October 4, 1906] 



NATURE 



565 



THE OUATERCEKTEXARY CELEBRATIONS 

 OF ~THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 



THE quatercontonary celebrations of the University 

 of Aberdeen, which included the openinj;;^ of the 

 new buildings at Marischal College by their Majesties 

 the King and Queen, were favoured by a weeli of 

 uninterrupted sunshine, which quickened everyone's 

 pulse and gave splendour to the proceedings. Then- 

 were many remarks on the forethought of the Uni- 

 versity in conferring the honorary degree of Doctor 

 of Laws on the director of the Meteorological Office. 



On the morning of Tuesday, .September 25, there 

 was a solemn service of commemoration in the chapel 

 at King's College — that priceless heritage founded by 

 Bishop Elphinstone in 1500. In the afternoon there 

 was a remarkable procession through a mile of 

 crowded streets, by a circuitous route from Marischal 

 College to the temporary Strathcona Hall, built for 

 the celebrations by the generous Chancellor. This 

 pageant, almost iridescent with robes of many 

 colours, included the University authorities and staff, 

 the Town Council, the delegates and guests, the 

 honorary graduates, the general council, and students. 

 It was a striking spectacle, greatlv appreciated by 

 the keenly interested and courteous crowds, a quaint 

 intertwining of town and gown. 



In the Strathcona Hall, the delegates from sister 

 universities and learned institutions all over the world 

 presented congratulatory addresses, and represent- 

 ative men made brief speeches. Thus the Vice- 

 Chanccllor of Oxford spoke for Britain, Principal 

 Peterson for dominions beyond the seas, Prof. J. 

 William White for the United States, Prof. Becquerel 

 for France, Prof. Deissmann for Germanv, Prof. 

 Hoffding for Denmark, Prof. Einthoven for Holland, 

 Prof. Lanciani for Italy, Prof. Scheviakoff — a zoo- 

 logist — for Russia, and Prof. Matsumura — a botanist 

 — for Japan, and there were many others. The huge 

 audience of 4000 showed enthusiastic interest in the 

 famous men who filed past, especiallv in those who 

 are familiar to all, such as Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir 

 William Turner, and Sir .\rchibald Geikie. 



The great event of Wednesday was the conferring 

 of honorary degrees on a phalanx of intellectual 

 giants, who came from all quarters of the world to 

 do honour to, and be honoured bv, the ancient Llni- 

 versity of .\berdeen. They included, as the Dean of 

 the Faculty of Laws felicitously expressed it, 



"explorers, discoverers, inventors; some who have all but 

 solved the mysteries of the natural universe or of the 

 animal frame, others who have illuminated the even greater 

 depth of mind, others who have successfully grappled with 

 controversies of history or the not less complex problems 

 of national institutions and international relations ; men of 

 thought and action, poets, musicians, and philosophers, 

 great administrators, great rulers, and judges." 



The list is too long to be quoted in extcuso. but 

 we may note some of those who are especially con- 

 cerned with science in the wide sense. It may be 

 noted that a few who were expected were unavoidablv 

 absent, such as Signor Marconi, who was referred 

 to by the promoter as " the annihilator of time "; Dr. 

 Dohrn, of the Naples Zoological Station ; and Prof. 

 Lombroso. Among those upon whom the degree was 

 conferred were the following : — 



Richard Anschutz, professor of chemistry, Bonn : Henri 

 Becquerel, professor of physics, Paris ; Sir James Crichton- 

 Browne, Kt., Lord Chancellor's Visitor in Lunacy ; 

 Casimir de Candolle, Geneva ; Frank U'igglesworth Clarke, 

 chief chemist, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington ; Yves 

 Delage, professor of zoology and comparative anatomy. 

 Paris; J. Deniker, librarian of the Museum of Natural 



KO. 1927, VOL. 74] 



History, Paris ; W. Einthoven, professor of physiology, 

 Leyden ; Herbert Mackay Ellis, Director-General, Naval 

 Medical Service, London; Arthur J. Evans, keeper of the 

 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford ; Andrew Russell Forsyth, 

 Sadlerian professor of pure mathematics, Cambridge; Sir 

 .Archibald Geikie, secretary to Royal Society ; Arnold 

 Hague, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington; H. J. Ham- 

 burger, professor of physiology, Groningen ; Edward Hjelt, 

 professor of chemistry, Helsingfors ; Harald Hoffding, pro- 

 fessor of philosophy, Copenhagen ; Ferdinand Hueppe, pro- 

 fessor of hygiene, Prague ; Howard A. Kelly, professor of 

 gynaecology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; 

 .Surgeon-General Sir Alfred Keogh, K.C.B., Director- 

 General, Army Medical Service ; Rudolf E. Robert, pro- 

 fessor of pharmacology, Rostock ; Casimir Kostanecki, 

 professor of anatomy, Cracow ; Hugo Kronecker, professor 

 of physiology, Bern ; Sir Francis H. Laking, Bart., 

 G.C.ViO., physician in ordinary to His Majesty the King 

 and the Prince of Wales ; Comniandatore Rodolfo Lanciani, 

 professor of ancient topography. University of Rome; 

 Charles Rockwell Lanman, professor of Sanskrit, Harvard 

 University ; Gustavus Mittag-LefTler, professor of mathe- 

 matics, Stockholm ; Oscar Liebreich, professor of pharma- 

 cology, Berlin; Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., director of 

 Solar' Physics Laboratory, South Kensington ; Sir Oliver 

 Lodge, Kt., Principal of Birmingham University; Fried- 

 rich Loffler, professor of hygiene, Greifswald ; Donald 

 Macalister, president. General Medical Council ; A. B. 

 Macallum, professor of physiology, Toronto ; Sir John 

 Macfadyean, Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, 

 Camden Town, London, N.W. ; Lord M'Laren, vice-presi- 

 dent, Royal Society of Edinburgh; Jinzo Matsumura, pro- 

 fessor of botany. University of Tokyo, Japan ; His Serene 

 Highness Albert Honore Charles, Prince of Monaco; 

 Wilhelm Ostwald, professor of chemistry, Leipzig ; Edmund 

 Owen, vice-president. Royal College of Surgeons of 

 London ; W. M. Flinders Petrie, professor of Egyptology, 

 University College, I.,ondon ; Rev. George E. Post, pro- 

 fessor of surgery in Johanite Hospital, Beirut ; Sir Richard 

 Douglas Powell', Bart., K.C.V.O., president of the Royal 

 College of Physicians, London ; Salomon Reinach, pro- 

 fessor of archaeology, Paris; Guglielmo Romiti, professor 

 of anatomy, Pisa ; Sir Henry E. Roscoe, late professor of 

 chemistry, Owens College, Victoria University ; Major 

 Ronald Ross, C.B., Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine: 

 Vladimir Scheviakoff, professor of zoology, St. Petersburg ; 

 Jakob Schippcr, professor of English philology, Vienna ; 

 Dukinfield Henry Scott, hon. keeper, Jodrell Laboratory. 

 ICew Gardens ; William Napier Shaw% director of the 

 Meteorological Office, London; Joseph J. Thomson, Caven- 

 dish professor of experimental physics. University of Cam- 

 bridge ; Frederick Trendelenburg, professor of surgery, 

 L'niversity of Leipzig; Sir William Turner, K.C.B., prin- 

 cipal of University of Edinburgh ; Giuseppe Veronese, pro- 

 fessor of analytical geometry, Padua; Hugo de Vries, pro- 

 fessor of physiological botany, .Amsterdam ; J. William 

 White, professor of surgery, Pennsylvania University ; 

 J. W. van Wijhe, professor of anatomy, Groningen, 

 Holland; Sir John Williams, Bart., K:.C.V.0., late pro- 

 fessor of midwifery, Universiiy College, London. 



The proceedings concluded with a speech by the 

 Chancellor, who in the course of his address is re- 

 ported bv the Times to have said : — 



" The presence of so many distinguished men represent- 

 ing universities and learned societies from all parts of the 

 world might suggest, if this were the occasion to deal with 

 it at length, a comparison of the aims and objects which 

 we cherish here and the methods by which we seek their 

 accomplishment w'ith those of similar institutions in other 

 countries. Let me say, to begin with, that Scotland is 

 proud of her universities, their close connection with the 

 national life, their free and open constitution, their services 

 to science and letters, their stimulating influence — 

 especially of late years — on the schools of the country, and 

 the manner in which, in spite of great difficulties, they 

 have kept before them lofty and high standards. .All the 

 countries of the world have each their own type of 

 national university. There are, among many others, the 



