November 23, 1Q05] 



NA TL 'RE 



93 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Dr. Haldane, Fellow cf New College, has 

 been re-appointed lecturer in physiology on the nomination 

 ol the Waynflete professor, rhe appointment is for three 

 years from January i, 19011. Chemical physiology, is the 

 particular subject assigned to the lecturer. 



The degree of M.A. has been conferred, by a decree of 

 1 onvocation, on Dr. Schlich, secretary to the delegacy 

 for superintending the instructii 11 of Indian forestry 

 students. 



Cambridge. — An election to an Isaai Newton studentship 

 will be held in the Lent term, 1900. These studentships 

 are for the encouragement of study and research in astro- 

 ni my (espei tally gravitational astronomy, but including 

 other branches of astronomy and astronomical physics) and 

 physical optics. The studentship will be tenable for the 

 term of three years from April 15, 1906. The emolument 

 1 ! the student will be _?oo/. per annum. Candidates for 

 the studentship are invited to send in their applications 

 to the Vive-Chancellor between January 16 and 26, [906, 

 together with testimonials and such other evidence as to 

 their qualifications and their proposed course of study or 

 research as they may think fit. 



An appointment to the Anthony Wilkin studentship in 

 ethnology and archaeology (Reporter, May 23, pp. 920-1) 

 will be made in January, 1906. Applicants should send in 

 their names, qualifications, and a statement -of the research 

 which they wish to undertak , to th Vice-Chancellor before 

 January i, 1906. 



Mr. T. S. P. Strangeways, of St. John's College, has 

 been re-appointed demc nstratcr of pathology for a period 

 of five vears from Michaelmas, 1905. 



Prof.' C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., and Prof. R. Threlfall, 

 F.R.S., have- been elected honorary fellows at Gonville and 

 Caius College. 



The State Medicine Syndicate has nominated Mr. J. E. 

 Purvis, Mr. G. H. F. Nuttall, Dr. J. Lane Xotter, Dr. 

 K. D, Sweeting, and Dr. A. Newsholme to be examiners 

 in State medicine in the vear 1906; and Mr. G. H. F. 

 Nuttall, Mr. C. W. Daniels, and Prof. Ronald Ross, C.B., 

 F.R.S., to be examiners for the diploma in tropical 

 medicine and hygiene in th" year [906. 



Dr. W. A. .Bone, F.R.S., has been appointed professor 

 of applied chemistry (fuel and metallurgy) in the University 

 of Leeds. 



Mr. Charles W. E. Leigh, formerly of the Natural 

 History Museum, South Kensington, and late assistant 

 secretary and librarian to the Manchester Literary and 

 Philosophical Society, has been appointed librarian of the 

 University of Manchester. 



The following appointments, Science states, have been 

 made in the faculties of the George Washington Uni- 

 versity: — 1 icneral Henry L. Abbott, U.S.A., to be pro- 

 fessor cf hydraulic engineering; Dr. Edsvard B. Rosa to 

 be professor of physics; and Brigadier-General George M. 

 Sternberg, U.S.A., to be professor of preventive medicine. 



We learn from Science thai President Eliot, of Harvard 

 University, has received a letter from President Pritchett, 

 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, communi- 

 cating the fact that, in view of the recent decision of the 

 Supreme Court of the State in the case of John Wilson 

 and others v. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 the corporation of the institute find it impossible to proceed 

 with the plan of cooperation between the university and 

 the institute which has been under consideration for the 

 past six months. The committee appointed by the Harvard 

 board at the request of the institute has consequently been 

 discharged. 



At the annual general meeting of members of the Bed- 

 ford College for Women, held on November 17, the chair- 

 man, the Right Hon. A. H. Dyke.Acland, announced that 

 the Parliamentary grant to Bedford College had for the 

 current session been increased from 2000/. to 4000/. It 

 was also reported that past students had alreadv con- 

 tributed 3500/. to the building fund. Principal T. G. 

 Foster, of University College, and Lady Lockver have been 

 NO r882„ VOJ. - ?~\ 



elected members of the council, as representatives of the 

 senate of the University of London. The council offers 

 two "pen scholarships of the value of 20I. each for one 

 vear for the course of secondary training beginning in 

 January, 1906. The scholarships will be awarded to the 

 besl candidates holding a degree or equivalent in arts or 



ieni e. Applications should reach the head of the training 

 department not later than Monday, December 18. 



Sik W. H. Preece distributed the prizes and certificates 

 to the students of Birkbeck College on November 14, and 

 afterwards delivered an address on the simplicity of science. 

 Sir William Preece said he has never believed that in 

 scientific and technical training Englishmen are far behind 

 the rest of the world. However lacking we may have 

 been in the upper regions of higher education, we have 

 never failed to encourage education in other ranges, and 

 Birkbeck College was one of the first in this country to 

 spread the love of science and to offer educational facili- 

 ties to those willing to use them in their leisure hours. 

 What is wanted now, he continued, is that men who make 

 fortunes in the metropolis shall become patriotic founders 

 of endowments for enabling us to distribute the teaching 

 advantages already existing to all classes of society. Sir 

 W. Preece incidentally remarked on the absence of 

 memorials to pioneers of science, mentioning especially Sir 

 Henry Bessemer — an old student of Birkbeck College. 

 Towards the conclusion of his address he suggested that 

 Members of Parliament, before being permitted to legislate, 

 should have to go through a course of instruction in 

 scientific modes of thought. 



At a dinner given by the Society of Apothecaries on 

 November 14, Mr. John Tweedy, president of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, responding to the toast *' The Royal 

 Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons," dealt with the 

 subject of medical education. He said that, in accordance 

 with the promptings of the General Medical Council, the 

 Royal College of Surgeons has raised the standard of 

 general education of medical students, and has increased 

 the multiplicity and severity of the examinations. But Mr. 

 Tweedy would like to see the wheel turned back a little. 

 He thinks that too much is being attempted in the way 

 of examinations, and desires to see steps taken in the 

 direction of simplification, without any sacrifice of 

 efficiency. If some of the restrictions and regulations were 

 relaxed, he believes a better class of practitioner than is 

 possible under the present regime could be produced. The 

 student is over-taught, over-examined, so that he has no 

 time to reflect, to exercise his reason or his intellect. Mr. 

 Tweedy believes that the medical examinations are best 

 entrusted to professional corporations. Although he does 

 not go so far as to advocate deprivation of the universities' 

 pi wer of granting qualifying degrees, he pointed out that 

 ■the universities do not possess a qualifving degree in law. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, July 29. — "Studies on Enzyme Action. 

 VII. — The Synthetic Action of Acids contrasted with that 

 of Enzymes. Synthesis of Maltose and Isomaltose." By 

 E. I-"rankland Armstrong. Communicated by Prof. H. E. 

 Armstrong. 



The belief has grown up of late years that the enzymes 

 which are capable of inducing the hydrolysis of di- 

 saccharides or bioses act reversibly ; as yet, however, but 

 little has been done to define the theory of the process, and 

 no understanding has been arrived at as to the limitations 

 to which such changes are subject. The same is true of 

 the action of acids, which also act reversibly under certain 

 conditions. 



The kev to the interpretation of the changes which attend 

 condensation must be looked for in the behaviour of glucose 

 itself in solution. 



The term glucose, in fact, has a double connotation, and 

 these two substances must usually be thought of under 

 the single name. As crystallised from alcohol, it consists 

 almost entirely of the a-form ; but this changes over into 

 the /3-form if maintained during several days at about 

 105°. If either form be dissolved in water, change takes 

 place of the one into the other ; ultimately, the two forms 



