May 31, 1906] 



NA TURE 



117 



alkalis, sodium nitrilc, and potassium fcrrocyanide prevent 

 rusting is due, not to their power of decomposing hydrogen 

 peroxide, but of interacting with carbon dioxide. Some 

 substances, such as potassium iodide, which destroy 

 hydrogen peroxide do not inhibit, but actually accelerate, 

 the rusting of iron. 



The facts recorded thus afford no basis for the assump- 

 tion that iron can be caused to rust by pure water and pure 

 oxygen alone, and give a satisfactory explanation of pheno- 

 mena which were considered as being explicable only in 

 the light of the hydrogen peroxide hypothesis. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The Herbert Spencer lecture will be delivered 

 in the examination schools on Thursday, June 7, at 3 p.m., 

 by the Hon. Auberon E. W. M. Herbert, St. John's 

 College. 



Ur. G. C. Bourne, fellow of New College, has been 

 nominated to the oflice of public e.xaminer in zoology for 

 1906 in succession to the late Prof. Weldon. 



At a meeting of the Junior Scientific Club on May 25 

 some experiments on " liquid crystals " were shown by 

 Messrs. H. B. Hartley (Balliol) and H. L. Bowman (New 

 College). 



The following is the text of the speech delivered by Prof. 

 Love in presenting Captain H. G. Lyons for the degree 

 of D.Sc. honoris causa on May 29 ; — 



Magnas profecto gratias hodie debemus .'\egypto fluvioque 

 Nilo, quo quotannis campos inundante, orta est ex necessi- 

 tatibus hominum agellos suos summa cura dimetientium, 

 Geometria, subtilissimae cuiusque scientiae parens. 

 Debitum pro portione solvit Magna Britannia, cum moribus 

 institutisque Europaeis in Aegyptum inducendis. turn viris 

 ingenio et scientia poUentibus eo missis, qui ipsis rei 

 publicae rectoribus quasi moderatores et gubernatores sint. 

 Tn hoc numero locum insignem obtinet Henricus Georgius 

 Lyons, qui cum decern abhinc annos omnia quae ad 

 agrorum dimetiendorum, ad astrorum observandorum 

 rationem pertinent, intermissa invenisset, non solum operam 

 instauravit, sed etiam ipse nova quaedam commentus est, 

 cum de harenae solique aevo et materia, de varia cam- 

 porum planitie, de imbrium diversitatibus diligentissime 

 quaereret : quod genus cognitionis quam late pateat nemo 

 non videt. Agrorum quidem irrigandorum causa hoc opus 

 noster suscepit, neque praeclarissimos fructus in hac re 

 non assecutus est : nunc agit ut, custodibus et speculatoribus 

 in ripis Nili tanquam in statione dispositis, his nuntiis 

 fretus fluminis incrementum quantum anno proximo 

 futurum sit ante praedicat : qua de re voce non incerta iam 

 loquitur augur optimus. Neque tamen huic viro satis est 

 scientiae et rei publicae inservire : quin vetustissimis illis 

 monumentis quibus abundat Aegyptus magno opere delcc- 

 tatur. Veluti cum Nili regendi causa maximus ille prope 

 Philas agger aedificaretur verebantur homines ne amplifi- 

 rata fluminis vis templis nobilissimis damnum adferret, 

 huius viri laus est fanorum fundamentis confirmatis 

 stabilitisque ita civium commodis consuluisse ut antiquitati 

 venerandae parceretur. 



Cambridge. — The voting on the proposals of the studies 

 and examinations syndicate, which took place last Friday 

 and Saturday, is likely to be misunderstood. The pro- 

 posals put forward were those suggested by the Bishops of 

 Bristol and Ely and by Mr. S. H. Butcher when the 

 previous recommendations of the syndicate had been re- 

 jected. The committee presided over by Dr. Henry Jack- 

 son, which exists for the support of the movement in favour 

 of the abolition of compulsory Greek, took no part in the 

 recent agitation ; indeed, many of its members voted 

 against the proposals of the syndicate. The committee 

 made no effort to bring up its supporters from the countrv, 

 and regarded, in fact, the proposals of the syndicate as 

 ■ hardly worth accepting. The studies and examinations 

 syndicate will probably now cease to exist. It has sat for 

 three years and has produced two reports, both of which 

 have tjeen rejected in the main by the clerical vote. It is 

 a well-known fact- that in the first contest over compulsorv 

 Greek there was a majority of residents in the University 



NO. 1909, VOL. 74] 



and a majority of laymen in favour of its abolition. It 

 now seems as if nothing but a Royal Commission can 

 remove what to many is an absolute bar to their entrance 

 to the University. 



The Hopkins prize of the Cambridge Philosophical 

 Society for the period 1897-1900 has been adjudged to Mr. 

 S. S. Hough, F.R.S., of St. John's College, for his papers 

 on the dynamical theory of the tides, published in the 

 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 



The professor of chemistry gives notice that the chemical 

 laboratory of the University will be open for the use of 

 students in the Long Vacation during July and .August. 

 Dr. Fenton will give a course of fifteen lectures on general 

 chemistry on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, 

 beginning on July 5. Mr. J. E. Purvis will give a course 

 of lectures and practical demonstrations in pharmaceutical 

 chemistry for the first part of the third examination for 

 the degree of M.B. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 

 beginning on July 4; and also a revision practical course 

 in the chemistry and physics of hygiene. 



The Board of Agricultural Studies .announces that an ex- 

 amination will be held for one " Surveyors' Institution 

 scholarship " on July 24-27. The scholarship is tenable 

 for three years, and is of the value of 80!. per annum. 



Prof. F. Franz Martens, privat docent for physics in 

 the University of Berlin, who, on Prof. Matthiessens's 

 resignation of the physics chair of the University of 

 Rostock was temporarily appointed as his substitute, has 

 been appointed professor of physics in the Berlin Handels- 

 hochschule. 



At the May meeting of the Columbia University trustees. 

 Mr. J. K. Rees, Rutherfurd professor of astronomy and 

 head of the astronomical department, was made a pro- 

 fessor emeritus. Mr. Harold Jacoby succeeds Prof. Rees ; 

 Dr. C. Lane Poor will be associated with him as a pro- 

 fessor in the department, and Dr. .S. A. Mitchell has been 

 promoted to an instructorship in astronomy. 



It is reported, says Science, that the University of Cali- 

 fornia will lose 12,000/. yearly by the destruction of build- 

 ings owned by it in San Francisco, and that it will lose 

 a further sum of 10,000!. yearly by the reduction in value 

 of assessable property in the State. Our contemporary 

 hopes, however, that the loss of income on the San Fran- 

 cisco property is only temporary, and that the State will 

 not permit the University to suffer from the decrease in 

 the taxes. 



The Society for the Advancement of Mathematical Scien- 

 tific Instruction will hold an annual general meeting in 

 Erlangen during next week. Among the papers of general 

 interest will be : — the investigations of glaciers, by Prof. 

 Hess, of .Ausbach ; the experiment in ancient times and in 

 the Middle Ages, by Prof. Wiedemann, of Erlangen ; the 

 proposals of the education commission of the Naturforscher- 

 gesellschaft (p. 92), by Prof. Pietzker, of Nordheim ; and 

 the conception of number and quantity in teaching, by 

 Prof. Wieleitner, of Speyer. Excursions will be made to 

 Niirnberg and the French Switzerland. 



An agreement for the mutual recognition of certificates 

 has been arrived at between the Universities of Manchester, 

 Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield Joint Matriculation Board 

 and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This Joint 

 Matriculation Board will grant exemption from its matricu- 

 lation examination to persons who have passed Responsions 

 at Oxford with one additional subject, or have passed parts 

 i. and ii. of the Previous Examination at Cambridge with 

 one of the additional subjects. Under certain conditions as 

 to the subjects taken, e.xemption will also be granted to 

 holders of higher certificates of the Oxford and Cambridge 

 Senior Local examinations. It will be remembered that a 

 similar arrangement between the Universities of Oxford, 

 Cambridge, and London has been announced already. 

 Holders of Oxford and Cambridge Local certificates or 

 higher certificates of the Oxford and Cambridge Joint 

 Board are, if they have taken certain subjects, given 

 exemption from the London Matriculation. Similarly, the 

 Matriculation examination, in certain circumstances, gives 

 exemption from Oxford Responsions and the Cambridge 

 Previous examination. 



