;56 



NA TURE 



[February 9, 1905 



which the article relates. The cost of the three sets of 

 catalogues in the latter and more useful form is about 12/. 

 The sets now issued bring the indexing down to 1903, 

 but the work will be continued, and supplementary sets 

 will be printed from time to time. Students who do not 

 desire references to all branches of agricultural science may 

 obtain sets of cards dealing with special subjects, such 

 as soils, plant diseases, or forestry. Particulars of the 

 eighteen subject-groups under which the cards are classified 

 are given in Bulletin No. 9, issued by the Catalogue 

 Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 



In the fourth report on the Woburn fruit farm, the 

 Duke of Bedford and Mr. Spencer Pickering, F.R.S., 

 discuss the results of several years' e.xperiments in the 

 manuring of fruit crops. In an introduction the soil of 

 the fruit station is described, and chemical and mechanical 

 analyses are given ; the report then describes experiments 

 on strawberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and 

 apples. For various reasons the e.xperiments on currants 

 and raspberries were unsatisfactory, but trustworthy data 

 were obtained in the work on the other crops. It was 

 found that 12 tons of farmyard manure per acre increased 

 the strawberry crop by 12 per cent, to 15 per cent., and 

 that the size and quality of the fruit were greatly im- 

 proved. A mixed artificial manure supplying about the 

 same quantities of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and 

 magnesia as the dung similarly increased the yield, but 

 did not improve the quality. Farmyard manure much 

 increased the gooseberry crop, but the artificial mixture 

 failed to do so, and it is explained that the increase in 

 the former case was probably due to the greater quantity 

 of moisture retained by the dunged soil. Nitrate of soda 

 applied in summer was found to benefit apples in certain 

 seasons, but with this e.xception no kind of manure had 

 any marked effect on the apple crop. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Birmingham. — Mr. Chamberlain, the Chancellor of the 

 University, presided at the annual meeting of the Court of 

 Governors held on February 6. Speaking after the adoption 

 of the annual report, Mr. Chamberlain said that w'hen the 

 governors of Mason College met some five or six years ago 

 and came to the decision that the time had come to give 

 Birmingham its own university, it was thought that the 

 least sum of money which would justify them in applying 

 for a charter was ioo,oooi. But very shortly afterwards 

 they found that there was a great opportunity, not only for 

 themselves, but for other great provincial cities, to create 

 a series of universities which in the first place would bring 

 home to all the population the advantages of the highest 

 education, and in the second place, would specialise this 

 highest education with some more definite idea of its appli- 

 cation to science than hitherto had been found to be 

 possible. The moment they decided on a departure of that 

 kind they found that it meant something quite different 

 from what they had previously supposed. New buildings 

 had to be specially devised, a very large and expensive 

 equipment had to be provided, and new chairs had to be 

 created ; altogether a completely new ideal had to be 

 developed. And then they put their demand — a demand 

 which, indeed, they did not strictly limit themselves to, but 

 they thought it would probably be suflficient for the present 

 generation — they put their demand at the expenditure of 

 one million of money. They had received at once nearly 

 half that sum, largely from Birmingham. And he might 

 say in passing that the liberality of the local contribution 

 was a ground for the claim which they made for some 

 further State support. " It is something," he said, " that 

 we have found that the Government are becoming alive to 

 our needs and to our deserts, and that they have been able 

 to double the sum previously given for the university 

 education. But we may bear in mind at the same time that 

 the present Chancellor of the F.xchequer has promised to 

 double it again in his next Budget, and, therefore, I anti- 

 cipate that from that source we shall receive a very con- 

 siderable addition. I do not at all accept it as in any way 

 a satisfaction of our demands, because it is my conviction 

 that public opinion will soon insist upon larger sums being 



NO. I 84 1, VOL 71] 



devoted to this purpose. When I think that we are spend- 

 ing 13 millions a year at least on primary education I 

 say the sum now given for the purpose of the highest 

 education, the most profitable of all the investments we 

 can make in that direction, is altogether inadequate." 



C.4.\IBRIDGE. — The voting on the report of the Studies and 

 Examinations Syndicate will take place on Friday, March 3, 

 and on Saturday, March 4, on both days from 1-3 p.m. 

 and from 5-7 p.m. No votes will be taken after 7 p.m. 

 on Saturday, March 3. 



In view of the discussion on the report the syndicate has 

 issued the report in an amended form. The chief changes 

 include as alternatives in the papers in classical languages 

 (i) passages for translation from a selected book or books; 

 (2) unprepared passages for translation, a vocabulary of 

 unusual words being supplied, also the abolition of distinct 

 grammar papers, although questions on synta.x and acci- 

 dence will be set in connection with the translation papers ; 

 further, one of the Synoptic Gospels is Greek, is now pro- 

 posed as an alternative to one of the Synoptic Gospels, 

 together with the Acts of the Apostles in English, and 

 logic is included amongst the optional subjects in part iii. 

 These proposals are embodied by the Council in five graces. 

 It is on the second of these, which deals with the question 

 of compulsory Greek, that attention will be centred. 



London. — Sir Michael Foster has consented to offer him- 

 self for re-election to the next Parliament as member for 

 the University of London. He seeks re-election as a repre- 

 sentative of science and higher education ; if re-elected he 

 will take his seat as a member of the Liberal Party. A 

 committee, with Sir Thomas Barlow as chairman, has 

 been formed to promote his election. This committee 

 comprises graduates belonging to different political parties 

 who are supporting Sir M. Foster on the ground of his 

 many public services and in the belief that his special 

 knowledge will continue to prove of great value to the 

 House of Commons. 



Oxford. — Mr. George Longstaff, New College, has pre- 

 sented 50/. to the Hope Department of Zoology, and has 

 offered to provide an extra assistant in the department for 

 the years 1905 and 1906. 



A Sheffield gentleman, who does not wish his identity 

 to be disclosed, has, says the Sheffield Telegraph, intimated 

 in connection with the Sheffield University movement that 

 he is prepared to subscribe 10,000?. towards the endow- 

 ment fund, provided four other sums of io,oooi. are con- 

 tributed. As an alternative, he is willing to give 5,000!. 

 provided nine similar donations are promised. Under 

 either condition a sum of 50,000/. would be raised, and, 

 roughly, this is the amount still required to complete the 

 fund. 



\i a public meeting held under the auspices of the University 

 of Leeds on February 6th, Mr. Alfred -Mosely, C.M.G., 

 gave an address on " Some Lessons learned by the recent 

 Mosely Commission of Educationists to the United States." 

 In the course of his remarks he said ; Much remains in 

 England to be done so that she may be brought into line 

 with the United States and Germany in the matter of 

 education. In America the people realise that if the 

 nation is to be made and saved it must be through the 

 medium of education. The time has come for us to re- 

 consider our position, and above all to realise that the 

 Board schools and the primary schools are but the prelude 

 to secondary education, which in the United States has 

 made such satisfactory strides — as it has also in Germany. 

 The great difference in the education of the United States 

 and that in our own country is the appreciation there of 

 everybody, from the highest to the lowest, of the value 

 of education. The Government has realised its obligations, 

 and private citizens pour out their money like water. The 

 University at Chicago, for instance, has been built up 

 through the liberality of one man, who has given millions 

 of pounds sterling. Why is there not the same spirit in 

 England? 



The current number of the Quarterly Review contains 

 an article entitled ' The Direction and Method of Edu- 

 cation." The writer passes in review many of the official 

 publications of the English Board of Education and the 



