July 20, 191 1] 



NATURE 



LSI 



'ERSITY ASD EDUCATIOS.IL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



BIRMINGHAM. — A special degree congregation is to be 

 held on July 27 in connection with the meeting of the 

 British Medical Association, in Birmingham, at which it is 

 proposed to confer the honorary degree of LL. D. on the 

 following gentlemen : — The Rt. Hon. John Burns, President 

 of the Local Government Board ; Sir Francis Lovell, 

 K.C.M.G. ; Dr. R. H. Chittenden, professor of physiology 

 in Yale University, U.S.A. ; Prof. H. Oppenheim, Berlin ; 

 Prof. Paul Strassman, Berlin ; Dr. Byrom Bramwell, presi- 

 dent, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh; Dr. J. A. 

 Macdonald ; Dr. R. A. Reeve, professor of ophthalmology, 

 Toronto ; and Prof. Sims Woodhead. 



It is announced in The Times that the Chinese Minister 

 has consented to become patron of the United Universities' 

 scheme for a university for China. The Rev. W. E. 

 Soothill has been appointed acting president of the univer- 

 sity for five years. Mr. Soothill was formerly principal of 

 the Imperial University, Shan-si, China, and is the author 

 of standard works on the Chinese language. 



The French Physical Society, the International Society of 

 Electricians, and other learned societies, are cooperating in 

 the inauguration of a fund to honour the memory of the 

 late M J. Joubert, of the Pasteur Institute. The object "1 

 the fund is to found a scholarship, with which the name of 

 loubert will be associated, tenable at one of the institutions 

 with which he was connected as pupil or teacher. Subscrip- 

 tions may be sent to M. Gauthier-Villars, 55 quai des 

 Grands-Augustins, Paris. 



The issue of the Johns Hopkins University Circular for 

 May takes the form of the "Johns Hopkins University 

 Register, 1910-11." The historical statement with which 

 the volume opens shows that the university was incorporated 

 on August 24, 1867, and its original endowment amounted 

 to about 600,000!. This fund has been supplemented by 

 several gifts, including 200,000!. in 1902, until now the 

 income-bearing funds amount to more than 900,000!., the 

 total assets being 1,300,000?. In June, 1909, the General 

 Education Board offered to contribute to the university 

 50,000/. towards the endowment, provided the institution 

 could secure, on or before December 31, 1910, a supple- 

 mental sum of 150,000!., in cash or pledges. By the date 

 mentioned the sum of 188,600!. was secured, more than 

 sufficient to meet the condition imposed by the General 

 Education Board. The Legislature of Maryland, too, has 

 this year made a grant of 5000!., which will be repeated 

 next year. 



The fifteenth Oxford Summer Meeting will be held at 

 Oxford from August 3 to 2S. The general scheme of 

 lectures is intended to illustrate the place and part of Ger- 

 many in world history, and its contribution to literature, 

 art, science, theology, and philosophy. The inaugural 

 address will be given by Viscount Haldane. One section of 

 the meeting will consist of lectures on the epoch-making 

 names in German science. These discourses include : Hum- 

 boldt, by Mr. H. J. MacKinder, M.P. ; Helmholtz, by Sir 

 Joseph Larmor, F.R.S. ; Liebig and Bunsen, by Sir William 

 TiM' n. F.R.S. ; Johannes Miiller, by Prof. F. Gotch, 

 F.R.S. : Von Bar — the founder of modern embryology, by 

 Prof. G. C. Bourne, F.R.S. ; the evolution of medicine in 

 Germany, 1850-1900 (Virchow and Koch), by Sir W. Osier, 

 F.R.S. ; and Gauss and modern astronomy, by Mr. J. A. 

 Hardcastle. There will also be a special class for instruction 

 in field map-making under Mr. Mackenzie, and classes in 

 educational psychology. 



The Royal Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1S51 

 intend to put into operation at an early date a scheme of 

 industrial bursaries. The scheme is as follows. The 

 commissioners propose to establish a scheme of industrial 

 bursaries for young men who, after a course of training 

 in a university or approved technical college, desire to 

 enter engineering, chemical, or other manufacturing works. 

 The bursaries are intended to enable suitable applicants to 

 tide over the period between their leaving college and 

 obtaining remunerative employment in industry. The value 

 of the bursary will depend on the circumstances of the 

 candidate, but will, as a rule, not exceed 100!. a year. 

 A bursar will be elected in the first instance for one year, 



NO. 2177, VOL. 87] 



but the tenure of his bursary will ordinarily be prolonged 

 for a second year provided that the commissioners are 

 satisfied with the work done by the bursar during his first 

 year. In special circumstances a bursary may be renewed 

 for a third year. The appointments to the bursaries will 

 be made by the commissioners from among candidates 

 recommended by the authorities of certain selected universi- 

 ties and technical schools. In dealing with these recom- 

 mendations, great weight will be given to evidence that a 

 candidate has the practical abilities likely to lead to his 

 advancement in manufacturing work, academic success 

 alone being an insufficient recommendation. The candidate 

 must be a British subject under the age of twenty-five. 

 The candidate must have been a bona fide student of 

 science for a term of three years. The candidate must 

 further satisfy the commissioners (a) that he has obtained, 

 or can within one month of election obtain, a post in some 

 engineering or other manufacturing works approved by 

 them ; (b) that he is in need of pecuniary assistance to 

 enable him to accept such a post. A bursar may, if the 

 commissioners approve, spend part of the tenure of his 

 bursary in studying a special industrial process or processes 

 in works either at home or abroad. No bursar shall enter 

 a firm as a premium pupil without the special consent of 

 the commissioners. A bursar must submit a report of his 

 work to the commissioners on the expiration of each year 

 of his bursary. Forms of application may be obtained 

 from the secretary to the commissioners. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Socirty, June 27.— Prof. T. Johnson in the 

 chair. — Prof. G. H. Carpenter : Injurious insects and 

 other animals observed in Ireland during the year 19 10. 

 The points of interest in this paper are the record of a 

 second brood of the codling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella) 

 in the south-west of Ireland, and the occurrence of the 

 maggots of Scaptomyza flaveola and an unknown Cecido- 

 myid on turnips in county Louth. — Prof. J. Joly and 

 L. B. Smyth : The radium-emanation content of soil gases 

 and its escape into the atmosphere. The emanation con- 

 tent of soil gas is measured by filling a suitably calibrated 

 electroscope with gas drawn from certain depths in the 

 soil. The rate of its escape at the surface of the soil is 

 investigated by means of a collector, which covers a certain 

 area of the soil, and beneath which a slow current of air 

 circulates. The air current is finally led through a char- 

 coal absorption tube. It is believed that natural conditions 

 are best realised by this collector. It is found that the 

 conditions favouring the maximum rate of exhalation are 

 dryness and openness of the capillaries of the soil. These 

 conditions also lead to a fall in the emanation-content 

 beneath. In accordance with this, the daily readings of 

 emanation-content and of exhalation at the surface when 

 plotted show opposing curvatures. The amount escaping 

 at the surface is very considerable. The rate of escape is 

 often more than sufficient to account for the decay of the 

 emanation in a radio-actively homogeneous atmosphere 

 extending to a height of 5 kilometres, and possessing an 

 emanation-content equal to the average found by Eve and 

 others. Soil within the city of Dublin is found to con- 

 tain less emanation and exhale less than soils in the 

 suburbs. To the south of the city the soil is specially 

 rich, the quantity of contained emanation near the surface 

 per litre being such as would be in equilibrium with_ a 

 quantity of radium of the order 10- 9 gram, the quantity 

 exhaled per square metre per hour being also of this order. 

 The causes influencing the quantity of radium emanation 

 in the soil are under investigation, as well as the influence 

 of the emanation upon vegetable life. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 10. — M. Lippmann in 

 the chair. — B. Baillaud : Remarks on a volume of the 

 photographic catalogue of the sky, Paris zone. — M. 

 Renaut was elected a correspondant for the section of 

 anatomv and zoology, in the place of the late M. Armand 

 Sabatier.— MM. Lagrrula and Schaunasse : The Kiess 

 comet, 19116. Observations made at Nice. Three obser- 

 vations are given for July 8. The comet appears as a 

 bright globular condensation surrounded by a nebulosity. — 



