July i8, 1907] 



NA TURE 



285 



water would be two-thirds purified in flowing i68 miles 

 at the rate of one mile an hour. With regard to broad 

 irrigation, the conclusion generally arrived at is that 

 sewage farms can never be expected to show a profit if 

 interest on capital is included in the expenditure, and 

 the experience is that there need be no serious danger of 

 the spread of disease from irrigated crops, but that fruits 

 and vegetables so grown should never be eaten without 

 being cooked. With chemical precipitation the great 

 difficulty is the disposal of the sludge, which amounts to 

 twenty to twenty-six tons per million gallons of sewage. 

 The disposal of this sludge generally involves considerable 

 expense, it being found by practice to be of no value as 

 manure. In fact, in some places, after being compressed 

 into cakes, it is burnt or buried in the ground. 



The result of the other processes has already been dealt 

 with in the experiments conducted by the Massachusetts 

 Institute. 



VmVERSlJY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Liverpool. — The annual exhibition of antiquities ar- 

 ranged by the Institute of -Archaeology, illustrating 

 excavations in Upper Egypt 1906-7, was inaugurated at 

 Burlington House, London, W., on Tuesday, July 16, and 

 will remain open until July 30. The exhibits include 

 scarabs, ornaments, and inscriptions of 2000 B.C. to 1200 

 B.C., and stela; of Ptolemaic and later dates, recently dis- 

 covered by Prof. Garstang, Mr. E. Harold Jones, and the 

 Hon. R. H. Trefusis. 



MANCnESTER. — Bv the will of the late Mr. Mark Stirrup 

 the university has received the following bequests : — Speci- 

 mens of volcanic rocks and fossils ; loooJ. for the mainten- 

 ance of a geological and paU-eontological collection ; 1500/. 

 for the foundation of a pala?ontological scholarship, tenable 

 for two years by anyone who has studied geology in the 

 university. 



Mr. J. W. Bews has been appointed to the newly insti- 

 tuted post of lecturer in economic botany. 



Oxford. — In a convocation to be held on September 30, 

 thi' degree of D.Sc. honoris causa will be conferred upon 

 Prof. Charles Barrois, Lille; Prof. A. Heim, Zurich; Prof. 

 A. Lacroix, Paris; Prof. A. Penck, Berlin; Dr. Hans H. 

 Reusch, Norway; Prof. F. Zirkel, Leipzig. 



Dr. George Dreyer, lecturer in general and experimental 

 pathology in the University of Copenhagen, has been 

 elected to the newly established professorship of pathology. 



Sheffield. — ^The University has just issued its list of 

 results of examinations, and we observe that three students 

 have obtained the new degree of Bachelor of Metallurgy 

 (B.Met.), viz. R. Mather, Z. T. K. Woo, and G. S. 

 Ludlam. It seems only appropriate that the University's 

 first three graduates should have taken their degree in 

 metallurgy, as this department has for many years upheld 

 a high standard of training in the metallurgy of iron and 

 steel compatible with the ancient fame of the city as the 

 home of the manufacture of high-class and special steels. 

 It may not be inappropriate to note, in connection with 

 the present trend of attairs in the East, that one of the 

 honour graduates is a native of China. 



Priv.we enterprise has succeeded in founding, with the 

 sanction of the Ministry of Education, confirmed by the 

 Czar, an Institute of Archaeology and Archaeography in 

 Moscow. The institute, which has just obtained its 

 charter, ranks with a university, and is open to all 

 graduates of Russian or foreign universities. Its aim is 

 to prepare qualified archa:ologists and " archaeographists." 

 The latter term is applied to persons skilled in the pre- 

 servation and use of historical archives, libraries, museums, 

 and other collections, public and private, demanding 

 special knowledge. The Moscow Institute of Archa:ology 

 is the first institution in Russia founded on autonomous 

 principles ; it has the right to elect its own staff of pro- 

 fessors, and generally to conduct its own internal affairs, 

 subject only to a possible veto of the Minister of Education 

 in certain cases. The course is a three years' one, the 

 final year of which must be spent in practical work either 

 in arch.-Eological expeditions and research among the 



NO. 1968, VOL. 76] 



monuments of antiquity as yet so little studied in Russia, 

 or in similar special work at home or abroad. The 

 institute grants the degree of doctor of archaeology or 

 archajography. Among those connected with the new 

 institute whose names are favourably known outside Russia 

 may be mentioned Dr. Uspensky, director of the institute, 

 the author of fifty capital monographs in Russian ; Dr. 

 Fleischer, who was associated with English and American 

 archaeologists in recent excavations in Persia ; Prof. Grot, 

 and other Moscow professors. Privat-docent Visotsky has 

 been appointed secretary to the institute. 



The first meeting of the governing body of the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology was held on July 12 

 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. 

 Mr. R. McKenna, M.P., President of the Board of Educa- 

 tion, who was accompanied by Sir Robert Morant, opened 

 the meeting. The following members of the governing 

 body were present : — The Earl of Crewe, Sir F. Mowatt, 

 Sir Julius C. Wernher, Sir W. H. White, Principal 

 MacAlister, Mr. A. H. D. Acland, Mr. F. G. Ogilvie, 

 Mr. J. C. G. Sykes, Dr. Glazebrook, Sir E. H. Busk, 

 Prof. Capper, Prof. Farmer, Sir A. W. Riicker, Mr. A. 

 Acland Allen, M.P., Mr. H. Percy Harris, Sir C. Kinloch- 

 Cooke, Mr. R. A. Robinson, Mr. J. T. Taylor, Sir J. 

 Wolfe-Barry, Sir Owen Roberts, Sir W. S. Prideaux, 

 \'iscount Esher, Sir A. Geikie, Prof. Tilden, Prof. Gow- 

 land, Prof. Dalbv, Sir .\lexander Kennedv, Mr. T. Hurry 

 Riches, Mr. R. K. Gray, Sir Hugh Bell, 'Dr. Elgar, Prof. 

 Divers, Mr. A. Sopwith, and Mr. W. McDermott, with 

 Mr. F. E. Douglas as secretary (pro tern.). Mr. McKenna, 

 in opening the meeting, took the opportunity to e.xplain 

 the arrangements which would have to be made for the 

 transfer of the Royal College of Science and Royal School 

 of Mines to the control of the governing body, and referred 

 to the importance of the work which lay before the 

 governing body in connection with the provision and 

 organisation of advanced technical education within the 

 Empire. On the motion of Viscount Esher, seconded by 

 Sir .Alexander Kennedy, Lord Crewe was unanimously 

 elected chairman. On Lord Crewe taking the chair, Mr. 

 McKenna handed to him the Letters Patent containing the 

 Grant of the Charter of the Imperial College. Provisional 

 committees (including a finance committee, of which Sir F. 

 Mowatt was appointed chairman) were appointed to deal 

 with preliminary matters and to report to the next meeting 

 of the governing body, which was fixed for July ig. 



A RECENT issue of the Journal of the Department of 

 Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland contained 

 an exhaustive article on technical instruction in Belfast, by 

 Mr. F. C. Forth, the principal of the municipal technical 

 institute in the city. This account has now been published 

 in a separate form. In the inauguration of the scheme 

 of technical instruction the Corporation had as the chief 

 object the provision of instruction in the principles of 

 those arts and sciences bearing upon the trades and in- 

 dustries of Belfast. The success of the trade classes has 

 been due in great measure to the enlightened view which 

 officers of trade societies in Belfast have taken of the 

 operations of the technical institute and to the encourage- 

 ment which has been given by employers. In 1900 it was 

 decided to build the excellent technical institute which has 

 now been practically completed at a cost of 100,000!. The 

 Belfast Corporation was, it is satisfactory to note, well 

 advised, and as the work of each department developed 

 sufficiently to warrant such a step, a principal teacher for 

 it w-as appointed, and his first duty was to superintend the 

 equipment of the department allotted to him in the new 

 building and to be responsible for the expenditure of his 

 share of the 40,000/. set aside for the equipment of the 

 new institute. Before the building was out of the con- 

 tractor's hands a number of classes were transferred to 

 it, and useful experience was gained which led to some 

 modifications in arrangements before the building was com- 

 pleted finally. The great bulk of the equipment is now 

 installed, and it is hoped that when the date for the formal 

 opening arrives, the building and its contents will be 

 complete. Belfast is to be congratulated upon the provision 

 the Corporation has made for providing young men and 

 women with a modern and thorough type of technical 

 education. 



