SEPTEMBER 7, I1916| 
NATURE 
ad 
tance, no reason is apparent why these hills should 
not presently share in the movement of the material 
which lies upon their flanks. The apprehension is all 
' the more natural because great chunks of the massive 
rock have broken from the parent masses adjacent to 
the sliding ground. When, however, we examine the 
materials closely we find a great difference in character 
between the central, and highest, part of these hills 
and the lower slopes which slide. The committee 
reports that the hills consist of intrusive bodies of 
basalt or of masses of hard Obispo tuff, and that, so 
far as the exposures show, they do not rest upon the 
soft beds, but extend far down below Canal bottom. 
The committee is therefore of opinion that although 
rock may break off from them, they will not collapse. 
In this connection it is important to note the 
observation in the report that there has been no up- 
heaval of the Canal bottom between Gold Hill on the 
east, and Contractor’s Hill, nearly opposite to it, on 
the west,side of the Canal, which is the deepest part 
of the cut. This shows that the hills are not pressing 
on the bottom. 
Thus the findings of the committee, and the evidence 
in their report, favour the opinion that the establish- 
ment of a permanent waterway free from interrup- 
tion is only a question of time; of time to be reckoned, 
not in months, indeed, on one hand, but certainly 
not in centuries on the other. It thinks that ‘‘some 
sliding ground will continue to enter the Canal for | 
several years to come,’’ and it recommends that 
certain steps be taken to lessen its amount. These 
recommendations have to do with the control of the 
rain-water, which in this region of great precipitation 
adds so much to the weight of porous, stratified rocks, 
and so greatly diminishes their cohesion. The com- 
mittee proposes, therefore, that the growth of vegeta- 
tion should be promoted, that cracks should be filled 
up as soon as formed, that surface and tile drainage 
should be undertaken in threatened areas, and that 
drains should be established on the moving ground 
of the three great slides. VauGHAN CORNISH. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Ir is announced in the issue of Science for August 
18 that Lafayette College is the residuary legatee of 
the late Mr. A. N. Seip, of Washington, D.C. It is 
said that the college will ultimately receive not less 
than 50,0001. 
Tue Elgar Scholarship of the Institution of Naval 
Architects, of the annual value of 1ool., and, subject 
to certain regulations, tenable for three years, has 
been awarded to Mr. R. J. Shepherd, of his Majesty’s 
Dockyard, Devonport. 
Ir is stated in a recent issue of Science that the 
vocational-educational Bill, providing for Federal co- 
operation with the various States in promoting agri- 
cultural and industrial education in the United States, 
makes an annual appropriation beginning at 100,000l. 
and increasing each year by 50,000l. until 600,000l. 
is reached, to be apportioned to the States in propor- 
tion to their rural population. 
Tue calendar for 1916-17 of the Edinburgh and 
East of Scotland College of Agriculture is now avail- 
able. The college was founded to provide for agri- 
cultural education and research in the central and 
south-eastern counties of Scotland. It receives annual 
grants from the Government through the Board of 
Agriculture for Scotland. Its classes are arranged in 
conjunction with the science faculty of Edinburgh 
University, and the courses for the diploma of the 
college and the B.Sc. degree of the University are 
NO. 2445, VOL. 98| 
concurrent. The calendar contains full details of the 
courses of instruction available in the departments of 
agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. The aim of 
the college is to supply such training in agriculture 
and the sciences underlying it as is nowadays indis- 
pensable to all who intend to gain their living from 
the land as owners, or tenants, or agents. Copies of 
the calendar may be obtained from the secretary of the 
college, 13 George Square, Edinburgh. 
A CONFERENCE representative of the Classical, Eng- 
lish, Geographical, Historical, and Modern Language 
Associations has drawn up the following resolutions, 
which have received the approval of the councils of 
the five associations named :—That in the opinion of 
_ the conference: (1) It is essential that any reorganisa- 
tion of our educational system should make adequate 
| provision for both humanistic and scientific studies. 
(2) Premature specialisation on any one particular 
group of studies, whether humanistic or scientific, to 
the exclusion of all others, is a serious danger, not 
| only to education generally, but to the studies con- 
| cerned. 
' study of language and literature, geography and his- 
| tory, which in each case should, at the appropriate 
(3) Humanistic education implies the adequate 
stages of education, go beyond the pupils’ own 
language and country. (4) The representatives of 
humanistic studies would welcome from the repre- 
sentatives of the mathematical and natural sciences a 
statement with regard to those studies similar to that 
contained in (3). (5) In all reform of education it must 
never be forgotten that the first object is the training 
of human beings in mind and character, as citizens 
of a free country, and that any technical preparation 
of boys and girls for a particular profession, occupa- 
tion, or work must be consistent with this principle. 
(6) Subject to the above principles the associations 
concerned would welcome a comprehensive revision of 
national education from the point of view of present 
needs. It is stated that ‘tthe resolutions are published 
in the hope that in any coming reconstructions of our 
educational system this attempt to restate the ‘ human- 
istic’ position will mitigate the dangers incident to a 
violent breach of tradition and an excessive reaction 
against the past predominance of certain types of 
study. But it will be obvious that they are drawn up 
in no spirit of hostility or indifference to either scien- 
tific or technical studies, and their framers are anxious 
to co-operate in securing for these, as well as for the 
studies with which they are themselves more particu- 
larly interested, their due place in a national system 
of education.”’ Co-operation and suggestions are in- 
vited; any communication may be addressed to the 
chairman of the Conference of the Five Associations, 
Prof. T. F. Tout, Oak Drive, Fallowfield, Manchester. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, August 21.—M. Paul Appell in 
the chair.—A. Lacroix: Some volcanic rocks of the 
French possessions in the Indian Ocean and the 
Pacific.—Paul Appell: The developments of the square 
root of a polynomial in continued fractions.—W. H. 
Young: The convergence of Fourier’s series.—M. 
Petrovitch : Theorem of the mean relating to the in- 
tegrals of an important partial differential equation.— 
G. Giraud: Quadratic forms and hyperabelian func- 
tions.—A. Liljestrém : A geometrical theorem useful for 
the study of the direct inversion of Abelian integrals. 
—R. Garnier: A new method for resolving Riemann’s 
problem.—R. Birkeland: Developments of the move- 
ment of a fluid parallel to a fixed plane.—V. Kostitzin : 
The periodicity of the solar activity and the influence 
