26 



NATURE 



[Marqii 4; 1909 



if he were asked to endow a fellowship of this annual 

 value he would . immediately have to hand over 3000/. 

 This method certainly lends itself admirably to the making 

 of. untried cxperulicuts in educational as well ,as in other 

 matters. 1 do not speak altogether without practical 

 experience of the method, and 1 have therefore ventured 

 to make this digression in order to commend it to your 

 attention. 



It is of set purpose that I have discriminated si^arply 

 between the functions of the technical college ; the train- 

 ing of large numbers of competent craftsmen or pro- 

 fessional inen, and the development of a smaller class of 

 scientific pioneers. We must admit that the latter function 

 is likely, to make the less effective appeal to the general 

 public; indeed, it would be surprising if it were to appeal 

 to more than a select few. I take this to mean that 

 within the managing body we must be satisfied to proceed 

 cautiously in developing this function. There need be no 

 doubt or hesitation as to the objects to be attained, but 

 prudence and caution will be required in the application 

 of the means at our disposal. Men are of far greater 

 importance than money, and I confess to a certain distrust 

 of schemes of scientific research which are splendid mainly 

 because they are splendidly financed. No great research 

 department can develop except by a process which is 

 analogous to organic growth. If the right kind of nucleus 

 can be placed in a suitable environment we may rest 

 assured that nature will do -the rest by her processes of 

 cell division and multiplication. It is our part to see that 

 the nucleus is sound and of the right kind, to provide for 

 it the necessary environment, and to weed out all useless 

 and undesirable growths. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Mr. R. C. Punnctt has been appointed 

 superintendent of the museum of zoology in succession to 

 Dr. S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., who recently accepted the 

 keepership in zoology at the British Museum (Natural 

 History). 



The Smith's prizes have been adjudged as follows : — 

 H. W. Turnbull, Trinity College, for his essay, " The 

 Irreducible Concomitants of Two Quadratics in n 

 Variables"; G. N.. Watson, Trinity College, for his essay, 

 " The Solution of the Homogeneous Linear Difference 

 Equation of the Second Order, and its Applications to the 

 Theory of Linear Differential Equations of Fuchsian 

 Type." The names are in alphabetical order. 



Dr. McTaggart has been appointed chairman of the 

 examiners for the moral sciences tripos, and Mr. H. O. 

 Mfrcdith chairman of the examiners for the economics 

 tripos. 



Sir Victor Horsley has been appointed Linacre lecturer 

 at St. John's College, Cambridge. The lecture will be 

 delivered on Thursday, May 6, the subject being " The 

 Motor Area of the Brain." 



London. — Mr. G. A. Schott has been granted the degree 

 of D..Sc. in applied mathematics as an external student, 

 and Mr. G. W. C. Kaye has been granted the degree of 

 D.Sc. in physics as an external student. 



The medical college of the London Hospital has recently 

 received a sum of 20,000/., which has been placed in the 

 hands of trustees. The yearly income will be spent on the 

 advancement of medical- research and the promotion of 

 higher education in medicine. The donor wishes to remain 

 anonymous. . 



The Senate has taken exception to the terms of refer- 

 ence to the Royal Commission on the University on the 

 ground that the scope of the inquiry is wider than was 

 approved -by the Senate at their-meeting in December, 1908, 

 and that the Senate has not been given the opportunity 

 to consider extended terms of reference. 



Oxford. — ^The following is the text of the speech 

 delivered by Prof. Love in presenting Dr. Sven Hedin for 

 the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa on March 2 : — " Gaudet 

 profecto • et sibi gratulatur .Academia nostra dum salutat 

 eum qui sicut Ulixes iroAAif ii'SpaJiraji' tSev &nTfa kxI v6ov 

 (yvu), qui Marci Poli, Christopheri Columbi, .Mexandri 

 Humboldt aemulus inter insignissimos orbis terrarum 

 NO. 2053, "^'OL. 80] 



cxploratores iure numerandus est. Quippe hie ille est 

 Sven. Hedin cuius itinera periculosa hodie in ore animoquc 

 omnium sunt. Civiles palmas. non minus illuslres essn 

 quam bellicas aiunt ; quod si verum sit, hunc virum tan- 

 quam victorem ornare possumus, cum de ipsa Natura 

 taciem novercalem . ostendente . atque atrocissime minante 

 victoriam reportaverit. Multas hie personas eadem laude 

 gessit, modo exploratoris impavidi qui vel multis comitanti- 

 bus vel solus sccum descrta perlustrat, modo ducis benigni 

 qui nudato pede calceis aqua repletis morientis calonis 

 sitim levat, modo scientiae cultoris qui labores ta^terrimos 

 perpessus regiones incognitas pedetemptim rccludit. ■ Quam 

 diu ingentes Indiae fluvii in Oceanum volventur, quam diu 

 -Asife interioris montcs nivibus vestiti et avize solitudines 

 manebunt, monumento hie vir non egcbit." 



M. Delafond will on July i next succeed M. E. Nivoit 

 as director of the Paris National School of Mines. 



The London Inter-collegiate Scholarships Board will 

 hold a combined examination for twenty entrance scholar- 

 ships and exhibitions, tenable at University College, King's 

 College, and the East London College, on May 11 and 

 following days. No candidates will be admitted to the 

 examination unless they have passed the London University 

 matriculation or an equivalent examination, and are under 

 the age of nineteen on May i. The total value of scholar^ 

 ships offered is about 1500!. Full particulars and forms 

 of entry may be obtained from the secretary of the board, 

 Mr. Alfred E. G. Attoe, University College, Gower Street, 

 W.C. 



Announcements have been made in the Press that the 

 .'\erial League of the British Empire purposes to establish 

 immediately a national aeronautical college. , It is intended 

 that the new college shall provide instruction in the sub- 

 jects bearing upon aerial flight and navigation. Courses 

 of study will be arranged in the mathematics, dynamics, 

 and mechanics involved in the problem of flight, the laws 

 of air resistance and friction, the stability of air craft, 

 and in the meteorological, physical, and other conditions 

 affecting aerial navigation. Workshops and laboratories, 

 where experiments and tests can be performed, are to.be 

 included in the college, and a trial ground is to be pro- 

 cured. The intention is to teach completely the science 

 and art of flying. At is satisfactory to find that the pro- 

 moters of the scheme appreciate the necessity for founding 

 practice upon scientific knowledge, and it may be hoped 

 that the experiments to be performed will be based upon 

 exhaustive theoretical inquiries into the mathematical prin^ 

 ciples which underlie the problems it is sought to solve 

 by practical means. 



The annual report on the work of University College, 

 London, shows that the total number of students during 

 the session 1907-8 was 1361, being an increase of 170 on 

 that of the preceding session. Of these, 229 were post- 

 graduate and research students. The principal benefac- 

 tions during the year were a bequest of 5000;. by the late 

 Mr. Thomas Webb, of London and Cardiff, which is to 

 be used for the completion of the new physiology building; 

 a bequest of 500/. by Mr. H. A. Kay, to be used for the 

 re-arrangement and re-equipment of the college buildings ; 

 a bequest of loooi. by the late Prof. Bunnell Lewis; a 

 bequest- of 1541?. by' the late Madame Halfon, for the 

 foundation of prizes to be known as the " L. M. Roth- 

 schild" and the " Hester Rothschild " prizes; a gift by 

 the past engineering students' committee of 410/., for the 

 new equipment of the engineering departments : and a 

 donation of 50/. by ■ Mr. Yarrow, for the provision of 

 apparatus in the mechanical engineering department. 

 Besides the grants from the Treasury, the India Office, 

 and the London County Council, the college benefited 

 during the past year'by grants from the Carpenters' Com- 

 pany for architecture, from the Chadwick trustees for 

 municipal engineering and hygiene, from the Draper.s' 

 Company for applied mathematics, and from the Mercers' 

 Company for physiology. Rapid progress has been made 

 with the new buildin.gs' for the department of physiology, 

 which will be ready for occupation next month. The re- 

 arrangement and re-equipment of the college buildings in- 

 volved an expenditure of 5988/. In order to assist the 

 deans in the two most complex faculties, those of arts 



