OJCTOBER 19, 191 1] 



NATURE 



54i 



thi name should be invented, instead of adopting 



.tic 1 which refuses to accept as clay the slime of 

 iii : irtz miner, much of the Scottish boulder clay, and 

 the nine brick-clays in the table of brick-clay 

 in by Ries. 1 

 I have referred to a few instances to illustrate the 

 frequent misappropriation of current terms by various 

 science, in the hope that the members of the 

 ponding societies will use their influence to dis- 

 co . practice. It should be remembered, however, 



thai then are many cases in which it is a wise policy to 

 trai sform a current popular term. It may be even justifi- 

 able, as in the case of minium and cinnabar, to use a word 

 with the very opposite of its original meaning. A term 

 may be adopted and redefined where, as in the cases of 

 irm, the popular meaning involves a wrong idea, 

 advisable to correct, or overlooks a distinction 

 whJch is practically important. Change and growth in 

 nclature must be allowed. A dead language is very 

 good for fixed ideas ; but rigid adherence to original 

 is a bondage from which it is to be hoped 

 terminology will be always free. It is useless to 

 St 'ules as to when popular terms may be revised ; 

 each case should be judged on its merits. 



sual adoption of current words with new meanings 

 iften an attempt to secure specious simplicity at the 

 of subsequent confusion. Deissmann's recent book. 

 ; ; it from the Ancient East " (1010), directs attention 

 misconceptions that have similarly arisen in theology, 

 for he urges that words used in the New Testamenl are 

 mderstood, in what the authors of that volume would 

 decidedly call a non-natural sense. The idea that science 

 driven into an intellectual wilderness owing to its 

 terminology is an idle bogie. Reference to the 

 sporting or business columns of any daily paper will show 

 that all specialised pursuits have their own special lan- 

 guage. The language of golf is as technical as that of 

 geology, and I venture to urge that science will lose more 

 he misuse of current English than by the invention 

 of new terms for new ideas and new materials. A rose by 

 "ther name may smell as sweet, but we cannot get 

 sweet-smelling roses if we order them under the name of 

 dandelions. In short, to put new meanings into standard 

 English words appears as unjustifiable as to put home- 

 I beer into Bass-labelled bottles. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 [BRIDSE. — The next combined examination for sixty- 

 entrance scholarships and a large number of exhibi- 

 at Pembroke, Gonville and Cains, King's, I 

 's, St. John s, and Emmanuel Colleges, will be held 

 lesday, December 5, and following days. Mathe- 

 ■ lassies, and natural sciences will be the subjects 

 ■ unination at all the above-mentioned colleges. Most 

 of the colleges allow candidates who intend . to study 

 sciences to compete for scholarships and 

 lions by taking the papers set in mathematics or 

 al sciences. A candidate for a scholarship or 

 lition at any of the seven colleges must not be more 

 nineteen years of age on October 1, 1911. Forms of 

 application for admission to the examination at the re- 

 ive colleges may be obtained as follows : — Pembroke 

 . S. Hadley; Gonville and Caius College, The 

 Master; King's College, W. H. Macaulay ; Jesus College, 

 A. Gray: Christ's College, The Master; St. John's 

 College, The Master ; Emmanuel College, The Master ; 

 from an; of whom further information respecting the 

 scholarships and other matters connected with the several 

 colleges muy be obtained. The forms of application must 

 be sent in on or before Saturday, November 25. 



The syndicate appointed to consider the question of pro- 

 viding pensions for professors and others in the service of 

 the i i is considered the desirability of framing a 



buton scheme. The stipends, however, which the Uni- 

 versi ; is al present able to pay do not seem to the syndicate 

 sufficiently large to justify a tax for providing pensions. 

 The syndic:. te has also considered whether the University 

 1 H. Ries, ibid., p. 185. 



M90, VOL. 87] 



should enter into an arrangement with an assurance com- 

 pany or should form its own pension fund ; but it recom- 

 mends that the University should establish its own pension 

 fund. In its scheme the syndicate has aimed at providing 

 pensions for professors (with certain exceptions), readers, 

 and certain officers on the basis of compulsory retirement 

 at a given age ; the maximum pension to be 500/. a year or 

 five-sixths of the stipend, whichever is the less ; and the 

 actual pension to be in a proportion, varying with the 

 length of service, to the maximum pension. The amount 

 of pension is further limited to 500L a year, inclusive of 

 any college pension, stipend, or emolument. The syndicate 

 proposes that in the first instance the per.sion scheme 

 should apply only to professors, readers, and officers 

 appointed in the future, in which case the annual contri- 

 bution for pensions would for many years probably be 

 small. But it is hoped that the University may be able 

 in due course to provide pensions for some of the present 

 staff if they are willing to place themselves under the 

 scheme. There are nineteen professors, twelve readers, 

 and nine university officers of the present staff who would 

 be under the age of sixty on January 1, 1911, and entitled 

 to pensions according to the scheme. 



The syndicate appointed to consider the financial 

 administration of the various scientific departments of the 

 University, and the financial relations between these 

 departments and the museums and lecture-rooms syndicate, 

 has issued a revised report, in which the following rules 

 are formulated, among others : — (1) That the responsi- 

 bility' for the working and superintendence of each of the 

 scientific departments and for the administration of the 

 departmental fund rest with the professor who is the head 

 of the department. (2) That, subject to any subsisting 

 agreement for the retention of fees by individuals, all fees 

 received for lectures and practical courses be paid into the 

 departmental fund. (3) That a university buildings 

 syndicate be established in substitution for the museums 

 and lecture-rooms syndicate, and that all university build- 

 ings be placed under its charge except the University Press 

 and any other buildings specially committed by the Senate 

 to any special board or syndicate. (4) That a general 

 maintenance fund for university buildings be established 

 in substitution for the museums and lecture-rooms main- 

 tenance fund, and that it be referred to the financial board 

 to advise the Senate what annual payment should be made 

 to this fund. 



The financial board has reported on the college con- 

 tributions for 191 1. In its opinion the sum of 30,071!. 

 should be raised in the present year by contributions from 

 the colleges for university purposes. This report has been 

 accepted by the Senate. 



It is proposed to establish a post of demonstrator in 

 medical etymology in connection with the Quick Labora- 

 tory. The' appointment will be made by the Quick pro- 

 fessor of biologv with the consent of the Vice-Chancellor, 

 and the office will terminate with the current period of the 

 tenure of the Quick professorship. 



The governing body of the Lister Institute has made the 

 following appointments :— Drs. E. E. Atkin and W. Ray 

 to be assistant bacteriologists, Mr. A. W. Bacot to be 

 entomologist, and Dr. Casimir Funk to be a research 

 scholar. 



An international exhibition is being arranged by the 

 Imperial Russian Technical Society to illustrate the organ- 

 isation and equipment of schools. The exhibition is to be 

 opened on April 15, 1912, and will last until the following 

 July 15. This will be the first exhibition of its kind to be 

 held in Russia. Full particulars and the conditions _ for 

 exhibitors can be obtained from the executive committee 

 of the International Exhibition " Organisation and Equip- 

 ment of Schools," St. Petersburg, Panteleimonskaia, 2. 



Reuter's correspondent at Simla states that about 

 30 lakhs of rupees (200,000/.) have been collected for 

 establishing a residential Hindu university at Benares with 

 an adequate European staff. Mr. Butler, of the Viceroy s 

 Council, in writing to the Maharaja of Darbhanga, 

 indicated the conditions upon which the Government would 

 recognise the university, and these conditions have been 



