February 6, 19 13] 



NATO' RE 



'35 



examining for the degrees, and in a number of otiier 

 less important directions. The Senate, at its meeting 

 in January, igi2, summoned an annual conference 

 of the professors of the four colleges ; the first meeting 

 was held in November, when it was resolved to 

 recommend to the Senate the merging of the two 

 degrees of B.A. and B.Sc. into one, to be called 

 B.A. The attempt by the reformers to introduce the 

 svstem of intermediate and final examinations for the 

 degree was thrown out, and the general scheme of 

 the Conservatives, if we may so call them, was 

 adopted. It was also resolved to recommend that at 

 the end of five years the present system of examination 

 should cease, and that examinations be conducted by 

 boards of examiners, composed of the New Zealand 

 professors. 



The second part, dealing with financial statistics for 

 1910-11-12, of "Statistics of Public Education in 

 England and Wales," is now available (Cd. 6551). 

 In the year ending March 31, 1912, the net total 

 expenditure by the Board of Education in England 

 and Wales was 14,298,030;. Of this 11,775,390;. was 

 spent on elementary education, 758,525;. on secondary 

 schools, 587,213/. on technical and art schools and 

 classes, and 571,143/. on the training of teachers. 

 The amounts allocated definitely to higher education 

 were small ; among these sums may be mentioned 

 2o,oooL to the Imperial College of Science and Tech- 

 nology, 17,2381. to the Science Museum at South 

 Kensington, and 20,i7oL for the Geological Museum 

 and Geological Survey. A table giving the expendi- 

 ture of local authorities in England on education 

 other than elementary is of special interest. Their 

 total receipts for this purpose were 4,327,842/., some- 

 what less than their total expenditure. Of this 

 amount 1,081,835/. was from Parliamentary grants, 

 1,840,155/. from rates and borough funds, and 193,957/. 

 from local authorities. 



The report for the third session of the faculty of 

 engineering in the University of Bristol has now been 

 published. During the session 1911-12, seventy-four 

 day students attended, of whom fift3--three were matri- 

 culated students of this University ; the percentage of 

 matriculated students, which was forty in 1909-10 

 and fifty-eight in 1910-11, increased to seventy-one. 

 This is higher than the corresponding percentage of 

 matriculated engineering students in other provincial 

 universities. Of these day students, three were 

 engaged in post-graduate research work. The nunibe:' 

 of individual students in attendance at the evenin." 

 classes conducted by members of the teaching staff 

 of the faculty was 444 ; of these, eighteen were regis- 

 tered as candidates for the university degree or certifi- 

 cate in eneineering, and two had matriculated. The 

 report ooints out that each vear it becomes easier to 

 find places for students who have completed their 

 courses of study. This arises nartlv from the fact 

 that emolovers are realisinsr the benefits to be derived 

 from engaging recruits who have had a sound tech- 

 nical training, and partly that students unwilling to 

 work hard enoueh are dissuaded from continuing 

 their studies. This reduces the number of students 

 in the facultv, but increases enormously the efficiency 

 of the work. 



In his recent report on the work of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, President R. C. 

 Maclaurin savs there can in future be no serious talk 

 of merging the institute with Harvard University, 

 but he shows at the same time how desirable proper 

 cooperation between the two colleges is. The Insti- 

 tute of Technology has received during the past year 

 gifts amounting to about 1,200,000/., and is strong 

 enough either to stand alone or lo enter into alli- 



No. 22.=;8, VOL. go] 



ances. Dr. Maclaurin shows how unwise it would 

 be for the institute to establish a group of collections 

 for its students when the splendid University Museum 

 of Harvard is so close at hand. The institute, he 

 points out, is intending to erect the most complete 

 mining and metallurgical laboratories in the world, 

 and it would be a waste of money for Harvard to 

 try to duplicate these. He believes that there should 

 be a further interchange of the strong teachers in 

 both institutions. For years the institute students 

 in geology have had the advantage of Prof. Daly's 

 skill, enthusiasm, and scientific achievements, and 

 now he has gone to Harvard it would be regrettable 

 if the students should be out of his influence, the 

 more so since the number of advanced students in the 

 two schools together is not too large for him to 

 deal with effectively. In return. Harvard is not 

 likely, Dr. Maclaurin says, to attempt the task of 

 duplicating such a man as Prof. Lindgren, now- at the 

 institute. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society. January 23. — Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., president, in the chair.— E. Mellanby : 

 The metabolism of lactating women.— Dr. F. W. 

 Edridge-Green : Colour adaptation. As in dark 

 adaptation there is a considerable effect which 

 takes place immediately on entering a dark 

 room, so is there a considerable effect pro- 

 duced when a person enters a room illuminated 

 by an artificial light, having previously been in day- 

 light. This effect, w^hich may be designated _ colour 

 adaptation, increases with the time during which the 

 eves are subjected to the adapting light. The effect 

 of colour adaptation was estimated by four methods. 



Dr. F. W. Edridge-Green : Trichromic vision and 



anomalous trichromatism. The following^ are the 

 conclusions arrived at after the examination of a 

 large number of persons belonging to each class : — 

 (1) Trichromic vision (on the author's classification 

 of colour-vision") is not synonymous with anomalous 

 trichromatism. (2) Many persons with otherwise 

 normal colour perception make an anomalous equa- 

 tion. (3) Many colour-blind persons (dichromics and 

 trichromics) make an absolutely normal match with 

 no greater mean deviation than the normal. (4) 

 Colour weakness is not characteristic of anomalous 

 trichromatism but of trichromic vision. (5) Anoma- 

 lous trichromatism and colour weakness are not 

 synonymous. (6) A large mean deviation indicates 

 colour weakness. (7) Anomalous trichromatism ap- 

 pears to be due to an alteration in the normal rela- 

 tions of the response to the three colours (lights) used 

 in the eauation. — W. E. Agar : The transmission of 

 environmental efTects from parent to offspring in 

 Simoccphahis vetulus. The main result of a number 

 of experiments on the transmission of environmental 

 effects in a common Daphnid, S. vetulus, has been 

 to show that certain characters, acquired ontogenetic- 

 ally by individuals placed in abnormal environments, 

 mav appear in their offspring which have been born 

 and have lived in a normal environment, i.e. one 

 in which control individuals do not show- the char- 

 acters in question.- Dorothy M. Cayley : .\ preliminary 

 note on a new bacterial disease of Pisuni sativum. — 

 Dr. J. Homans : The relation of the islets of Langer- 

 hnns to the pancreatic acini under various conditions 

 of secretorv activity.— H. O. Feiss and W. Cramer : 

 Contributions to the histo-chemistry of nerve; on the 

 -ature of Wallerian degeneration. — 1. B. J. Sollas : 

 Onvchastcr. a Carboniferous brittle-star. — Prof. H. E. 

 Armstrong. E. F. Armstrong, and E. Horton : Herbage 



