4 1 S 



NATURE 



-' .v I l ) 1 ' ) 



at e allow i d to mi n « ho have bi en on war sei ■ 

 i. ii in. i less than six months, « hi ther th< t 

 previously joined a college or not, an.] th 



ipted either from the previous or from one ;'p i ial 

 examination. Those who haw served for shortei 

 periods may also be granted certain i si mptions. 



Ai the end of January lour hundred naval lieu- 

 tenants and sub-lieutenants are coming to Cambridgi 

 for a six months' course. These are men who were 

 promoted from the rank of midshipman during the 

 war before completing their normal preliminary course 

 oi study. They will be distributed among several col- 

 leges, and will he undei naval discipline. The Univer- 

 sity_ will provide instruction lor- them in physics ami 

 engineering, and, in addition, courses in various 

 optional subjects, literarj as will as scientific, are 

 being arranged. 



A COMMERCIA1 library, established by tin- subscrip- 

 tions ot local business men, was opened in Dundee 

 on Januan i; by Sir Alfred Ewing, principal of the 

 University of Edinburgh. 



The Edinburgh Universit) Courl has approved 

 the scheme for the founding ol a chair of mental 

 diseases, submitted In the hoard of tin- Royal Edin- 

 burgh Asylum for the Insane, which has o'ffered an 

 endowment of 10,000/. towards the salary. 



Sir John- Herkless, principal of St. Andrews Uni- 

 versity, announced thai Mr. George Bonar, presidenl 

 of the Dundee Chamber of Commerce, has given 

 ^5,000/. lo establish a scheme of commercial education 

 in connection with University College, Dundee. One 

 of the conditions of the gift is that a degree ol 

 Bachelor of Commerce should be established, and that 

 university students seeking that degree should not be 

 compelled to pass a preliminary examination or to 

 have come from higher or secondary schools, but that 

 boys or youths who present themselves should be 

 admitted if they are able to show that they ate capable 

 of improvement and of undertaking university study. 



Some years ago Prof. MacGregor, of Edinburgh 

 University, with the help of a committee of the late 

 Prof. Tait's friends and former students, launched a 

 scheme for establishing a Tail memorial chair in 

 mathematical physics and applied mathematics. Con- 

 siderable progress in collecting funds had been made, 

 but Prof. MacGregor's death and the advent of the 

 war prevented the scheme being proceeded with. 

 Recently, however, the committee, with the cordial 

 support of the University authorities, has resolved 

 to make a general appeal for funds towards the en- 

 dowment of the proposed chair. About 15,000/. will 

 be required. In connection with this movement an 

 anonymous donor has placed in the hands ,,f the 

 I niversity Court for a certain number of vears an 

 investment yielding yearly a considerable interest to 

 accumulate as part of the endowment of the Tail chair 

 of mathematical physics. The Tait memorial com- 

 mittee will welcome similar contributions, which may 

 be intimated to the general secretary of the Royal 

 Soeietv ol Edinburgh, who acts as hon. secretary of 

 the committee. 



We barn from Science that the will of Capt. J. R. 

 De Lamar, mineowner and director, leaves nearly half 

 of his estate, estimated at 4,000,000/., to the Harvard 

 I niversitj Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, 

 and the College of Physicians and Surgeons oi 

 Columbia Universit) for medical research. The 

 bequests to these institutions in equal shares consist 

 of his residuary estate, estimated at about 2,000,000!. 

 He gave a trust fund of 2,000,000!. to his only child, 

 Alice A. De Lamar, with the provision that if she 

 dies without issue tin- principal of this fund also goes 

 NO. 2569, VOL. I02] 



11 institution-, nan d. I be will requests that this 

 fund be used tin the studj ami teaching of the origin 

 of human disease and tin prevention thereof; tor the 

 stud] ind leaching ol dietetics and of th< 1 ff< cl of 

 different food and diets on the human s\stem, anil 

 how in conserve health by proper food and diet." 



Ilie nn.ne\ is to be used lo establish fellow 



scholarships, and professorships; to provide lab 

 tories, clinics, dispensaries, and other places f,,i 

 and 1 ' seat 1 h ; and to publish tin- results oi 

 research, not onl\ in scientific journals, but also b\ 

 popular publications and public lectures. 



1 1 was pointed out by Sir J. J. Thomson in his 

 presidential address to the Royal Soeietv in H117 that 



much public good might be done by the publication 

 ol a popular periodical in which all aspects of pro- 

 gressive knowledge are presented simply and accurately 

 for general readers. Few articles of this type appe;n 

 iii the magazines; and the daily Pies, is natural!) 

 more concerned with subjects of topical interest than 

 with descriptive accounts of the state of know led-, ol 

 any particular subject, however stimulating such 

 surveys may be in style or substance. It is believed 

 that teachers would welcome a periodical which would 

 give them at least a glimpse of what is being accom- 

 plished in many developing fields of knowledgi 

 scientific or otherwise and that the extended views 

 thus obtained would often put new life into the body 

 of instruction. To consider proposals for the founda- 

 tion of a periodical with this intention, a conferenci 

 was held recently, with the Rev. Dr. Temple in the 

 chair, in the rooms of the Royal Society, at which 

 representatives wen- present of twenty associations, 

 including the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, 

 the Classical, English, Geographical, Public School 

 Science Masters', Historical, Modern Language, 

 Librarv, and Workers' Kducational Associations, 

 Roval Soeietv of Literature, National Home Reading 

 Union, and the chief professional associations of 

 teachers. It was resolved bv the conference that 

 "it would be to the national interest if a journal 

 could be established which would represent the growth 

 of the chief branches of knowledge in popular form." 

 An executive committee was appointed to draw up a 

 scheme for the management of the journal, and therefore 

 to secure whatever assistance is possible, bv the selec- 

 tion of suitable contributors or guarantees of subscrip- 

 tions, from the bodies represented at the conference. 

 Should the scheme take practical shape, the proposed 

 journal would stimulate public interest in learning of 

 till kinds, and would thus be a valuable aid in chang- 

 ing the attitude of indifference commonly displayed 

 towards intellectual endeavour in this country. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Mineralogical Society, January 14. — Mr. W. Barlow , 

 past-president, in the chair. — A. Hutchinson ; Stereo- 

 scopic lantern-slides of crystal pictures. The twin pic- 

 tures are projected by means of a double lantern 

 through screens of complementary tints red and 

 green — and are viewed through similarly tinted 

 screens, one for each i ve. If the adjustment is cor- 

 rect, a black-and-white picture stands out in relief. 

 This method admits of the properties of crystals and 

 of crystal-structure being demonstrated simultaneously 

 to a large number of students. — L. J. Spencer j 

 Mineralogical characters of turite ( = turgite) and somi 

 othei iron-ores from Nova Scotia. The minent col- 

 lection of the late Dr. H. S. Poole, which was pre- 

 sented 10 the British Museum in 1017, CO 

 amongsl the iron-ores, specimens of magnetite, haema- 



