November 7, 1912J 



NATURE 



'■^1 



for a tew hundred miles of distance. It is quite 

 within possibility it may yet be conducted across the 

 Atlantic. . 



As regards other inventions, we are still m want 

 of more simple means for recording telegraphic mes- 

 sages. Since the coherer fell out of use the reception 

 is mostly conducted by ear. Somewhat elaborate 

 photographic methods, suitable for large land stations 

 which employ the Einthoven string galvanometer, 

 have been introduced, but what is still required is a 

 means of calling up the operator and of recording the 

 message on board ship which is at least as sensitive 

 as the telephone plus the human ear, for ordinary 

 shipboard communication. 



The receiver current is, however, very small, and 

 available power is at most a few microwatts in the 

 form of a current of a few microamperes. 



There are, therefore, innumerable practical and 

 scientific problems in connection with radio-telegraphy 

 which await solution. These require mathematical, 

 physical, and radio-telegraphic knowledge of a high 

 order to overcome them. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Dr. F. R. Miller has been appointed lecturer in 

 physiology in McGill University, Montreal. 



The bequests provided by the will of the late Mr. 

 Thomas Bartlett, of Liverpool, include one of 20,oooZ. 

 to the University of Liverpool for the purpose of 

 establishing scholarships of the value of ^ol. per 

 annum for engineering students. 



At its meeting on October 28, a letter was read by 

 M. Liard to the council of the University of Paris 

 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, offering to the University 

 the last 4O0oi. necessary for equipping the new Insti- 

 tute of Chemistry, in course of erection in the Rue 

 Pierre Curie, Paris. 



The Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, having 

 been recognised as the centre for advisory work in 

 forestry in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, 

 Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Monmouthshire, Hereford- 

 shire, and Worcestershire, Prof. H. A. Pritchard has 

 been appointed technical adviser, and Mr. A. D. Hop- 

 kinson lecturer in forestry and forest mycology. The 

 vacancy caused by the promotion of Prof. R. G. 

 Stapledon to the post of research botanist at Univer- 

 sity College, Aberystwyth, has been filled by the ap- 

 pointment of Mr. C. B. Saunders (London), who has 

 for some years been lecturer in biology at Holmes 

 Chapel Agricultural College. 



Pkof. a. Kuliabko, of the University of Tomsk, 

 Siberia, infornis The Times of the inauguration at 

 Tomsk, ori October 20, of an institution, founded by 

 the munificence of Peter Makoushin, which aims at 

 the instruction on a large scale of the people of 

 Siberia. The institution in question is called the 

 House of Science, and is meant to be a popular uni- 

 versity, where anyone may obtain instruction, from 

 the elementary to the secondary standard, free of 

 charge. It includes also a section for instruction of 

 the kind usually given at universities. The institution 

 will give hospitality to the conferences of teachers in 

 elementary schools; it will contain a library to be used 

 free of charge; special evening classes will be held; 

 while the dissemination of knowledge of sanitation 

 and hvgiene will have a leading place in the pro- 

 gramme. A museum of practical knowledge and many 

 other means of instruction will render the Tomsk 

 House of Science a boon to Siberia. 



The calendar of the University of Sheffield for the 

 session 1912-13 provides another striking example of 



NO. 2245, VOL. go] 



the efforts being made by the authorities of modern 

 universities to keep in close touch with the educa- 

 tional needs of the industrial centres in which they 

 are located. At Sheffield, for instance, in addition to 

 the comprehensive faculty of pure science, there is a 

 faculty of applied science, in which, under suitably 

 arranged conditions, the degrees of bachelor, master, 

 and doctor of engineering, or bachelor, master, and 

 doctor of metallurgy, can be secured. Students who 

 for various reasons do not graduate in the faculty of 

 applied science may, by attendance at day or evening 

 classes, on complying with the regulations, secure an 

 associateship in engineering or in iron and steel 

 metallurgy. In mining and architecture, too, diploma 

 courses "have been arranged. It is interesting 

 to note that arrangement has been made with 

 the Imperial College of Science and Technology 

 by which the University of Sheffield is recog- 

 nised as being in association with the Imperial College 

 for such of their students as may desire to specialise 

 in the study of the metallurgy of iron and steel for 

 the associateship of the Royal School of Mines. To 

 meet the special needs of women a two-years' course 

 of work in the University and the Sheffield Training 

 College of Domestic Science has been inaugurated, 

 and a diploma in domestic science is awarded to 

 successful students at the end of the course. While 

 the applied subjects are encouraged so successfully, 

 the other departments of university work are in no 

 way neglected, and the faculties of arts, medicine, law, 

 and so on, are equally complete. 



The council of King's College, London, has re- 

 ceived from the Rev. A. C. Headlam the intimation 

 of his intention to resign the office of principal and 

 dean of the college at the end of the present year. 

 In the House of Commons on Monday, Sir E. Corn- 

 wall asked the President of the Board of Education 

 whether his attention had been directed to the letter 

 from the Rev. A. C. Headlam to the Bishop of Lon- 

 don, dated October 11, in which Dr. Headlam alleged, 

 as one of the reasons for his resignation, peremptory 

 and arbitrary action on the part of the Board in re- 

 quiring the removal of the college to another site ; and 

 whether he would state on what ground the Board had 

 made such requirement without first consulting either 

 the college or the Senate of the University on the subject. 

 In reply. Mr. J. A. Pease said :— " I have seen the 

 letter referred to. The Board have expressed their 

 concurrence with the opinion of the Advisory Com- 

 mittee on University Grants that the present site of 

 King's College does not admit of such extension as • 

 will enable the college to take its proper place in the 

 University. The Board have indicated their readiness 

 to receive a deputation from the Senate of the Univer- 

 sity of London upon the question of site, but apart 

 from this they have taken no action in the matter, 

 and they have made no requirement. There is no 

 foundation whatever for the charges of discourtesy 

 and peremptory and arbitrary action contained in the 

 letter referred to. The Board and their .'\dyisory Corn- 

 mittee have no intention of interfering with the condi- 

 tions of freedom and independence which are necessary 

 to enable a university to perform its proper functions." 



The Government of India recently decided, we learn 

 from The Pioneer Mail, that the time had come to 

 endeavour to connect Indian educational institutions 

 more closely with business firms, railways, and other 

 employers of labour, to inquire how the former "an 

 better meet the requirements of the latter, and to 

 point out the wav to further employment of Indians 

 in them. For this inquiry Colonel .\tkinson and Mr. 

 Dawson were selected as having special practical 

 experience. They have completed their investigations 

 and issued a report. The great need which the report 



