October 27, 1904] 



NA TURE 



643 



Lord Kelvin will be installed as Clunucllor of the Uni- 

 versity of Glasgow in the Bute Hall on lueschn, 

 November jy. 



Pkok. Windle, Dean of the Medical I-"aculty at Birniing- 

 hain Lniversitv, has been appointed to the presidency of 

 Oiieen's College, Cork, in succession to Sir Rowland 

 Hlcnnerhassett. 



Tkof. Harry E. Clifford has been appointed acting 

 head of the department of electrical engineering at the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, in succession 

 to Dr. Louis Duncan, resigned. 



At a meeting of the governors of the South-Eastern Agri- 

 cultural College at Wye, held on Monday, October 24, it 

 was decided to develop' further the forestry department, for 

 which a grant will be sought from the Board of Agriculture. 

 Mr. Sidney H. Wells and the Rev. James W'ent have 

 accepted the invitation of the President of the Board of 

 Education to serve on the consultative committee in place of 

 Prof. Henry E. .Armstrong and the Rev. Dr. Gow, who 

 retire in accordance with the terms of the Order in Council 

 by which the committee was constituted. 



Y.\LE University, it is reported, will receive by the will 

 of Mr. Levi Clinton /eits the sum of about 40,000/. We 

 learn further from cieiice that the veterinary department 

 of the University o! -nnsylvania has received an anonymous 

 gift of 20,oooi., C'- -.mbia University a gift of 3250/. from 

 Nir. H. E. Garth fjr the establishment of a scholarship, 

 and 2000/. from an anonymous donor for the purchase of 

 hooks. 



.\ Welsh national conference on the training of teachers 

 is to be held at Shrewsbury on November 10 and 11. Re- 

 presentatives from the Court and Senate of the University 

 of Wales, from the Council and Senate of each of the Welsh 

 university colleges, from the local education authorities, 

 the local governing bodies, as well as from the educational 

 associations throughout Wales, are expected to be present. 

 The conference will be fully representative, and is expected 

 to have important results. 



By the will of the late Dr. Isaac Roberts, the reversion 

 of his residuary estate, probably between 30.000/. and 

 35,000/., is to be divided equally between the University of 

 Liverpool and the University Colleges of \orth and South 

 Wales, for the purpose of founding scholarships. In the 

 award of the scholarships preference is to be given to persons 

 studying or intending to study astronomy, biology, zoology, 

 botany, chemistry, electricity, geology, and physics, under 

 conditions determined by the councils. 



New physical and engineering laboratories were opened 

 at the York Railway Institute of the North-Eastern Rail- 

 way Company on October 20 by Sir Edward Grey. During 

 the course of an address. Sir Edward Grey said he was 

 convinced that no country was more qualified by nature and 

 brains to make use of good scientific training than our 

 own, and, therefore, there was all the more reason why 

 ihere should be good opportunities of acquiring it. In the 

 great struggle for success everything depended on the use 

 made of scientific discoveries. 



Dr. C. Pomer.vnz has been appointed assistant professor 

 of chemistry in the University of Vienna, Dr. Johannes 

 Konigsberger assistant professor of theoretical physics at 

 I'reiburg, and Dr. Paul Rabe, of Jena, has been raised to 

 the standing of assistant professor at Jena. Profs. H. Joly 

 (mathematics) and A. Dommer (mechanics), of Lausanne, 

 have been raised from the rank of assistant to that of 

 ordinary professor. Dr. Sommer has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of mathematics at the Danzig Technical College ; 

 Dr. Kurlbaum, of the Charlottenburg National Physical 

 Laboratory, has been appointed ordinary professor at the 

 Berlin Technical College; and Dr. Max Bodenstein assistant 

 professor of chemistry at the University of Leipzig. 



The meeting of teachers engaged in I-ondon polytechnics, 

 technical institutes, and schools of art, announced in our 

 last issue, was held at Birkbeck College on October 22, to 

 promote an association of technical teachers for the advance- 

 ment of technical education generally, interchange of Tdeas 

 on methods of teaching, and the safeguarding of professional 



NO. 1826, VOL. 70] 



interests. The following resolution was adopted by a large 

 majori'y :— " That this meeting hereby decides to form an 

 association of science, technological, and art teachers 

 engaged in the London polytechnics, technical institutes, 

 and schools of art, such association to comprise both per- 

 manent staffs and evening teachers, other than those 

 engaged in purely secondary work." An executive com- 

 mittee of fifteen members was appointed to draft rules and 

 constitution, and to report to a general meeting to be held 

 in January. 



A COFY of the prospectus for 1904-5 of the Leith Nautical 

 College has been received. The college is devoted w'hoUy 

 to technical instruction in subjects directly connected with 

 the sea. It is equipped with physical and mechanical 

 laboratories and appliances for every branch of nautical 

 education. Experimental work is provided in magnetism 

 and electricity in regard to their seafaring application, in 

 the teaching of seamanship, and in shipbuilding. The 

 teaching arrangements are framed to suit the needs of the 

 migratory seafaring community ; for students can enter at 

 any time, and can attend for long periods or for recurring 

 short periods, as may be convenient to them. The work of 

 the college, as the programme of instruction shows, is in no 

 way limited by the requirements for the Board of Trade 

 examinations, but every facility is offered in the numerous 

 subjects of a higher naval education. Among courses of 

 study included in this programme may be mentioned those 

 on oceanic meteorology and instruments, with the bearing 

 of meteorological elements on ocean routes, and on ship 

 manoeuvring in cyclones ; on shipping and commercial law, 

 including the commercial duties of a shipmaster ; and on 

 ship surgery, medicine, and hygiene at sea. Special classes 

 have been arranged for fishermen in fisherman's navigation, 

 w-eather knowledge, knotting and splicing, and in rigger's 

 work. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 17. — M. Mascart in the 

 chair. — On the four first numbers of the photographic 

 catalogue of the heavens published by the Observatory of 

 Toulouse : .M. Lcewy. The parts now published contain the 

 rectilinear coordinates of 32,275 stars, obtained from 186 

 negatives. The introduction to vol. ii., by M. Baillaud, also 

 gives a complete account of the method of reduction followed 

 at Toulouse, as well as of the special methods used in the 

 measurements of the coordinates and for the calculation of 

 the constants. An account is also given of the method 

 adopted for measuring the relative magnitudes of the stars 

 and of an experimental study of the photographic objective 

 employed. Statistical studies made at the Observatories of 

 Oxford, Toulouse, and Potsdam have shown that the mean 

 distribution of the star images in the negatives of the cata- 

 logue is not uniform, and prove that the focal surfaces of 

 the six- objectives studied (.Algeria, Oxford, Paris, Potsdam, 

 San Fernando, and Toulouse) have an appreciable curvature. 

 — The study of the third group of air bands with a strong 

 dispersion : H. Deslandres and A. Kannapell. A de- 

 tailed description is given of the study of the third group 

 of air bands occupying the more refrangible half of the 

 ultra-violet region (A. 3000 to A 2000). The general result 

 confirms the conclusions arrived at in 1885, each band under 

 strong dispersion being always formed of eight series of 

 rays in arithmetical progression. A drawing is given for 

 the band A 2370, in which this structure is clearly shown. 

 — On a new system of micrometers : G. Millochau. The 

 wire micrometer, which is attended with certain incon- 

 veniences, is replaced by an instrument based on the 

 principle of the heliometer. Two identical plates of glass 

 with parallel faces are placed in a plane perpendicular to 

 the optical axis of the telescope employed, between the 

 objective and the eye-piece. The plates turn round a 

 common axis and give rise to a double image of the star, 

 the distance between the two images being practically in- 

 dependent of small displacements of the telescope. — Observ- 

 ations of the sun made at the Observatory of Lyons with 

 the It) cm. Brunner equatorial during the second quarter 

 of 1904 : J. Guillaume. The results are summarised in 

 three tables giving the number of spots, their distribution 



