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NA TURE 



[April 2, 1908 



and latterly of the University, on many occasions tal^en an 

 active part in forwarding the interests of the institution. 



Under the will of the late Mrs. John Rylands, the Uni- 

 versity directly benefits by a legacy amounting to 75,000?., 

 and, in addition, the munificent endowment of the John 

 Rylands library will be of great service to many engaged 

 in literary study and research. 



Two further recent bequests must be recorded. Mr. 

 George Harrison, of Manchester, a retired cotton spinner, 

 has left lo.oooZ. for the foundation of scholarships or 

 fellowships, and Mrs. Margaret Stern, of East Barnet, 

 500/. 



Prof. Ernest Rutherford, F.R.S., has been awarded the 

 Bressa prize by the Academy of Science of Turin in recog- 

 nition of the importance of his researches during the past 

 three years. 



Prof. W. Boyd Dawliins, F.R.S., has announced his 

 intention of resigning the chair of geology, which he has 

 held since 1874, at the end of the present session ; he will, 

 however, accept an honorary professorship and give special 

 courses of lectures. Prof. Dawkins will continue to talie 

 an active part in the affairs of the Manchester Museum, in 

 which he has talien so great an interest since he first 

 came to Manchester in 1869 as its curator. 



LoRt> Rayleigii will probably be elected to the vacant 

 Chancellorship of the University of Cambridge in succession 

 to the late Duke of Devonshire. 



There will be an annual exhibition of students' work 

 at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, Borough Road, S.E., 

 on Saturday, April 4. 



It is announced that Prof. A. Crum Brown, F.R.S., 

 professor of chemistry in the Universitv of Edinburgh, con- 

 templates retiring at an early date from the chair which 

 he has occupied since 1869. 



Prof. P. J. White having been granted leave of absence 

 for six months on account of ill-health, the Senate of the 

 University College of North Wales has appointed Dr. 

 W. A. Cunnington acting head of the department of 

 zoology for the summer term. 



The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion for Ireland issued recently in pamphlet form the 

 lectures delivered during 1906 in connection with the 

 department's scheme of short summer courses for teachers, 

 and an account of technical instruction in Ballymena by 

 Mr. P. F. Gillies, which appeared first in the department's 

 Journal. 



In connection with the forthcoming Franco-British 

 Exhibition, a " children's week " is to be held. A number 

 of French school children and their teachers, half of whom 

 will represent secondary schools and half elementary 

 schools, will be present. The scheme is receiving the sup- 

 port and sympathy of the French and British Governments, 

 and careful preparations are being made to secure the com- 

 fort and health of the visitors. A dailv educational course 

 is to be given in the British section of'education, in which 

 both French and English children will participate. Physical 

 exercises and games typical of both countries will take a 

 prominent part. Tableaux vivants, in which the children 

 of both nations will join, illustrating historical events and 

 symbolical of the advantages of peace and the entente 

 cordiale, will be another important item of the week's 

 proceedings. The idea is excellent, and we are sure that 

 no pains will be spared to make it a complete success. 



In introducing in the House of Commons on Tuesday 

 a Bill to make further provision with respect to university 

 education in Ireland, the Chief Secretary for Ireland 

 adopted Sir Norman Lockyer's plea for a two-power 

 standard in education as well as in naval defence. He 

 pointed out that the provision of adequate facilities for 

 higher education is as necessary as the aim to be at least 

 twice as_ strong at sea as any two foreign nations. A 

 short visit to Strassburg would 'be sufficient to show what 

 the people of Germany arc doing for the people of Alsace, 

 and would also show that foreign universities may do this 

 country, during every hour of every day of the academic 

 year, a considerable amount of iniu'rv bv wav of competi- 

 tion. Something has been done in England, Scotland, 

 NO. 200 T, VOL. 



77] 



and Wales to supply this undoubted want. A number ol 

 teaching universities have of recent years sprung up among 

 our great and murky towns — Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, 

 Sheffield, and Birmingham are now being associated in 

 the minds of their younger citizens, not merely with docks 

 and warehouses, not merely with shops and factories, least 

 of all with gaols, lunatic asylums, and workhouses, but 

 nobler structures from which are streaming forth the in- 

 spiring traditions, tlie ever-strengthening traditions, of 

 university life and training. The Bill introduced proposes 

 to establish two new universities in Ireland ; these two 

 universities to have their seats respectively in Dublin and 

 in Belfast. In Belfast there will be but one college, the 

 present Queen's College, and it will not be able to have 

 any other, except, of course, by a subsequent Act of 

 Parliament. Dublin will have three constituent colleges, 

 and three only — Cork, Galway, and the new college, with 

 a charter and an incorporated body in Dublin. The exist- 

 ing Royal University will be dissolved as from some 

 appointed day, and its buildings, property, and endow- 

 ments will be dealt with in a manner mentioned in the 

 Bill. It is suggested, as a matter of finance, that the 

 20,000/. from the Irish Church Fund shall be divided into 

 two equal parts, and that the university in Belfast shall 

 take io,oooL for maintenance and the new imiversity in 

 Dublin the other 10,000/. for maintenance. In addition 

 to the present charge on the Irish Church Fund of 20,000/. 

 there is a present charge upon the Exchequer of 36,500/., 

 which the Bill proposes to increase to 80,000/. This is 

 the provision by way of new endowment, 43,500/. Belfast 

 will thus get 10,000/. for its university, part of the Irish 

 Church Fund ; it will also have 18,000/. by way of annual 

 endowment, making in all 28,000/. a year. The new 

 college in Dublin has first of all to be built, and then 

 endowed and maintained, and the proposal is that out of 

 the moneys suggested 32,000/. a year shall endow and 

 maintain the new university in Dublin when it Has once 

 been started. Then the income of the Queen's College, 

 Cork, will be increased to 18,000/. a year, and the income 

 of Queen's College, Galway, will be increased to 12,000/. 

 a year. It is proposed also that a grant of 60,000/. should 

 be made to the new University of Belfast to enable it to 

 provide itself with a university worthy of the province to 

 which it belongs. It is believed that a maxitnuin sum for 

 the purpose of the University and college in Dublin should 

 be 150,000/., which, it is hoped, will be sufficient first of 

 all to complete the present university buildings. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Zoological Society, Match 17. — Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Some observations on 

 the effects of pressure upon the direction of hair in 

 mamiTials : Dr. W. Kidd. This paper was a sequel to 

 other communications on the subject of the direction of 

 hair, and consisted chiefly of the observed effects of the 

 pressure of harness on certain regions of the coats of 

 domestic horses. This pressure was shown to produce 

 reversed areas of hair, and it was held that these results 

 supported the view put forward in other papers that changes 

 in the arrangement of hair are due to mechanical causes. 

 Fifty-three cases were brought together, and eight different 

 regions of the coats of the horse were shown in which the 

 effects of pressure were found. — Mammals obtained by Mr. 

 C. H. B. Grant in the Gorongoza Mountains, Portuguese 

 S.E. Africa: O. Thomas and R. C. Wroughton. This 

 was the ninth of the series of papers on the mammals of 

 the Rudd Exploration of South Africa. One hundred and 

 fifty specimens were dealt with, belonging to thirty-one 

 species and subspecies, of which three were described as 

 new. — Notes upon some species and geographical races of 

 serows (Capricornis) and gorals (Njemorhedus), based 

 upon specimens exhibited in the society's gardens : R. I. 

 Pocock. It was pointed out that the " grey " goral of 

 the Himalayas was originally described by Hardwicke as 

 Antilope goral, and that the " brown " goral, to which 

 the specific title goral has been applied in recent literature, 

 required a new name. The author proposed to call it 

 yacitwrlicdiis hodgsotii. Concerning the genus Capri- 



