February 26, 1903] 



NA TURE 



405 



the City Corporation, persons having experience in educa- 

 tion and knowledge of local educational requirements, and 

 persons to be appointed by the County Council on the nomin- 

 ation of certain suggested educational bodies to be specified 

 in the Bill, among which are the University of London ; 

 the City and Guilds of London Institute; the trustees of the 

 City Parochial Foundation.; the Association of Technical In- 

 stitutions; the Society of Arts; the London Chamber of 

 Commerce ; and five educational associations ; that it is 

 undesirable that there should be any delegation by the 

 authority to such borough committees of powers with regard 

 to education other than elementary. 



At the third yearly meeting of the Court of Governors of 

 the University of Birmingham, held on February 18, the 

 principal, Sir Oliver Lodge, referring to the work of I he 

 past session, said the University was now recognised by the 

 Board of Education as an inspecting agency for secondary 

 schools in the midland district, and they wanted to in- 

 augurate a new system of examination and inspection, as 

 thereby they could do much good and could help the new 

 education authority not only in the city, but in the neigh- 

 bouring counties. No doubt some of those present were, or 

 would be, connected with the education authorities in the 

 surrounding districts, and he would say to them, " do not 

 start new training colleges of your own detached from places 

 of learning." At conferences which he had attended at 

 Cambridge and Oxford, at which headmasters and educa- 

 tional workers from all parts of England were present, the 

 opinion was unanimously expressed that teachers should be 

 trained along with men preparing for other professions ; 

 that they should rub shoulders with professors and teachers 

 not only in their own subjects, but in all subjects. He 

 should like all teachers to train themselves to some extent 

 both in science and in art. At the British Association, 

 which would meet in September in Lancashire, Sir Norman 

 Lockyer intended to devote a great part of his address to 

 the duty of the State, and of England generally, in under- 

 taking on a totally new and enlarged scale this vital subject 

 to the future of this country. The University ought to take 

 its share in the reorganisation of secondary education. Some 

 secondary authorities were jealous of having university re- 

 presentatives upon them, but they did not want to be there 

 to look after the interests of the university which they re- 

 presented, but to act as experts, as advisers, not as con- 

 trollers. If only they could get as professor of education 

 a man of the right type, they might hope to train teachers 

 and influence the youth of England by their means — to train 

 them, he hoped, not in arts alone, nor in science alone, but 

 in originality of thought and fertility of ideas generally. 



The trustees of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of 

 Scotland met on Monday to receive the annual report and the 

 scheme of endowment of post-graduate study and research 

 drawn up by the executive committee. The Times summary 

 of the report is here abridged. The report stated that there 

 was a natural desire on the part of the universities that 

 under the head of teaching the committee should assign a 

 portion of the annual grants to be used as income. In certain 

 cases of extreme urgency such grants had been given, but 

 they had been limited, both in regard to amount and to the 

 time for which they were payable. It was considered in- 

 advisable to commit the committee to permanent obligations 

 in this direction. Further, the committee considered that 

 in the long run its plan would prove the best for the univer- 

 sities. The scheme adopted, besides making a contribution 

 of 100,000!. to the buildings and permanent equipment, and 

 of 20,000/. to libraries, would at the close of the period of 

 five years have increased the resources for teaching in the 

 four universities by permanent endowments amounting to 

 70,500/., while it would at the same time have made during 

 those five years an addition of 1900/. a year to the income 

 of two of them. With regard to the endowment of post- 

 graduate study and research, the committee decided that 

 scholarships, fellowships, and grants might with advantage 

 be instituted, but that for many reasons it was not desirable 

 to allot definite sums, or offer separate endowments, to in- 

 dividual universities and institutions. A common scheme 

 had, therefore, been established, the administration of which 

 would be retained in the committee's own hands. It was 

 held that in no other way could the full advantage of this 



NO. 1739, VOL. 67] 



most important branch of the work of the Trust be 

 adequately secured ; and the committee regarded it as 

 essential that those who were to profit by the opportunities 

 offered for higher study and research should be the best the 

 universities of Scotland could produce, and their work of 

 the high character which alone was consistent with the 

 intention of the founder. The nominations and applications 

 under this scheme would be referred to an advisory board, 

 consisting of the chairman, the four representatives of the 

 universities and three other members of the Trust. There 

 had been paid by the Trust for the summer session, 1902, the 

 sum of 11,976/. 13s. on behalf of 1595 students, representing 

 the fees of 4522 classes; and for the winter session, 1902-3, 

 the sum of 28,275/. 5s. on behalf of 2867 students, represent- 

 ing the fees of 8806 classes — in all, for the year to December 

 31, 1902, 40,251/. 18s. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. 



journal of Botany, February. — A third contribution of 

 occasional notes on freshwater algae, which begins in this 

 month's number, is presented by Mr. W. West and Mr. G. S. 

 West. It represents mainly new British forms which have 

 come under observation during the past two years. Several 

 Chantransia and Lemanea forms, originally described by 

 tha late Prof. Sirodot, have been obtained in rapid streams 

 in Yorkshire, Cornwall and Westmorland. To the Phseo- 

 phycese are added Phaeococcus paludosus, and a new mono- 

 tvpic genus Phaeosphasra. The more important additions 

 to the Chlorophyceas are Uronema confervicolum, Pseudo- 

 chaete gracilis (a new genus), Koya cambrica and Debarya 

 desmidioides. The last-mentioned is regarded by the authors 

 as constituting a connecting link between the DesmidiaceaD 

 and the Zygnemaceas, since the filaments break up into in- 

 dividual cells, and conjugation occurs only between a pair 

 of such isolated cells. — Continuing his remarks on Calypto- 

 pogon mnioides, Mr. E. S. Salmon separates this plant from 

 Streptopogon on account of the papillose areolation and the 

 form of the perichaetial leaves, and from Barbula on account 

 of the mitriform calyptra. A complete diagnosis, with an 

 illustrative plate, is appended. — Two short lists of local 

 plants are furnished, one referring to the Bournemouth dis- 

 trict, by Mr. E. F. Linton, and the other giving new Bristol 

 records, by Mr. J. W. White, in conjunction with Mr. C. 

 Bucknall and Mr. D. Fry. — A series of " Wayfaring Notes 

 from the Transvaal " is instituted by Dr. R. F. Rand, the 

 first of which discusses botanical features to be observed 

 in the neighbourhood of Johannesburg. — Mr. Garry con- 

 tinues his notes on the drawings for " English Botany." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, February 12. — "On the Negative Variation 

 in the Nerves of Warm-blooded Animals." By Dr. N. H. 

 Alcock. Communicated by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S. 



The conclusions arrived at are : — 



(1) It is possible to examine isolated mammalian and 

 avian nerves under the same conditions as frog's nerves. 



(2) There is no essential difference between the nerves of 

 frogs, mammals and birds as regards their negative vari- 

 ation, excitability and reaction to anaesthetics. 



(3) There is a marked difference in the extinction point 

 for heat. The negative variation in frog's nerve is 

 abolished at 40°--42° O, in rabbit's nerve at 48°--49°, in 

 pigeon's nerve at 53 . 



(4) This extinction point corresponds closely with the first 

 coagulation point of the body proteids, where these are 

 known, and thus coagulation is probably the cause of the 

 permanent loss of irritability of the nerve. 



(5) The point at which the nerves are paralysed by cold 

 is — 3°'5 in the frog, — i°'4 in the hedgehog, + 3°'S in 

 the rabbit and + 6°'9 in the pigeon. 



" Studies in the Morphology of Spore-producing Members. 

 No. V. General Comparison and Conclusion." By Prof. 

 F. O. Bower, F.R.S., Regius Professor of Botany in the 

 University of Glasgow. 



