444 
NATURE 
[JUNE 25, 1974 
fully established. Prof. Geikie’s contributions to the 
literature of geology are of the highest value, and in 
his translations of Heine’s lyrics he has shown 
literary gifts in quite another direction. It is be- 
lieved that, freed from the official duties of a univer- 
sity chair, he will be able to carry out further literary 
work which he has had in his mind for some years. 
The filling up of the vacancy created is in the hands 
of the Crown. The music chair is in the patronage 
of the University Court, and the chair of Celtic 
language and literature in the patronage of the 
curators. 
Lonpon.—A resolution was adopted by the Senate 
on June 17 requesting the Vice-Chancellor to inform 
H.M. Government that the Senate, having considered 
various sites which have been suggested for the head- 
quarters of the University, is of opinion that it is un- 
desirable to proceed further with such consideration 
unless, and until, H.M. Treasury intimate its willing- 
ness to provide accommodation more suitable in 
situation, more convenient in character, and on terms 
not less advantageous as regards tenure, etc., than 
those attaching to the present occupation at South 
Kensington. 
Official information has been received that the 
Government cannot contemplate the diversion of 
Somerset House, which has been suggested as a pos- 
sible headquarters for the University, from its present 
purposes. 
Prof. A. W. Crossley, F.R.S., has been appointed 
to the University chair of chemistry, tenable at King’s 
‘College. 
Following the resignation of Prof. J. M. Thomson, 
Prof. H. Jackson has been appointed head of the 
chemical department at King’s College, with the title 
of Daniell professor of chemistry in the University. 
The D.Sc. degree in chemistry has been granted to 
Mr. A. J. Ewins, South-Western Polytechnic Insti- 
tute and Goldsmiths’ College; and to Mr. R. T. Col- 
gate, Mr. E. H. Rodd, and Mr. E. E. Walker, of the 
City and Guilds College; and the D.Sc. degree in 
botany to Mr. H. F. Wernham, an external student. 
At the meeting of the council of the East London 
College, held on June 22, it was announced that the 
Court of the Drapers’ Company had resolved to defray 
the cost of the erection and equipment of the new 
chemical laboratories of the college. The cost will 
amount to approximately 15,o00l., and it is hoped that 
the laboratories will be available for the use of students 
at the commencement of the new session in October 
mext. 
Dr. H. J. S. Sanp, of University College, Notting- 
ham, has been appointed lecturer on chemistry at the 
Sir John Cass Technical Institute, London, E.C., in 
succession to the late Dr. Harry Burrows. 
At the Convocation of McMaster University, 
‘Toronto, held on May 6, the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Mr. David 
Hooper, late economic botanist of the Botanical Sur- 
vey of India, and curator of the industrial section, 
Indian Museum, Calcutta. 
THE trustees of the Beit Scientific Research Fellow- 
ships, founded and endowed by Mr. Otto Beit, in Sep- 
tember, 1913, have elected three fellows for the ensuing 
year, namely, Mr. R. S. H. Boulding, Mr. L. H. 
Parker, and Mr. L. N. G. Ramsay. The fellowships 
are tenable at the Imperial College of Science and 
Technology, South Kensington. Mr. Boulding is a 
post-graduate student in engineering at the City and 
Guilds (Engineering) College, and the joint author of 
a paper on the shape of the pressure wave in electrical 
machinery. Mr. Parker is a research student in 
NO. 2330, VOL. 93] 
chemistry at the Imperial College, joint author of a 
paper on the interaction of sodium amalgam and 
water, and author of papers on the action of variously 
treated waters on sodium amalgam, and reactions by 
trituration. Mr. Ramsay is an assistant in zoology 
at the University of Aberdeen, and the author of 
‘“Note on the Oviposition of Rhyssa,’’ ‘* Polychzeta 
(Nereidze) of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedi- 
tion,” ‘‘Ornithology of tke Scottish National Ant- 
arctic Expedition,’’ and other papers. 
AN anonymous donor has made a gift of 10,0001. 
to the general endowment of the Royal Technical 
College, Glasgow, on condition that another sum of 
15,0001. is promised within a year. A good beginning 
is thus made to the endowment of the college for, or 
towards, research purposes, which are _ specifically 
mentioned in the letter announcing the gift, and it is 
hoped that other benefactors will come forward to 
increase the funds available for the furtherance of 
research to such an extent as to place the college in a 
position in this respect comparable with that of like 
institutions in the United States and Germany. Dur- 
ing the last couple of years, for example, the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology has received gifts 
amounting to more than one and a half million 
pounds; and the benefactions to university and tech- 
nical education in the United States reach nearly five 
million pounds a year. No college completely fulfils 
its function unless it can make suitable provision for 
research and retain the services of men and women 
capable of undertaking it. We hope, therefore, that 
the sum of 10,0001. promised to the Royal Technical 
College will be a nucleus which will attract to itself 
many similar gifts until it grows to a substantial sum 
for the promotion of technical education in its best 
sense, namely, the creation of new knowledge. 
New buildings for the Hartley University College, 
Southampton, were opened by Lord Haldane on June 
20. In the course of his address, Lord Haldane said 
the four universities in Scotland to which the demo- 
cracy sends the children have sent out all over the 
world a large number of young men and a good many 
young women who have been able to help themselves 
to the cream because of superior skill in getting at it. 
The old notion that capital is a monopoly of the few 
and that the working classes never can get access to 
it has all gone. The real monopolist is the man who has 
got a trained brain. It is the workman who is 
educated who gets the best wages. The new class 
that is growing up is an educated class, and if the 
democracy wishes to get its share in the new things 
that are going, then the democracy will have to take 
advantage of the chances of education. To insist on 
equality of opportunity in education is the great way 
to solve the problem of labour and capital. Later, 
Lord Haldane said :—‘‘I have never known a town 
or city develop its university without finding some- 
thing quite new and different come to it. Places that 
do that add a cubit to their stature. I am not in the 
least afraid of the invasion of German arms, but I 
am very much afraid of the invasion of people who 
have been trained in the German universities and 
schools. It is time we woke up if we are to keep the 
position we hold in commercial supremacy.’’ 
As a result of the debate in the House of Commons 
on Friday last on the report stage of the Children 
(Employment and School Attendance) Bill, it may 
fairly be said that Lancashire as represented by its 
textile industry blocks the way of any advance in 
respect of measures having for their object the satis- 
factory education of the children of the nation. It 
will neither consent to the permissive extension of 
the school age until fifteen by local authorities, nor. 
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