December 15, 1904] 



NATURE 



163 



Edinburgh. — Sir Donald Currie has subscribed the sum 

 of 25,000/. toward the fund which is being raised by the 

 university to enable a site to be purchased on which 

 laboratories and other educational buildings could be erected, 

 and for making further financial provision for an extension 

 of the teaching staff and for the promotion of research in 

 the university. To the principal, Sir William Turner, Sir 

 Donald Currie stated that he wished the revenue from this 

 money to be applied by the university court to the remuner- 

 ation of a staff of lecturers, such as the authorities of the 

 university might find it advisable from time to time to 

 appoint. An option was also given to the university court 

 to apply 5000/. of the amount towards the purchase of a site 

 for the new laboratories, should it be necessary to use a 

 portion of his gift for that purpose. In addition to this 

 gift, subscriptions amounting to 15,000/. have been promised 

 t)y other friends of the university. 



According to a report mentioned in Science, it is pro- 

 posed to move the Western University of Pennsylvania 

 from the suburbs of Allegheny to Pittsburg proper, near 

 the new Carnegie Technical School. About fifty acres of 

 ground, sufficient for twenty large university buildings, 

 are being secured at a cost of about 400,000/., and the work 

 of construction will be begun before long. Fifty citizens 

 of Pittsburg have agreed to give each from 8000/. to 20,000/. 

 for the school. From the same source we learn that the 

 general assembly of the State of Vermont has appropriated 

 12,000/. for the use of the agricultural department of the 

 university. The money is to be expended in the erection 

 and equipment of a building to be known as Morrill Agri- 

 cultural Hall, in memory of the father of the agricultural 

 colleges of the country, the late Senator Justin S. Morrill. 



It may be remembered that the authorities of University 

 College, Sheffield, were informed by the committee of the 

 Privy Council that, subject to a substantial realisation of 

 the hopes entertained in connection with the movement 

 Tor the establishment of a Sheffield University, their Lord- 

 ships would be prepared in due course to recommend to 

 His Majesty the grant of a charter. We learn from the 

 calendar of the University College for 1904-5 that of the 

 ■sum of 170,000/., which efforts are being made to raise, 

 54,134/. has been promised since 1903. In addition, 52,908/. 

 ■was promised in 1902 to the new buildings fund, so that 

 some 107,042/. has been raised for higher education in 

 .Sheffield within a short period. It is to be hoped that little 

 ■difficulty will be experienced in securing the amount which 

 must be provided still before the University of Sheffield can 

 be incorporated. 



Two technical State scholarships have been just placed 

 at the disposal of the local government of the Punjab, says 

 the Pioneer Mail. These scholarships will enable natives 

 of India to pursue a course of study in Great Britain or 

 other western countries with the object of qualifying 

 them to assist in promoting the improvement of existing 

 native industries and the development of new industries 

 wherever. this may be possible. In the case of the Punjab 

 the industries allowed to be taken up are tanning, metal- 

 work, and pottery, and the local government has decided 

 to confine its efforts to the first two, at any rate for the 

 present. The value of each scholarship has been fixed at 

 150/. a year, and it will be tenable for two years, but it 

 will be open to the Government of India to increase the 

 value of any scholarship, and to extend the period during 

 ivhich it will be tenable. Commissioners and superin- 

 tendents of divisions have been asked to make the scheme 

 •publicly known, and to enlist in its behalf the interest of 

 the commercial classes. 



The annual prize distribution and students' conversazione 

 at the Northampton Institute, E.C., was held last week, 

 when the prizes and certificates were distributed by Lord 

 Reay. The principal's report showed that the work of the 

 institute has in several important departments overtaken 

 the accommodation, and that there is urgent necessity for 

 ■extension. A special note was made of the recent recog- 

 nition of the work of the institute bv the Board of Educa- 

 tion ; and the necessity for a " British Institute of Technical 

 Optics " was pointed out. Lord Reay, in his address, 

 ■dwelt upon the desirability of reviving, so far as modern 

 •conditions would allow, the old system of apprenticeship, 



NO. 1833, VOL. 71'j 



and pointed out how the polytechnics and technical insti- 

 tutes could be made useful in connection therewith. The 

 vote of thanks to Lord Reay was moved by Mr. Alexander 

 Siemens. After the distribution the various laboratories 

 and workshops were thrown open, and a series of 

 lecturettes, exhibits, and demonstrations was given. The 

 most interesting demonstration was perhaps that of a new 

 submersible boat in the swimming bath. These boats, in- 

 vented by Mr. Middleton, of Brighton, are propelled, 

 directed, controlled, and governed by fins actuated by prime 

 movers, in such a fashion that they can move any way in 

 tri-dimensional space in the fluid in which they are 

 immersed. By altering the inclination of the plane of the 

 fins, these can be made to propel the boat forwards or back- 

 wards, to sink it below the surface, to raise it again, and, 

 in fact, to direct it along any course, whether inclined to 

 the horizontal or otheiiwise. 



The proceedings of the Institute of Chemistry of Great 

 Britain and Ireland for 1904, which have now been pub- 

 lished, show that the council of the institute has had under 

 consideration the recommendations of the Consultative Com- 

 mittee to the Board of Education for a scheme of examin- 

 ations for school certificates. It will be remembered that 

 it is proposed that these school certificates should take the 

 place of the many professional preliminary examinations 

 now held ; that a central board should be constituted for 

 England, consisting of representatives of the Board of 

 Education and of the different examining bodies, to control 

 the standard of the examinations for school certificates ; 

 and that the proposed examinations should be under the 

 control of independent external examiners, although con- 

 ducted by internal and external examiners jointly. The 

 council of the Institute of Chemistry has informed the 

 Board of Education (a) that the council considers it desirable 

 to substitute some such system as is proposed in lieu of the 

 various professional preliminary examinations now held; 

 (b) that if such a system be established, the council will 

 be prepared to accept the proposed senior certificate examin- 

 ation, passed in the subjects required by the regulations of 

 the institute ; and (c) that the council will be pleased to be 

 represented on the proposed central board. A scheme for 

 school certificates submitted by the University of Birming- 

 ham has also met with the approval of the council of the 

 institute, and it has also been decided to accept the matricu- 

 lation examination held jointly by the Victoria University, 

 the University of Liverpool, and the University of Leeds, as 

 an approved preliminary examination, provided the certifi- 

 cate include the subjects required by the regulations of the 

 institute. 



A DEPUTATION from the Association of Chambers of Com- 

 merce of the United Kingdom waited upon Lord London- 

 derry, President of the Board of Education, on Monday to 

 urge that increased Government aid should be given to 

 higher technical and higher commercial education. The 

 views of the deputation were expressed in the following re- 

 solution, which was passed at the meeting of the association 

 (in September 28, and was now laid before Lord London- 

 derry : — " That, in order to retain our industrial position 

 and to introduce into this country such further industries 

 as may be profitably developed, this association is of opinion 

 that it is absolutely necessary to establish or acquire public 

 secondary schools of the highest standard, where efficient 

 means of such education do not exist, with fees low enough 

 to make them accessible to all grades, and to provide 

 sufficient inducements by bursaries, exhibitions, scholar- 

 ships, or otherwise to make the efficient boys stay long 

 enough in these schools in order to thoroughly train and 

 adequately prepare a very much larger number than is at 

 present available for taking full advantage of the provisions 

 made for higher technical and higher commercial education, 

 the facilities for which ought also to be largely extended 

 and the standard considerably raised." In introducing the 

 deputation. Sir W. H. Holland, M.P., said the chambers 

 of commerce might be fairly taken to represent the organised 

 commercial opinion of the country, and they were convinced 

 that the Board of Education would encourage them to take 

 a keen interest in secondary and technical education. Mr. 

 Ivan Levinstein said the want of secondary education was 

 the cause of our present most deplorable position. What we 

 wanted, in the first instance, was a far larger number of 



