532 



NA TURE 



[February 2, 1905 



chemistry, and to appoint Dr. James C. Irvine as the 

 lecturer. 



It is reported in Science that, by the will of the late 

 Mr. E. VV. Codman, of Boston and Nahant, Mass., an 

 estate which may reach 200,000/. will be equally divided 

 between Harvard University and the Massachusetts General 

 Hospital. 



The United States ambassador, Mr. Choate, has accepted 

 the invitation of the governing body of the Battersea 

 Polytechnic to distribute the awards and deliver an address 

 on the occasion of the next annual distribution of prizes on 

 Wednesday evening, February 22. 



It is reported in Science that Harvard University and 

 the University of Berlin have practically arranged a method 

 by w^hich a temporary exchange of professors will occur. 

 It is further stated that a similar arrangement has been 

 made between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

 and the Berlin Institute of Technology. 



Mr. J. D. Rockefeller has signified his willingness to 

 contribute to the University of Chicago for the year be- 

 ginning July I, 1905, the sum of 49,000/. for current 

 expenses, this being the same sum that he has contributed 

 during the present year. Mr. Rockefeller has also con- 

 tributed this jear 12,000/. for the enlargement of the 

 heating plant of the university. 



A COURSE of lectures and discussions has been arranged 

 by the Childhood Society and the British Child-Study 

 Association, to be delivered in the Parkes Museum, Mar- 

 garet-street, W., and will commence on February 9. Among 

 the subjects are : — Some physiological problems in educa- 

 tion ; the proposed anthropometric survey ; mental faculty 

 of the child : its grow'th and culture ; fatigue in children ; 

 the health of children qua food and management ; and 

 imitation. 



At the annual conference of representative Mahomedans 

 from all parts of India, held at Lucknow a month ago, it 

 was agreed to form science faculties at Aligarh College. 

 The list of subscriptions towards this object was headed by 

 the Raja of Mahmudabad with a munificent donation of 

 Rs.35,000. The aggregate subscriptions to the fund for 

 promoting the advancement of Aligarh College to the 

 status of a university, which will be the future university 

 of Mahomedans in India, now amounts to Rs. 1,04,000 

 (7000/.). 



In connection with the fund instituted to supplement the 

 ■resources of the Melbourne University, the Hon. F. S. 

 Grimwade has given 1000/. for the purpose of founding 

 an annual prize at the university, to be awarded in respect 

 of research work in some branch of industrial chemistry. 

 I'his donation, says the Pharmaceutical Journal, raises the 

 fund to 11,000/., and enables the university to claim a 

 subscription of 1000/. promised by Mr. Andrew Carnegie. 

 The whole of the money subscribed, which, with a Govern- 

 ment grant of 12,000/., now totals 24,000/., is to be devoted 

 to the purpose of building laboratories. The Government 

 has promised a supplementary grant of 5000/. next year. 



The need for a university in the south-west of England 

 continues to be urged locally from time to time. At the 

 recent ordinary general meeting of the governors of 

 University College, Bristol, Mr. Henry Hobhouse said that 

 it was unfortunate that the south-west of England was 

 almost the only part of England and Wales that had no 

 local university, and spoke of Bristol as the only possible 

 centre for such an institution. Principal Lloyd Morgan, 

 F.R.S., who returned recently from a visit to the United 

 States, gave it as his opinion, after inspecting the equip- 

 ment and work of the American university colleges, that 

 when the amount of work done by the staff of Bristol 

 University College is compared with the amount being 

 done in any one of the American institutions he had visited, 

 and the cost of the one is compared with the cost of the 

 other, Bristol University College is ahead of them all. 

 Several speakers urged the pressing need for more funds. 

 In this connection we are glad to notice that the college 

 received last year nearly 5000/. in donations outside the 

 ordinary income. 



NO. 1840, VOL. 71] 



The .Association of Technical Institutions held its annual 

 general meeting on January 27 at the Manchester School 

 of Technology. Sir Philip Magnus was elected president 

 of the association for 1905, and in the course of his address 

 directed attention to the fact that in technical institutions the 

 students who attend even the most elementary technological 

 classes are too often insufficiently prepared to profit by 

 the teaching. They are deficient in power of expression ; 

 they lack practical knowledge of arithmetic and the rudi- 

 ments of science and the necessary skill in drawing. In a 

 word, the training in the elementary schools of the country 

 has not produced satisfactory results. The elementary 

 teaching must be made more practical. The workroom 

 will supersede the class room in elementary schools, con- 

 tinued Sir Philip Magnus, and manual training will become 

 the central feature of the training around which other 

 studies will be grouped. Numerous papers were read. 

 Principal Reynolds, of Manchester, Mr. Wilkinson, of 

 Bolton, and Principal Crowther, of Halifax, read papers 

 on the co-ordination of the work of evening continuation 

 schools and municipal technical institutions. The co- 

 operation of employers in the technical training of their 

 apprentices was the subject of a discussion opened by 

 Principal Belcher, of Coventry, and Principal Gannon, of 

 Norwich. The registration of teachers in technical insti- 

 tutions was dealt with by Principal Wells, of Battersea. 



The report of the council of the Association of Technical 

 Institutions was presented at the annual general meeting 

 on January 27. The report states that, from the point of 

 view of those specially concerned with technical education, 

 the year 1904 has been marked chiefly by the development 

 and coordination of local educational organisation and by 

 the perfecting of matters of internal administration. It 

 is too soon, the report states, to say what the effects of 

 the abolition of the Technical Instruction and Local 

 Taxation (Customs and Excise) Acts and the placing of 

 all branches of education under one local authority may 

 have upon the further extension of technical education. 

 While recognising the possible danger to these interests of 

 the large and growing demand for expenditure upon other 

 branches of education, the association views with satis- 

 faction the increasing recognition of the belief that 

 technical education can only produce the best results when 

 it builds upon the sure foundation of a sound secondary 

 education. .Among matters to which the association has 

 given attention may be mentioned that of the possibility 

 of obtaining a number of research scholarships, tenable 

 by advanced students in technical institutions ; and that of 

 the desirability of instituting a scheme for the issue by 

 technical institutions of diplomas upon some common 

 basis of award. This last question is of such importance 

 that it has been referred to a subcommittee for further 

 inquiry and report. 



The annual meeting of the Mathematical .Association 

 was held at King's College on January 28. Prof. G. B. 

 Mathews, F.R.S., was elected president for the ensuing 

 year. Papers were read on models and their uses by 

 Mr. E. M. Langley, and on the new geometry by Mr. 

 W. H. Wagstaff, who does not think it is desirable to 

 make all boys learn deductive geometry, but that some 

 should learn logic instead, and that some training in 

 practical geometry should be given to all. .-\ discussion on 

 the question : " Should Greek be Compulsory for Mathe- 

 maticians at Cambridge?" was opened by Mr. .A. W. 

 Siddons, who urged that mathematicians should not have 

 special arrangements made for them ; that, if Greek was 

 compulsory for others, it should be for mathematicians also. 

 Prof. .A. R. Forsyth, F.R.S., said it is to his mind 

 extraordinary that teachers of classics argue that, if Greek 

 be made optional, therefore the subject will become extinct. 

 The subject has a strong hold on the public schools and 

 the universities ; every outside inducement to its con- 

 tinuation is still maintained, but in a large number of 

 schools in the country Greek is now extinct. If the ancient 

 universities maintain this barrier of Greek as a preliminary 

 qualification for a degree, it means one of two things — 

 cither that all the boys in those schools w-here Greek is 

 now extinct are cut off from the universities, and so those 

 institutions cease to be contributing to the educational 



