November 28, 1918 



NATURE 



259 



parts of the world have been so admitted. In thi 

 course of lasl year an appeal was addressed to the 

 universities of the United Kingdom on behalf of the 



idian universities asking (i) for the establish- 

 ment of a doctoral degrei thi qualifications for which 



account ol preliminary work done in Canada 



1 wer degrees, ol the degi ee to be 



.C-, in bring ii within the Reach ol the besl 

 Canadian students who hold the preliminary Canadian 



■ ; 1 ■ 1 foi Ihe time to be spenl in the United 

 Kingdom nol to exceed three years; and (3) for the 

 provision b\ the British universities of .1 certain 



.11 ol scholarships open particularl) to students 



from thi Overseas Dominions. With respect to the 



st, thi I niversitj of London has always 



ded the \\ ork done bj a another uni- 



versity as the foundation of his claim for admission. 

 A candidate so admitted stands on the same footing 

 English candidate, and should have an equal 

 chance of obtaining a doctoral degree. Arrangements 

 havi been made for informing Overseas students 

 before leaving their homes whether they ran be ad- 

 mitted. Thi equest is met bj the regiila- 

 under whirl), out of thi Four or five years which 

 must elapse between the date of the examination 

 which forms the basis of admission and that of the 

 1 xamination for the doctoral degree, only two need 

 be spent in London. The third request can hi' com- 

 plied with if sufficient financial support is provided 

 hv tin Parliaments of the Empire and the Overseas 

 I dominions. 



Oxford.— Sir Basil Zaharofl has intimated to the 

 Vice-Chancellor his desire to offei to the Universitj 

 the sum of 25,000!. " for the establishment of a chair 



ench,-to be called the Marshal Foch professor- 

 ship of French literature, and for other purposes con- 

 ■ ith the promotion of French studies." 



I'm >um of 20,000/. h;is been offered t<> the George 

 Watson's College, Edinburgh, b\ Mr. James Glass, 

 indon, in aid of the establishment of a school 

 df chemistry at that institution. 



I111 title of emeritus professoi "I experimental 

 philosophy has been conferred upon Dr. E. II. 

 Griffiths, F.R.S., on his retirement from the principal- 

 ship of the University College ol South Wales and 

 Monmouthshire. 



The course of twelve Swim \ lectures on geology 

 for r<>iH— ic> will 1» delivered al the Royal Society of 

 Arts, beginning on December ro, by Dr. T. J. Jehu, 

 who will take as his subject " Man and his Ancestry." 

 The lectures will be given al 5,30 o'clock, and admis- 

 s> in « ill !>< frei 

 The Elgar scholarship in naval architecture, which 

 the annual value of rooZ. and tenable for three 

 rill bi offi red foi c< impetition in 1919 among 

 ts of the Institution of Naval Architects. Com- 

 munications respecting the scholarship should be sent 

 3 retary of the institution, ;, AdeJphi Terrace, 



W.C.2 



Applications ate invited by the Sailers' Institute 

 of Industrial Chemistry for a limited number of 

 fellowships, value from 250Z. to 300I. per annum, to 

 aided foi post-graduate study in the methods 

 of chemical research, or in any branch of chemistry 

 bearing on industry, including chemical engineering, 

 to young chemists who have completed a degree course 

 al a recognised collegi oruniversity, and whose training 

 has been interrupted by naval, military, or national 

 service. Applications, with references and full par- 

 ticulars of training and experience, should be sent to 

 thi Directoi of thi Salters' Institute, Salters' Hall, 

 St Su ithin's Lam . E.C.4. 



NO. 2.561, VOL. I02] 



<K Saturday last, November j.}, the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer, the President of the Board of Educa- 

 tion, and the Secretary for Scotland received a deputa- 

 tion of representatives of all the universities of the 

 United Kingdom and of certain other institutions 

 doing work of university standard. The Irish Chief 

 Secretar} was, al the lasl moment, prevented from 

 being present. Oxford and Cambridge took part in 

 the deputation, not as suppliants, but for the sake of 

 showing the solidarity of the universities in their plea 

 that higher education does not at presenl receive the 

 degree of support from the State which is essential if 

 the educational fabric is to be complete and the brains 

 ui the nation are to be adequately trained for the ser- 

 vice of the Stale. The deputation was introduced l>\ 



Sir Donald MacAlister, K.C.B., Vice-Chancellor and 

 Principal of the University of Glasgow. The case for 

 the universities of England and Wall s was presented 

 1>\ Sir Oliver Lodge, that for the Scottish universities 

 - Sir Donald MacAlister, and that for the Irish uni- 

 versities by Sir Bertram Windle. Sir Alfred Ewing 

 spoke of the need for a capital fund available for 

 buildings and equipment. The claims of the "humani- 

 ties" were advocated b\ Sii George Adam Smith, those 

 ol science by Prof. W. II. Bragg, those of medicine 

 b\ Sir Bertrand Dawson, and those of commerce and 

 economics by Sir William Ashley. Sir Alfred Dale, 

 Sir Gregorv Foster, and Prof. Gillespie also spoke. 

 The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the President 

 of the Board of Education made sympathetic replies. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Meteorological Society, November 20. — Sir Napier 

 Shaw, president, in the chair. Prof. R. DeC. Ward : 

 The larger relations of climate and crops in the United 

 Stales. For the purpose of his inquiry Prof. Ward 

 divides the States into two major divisions separated 

 by the mean annual rainfall line of 20 in., which 

 forms the eastern boundary of the Great Plains. 

 These are again divided into agricultural districts or 

 belts as a framework into which the larger facts of 

 climate and crop distribution and of types of farming 

 are fitted. The eastern half of the country has suffi- 

 cient rain in normal years, and ordinary farming 

 methods are followed. The western half, with 

 generally inadequate rainfall, is a region of irrigation, 

 of drv farmin.f. and of grazing. Here there are 110 

 -real bells distinguished by certain dominant crops as 

 in the east ; the crops are very varied, often extremely 

 localised. The crops in both divisions are discussed 

 with much detail as to the influence of climatic factors. A 

 comprehensive bibliograph) i- appended. — Capt. C. J. P. 

 Ca\e and J. S. Dines: Soundings with pilot balloons in 

 the Isles of Scilly, November and December, iqn. The 

 ascents wen- made to ascertain the wind structure in 

 .1 place where the effect of land masses may be re- 

 garded .as at a minimum. The Scilly Isles consist of 

 a small grout) of islands twenty-five miles south-west 

 oi Land's End. The greatest height above sea- 

 levi I dm s inn much exceed 150 ft. The period covered 

 by the observations (November 22 to December 8) 

 marked the setting in of a south-westerly tvpe of 

 pressure distribution, with low pressure over Iceland. 

 This type became well developed by November 30, 

 and during lb'' rest of the period several pronounced 

 secondaries passed across the British Isles from the 

 Atlantic. The ascents show that the changes in wind 

 associated with the passage of these secondaries wer«i 

 more marked near the surface than al greater heights. 

 Taking the mean of the ascents, the layer in which 

 surface friction made itself felt on the wind velocity 

 I was decidedlv shallower than at inland stations. The 



