October 3, 1912] 



NATURE 



155 



By nurture — I use the word in its widest sense to 

 include all the defensive methods of sanitary science — 

 puigue,' yellow fever, malaria, sleeping-sickness, 

 cholera, hospital gangrene, &c., can be prevented by 

 eliminating the infecting cause; smallpox and typhoid 

 by this means, and also by vaccination ; and most of 

 the other ills which flesh is supposed to be heir to 

 can be kept from troubling by approximating to the 

 rules of life which a wild animal has to follow in 

 the matter of a simple, and often spare diet, hard 

 exercise, and exposure to the open air. 



There is nothing more fallacious than the supposi- 

 tion commonly held that over-feeding and over- 

 coddling indoors promotes health. The two together 

 derange the natural functions of the body. He who 

 seeks to save his life will lose it. 



The body of a new-born babe is a glorious and per- 

 fect machine, the heritage of millions of years of evo- 

 lution. 



" Not in entire forgetfulness, 

 And not in utter nakedness. 

 But trailing clouds of glory do we come. 



Shades of the prison house begin to close 

 Upon the growing Hoy." 



The ill-conditioned body, anasmic complexion and 

 undersized muscles, or the fat and gross habit, the 

 decay of the teeth, the disordered digestion, the 

 nervous irritability and unhappiness are the result 

 of "Nurture" — not Nature. 



In institutions children may be disciplined to 

 vigorous health. After leaving school thev are set 

 adrift to face monotonous work in confined places, 

 amusement in music-halls and cinema shows in place 

 of manly exercise in the open air, injudicious diet, 

 alcohol, and tobacco — everything which the trainer of 

 an athlete would repel. 



" And custom lie upon him with a weight 

 Heavy as Irost, and deep almost as life." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Shi.ffield. — The council of the University of Shef- 

 field has made the following appointments : — (i) Dr. 

 H. R. Dean, to the Joseph Hunter chair of pathology, 

 in succession to Prof. J. M. Seattle, who has been 

 appointed to the chair of bacteriology in the Univer- 

 sity of Liverpool. Dr. Dean is at present assistant 

 bacteriologist to the Lister Institute of Preventive 

 Medicine. (2) Mr. Leonard Southerns, to the post of 

 junior lecturer and demonstrator in physics, vice Dr. 

 J. Robinson, resigned. Mr. Southerns is at present 

 chief assistant at the Eskdalemuir Observatory, N.B. 

 The council received the resignation of Prof. F. W. 

 Hardwick of the professorship of mining, owing to 

 his retirement from active work. Prof. Hardwick 

 has been on the staff since October, 1891. 



.A COURSE of fifteen lectures on Indian sociology will 

 be delivered at East London College (University of 

 London), Mile End Road, E., by Mr. T. C. Hodson 

 (late of the Indian Civil Service), on Wednesdays- at 

 5.30, commencing October 23. The lectures are open 

 to the public without fee. 



Dr. a. N. Whitehead, F.R.S., University reader 

 in geometry, will deliver at University College, Lon- 

 don, a non-technical course of lectures on "The 

 General Ideas of the Science of Geometry " during 

 the first two terms of the session. The course will 

 begin on Tuesday, October 8, at 5 p.m. 



The opening of the session at Edinburgh University 



will see the inauguration of the new scheme for 



engineering degrees by which the full resources of 



the University and the Heriot-Watt College are 



NO. 2240, VOL. go] 



utilised for the first time to enable students to 

 specialise in the three departments of civil, mechanical, 

 and electrical engineering. 



A Reuter message from Cape Town states that in 

 view of the fact that there is no precedent for the 

 Sovereign's holding office in any university of the 

 Empire, the King has resigned the Chancellorship of 

 the Cape University with which his Majesty was in- 

 vested on the occasion of his visit to South .\frica in 

 1901 as Duke of Cornwall. The Duke of Connaught 

 has accepted nomination to the Chancellorship in 

 succession to the King. 



Announce.ment is made of two courses of post- 

 graduate lectures to be delivered at University Col- 

 lege (University of London), by Prof. J. A. Fleming, 

 F.R.S. (Pender professor of electrical engineering). 

 One course, on " Electromagnetic Waves and the 

 Theory of Electrons," will be delivered on Wednes- 

 days at 5 p.m., beginning Wednesday, November 6, 

 and the other, on "Electric Wave ' Wireless Tele- 

 graphy," will begin on Wednesday, January 22, 1913. 



.'\t the University of Bristol, the calendar of which 

 for the session- 1912-13 has been received, the 

 bachelor's degree can be taken in engineering, both 

 by day and evening students. The final part of the 

 curriculum may be in civil, mechanical, electrical, or 

 motor-car engineering. At Bristol also, it is interest- 

 ing to note, the Senate of the University is authorised 

 to confer a testamur in social study and in journalism 

 — a further indication of the desire of the modern 

 university to assist directly every kind of professional 

 work. 



The best criterion of the vitality of a university is 

 the record of its members' contributions to know- 

 ledge. The magnitude of such a list cannot, of course, 

 be taken as a measure of the importance of the 

 original work accomplished, but it indicates the 

 activity of the various departments of the university 

 to which the list refers, and shows that attention is 

 not being concentrated unduly upon examination 

 standards. A list of memoirs, papers, &-c., published 

 during the years 1909-1912 by members of the teach- 

 ing staff, scholars and fellows, research students, and 

 others connected with the University of Glasgow has 

 just been received, and it provides convincing evidence 

 of the large amount of literary and scientific work 

 published by members of the University. The uniform 

 distribution of these products through all departments 

 should be a particular cause of gratification to the 

 principal. 



The needs of students of anolied science receive 

 increasing attention year by year from university 

 authorities in different parts of the country. The new 

 calendar of Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 one of the constituent colleges of the University of 

 Durham, shows that here, for example, students, in 

 addition to being able to obtain the degree of bachelor 

 of science in pure science, ma}', if they prefer, offer 

 instead one of seven branches of applied science. 

 Degrees may, in fact, be obtained in agriculture, 

 mechanical and marine engineering, electrical 

 engineering, civil engineering, naval architecture, 

 mining, or metallurgy. The calendar shows, too, that 

 the active cooperation of engineering and shipbuilding 

 firms in the district has been secured. Many manu- 

 facturers have promised to cooperate with the college 

 by receiving pupils in the several departments of their 

 works and in their drawing offices, and by permitting 

 them to devote themselves exclusively during two or 

 three sessions to their college studies. 



The prospectus for the session 1912-13 of the dav 

 and evening college for men and women at the South- 

 western Polytechnic, Chelsea, serves excellently to- 



