4o6 



NATURE 



[August 15, 1907 



jects will continue to be given at the London School of 

 Economics, and the courses will be treated as inter- 

 collegiate courses. 



Manchester. — Mr. J. L. Simonsen, Schunck research 

 fellow, has been appointed a junior demonstrator in 

 chemistry. 



Oxford. — The professor of human anatomy has notified 

 the Vice-Chancellor that the Welsh prize, 1907, has been 

 awarded to Mr. Wathen E. Waller, of University College. 



Ah election to the Philip Walker studentship in 

 pathology will take place in October next. The student- 

 ship, which is of the annual value of 200/.. is tenable for 

 three years, is open to either sex, and the holder need 

 not necessarily be a member of the University of Oxford 

 nor be legally qualified to practise the profession of 

 medicine, but while holding the studentship he or she must 

 be devoted to original pathological research. If the work 

 done by a student be of exceptional promise, the student- 

 ship may be extended for a second period not exceeding 

 two years. Applications, accompanied by three testi- 

 monials, must reach the registrar of the University by 

 September 14 next. 



At the Convocation to be held on September 30 it will 

 be proposed to confer the honorary degree of D.Sc. upon 

 Dr. Ludwig Mond, F.R.S., who was unable to be present 

 and receive the degree at the late Encaenia. 



Prof. W. Baldwin Spencer, F.R.S., the holder of the 

 chair of biology in the I'niversity of Melbourne, has been 

 elected to an honorary fellowship at Exeter College. 



Dk. Normax Moore will deliver the first Finlayson 

 lecture in Glasgow in Februarv next. The lectureship was 

 founded in commemoration of the late Dr. James Finlay- 

 son. The subject and actual date of the lecture will be 

 announced later. 



Mr. W. Erlam Smith, who is at present acting as 

 temporary professor of natural science at Government 

 College, Rangoon, has been appointed to succeed Dr. 

 W. Ff. Wilson as professor of chemistry in the Presidency 

 College, Madras, when the latter retires in October next. 



For work carried on in the cancer research laboratories 

 of the Middlesex Hospital, the Walter Emden research 

 scholarship and the Richard Hollins scholarship have been 

 awarded respectively to Dr. \ictor Bonney and Mr. L. 

 Courtauld. 



The Joule studentship of the Royal Society has been 

 awarded to Dr. T. H. Laby, of the University of Sydney, 

 now of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, for the 

 investigation of the conditions of condensation and super- 

 saturation of vapours other than steam. 



Mr. Richard Hexrv Curtis, principal assistant in the 

 observatories branch, has been appointed superintendent of 

 the instruments branch at the Meteorological Office. The 

 observatories branch will in future be incorporated with 

 the instruments branch. Mr. Richard Corless, of Sidney 

 Sussex College, Cambridge, has been appointed special 

 assistant to the director. 



A FELLOWSHIP in agriculture has been awarded to Mr. 

 W. Dawson by the executive committee of the Carnegie 

 trust for his thesis entitled " Production of Seed by Forest 

 Trees," and a scholarship in agriculture has been awarded 

 by the same committee to Mr. F. S. Marr for his paper 

 on " The Stimulus of Phosphoric Acid on the Early 

 Development of Plant Growth." 



The following appointments have been made in connec- 

 tion with the Rothamsted Experimental Station : — Dr. 

 E. J. Russell, lately of the South-Eastern Agricultural 

 College, Wye, as the Goldsmiths' Company's assistant for 

 the investigation of soils, and Dr. H. B. Hutchinson, of 

 the Midland .\gricultural and Dairy College, Kingston, 

 Derby, as bacteriologist. 



Mr. Murray has published at 5s. net a handsome 

 memorial volume of the visit in June, 1906, to the Uni- 



versity of London of representatives of the University of 

 France, the College dc France, and the French provincial 

 universities. We published in our issue of June 14, 190O, 

 an article on the visit, so do not need to say more about 

 the volume than that it contains the names and particulars 

 as to the standing of the guests, verbatim ref>orts of the 

 various addresses delivered, and accounts of the numerous 

 receptions, luncheons, &c., arranged in honour of the 

 distinguished visitors, concluding with the conversazione 

 held at the University of London, South Kensington, at 

 which about 2000 guests were present. 



The council of the Institution of Civil Engineers is pn.- 

 pared to consider applications for a nomination to a Palmer 

 scholarship. The annual value of the scholarship, which 

 will be vacant at the end of next month, is 40/. Sons of 

 civil engineers alone are eligible for nomination, and they 

 must be desirous of matriculating, and subsequently 

 graduating, at the L'niversity of Cambridge, and their 

 circumstances must be such as to need the help afforded 

 by the scholarship. Copies of the regulations may be 

 obtained from the secretary of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers. 



The following appointments in universities abroad are 

 notified in Science : — Dr. G. L. Streeter, professor of 

 anatomy in the University of Michigan; Dr. J. Heath 

 Bawden, professor of philosophy in the L'niversity of 

 Cincinnati ; Dr. F. R. Noll, of the Agricultural .Academy 

 at Poppelsdorf, professor of botany at Halle ; and the 

 following appointments at Syracuse University have been 

 made : — ^Joseph E. Kirkwood, professor of botany ; 

 W. M. Smalhvood, professor of comparative anatomy ; 

 and George D. Babcock, professor of practical mechanics. 



The most recent report of the U.S. Commissioner of 

 Education deals with the year ending June 30, 1905, and 

 has just been published. The growth of facilities for 

 higher instruction as recorded in the report is remarkable. 

 The total value of property possessed by the institutions 

 for higher education increased during the year with which 

 the volume deals by 10,000,000/. At the date mentioned 

 the total value reached approximately 103,000,000/., of 

 which 47,000,000/. represents endowment funds, the re- 

 mainder being the value of the material equipment used 

 for instruction purposes. Forty-one institutions have 

 endowment funds of more than 200,000/. each. The rate 

 of increase per year in the endowment funds was 41.3 per" 

 cent, during the five years 1900-1905. The total income 

 for the year of these institutions for higher education, 

 excluding benefactions, amounted to 8,355,000/., an increase 

 of 289,200/. over the preceding year. Of this amount 

 23-6 per cent, was from endowment funds, 236 per cent, 

 from State appropriations, and 69 per cent, from Federal 

 appropriations. It is interesting to note that Harv.ird and 

 Columbia had incomes exceeding 200,000/. each, eight 

 other institutions had over 150,000/. each, three over 

 100.000/., and twelve more over 60,000/. The total amount 

 of benefactions reported by all institutions during 1904-5 

 was 3,335,790/., of which 71 per cent, was received by 

 thirty-three institutions which each obtained 20,000/. or 

 more. Harvard received gifts amounting to 4(311,000/., 

 Vale 279,000/., and Columbia 236,000/. The total number 

 of men students in these institutions of higher education 

 increased during the year under consideration from 

 86,006 to 92,161, and of women students from 32,023 to 

 34.243- 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 27. — " On the Velocity of the 



Kathode Particles emitted by Various Metals under the 

 Influence of Rontgen Rays, and its Bearing on the Theory 

 of Atomic Disintegration." By P. D. Innes. 



(i) The velocity of the electrons emitted by lead, silver, 

 zinc, platinum, and gold under the influence of Rontgen 

 rays has been measured, both for soft and hard rays. 



NO. 1972, VOL. 76] 



