January 9, 19 13] 



NATURE 



So'. 



which carries only one-fifth of the mark in other 

 subjects. 



The address delivered by Prof. Nicholas Murray 

 Butler, president of the Columbia University, on the 

 occasion of the dedication of the State Education 

 Building at Albany, N.Y., last October, has been 

 issued as a reprint from The Educational Review of 

 New York. The subject of the address is the service 

 of the university. The prime thought which underlies 

 and gives purpose to the whole educational policy of 

 New York from its very beginning, says Prof. Butler, 

 is that educational progress is a unit, and that its 

 supervision and control should be gathered into one 

 single department of State education. Later in his 

 address he provided an admirable definition of a 

 university. He referred to it as "an institution where 

 students adequately trained by previous study of the 

 liberal arts and sciences are led into special fields of 

 learning and research by teachers of high excellence 

 and originality, and where, by the agency of libraries, 

 museums, laboratories, and publications, knowledge is 

 conserved, advanced, and disseminated. Teaching is 

 only one function of a university, and perhaps the 

 smallest one. Its chief function is the conservation, 

 the advancement, and the dissemination of knowledge, 

 the pushing out of that border line between the known 

 and the unknown which constitutes the human 

 horizon." 



The following advanced lectures in scientific sub- 

 jects have been arranged for the present term by the 

 University of London. Unless otherwise stated, ad- 

 mission is free without ticket. Detailed information 

 will be found in The London University Gazette of 

 Januarv i : — "The Illustration of Botanical Papers," 

 Mr. T. G. Hill; "The Morphology of Gnetales," 

 Prof. Margaret Benson ; " The Theory of the Solid 

 State," Prof. W. Nernst, professor of physical chem- 

 istry and director of the Institute of Physical Chem- 

 istry in the University of Berlin; "The Growth in 

 Length of the Vertebrate Embryo," Mr. Richard 

 Assheton ; " Recent Work on the Bionomic Value of 

 Colour in .Animals, especially Insects," Prof. E. B. 

 Poulton, F.R.S. ; " Meteorology in Relation to the 

 Navigation of the Air," Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. (in 

 this case application for tickets of admission should 

 be made at the Meteorological Office) ; " The Rela- 

 tions of Electrolytes to Living Tissues," Mr. G. R. 

 Mines. (These lectures are for advanced students of 

 the University and others interested in physiology. 

 Any il^mber of a London school of medicine, whether 

 an undergraduate of the University or not, is entitled 

 to admission to this course.) "The Protozoa," Prof. 

 E. A. Minchin, F.R.S. (The course is open free to 

 all members of the University, to all medical men or 

 registered medical students, and to other persons, on 

 application to the academic registrar.) "Some 

 Hitherto Neglected Sources of Error in Mine-survey- 

 ing and their Elimination or Reduction bv Improve- 

 ments in Instruments or Methods," Mr. L. H. Cooke. 

 Six lectures in connection with the Francis Galton 

 Laboratory for National Eugenics will be given at 

 L^niversity College on Tuesday evenings, at 8 p.m., 

 beginning- on February ii. .Admission to this course 

 is free, but bv non-transferable ticket, applications for 

 which should be sent to the secretary of Universitv 

 College. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, December lo, 1912. 



— Prof. F. E. Weiss, president, in the chair. — T. A. 



Coward exhibited a fossil, barrel-shaped pith of a 



NO. 2254, VOL. 90] 



cycadean stem with small portions of the surrounding 

 wood, with superficial markings due to the medullary 

 rays, from a brickfield near Timperley. — T. A. 

 Coward : Coloured photograph of a specimen of the 

 Baikal or Formosan teal, Anas fonnosa, shot at 

 Wirral a short time ago.— .-X. Holt and J. E. Myers : 

 The constitution of the phosphoric acids and some of 

 their alkali salts. There appear to be but two varie- 

 ties of metaphosphoric acid and two corresponding 

 series of salts. These salts are derived from mono- 

 and tri-metaphosphoric acids. The tri-acid is vitreous ; 

 the mono-acid can only be obtained in solution. The 

 monometaphosphates of the alkalies are readily soluble 

 in water, and are prepared either by neutralising the 

 mono-acid or by devitrifying the glass obtained by 

 the action of heat on microcosmic salt. This is in 

 direct contradiction to the customary statements of 

 text-books. The more complex metaphosphates are 

 probably double salts.— Miss P. C. Esdaile : The scien- 

 tific results of the salmon scale research at Manchester 

 University. The results obtained by an examination 

 of scales from nearly 1700 fish from the Wye indicate 

 some relation between the length of time spent in the 

 river and in the sea. In the majority of cases, when 

 the voung fish has stayed for a considerable time in 

 the river it has remained for a comparatively short 

 while in the sea, and vice versd. Grilse and small 

 spring fish with a comparatively short sea-life are 

 longer for their weight than large summer or large 

 spring fish, and also show much more variation. 

 Only seventy-eight of the fish had spawning marks 

 on their scales. It was observed that fish which one 

 vear spawned as spring fish may spawn again as 

 summer fish, and vice versd. The results indicate 

 that the scales do not provide any evidence to support 

 the belief that spring and summer salmon represent 

 two distinct races.— Dr. J. R. Ashworth : Note on the 

 mean magnetic moment and energy of a vibrating 

 magnet. By a mathematical investigation the author 

 showed that the behaviour of a magnet making oscil- 

 lations of large amplitude in a uniform field resembles 

 that of a diamagnetic substance. When, however, it 

 oscillates under the influence of a similar neighbour- 

 ing magnet its behaviour has a resemblance to that 

 of a ferromagnetic substance under the influence of 

 heat, and the phenomenon of recalescence could 

 in some degree be imitated under like conditions. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Scotland. The 

 Geology of Ben Wyvis, &c. By Dr." B. N. Peach and 

 others. With petrological contributions by Dr. J. S. 

 Flctt. Pp. x+i8q + xii plates. (Edinburgh: 

 H.M.S.O. ; London: E. Stanford, Ltd.) 4s. 



Scientific Memoirs by Officers of the Medical and 

 Sanitarv Departments of the Government of India 

 (New Series). No. 54, Studies on the Mouth Parts 

 and Sucking Apparatus in the Blood-sucking Diptera. 

 No. I, Philaematomyia insignis, Austen. By Captain 

 F. W. Cragg. Pp. 3+17 + iv plates. (Calcutta: 

 Superintendent Government Printing, India.) is. 3d. 



Scientific Memoirs by Officers of the Medical and 

 Sanitarv Departments of the Government of India 

 (New Series.) No. 5:;, The Structure of Haemaiopota 

 tyluvialis. Meigen. "By Captain F. W. Cragg. Pp. 

 •^ + 3j + vii plates. (Calcutta: Superintendent Govern- 

 ment Printing, India.) is. qd. 



Scientific Memoirs by Officers of the Medical and 

 Sanitarv Departments of the Government of India 

 ^New Series). No. 56, Malaria in the Andamans. 

 Rv Major S.R. Christophers. Pp. 4 + 48- (Calcutta: 

 Superintendent Government Printing, India.) is. 4d. 



