Ii6 



NA TURE 



[December i, 1898 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



OXFORU.— The Junior Scientific Club held their 195th meet- 

 ing in the Physiological Lecture Room of the Museum on 

 Friday, Xovemher 25. Mr. M. Burr (New College) read a 

 paper on "Collecting in South-Eastern Europe," which was 

 illustrated by lantern slides from photographs taken during his 

 recent journey through Herzegovina and Slontenegro. Mr. J. 

 M. Wadmore (Trinity) followed with a paper on "Sun-spots 

 and Kaculae." The number of new members this term has been 

 forty-seven. 



CAMBRinr.E. — The following summary of the results of the 

 Cambridge Scholarship Competition is sadly instructive :— 



Scholarships and Exhibitions at Cambridge. 

 The allied Co//<y<rj.— Pembroke, Gonville and Caius, Kings, 

 Jesus, Christ's, St. John's, Emmanuel. 



i. 



Classics 35 scholarships and exhibitions, value 1710 



Mathematics .. 19 ,, ,, •, >> '"o 



Modern languages 3 ,, ., ,, ,, '20 



History 2 ,, ,, ,, ,. 100 



Total for literature 



and mathematics 59 ,, ., ,, >, 3°40 



Natural science ... 9 ,, ,, ,, ,, 39° 



Of the scholarships : 50 per cent, are for classics, 32 per cent, 

 mathematics, 4 per cent, modern languages, 3 per cent, history, 

 and II per cent, natural science. 



Trinity — 



Classics 



9 scholarships, &c., value 475 ( + 2 senior 

 scholarships) 

 5 ,, ,, 280 ( -f I senior 



scholarship) 

 I ,. >. 40 



5 ,. ■■ 235 



160 

 180 



60 

 140 



Prof. Michael Foster, and Mr. E. H. Busk, with Mr. Bailey 

 Saunders as secretary, has commenced its sittings. The office 

 of the Commission is No. 32 Abingdon Street, Westminster. 

 S.VV. 



A SCHEME for the establishment of a Gordon Memorial 

 College at Khartum has lieen put forward by Lord Kitchener. 

 It is proposed that the principal teachers should be British, and 

 that the supervision should be vested in the Governor-General of 

 the Sudan. The teaching, in its early stages, would be devoted 

 to purely elementary subjects, such as reading, writing, geo- 

 graphy, and the English language. Later, and after these 

 preliminary stages had been passed, a more advanced course 

 would be instituted, including a training in technical subjects, 

 specially adapted to the requirements of those who inhabit the 

 valley of the Upper Nile. The fund required for the establish- 

 ment of the college Lord Kitchener estimates at 100,000/., of 

 which 10,000/. would be required for the initial outlay, and the 

 remainder invested for the maintenance of the institution. He 

 announces that the Queen has consented to become patron and 

 the Prince of Wales vice-patron, of the movement, and that a 

 general Council of the leading men of this country is in course 

 of formation. 



History 

 Natural science 



Clare — 

 Classics 

 Mathematics 

 History 

 Natural science 



Trinity Hall - 

 Classics 

 Mathematics 



It will be seen that Trinity and Clare have again treated science 

 quite fairly, as they did last year ; but 3040/. in literature and 

 mathematics, and only 390/. for science, is a very unsatisfactory 

 distribution of prizes, and does not encourage scientific education 

 in our schools and colleges. 



Mr. W. H. Preece, C.B., F.R.S., will distribute the prizes 

 to students at the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, 

 Bristol, on December 21. 



The new building extension of the Borough Polytechnic 

 Institute, including workshops and gymnasium, will be formally 

 opened on Thursday next, December 8. 



Mr. F. p. Barnard having found himself unable to accept 

 the headmasterbhip of University College School, London, the 

 Council have oflered it to .Mr. J. Lewis Palon, assistant master 

 at Rugby School, who has accepted it. 



Mr. E. H. Todd, a student at theSouth-Western Polytechnic 

 Day College for men, has been appointed to an open exhibition 

 in Physics and Chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford, of the value 

 of 80/. per annum, tenable for four years. 



According to the twenty-fifth quarterly statement of the 

 President of the University of Chicago, there were 1421 students 

 in attendance during the summer quarter, of whom 591 were in 

 the graduate schools. The assets of the Univer.sity are valued 

 at about 9,000,000 dollars. The income was 706,973 dollars, 

 and the expenditure 678,399 dollars. 



The Commission appointed under the University of London 

 .\ci, 1S98, consisting of Lord Davey (chairman), the Bishop of 

 London, Sir William Roberis, Sir 0«en Roberts, Prof. Jebb, 



NO. I 5 18, VOL. 59] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Physical Society, November 25. — Mr. SheUord Bidwell. 

 F. R.S., President, in the chair.— Mr. R. A. Lehfeldt read :i 

 paper on the properties of liquid mixtures, being Part iii. ofhi> 

 communications on that subject. It deals with partially mis 

 cible liquids. Measurements are given of the vapour-pressure, 

 of mixtures of phenol and water. This pair of liquids is com- 

 pletely miscible above 68" C. , and incompletely miscible below 

 that temperature. The law of equilibrium between incomplete 

 mixtures and the vapour over them is investigated, especially a: 

 "the critical point," i.e. at the point where incomplete mis- 

 cibility passes over into complete miscibility. It is pointed ou: 

 that normal organic liquids always mix completely. Ethylem 

 dibromide and formic acid mix on boiling, and separate into tw 

 layers when cold. The curves representing the cases of com 

 plete mixture are comparable in shape with those previously 

 obtained by Mr. Lehfeldt for mixtures of alcohol and toluene, 

 but they show a still flatter maximum ; so much so that 60 per 

 cent, to 70 per cent, of phenol may be added to water without 

 appreciable effect on the vapour-pressure. To verify this point, 

 a ditTerenlial pressure-gauge was designed ; the construction 

 and method o( using are given in the paper. The behaviour of 

 the liquid is apparently the .same above and below the critical 

 point. At temperatures not too close to the critical point the 

 vapour- pressure of a saturated mixture is approximately the 

 sum of the partial pressures, calculated for the two saturated 

 solutions according to Raoult's law. Diagrams are drawn 

 showing the characteristic surface for phenol-water mixtures, 

 with the freezing-points of water and of phenol traced out. 

 Phenol melts under water at i°'5 C, and forms a cryohydrale 

 containing 483 per cent, phenol, melting at - 1° o C. Prof. 

 S. Young (abstract of communication) : The statement of Mr. 

 Lehfeldt that normal organic liquids always mi); completely, 

 should be qua lifted. There are pairs of normal organic liquids 

 which, though miscible in all proportions, approximate closely 

 to partially miscible liquids, e.g. benzene (b.p. 80' C. ) and 

 normal hexane (b.p. 69" C). When .\merican petroleum is 

 fractionally distilled, the benzene which is present in sm.il 

 quantity does not come over at about 80, but mostly at abmi 

 65° ; the most jirobalile explanation appears to be that bcnzen 

 and hexane behave, as regards distillation, like miscible liquid- 

 a view which is confirmed by an inveslig.ation of the boilint; 

 points and also of the specific gravities of mixtures cf the tw^ 

 hydrocarbons, an account of which has lately been read befor> 

 the Chemical Society by Messrs. Young and Jackson. The boil 

 ing-point curve is similar in general form to ih.it of phenol an>! 

 water, as .shown by Mr. Lehfeldt, though the deviation froii 

 the ordinary form is not so marked. Ten per cent, of bir 

 zene has practically no influence on the bailing point ■ 

 normal hexane, but 10 [ler cent, of hexane lowers the boiling 

 point of benzene nearly 3' C. .\lso there is alwiiys exp.insioi 

 on mixing benzene and hexane, the maximum reaching abou 

 0-4 per cent. Dr. S. P. Thompson asked whether any rel.ilion 



