September 21, 191 1] 



NATURE 



\H 



■cantata was then given, and this brought the meeting 

 to an end. 



In the evening the King and Queen received all the 

 delegates at the castle, and said a few gracious words 

 to each guest. 



On Wednesday (September 6) the second formal 

 meeting took place in the handsome new Aula of the 

 University. This hall is not so large as the National 

 Theatre, where the meeting had taken place on the 

 previous day, so that it was only possible to admit 

 national and foreign delegates, but other entertain- 

 ments were provided by the committee of ladies. 



The proceedings on this occasion consisted of instru- 

 Bental and vocal music, and of a short address by 

 Prof. Stang on the work of the University. The 

 rector then explained that in the honorary degrees 

 which were to be conferred, the claims of mathematics 

 and astronomy were purposely excluded, because de- 

 Rees in these branches of science had been conferred 

 only a few years ago, on the occasion of the Abel 

 al, I myself having then received a degree. 



Tlie heads of faculties then presented the names of 

 ill, several doctors in the various departments of 

 learning to the rector. It may be interesting to note 

 that of the five speeches two were in English, two in 

 German, and one in French. The degrees were then 

 conferred by the rector on the new doctors, of whom 

 but few were actually present. It may here suffice to 

 l say that the new British doctors were Prof. Sandav, 

 Prof. Alfred Marshall, Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir 

 Thomas Barlow, Sir John Bradford, Sir William 

 Osier, Prof. Sayce, Dr. Henry Sweet, Sir James 

 Dewar, Principal Miers, Sir John Murray, Sir 

 'William Ramsay, Prof. Sollas, and Sir Joseph 

 Thomson. 



I In the evening the Municipality of Christiania enter- 

 tained the delegates at dinner in the municipal 

 buildings. 



On the following morning a number of parties were 

 taken round the museums, and the two old Viking 

 ships naturally attracted much attention. In the after- 

 noon the Videnskabs Selskabet — the national academv 

 of science — gave a party in the garden attached to 

 their fine house. This home of science was presented 

 to the society not long ago by two Norwegian ladies, 

 whose names, unfortunatelv, I omitted to take down. 

 As the weather was glorious, this was one of the 

 pleasantest of our many entertainments. 



In the afternoon Prof. Birkeland gave a lecture in 

 French on the phenomena attending the discharge of 

 electricity through rarefied gas, with the application of 

 his ideas to cosmogony on the largest scale. The 

 lecture was of great interest ; but it contained so much 

 that was new, at least to me, that I will not venture 

 to give a detailed account of his results. I under- 

 stand that he is now sending a paper on the subject 

 to the Comptes rcndus. 



The festival at Christiania terminated with a 

 brilliant gala performance at the theatre of three acts 

 of Bjornson's "Mary Stuart," in the presence of the 

 King and Queen. 



On the following morning (Friday, September 8) a 

 large number of the delegates, accompanied bv ladies 

 and their Norwegian hosts, left Christiania for Bergen 

 in a special train put at their disposal by the Govern- 

 ment. The line affords scenery of great beautv, and 

 is a monument of the triumph of the engineers over 

 enormous difficulties, for we climbed to the height of 

 4000 feet, and reached the region of snow and glaciers. 

 The weather had been magnificent on the eastern side 

 of the mountains, but we were in heavv rain as we 

 descended the wonderful gorges of the western side. 

 It had been supposed bv most of us that the arrival at 

 Bergen would be the real end to the hospitalitv shown 



no. 1 1 86, vol'. 87] 



to us; but in this we were mistaken. Every house in 

 Bergen was illuminated in our honour, so that we 

 ran into a city of light, and, notwithstanding the 

 heavy rain, the streets were densely crowded in the 

 neighbourhood of the station. On Saturday and Sun- 

 day it was fine again, and thus we learned that 

 Bergen is not a city of eternal rain. 



On Saturday a visit to the museum and to the 

 marine biological station had been organised, followed 

 by a drive through the romantic hills which surround 

 the town. In the late afternoon the municipality, as 

 represented by the President and by the first Burgo- 

 master (for in Norway there are two Mayors for each 

 city), invited us to a dinner, at which there were many 

 excellent speeches. Finally, we were invited to the 

 theatre, where a comedy by Bjornson was admirablv 

 acted. This play, entitled "Geography and Love," 

 was perhaps chosen to teach men of science that they 

 ought not to become intolerable nuisances to their 

 wives. 



On Sunday morning the special train returned to 

 Christiania, somewhat emptied by the departure by 

 sea of some delegates, who were bound for St. 

 Andrews. 



It is notoriously difficult to judge of places and 

 institutions in their holiday dress, but I am sure that 

 all the visitors must have carried away an impression 

 of great activity in the study of literature and science 

 on the part both of the professors and students; and 

 what I have written will have shown how great was 

 the hospitalitv extended to us during this crowded 

 week. G. H. Darwin. 



CELEBRATION OF THE FIVE-HUNDREDTH 

 ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDATION 

 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS. 

 /CELEBRATIONS there have been in St. Andrews 

 ^ from very early times, more especially when its 

 ancient chapels and monasteries were in full activity, 

 and still more when its splendid cathedral, the largest 

 and finest in Scotland (yet so ruthlessly destroyed by 

 the Reformers) lent its countenance to the ceremonies. 

 The present, however, surpasses them all save in the 

 absence of the King, who so often favoured the city 

 and the University up to the time of Charles II. 

 Thus, to confine the remarks to academic life, great 

 were the rejoicings on February 14, 1413, when Henry 

 Ogilvie, M.A., the bearer of the papal Bull of the cul- 

 tured Benedict III. endowing the young University 

 with its important privileges, entered the city. Bells 

 sounded from the steeples, a solemn convocation of 

 the clergy was held in the refectory of the Priory, 

 and a procession to the high altar of the cathedral 

 was made by the whole assembly in rich canonicals, 

 " whilst 400 clerks, besides novices and lay brothers 

 and an immense number of spectators, bowed down 

 before the high altar in gratitude and adoration." ' 

 After high mass the day was devoted to mirth and 

 festivity. Such was a fitting baptism to a university 

 which owed its beginning more to the impulse of 

 learned men to teach than to public or private endow- 

 ments. No special buildings at first existed, the 

 masters opening pedagogies in various parts of the 

 town, the larger meetings in churches or in the re- 

 fectory of the Priory so recently and so judiciously 

 restored by the late Lord Bute. 



Now, after the lapse of five centuries of an almost 

 unbroken continuity in academic life, the University 

 again engages in festivity and rejoicing. During its 

 long and chequered career it has surmounted numer- 

 ous trials and difficulties — such as the turmoil of revo- 



1 Tytler, " Hist. Scot." 



