4/6 



NA TURE 



[June 17, ii$b9 



will cncouraj^c attendance at continuation classes during 

 the day, the employer will attach more value to the work 

 of his employees, and the parent will take care that 

 the primary school docs not become a wilderness of book- 

 learning. 



The dillkulties of making this comparison and the 

 devices which have been employed will be apparent to 

 everyone. Of the conclusions that can be drawn, one at 

 li'.-ist is incontestable : it is not yet possible to give a 

 definite statistical statement because the materials do not 

 exist. It seems bad economy to suggest further advances 

 until the completion of a national stock-taking. 



A. J. Pressland. 



THE SOUTH-EASTERN UNION OF 

 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



UNDER the presidency of Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S.. 

 the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies held 

 an extremely successful congress at Winchester from 

 Wednesday to Saturday of last week. As Sir .Archibald 

 Geikie in his presidential address to the congress at 

 Hastings last year had dealt with the geological history of 

 the Weald, Dr. Scolt this year appropriately discoursed 

 on the flora of the Wealden strata. This was a subject 

 of peculiar interest to the Union, inasmuch as many of 

 the most interesting fossil plants of Wealden age have 

 been obtained within the sphere of its activity. 'Ihe flora 

 was of similar type to that which had prevailed from the 

 beginning of the Mesozoic period, and in so far as seed- 

 bearing plants are concerned consisted chiefly of conifers 

 and cycads. It is believed that the angiosperms did not 

 appear until later Cretaceous times, and their comparatively 

 sudden rise was probably related to the contemporary 

 development of insect life. 



With a living specimen of Cycas rcvoluta in front of 

 him, and aided by a fine series of lantern-slides, Dr. Scott 

 described the structure of recent cycads and their relation 

 to Ihe fossil types. Before dealing with cycads, however, 

 he referred to the fact that in the -Secondary flora there 

 were many plants more or less related to the Ginkgo, or 

 maiden-hair tree, which at the present day survives as 

 an isolated species, possibly wild on the mountains of 

 western China. It was discovered by Japanese botanists 

 that cycads and Ginkgo alone among living seed-plants 

 were fertilised, like ferns, by motile cells, or spermatozoids. 

 Misled by the resemblance of the leaves of the .\frican 

 cycad Stangeria to the fronds of a fern, the systematic 

 [Kisition of Stangeria was at one time misunderstood. It 

 is interesting to learn from Pal.x-ozoic botany that a real 

 affinity exists between the cycads and the ferns. 



During the Jurassic and Wealden stages of the earth's 

 history cycadaceous plants were so abundant and varied that 

 probably among vascular plants one in every three was 

 a cycad, whereas'at the present day the proportion scarcely 

 reaches one in a thousand. .Although cycads have now a 

 very limited geographical distribution, they formerly spread 

 over the whole world, and, as their relics testify, must 

 have abounded in what is now the British area. Many 

 of the Mesozoic cycads, notwithstanding the general re- 

 semblance of their leaves, differed essentially from the 

 modern types, and where the reproductive organs have 

 been preserved, as in specimens of Bcnnettites, the fossil 

 fructification is found to be much more complicated than 

 are the simple cones of the living cycads. In .America, 

 where abundant material has been discovered. Dr. Wieland. 

 of Yale, has shown that the fructification of many cycad- 

 likc plants consisted of true bisexual flowers, comp.irable 

 in general terms with those of such highly organised 

 modern plants as the magnolias. Recent researches have, 

 indeed, led to the conclusion that the origin of the angio- 

 sperms, which are to-day the dominant plants in the 

 world, may perhaps be sought in those cycad-like plants 

 that are so abundantly represented in the Wealden beds. 

 If, as is probable, the flowers were brightly coloured, the 

 fertilisation by insects may have begun among these 

 cycads. 



Not without some rel.ntion to the subject of the presi- 

 Henllal address was a lecture by Mr. R. W. Hoolev, of 

 Southampton, on Ihe .Age of Reptiles in Hants and the 

 Isle of Wight. The lecturer gave the results of much 



NO. 20f)S, VOL. 80"] 



original investigation in the Wealden beds of the island, 

 resulting in the discovery of many interesting remains. 

 He held strongly to the' view that the strata were of 

 deltaic origin. . . 



Another evening lecture was on the prehistoric 

 memorials of Hampshire, by Mr. W. Dale, of Southamp- 

 ton. The lecturer, who is an active architologist in the 

 tield, illustrated his discourse by some fine local antiquities 

 in .stone and bronze from his' own collection, as well as 

 by a large series of lantern-slides, including many original 

 photographs. 



Each morning during the congress two scientific papers 

 were read; these related to botany, entomology, and 

 geology, and most of them were appropriately of a local 

 character. The afternoons were devoted (o excursions, 

 which were admirably organised by Mr. N. C. H. Nisbett; 

 .ind in the evenings, before the lectures, there were recep- 

 tions by the Mavor and by the headmaster of Winchester 

 College. .An excellent temporary museum was. arranged 

 at the Guildhall, under 'Mr. E. W.Swanton. of Sir 

 Jonathan Hutchinson's Museum at Haslcmere, the collec- 

 tions including a large scries of interesting objects from 

 the Hartley University College, Southampton. The 

 success of the congress was largely due to the energy of 

 the hon. local secretary, .Mr. W. Norris. and the hon. 

 general secretary, the Rev. R. Ashington Bullen. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



CAMimitK.i;.— Mr. H. F. Newall, F.R.S., fellow of 

 Trinity College, has been elected to the recently founded 

 professorship of astrophysics. Mr. Newall was formerly 

 assistant to the Cavendish professor of physics and demon- 

 strator in experimental physics in the same laboratory, 

 and now holds the position of assistant director of the 

 observatory at Cambridge. . 



H. E. Durham, King's College, has been approved by 

 the general board of studies for the degree of.Dodtor in 

 Science. . ti jj 



The general board of studies has appointed Dr. Haddon 

 as reader in ethnology, and Dr. Bromwich as university 

 lecturer in mathematics. 



The same board has re-appointed S. Ruhemann as 

 university lecturer in organic chemistry ; Dr. Sell and 

 Dr. Fetiton as university lecturers in chemistry ; Dr. 

 Duckworth as university lecturer in physical anthropology; 

 11. Woods as univers'ity • lecturer in palaeozoology ; .A. 

 Ilarker as university lecturer in petrology ;. and T. S. P. 

 Slrangewavs as Huddcrsfield lecturer in special pathology. 

 .All these re-appointments are for five years, and date 

 from October i, iqoq. They have also all been confirmed 

 by the special boards connected with the subjects men- 

 tioned. „, ^ , J 



The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ridgeway, \A . Durnford, 

 C. E. Grant, A. Grav, P. Giles. L. Whibley. and S. C. 

 Cockerell h.a've been ' nominated a syndicate to consider 

 the administration of the Museum of Classical Archaeology, 

 the relation between that museum and the Fitzwilliam 

 Museum, and, in particular, the appointment, duties, and 

 powers of the curator of the Museum of Classical Arch.To- 

 logv : the syndicate is empowered to confer with such 

 bodies and persons as it may think fit, and is to report 

 to the Senate before the end of the Lent term, if)lo. 



It is proposed, the Chancellor, as president of the Uni- 

 versity .Association, having given his approval, that a sum 

 of lo'oo/. from the un.issigned portion of the benefaction 

 fund be aonroprinird towards the cost of the erection of 

 the first block of the new museum of archnfology and 

 ethnology, and that the Vice-Chancellor be authorised to 

 accept a tender for the erection of block i. of the new 

 museum of arch.i'ologv ' and ethnology provided that the 

 tender does not exceed the sum of 11,000/., and th.nt 

 Ihe sums subscribed or guaranteed amount to 12,5001. 

 before .Tnv contract is signed. 



Mr. Francis G. Smart, having m.ade to the University 

 an offer to give the sum of 6oof. in order to found two 

 prizes to be awarded in each year, one for botanv and 

 one for zoology, a Grace will be brought before the Senate 



