374 



NATURE 



[November 28, 1912 



oenologist. A mycologist will be appointed in due 

 course. In the biochemical laboratory Mr. Arthur 

 Geakc has been appointed research assistant to Dr. 

 IS'ierenstcin for the investigations on the chemistry of 

 Cheddar cheese, and Mr. C. W. Spiers research 

 assistant for the cider tannins investigation. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The council of St. John's College has 

 offered to the University 500/. as a contribution to the 

 equipment of the Solar Physics Observatory on its 

 installation in Cambridge. 



The special board for biology and geology has 

 adjudged the Walsingham medal for 1912 to E. D. 

 Adrian, for his essay entitled, "On the Transmission 

 of Subnormal Disturbances in Norma! and in Incom- 

 pletely Recovered Nerve." 



The Walsingham medal for 1913 is to be awarded 

 for an essay embodying the results of original research 

 on any botanical, geological, or zoological subject, 

 zoology being understood to include animal 

 morphology and physiology. 



K. R. Lewin has, with the approval of the Vice- 

 Chancellor, been appointed assistant to the Quick 

 professor of biology, in succession to Mr. C. sTrick- 

 jand, who has resigned the post. 



The General Board of Studies has appointed W. B. 

 Hardy a University lecturer in physiology from 

 January r, 1913, until September 30, 1917. 



N. Cunliffe has been appointed to the studentship in 

 medical entomology lately held by G. Merriman. 



Tt is proposed to confer the degree of Master of 

 -Arts, honoris causa, upon Sir .-Vrthur Thomas Quiller- 

 Couch, King Edward VII. professor of English'litera- 

 ture, and upon Dr. John Read, assistant to the 

 professor of chemistry. 



Oxford. — On November 26 the preamble of the 

 statute abolishing the existing division into orders of 

 the elected members of council was moved in Con- 

 gregation by Prof. Geldart, and supported by the 

 warden of Keble. It was opposed by Prof. Gotch and 

 Mr. Ball, and rejected by 87 to 105. The statute will 

 probably be reintroduced in another form. 



At the same meeting of Congregation the preamble 

 of a statute amending the constitution of Congrega- 

 tion by abolishing the qualification of residence, and 

 providing that in future that body shall consist only 

 of the teaching and administrative elements in the 

 University and colleges, was moved by Prof. Geldart, 

 and, in spite of the opposition offered by the master 

 of Balliol and Mr. Ball (by the latter on the ground 

 that it provided for the safeguarding of vested in- 

 terests), was carried by 100 to 79. An objection felt 

 in many quarters to this enactment is based on the 

 fact that it will disfranchise such persons as those 

 graduates engaged in scientific or other research who 

 •do not happen to be employed in teaching or adminis- 

 tration within the University. It is understood that 

 no amendment to admit such persons will be possible 

 under the preamble as now carried. 



The office of Vice-Chancellor of the University of 

 -Sheffield, vacant through the retirement of Sir Charles 

 Eliot, has been accepted by Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, 

 fellow and tutor of New College, O.xford. 



Among the bequests of Mrs. A. M. Jones (widow 

 of Prof. Tom Jones, of Manchester, surgeon), who 

 ■died on October 30, are loooL to the Victoria Univer- 

 sity, Manchester, in augmentation of the endowment 

 of the Prof. Tom Jones memorial scholarship, and 

 NO. 2248, VOL. 90] 



500Z. to the University College of Wales, Aberystwilh, 

 as an endowment for promoting the study of surgery. 



.At the annual meeting of the court of governors of 

 the University of Wales on November 22 a resolution, 

 moved by Sir Isambard Owen, that steps be taken 

 to secure representation in Parliament for the Welsh 

 University was carried by .seventeen votes to twelve. 

 In moving his resolution. Sir Isambard said that if 

 university representation is to be continued there is no 

 doubt that the younger universities will all be agitat- 

 ing for privileges with the older universities, and there 

 is a danger that Parliament will pool these younger 

 universities with only one representative for each 

 group. He held that it is necessary that the Welsh 

 University should not be pooled with, say, Birmingham 

 or Bristol, because the Welsh University is national 

 and possesses distinct interests. 



The governing body of the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology has decided to combine all the 

 mathematical work of the Imperial College, and of its 

 integral parts, viz. the Royal College of Science, the 

 Royal School of Mines, and the City and Guilds 

 (Engineering) College, into one department, and to 

 place the supervision of this department under a chief 

 professor of mathematics. A special joint committee 

 of the governing body and of the delegacy of the City 

 and Guilds College has now been constituted in con- 

 nection with the selection of a suitable individual for 

 appointment to the chair. It is the intention of the 

 governing body to make the appointment from a date 

 during the current session, so as to enable the new 

 organisation to be perfected before October next, when 

 the work of session 1913-14 begins. 



The proceedings at the congress of the fifty-three 

 universities of the Empire, whicn took place in London 

 last July, were described in articles published in the 

 issues ot Nature tor June 13 ana July 11 last 

 (vol. Ixxxix., pp. 3S5 and 477). The official record of 

 the proceedings has now been publislied for the con- 

 gress by the University of London Press, Messrs. 

 Hodder and Stoughton, London, as a volume of 464 

 pages, the price of which is los. net. If the congress 

 meets, as proposed, at recurring intervals of five 

 years, reports such as that now available will serve 

 excellently to record the steps in the future develop- 

 ment of university ideals. Not only are the papers 

 read at the congress by experts on university educa- 

 tion included, but the speeches made at the various 

 meetings are also reported. 



The calendar for the session 1912-13 of University 

 College, London, which is now available, is full of 

 interesting particulars of the manifold activities of 

 this important constituent college of the University of 

 London. The list of original papers and other publica- 

 tions from the various departments of the college, since 

 the dean's report in the preceding calendar, runs to 

 sixteen pages, and an examination of it shows that 

 each faculty recognises fully the vital importance of 

 research work. It is worthy of note that the new- 

 chemical laboratories have been begun, and will be 

 ready in about a year's time. The equipment of the 

 faculty of medical sciences has been iiTiproved by the 

 provision of the new pharmacology laboratories by 

 Mr. Carnegie. These laboratories will shortly be 

 opened. The total number of students in the college 

 during the session 1911-12 was 1679 — 1031 men and 

 6j6 women. Engaged in post-graduate and research 

 work there were 286 men and 117 women. The 

 faculty of science was chosen by 175 men and 135 

 women, and engineering was taken up by 104 men. 



The Department of Agriculture and Technical In- 

 struction for Ireland has arranged that a limited 

 number of scholarships and of teacherships-in-training. 



