174 



NA TURE 



[June 13, 1901 



Diffusion of Atmospheric CO2 through llfultiperf^rafe Septa i 

 4 cm. long. Diameter of Holes -380 m.m. 



I must now ask you to follow me in a somewhat theoretical 

 excursion in quest of an explanation of these curious facts. 

 ( To be conthiitcd. ) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The following have been elected public exam- 

 iners : — Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, in physics ; Mr. P. Elford, in 

 chemistry ; Prof. F. Gotch, in physiology. 



The curators of the University Chest have been authorised 

 to spend a sum not exceeding 1400/. in certain extensions of the 

 Chemical Department which are necessitated by the loss of 

 the laboratory known as the " Glastonbury Kitchen." The 

 latter is now required as access to the new Radcliffe Library. 



A proposal to permit candidates for the degree of Bachelor 

 of Letters or Science to keep more than one term of University 

 residence in the year by residence during the vacation has been 

 rejected. 



A proposal to provide access for wheeled traffic to the Depart- 

 ments of Physiology, Human Anatomy and Pathology at the 

 back of the University Museuin has also been rejected owing 

 to the opposition of those who regard this as an encroachment 

 upon the University Park. 



The Junior Scientific Club held their 226th meeting on 

 May 31. A paper was read by E. Walls, entitled " The 

 Quest of the Philosopher's Stone." Prof. Silvanus Thompson 

 ■delivered the Boyle Lecture on June 6, on " Magnetism in 

 Growth." 



Cambridge. — In the mathematical tripos, part i., the senior 

 wrangler is Mr. A. Brown, of Caius College, a Ferguson student 

 from Edinburgh. Miss Reynolds, of Newnham, is bracketed 

 nth wrangler. Three names appear in the first class of 

 part ii. : Mr. J. E. Wright, Trinity (senior wrangler 1890) ; 

 Mr. T. H. Havelock, St. John's (15th w-rangler) ; and Mr. 

 J. Chad wick, Pembroke (5th wrangler). Miss W. M. Hudson, 

 Newnham, is in the first division of ! the first class (bracketed 

 Sih wrangler 1S90). 



The professor ol pathology announces ten separate courses of 

 lectures and practical work to be given in the long vacation, 

 beginning July S. 



Prof. R. W. Wood, of the University of Wisconsin, has 

 been appointed professor of physics in the Johns Hopkins 

 University, in succession to the late Prof. H. A. Rowland. 



We learn from Science that the Wisconsin Legislature has 

 granted 210,000 dollars to the University of Wisconsin, at 

 Madison, in addition to the regular income previously derived 

 from the Slate. Of this sum 150,000 dollars is for a new build- 

 ing for the College of Agriculture, which is to house the ad- 

 ministration offices of this department and the experiment 

 station as well as the departments of bacteriology and chemistry. 

 This College also receives 10,000 dollars annual increase to its 

 present income. The College of Engineering receives 30,000 

 dollars for equipment of its new building, which was provided by 

 the last Legislature : also 7500 dollars annual increase in 

 income. The newly organised School of Commerce secures 

 3500 dollars annual increase. 



NO. 1650, VOL. 64] 



Dr. H. M. Kyle has been appointed naturalist to the Marine 

 Biological Association and fisheries' instructor for the county 

 of Devon. Dr. Kyle is a distinguished graduate of the Uni- 

 versity of St. Andrews, having gained the rector's prize for an 

 essay on evolution and having held successively the Fisheries' 

 prize, the Berry scholarship (100/.) and, for three years, the 

 Exhibition of 1851 scholarship (150/.) for original researches 

 in connection with the fisheries. His studies for seven years 

 have been devoted to marine zoology and the scientific treat- 

 ment of the problems of the fisheries at the chief marine 

 laboratories of Europe, including Naples, Plymouth, &c., and 

 both the old laboratory and the new (Gatty) laboratory at St. 

 Andrews, where he was trained. 



We learn from the Bei-liiier Klinische Wochenschrift that 

 the second annual congress of the German Association for 

 School Hygiene, which was founded about two years ago for 

 the purpose of studying and promoting all matters relating to 

 health and hygiene in connection with schools, was held at 

 Wiesbaden on May 31. The municipal authorities of that city 

 placed the " Curhaus " at the disposal of the council of that 

 association, where all the official meetings were held during 

 the congress. The attendance was a large and a representative 

 one, and the programme contained many important and highly 

 instructive subjects, of which the following may particularly be 

 mentioned : (i) the new Prussian school reform in relation to 

 school-hygiene; (2) the hygienic condition of German schools 

 in general, with special reference to that of Wiesbaden ; (3) the 

 prevention of infectious diseases regarded from a general point 

 of view, with special reference to the spread of tuberculous 

 affections amongst school children. 



The Educational News of Scotland states that the following 

 is the list of candidates for the chair of natural philosophy in 

 Edinburgh University, vacant through the resignation of Prof. 

 'I'ait : — Prof. J. C. Beattie, South African College, Cape Town ; 

 Prof. Ci. H. Bryan, F. R.S., University College, North Wales ; 

 Dr. Charles Chree, F.R..S., National Physical Laboratory, 

 Richmond ; Dr. Cargill G. Knott, University of Edinburgh ; 

 Prof. J. P. Kuenen, University College, Dundee ; Dr. Charles 

 H. Lees, Owens College, Manchester ; Mr. David B. Mair, 

 Civil Service Commis.sion, London; Prof. J. A. M'CIelland, 

 University College, Dublin; Prof. J. G. MacGregor, F.R.S., 

 Dalhousie University, Halifax, U.S.A.; Prof. Karl Pearson, 

 F.R.S., University College, London; Mr. G. F. C. Searle, 

 Cambridge; Mr. George W. Walker, Cambridge; Mr Gilbert 

 T. Walker, Cambridge; Mr. C. T. R. Wilson, F.R.S., 

 Cambridge. 



Prof. Ramsay expressed the views of a number of teachers 

 and investigators in the annual oration delivered by him at 

 University College, London, last week, on " The Functions of 

 a University." The essential principle of University work 

 should be research. This, said Prof. Ramsay, should be the 

 goal to be clearly kept in view in the philosophical faculties of 

 Universities. He was not one of those who would urge that 

 a young man should not learn a great deal of what had been 

 already discovered before he attempted to soar on his own wings. 

 But there was all the difference in the world between the point 

 of view of the student who read in order to qualify for an ex- 

 amination, or to gain a prize or scholarship, and the student 

 who read because he knew that thus he would acquire know- 

 ledge which might be used as a basis of new knowledge. It 

 was that spirit in which our Universities were so lamentably 

 deficient ; it was that spirit which had contributed to the success 

 of the Teutonic nations, and which was beginning to influence 

 the United States. A University which did not increase know- 

 ledge might be a technical school or a coaching establishment, 

 but it had no claim to the name University. 'The best way of 

 fitting young men for the manifold requirements of the Empire 

 was to give them the power of advancing knowledge. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Chemical Society, May 16.— Prof. Emerson Reynolds, 

 president, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 Derivatives of methylfurfural, by H. J. H. Fenton and Miss M. 

 Gostling. A simple method of obtaining pure methylfurfural is 

 described. — Optically active nitrogen compounds and their bear- 

 ing on the valency of nitrogen ; dextro- and l:vvo-a-benzyI- 



