lodpalto) 
-O- 
NATURE 
[May 2, tore 
In a pamphlet published for Government at the 
National Printing Department, Cairo, Mr. Nicoll 
gives a list of the species of wild birds (other 
than those kept in captivity) observed in the Giza 
Zoological Gardens between the years 1898 and 1911 
inclusive. The list includes 200 species, of which 187 
are indigenous to Egypt, while the remaining 13 are 
foreign, and were doubtless represented by individuals 
escaped from captivity in Cairo. Raw 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Lreps.—On the recommendation of the Livesey 
Memorial Committee, the University Council has 
appointed Mr. John William Cobb to be Livesey pro- 
fessor of coal gas and fuel industries from the end 
of the present academic year, when the chair will be 
vacated by Dr. W. A. Bone, F.R.S., who has 
accepted the professorship of fuel and refractory 
materials at the Imperial College of Science and 
Technology. 
On the recommendation of the advisory committee 
on higher commercial education, the University 
Council has decided to develop the teaching of geo- 
graphy in connection with the department of 
economics, and has appointed Mr. Llewellyn Rodwell 
Jones as assistant university lecturer in geography. 
Mr. F. A. Durriretp has been appointed demon- 
strator in experimental physiology and pharmacology 
at the University of Sheffield. 
Tue annual meeting of the Parents’ National 
Educational Union will be held at University College, 
London, on Tuesday, May 14, when an address on 
“Some Educational Ideals” will be delivered by the 
Rev. A. A. David, headmaster of Rugby School. 
THE committee of University College, London, 
will shortly proceed to make an appointment to the 
post of senior assistant in the department of zoology 
and comparative anatomy, which has been rendered 
vacant by the election of Dr. W. N. F. Woodland to 
the professorship of zoology in the Muir Central 
College, Allahabad. 
Tue Maryland Legislature has, we learn from 
Science, voted the sum of 120,000l., to be followed 
by an annual grant of 10,000l., to establish a school 
of technology in connection with the Johns Hopkins 
University. Our contemporary also announces a 
gift of 60,0001. to Princeton University from Mr. 
W. C. Proctor, of Cincinnati, for the endowment of 
the Charlotte Elizabeth Proctor fellowships in the 
graduate school. Mr. Proctor has previously given 
100,000l. to the graduate school. 
A SCHOLARSHIP of 35]. for one year is offered at 
Bedford College for Women (University of London) 
for the course beginning in October next. The 
scholar, who must hold a degree, or an equivalent 
certificate, will be required either to take the full 
diploma course at Bedford College or to pursue some 
special line of investigation in cognate subjects under 
the supervision of the lecturer in hygiene. Names of 
intending candidates, with particulars of previous 
study, should be forwarded not later than July 1 to 
the Principal, Bedford College, from whom further 
particulars may be obtained. 
A CONFERENCE on diet in public secondary and 
private schools will be held at the Guildhall on May 
13, when the Lord Mayor will preside. A provisional 
programme has been circulated, and it is expected the 
following papers will be read and discussed :—Diet 
NO. 2218, VOL. 89] 
as a factor in physical, intellectual and moral 
efficiency, by Dr. Clement Dukes; existing methods 
and the main lines of reform, by Miss Robertson, 
Drs. Mumford and J. Sim Wallace, and Mr. Prosser; 
instruction in the elements of physiology and personal 
hygiene, by Mrs. Burn and Dr. Reddie; and problems 
in institutional feeding and training in institutional 
management, by Mrs. Stanley Hazell. Full particu- 
lars will be supplied to anyone sending a stamped 
addressed envelope to Mr. C. E. Hecht, National 
Food Reform Association, 178 St. Stephen’s House, 
Westminster. 
Tue Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine is 
inviting applications in connection with the appoint- 
ment of three new officers, one to be a laboratory 
expert capable of taking charge in the absence of 
the director, the second to be an expert in tropical 
hygiene and epidemiology, and the third to be a bio- 
chemist. This is the outcome of the large increase 
of endowment recently granted by the Commonwealth 
Government. Extensive new laboratories are in 
process of erection at Townsville, Queensland, and 
special wards have already been equipped in the 
Townsville Hospital. The first report of the director, 
Dr. Anton Breinl, is full of hopeful augury. An 
Australian diploma of tropical medicine is being 
established simultaneously by the Universities of 
Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, the bulk of the 
teaching being entrusted to the institute. The affairs 
of the institute are supervised by a committee in- 
cluding representatives of the Governments of the 
Commonwealth and of Queensland, and the Universi- 
ties of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane. 
THE second reading of the Education (School 
Attendance) Bill was agreed to in the House of 
Commons on April 26 by a substantial majority. 
The Bill provides that no child shall be allowed to 
leave a public elementary school below the age of 
thirteen, with the proviso that if a child leaves school 
between the age of thirteen and fourteen it shall 
only do so on condition that it is to enter into 
beneficial employment. The effect of the Bill would 
practically be to abolish half-time employment. It 
is generally admitted that the half-time system has 
little to recommend it so far as the great majority 
of districts are concerned. A recent departmental 
committee decided unanimously against it, and re- 
commended its abolition. But, as the speeches in 
the House of Commons showed, some authorities 
wish to preserve the system in agricultural districts, 
though there has been a marked diminution of half- 
timers in country areas- in recent years. The system 
is most in vogue in the textile districts of Lancashire 
and Yorkshire; but the debate served to demonstrate 
that its abolition would be greatly to the advantage 
of the children, and would result also in a marked 
improvement in the standard of the schools, where 
work has been retarded greatly by the regular 
absence from them of part of the children for a por- 
tion of the school day. 
Tue fourth annual report of the governing body 
of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, 
for the year ended August 31 last, has now been 
published (Cd. 6132). It provides interesting par- 
ticulars of the progress already made in the provision 
of adequate accommodation for the extended work 
and activities of the college. The governing body 
has had under consideration its position as regards 
the Royal Commission on University Education in 
London, so far as it has reference to the work of the 
Imperial College, and has resolved that the autonomy 
of the Imperial College should be maintained and 
incorporation with the University of London should 
