92 



NA TURE 



[May 24, 1906 



use of the zoological laboratory. The library so constituted 

 was housed in a room adjacent to the laboratory, and has 

 ever since been freely open to all members of the University 

 and to others qualified to make use of it. The library has 

 been maintained hitherto out of the fees paid by students 

 attending the classes ; and' the burden which it thus places 

 upon the resources of the laboratory is undesirable, k com- 

 mittee has therefore been formed for the purpose of collect- 

 ing subscriptions, and of establishing a fund to be called 

 ihe Balfour Library Endowment Fund, with the object of 

 putting the library on a secure and satisfactory basis. 

 The committee at its first meeting agreed that the fund, 

 when established, " be offered to the University at such 

 time and under such conditions as the subscribers shall 

 hereafter determine, provided that the management be 

 closely connected with the zoological laboratory, and that 

 the library be freely open to students." Subscriptions may 

 be paid to the Balfour Library Endowment Fund, at 

 Messrs. Barclay's Bank, or to the treasurer, Mr. Adam 

 Sedgwick, Zoological Laboratory, New Museums, Cam- 

 bridge. The sum already received or promised amounts to 

 about 50oi. 



The King and Queen will visit Newcastle on July 1 1 

 to open the new wing that completes the Armstrong College. 

 The King will also open the new university buildings at 

 .Aberdeen on September 24. 



It has been resolved by the Corporation of McGill Uni- 

 versity, Montreal, to confer the honorary degree of LL.D. 

 on Dr. D. Macalister, president of the General Medical 

 Council of the United Kingdom. 



It is announced from the .Agricultural Department of the 

 University of Edinburgh that Mr. E. Thompstone has been 

 appointed assistant deputy director of agriculture for 

 Bombay Presidency, and Mr. Roger Prosser will go to 

 La Germania, .Argentina, to investigate salt soils. 



There is a vacancy for a junior assistant secretary, hold- 

 ing a science degree or possessing equivalent qualifications, 

 in the office of the department of technology of the City 

 and Guilds of London Institute. Applicants for the appoint- 

 ment should communicate with the superintendent. 

 Exhibition Road, London, S.W. 



According to the Chemiker Zcitung, the University of 

 Basle has fallen into line with the German universities, and 

 now requires from all German doctor candidates the leaving 

 certificate of a nine-year gymnasium or of a corresponding 

 Swiss institution. The German Government had threatened 

 not to recognise the doctor's degree if the University con- 

 tinued to grant it on the old conditions. 



A GENERAL meeting of old students of the Technical 

 College, Finsbury, was held on May 8 to discuss the pro- 

 posal to form an Old Students' Association. In a short 

 opening speech Sir Owen Roberts, who occupied the chair, 

 expressed his approval of such associations, and said that 

 it gave him great pleasure to preside at the organisation 

 meeting of such a one as this promises to be. Dr. M. O. 

 Korster, F.R.S., was elected president of the association. 



It is announced in Science that Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

 has made a donation of 20,000!. to Lehigh University ; and 

 that the movement to increase the endowment of Victoria 

 L'niversity, Toronto, by 6o,ooo!. is now practically com- 

 pleted. The amount has been raised all but 2400/., count- 

 ing the 10,000/. given by Mr. Carnegie. The latter gift 

 was conditional upon the raising of an additional 10,000/., 

 but no trouble in fulfilling the condition is expected. 

 .According to the N.Y. Evening Post Sir William McDonald, 

 of Montreal, has given 11,000/. for the purpose of erecting 

 an extension to Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, 

 P.E.I. .Additional facilities will be provided for teaching 

 nature-study, domestic science and kindred subjects, and for 

 training teachers. 



The commission appointed by the German Association of 

 Naturalists and Physicians at Brcslau in ic)04 to consider 

 the mathematical and scientific instruction in German 

 schools held a general meeting in Elberfeld on .April 9-1 1, 

 and discussed the following questions at length : — the 

 syllabus of the mathematical and scientific teaching in the 

 girls' high schools, in the six-class Realschulen and in 

 the Rcformschulen ; the science teaching of the elementary 

 and continuation schools, as well as that of the commercial 



and special schools ; certain hygienic and sexual questions 

 in connection with school life ; the chemical instruction 

 given in the training colleges. While the results and re- 

 ports of these discussions will be laid before the society 

 at the Stuttgart meeting in the autumn, it has been decided 

 to issue a report on the form of instruction recommended 

 for the girls' high schools as early as possible. 



An addition to the many proofs which have reached us 

 of the active interest taken on the Continent in the reform 

 of mathematical teaching is afforded by the publication o( 

 a German translation of the address delivered to the 

 Mathesis Society by Prof. Gino Loria on .April 22, 1905, 

 at Milan. The translation, which is literal, has been 

 made by Dr. H. Wieleitner, and is published by G. J. 

 Goschen, of Leipzig, under the title of " Vergangene und 

 kiinftige Lehrplane." The address affords evidence of a 

 general tendency on the Continent to attach less importance 

 in school curricula to the performance of gymnastic 

 exercises of little educational value, and to introduce the 

 wider ideas of higher mathematics at an earlier stage in 

 the curricula. The object of mathematical teaching should 

 be to give the pupils as wide an insight into mathematical 

 methods, especially higher methods, as is consistent with 

 thoroughness. It is impossible to study a paper like this 

 without seeing how much better off in this respect our 

 Continental rivals are than we are. This difference is due 

 partly to the fact that under our university systems a large 

 proportion of the mathematical teachers of our schools 

 never learn any higher mathematics whatever, whereas in 

 Germany or Italy every student has the opportunity of 

 studying under specialists. A second cause of difference is 

 due to the lesser importance attached on the Continent to 

 examinations and syllabuses. In illustration of the spirit of 

 the paper. Prof. Gino Loria considers that " elementary 

 conies " is of little value as usually studied, as the subject 

 contains no new ideas, and the pupils are only wearied with 

 complicated exercises. This is certainly true of the subject 

 as commonly taught, but, at the same time, a course of 

 elementary mathematics ought to contain some introduction, 

 however small, to the study of common curves, their tan- 

 gents, and their other simpler properties treated geo- 

 metrically and not as graphs. 



The conditions of admission of students to college not 

 only vary in different countries, but also often in the colleges 

 and universities of the same country. This subject is re- 

 ceiving interested attention among educationists in the 

 United States. Science for April 27 prints an address by 

 President G. E. MacLean, of the State University of Iowa, 

 which discusses the question : Can there be a coordination 

 of the examining, certificate, and accrediting (including 

 school inspection) systems for admission to college, looking 

 toward a common or national administration in the interests 

 of students, colleges, and the preservation of standards? 

 The American procedure in this matter is not uniform. 

 The western plan may be said to be the admission of students 

 to colleges and universities by certificates from duly in- 

 spected secondary schools, while in eastern States the method 

 Is to admit only by examinations conducted by represent- 

 ative boards or otherwise. Some valuable opinions are 

 collected in the address as to the relative value of the two 

 courses. President MacLean says that the accrediting 

 system has raised the standard of the work done. It has 

 linked the secondary school into one system with the 

 college. It has given an increase of students entering 

 college, and with better average preparation. It is some- 

 times alleged that the scholarship of students admitted on 

 certificate is lower than that of students who are required 

 to pass examinations, but President Schurman, of Cornell, 

 says the experience at his university does not support ihe 

 contention. On the other hand. Prof. Hadley, of Yale, 

 believes that the examination method is fairer to boys who 

 come from a distance to the university. A"et, with the 

 exception of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, practically 

 a coordination of the examining, certificate, and accrediting 

 system has been reached inasmuch as testimonials issued 

 by the college authorities are interchangeable. President 

 MacLean concludes by urging the need for liberty to each 

 institution, and records his belief that it is a question of 

 evolution — the best system or combination of systems will 

 survive. 



NO. 1908, VOL. 74] 



