4»S 



NATURE 



[JULY 



10, 1913 



good, and demonstrated increasing interest in a 

 neglected industry of national importance. 



Among the implements, the increasing ne< essity 

 for labour-saving contrivances is evidently continuing 

 to produce continual improvements and new types. 

 The set of milking machines attracted a great deal 

 of attention, especially the Swedish Omega form, 

 of vacuum type, which gained first place in trials held 

 earlier in the year. The difficulty of cleansing milk- 

 ing machines has been one of their great drawbacks, 

 but this is largely overcome in the Omega by employ- 

 ing short transparent celluloid tubes instead of long 

 rubber tubes. Probably the most ingenious new appli- 

 ance to be seen in the show was the " Erto " potato- 

 planting machine. This, in one operation, digs 

 trenches of the desired depth, plants the tubers at 

 any distance apart, sows manure if required, and 

 covers up the furrows. Novelties were not wanting 

 among the exhibits of various well-known firms 

 specialising in farm and garden plants. Suttons 

 showed a new variety of sunflower with red centre, 

 Marsters new varieties of wheat, and Gartons a new 

 oat — the "Leader" — the first to yield five grains to a 

 spikelet. 



The most striking innovation on a large scale at 

 the Bristol Show- was the establishment of an Over- 

 seas Section, and it is to be hoped that this feature 

 may be permanently retained. So many persons are 

 emigrating overseas that it is important to give them 

 every chance of seeing Colonial produce and studying 

 Colonial methods. Readers of Nature are mostly 

 familiar with the kind of exhibits represented in this 

 51 c lirm, but large numbers of the populace last week 

 were obviously keenly interested in the rubber series 

 shown by the' Federated Malay States, and the sugar 

 samples from the West Indies and British Guiana, 

 including food products for human and animal con- 

 sumption, and even a sugar-cane plant in a living and 

 healthv state. The time appears to have come when 

 intending colonists should all have the opportunity 

 nf elementary instruction in Colonial or tropical agri- 

 culture before leaving the home country. 



J. R. A.-D. 



BEDFORD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN. 



THE opening of the new buildings of the Bed- 

 ford College for Women on July 4 by her 

 Majesty Queen Mary was an important event in the 

 history of university education. 



A committee was formed in 1847 by Mrs. Reid 

 and other ladies interested in women's education, 

 lectures being given in Mrs. Reid's private house, 

 and in 1849 the college was definitely started in a 

 house of its own in Bedford Square, from which 

 fact the college takes its name. In 1S74 the college 

 moved to Baker Street, and from that year its growth 

 has been rapid. As time went on the accommodation 

 .it Baker Street was increased until every available 

 square foot was covered; when it became evident 

 that a move into larger and less noisy buildings was 

 inevitable. For this purpose the council acquired the 

 lea 1 -1 South Villa, standing on land adjoining Inn 

 outside Regent's Park. Three acres of the site were 

 added to the park, about eight acres being left for 

 the purpose of the college and its grounds. An appeal 

 was i-sued for the necessary building fund, and 

 a loyal response was given by old students and other 

 friends of the college. Among other gifts may be 

 mentioned a library and its furniture by Lady Tate, 

 a (lining-hall and 'common-rooms by Mrs. Oliver, ;> 

 grant of 30,000/. from the London County Council, 

 tnd an anonymous gift of 30,000/. 

 NO. 228o, VOL. 91] 



The new college accommodates some 500 students, 

 and (except for the library) was designed by Mr. Basil 

 Champneys. It consists of four parallel rows of 

 buildings : the library, a science block for chemistry, 

 physiology, and physics, another science block for 

 zoology, botany, and geology, and the hall and rooms 

 for about eighty residents. These rows are connected 

 at one end by corridors, by the Sir Julius Wernher 

 reading-room, and by a block of buildings for ad- 

 ministrative offices and for the rooms allotted to 

 arts subjects and mathematics. This "arts" block 

 also contains a large hall for public lectures. 



In erecting these buildings the council has assumed 

 a heavy responsibility, and in order to provide scholar- 

 j ships, to maintain "the departments at a high level, 

 and to keep up the fabric, an adequate endowment 

 is urgently needed. An appeal has been issued 

 for an endowment fund of 150,000/. A far 

 humbler but very necessary appeal was also 

 issued about a year ago for 2000/. to put 

 the athletic clubs on a sound financial basis. The 

 value of outdoor recreation to women coming from 

 London homes, and engaged in severe mental work, 

 can scarcely be over-estimated. 



The Queen, who was accompanied by Princess 

 Louise Duchess of Argyll and the Duke of Argyll, 

 was received at the entrance of the college, and con- 

 ducted by the Earl of Rosebery to the lecture-hall, 

 where the council and staff were presented. She then 

 proceeded to the two science blocks, where she in- 

 spected the students at work, and took the keenest 

 interest in their experiments and exhibits. After- 

 wards she walked to the Tate Library, and then to 

 the residents' block, where she visited some of the 

 rooms. Meanwhile some 600 guests were awaiting 

 her arrival in the dining-hall, the time being filled 

 up by several speeches. The President of the Board 

 of Education expressed strong appreciation of the 

 work done by the college, and hopes of a great 

 development of both school and university education 

 in the future. In the absence of Sir John Simon, 

 Miss Edgell (head of the department of philosophy) 

 spoke next, and in an interesting speech outlined 

 the progress of women's education during the last 

 sixty years, and emphasised the great part played 

 therein by the University of London. The Archdeacon 

 of London pointed out the value of university educa- 

 tion in the formation of national character. Then 

 Lord Rosebery spoke until the Queen, having com- 

 pleted her tour of inspection, arrived in the hall, 

 where she listened to a college song and received a 

 bouquet from the students. She then said: "I have 

 great pleasure in declaring the new buildings of this 

 colleee open"; and left the college, after receiving 

 thanks from Lord Haldane. 



RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHICAL PAPERS. 

 Lake Balkhash. — Mr. B. F. Meffert, who visiter 

 this lake during a journey in Russian Asia in [910. 

 has given an account of its basin in the Izvestiya of 

 the Imp. Russ. Gcogr. Soc, Nos. i.-v., 1912. The 

 basin is intimately connected with those of the lakes 

 Sas'yk-kul, Ala-kul, and Ebi-nor. The rocks are 

 chiefly Palaeozoic and eruptive rocks of various ages. 

 Deposits dating- no further back than the Tertiary 

 are rare, and occur only in the eastern part of the 

 basin. At some time or other before the Tertiary 

 period the Palaeozoic rocks were folded in various 

 directions, chiefly north-west and west. When the 

 faulting and upheavals which formed the horsts and 

 troughs of the Tarbagatai, Dzune-arian Alatau, the 

 Chu-Ili watershed, &c, took place is not known, but 



