NATURE 



[November 7, 1907 



According to the Pioneer Mail, one lakh of rupees has 

 been added to the Griflith bequest to found a university 

 library attached to the Madras University, and another 

 sum of sixty thousand rupees for university lectureships 

 and research scholarships. 



At a recent meeting of the Senate of the University of 

 London, the following resolution was unanimously 

 adopted : — " That the Senate have received with sincere 

 regret the announcement by Sir Arthur Riicker that he 

 wishes to relinquish office on September 30, 1908, and 

 record their appreciation of the great services he has loyally 

 rendered to the University as principal since its rc- 

 constltution." 



The graduate school of applied science at Harvard 

 University recently received the gift of about 2000 acres 

 of valuable timber land as a special adjunct to its 

 instruction in forestry. According to Prof. R. T. Fisher, 

 the forest included in this gift comprises the best body of 

 timber now to be found on an equal area in Massachusetts. 

 Its special advantage is in the arrangement of the age- 

 groups or generations of timber. It so happens that 

 stands of various ages, from the small sapling to the 

 mature tree, are almost equally represented in separate 

 sections of the forest. 



Tim annual prize distribution and conversazione of the 

 Northampton Polytechnic Institute, Clcrkenwell, E.G.. will 

 be held on Friday and S.aturday, November 2q and 30. 

 The Duke of Connaught has consented to distribute the 

 prizes on November 29, and after the prize distribution 

 the whole of the l.iboratories, workshops, drawing office, 

 and studios of the institute, both in the main building and 

 in the British Horological Institute adjoining (the 

 technical optics department), will be on view in working 

 order. The conversazione of members and students will 

 be held on the following evening. 



The Board of Education, South Kensington, has issued 

 the following list of candidates successful in this year's 

 competition for the Whitworth scholarships and exhibi- 

 tions : — (i) Scholarships, 125L a year each, tenable for 

 three years : A. A. Rowse, London ; N. J. Ferryman, 

 Portsmouth; G. Hudson, Portsmouth; J. W.arren, Ports- 

 mouth. (2) Exhibitions, 50L a year each, tenable for one 

 year : A. \V. Judge, Portsmouth ; J. H. Hvde, Levton- 

 stone ; E. A. Steed, Devonport ; A. J. Begg, Plumstead ; 

 M. R. Dcwhurst, London ; R. D. Given, Edinburgh ; F. .\. 

 Bumpus, Birmingham ; R. J. Iliffe, Liverpool : S. L. 

 Svmns, London ; F. Morris, Portsmouth ; W. P. Johnson, 

 Kelsall Hill, Chester; T. W. Johnstone, Keyland ; J. H. 

 Neal, Devonport; H. Mawson, Hunslet, Leeds; E. W. 

 Stedman, Sheerness ; F. Morrison, Aberdeen ; R. G. Milner, 

 Plumstead; A. Hutchison, Glasgow; H. J. Middleton, 

 Forest Gate ; A. T. Phillips. Barking, Essex ; W. Mac- 

 gregor, Greenock ; M. J. C. McCarthy, Sheerness ; H. T. 

 Wright, London ; A. McFadven, L.a'sswnde, Midlothian ; 

 F. G. Rendell, Portsmouth ;' J. H. Blight, Devonnort ; 

 F. C. D. Mann, H.ayes, Kent ; J. E. Collver. South Wool- 

 wich ; B. Baker, Southsea ; L. C. Brown,' Wolverton. 



Mr. .Asquith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, visited 

 Aberystwyth on November i to open the Edward Dnvifs 

 chemical laboratories, the gift of Mr. David Davies. M.P., 

 and his mother and sisters, to the University College ol 

 Wales, Aberystwyth. The new buildings have been erected 

 at a cost of 25,000/. In the course of a speech at a great 

 public meeting held subsequently, Mr. Asquith said 

 •Aberystwyth has owed little, at all events, until that dav 

 to the munificence of the man of wealth, and there are 

 very few other institutions, either in England or in Wales, 

 of which it can be said that it was brought into being 

 and that for many years it was kept in being by the 

 pence of the Welsh people. There are few more interest- 

 ing or encouraging chapters in the history of democracv 

 than that which recounts what in our time the Welsh 

 people has done for education. In the course of thirtv 

 years something very near 120,000!. has been subscribed 

 for the purposes of the college, Aberystwyth, and the re- 

 markable feature is that it has been subscribed by 100.000 

 sep.nrate donors. The figures no doubt are cquallv striking 

 at Bangor and Cardiff. The university system in Wales 

 has been undertaken by the people for the people. During 



NO. 1984, VOL. yj] 



the same period there has been voluntarily subscribed to 

 set on foot a system of intermediate schools something 

 approaching the same sum — So,ooo;. to 100,000/. There is 

 still much work to be done, many gaps to be filled ; but 

 the Welsh people formed their intermediate system first of 

 all, and now, by the founding of their university colleges, 

 any Welsh child of brains, zeal, and good character, what- 

 ever the social surroundings of iis parentage, can climb 

 without undue favour or assistance to the very highest 

 position in the pursuits of industry or commerce. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 27. — "Note on ihe Us" of ihe Radio- 

 meter in observing Small Gas Pressures ; .Application to 

 the Detection of the Gaseous Products produci*d by Radio- 

 active Bodies." By Sir James Dewar, F.R.S. 



The experiments described in this paper seem to show 

 that the radiometer may be used as an efficient instru- 

 ment of research for the detection of small gas pressures 

 and the study of radio-active products. For quantitative 

 measurements the torsion balance or bifilar suspension 

 must be employed. It would be interesting to repeat light 

 repulsion experiments in the highest attainable charcoal 

 vacuum. The author hopes to extend the investigation 

 later. 



Entomological Society. OctohT 16. — M'. C. O. Water- 

 house, president, in the chair. — Exhibits. — .\. H. Jones : 

 A series of Pieri.^ napi, var. hryoniae, from comparatively 

 low altitudes near Budapest, showing a wide range of 

 variation, and a remarkable aberration of P. napi 

 (napaeae) bearing a strong resemblance on the underside 

 to P. rapae. — M. Burr : .4n example of Aplrrygida albi- 

 pennis, discovered by him near Dover this year ; and 

 a c? specimen of D. verrucovirus, an inhabitant of 

 Scandinavia, from the same locality. — H. Campion : 

 Platycleis roeselii, Hagenb., 9, taken September 13 

 near Heme Bay, of which there are but few well- 

 authenticated British specimens. — E. W. Campion : 

 An aberrant specimen of S. sanginneiiin, J, from 

 Epping Forest, suggesting relationship with certain Ortho- 

 ptera, and two Calopteryx virgo of his own from the 

 New Forest showing failure in pigment. — W. J. Kaye ; 

 Specimens of CaUicore aurelia, Guen., together with a 

 photograph of its larva, showing the remarkable branch- 

 like horns rising out of the head. — Rev. F. D. Morice : 

 A normal c? specimen of the bee Authiiiiiiiii Dianicatuin, 

 L. (the " hoop-shaver bee " of Gilbert White's " Natural 

 History of Selborne "), and a monstrosity or malform- 

 ation of the same insect from Argentat, Corrize, France. 

 — C. O. Waterhouse : (i) A living ant, a species of 

 Camponofus, found by Mr. Watson at Kew, In the pseudo- 

 bulb of an orchis (probably a Bulbophyllum) from the Gold 

 Coast. The bulb was much excavated, but It had no open- 

 ing by which the ant could have entered ; (2) a large wasp 

 (a Salius allied to dedjax) with a spider, a Mygale rather 

 larger than Itself, but which it had captured and was 

 carrving off. — Lieut. -Colonel Neville IManders : .\ melanic 

 variety of Ilcslina noma, captured near Darjecling, and 

 3 monstrosity of Papilio krishna, from Siklvim, In which 

 the wings on the right side were much larger than those 

 on the left. — H. IMain : The larva of a hymenopterous 

 parasite of Pygaera hiiccpltala, of great size comparatively 

 to its host. 



Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. October 17. — 

 —Prof. William GowlaTul, president, in the chair. — The 

 origin of the gold in the Rand banket : Prof. J. W. 

 Gregory. A carefully reasoned argument in favour of 

 the marine placer theory, as oppo.sed to the infiltration 

 theorv. The author quoted the leading authorities both 

 for and against his own conclusions, which are based on 

 a personal visit to the Rand and a subsequent weighing- 

 of all available evidence. .After a brief historical Intro- 

 duction, the paper was subdivided under the following 

 heads : — theories of the genesis of the Rand gold ; the 

 rocks of the Rand goldfield ; the arguments against the 

 placer theory ; evidence against the Infiltration theory ; 

 evidence of the microscopic structure of the rocks ; com- 



