2 14 



NA TURE 



[June 29, 1905 



Chester, who defended the position of the English gas- 

 engine makers, pointing out what had been done in the 

 past. He did not, however, deny that the Continental 

 makers were in advance of the English makers in regard 

 to the size of the gas-engines manufactured. 



The remaining paper was Prof. Lilly's contribution on 

 the strength of columns, but the time for adjournment 

 having arrived, this was only read in brief abstract, and 

 was not discussed. 



A large number of excursions and visits to works in 

 the neighbourhood of Li^ge had been arranged by the 

 local committee. Visits were also paid to the exhibition, 

 and there were the usual social functions, including the 

 reception, the dinner at the Renomm^e Hall already 

 mentioned, and the institution dinner held at Li^ge. 

 Thursday was entirely given up to these excursions, and 

 on Friday members travelled to Antwerp, where they 

 viewed the extensive docks of that city and some of the 

 works in the neighbourhood. This brought a very 

 successful meeting to a close. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Dr. Ritchie, Fellow of New College, the pre- 

 sent reader in pathology, has been constituted professor 

 of pathology so long as he continues as reader. Dr. A. J. 

 Herbertson, non-collegiate, has been appointed university 

 reader in geography. 



The Rev. H. T. Morgan, Trinity College, has offered 

 to continue the unfinished carving in the corridors of the 

 university museum. Much of the elaborate plan for the 

 sculptural decoration of the museum, undertalien in i860, 

 has remained uncompleted, and the Rev. H. T. Morgan 

 has generously undertaken to provide for the carving of 

 the capitals and corbels of at least two of the four upper 

 corridors. The delegates propose to continue the original 

 plan, according to which the capitals were to represent 

 various plants in systematic order. 



On June 20 a deputation from the medical graduates of 

 the university. Sir AVilliam Church, Dr. .Sharkey, Dr. 

 .Shornstein, Dr. Collier, and Mr. Whitley, presented an 

 address to the Vice-C.hancellor urging the importance of 

 pathology in the medical curriculum of the university, and 

 stating the steps that have been taken to provide permanent 

 endowment for the teaching of this subject. A " pathology 

 endowment fund " has been started, and an appeal that 

 was limited to members of the profession has resulted in 

 the contribution of more than 500/. A member of the 

 university, who has already given 1000/. towards the 

 endowment of a pathology chair, has offered to cover all 

 subscriptions from the medical faculty by an equal amount. 



It is announced that General \V. J. Palmer, of Colorado 

 Springs, Col., and Mr. Andrew Carnegie have given re- 

 spectively 20,000/. and 10,000/. as a nucleus to the 100,000/. 

 endowment fund for Colorado College. 



Mr. T. p. Bl.\ck has been appointed demonstrator in 

 physics in Armstrong College, Xewcastle-upon-Tvne. Mr. 

 Black was a student of the college from October, 1900, 

 to June, 1903, when he was elected to one of the Royal 

 (1851) exhibition scholarships. 



We learn from Science that the proposed afliliation of 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Harvard 

 University was approved at a meeting of the corporation 

 of the institute on June 9. It was agreed to accept the 

 terms of the agreement recently drawn up by the com- 

 mittee of the two institutions. Before the agreement can 

 become effective the corporation and overseers of Harvard 

 University must take action, and several legal questions 

 must be settled. 



The committee appointed to inquire into the present 

 condition of fruit culture in Great Britain, and to consider 

 whether any other measures might with advantage be 



NO. 1 86 1, VOL. 72] 



taken fcr its promotion and encouragement, has reported 

 to the Board of Agriculture in favour of the establish- 

 ment of a special sub-department to deal with matters 

 connected with the fruit industry. The main recommend- 

 ation is that there should be two branches of such sub- 

 department — (a) a bureau of information, (b) an experi- 

 mental fruit farm. It is further proposed that horti- 

 culture should be taught in elementary schools in country 

 districts, that such schools should have gardens attached 

 wherever possible, and that the attention of local educa- 

 tion authorities should be directed to this, and also to the 

 desirability of encouraging the study of practical horti- 

 culture in training colleges. 



The programme of the summer meeting of university 

 extension students, which is to be held at Oxford in 

 August, has now been published. The lectures in the 

 natural science section will be devoted to an explanation 

 of the scientific method and to the illustration of its 

 application to scientific work. General introductory 

 lectures will be deli\'ered bv Prof. T. Case, on the scientific 

 method as an operation of the mind, and by Prof. F. 

 Gotch, F.R..S., on the development of the scientific method. 

 Special lectures illustrative of the applications of the 

 scientific method to numerous branches of science have 

 been arranged, and these lectures will be directed to show 

 the extent to which the general conception of the par- 

 ticular science has been developed by the use of the 

 scientific method, and the way in which the method is 

 used in the experimental investigation of some group of 

 phenomena. Among the varied list of lectures from which 

 students may choose we notice those by Prof. W. F. R. 

 Weldon, F.R..S., on variation and heredity ; by Prof. C. .S. 

 Sherrington, F.R..S., on a general survey of physiology 

 and psychophysics ; by Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, 

 F.R.S., on crucial instances in archajology ; and by Dr. 

 G. J. Burch, F.R.S., on modern conceptions of matter. 



Mr .^ilwyx Fellowes, President of the Board of .Agri- 

 culture, presided at an agricultural conference held at 

 .Aberystwyth last w'eek. The object in view in holdini^ 

 the meeting was the extension and development of the 

 work of the agricultural department of the University 

 College of Wales by the establishment of a more definite 

 connection between its extension work and that done 

 inside the college, and by better organisation of the de- 

 partment of agriculture itself. Mr. Fellowes said that the 

 Board of Agriculture has been able to give Soo/. a year 

 to .Aberystwyth College and 200/. a year towards the college 

 farm which was opened the same day. The college is also 

 largely aided by the residue grant which since the year 

 1890 has been handed over to the county councils of the 

 kingdom. In the counties connected with .Aberystwyth 

 College, one-sixth of the residue grant has been given 

 to agricultural education. Mr. Fellowes said he hoped, 

 as time went on and as Imperial funds improved, that 

 the Board of .Agriculture will be able to do more for 

 agricultural education and for agricultural colleges. He 

 strongly commended the suggestion that a descriptive 

 pamphlet should be issued by the college authorities setting 

 forth w'hat are the proceedings of the college and what 

 young men are able to learn there. It was decided to ask 

 the county councils to appoint representatives to consider 

 the details of a scheme of organisation for the agricultural 

 department at a conference to be held in October. The 

 following resolution was passed : — that this conference 

 desires to record its warm gratitude to the Board of .Agri- 

 culture for the invaluable aid it has rendered to agricultural 

 education in the counties affiliated to the University College 

 of Wales at Aberystwyth. The conference is of opinion that 

 the results already attained and the response to the help 

 and guidance received from the Board by the local authori- 

 ties out of their limited resources constitute a strong 

 claim for largely increased grants from the central Govern- 

 ment towards agricultural education, which is a matter of 

 the highest importance in the interests of the kingdom 

 and the Empire at large. In the afternoon Mr. Fellowes 

 opened the recently acquired college and counties' training 

 farm, which is situate about four and a half miles outside 

 .Abervstwyth, and has an area of 200 acres. 



