NATURE 



[March 6, igr 



to, or in substitution for, an insurance policy. Thus 

 the various types of options would be as follows :— 



(a) A deferred annuity or equivalent cash payment 

 with a considerable benefit in the event of death' while 

 in service — to be obtained from insurance companies 

 by means of "endowment assurance" policies of 

 varied types. 



(6) A deferred annuity or equivalent cash payment 

 with return of accumulated contributions in the event 

 of death while in service — to be obtained from insur- 

 ance companies by means of a "sinking fund" policy 

 (or. if necessary, in individual cases by separate in- 

 vestment as above). 



U) A deferred annuity without any return of pre- 

 miums in the event of death while in service — to be 

 obtained from insurance companies. 



V. Ownership of Benefit.— (a) The governing body 

 should hold the policy or other equivalent accrued 

 benefit in trust for the beneficiary so long as he 

 remains at the institution, and the 'beneficiary should 

 execute some form of legal document which would 

 enable the governing bodv so to do. 



(b) On the transfer of a beneficiary from one insti- 

 tution to another within the federated system, the 

 whole of the accrued benefit should be transferred to 

 the second institution. 



(c) In the event of a beneficiary leaving an institu- 

 tion before the retiring age, for any reason other than 

 that indicated in (6) above, he should have the right 

 to the whole of the accrued benefit, but the govern- 

 ing body should have the right to determine how the 

 accrued benefit should be given. 



The advisory committee states that universities and 

 colleges would be prepared to inaugurate a super- 

 annuation system on the basis of the foregoing prin- 

 ciples, but, as in most cases increased outlay will 

 thereby be involved ultimately, it is unreasonable to 

 exnect them to adopt the proposals until they know 

 the amount of the assistance they may expect to 

 receive by way of grant. The committee therefore 

 makes recommendations for a further distribution of 

 the money held in reserve. 



Grants are made to thirteen universities and col- 

 leges varying from 1000Z. each in the case of the 

 Universities of Liverpool and Manchester, to 300L 

 each in the case of Bedford College, London, London 

 School of Economics, East London College, and Read- 

 ing University College. Tin- colleges at Nottingham 

 and Southampton do not receive additional grants. 



The additional grants now recommended, "together 

 with those announced in March, 1912, dispose of a 

 yearly sum of 148,000?. out of the 149,000/. available. 

 The committee recommends that the annual balance 

 of 1000Z., together with the balance of 2550Z. from pre- 

 vious Exchequer grants, should be held over to meet 

 contingencies. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Birmingham. — The Lord Mayor of Birmingham has 

 opened a fund for the establishment of a memorial to 

 the late Vice-Chancellor, Alderman C. G. Beale, whose 

 services to the city were such as to demand a per- 

 manent monument to his name. It is proposed to 

 devote the money subscribed to two objects, both of 

 which would certainly have had the approval of the 

 late Vice-Chancellor, viz. the endowment of a chair in 

 the University (to be called the Beale chair), and the 

 equipment of one of the rooms in the new Natural 

 History Museum of the city with a collection of 

 British birds and their nests in natural surroundings. 

 Already promises to the amount of 9000?. have been 



NO. 2262, VOL. QI~] 



received, including one donation of 5000L, earmarked 

 for the Beale chair, from that most generous friend 

 of the University Sir Charles Holcroft. 



Cambridge.— The General Board of Studies will 

 proceed shortly to appoint a University lecturer in the 

 philosophy of religion. The appointment is for three 

 years from October i, 19 13. The annual stipend is 

 100/. Candidates are requested to send their applica- 

 tions to the Vice-Chancellor, with testimonials, if 

 they think fit, on or before Friday, April 11. 



Mr. A. Harker has been nominated to represent the 

 University at the twelfth International Geological 

 Congress to be held in Canada in August next. 



Oxford.— Sir William Mitchell Ramsay will deliver 

 the Romanes lecture at the Sheldonian" Theatre on 

 Thursday, May 8, at 3 p.m. The subject of the lec- 

 ture is "The Imperial Peace." 



Mr. R. B. Bourdillon, lecturer in chemistry at 

 Balliol College, has been elected to a fellowship in 

 chemistry on the teaching staff of University College. 



The degree of M.A. has been conferred by a decree 

 of Convocation on Prof. W. H. Pcrkin, F.R.S., fellow 

 of Magdalen College, the recently elected Wavnflete 

 professor of chemistry. 



At the same Convocation, the statute altering the 

 constitution of Congregation by abolishing the quali- 

 fication of residence, and making other changes with 

 the view of confining the membership to the " teach- 

 ing and administrative elements in the University and 

 the colleges," passed its final stage by 77 votes to 40. 



In the Educational Supplement of The Times of 

 March 4 an important letter appears from Prof. 

 Poulton, F.R.S., pointing out that the extension of 

 the scientific departments of the LTniversitv was one 

 of the principal objects had in view by the' promoters 

 of the original purchase for the University of the 

 fround known as the Parks. The !»tfer directs atten- 

 tion to a scheme which was devised 51 mi years agOj 

 though p.ot accepted bv the University, in accordance 

 with which a space of ten or eleven acres adjoining 

 the museum at the south-west angle of the Parks 

 would be definitely allocated to the purposes of the 

 scientific departments at present existing or to be 

 established in future. This would leave six-sevenths 

 of the present open space untouched and unthreatened 

 by building. 



Sheffield.— Dr. Sophia M. V. Witts has been 

 appointed to the newly instituted post of lady tutor in 



Mr. Augustine Henry, reader in forestry, Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge, has been appointed to the professor- 

 ship of forestry recently established in the Royal 

 College of Science for Ireland. 



Dr. A. R. Forsyth, F.R.S., formerly Sadlerian 

 professor of pure mathematics in the University of 

 Cambridge, has been appointed chief professor of 

 mathematics at the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, South Kensington. 



As announced already, a course of four public lec- 

 tures on the theory of the solid state, will be delivered 

 at University College (University of London), bv 

 Prof. YV. Nernst, director of the Institute of Physical 

 Chemistry in the University of Berlin, at 6 p.m. 

 to-day. March 6, and at 5 p.m. on March -, 10, and 

 11. The chairman at the first lecture will be Sir 

 William Ramsay, K.C.B. 



At the annual meeting of the court of governors 

 of the Middlesex Hospital, on February 27, Prince 

 Alexander of Teck, in moving the adoption of the 

 report, announced an anonymous gift of about 



