70 



NA TURE 



[May 19, 1904 



case of human blood, its content in agglutinating sub- 

 stances, bactericidal substances, red blood corpuscles, albu- 

 minous substances, calcium salts, and salts generally : Dr. 

 A. E. Wright. — (i) Wax model of the marmoset's brain; 

 (2) sections from which the wax model was constructed : 

 Mr. Gustav Mann. 



(i) Colour printed geological maps; (2) geological model 

 of the Isle of Purbeck : the director of the Geological 

 Survey and Museum. — Models illustrative of mountain 

 building : Lord Avebury, F.R.S. — (i) A set of lantern slides 

 of microscopic sections of igneous rocks, &c. ; {2) portable 

 sounding machine for mountain lakes : Prof. E. J. Garwood. 

 — Series of geological and other drawings and plans : Prot. 

 J. P. O'Reilly. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — In connection with the approaching inter- 

 national assembly of representatives of academies, it is 

 proposed to confer the degree of Doctor of .Science honoris 

 causa on Prof. Bakhuyzen, of Leyden ; Dr. Faminstyn, of 

 St. Petersburg ; Dr. Mojsisovics von Mojsv^r, of Vienna ; 

 Prof. Retzius, of Stockholm ; Prof. Riecke, of Gottingen ; 

 and Prof. Waldeyer, of Berlin ; and the degree of Doctor 

 of Letters honoris causa on Count de Franqueville, of 

 Paris ; Prof. Goldziher, of Budapest ; Prof. Gomperz, of 

 Vienna ; Prof. Krumbacher, of Munich ; Prof. Leroy- 

 Beaulieu, of Paris ; and Dr. Perrot, of Paris. 



Mr. W. J. Sell, F.R.S. , and Mr. H. J. H. Fenton, F.R.S. , 

 are to be appointed university lecturers in chemistry, and 

 Mr. A. Marker, F.R.S., a university lecturer in petrology. 



The Senate of the Royal University of Ireland has re- 

 solved to confer, honoris causa, the degree of Doctor of 

 Science on Sir William Crookes and on Prof. J. Dewar. 



Science states that the New York University has received 

 an anonymous gift of 2500!. for the Medical College, and 

 that the American Geographical Society has received a 

 bequest of 60G0/. from Sarah M. de Vaugrigneuse. 



In a paper on " Local Expenditure and Local Indebted- 

 ness in England and Wales," read by Mr. R. J. Thompson 

 at the Royal Statistical Society on Tuesday, it was stated 

 that education showed an increase of expenditure from 

 4,806,000/. in i88g to a sum of nearly 11,000,000/. in 1902. 

 The cost of erecting school buildings had during the same 

 time — i88g onwards — augmented the outstanding loans 

 from 9,937,000/. to 33,564,000/. London incurred 29 per 

 cent, of the total expenditure, while it contributed only one- 

 fifth of the total number of pupils. 



The inauguration on February 10 of an information 

 bureau in connection with the University of Paris is an 

 excellent innovation. The bureau will afford information 

 on all matters connected with higher education in Paris, 

 whether in Government or private institutions. Those who 

 in this country are contemplating entering a university, and 

 who have spent hours in trying to derive some tangible 

 ideas from calendars and class syllabuses, will appreciate 

 the useful purpose which would be served by a bureau of 

 this character. If such a bureau would go a little further, 

 and furnish to candidates for chairs and lectureships 

 some idea of the duties they would have to perform, its 

 value will be still greater. 



The President of the Board of Education, the Marquess 

 of Londonderry, K.G., has appointed a departmental com- 

 mittee to inquire into the present working of the Royal 

 College of Science, including the School of Mines, to con- 

 sider in what manner the staff, together with the buildings 

 and appliances now in occupation or in course of construc- 

 tion, may be utilised to the fullest extent for the promotion 

 of higher scientific studies in connection with the work of 

 existing or projected institutions for instruction of the same 

 character in the metropolis or elsewhere, and to report on 

 any changes which may be desirable in order to carry out 

 such recommendations as they may make. Sir Francis 

 Mowatt, G.C.B., is chairman of the committee, and Mr. 

 J. C. G. Sykes, assistant secretary in the branch of the 

 board which deals with evening schools, technology, and 



NO. 1803, VOL. 70] 



higher education in science and art, has been appointed 

 secretary to the committee. The London County Council 

 is represented on the committee. 



A DEPUTATION consisting of representatives of various 

 county councils was received by Sir William Anson on May 

 13 with reference to the abrogation of the arrangements 

 which were in vogue under what was known as Clause 7 

 of the Directory of the Science and Art Department. The 

 deputation explained that county councils had hoped when 

 the Education Act became law that it would be recognised 

 more fully than before that these councils were the authori- 

 ties for all grades of education, including particularly 

 higher education. But the new regulations taking the 

 place of Clause 7 have reduced their powers, and county 

 councils are hampered in the performance of the duties 

 expected of them. In reply. Sir William Anson explained 

 that Clause 7 was an attempt to bring local authorities into 

 relations with the efforts being made to give science and 

 art and technical teaching, assisted by the Board of Educa- 

 tion, and limited in the first instance to institutions of a 

 very different character from ordinary secondary schools. 

 Local authorities are now in a position to deal with the 

 whole of secondary education, and not merely with the 

 subject-matter which was contemplated in Regulation 7. 

 Sir William Anson, in conclusion, asked the deputation to 

 consider the vv'ider question which they should have in view 

 in dealing with secondary education, and not merely from 

 the point of view of exercising their own authority and 

 the speedy transaction of their own business. What he 

 deprecated was that at that early stage in the working of 

 the .^ct, the Board of Education should be asked to stereo- 

 type the relations of local authorities for the secondary 

 schools within their area. 



At the annual conversazione of the Medical Society of 

 London on Monday, Sir Isambard Owen delivered the 

 annual oration, taking for his subject " The Future of 

 London Medical Education." After contrasting the interest 

 displayed by Continental States in scientific research and 

 public education with the indifference evinced towards them 

 by the generality of Englishmen, and pointing out that this 

 indifterence could only be a passing phase, due to patent 

 historical causes, he expressed the hope that the reports of 

 the Mosely Commissioners, with their marvellous tale of 

 recent educational progress in America and the fabulous 

 amounts of public and private money freely lavished upon 

 it, would at last awaken attention here to the backward 

 state of things at the heart of the British Empire. Of all 

 forms of higher education, he submitted, none could lay 

 greater claim to public support than medical education. 

 The unendowed London schools had still to carry the entire 

 burden of the preliminary academic training of their students 

 — a task which elsewhere was now undertaken by endowed 

 universities and university colleges. Until the reconsti- 

 tution of the University of London, no practicable way out 

 of the difficulty could be seen. Sir Isambard Owen then 

 detailed the plan which the university had adopted of 

 establishing a public institute within its bounds and under 

 its direct control to undertake teaching in physics, 

 chemistry, biology, anatomy, and physiology for the 

 purposes of medical students. Including buildings, the 

 institute would cost about 375,000/. to establish. .As the 

 State declined all responsibility for professional education 

 in England, the university could only look to enlightened 

 private liberality. Wealthy men in London capable of 

 being fired by emulation of Transatlantic gifts to education 

 should make this modest benefaction their peculiar care. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Anthropological Institute, April 26. — Sir Thomas 

 Holdich, K.C.M.G., &c., in the chair. — Prof. W. Ridgeway 

 delivered a lecture on the origin of jewellery. Prof. 

 Ridgeway holds that the objects employed in modern 

 jewellery had their origin in magical properties attributed 

 to them and not in aesthetic, although the a?sthetic reason 

 for wearing them undoubtedly influenced the wearers at 

 an early stage (see Nature, October 29, 1903, vol. l.xviii. 

 p. 636). 



