572 



NATURE 



[April 13, 1905 



If this exhibition had been merely a flower-show on a 

 gigantic scale there would have been little or no need to 

 advert to it in these columns. But associated with it was 

 a botanical congress attended by many of the chief 

 European notabilities, and presided over by the late 

 Alphonse de Candolle. The results of their discussions 

 were recorded in a report of proceedings which still forms 

 a most valuable document. Copies are now rarely met 

 with, although they were distributed widely among foreign 

 and British botanical libraries. 



\Vc have a special reason for alluding to this nearly 

 forgotten congress, because it may be looked on as the pro- 

 genitor of two important events in the modern history of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society. K large surplus was 

 eventually derived from the exhibition, and this surplus 

 was devoted to the publication of the proceedings before 

 mentioned, to charitable purposes, and to the purchase of 

 the valuable library of the late Dr. Lindley. This library 

 was placed in the hands of trustees for the benefit, 

 primarily, of the fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 and, under certain regulations, of the general public also. 

 In this way the society once more became possessed of an 

 extensive library, which cannot be alienated if evil days 

 should again arise. It is now, after various vicissitudes, 

 fittingly installed, at the expense of Baron Sir Henry 

 Schroder, in the new building erected for the society in 

 \'incent Square, Westminster. 



Thus has been accomplished one result of the congress of 

 1866. Another consequence of that meeting was the form- 

 ation of a scientific committee under the presidency of Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, which has endeavoured so far as circum- 

 stances permitted to carry out the objects formulated in 

 M. de Candolle's presidential address. The early days of 

 the committee, when such men as Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. 

 Berkeley, Prof. Westwood, Mr. Wilson Saunders, Colonel 

 Clarke, Mr. .Andrew Murray, Sir William, then Mr., Thisel- 

 ton-Dyer, and other naturalists took part in the discus- 

 sions, remain as a pleasant memory. The Rev. Prof. 

 Henslow, who acted as secretary for the last quarter of a 

 century, has only lately relinquished his office. The com- 

 mittee still includes a body of experts in many departments 

 of horticulture and natural history generally. 



We have alluded to the new building, to the erection of 

 which Baron Schroder has magnificently contributed, whilst 

 others have not been backward. Much, however, remains 

 to be done, and until the existing debt is cancelled not 

 much in the way of scientific experiment or research can 

 be effected. The society has been exceptionally fortunate in 

 its centenary year. Not only has it secured a fine hall for 

 exhibition purposes, together with commodious offices and 

 accommodation for the library, but through the generosity 

 of Sir Thomas Hanbury it has come into possession of the 

 late Mr. G. F. Wilson's interesting garden at Wisley, near 

 Weybridge. 



The old garden at Chiswick, the value of the services of 

 which in the past is beyond compute, has been abandoned, 

 soil and climate no longer being propitious for gardening 

 operations. The cultural trials hitherto carried out at 

 Chiswick will henceforth be conducted at Wisley, and there 

 is every reason to hope that in a short time a research 

 station under a competent director may be established, and 

 thus a great and pressing need may be supplied. 



This is rather a long preface to the notice of the Journal, 

 but we hope it will not be thought irrelevant. The neces- 

 sity for a journal to link together all the otherwise separate 

 departments of the society has always been recognised, but 

 in the evil days aforementioned the publication was often 

 spasmodic and irregular. Since the appointment of the 

 Rev. W. Wilks as secretary, and under the steady impulse 

 of the president. Sir Trevor Lawrence, a great improvement 

 all round has been manifested, and in no way more re- 

 markably then in the contents and regularity of issue of 

 the journal. So marked is the improvement that it has 

 become too much for the digestion of some people, and 

 some of the fellows are crying out, not for more, but for a 

 more limited supply. 



Our notice has extended to such a length that we can 

 only indicate some of the contents other than those relating 

 merely to practical cultivation; such are Dr. Cooke's article 

 on the fungous pests of the shrubbery, with coloured illus- 

 trations ; on the heredity of acquired characters, by Prof. 



NO. 1850, VOL. 71] 



Henslow ; gooseberry mildew, by Mr. Salmon ; diseases of 

 Calanthes, by Mr. Bidgood ; note on electric heating, by 

 Mr. Rogers ; diseases of the potato, by Mr. Massee ; Indian 

 primulas, by Sir George Watt ; and a large number of 

 other communications which tend to show that the scien- 

 tific side of horticulture is not neglected. The abstracts 

 from botanical and horticultural literature which have of 

 late formed so important a feature of the Journal are 

 omitted from the present part, possibly because so much 

 space has, not unnaturally, been devoted to the proceedings 

 in connection with the centenary celebration and the formal 

 opening of the new hall by H.M. the King. 



The interests of the commercial side of horticulture, how- 

 ever great their importance, can very well be left to take 

 care of themselves. Nevertheless, the cultivators may well 

 look to the society for light and guidance in such matters 

 as cucumber spot, and the many diseases which so verv 

 seriously alTect their business prosperity. Progressive horti- 

 culture looks to the society to investigate outstanding 

 problems, open out new paths, and generally to acquire and 

 diffuse useful knowledge. Kven if not immediately useful, 

 such knowledge is sure eventually to be of advantage even 

 to the "practical man." With a research station at 

 Wisley, a competent director, a sympathetic scientific com- 

 mittee to direct and advise, and an energetic secretary, the 

 society may on entering its second centenary look forward 

 to being able to advance scientific horticulture in a more 

 thorough manner than it has ever done before. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The Pioneer Mail states that a gentleman of Nagpur 

 has bequeathed a sum of fifty thousand rupees to the 

 Central Hindu College, Benares. 



At the spring graduation ceremony of the University of 

 Edinburgh on April 7 the honorary degree of LL.D. was 

 conferred upon Prof. W. W. Cheyne, C.B., F.R.S., Dr. 

 J. H. Jackson, F.R.S., Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., Sir 

 Frank E. Younghusband, and Prof. G. A. Gibson. 



The Catholic University of America will receive, says 

 Science, a bequest of 20,000/, from Miss Helen Tyler 

 Gardiner. We learn from the same source that Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie has agreed to give a 10,000/. library to 

 the Washington and Lee University on condition that the 

 university raises an endowment of 10,000/. for maintain- 

 ing it. 



The Glasgow Herald announces that by the will of the 

 late Mr. Donald the sum of 20,000/. is bequeathed to the 

 Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, to be 

 paid on the death of Mrs. Donald. After various other 

 bequests have been made, the residue of the estate is to 

 go to the governors of the tilasgow and West of Scotland 

 Technical College for purposes specified in the trust dis- 

 position and settlement. 



The committee of the Privy Council has decided to re- 

 commend the King to grant a Charter incorporating a 

 university in Sheflield. .\ large sum of money has already 

 been given or promised for the endowment of the uni- 

 versity, and, in addition, the city council has pledged the 

 city to the gift annually of a sum equal to the proceeds 

 of a rate of id. in the pound (the capitalised value of 

 which gift is 200,000/.). The draft Charter of the pro- 

 posed university provides for the establishment of a teach- 

 ing university with powers to grant degrees in the faculties 

 of arts, science, technology, and medicine. 



The articles of agreement under which it is proposed to 

 combine the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 

 Harvard University have been made public. Provision is 

 made for a joint school of industrial science, to be known 

 under the present name of the Institute of Technology, to 

 be governed by an executive board of nine members, of 

 which three shall represent Harvard, and to be maintained 

 by present institute funds, augmented by the income of all 

 funds of the Lawrence Scientific School, by three-fifths of 

 the net income which may accrue from the Gordon McKay 

 bequest, amounting to several millions, and by the income 

 of all property which Harvard may hereafter acquire for 

 the promotion of instruction in industrial science. 



