May 



1 905 J 



NA rURE 



93 



with water. By having pipes and taps fitted to the sacks 

 water could be discharged as desired. Sand still remained 

 the ordinary ballast ; but when electrical measurements 

 were being made water only was used. In order to prevent 

 the water freezing in the cold upper atmosphere, Gerdien 

 filled the sacks with boiling water, which, experience 

 proved, kept sufficiently warm to prevent freezing before it 

 was all used. This method was found to be entirely satis- 

 factory, for it not only got over all difficulties connected 

 with the sand, but by regulating the flow of the water 

 much greater control could be exercised over the balloon 

 than had before been possible with sand. 



These and other difificulties have been so recently recog- 

 nised and overcome that trustworthy results have as yet 

 hardly been obtained, but the observations appear to justify 

 the following conclusions : — 



The normal potential gradient remains positive to the 

 highest point yet investigated (5900 metres by Gerdien), but 

 decreases in magnitude as the height increases. This 

 points to the lower regions of the atmosphere containing 

 a positive charge equal to the negative charge on the 

 earth's surface, so that the globe as a whole is not charged. 



The number of ions in a cubic metre of air is the same 

 at all heights. 



Electricity is dissipated more rapidly from a charged 

 body the higher it is in the atmosphere, this being, no 

 doubt, due to the greater ease with which ions move in 

 rarified air. 



These results require further verification before they can 

 be accepted as final, and it is to be hoped that facilities 

 will be forthcoming for the investigations to be followed 

 up in this country. It is a strange fact that no English- 

 man has yet devoted himself to a study which combines 

 science and sport in such an attractive manner. 



George C. Simpson. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



C.'VMERIDGE. — The syndicate the proposals of which with 

 regard to the previous examinations were thrown out by the 

 Senate last term, was elected to consider the studies and 

 examinations of the University, and, although it has so 

 far considered but one examination, a determined attempt 

 is being made to bring its deliberations to a close. The 

 period for which the syndicate was appointed lapses at 

 the end of this term, and the grace which authorises its 

 re-appointment will to-day be " non-placetted " in the 

 Senate. A short time ago foin* members were added to 

 the syndicate. Their nomination was not objected to, though 

 the action of the council in appointing them was termed 

 inexpedient. It seems a strange piece of courtesy to 

 acquiesce in the appointment of men like the master of 

 Gonville and Caius, Mr. S. H. Butcher, late professor of 

 Greek in Edinburgh, Dr. Adam, and Mr. Hardy to a syn- 

 dicate which the opponents of change intended, so far as 

 lay within their power, to render moribund. 



The natural sciences tripos continues to increase. There 

 are 149 candidates entered for part i. and 30 candidates 

 for part ii., both of which began this week. In the first 

 part of the mathematical tripos there are 57, and in the 

 first part of the classical tripos there are 102 candidates, 

 in the second part 12. The entrances for the mechanical 

 sciences tripos, part i., are 45. 



The Board of .Agricultural .Studies reports a continuous 

 increase both in the number of students attending the 

 agricultural courses and in the number presenting them- 

 selves for the examinations. The number of students is 

 now close upon fifty, and shows an increase of seven within 

 the last twelvemonth. 



The honorary degree of M.A. will to-day be conferred on 

 Mr. Robert .Stephenson, late chairman of the Cambridge- 

 shire County Council, in recognition of his services to 

 education, and especially to the promotion of agricultural 

 education in the university. 



The Rede lecture will be delivered on Satui'day, June 10, 

 at 11.30 a.m., by Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.I.E. His 

 subject is " Our True Relationship with India." 



The council of the Senate has promulgated a grace pro- 

 posing that a syndicate be appointed to consider the de- 



sirability of establishing in the university a diploma in 

 forestry, and to draw up, if it thinks fit, a scheme of in- 

 struction and examination in forestry ; that it be em- 

 powered to consult with any persons or bodies ; and that it 

 report to the Senate before the end of the Lent term, 1906. 



The next combined examination for sixty-two entrance 

 scholarships and various exhibitions at Pembroke, Gon- 

 ville and Caius, King's, Jesus, Christ's, St. John's and 

 Emmanuel Colleges will be held on Tuesday, December 5, 

 1905, and following days, commencing at 9 a.m. on 

 Tuesday, December 5. Mathematics, classics, and natural 

 sciences will be the subjects of examination at all the 

 above-mentioned colleges, and certain colleges examine in 

 history, modern languages, and Hebrew. 



Oxford. — Dr. Henry Wilde, F.R.S., has presented ino/. 

 to the Hope Department of Zoology for the purchase and 

 preparation of specimens illustrating mimicry and pro- 

 tective resemblance. 



The Romanes lecture for 1905 will be delivered by Prof. 

 Ray Lankester, F.R.S., in the Sheldonian Theatre on Wed- 

 nesday, June 14, at 2.30. The subject of the lecture will 

 be " Man and Nature." 



Mr. R. de J. Fleming Struthers has been elected to a 

 senior .scholarship in chemistry at Exeter College. 



The Junior Scientific Club will hold a conversazione at 

 the Museum on Tuesday, May 30. 



Mr. E. p. Culverwell has been elected to the pro- 

 fessorship of education founded by the Board of Trinity 

 College, Dublin, for a period of five years. 



A Reuter telegram from Toronto reports that the 

 Ontario Government has announced a provisional grant 

 of 100,000/. to the University of Toronto toward the pro- 

 posed new buildings which, it is estimated, will cost 

 320,000/. 



It has been announced. Science states, that the trustees 

 of Columbia University have received loo.oooZ. from an 

 anonymous donor for the construction of a new college 

 hall ; and that the Legislature of Minnesota has made 

 direct appropriations for the University of Minnesota for 

 the next two years amounting to 142,000/., besides 12,000/. 

 derived from the insurance on the old main building, 

 destroyed by fire last September. 



An International Exhibition of Pedagogy, under the 

 patronage of H.M. the King of Spain and of H.M. Queen 

 Maria Christina, will be held in Barcelona from May to 

 October. Particulars as to the scope of the e.xhibition 

 and the conditions attaching to exhibits are given in the 

 official programme, a limited number of copies of which 

 can be obtained on application to the Director of Special 

 Inquiries and Reports, Board of Education Library, St. 

 Stephen's House, Cannon Row, Whitehall, London, S.W. 



Presiding at the annual meeting of the British and 

 Foreign School Society, Mr. A. H. D. Acland moved the 

 adoption of the report on the year's work of the associ- 

 ation. During the course of his speech, he remarked that 

 in many schools too much is done for the brain and too 

 little for the body. If hygiene, instead of being merely 

 a special subject, were made part of the teacher's general 

 outfit, much would be done for the health of the nation. 

 Mr. Acland said he hopes also that by degrees the pest 

 of examinations will be modified and got rid of — a matter 

 in which the old universities are among the greatest 

 sinners. Whoever could wipe out two-thirds of the ex- 

 aminations would be one of the greatest benefactors of the 

 human species. 



The question of the concentration of the teaching of the 

 preliminary and intermediate subjects of the medical curri- 

 culum in London at a few centres has long occupied the 

 attention of those interested in medical education, as it 

 has been felt that this step must result in greater efficiency 

 in teaching, as well as economy in expenditure. The 

 Westminster Hospital Medical .School has been the first 

 to take definite action in the matter, and has just com- 

 pleted negotiations with King's College by which arrange- 

 ments have been made for the teaching of physics, 

 chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, and materia 

 medica (that is to say, the subjects of the preliminary 

 and intermediate examinations) to Westminster students 



NO. 1856, VOL. 72] 



