55° 



NA TURE 



[September 28, 1905 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



INTELLIGENCE. 



The Goldsmiths' College, New Cross, the gift of the 



Goldsmiths' Company to the University of London, will be 



opened to-morrow, September 29, bv the Earl of Rosebery, 



K.G., K.T., F.R.S. 



On October 5 Prof. J. \V. Judd, C.B., F.R.S. , will dis- 

 tribute the medals, prizes, &c., gained by the students of 

 the Royal College of Science. The distribution will take 

 place in the lecture theatre of the Victoria and Albert 

 Museum, South Kensington, at 4 p.m. 



The University of Wisconsin has established a course 

 in chemical engineering. Besides the regular professorial 

 instruction, arrangements have been made for occasional 

 lectures by prominent engineers. The course, which 

 covers four years, includes gas engineering and electrolytic 

 work, as well as other branches of chemical practice. 



Consequent upon the closing of Coopers Hill College, 

 it has been decided that probationers for the Indian Forest 

 Department will take their theoretical course at Oxford. 

 The writer of an article in the Indian Forester (July) on 

 the future training of the upper staff of the Indian Forest 

 Department recognises several advantages in the change. 

 But while approval is expressed with the nature of the 

 theoretical course and the experience that will be gained 

 at O.xford, it is pointed out that a practical course in 

 India, as, for instance, at Dehra Dun, would afford greater 

 scope and provide more useful training for the work that 

 is required of Indian forest officers than sending candi- 

 dates to study forestry practice on the Continent. 



The French and Prussian Governments have recently 

 established a system under which a number of young 

 masters in English secondary schools may be attached for 

 a year to certain secondary schools in their respective 

 countries. The authorities of the foreign Ministries of 

 Public Instruction are most anxious to extend the scheme 

 and to find similar opportunities in suitable English 

 secondary schools for young graduates who will afterwards 

 be employed in their State schools. In the opinion of the 

 Board of Education, the proposal has much to recommend 

 it, and, provided that proper care be exercised in the 

 selection of the candidates and in the arrangements made 

 for their work, it is thought that the presence of such 

 teachers on the staff of a school would add materially to 

 thft effectiveness of the modern language teaching. Head- 

 masters who are willing to cooperate and to employ such 

 assistants are requested to communicate with the Director 

 of Special Inquiries and Reports, Board of Education 

 Library, St. Stephen's House, Cannon Row, Westminster, 

 S.W. 



The following free public introductory lectures will be 

 delivered at University College, London, during October. 

 Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., will lecture on 

 some advances in chemistry ; Prof. L. M. Brandin on ' la 

 critique litt^raire au xixe sifcle " ; Prof. L. W. Lyde on 

 the teaching of geography to children ; Prof. H. S. Fox- 

 well on some aspects of competition in modern business ; 

 Prof. F. Mackarness on the origins of Roman Dutch law 

 and its introduction into the British Empire ; Prof. E. A. 

 Gardner on architectural sculptures ; and Sir John 

 Macdonell on some present directions in legislation. In 

 the department of chemistry of the college several courses 

 of work have been arranged for the ensuing session, viz. 

 Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., will lecture on the 

 inactive gases of the atmosphere, and on the physics and 

 chemistry of colours ; Mr. E. C. Baly will give a course 

 of lectures on spectroscopy and spectrum photography ; 

 Mr. J. H. K. Inglis one on recent advances in inorganic 

 chemistry ; and Mr. N. T. M. Wilsniore one on electro- 

 chemistry. A laboratory course in experimental psycho- 

 logy, consisting of lectures and practical demonstrations, 

 will be given by Mr. W. McDougall, and a course of 

 about thirty lectures on advanced psychology will be de- 

 livered by Prof. G. Dawes Hicks. Six lectures, open to 

 the public without payment or ticket, will be given during 

 \ovember by Mr. G. U. Yule on the vital statistics of 

 England and A\"ales. 



The Marquis of Linlithgow, Secretary for Scotland and 

 vice-president of the Committee of Council on Education 

 in Scotland, is to open the Dunfermline College of Hygiene 

 and Physical Training on Wednesday next, October 4. 

 A correspondent writing to the Times says that the 

 establishment of a college of hygiene may be described as 

 an afterthought on the part of the Carnegie trust. When 

 the palatial gymnasium and baths, given to his native city 

 by Mr. Carnegie at a cost of about 40,000;., was approach- 

 ing completion, it attracted the notice of the highest 

 educational authorities in Scotland, who recognised the 

 fitness of the building, with its splendid equipments, to 

 supply what they considered a serious defect in the national 

 provision for education, viz. the instruction of teachers in 

 physical training. After careful consideration the Carnegie 

 trustees, who have charge of the building, agreed to 

 entertain the appeal of the experts to link the local bene- 

 faction, of which they are the administrators, with a 

 national service which, while bringing additional distinc- 

 tion to the city, would ensure greater efficiency in the 

 physical training supplied to the local schools. The lady 

 superintendent of athletic instruction has been transformed 

 into the principal of the physical training college, a resi- 

 dence for women students has been acquired, a medical 

 officer has been appointed to devote his whole time to the 

 work of the college, and a course of study has been 

 marked out to extend over two years and to include 

 hygiene, anatomy, physiology, educational and remedial 

 gymnastics on the Swedish system, games, swimming, 

 dancing, &c. 



Sir DoN.iLD Currie's letter to the president of Queen's 

 College, Belfast, offering a sum of money under certain 

 conditions for the better equipment of the college was 

 submitted at a private meeting of the executive committee 

 of the college fund on September 22. It was unanimously 

 resolved to convey to Sir Donald Currie the thanks of the 

 committee for his proposal. It was also resolved that in 

 view of the munificent offer of Sir Donald Currie, the 

 committee earnestly appeal to all old students of the college 

 and all who are interested in the promotion of education 

 in Belfast and Ulster to assist in raising the required sum 

 of 20,000/. before Christmas. The Rev. Dr. Hamilton, 

 president of Queen's College, writing to the Belfast papers 

 on September 23 in reference to .Sir Donald Currie's offer 

 of 20,000/., sa}s that for some time Queen's College has 

 been engaged in a strenuous effort to better its equipments, 

 so as to bring them into line with the scientific and 

 educational advances of our time and with its own growth 

 and development in recent years. This enterprise was 

 inaugurated four years ago, and, notwithstanding adverse 

 circumstances, quickly attained a gratifying success. A 

 sum of more than 30,000/. has been raised, by means of 

 which most important additions have been made to the 

 working power of the college. One laboratory has been 

 built and equipped, and the foundation of a second will, it 

 is hoped, be laid before many weeks have passed. If the 

 college succeeds in satisfying the reasonable conditions 

 which Sir Donald Currie lays down, the fund will be in- 

 creased to 70,000/., and the college will be placed in~ a 

 financial position such as it never before occupied. 



Among the calendars and educational directories pub- 

 lished during the past few days we notice those of the 

 Northampton Institute at Clerkenwell, the Armstrong 

 College at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the Plymouth Educa- 

 tion .Authority. At the Northampton Institute the follow- 

 ing classes are worthy of mention, viz. the day and evening 

 courses in mechanical and electrical engineering, in 

 technical optics, and in horology. In addition to these 

 there are evening courses in technical chemistry and in 

 domestic economy. The .\rmstrong College was formerly 

 known as the Durham College of Science. The college 

 forms an important part of the University of the North 

 of England, and the degrees of Durham in science and in 

 letters, and its diplomas in engineering, are open to 

 students of this Newcastle institution. It may be noticed 

 that, in addition to the biological laboratories at the 

 college, a marine biological laboratory has been opened 

 at Cullercoats, and by the generosity of the Northumber- 

 land Sea Fisheries Committee is available for students. 

 The agricultural department has been entrusted with the 



NO. 1874, VOL. 72] 



