JANUARY 31, 1907 | 
NATURE 
222 
III 
Dr. Reinnarp Brauns, ordinary professor and director 
of the mineralogical institute of Kiel University, has been 
appointed successor to Prof. H. Laspeyres, who retires 
from the chair of mineralogy and geology in the University 
of Bonn. ‘ 
Tue governors of the Borough Polytechnic recently re- 
ceived an offer from Mr. Edric Bayley of 5000l. towards 
the estimated cost of the completion of the premises of the 
polytechnic. The governors, therefore, asked the London 
County Council to assist them by making a grant of 7oool., 
and their request was granted at a meeting of the council 
on January 23. The cost of the scheme, exclusive of 
lighting, heating, end equipment, is estimated to be about 
11,5001. 
Tur annual meeting of the Mathematical Association was 
held on January. 26 at King’s College, London. The 
association now consists of 419 members. Prof. G. H. 
Bryan, F.R.S., was elected president in succession to 
Prof. G. B. Mathews, F.R.S. During the course of an 
address, Prof. Mathews said he earnestly hoped that the 
new regulations proposed for the Cambridge tripos would 
be approved. He thinks it will be very unfortunate if, 
after adopting the principle of the change as the associ- 
ation has done, these regulations are shelved. He asked 
all those who are inclined, from sentimental or other 
reasons, to vote non-placet on this question to consider 
. carefully whether it is right to do so after this matter has 
been carefully thought out for many months by men who 
are representative mathematicians and _ representative 
mathematical teachers at Cambridge. There is a strong 
desire at Cambridge to make the mathematical scheme 
there more living, on the one hand, and to bring it more 
into connection with the general science of mathematics 
on the other. After Prof. Mathews’s address, papers were 
read by Prof. W. H. H. Hudson, on diagrams of 
anemoids; by Prof. A. Lodge, on contracted methods in 
arithmetic; and by Mr. C. S. Jackson, on the elementary 
arithmetic of the theory of numbers. 
Tue current number of Science Progress contains an 
article by Sir Arthur Riicker, F.R.S., on the economics of 
university education. The essay provides an_ interesting 
criticism of Adam Smith’s theories of education in the 
light of modern experience. Sir Arthur Riicker leads up 
to the general criticism that Smith’s arguments appear to 
be based almost entirely on the view that a university is 
a place where instruction is bought and sold, not a place 
where professor and student are linked together as leader 
and follower in a common search after knowledge. 
Incidentally, opportunities are found to insist upon many 
aspects of education likely to be ignored by the public. 
Thus we read :—‘‘as research is largely concerned with 
the elucidation of the results of hitherto neglected facts, 
it is found that for many objects mental dexterity can best 
be fostered by turning the attention of the abler student 
from the known to the unknown, from information to 
investigation.’’ In the same number of the review Prof. 
H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., writes on the reform of the 
medical curriculum, treating it as a problem of technical 
education. Prof. Armstrong says that, so far as chemistry 
is concerned, ‘‘ the reform should take the direction of 
teaching the subject practically and with direct reference 
to its applications: as every branch of chemistry in turn 
must necessarily be laid under contribution, chemists need 
have no fear that their field of action will be thereby 
unduly limited.’’ 
Tue annual prize distribution and conversazione of the 
Northampton Institute, Clerkenwell, E.C., was held on 
January 25 and 26. The prizes were distributed by Mr. 
Evan Spicer, chairman of the London County Council, who 
in his address to the students made special mention of the 
importance of the engineering work which was being done 
at th» institute, and of the unique character of the work 
in technical optics. In regard to the latter. he remarkec 
that it had received the most sincere recognition of our 
Continental rivals, inasmuch as work of a similar character 
was being started in France and Austria. The principal, 
in his report, referred to the present need of additional 
accommodation, notwithstanding the fact that the institute 
has this session occupied the buildings of the British 
NO. 1944, VOL. 75] 
Horological Institute for its technical optics work. In the 
display of. instruments made in the various laboratories 
on both evenings, there were several interesting items. 
A wireless telephone system was made to work successfully 
across the courtyard, and some interesting experiments 
were. shown with the electric arc used as a_ telephone 
receiver, and with the effect of light on selenium cells. 
There was also an interesting display by the Postal Tele- 
graph Department of some of the newest developments in 
telegraphy, both of the ordinary kind and wireless tele- 
graphy, a complete De Forest set of the latter being at 
work. The 75-ton testing machine and the 50-h.p. ex- 
perimental engine were on view for the first time in the 
mechanical laboratories, and there was also a new 
25-K.V.A. alternator built in the institute with special 
modifications for experimental purposes, from which some 
interesting results may shortly be anticipated. 
A SCHEME for the organisation of a central lecture 
theatre for London, on the model of the Berlin ‘‘ Urania,” 
is being developed by a representative committee, which 
includes Sir William Ramsay, Sir W. Huggins, and 
others. A meeting was held. last week, under the 
presidency of Sir William Ramsay, to hear an explan- 
ation of the scheme by Mr. Albert Wollheim. The chairman 
said he had given two. lectures at the Berlin ‘‘ Urania,” 
and was much struck with the crowds that visited the 
institution and constantly occupied themselves gaining 
knowledge of scientific facts. Mr. Wollheim explained 
that the statutes of the Berlin institution exclude the possi- 
bility of the undertaking being exploited commercially; all 
surplus profits, after the distribution of a 5 per cent. 
maximum dividend, are devoted to the purchase of 
apparatus or to building extensions or carried to a reserve 
fund. The proposed London ‘‘ Urania’? would not clash 
with the work of the learned societies, but would promote 
their membership. Illustrated popular lectures would be 
given on subjects of interest to the public in a building 
centrally situated and easily accessible. In the summer 
months the *‘ Urania’’ would be utilised as a centre for 
educational visits to museums, gardens of scientific socie- 
ties, and so on. An educational information bureau, a 
library, and a publication department would be features of 
the institution. It is interesting in this connection to recall 
a similar scheme for a civic museum recently outlined 
before the Sociological Society by Mr. Huntly Carter. It 
may be hoped that the promoters of these ideas will join 
hands and cooperate in providing London with a valuable 
adjunct to its existing educational facilities. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Linnean Society, December 20, 1906.—Lieut.-Col. Prain 
F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.—Exhibits.—Two 
specimens of albino woodlice, Oniscus asellus, Linn. : 
W. M. Webb.—Photograph and dried specimens of Fockeu 
capensis, Endl., a plant of considerable interest on account 
of its great rarity and its apparently great longevity: N. E. 
Brown.—Papers.—Report on the botanical collections made 
by Dr. W. A. Cunnington in lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika, 
and the Victoria Nyanza, 1904-5: Dr. A. B. Rendle. Dr. 
Cunnington spent about three weeks on and about Lake 
Nyasa, nearly nine months at Lake Tanganyika, and less 
than a fortnight on the west of the Victoria Nyanza. His 
object was to make as complete a collection as possible of 
the plants and animals, especially from Lake Tanganyika, 
with the view of solving the ‘‘ Tanganyika problem ’’— 
whether the fauna and flora of this lake indicate a, former 
marine connection. The flowering plants, fern allies, and 
Characez, numbering about forty-five species, were, for 
the most part, well-known and widely-distributed forms, 
such as Najas marina, species of Potamogeton, Pistia 
Stratiotes, Ceratophyllum demersum, Myriophyllum  spic- 
atum, Jussiaea repens, Trapa natans, and Chara zeylanica, 
with others restricted to tropical or subtropical Africa, such 
as Ottelia, Boottia scabra, and species of Utricularia. In 
no case was there any suggestion of marine conditions, 
either past or present, in the representatives of the flora. 
