April 23, 1903 



NA TURE 



597 



essential nature of gravitation ; discoveries are waiting to 

 be made in this region, and it is absurd to suppose that we 

 are already in possession of all the data. We can wait; 

 but meanwhile we need not pretend that because we do not 

 understand it, therefore life is an impotent nonentity. I 

 suggest that the philosophic attitude is to observe and 

 recognise its effects, both what it can and what it cannot 

 achieve, and realise that our theory of it is at present 

 extremely partial and incomplete. 



Summary . 

 The chief contentions are : — 



(1) That the fundamental laws of physics, complete and 

 accurate as they are, in no way exclude guidance of events 

 by the agency of life or mind or other unknown influence. 



(2) That common experience shows that living creatures 

 do exert such guidance, and further, that they are amenable 

 to non-material or spiritual influences from each other. 



The dualistic form of this language is a necessity of 

 expression, and inevitable for practical purposes ; it is not 

 intended to imply any ultimate or philosophic dualism. The 

 writer finds himself unable, with his present knowledge, to 

 use language appropriate to unification, which he regards 

 as an aim rather than as an achievement. 



Oliver J. Lodge. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 At a meeting of the Senate of Dublin University on April 

 iS, the degree of doctor in science was conferred honoris 

 causa on Sir William Abney, K.C.B. 



At the graduation ceremony of the University of Glasgow 

 on Tuesday, the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred 

 in absentia on Sir William Gairdner, emeritus professor 

 of medicine in the University ; and the same degree was re- 

 ceived by Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B. ; Dr. Thomas Oliver, 

 professor of physiology in the University of Durham ; and 

 Mr. Philip Watts, Director of Naval Construction at the 

 Admiralty. 



At a meeting of the governors of the North Wales Uni- 

 versity College, held on April 15, it was announced that 

 subscriptions amounting to more than 15,000^. towards 

 providing additional buildings had been promised, among 

 the subscribers being the King and the Prince of Wales. It 

 was also stated that the Drapers' Company had offered 

 600!., payable in three annual instalments, towards the 

 maintenance of an electrical engineering department. 



The Technical Education Board of the London County 

 Council is offering for competition five senior county 

 scholarships, together with several senior exhibitions. The 

 scholarships are of the value of 90Z. a year, and are tenable, 

 in ordinary circumstances, for three years at universities, 

 university colleges, or technical institutes, whether at home 

 or abroad. They are confined to persons who are resident 

 within the administrative county of London, and whose 

 parents are in receipt of an income of not more than 400/. 

 a year from all sources. The scholarships are open to 

 candidates under twenty-two years of age on June 1, pre- 

 ference being given to candidates who are under nineteen 

 years of age. No examination is held for these scholarships 

 and exhibitions, which are awarded on consideration of the 

 past record and future promise of the candidates. Candi- 

 dates who desire to apply for the scholarships and ex- 

 hibitions can obtain application forms from the secretary 

 of the Technical Education Board, 116 St. Martin's Lane, 

 W.C. These forms must be returned not later than Monday, 

 May 11. 



Following the suggestion of the executive committee of 

 the Nature-Study Exhibition Association, contained in their 

 official report, that the work of the Association would in 

 future be carried out more satisfactorily by local organisa- 

 tions, certain delegated members of the Middlesex Field 

 Club and of the Selborne Society are arranging to hold 

 this year in London a Home Counties Nature-Study Ex- 

 hibition. Lord Avebury is the chairman of the committee, 

 and already the list of patrons is very representative. The 

 honorary secretary, Mr. W. M. Webb, will be glad to 

 receive at 20 Hanover Square, W., donations towards the 

 expenses of the exhibition. 



NO. 174/, VOL. 67] 



The governing body of the Royal Agricultural College, 

 Cirencester, has decided, in consequence of the recommend- 

 ation of the recent report on British forestry, to remodel 

 and largely develop the teaching of forestry at the college 

 in connection with the estate management branch of the 

 curriculum. It has been resolved to create a new chair, to 

 be entitled the chair of estate management and forestry, and 

 to appoint thereto a special professor or lecturer who shall 

 be required to devote all his time to the duties of the chair, 

 and who shall have had good experience, not only of the 

 management of woods in this country, but also of the 

 continental system of sylviculture followed in the State and 

 Communal forests of France and Germany. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times states that on 

 October 1 the courses of instruction are to be begun at the 

 new military technical college which is to be established in 

 Berlin. Not more than fifty officers, who must be of such 

 an age that they will not attain the rank of captain while 

 seconded for these instructional courses, will, in the first 

 instance, be summoned to the capital. They will have to 

 show a sufficient knowledge of mathematics and physics, 

 and must produce proofs of their general military efficiency. 

 The full course will last three years, but officers will have 

 to satisfy the authorities at the end of each year that it is 

 desirable that they should continue their studies. In con- 

 nection with the military subjects of the courses of instruc- 

 tion, lectures will be given on mathematics, physics, 

 mechanics, electricity, chemistry, metallurgy, and surveying. 

 The Senate of the University of London has approved 

 the following scheme of courses in advanced botany, ex- 

 tending over the years 1903-6, drawn up by the Board of 

 Studies in Botany. The general idea is that each course 

 should deal with a definite branch of botanical knowledge 

 Or with the more general aspects of the science, and should 

 extend to about ten lectures : — 1903-1904 — The plant in re- 

 lation to the soil, Mr. A. D. Hall ; the Lycopsida, Dr. D. H. 

 Scott, F.R.S. ; the metabolic processes of plants. Prof. J. 

 Reynolds Green, F.R.S. 1904-1905 — Botany and its Dre- 

 sent problems, Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S.; the 

 Ascomycetes, with especial reference to the typical fructi- 

 fications, Mr. V. H. Blackman ; respiration, Prof. J. B. 

 Farmer, F.R.S. ; the Tubiflorre, Dr. A. B. Rendle. 1905- 

 1906 — Gymnosperms, Prof. F. W. Oliver ; the British flora 

 in its ecological relations, Mr. A. G. Tansley ; Bryophytes, 

 Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S. 



Representatives from the principal universities and 

 colleges of New York State recently met at Columbia 

 University to determine the basis upon which the award of 

 the two Rhodes scholarships for New York State should 

 be made. It was decided, says Science, to entrust the 

 administration and award of the scholarships to a com- 

 mittee of three, to be elected by the heads of the colleges 

 for men. The committee will consist of President Butler, 

 President Schurman, and Chancellor Day. The conference 

 decided that the conditions regulating the award shall be 

 as follows : — The candidates for the scholarships to be 

 eligible shall have satisfactorily completed the work of at 

 least two years in some college of liberal arts and sciences 

 in the State. Except in extraordinary circumstances, 

 the upper age limit shall be twenty-four years at the time 

 of entering upon the scholarship at Oxford. To be eligible, 

 the candidate shall be a citizen of the United States and 

 unmarried. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. 

 Journal of Botany, April. — Two brief notes by Mr. 

 G. West and Mr. J. Cryer refer to a Polygala identified 

 as amarella, Crantz, which was collected on the Great 

 Scar Limestone near Grassington. — For the East Riding 

 of Yorkshire Mr. W. Ingham publishes a list of mosses 

 and hepatics. — A new fossil fungus, a species of Cerco- 

 sporites, is described and figured by Mr. E. S. Salmon. 

 It was obtained from the " disodile " beds in Sicily. — Mr. 

 S. Moore, in the identification of some plants, chiefly Com- 

 positae, from the Transvaal, Griqualand West and British 

 East Africa, has found several new species, for which 

 descriptions are given. — Mr. E. S. Linton supplies a list of 

 " Kent Rubi," and Mr. W. G. Smith has a note on a new 

 species of CoIIybia. 



