140 



NA TURE 



[December 8, 1904 



the zoological collections have outgrown their present 

 accommodation, and suggests that a new zoological museum 

 should be arranged for on the site recently acquired from 

 Downing College, in the neighbourhood of the new Sedg- 

 wick Geological Museum. 



A new diploma is proposed in mining engineering for 

 students who have resided nine terms and have attained a 

 prescribed standard in certain subjects of the natural 

 sciences and mechanical sciences tripos. 



The board of geographical studies has published a report 

 submitting regulations for the special examination in geo- 

 graphy for the ordinary B.A. degree, and for the diploma 

 in geography. The range of subjects is comprehensive, and 

 the standard contemplated is obviously high. The regula- 

 tions are given at length in the Vnivers\i\ Reporter, pp. 

 301-3. Dr. D. MacAlister and the Right Hon. Sir G. D. T. 

 Goldie, K.C.M.G., have been appointed members of the 

 board. 



The memoir of Mr. A. Wood, advanced student of 

 Emmanuel College, on the spontaneous ionisation of air 

 in closed vessels, and its causes, has been approved as 

 qualifying for the certificate of research. 



The Rev. Francis Bashforth, second wrangler 1843, 

 formerly fellow of the college, and distinguished for his 

 researches in ballistics, has been elected to an honorary 

 fellowship at St. John's College. 



Lord Re.^v will distribute the prizes to the students of the 

 Northampton Institute, Clerkenwell, on December 9. 



Prof. Hele-Shaw has accepted the post of principal 

 organiser under the Transvaal Technical Council for one 

 year, and has in consequence resigned the chair of professor 

 of engineering at Liverpool. 



The registrar of the University of Leeds announced, at 

 a Mansion House meeting held at York on November 30 

 in support of the university, that 61,825/. has been sub- 

 scribed toward the 100,000/. required to make the necessarv 

 additions to the buildings and to increase the endon-ment 

 of the university, so as to satisfy the financial requirements 

 laid down by the Committee of the Privy Council. 



Lord Londonderry will receive a deputation from the 

 Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United 

 Kingdom on Monday next, when the following resolution 

 on commercial education will be submitted : — " That in 

 order to retain our industrial positions and to introduce 

 into this country such further industries as may be profit- 

 ably developed it is absolutely necessary to establish or 

 acquire public secondary schools of the highest standard, 

 and to provide sufficient inducements by bursaries, exhibi- 

 tions, scholarships, or otherwise to make the efficient boys 

 stay long enough to take full advantage of the provisions 

 made for higher technical and higher commercial educa- 

 tion." 



The third annual meeting of the North of England Educa- 

 tion Conference will be held in the St. George's Hall, Liver- 

 pool, on January 6 and 7, 1905. The subject to be discussed 

 on the first morning is "Leaving Certificates." Lord 

 Stanley of Alderley will preside, and papers will be read 

 by Mr. G. Alexander, Mr. Owen Owen, and the Rev. J. B. 

 Lancelot. The discussion will be opened by Sir Oliver 

 Lodge and Mr. G. Sharpies. In the afternoon of the same 

 day there will be three separate conferences dealing re- 

 spectively with " Manual Training," the " Teaching of 

 Geography," and " Child Study." Principal Reichel will 

 read a paper on the first subject, Mr. Mackinder on the 

 second subject, and Prof. Sherrington on the third. The 

 subject for discussion by the conference as a whole on the 

 morning of the second day is " Scholarships, with Special 

 Reference to the Coordination of Education." Sir William 

 Anson will take the chair, and papers will be read by Miss 

 S, A. Burstall and Dr. T. J. Macnamara. Messrs. Gore 

 and Edwards will open the discussion. In the afternoon 

 the conference will be divided into three parts to discuss 

 the "Teaching of Domestic Science," "School Games, 

 with Special Reference to Day Schools," and the "Teach- 

 ing of English." Domestic science will be dealt with in 

 papers by .Miss Fanny Calder and Miss E. Pycroft, school 

 games by Messrs. J. L. Paton and F. W. Au'gell, and the 

 teaching of English by Miss E. Drummond and Mr. G. C. 



NO. 1832, \0L. 71] 



Steel. An exhibition of geographical appliances, apparatus, 

 maps, books, &c., will also be held on the days during which 

 the conference meets. 



From a long list of recent appointments in such journals 

 as the Physikalische Zcitschrift, i'Enseigncment mathi- 

 matiquc, and similar sources, we extract the following pro- 

 fessorships, mainly mathematical and physical : — Germany, 

 Austria, &c. — S. A. Arrhenius (Stockholm) for meteorology 

 and cosmical physics at Berlin; H. Battermann for 

 astronomy, and directorship of observatory at Konigsberg ; 

 K. Cranz (Stuttgart) at technical college, Charlottenburg, 

 Berlin ; O. Eggert (Berlin) for geodesy at technical college, 

 Danzig ; Dr. Furtwangler for mathematics at agricultural 

 college, Bonn-Poppelsdorf ; Grassmann (Halle) at Giessen ; 

 L. Hefter (Bonn) at technical college, Aachen ; G. Lands- 

 berg (Heidelberg) extraordinarius for mathematics at 

 Breslau ; K. Oertel for astronomy at Munich ; R. Prantl 

 (Hanover) extraordinary at Gottingen ; Rohn (Dresden) for 

 descriptive geometry at Leipzig; C. Runge (Hanover) at 

 Gottingen; K. Schreber at Greifswald; J. Sommer for 

 mathematics, technical college, Danzig ; P. Stackel (Kiel) 

 at technical college, Aachen, to replace Prof, van Man- 

 goldt, who is transferred to Danzig; Vahlen (Konigsberg) 

 at Greifswald ; Wellenstein (Giesseni extraordinary for 

 mathematics, Strassburg. France. — Cartan for calculus at 

 Nancy ; Cotton for mechanics at Grenoble : Drach for 

 mechanics at Poitiers ; Lecornu for mechanics at poly- 

 technic college, Paris, in place of the late M. Sarrau ; 

 H. Poincar^ for astronomy at polytechnic, Paris; Raffy for 

 analytical geometry, Paris; Jules Tannery for calculus at 

 Pitris. Italy. — F. Guardacci (Florence) for geodesy at 

 Bologna ; Mich. Rajna for astronomy, and directorship of 

 observatory, Bologna ; in addition, F. Amadeo has been 

 appointed recognised teacher for history of mathematics at 

 Naples. America. — G. H. Hallett and C. A. Holden (extra- 

 ordinary), Pennsylvania ; D. N. Lehmer (extraordinary), 

 California ; James MacMahon, Cornell ; Robert E. Moritz 

 for mathematics, Washington ; H. L. Rietz (e.xtraordinarv), 

 Illinois; J. H. Tanner, Cornell; A. W. Whitney, Cali- 

 fornia; besides the following instructorships in mathe- 

 matics : — J. W. Bradshaw, Michigan ; A. B. Coble, Balti- 

 more ; L. C. Karpinsky, Michigan ; E. B. Lytle, Illinois ; 

 C. L. F. Moore, Massachusetts ; A. Ranum, Wisconsin ; 

 F. C. Touton, Illinois. 



The annual dinner of the past and present students of the 

 Queen's Faculty of Medicine in the University of Birming- 

 ham was held on November 29. In proposing the toast of 

 "The Medical School," Sir F. Treves said: — " It is very 

 much to be regretted that very little heed is given to science 

 in this country. There was a time when the man of science 

 — Galileo, for example — was cast into prison ; now he is 

 simply allowed to starve. There is no kind of encourage- 

 ment offered to science. In every university throughout the 

 country the same story is told. I think that those men 

 who devote themselves to science in this country deserve 

 rewards infinitely beyond any they have ever received." 

 .Mr. Chamberlain, who was present in his capacity of Chan- 

 cellor of the university, in proposing the toast of " Students, 

 Past and Present," referred to the remarks of Sir F. Treves. 

 Mr. Chamberlain said : — " I am afraid that for all time 

 to come probably science, and the conferring of great 

 benefits upon one's fellow-creatures, must be, to a large 

 extent, its own reward. But the pursuit of research is an 

 impossibility so long as the actual means of existence are 

 wanting, and the professional practitioner when he starts 

 is, in very many cases at any rate, so tied by the necessity 

 of providing an actual subsistence for himself and his family 

 that anything like original and continuous research is in 

 his case impossible. That can only take place when there 

 are in this country schools established where for a year or 

 two, perhaps in their younger time, men of ability and of 

 interest in school subjects can be brought together under 

 capable heads, and can carry out on the most extended scale 

 that series of researches which already, in the hands of some 

 of our most distinguished men of science, have led to such 

 important results." During the course of his remarks Mr. 

 Chamberlain also said that three classes of people are essential 

 to the success of a modern university — students, teachers, 

 pious benefactors. " Unfortunately," he said, " we have 

 fewer pious benefactors in this country than ihey have in 



