436 



NA TURE 



[August 23, 1906 



culture who pass a satisfactory examination, which shall 

 consist of the preparation of a scientific thesis and a 

 viva voce ordeal of not more than two hours. 



The " Craggs " research prize will be awarded by the 

 London School of Tropical Medicine in October next to 

 a past or present student of the school who during the year 

 (October, 1905, to October, 1906) has made the most 

 valuable contribution to tropical medicine. The competing 

 essays must reach the medical tutor of the school on or 

 before October i. 



Pkof. G. S. Boulger has accepted the post of honorary 

 professor and external examiner for the diploma at the 

 Roval Agricultural College, Cirencester, in succession to 

 the late Dr. W. Fream, and Mr. W. Hunting has accepted 

 the position of honorary professor and examiner for the 

 diploma of the same institution in succession to the late 

 .Sir G. Brown, C.B. 



According to Science, the General Education Board, 

 endowed by Mr. J. D. Rockefeller with 2,000,000/., has 

 made the following appropriations to nine institutions on 

 condition that the sums in question be augmented three 

 times in value from other sources : — Coe College, Cedar 

 Rapids, la., 10,000/.; Washburn College, Topeka, Kan., 

 Sooo/. ; Tulane University, New Orleans, 15,000/. ; 

 \Vofford College, Spartanburg, S.C, 5000/. ; Furman Uni- 

 versity, Greenville, S.C, 5000/.; Wake Forest College, 

 N.C., 7500/. ; Howard College, Birmingham, Ala., 5000/. ; 

 South-western University, Jackson, Tenn., 5000/. ; and 

 Mississippi College, Clinton, Miss., 5000/. 



The number of students attending the twenty-one German 

 universities during the summer semester just ended is 

 given as 45,630 matriculated students and 4566 non- 

 matriculated students, 665 of these being at Berlin Uni- 

 versity. Among the matriculated students there were in 

 Freiburg, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Munich, and Tubingen 

 taken together 182 women, whilst the number of non- 

 matriculated students included 1536 women. The number 

 of science students (including mathematics) at these uni- 

 versities, that is, apart from the technical high schools, 

 is given as 6323, as against 6125 in the corresponding 

 semester of 1903 ; the number of pharmaceutical students 

 is stated to have been 1767, against 1481 in 1905. 



Prof. Rontgen having declined the offer of the physics 

 chair at Berlin University in succession to the late Prof. 

 Paul Drude, the direction of the physical institute has 

 been temporarily placed in the hands of Prof. W. Nernst, 

 the director of the neighbouring physical chemistry insti- 

 tute. The designation " Physikalisch-Chemisches Insti- 

 tut " was only recently granted to Prof. Nernst's institu- 

 tion, which had hitherto been known as the " H. 

 Che'mische Institut"; it may also be observed that the 

 equipment of the institute has been extended on the 

 electrical side by means of a grant of 10,000 marks, so 

 that the various workplaces have easy access to direct 

 current of voltages of 10, no, and 220 volts, and a low- 

 voltage alternating current for electric furnace work. 



The following appointments have recently been made : — 

 Dr. Wilhelm Deecke, professor of mineralogy in the Uni- 

 versity of Greifswald, as successor to Prof. Steinmann in 

 the University of Freiburg i. B. ; Dr. Johannes Walther 

 as ordinary professor of mineralogy in the University of 

 Halle; M. R. A. Raiss as extraordinary professor of scien- 

 tific photography in the Lucerne University ; Dipl.-fng. 

 Johannes Galli,' technical director of the Annen Steel 

 Works, Ltd., in Westphalia, as successor to the late Prof. 

 .\. Ledebur in the professorship of metallurgy in the 

 Mining School, Freiburg, Saxony ; and Dr. Karl Hintze, 

 professor of mineralogy in the University of Breslau, has 

 been offered an appointment in the University of Bonn, in 

 succession to Prof. Dr. Laspeyres, retired. 



The calendar of the Merchant Venturers' Technical 

 College, Bristol, for the session 1906-7, contains an interest- 

 ing section dealing with the attempts being made in Bristol 

 to secure the cooperation of employers in the work of 

 educating apprentices and artisans suitably. The plans 

 which certain firms adopt to secure this object are enumer- 

 ated. Some firms pay the fees of students attending classes 

 relating to the industry in which they are engaged ; they 



NO. I92I, VOL. 74] 



also in some instances provide the necessary books and 

 instruments, or they offer prizes for the best student in 

 their employ. Other employers increase the wages of those 

 of their servants who attend specified classes and pass 

 the examination held at the end of the course. The time 

 spent at evening classes is allowed to count in reduction 

 of the working hours of apprentices by a third class of 

 employer. Every plan which tends to bring home the 

 importance of technical training to the manufacturers and 

 their workmen deserves commendation, and it is to be hoped 

 that the Bristol experiments will be tried in other large 

 centres of industrv. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



P.\RIS. 



Academy of Sciences, August 6. — M. H. Poincaie in the 

 chair. — The iodomercurates of sodium and barium : A. 

 Duboin. The author has isolated crystals of the double 

 iodide of sodium and mercury, having the composition 

 2\aI,HgL,4H„0, and of the' corresponding barium com- 

 pound, BaL,HgI,,5H,0. The latter crystals were remark- 

 able for their length, approaching 2 cm. — The boro- 

 stannates of the alkaline earths : the reproduction of 

 nordenskioldine : L. Ouvrard. Calcium borostannate, 

 possessing crystallographic characters identical with those 

 of the natural mineral, was obtained by heating precipitated 

 calcium borate with tin dioxide to a white heat in a slow 

 current of hvdrogen chloride. — The influence of the tempera- 

 ture of dehydration of alabaster on the setting of the plaster 

 obtained : E. Leduc and Maurice i?ellet. — The causes of 

 the appearance of so-called anomalous forms in plants : P. 

 Vuillemin. — Researches on the gaseous exchanges of a 

 green plant developed in the light in the absence of 

 carbonic acid, in a soil to which amides have been added : 

 Jules Lefevre. Under the above conditions it has been 

 found that a green plant can develop, increasing its dry 

 weight three times, without any oxygen being given off. — 

 The action of the X-rays on the ovary of the dog : M. 

 Roulier. Contrary to the results obtained with rabbits, 

 atrophy of the ovary is very difficult to obtain, in spite of 

 the production of serious lesions of the skin. — Experimental 

 nagana. The variations in the number of the trypanosomes 

 in the blood of the dog. The intravascular trypanolysis 

 and trypanolytic power of the serum : A. Rodet and 

 G. Vallet. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Tunnels and Tunnelling 409 



Ancient Astronomy 410 



Our Book Shelf : — 



GUick : " Biologische und itiorpho!ogische Unterfuch- 



ungen liber Wasser- und Sumpfgewiichse" . . 41 1 



Latter: " School Gardening for Little Children " . 411 

 Letter to the Editor : — 



The Earth's Interior. — Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. . 4'2 



The Earthquake in South America di2 



Prof. Brouardel. By A. N 412 



Notes 413 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Comet 1906^!' 417 



A Memorial to the late Prof. Tacchini 417 



Report of the Paris Observatory for 1905 . -417 



Italian Observations of the Total Solar Eclipse (1905) 417 

 The Spectra of Sun-spots and. Red Stars ... . 418 

 The British Association 



Section G. — Engineering (Illustrated). — Opening 

 Address by J. A. Ewing, LL D., F.R.S., 

 M. Inst. C.E., President of the Section 418 



Section I — Physiology. — Openinfj Address by Prof. 

 Francis Gotch,M.A,, D.Sc, F.R.S., Wayn- 

 fiete Professor of Physiology in the University 

 of Oxford, President of the Section . . 422 



Section K. — Botany. — Opening Address by Prof. 

 F. 'W Oliver, M. A., D.Sc!, F.R.S., President 



of the Section 429 



University and Educational Intelligence 435 



Societies and Academies 436 



