June 25, 1908] 



NA TURE 



i8q 



manurial trials, of progress in soil management, plant 

 breeding, in bacteriology, in our knowledge of plant and 

 animal requirements, so far as practical agriculture is 

 concerned, besides dealing with questions of cost and with 

 practical methods ascertained to give good results and 

 worthy of wider trial. 



To come, however, to the actual papers. Two on pigs 

 deal respectively with the general problem and with the 

 bacon-curer's requirements in a way that will appeal to 

 the practical man. Mr. Archibald completes a series of 

 notes on wild birds begun in the journal for 1892 and 

 continued in the 1894 number ; if these could be bound 

 up into a separate booklet they would doubtless prove very 

 attractive to the agricultural community. The report on 

 the prize farms in Lincoln is a valuable revival of a 

 practice discontinued since 1S02 ; some of the best things 

 in the literature of practical agriculture are found in the 

 old reports. Mr. GUssow's article on poisonous plants is 

 of interest both to botanists and to practical men. 



Dr. Voelcker's report on the work carried out at Woburn 

 is as interesting and suggestive as usual. In the pot- 

 culture station, lithium salts have been found to be very 

 poisonous to wheat, as little as 0-05 per cent, reducing 

 the yield to one-quarter, whilst manganese and iron salts 

 increased the yield. A connected account of the work is 

 promised, and will be awaited with interest. In the field 

 experiments it has been thought desirable to alter the 

 scheme of manuring consistently adhered to since 1876, 

 and we cannot help thinking that this is a great mistake. 

 Stackyard field is one of the best experimental fields in 

 the kingdom, and would prove an almost ideal place for 

 solving problems in soil physics and in soil bacteriology 

 when the methods of working are sufficiently developed. 

 Manures take so long to act on the soil, and we know 

 so little about the action, that it would surely have been 

 better not to break the continuity of treatment, but to 

 leave the fields as material for future workers just as is 

 being done at Rothamsted. 



(2) to (5) These bulletins are typical of much of the 

 work executed under the auspices of county councils. The 

 field trials fall under two heads, variety and m.anurial 

 trials ; in the former a number of the varieties of a plant 

 are grown to see which gives the biggest yield, in the 

 latter a scheme of manuring is designed to test the effect 

 of the various fertilisers. Properly executed with duplicate 

 plots and accompanied by adequ.ate chemical analyses, the 

 manurial trials are capable of furnishing results both of 

 practical and scientific interest. Without soil analyses the 

 results have only a temporary value, and are, indeed, often 

 useless to those who do not know the actual field on 

 which the trial was made. Although no analyses are 

 recorded In the bulletins, it is to be hoped they exist. 

 The Midland Collee'e bulletins speak well for the energy 

 and enterprise of the staff. Some refreshing departures 

 from the conventional wotif are found In the Reading 

 report, the experiments on weeding and on cultivation 

 being particularly interesting. E. J. R. 



UNTVERSTTV AND EDUCATIONAL 



INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, spoke as 



follows in presenting to the Chancellor the five representa- 



times of mathematics and natural' science who received the 



degree of Doctor In Science honoris causa on June 17 : — 



The Hon. Charles Algernon Parsons, C.B., F.R.S., 

 Honorary Fellow of St. John's. 

 Regiae .SocietatIs praesidis, Astronomlae fautoris maximi 

 filiu<, quern hodie decoramus, etiam in Ipsa pueritia 

 machinarum novarum Inventor fellx fulsse dicitur. Postea 

 Dominae Margaretae Collegii alterius scholaribus adscrlp- 

 tus. honorum mathematicorum in classe prima, Dominae 

 Margaretae in nave prima, locum insignem est adeptus. 

 Deindc Archlmedls aemulis hodiernis additus, non gram- 

 mophonl tantum tubam terribllcm sonitus suavlores edere 

 docuit. sed etiam navium vl vaporis impulsarum more novo 

 movendarum opus difticllllmum exitu prospero est 

 aggressus. Machinae genus illud novum, a Societate Regia 

 numlsmatis aurei honore approbatum, etiam navlbus 

 maximis oceanum transeuntibus postea est accommodatum. 



NO. 2017, VOL. 78] 



Quod si Xeptunum ipsum alumni nostri dc merltis interro- 

 gare volueritis, sine dubio Neptunus ipse protinus 

 respondebit : — 



Experto credite quantus 

 Per pontum properet, quo turbine torqueat undas. 



Sir Andrew Noble, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S. 

 Ballistarum scientlam hodiernam baronetti huius ingenio 

 plurimum debere inter omnes constat. Milites nostri, 

 machinarum bellicarum in apparatu neque terra neque 

 marl rerum novarum cupldi, viri huius praesertim consiliis 

 admoniti, meliora didicerunt. In ballistis vero nostris in 

 melius mutandis, atquc etiam imperii laponici in navibus 

 aedlficandis, nemo .Archimede nostro venerabill plus effecit. 

 Nemo operariis nostris cessantibus et mercedem maiorem 

 flagitantibus potlora suasit. Quid autem est praoclarius 

 quam honoribus pcrfunctum senem posse dicere idem quod 

 apud Ennium dicat ille Pythius .Apollo, se esse eum unde 

 sibi et populi et reges et omnes sui cives, summarum 

 rerum incerti, consilium expetant?' 



Sir William Crookes, F.R.S. 



Cancellarii nostri auspiciis nunc demum eum ipsum 

 praesentem videmus quem diu desideravimus, quern alia 

 ex alia scientlarum in studiis occupata Societas praesidem 

 suum olim suspexlt. De scientia chemica et physica cx- 

 ploranda per annos plus quam quinquaginta praeclare 

 merltus, in rerum primordils primis spectri (ut aiunt) 

 auxilio ex<iminandis eam ipsam provlnclam feliciler ex- 

 ploravit, quae etiam sclentiae physicae in officina nostra 

 maximo cum fructu indagata est. In observando quam 

 acutus est, in experiendo quam peritus, in rebus dilficillimis 

 investigandis quam pertlnax ! Viri tanti exemplo Verglli 

 dictum denuo praeclare confirmatum est; — "Labor omnia 

 vicit improbus." 



Prof. Horace Lame, F.R.S., Late Fellow of Trinity 

 Professor of Mathematics in the Victoria University 

 Manchester. 

 .'\bhlnc annos septem et triginta Newtoni In Collegio 

 alumnum nostrum Newtoni disclplinam perquam fcliclter 

 colulsse constat. Postea in .Australia professor nominatus, 

 in colonia nostra remotlssima studiorum mathematicorum, 

 studiorum physicorum, diu duratura posuit fundamenta. 

 Deinde scriptorum eius propter merita insignia a 

 Mancunienslbus domum revocatus, ea quae ipse de vi 

 electrica disputationum suarum in regione pura Invenerat, 

 ab aliis in machinis fabricandis vita nova donata vidit. 

 Perltis nota sunt " Hydrodynamica " eius, in editlone nova 

 in mains exaucta. Etiam aliis innotuit oratio SocietatIs 

 Britannlcae in conventu Cantabriglensi baud ita pridem 

 pronuntlata, in qua primum studiorum mathematicorum 

 historiam recentiorem dllucide delineavit ; deinde etiam in 

 studiis nils severis aliquid audendum, allquid periclitandum 

 esse dixit ; dcnique rerum naturam nondum omnem esse 

 exhaustam, sed miraculis etiam nunc esse plenam. quae 

 scientlarum cultores per plurinia in postorum saecula sint 

 exercltura. 



Prof. George Downing Liveing, F.R.S., Fellow of 

 St. John's. 



.Abhinc annos duo et sexaglnta Cantabrigiam primum 

 petlvit vir intra proximum quinquennium in disciplina 

 mathematica et in rerum naturae studiis honores summos 

 adeptus, qui, post itinera sua Berollnensia, sclentiae 

 chemicae inter nosmet ipsos docendae sese strenue dedi- 

 cavlt, et Divi loannis in Collegio primam sclentiae illius 

 officinam Cantabrigiensem aedificandam curavit. Postea 

 Universltatis professor nominatus, horum studiorum 

 officinae ampllssimae publico condendae summam diligen- 

 tiam, summam operum exterorum cxperlentiam, fellciter 

 adhibult. Lucis vero radiis spectri (ut aiunt) ope 

 retexendls, et rerum naturae penetralibus examinandis, 

 quot annorum labores dedicavit ! quot discipulls studiorum 

 uno tenore assldue peractorum exemplar quam pulchrum 

 praebuit I In operlbus bonis adiuvandis liberalissimus, in 

 negotiis academicis partlum liberalium defensor indefessus, 

 per tot annos inter tantas rerum vicissitudines animum 

 serenum, aequum, prudcntem, modestum conservavit. 

 1 Cicero, " De Or ," i. 199. 



