46 



NA TURE 



[November 14, 1907 



on the borderland of animal and vegetable chemistry (pro- 

 teins, lecithins, pigments, &c.) at King's College on 

 Mondays, beginning on November 25, at 4.30 p.m. 



The Board of Education, .South Kensington, has just 

 issued the following list of successful candidates this year 

 for Royal exhibitions, national scholarships, and 'free 

 studentships (science) : — Royal exhibitions : W. F. Frew, 

 Plymouth ; G. E. Morgan, Portsmouth ; E. Grigg, South- 

 sea ; E. A. Steed, Devonport ; W. E. Curtis, London ; 

 H. Carter, Triangle, Halifax; H. W. Turner, Portsmouth. 

 hatwnal scholarships for mechanics (.Group A): A. W. 

 Judge, Portsmouth ; A. Regnauld, London ; F. R. Rogers 

 Devonport; C. Bartlett, Plymouth; F. H. G. Marks 

 Plymouth; J. H. Thomas, Ovenden, Halifax. Free 

 shidcntshtps for mechanics (Group A): S. LI. Symns, 

 London ; F. A. Bumpus, Birmingham ; R. G. M. Frost, 

 Plymouth ; E. W. Stedman, Sheerness. National scholar- 

 ships for physics {Group B) : A. G. Tarrant, London ; 

 J. Hdl, Glasgow ; J. RLncpherson, Manchester ; A. Holmes, 

 Gateshead ; W. White, Glasgow. Free studentship for 

 phys.cs (Group B) : W. C. Simmons, Southampton. 

 National scholarships for chemistry (Group C) : S. R 

 Illingworth, Shipley; H. Griffiths, Middlesbrough; A. T. 

 Eggmgton, Ibstock, Leicester; A. Caruth, Birkenhead; 

 L. W. Burridge, London. Free studentship for chemistry 

 (Group C): F. A. Knott, London. National scholarship's 

 for biology (Group D) : E. Bateson, Bradford, Yorks ; 

 J. Sharpe, Burnley; W. Rushton, Burnlev. National 

 scholarships for geology (Group E) : C. H. Cunnington, 

 London ; T. Eastwood, Burnley ; E. J. Wayland, London. 



Macdonald College, Quebec, established and endowed 

 by Sir William Macdonald, of Montreal, was opened to 

 students on November 7. The object of the founder is 

 the advancement of education, the carrying on of research 

 the spreading of knowledge likely to benefit rural districts' 

 and the training of teachers for rural schools. From an 

 article in the Times of November 9, we learn that the 

 college property comprises 561 acres, and has been divided 

 into the campus of 74 acres, where the buildings are 

 located, with demonstration plots for grasses and flowers; 

 a farm of 100 acres for horticulture and poultry keepin" • 

 and a live-stock and grain farm of ",87 acres. The buifd- 

 mgs have been planned in accordance with the most 

 modern scientific principles. The main building includes 

 departments for nature-study and household science both 

 with appropriate laboratories. Near the main building 

 are buildings for biology and chemistry, each furnished 

 with laboratories and lecture rooms. ' The main aari- 

 cultural building contains greenhouses and laboratories" of 

 the live-stock farm, dairy, and horticulture department 

 the farm machinery hall, and a pavilion for live-stock 

 judging. A poultry building with an annexed brooder 

 house are adjacent to the poultry yards, and in addition 

 ttiere is provision for many other agricultural activities, 

 ihe cost of the buildings and equipment exceeds -i 00 000/ 

 and, in addition. Sir William Macdonald has provided a 

 permanent endowment of 400,000?. The college is in- 

 corporated with McGill University, and Dr. James W 

 Robertson C.M.G., is the principal. The college included 

 a schoo for teachers, a school of household science and 

 a school of agriculture. Tuition will be free to residents 

 in the Province of Quebec. There will be a small labor- 

 atory fee not exceeding iZ. to cover the actual cost of the 

 materials used, and a contingency fee to cover possible 

 breakages, penalties, and other demands. Board room 

 and washing will be furnished for 13^. per week each' 

 where two students occupy one room, and, in the case 

 of students occupying single rooms, for 14.T. 



At the Mansion House, London, a meeting was held on 

 November 6 in furtherance of the interests of the per- 

 manent buildings fund of the University College of North 

 Wales, Bangor. At the opening of the proceedings Lord 

 Kenyon read a letter from the Prince of Wales who as 

 Chancellor of the University of Wales, heartily wished 

 success to the meeting, and pointed out that since the 

 question of higher education in Wales was taken up by 

 the Government twenty-seven years ago, it has beeii 

 zealously supported by the people of the Principality. 

 They have recognised it as an essential to their progress 

 and prosperity, and this fresh effort should help Wales 



NO. 1985, VOL. •jy'] 



to render the highest services to the kingdom and Empire. 

 A striking proof of this spirit is to be found in the support 

 received from all classes to the original scheme for the 

 college, when 30,000/. was raised by 8000 subscribers, of 

 whom only sixty-eight contributed sums of more than 

 100/. and upwards. This spirit has been equally con- 

 spicuous in the case of the present appeal, towards which 

 30,000!. has been collected. During the last twenty-three 

 years the successful and steadily increasing work of the 

 college has been carried on in temporary buildings ; but 

 from the outset it was the deliberate policy of the college 

 to provide a first-rate staff, and to postpone the question 

 of buildings until the character of the institution had been 

 determined by their efforts. When the Prince of Wales 

 visited Bangor five years ago, the first step towards pro- 

 viding buildings had just been completed by the munificent 

 gift of a site of the value of 15,000!. from the corpor- 

 ation. The laying of the foundation-stone by the King 

 this year has now happily inaugurated the actual work 

 of construction. The present intention is to endeavour to 

 complete the arts and administrative section, but it is 

 hoped that in the near future means may be forthcoming 

 to erect the buildings for the science departments, the 

 work of which must for the present be carried on in the 

 old laboratories. A further contribution of 100/. towards 

 the building fund was also received from the Prince of 

 Wales, and announced at the meeting. In addressing the 

 meeting. Lord Kenyon referred to the exhaustion of the 

 resources of North Wales and to the depressed state of 

 the slate trade, in connection with which reference was 

 made to the large amount of support the college had re- 

 ceived from the ordinary working quarrymen. Sir Harry 

 Reichel, the principal, gave some interesting statistics 

 showing the same spirit of spont^neous effort in the 

 interests of the Welsh university movement on the part 

 of the middle and working classes of North Wales that 

 was referred to in last week's Nature in connection with 

 the visit of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Aberyst- 

 wyth. It was announced that 11,800/. had already been 

 subscribed in London alone. It may be interesting to 

 mention that the progress of the college and its influence 

 on the schools of Wales is shown quite as much in the 

 higher standard of attainment of the students as in the 

 increase in numbers. The unmatriculated students, who 

 used to form a large percentage, have now dwindled down 

 to the vanishing point. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Micros-opical Society, October 16. — Dr. T. W. H. 

 Eyre, vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. Taverner ex- 

 hibited a number of stereo-photomicrographs of water 

 mites, taken with a stop behind the objective, as described 

 before a previous meeting. They were taken in their 

 natural colours by the Sanger Shepherd three-colour 

 process. — Ghost images in the secondaries of Coscinodiscus 

 astcromphalus, with some remarks on the highest useful 

 ratio of magnifying power to aperture : A. A. C. E. 

 Merlin, In an experiment suggested by some remarks of 

 Mr. Nelson, the author was able to distinguish perfectly 

 well-defined ghost images of the condenser stop in many 

 of the cap perforations of Coscinodiscus astcromphalus. 

 He used a selected Zeiss 3 mm. apochromat of N.A. 1.42 

 and a 40 ocular in conjunction with a Powell's dry 

 apochromatic substage condenser. The exact size of the 

 perforations was measured and found to be 1/83,300-inch. 

 ■ — A new prismatic ocular : A. A. C. E. Merlin. The 

 author found that prolonged observations with the micro- 

 scope in an upright position entailed great fatigue to the 

 eye, and it occurred to him that by means of a properly 

 designed prism a comfortable position might be secured. 

 He obtained the assistance of Mr. E. M. Nelson, who com- 

 puted a prism of the kind required, a diagram of which 

 was drawn on the blackboard. It was constructed for the 

 author by Carl Zeiss, and has proved efficient and satis- 

 factory in use. — .\ new 1/6-inch semi-apochromatic objec- 

 tive : E. M. Nelson. The objective had a working 

 distance of i mm. • its N.A. w.is 074, and its initial 

 power 60. — Systematic exposure with transmitted light in 

 photomicrography : .'\. Letherby. 



