AUGUST 19, 19 15] 

Peabody College for Teachers for the equipment of 
the Jesup psychology laboratory of the institution. 
Tue sum of 1,145 dollars has been given to the 
University of California for the carrying out of the 
survey of the animal and bird life of the Yosemite 
National Park, by the California Museum of Verte- 
brate Zoology. 
Dr. F. Biiincs, of Chicago, is announced to 
deliver the next course of Lane medical lectures at 
the School of Medicine of Stanford University. He 
will take as his subject, ‘‘ Focal Infection,’ and the 
course will extend from September 20 to 25 next. 
WE notice the following appointments in connection 
with American colleges :—Prof. H. S. Jackson, of 
the Oregon Agricultural College, to be head of the 
botany department of the Purdue University Agricul- 
tural Experiment Station, in succession to Dr. J. C. 
Arthur; Dr. E. W. Sinnott, of the Bussey Institution, 
to the chair of botany and genetics at the Connec- 
ticut Agricultural College. 
Troop COLLEGE oF TECHNOLOGY, Pasadena, has 
_recently received from an anonymous donor the sum 
of 10,000 dollars towards the equipment of a research 
laboratory in physical chemistry, and the promise of 
a like amount yearly for the maintenance of the 
laboratory. Dr. A. A. Noyes is to be in charge of the 
new department, dividing his time between Troop 
College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
AccorDInG to the Bulletin of the John Rylands 
Library, Manchester, the appeal on behalf of the 
University of Louvain which was made by the bulletin 
has met with a very encouraging reception, upwards 
of 3000 volumes having already been received or 
promised. We are glad to learn that an international 
committee is in process of formation, with the view to 
co-ordinate the many efforts that are being employed 
in this country, and also on the Continent, to assist 
in bringing about the restoration of the devastated 
library. 
Tue calendar for the year 1915 of the National 
University of Ireland is now available. Among the 
changes in the courses and in the regulations for the 
year 1916 of which notice is given may be mentioned 
those in connection with the matriculation examina- 
tion, travelling studentships, and the courses for 
higher degrees. For the purposes of matriculation the 
University is prepared to accept the certificates of a 
number of examining boards in the British Isles and 
Australia, and the matriculation certificates of ten 
specified universities. In addition, any person who has 
matriculated in any university of the British Dominions 
and Colonies, other than those already referred to, 
and has also passed an Intermediate examination in 
arts or science in that university, will be exempted 
from the matriculation examination of the National 
University of London. 
Str A. H. Cuurcu, who died on May 31, left to the 
Royal Society his reversionary interest in forty-three 
2ol. shares in the London County and Westminster 
Bank (Limited) with the request that when it falls 
into possession the income may be applied for purposes 
connected with the preservation or utilisation of the 
archives of the Royal Society; 5o0ol. to the rector and 
fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford; to the Waynflete 
professor of mineralogy in the University of Oxford 
tool. for the purchase of apparatus and mineral speci- 
mens, together with the testator’s microscope and other 
optical instruments and mineral specimens, and_ his 
chemical apparatus; and tool. to the curators of the 
Ashmolean Museum. He further requested his wife 
to make, among others, the following gifts in her life- 
time or bequests at her death :—To the trustees of 
the British Museum for the mineralogical gallery in 
NO. 2390, VOL. 95] 
NATURE 


693 

| the Natural History Museum, his collection of cut 
precious stones, or such thereof as the keeper of the 
minerals may select; to the curators of the Ashmolean 
Museum, Oxford, his collection of Japanese sword 
guards, and of sliders or beads, and of Chinese and 
Japanese bronzes, several Indian glass sprinklers, and 
a number of other curios and antiques. 
Tue Berne correspondent of the Morning Post, 
quoting from the Akademische Rundschau, gives some 
interesting information respecting the effects of the 
war upon the German universities, technical schools, 
and colleges. It is stated that in the summer term 
of 1914 there were, at the twenty-two German uni- 
versities, eleven technical academies, five commercial 
schools, three veterinary schools, and six agricultural 
and mining schools, 79,077 students entered, a number 
which in the autumn of 1914 had sunk to 64,710. Of 
this number the following were under arms :— 

University students 36,000 
Technical students 8,000 
Commercial students 6,000 
Veterinary students 300 
Agricultural students 300 
Mining students 300 
Total ... - 50,900 
The following are the percentages of students of some 
of the universities who have gone to the front :— 
Kénigsberg, 84; Heidelberg, 60; Munich, 56; Berlin, 
54; Frankfurt, 11. Of the technical academies 
Danzig sent the highest proportion of students—go per 
cent. The total number of German professors and 
students killed in the war, up to the end of May, is 
said to be 1191; Leipzig University has suffered most 
severely, losing 266 of its students. 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, August 2.—M. Ed. Perrier in 
the chair.—G. Bigourdan: The letters of L. Euler in 
the correspondence of J. N. Deslisle. H. Douville : 
The Orbitoids of Trinity Island. The distribution of 
these foraminifera is utilised for the classification of 
the Eocene strata at Trinity Island.—W. Kilian and 
Antonin Lanquine: The tectonic complications of the 
south-eastern portion of the Basses-Alpes, near Cas- 
tellane.—A. Leduc: The internal pressure of gases. 
The influence of temperature. Experimental data for 
sulphur dioxide at temperatures between 0° and 
1000° C. are not in good accord with the formule of 
Clausius and Sarrau. A new expression is proposed 
which presents the experimental results with greater 
exactness.—Sabra Stefanescu : The origin of some acci- 
dents of the crown of elephants’ molars.—Louis Gentil : 
The analogies of the Moroccan Haut Atlas and Atlas 
of the Sahara.—R. Chudeau : Temperature in western 
and equatorial Africa.—V. Wallich ; The suppression of 
suppuration in war wounds. The treatment, the very 
favourable results of which are described, is based on 
suppressing all causes of irritation at the level of the 
wound, together with the use of a stringently aseptic 
dressing. No antiseptics are used, draining tubes are 
removed as early as possible, and the compresses are 
moistened with a solution of common salt (one table- 
spoonful to the litre of water) sterilised by boiling for 
fifteen minutes before use.—V. Galippe: Parasitism in 
seeds and its importance in general biology. Experi- 
ments carried out on thirty-one species of plants 
showed that normal seeds can contain parasites. In 
ninety series of experiments seventy-eight results were 
positive. The parasite was usually a fungus, more 
rarely a yeast. The possibility of these parasites 
causing sudden mutations in plants is discussed.— 
