446 



NA TURE 



[February ii, 1909 



Mr. J. B. Peace, of Emmanuel College, has been 

 appointed chairman of examiners for the mechanical 

 sciences tripos, lyog. 



Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, of St. John's College, has been 

 nominated to represent the University on the occasion of 

 the celebration in July of the fiftieth aniversary of the 

 foundation of the Anthropological Society of Paris. 



Dr. T. G. Longstaff will deliver a lecture in Cam- 

 bridge on Friday, February 12, on his explorations in 

 the Himalayas. A lecture will be delivered in the Sedg- 

 wick Museum at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 23, by Dr. 

 Agnes S. Lewis, " On some Deserts that I have Crossed." 

 Dr. Sven Hedin will deliver a lecture before the University 

 on Thursday, March 4. 



With the object of encouraging original research in 

 sanitary science, the Grocers' Company offers two scholar- 

 ships, each of 300/. a year, with an allowance to meet 

 the cost of apparatus and other expenses in connection 

 with the work, tenable for one year, but renewable for a 

 second or third year, subject to the conditions of the 

 scheme under which they are established. The next 

 election will take place in May. Applications must be 

 sent in before .April i to the clerk of the Grocers' Com- 

 pany, Grocers' Hall, London, E.C., from whom a form 

 of application and further information may be obtained. 



The observatory syndicate has reported that, following 

 closely on the generous gift of the Huggins instruments 

 by the Royal Society, another offer of valuable spectro- 

 .scopic instruments has been made to the astrophysical 

 department of the observatory by Major E. H. Hills, 

 C.M.G., R.E. Among the instruments are a four-prism 

 quartz spectroscope with 5-inch quartz objective, a two- 

 prism dense flint spectroscope with 43-inch Cooke achro- 

 matic objective, and a heliostat with 12-inch flat mirror 

 by the late Dr. Common. 



Manchester. — Dr. W. H. Lang has been appointed 

 Barker professor in cryptogamic botany, and Dr. Marie 

 C. Stopes has been appointed, for one year, special lecturer 

 in paleobotany. 



A RECENT number of Science announces the following 

 benefactions to higher education in the United States. 

 Gifts to the amount of 6g,3oo(. to Princeton University, of 

 which the largest, 40,000?., was that of Messrs. David B. 

 Jones and Thomas D. Jones, of Chicago, for the Palmer 

 Physical Laboratory endowment fund. Other donations 

 were 5100?. from the committee of fifty and 7000;. from 

 the General Education Board. More than Sooof. has been 

 subscribed towards a fund of 20,000;. to endow a chair 

 of physiology at the University of Cincinnati, in honour 

 of the late Mr. Joseph Eichberg. President John Thomas, 

 of .Middlebury College, states that 18,300/. has been con- 

 tributed toward the 2o,oooi. needed to secure the D. K. 

 Pearson building and endowment fund of 2o,oooi. By the 

 will of Dr. James G. Wheeler, Broughton, the James 

 Minikin University, Decatur, will come into possession of 

 his estate, estimated to be worth from 15,000?. to 25,000/. 

 The Ohio State University has received 2000/. from Mr. 

 Robert T. Scott, Cadiz, the income to be used for the aid 

 of poor students. From the same source we learn that 

 Mr. John D. Rockefeller has made a further gift of 

 250,000/. to the University of Chicago. His gifts to the 

 University now amount to more than 5,000,000/. .At the 

 last meeting of the board of directors of Bryn Mawr 

 College a gift of 20,000/. was presented to the board by 

 the Alumnaj Association of the college, the first instalment 

 of the sum of 200,000/. which the alumnse have undertaken 

 to try to raise for the additional endowment of the college. 

 The alumnsE have made it a condition of their gift that 

 the money shall be used for academic salaries, and they 

 have endowed the chair of mathematics with this first 

 20,000/., and stipulated that the money released by free- 

 ing the college from maintaining this professorship shall 

 he used in raising the salary of each full professor in 

 the college. 



The annual prize distribution of the Northampton Poly- 

 technic Institute was held on Friday, February 5, when 

 the prizes were distributed by the Earl of Halsbury, P.C. 

 In the course of his address Lord Halsbury dealt very 

 fully W'ith certain aspects of technical education, particu- 



NO. 2050, VOL. 79] 



larly with the progress made during the six years since 

 he last otflciated at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute 

 in a similar capacity. It appeared to him that the world 

 is somewhat more awake now than it was some time ago, 

 not only in this country, but in other countries, and that 

 people are beginning to think that unless they are to be 

 outstripped in the battle of the industries they must look 

 to themselves and consider in these battles, as well as in 

 battles of another sort, that the people who sleep on what 

 they have ffot are very likely to lose it, and that we in 

 England ai-e in danger of being left behind in the race. 

 The need for high scientific training was emphasised by 

 reference to the discovery of the part played - by fleas on 

 rats in the dissemination of disease, and the " Ca Canny " 

 principle was severely condemned. The liberality of the 

 County Council towards the institute was suitably empha- 

 sised in connection with the new buildings which were 

 opened during the evening. The need of such institiites 

 in view of the decadence of the system of apprenticeship 

 was emphasised very strongly. \l the end of his speech 

 Lord Halsbury, as Prime Warden of the Saddlers' Com- 

 pany, announced that the company has entrusted the 

 Northampton Institute with certain bursaries to be applied 

 by the institute to those students in training who require 

 such assistance, the bursaries being specially intended to 

 assist the students in their work in the workshops during 

 their four years' training in the day engineering courses. 

 \X the conclusion of the prize giving, Lord Halsbury pro- 

 ceeded to the new building, which has been erected at a 

 cost of 9000/., the funds being provided by the London 

 County Council. In the large lecture-room of these build- 

 ings they were declared open. On the Friday evening and 

 on the following evening some 6000 visitors inspected the 

 institute. 



The annual general meeting of the Association of 

 Technical Institutions was held at Grocers' Hall, London, 

 on Fenruary 5 and 6. The business meeting on the first 

 day was preceded by a luncheon, at which members of 

 the association were entertained by the Grocers' Company. 

 In proposnjg the toast of " The Association of Technical 

 Institutions," Sir William White said he does not believe 

 in the truth of the statements as to the decadence of 

 England, but he is sure that if we are to keep the position 

 we hold we must as a nation lose no opportunity of 

 developing the technical institutions of the country. Sir 

 Norman Lockyer responded, and during the course of his 

 remarks said if Mr. Haldane had gone to the Education 

 Office instead of the War Oflice, we should have had a 

 Board of Education responsible for all education from top 

 to bottom, instead of the truncated body we have at 

 present. There would be a general staff, full of know- 

 ledge, directing everything, so that in a few years' time 

 by this organisation and the administrative conditions it 

 brought about we should have such a peace army as Mr. 

 Haldane is endeavouring to give in the shape of a war 

 army. At the subsequent meeting Dr. George T. Beilby, 

 F.R.S., was elected president for 1909, and proceeded to 

 deliver his address. If, he said, the members of the 

 association are possessed by the belief that the industrial 

 future of the nation must largely depend on the spread of 

 education in science and in the application of its laws to 

 the affairs of daily life, then they cannot escape from the 

 conclusion that it is their particular duty to see to it that 

 they are taking a leading part in this vitally important 

 work. If, he pointed out, the training in technical institu- 

 tions is to be modelled on the lines of the best professional 

 standards, it is necessary to secure the active cooperation 

 of representative men from those industries for which it 

 is proposed to train the students. With the help of such 

 representatives courses of instruction, practical as well as 

 theoretical, must be organised. The same kind of reality 

 must be given to the practical side of the work as is 

 found in the clinical teaching of medical students, and it 

 must be made compulsorv for all who desire to obtain the 

 full diploma of the college. On the second day Principal 

 F. C. Forth, of Belfast, read a paper on the management 

 of the entrance examinations giving admission to the 

 evening classes of a technical institute, and Mr. Sidney 

 Webb opened a discussion on compulsory attendance »» 

 evening classes. 



