482 
Roberts, Lord and Lady Cowdray, and Mr. Walter 
Morrison for the endowment of the chairs of the 
Russian and Spanish languages and literatures. 
Reference is made to the departure of the chan- 
cellor, the Duke of Devonshire, on his appointment 
to the position of Governor-General of Canada. 
Rawdon College (Baptist) has been affiliated to 
the University, following the precedent of Mirfield 
College (Church of England) and Headingley College 
(Wesleyan Methodist). In spite of a diminished staff, 
members of which have been seconded by the Govern- 
ment for war work, fhe teaching has been maintained 
with its usual efficiency, and a substantial amount of 
pure research has been published; in addition to 
which several of the science and technical depart- 
ments of the University have continued to give valu- 
able aid to the Ministry of Munitions in connection 
with the textile industries, leather, and the testing of 
the raw material for explosives and of the finished 
product; and to the Royal Society War Committee 
in the preparation of necessary drugs. ‘The many 
activities of the University in other departments, such 
as the training of welfare workers, of munition workers, 
and of women for farm work, are enumerated on 
Pp. 45 and 46. The total number of day students 
was 698 (465 men and 233 women), and of evening 
students 103. 
A loss of income through the reduction in the 
number of students is estimated at several thousand 
pounds, but the economies effected, together with a 
special grant from the National Exchequer, have saved 
the University from financial embarrassment. A list 
of nearly one thousand students, staff, and members 
of the University O.T.C. who have joined the 
Colours is given in an accompanying pamphlet. 
Lonpon.—Applications for grants from the Dixon 
Fund for assisting scientific investigations will be re- 
ceived not earlier than April 1, and not later than by 
the first post of May 15. Particulars of the grants 
may be obtained from the Academic Registrar, Univer- 
sity of London, South Kensington. . 
An appointment to the Gilchrist studentship for 
women will shortly be made, and the Lindley trien- 
nial studentship of the value of rool. will be awarded. 
The studentship is open to students qualified to under- 
take research in physiology, and will be held in the 
physiological laboratory of the University. Particu- 
lars of the candidate’s qualifications and of the mode 
in which he proposes to carry out his research must 
reach the Academic Registrar by April 30. 
The Rosebery prize of 25]. for the session 1915-16 of 
the London School of. Economics and Political Science 
has been awarded to Messrs. W. G. Chapman and 
W..H. Jarvis for their joint paper on ‘‘Workmen’s 
Trains." The Rosebery prize of tol. for the same 
session has not been awarded. 
It is reported from Zurich that, in consequence of 
lack of coal and the impossibility of heating the build- 
ings, all lectures in the University of Vienna have 
been suspended since January 29. 
Mr. C. J. Stitt has resigned his position as lec- 
turer and demonstrator in chemistry at the Municipal 
Technical Institute, Belfast, to become a_ research 
chemist with Messrs. Levinstein, Ltd., Manchester, 
WE learn from Engineering that the Liebig Scholar- 
ship Society of Germany has recently been formed, 
with a capital of upwards of a million marks from 
German industries, for the purpose of assisting young 
German chemistry students to proceed with their 
studies, after-their examinations, by working as assist- 
ants in the technical high schools. 
NO. 2468, vor. 98] 
NALTURE 
[FEBRUARY 15, 1917 
Tue following gifts in America for educational work 
are announced in Science: 200,000l. by the Billings 
family of Chicago to the University of Chicago to- 
wards the endowment of the medical school; 10,000!. 
by Mr. J. H. Schiff to New York University for the 
division of public affairs in the school of commerce ; 
and a bequest by Mr. J. D. Archbold to Syracuse 
University amounting to 100,000!. : 
ACCORDING to Science, a school of fisheries in con- 
nection with the University of Washington is to be 
established within the next two years, provided that 
the Appropriation Bill for the University is passed as 
it stands. The passing of the appropriation would 
make possible the addition to the University staff of 
an expert authority on fishing and fisheries, increased 
laboratory space and equipment, and the enlargement - 
of the scope of the University. 
Pror. W. Ripper, having been appointed vice-chan- 
cellor of the University of Sheffield in place of the 
Rt. Hon. H. A. L. Fisher, will be unable to deliver 
the course of Howard lectures on ‘‘ Works Organisa-_ 
tion and Efficiency” at the Royal Society of Arts in 
April and May; he will, however, deal with the sub- 
ject in a paper at one of the ordinary meetings after 
Easter. Howard lectures on ‘The National Shortage 
of Cheap Iron-ore Supplies” will be delivered at the 
Royal Society of Arts on April 30 and May 7 by Prof. 
W. G. Fearnsides. 
By the will of Sir George Franklin, Pro-Chancellor 
of the University of Sheffield, who died on Septem- 
ber 23, 1916, the following sums, among others, have 
been bequeathed, in the event of his adopted daughter 
leaving no issue :—25,o0ol. to the University of 
Sheffield to be applied for founding such chairs (to be 
called after him) as the council may decide, hoping 
that a portion may be applied in the foundation of a 
chair having for its object the advancement of some 
branch of medical science connected with the relief of 
human suffering; and soool. to the Corporation of 
Sheffield, the income to be applied by the local educa- 
tion committee in providing scholarships tenable at 
Sheffield University for boys and girls educated at the 
Central Secondary School. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LonpDon. 
Royal Society, January 25.—Sir J. J. Thomson, 
president, in the chair.—Hon. R. J. Strutt: Spectro- 
scopic observations on the active modification of nitro- 
gen. V. The faint red bands 6394-45, 6468-53, 
6544-81, and 6623-52, belonging to the first positive 
group, truly belong to the afterglow spectrum of 
nitrogen. The second positive group is entirely 
absent from the afterglow spectrum. The B and y 
groups onlv appear when oxygen-containing gases are 
introduced into the afterglow, or are originally present 
in the nitrogen used. Using nitrogen that only gives 
the 8 and y bands very faintly, it is found that oxygen 
or nitric oxide added to the afterglow brings in the 
8 and y bands with a certain relative intensity which 
may be called the standard. Carbon dioxide gives 
greater relative intensity to the @ bands, and carbon 
monoxide to the y bands. If nitric oxide or nitrogen 
peroxide is introduced in sufficient quantity into the 
overglow, the 8 and y groups disappear and a visually 
greenish.continuous spectrum is substituted. Nitric 
oxide in a blow-pipe flame gives this same greenish 
continuous band, together with the y, but not the B, 
group. Chemical tests show that when oxygen is 
introduced into the afterglow there is no detectable 
oxidation of nitrogen, and certainly not nearly enough 
to account for the 8 and y bands on the view that 
4 
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