues of anhvdracetone- 

 benzil, In- Prof. Japp and Mr. Michie. — Action of hypo- 

 bromites on amides, by Dr. Lapworth and Mr. Nicholls. 

 — Derivatives of menlhvl 1 vanoacetate, by Messrs. Bowack 

 and Lapworth. — The influence of nitro-groups on tin- re- 

 activity of halogen derivatives of benzene, by Dr. Lap- 

 worth. A restatement of the view that the reactivitj of 

 tin- halogens in ortho- and /wia-halogenated nitrobenzenes 

 is due to the assumption of the elements of a molecule of 

 water by the nitro-group, with subsequent intramolecular 

 changes, leading to the production of a tautomeric form of 

 a nitrophenol with' the loss of a molecule of a haloid acid. 



Edinburgh. 



Geological Society, February 5. — Dr. J. Home pre- 

 sided. — Mrs. Dr. Ogilvie Gordon gave a demonstration 

 of sdine of the results obtained by her geological survey of 

 the Fassa district in South Tyrol, made in'igoo—igoi. The 

 lecture, which was entitled " The Fassa-Monzoni District ' r 

 Simultaneous Duplex Crust Movements," was illustrated 

 by Mrs. Gordon's lantern views, geological maps and sec- 

 tions, rock specimens and mineralogical slides. In describing 

 the succession of Triassic strata, Mrs. Gordon pointed out two 

 distinct advances made by her work : (1) She had discovered 

 the presence of Wengen-Cassian Marls with characteristic 

 fossils in the midst of the Middle Triassic Limestones, where- 

 as hitherto these fossiliferous strata had been reported to be 

 absent in Fassa. The Wengen series comprise bedded tuffs 

 and lavas, tufaceous grits, shales, and limestones like those 

 iii Grdden and Enneberg ; the Cassian strata are chiefly 

 marls and marly limestones. (2) She had determined the 

 presence of a definite band of fossiliferous marls and Crinoidal 

 and Oolitic Limestones between the Lower and Middle Trias, 

 as a constant member in all undisturbed sections. Hitherto 

 these limestones had been described as a rarely present 

 facies of the lower horizons of Middle Triassic Limestones. 

 The fossils collected in them by Mrs. Gordon were examined 

 by Dr. Broili, Munich Museum, and identified by him as 

 I pper Werfen (Lower Trias) or closely allied types. The 

 establishment of this definite passage-zone between Lower 

 and Middle Trias was an important addition to the geology 



