6o 



NA TURE 



[July 8, 1922 



Rainfall in Southern Italy and Tripoli. 



PROF. FILIPPO EREDIA, of the Italian Meteoro- 

 logical Service, has recently contributed some 

 further climatological studies to the many which he 

 has already published. One of these (Nuovi Annali 

 del Ministero per 1' Agricoltura) deals with the seasonal 

 conditions of rainfall in the province of Apulia and 

 the relation of the quantity of precipitation to the 

 number of days of incidence. The matter is im- 

 portant in connexion with the somewhat precarious 

 water supply in that southern Italian province, which 

 during the summer months is affected by the Saharan 

 regimen of drought. 



In another publication, on the rainfall of Tripoli 

 (" L' Agricoltura Coloniale." Anno xv., No. 8, 1921), 

 Prof. Eredia shows that there is no foundation for 

 the supposition that the rainfall of the region is 

 steadily diminishing because the country shows signs 

 of progressive desiccation. One might remark that 

 progressive desiccation is considered to be the fact 

 in many parts of Africa other than Tripoli, and that 

 it has been explained by Schwarz and others as due, 

 not to diminishing rainfall, but to a continental 

 configuration which is slowly inducing baneful hydro- 

 logical changes. 



Two other papers on the climates of Gharian and 

 Cussabat on the interior plateau of Tripoli (Bollettino 

 di Informazioni, Nbs. 3-4, 7-8, 1921) give an interest- 

 ing glimpse of general climatic conditions based on 

 a few years' records for meteorological observations 

 since the Italian occupation. The mean annual 

 temperature at Gharian, high up on the plateau and 

 more than 2000 feet above sea-level, is about 65 F., 

 ranging between 83° in July and 48 in January, 

 and the mean daily range varies from 30° F. at 

 midsummer to less than half that value at mid- 

 winter. The absolute extremes of temperature 

 recorded at this station were 121 -i° F. in June and 

 32-1° F. in December, whilst extreme fluctuations of 

 relative humidity characterise this dry region. The 

 general rainfall of Tripoli is less than 20 inches a 

 year, chiefly confined to winter. In this region we 

 have another instance of the fact that occasional 

 snowfalls at sea-level make a much closer approach 

 to the tropics than is commonly supposed. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Bangor. — Prof. D. Thoday of the Universitv of 

 Cape Town has been appointed to the chair of 

 botany, in succession to Prof. R. W. Phillips, who 

 retires after thirty-eight years' service. 



Birmingham. — At the Degree Congregation held 

 on July 1, in the great hall of the University at 

 Edgbaston, the number of degrees conferred was the 

 largest hitherto recorded for the University. Many 

 of the new graduates are ex-service men, and the 

 Principal (Mr. C. Grant Robertson) paid a tribute 

 to the work of these men and their valuable help 

 in creating afresh traditions of the University after 

 the war : " They have given us invaluable service 

 in that necessary work. They brought to the 

 University a breadth and a variety of experience, 

 a maturity of judgment, and an energy and enthusiasm 

 which those who know the University from the inside 

 recognise has been invaluable, and which will leave 

 a permanent imprint on our University life and a 

 permanent addition to our University traditions." 

 The institution by the Government of grants to ex- 

 service men was a unique educational experiment 

 ami, judging by the experience of Birmingham 

 University, it had proved an unqualified success. 



I he following degrees were conferred : Doctor of 



NO. 2749, VOL. I io] 



Sen nee : Mr. R. H. Whitehouse ; Doctor of Medicine : 

 Mr. O. J. Kauffmann, Mr. J. Robertson, and Mr. J. 

 W. Russell ; Philosophies Doctor : Mr. F. Adcock, 

 Mr. C. B. Childs, Mr. V. A. Collins, Mr. E. A. F. 

 Reeve, Mr. J. D. M. Smith, Mr. R. E. Stradling, Mr. 

 E. H. Wells; Master of Surgery : Mr. L. P. Gamgee. 

 For the degree of Master of Science, 45 candidates 

 were presented ; for the degree of B.Sc. with Honours, 

 there were 74 candidates, and for the ordinary B.Sc. 

 degree, 157. 



The Vice-Chancellor, Sir Gilbert Barling, announced 

 that a war memorial was to be erected on the east 

 wall of the entrance hall, in the form of three marble 

 panels bearing the names of the members of the 

 University of all ranks who fell in the war. It is 

 expected that the memorial will be unveiled in 

 October next. 



Mr. C. G. Payton has been appointed demonstrator 

 in anatomy. 



The Ingleby Lecturer for 1024 will be Mr. A. W. 

 Nuthall. 



Cambridge. — In connexion with the meeting of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society (the " Royal Show "), 

 honorary degrees are being conferred on H.R.H. The 

 -Duke of York, the Honourable W. H. Taft, Mr. 

 C. R. W. Adeane, Sir G. Greenall, Sir Daniel Hall, 

 Mr. E. S. Beaven, Mr. A. E. Humphries, Mr. E. 

 Mathews, and Mr. G. P. Hawkins. Mr. L. C. G. 

 Clarke, Trinity College, has been appointed curator 

 of the Museum of Archaeology and of Ethnology. 



London. — Prof. H. S. Birkett (Dean of the Faculty 

 of Medicine, McGill University) will deliver the Semon 

 Lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole 

 Street, W.i, on Wednesday, July 12, at 5 o'clock. 

 The subject will be " The development of Trans- 

 Atlantic Rhino-laryngology." Admission will be free 

 and no tickets will be required. 



Oxford. — At the Encaenia, held on June 28, the 

 honorary degree of D.Sc. was conferred on Prof. J. 

 Perrin of Paris and Prof. F. Gowland Hopkins of 

 Cambridge. In introducing Prof. Perrin, the Public 

 Orator (Dr. Godley) referred particularly to his 

 experimental researches in the character and con- 

 stitution of the atom, and to his determination of the. 

 velocity of the component electrons. His scientific 

 investigations had been used in the service of his 

 country, and had contributed largely to its victory 

 in the war. Of the work in biochemistry of Prof. 

 Gowland Hopkins, the Orator found it difficult to 

 speak " in hac patrii sermonis egestate." He was 

 able, however, to pay tribute in general terms to 

 Prof. Hopkins's abstruse researches into the nutrition 

 and metabolism of living bodies. His discovery of 

 the importance of vitamins was not only of high 

 scientific value, but had also a practical bearing of the 

 greatest interest in the study of disease. Prof. 

 Perrin was greeted by the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. L. R. 

 Farnell, Rector of Exeter College) as " Vir doctissime ; 

 rnaxime physicae scientiae auctor " ; and Prof. 

 Hopkins as " Vir eruditissime ; chemiae explorator 

 insignis ; Universitatis Cantabrigiensis decus." 



Sheffield. — Honorary degrees have been conferred 

 on Sir Charles Parsons for his work on the turbine 

 engine, and on Mr. T. W. Hall for researches in 

 palaeography and archaeology. 



Dr. R. H. Chittenden, the well-known authority 

 on dietetics, is retiring from the post of director of 

 the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, which 

 he has held since 1898. He is to be succeeded by 

 Dr. C. H. Warren, now professor of mineralogy at 

 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a 

 former assistant at the Sheffield Scientific School, of 

 which he is himself a graduate. 



