July 7, 1904] 



NATURE 



'■n 



Prof. J. Dewar. 

 Liquidone de aere loquitur quis? Occurrit menti lacobus 

 Dewar. Quid enim? Partem aliquam aeris circum- 

 ambientis corripere, secernere in vasculo, cogere ut modo 

 fluat sicut aqua, modo congeletur sicut glacies, nonne haec 

 ultra ingenii humani fines videntur? Quae tamen posse 

 fieri iamdudum notum est : immo, aliquando facta sunt, sed 

 in tenui erat et labor et successus. Ulterius vero progressus 

 est lacobus Dewar, qui cum neque impensae neque labori 

 neque cogitationibus suis parceret, instrumenta exquisi- 

 tissima perfecit, quibus vis aliqua maior vel aeris vel 

 tenuissimarum illarum substantiarum ipsum aera subtilitate 

 superantium modo liquida modo solida fiat. Ita nova 

 quaedam et potentissima Naturam investigantibus subsidia, 

 quibus ipse maximo cum fructu usus est, aliis tradidit, cum 

 materia qualis sit omni fere caloris particula ablata homines 

 iam cognoscere possint. 



Prof. J. Larmor. 

 Newtonus ille, " qui genus humanum ingenio superavit," 

 solem terram lunam planetas nutu quodam et pondere con- 

 tineri docuit, et motus suos conficere hac vi compulsos. 

 Cui successit his diebus losephus Larmor, cathedrae 

 Newtonianae novissimum decus, qui vir ingenio Hibernus, 

 mathematices scientia vere Cantabrigiensis, id fecit ut in 

 omni omnis corporis atomo mundi imaginem expressam 

 videremus, cum doceret particulas minutissimas, e quibus 

 corporum atomi constent, vi electrica contineri et hoc 

 n-.omento coactas quasi per orbitas agitari. Quae doctrina 

 non modo in ordinem convenientem redegit quidquid antea 

 de luminis natura de vi electrica et magnetica compertum 

 est, sed nodos difficillimos, quibus implicantur ii qui experi- 

 mentis faciendis se totos dant, omnes exsolvit. 



At presentation day of the University of Manchester on 

 July 2, the honorary degree of D.Sc. was conferred on 

 Prof. B. Brauner, of the Czech University of Prague, Dr. 

 Ludwig Mond, F.R.S., and Dr. W. H. Perkin, sen., 

 F.R.S. 



The Schunck Laboratory, which was bequeathed to Owens 

 College by the late Dr. Schunck, and has been removed 

 fiom his residence at Kersal and rebuilt in the college pre- 

 cincts as nearly as possible in its original form, was formally 

 opened by Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S. , last week. 



We learn from Science that at the recent commencement 

 exercises of Columbia University a gift of 50,000/. from 

 Mr. Lew^isohn was announced, to be used for a building 

 for the School of Mines. It is also reported that the sum 

 of 65,000/. has been collected for MacAlaster College in 

 Minnesota. The largest gifts were 20,000/. from Mr. 

 C. D. Dayton and 10,000/. from Mr. J. J. Hill. 



The first volume, January to June, 1904, of School, the 

 new educational periodical published by Mr. John Murray, 

 has now been issued. It contains a good supply of articles 

 on educational subjects of theoretical interest which will 

 appeal to the student of pedagogics. Matters of educational 

 administration, and notes on the way in which the recent 

 Education .^cts are being utilised by local authorities, are 

 given a prominent place. The teaching of science, and 

 topics of especial interest to those engaged in this part of 

 school work, receive but little attention. 



In connection with the opening of the new laboratories 

 and workshops by Sir William H. White, K.C.B., at the 

 Merchant Venturers' Technical College, Bristol — which was 

 announced in our issue of June 9 — the governing body has 

 issued a lavishly illustrated " Souvenir," which provides an 

 excellent account of the work and equipment of the enlarged 

 institution. In tracing the growth of the college during the 

 last fourteen years, the paciiphlet shows that during this 

 period the number of adult students attending the day 

 classes has increased five-fold, the number in attendance 

 in 1S90 being 48, and this year 242. It is only necessary 

 to read the descriptions of the workshops provided for the 

 technical instruction of printers, bookbinders, painters, 

 plumbers, and engineers of various kinds to appreciate how 

 much is being done in Bristol to train fully qualified work- 

 men for the city's industries, and the large number of 

 students who attend the courses of work provided shows 



NO. I 8 10, VOL. 70] 



that the men themselves appreciate what is offered. The 

 piovision of classes in the branches of science associated 

 with these technical subjects is also satisfactory. 



The recently published " Besuchs-Statistik " for the 

 semester ending in March last shows that there were 37,854 

 matriculated students studying in German universities, in- 

 cluding 3093 foreigners (this is the highest total ever reached 

 by the non-German element) ; the number of non-matricu- 

 lated students was 9187, thus making a sum total of 47,041. 

 Of the different universities, Berlin easily stands first with 

 7503 matriculated and 6353 non-matriculated students. 

 The next in numerical order are Munich with 4609, Leipzig 

 with 3772, and Bonn with 2294 students of all classes. 

 Breslau and Halle have each more than 1500, and the 

 following nine universities more than 1000 students :— 

 Tubingen, Gottingen, Heidelberg, Strassburg, Freiburg, 

 Wurzburg, Miinster, Marburg, and Giessen. Of the foreign 

 students 2620 are Europeans, consequently leaving 473 who 

 hail from the other continents. Among these 2620 European 

 students, Russia, with 986, sends considerably the largest 

 contingent; then follow Austria and Switzerland. It is a 

 remarkable fact shown by the statistics that by far the 

 largest proportion of non-matriculated to matriculated 

 students, viz. 42 per cent., is to be found in Berlin. The 

 weaker sex, represented at all the universities except 

 .Miinster, Greifswald, and Rostock, forms a seventh part of 

 the total of non-matriculated students. Berlin claims the 

 largest portion of Germany's lady students, for 42 out of 

 every 100 prefer to study in the Imperial capital, the uni- 

 versities next in favour being Breslau, Bonn, and Strass- 

 burg, but here their numbers never exceed 100. 

 The total number of students at the French universities 

 for the semester ending in March was 30,405. Here 

 again the university in the capital easily heads the list 

 with 12,948 students. Then come Bordeaux, 2320; 

 Toulouse, 2igi; Montpellier, 1707; Nancy, 1327 ; Rennes, 

 1190; Lille, 1 164; -Aix-Marseille, 1080; Dijon, 880; Poitiers, 

 863 ; Caen, 752 ; Grenoble, 705 ; Besanijon, 333 ; and 

 Clermont, 299. 10,972 belonged to the law faculty, 6686 

 to the medical, 4765 to the science, 4384 to the arts, 3014 

 to the " pharmaceutical " faculty. The numbers of 

 foreigners, amounting to nearly 2000I included 450 Russians, 

 200 Persians, 175 Roumanians, 165 Germans, 109 

 Bulgarians, 113 Turks, S3 Egyptians, 57 Americans, and 

 35 English students. The sum total of women students 

 amounted to 1125, of whom 677 were of French nationality 

 and 448 foreigners — almost entirely of Russian birth. 



The Senate of the University of London, at a meeting 

 on June 28, considered a report from the committee appointed 

 to deal with the offer of the Goldsmiths' Company to 

 transfer to the university the Goldsmiths' Institute at New 

 Cross. The Senate decided to accept the munificent offer 

 of the company, and an ad interim committee was 

 appointed to carry out the reorganisation of the institute. 

 To meet the needs of the county councils of London, 

 Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey, and the borough council of 

 Croydon, it is proposed that a day training college for 

 about 400 students shall be opened in the Goldsmiths' 

 Institute in the autumn of 1905. In connection with this 

 college it is considered important that day classes should 

 be held preparatory for the intermediate examinations, or 

 up to the standard of the intermediate examinations, in 

 arts and science. This scheme will absorb the funds at the 

 disposal of the university, which will thus be unable to 

 carry on other classes unless it receives further financial 

 support. Should such support be forthcoming, it is pre- 

 pared to carry on at New Cross the higher part of the work 

 of a polytechnic, and to continue the existing school of 

 art. It will not be possible for the university to 

 continue the social and recreative side of the institute. 

 The scheme has received the full approval of the Gold- 

 smiths' Company. The Education Committee of the London 

 County Council has also had the affairs of the Goldsmiths' 

 Institute under consideration, and on Tuesday the council 

 accepted its recommendations to inform the Goldsmiths' 

 Company that the coimcil would view with regret the 

 closing of the Goldsmiths' Institute and the termination 

 of its educational work as a polytechnic, and inviting the 

 company to consider whether some arrangement cannot be 

 come to by which the work of the institute could be con- 



