November 5, 1908] 



NA TURE 



27 



The chief results arrived at were that the time-change of 

 density is negative in the front of cyclones and positive 

 in the rear, that the changes are greater in the front 

 quadrant to the right of the path than in the front 

 quadrant to the left, in which, however, the largest rain- 

 fall occurs. From an application of the equation of con- 

 tinuity, the vertical velocity of the air in a moving cyclone 

 was deduced. 



Dr. Shaw read a paper on the meteorology of the winter 

 quarters of the Discovery. He showed a slide of a relief- 

 map of the district in whicli the Discovery spent the 

 years iqo2 and 1903, directing attention to the proximity 

 of Mt. Erebus, the cloud from which enabled the observers 

 to determine the upper-air currents. Some surprise was 

 caused by the statement that the annual amount of bright 

 sunshine at this place was as large as that for Scilly. 

 The wind observations corroborated the theory that had 

 been formed regarding the general circulation of the atmo- 

 sphere in polar regions, i.e. an easterly surface wind with 

 a westerly current in the upper air. 



Mr. Bernacchi read a paper which was chiefly concerned 

 with the results of the magnetic observations taken during 

 the Discovery's sojourn in the Antarctic regions. 



The Rev. H. V. Gill, S.J.. read a paper on earthquakes 

 and waves in distant localities. An earthquake at one 

 place may cause the premature occurrence of an earth- 

 quake at another place. This precipitation is possibly due 

 to the slight change in the distribution of the earth's mass 

 relative to its axis of rotation, caused by the water dis- 

 turbance accompanying the earthquake. 



Dr. Shaw exhibited diagrams illustrating the storm of 

 August 31 to September i, the B..-\. storm of iqo8. The 

 diagrams were collected from stations in connection with 

 the Meteorological Office, and showed how the fury of 

 the storm concentrated itself on the line from Holyhead 

 to Kingstown. 



Miss C. O. Stevens read a paper on the great snow- 

 <;torm of April 25. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The following is the speech delivered by 

 the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, on Thursday, October 29, 

 in presenting for the complete degree of Master of Arts 

 honoris causa Prof. W. J. Pope, Dr. Liveing's successor 

 in the chair of chemistry : — 



Viri in .*\cademiam nostram liberalissimi, viri Scienti- 

 arum Doctoris nuper honoris causa merito creati, 

 cathedram vacuam relictam occupat hodie vir inter 

 Londinienses natus atque educatus, vir non modo inter 

 Londinienses scd etiam inter Mancunienses scientiam 

 chemicam praeclare professus. Peritis nota sunt opera eius 

 plurima de scientiae illius provincia organica (ut aiunt), 

 deque metallis et crystallis praesertim conscripta. Quae 

 autem ratio intercedat inter corporum naturam pellucidam 

 ct primordiorum e quibus corpora ilia constent disposi- 

 tionem, primus omnium (nisi fallor) detexit, et sulphuris, 

 selenii, stanni praesertim in particulis inaequaliter dislri- 

 butis luculenter illustravit. Hodie vero nobis vix necesse 

 est haec omnia subtilius persequi. Satis in hunc diem erit, 

 si professori nostro novo munus suum feliciter auspicato 

 omnia prospera e.\ animo exoptamus. 



Mr. .'\. R. Hinks has been appointed Royal Geographical 

 Society university lecturer in surveying and cartography, 

 for three years as from Michaelmas, 1908. 



Dr. Marett. Tims will give a course of ten lectures on 

 the morphology of teeth in the Vertebrata during the pre- 

 sent term. The first lecture will be in the laboratory for 

 advanced zoology on Saturday, November 7. 



The Royal University of Ireland has conferred the 

 degree of D.Sc. honoris causa on Prof. Alfred Senier, of 

 Queen's College, Galway, in recognition of his services 

 as a teacher of chemistry in Galway and of his discoveries 

 in organic chemistry, notably his work on acridines. 



The Right Hon. Earl Carrington, President of the Board 

 of Agriculture, will open the Edric Hall and new work- 

 shops of the Borough Polytechnic Institute on Friday, 

 November 13. This extension of the institute is primarily 

 due to the gift of 5000/. by the first chairman of the 

 governing body, Mr. Edric Bayley, which has been sup- 

 plemented by grants from the London County Council 

 amounting to about 10,000/. 



.\n address on the correlation of the teaching of mathe- 

 matics and science will be given by Prof. J. Perry, F.R.S., 

 at a conference of the Mathematical Association and the 

 Federated Associations of London Non-Primary Teachers 

 to be held at the Polytechnic, Regent Street, on Saturday, 

 November 28, at 3 p.m. The chair will be taken by Prof. 

 G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., president of the Mathematical 

 ."Association. Tickets of admission to the conference can 

 be obtained from Mr. P. -Abbott, s West View, Highgate 

 Hill, N. 



The annual report of the treasurer of Yale University 

 for the financial year ending June 30 shows additions 

 to the funds of the University during the year of 253,000?. 

 The principal items are 12,600?. from the Yale alumni 

 fund ; from the .Archibald Henry Blount bequest. 67,400?. ; 

 from the Lura Currier bequest, 2o,oooZ. ; by bequest of 

 D. Willis James, 19,000/. ; from contributions to the 

 University endowment and extension fund, 67,100/. ; and 

 from balance of the Ross library fund, 22,400/. Gifts to 

 income amounted to 15,300/., of which 6000/. came from 

 the Alumni Fund Association. 



The winter session of the Crown School of Forestry 

 opened on November 2. This little-known institution has 

 its headquarters at Parkend, a small village in the Royal 

 Forest of Dean. In a small shed, rough, unpainted. 

 scarcely weather-proof, sixteen students receive instruction 

 in the theoretical aspect of forestry, and in the surrounding 

 forest they study the practical part of the subject. A 

 nursery plot — two acres in extent — has been cleared, and 

 an enclosure of nearly 200 acres will shortly be set apart 

 for experimental work. The director of the school, Mr. 

 C. O. Hanson, late of the Indian Forest Service, makes 

 up in personal enthusiasm what is lacking in the equip- 

 ment of the school, and so successful has been the work 

 that the Department of Woods and Forests is spending a 

 considerable sum on the equipment of a new building to 

 accommodate the school. 



Dr. H. T. Bovev, F.R.S., Rector of the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology, in his recent address 

 (N.\TURE, October 15, p. 6i6) recommended the formation 

 of associations of alumni by the constituent colleges, and 

 directed attention to the ."Vmerican method of appointing 

 a secretary each year whose office it is to keep in touch 

 with the students who passed out in his year. Dr. E. F. 

 .Armstrong writes to point out that the Central Technical 

 College — which is now a constituent institution of the 

 Imperial College — has had an " Old Students' Association " 

 since 1897, which is kept in touch with its members much 

 in the way that Dr. Bovey advocates. It issues an illus- 

 trated journal. The Central, in which the doings of past 

 students are regularly recorded ; it also administers a 

 successful employment agencv bureau. The contributions 

 to this periodical have frequently been mentioned in 

 Nature. Dr. .Armstrong also states that a year ago the 

 Old Centralians collected the funds to found a scholarship 

 as a permanent memorial to the lon<^ conticction of Prof. 

 W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., with their college. 



In a lecture before the Fabian Society on October 28, 

 Prof. M. E. Sadler said that the chief points at which, 

 under present conditions in England, the State should 

 aim, were : — (i) a great reduction in the size of the large 

 classes in many public elementary schools, in order that 

 the teachers might be able to give more individual care 

 to the different pupils ; (2) careful medical inspection, at 

 sufficiently frequent intervals, of all school children with 

 the view of securing the due physical development of the 

 rising generation, parental duty in the care of children 

 to be stringentlv enforced, with liberal aid in cases of 



NO. 2o.';6, VOL. 79] 



