3 8o 



NA TURE 



[February 15, 1906 



in like manner formed at the expense of the two prophylls. 

 A similar explanation, it may be remarked, has been 

 advanced, also on good grounds, to explain the otherwise 

 anomalous character of the flower and inflorescence in 

 Adoxa moschatellina. 



The chief part of the work is devoted to the taxonomy 

 of the group and to the description and delineation of the 

 different species. Distribution and hybridisation are briefly 

 considered, and a short chapter on the culture of the 

 waterlilies is added ; the work closes with an excellent 

 bibliography. 



The illustrations are numerous, and many of them are 

 finel) executed in colour, whilst the paper and printing 

 leave nothing to be desired even by the most fastidious 

 bibliophile. The book certainly deserves a place on the 

 shelves ol those who are interested in a group more 

 beautiful than most, and perhaps inferior to none, of the 

 plants that are cultivated for the beauty alike of their 

 form and of their colour. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The general bcird has nominated the 

 following as electors to professorships : — Prof. \Y. A. 

 Tilden to the professorship ol chemistry, sir \Y. 1> Niven 

 to lb' Plumian professorship ol astronomy, Sir A. Geikie 

 to the professorship of geology. Prof. J. J. Thomson to 

 the Jacksonian professorship of natural philosophy, Sir 

 W. II. Broadbent to the Downing professorship of medi- 

 cine, Dr. L. Fletcher to the professorship of mineralogy, 

 Prof. Larmor to the professorship of expi rimental physics, 

 Sir W. II. White to the professorship of mechan 

 applied mechanics, Prof. Schafer to the professorship of 

 physiology, and Dr. J. F. Payne to the professorship ol 

 pal hi logy. 



Mr. A. R. Brown, of Trinity College, has been elected 

 to the Anthony Wilkin studentship in ethnolog) and 

 archaeology. This is the first election which lie been 

 ih.mIi' to this recently founded studentship. 



I in Goldsmiths' Company has voted .1 further sum ol 

 155N/., in addition to its previoi s endowment of the Gold- 

 smiths' College .it New Cross, to defray the expenses ol 

 piii lino the buildings in complete working order. 



Under the auspices of the Society for the Technical 

 Education of Women, founded a few years ago by .Mrs. 

 P. N. Arian, a technical high school for women was 

 opened in St. Petersburg on January 28. The new high 

 school has two faculties, one lor engineering and build- 

 ing subjects, and the other for electrochemistry, and pro- 

 vides a four-year course in each, which courses it is 

 intended shall lie of the same educational standard as thos 

 in the same subjects in the present technical high schools. 



We have received a copy of a well illustrated 



Souvenir " of the opening last year of the new engineer- 

 ing and metallurgical laboratories of the University ol 

 Sheffield. In view of the illustrated article published in 

 N'aturi lor July 20, 1905, describing the new buildings 

 .11 Sheffield, it is unnecessary to do more than direct 

 attention to the excellence and great extent of the provision 

 made in this new university for teaching the higher 

 branches of applied science. It is possible from the 

 numerous well executed pictures in the souvenir to 

 form a good idea of the laboratories and their equipment 

 without a visit to Sheffield. 



Science announces further munificent gifts to higher 

 education in the United States. Mr. John D. Rockefeller 

 has given 290,000/. to the University of Chicago. Of this 

 sum, 200,000/. is for the permanent endowment, 70,000/. 

 to cover the current expenditures or deficit of the various 

 departments of the University to July 1, 1907, and the 

 remaining 20,000/. is to provide a fund, the interest of 

 which is to go to the widow of the late President Harper 

 during her lifetime. By the will of the late Mr. Marshall 

 Field, Chicago receives 1,600,000/. for the endowment and 

 maintenance of the Field Columbian Museum. The be- 

 quest is on condition that within six years from the death 



NO. 1894. VOL. 73] 



of Mr. Field there shall be provided a satisfactory site 

 for the permanent home of the museum. By the will of 

 the late Mr. W. C. Putnam, the Davenport (Iowa) 

 Academy of Sciences becomes prospectively one of the 

 most richly endowed institutions of its kind in the world. 

 Mr. Putnam left an estate of 140,000/. with provisions 

 for limited incomes to relatives, the remainder of the 

 revenues to be paid to the academy, and the entire estate to 

 go to that institution at the death of the surviving brothers 

 and sisters. 



Under the leadership of Dr. Chiari, a member of the 

 Austrian Government, a petition was recently laid before 

 the Austrian Minister of Education in which the teaching 

 of chemistry in the technical high schools was given the 

 most prominent place. The petition affirmed that the 

 pei in conditions of the chemical laboratories in the high 

 schools had repeatedlv been the subject of severe criticism 

 in technical circles ; that neither the space provided, 

 tlie existing equipment nor the teaching staff was at ell 

 adequate to the requirements of modern chemistry. The 

 backwardness of Austrian chemical laboratories could not 

 bul most seriously affei I the chemical industries ; indeed, 

 in no other branch ol 11 mmerce was a direct and intimate 

 connection with the high schools so absolutely essential. 

 The s( hools had been neglected, and consequently it was 

 found that instruction in general technical chemistry and 

 the intensive study of those branches of technical chemistry 

 which were particularly suited to Austria had not received 

 that amount of attention which they needed. A scheme 

 involving the erection of a new chemical institute in 

 Vienna was laid before the Government last year. The 

 petitioners desired a speedy settlement of the existing mis- 

 understandings on this subject, as the) considered the 

 building ol such a chemical institute the first condition to 

 an increased interest in Austrian chemical industries. 



A copy of the address delivered by Sir Alexander R. 

 Binnie at the recent distribution of prizes to students of 

 the Merchant Venturers' Technical Colleg Bristol, has 



been received. The addre-- dealt ill broad Outline with 



education and with what it in a certain sense implies, the 

 acquisition of knowledge. Answering the question, How 

 do we obtain knowledge: Sir Alexander Binnie said it cm 

 onl\ lie obtained through those senses with which human 

 beings .ire endowed. First, 'Knowledge includes sensations 

 directly conveyed, that is. personal knowledge. Then 



there is knowledge ol the world com, wed in 1 ks, that 



i^, the teaching of authority ; and there is a third, an all 

 imp rtanl division of knowledge, derived partly through 

 observation, and partly through the mysterious property 

 called mind. Observation end reasoning lead, especially 

 in the line f science, to ceil. duties greater, often more 

 ■mi end more truthful, than those received through the 

 senses. Later in the address Sir Alexander Binnie urged 

 that in all these matters of education it is necessar) to lie 

 careful; arrogance and self-conceit are quite out of place. 

 I here are limitations to all, but in the study of nature, and 

 the greal truths that nature reveals, the human mind is 

 enlarged and its conceptions are elevated. In all the 

 knowledge acquired during the years thai human beings 

 are permitted to indulge in that wonderful spectacle which 

 nature presents, a preparation is being undergone, and it 

 is to be hoped an advancement from a lower to a higher 

 grade of mind. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, December 7, 1905. — "The Determination 

 of the Osmotic Pressures of Solutions by the Measure- 

 ment of their Vapour Pressures." By the Earl of 

 Berkeley and E. G. J. Hartley. Communicated bv 

 W. C. D. Whetham, F.R.S. 



The authors find that Ostwald and Walker's " bubbling " 

 method of determining the lowering of the vapour pressure 

 of solutions is unsatisfactory. They therefore use a form 

 of apparatus such that dry air is allowed to pass over 

 the solution, while the latter is continuously stirred, and 

 then over the solvent. By placing two vessels containing 



