2;S 



NA TURE 



[July 9, 1908 



As the contributions toward the re-endowment of Oxford 

 University have reached a total of more than 100,000/., 

 the second donation of io,oooL promised by Mr. W. W. 

 Astor has now been received by Lord Curzon of Kedleston, 

 the chairman of the fund. 



On July 10 the administr_ative staff of the technological 

 branch of the Board of Education will remove from South 

 Kensington to the nc\v offices of the Board in Westminster. 

 \\\ correspondence on and after July o should be directed 

 to the Secretary, Board of Education, Whitehall, with the 

 exception of letters for the Victoria and Albert Museum, 

 the Royal College of Art, and the Solar Physics Observa- 

 tory, which should continue to be addressed to the ofiices 

 of the Board of Education, South Kensington. 



On Tuesday, July 7, the King, accompanied by the 

 Queen, opened the new buildings of the University of Leeds. 

 In the course of his reply to an address presented by the 

 \'ice-Chancellor, the King said : — " My interest in the great 

 cause of education is well known, and I note with gratifi- 

 cation the ever-widening basis of the instruction now 

 undertaken by our great educational institutions. The 

 high standard of moral and intellectual discipline for which 

 our schools and universities have been distinguished has 

 not been lowered, niir has the pursuit of literary and 

 historical studies been checked by the inclusion in the 

 university curriculum of those scientific studies, and 

 especially of those branches of applied science for which 

 such ample provision has now been made. I rejoice to 

 think that the opportunities open to the young men of 

 our great industrial communities of acquiring a know- 

 ledge of subjects of commercial utility in an atmosphere 

 of academic culture are being so greatly increased, and 1 

 find it difficult to express my appreciation of the mar....r 

 in which the great responsibilities which rest with the 

 authorities and teachers of a imiversity such as this have 

 been discharged. It is a source of pleasure to me to know 

 that you have provided also for the study of the theory and 

 practice of agriculture, for I am convinced that the best 

 possible results cannot be derived from the industry and 

 natural ability of our farmers unless thev are properly 

 instructed in the scientific aspects of their worli." 

 When the University was founded, the Privy Council 

 stipulated that a building fund of ioo,oooL should be 

 formed, and this amount has now been raised. The new 

 buildings include a number of independent blocks, 

 namely : — (i) extension of main buildings, providing 

 accommodation for arts subjects, zoology, and botany, 

 including new botanical and zoological laboratories ; 

 (2) extension of present engineering laboratory in a separate 

 large wing at the rear of the main building ; (3) large new 

 block of buildings for electrical engineering; (4) large new 

 block of buildings for mining, fuel, and metallurgy ; 

 (5) large temporary building for physical laboratory and 

 organic chemistry laboratory. Increased support from the 

 Treasury is needed if the work provided for in these new 

 buildings is to be carried on efKciently. We hope to give 

 an account of the new buildings in our next issue. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Entomological Society. June :-. — Mr. H. Rowland-Brown, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Exhibits. — H. St. J. Donis- 

 thorpe : Pseudogynes of Formica saiiguinea, caused bv 

 ihe presence of the beetle Lomcchiisa strnmosa in the 

 nest, from the New Forest. — H. J. Turner : Living larv^ 

 of Colcophora inaritimclla on artcmisia, and also a 

 species of Asilida? and its prey. — C. J. Gahan : (i) Living 

 specimens of a " leaf-insect " from the Seychelles, bred 

 in England by Mr. St. Ouentin, probably P'uhhriphvUium 

 criirifoiium. S. ; (2) some Lampyridse of considerable 

 interest collected by Mr. E. E. Green in Ceylon, and in- 

 cluding both sexes of the genera Lamprigera and 

 Dioptoma, the females of which had hitherto been un- 

 known, those of both genera being larviform. Attention 

 was directed also to the existence in China, Ceylon, and the 

 Malay Peninsula of remarkable larviform females greatly 

 resembling in form the females of the American group 

 Phengodini, and being somewhat similarly provided with 

 rows of luminous points. — G. C. Champion : Specimens 



NO. 20ig, VOL. 78! 



has the constitution HO. 



/- 



'\ 



CO.CH3. — .\ new synthesis 



of apocynin : H. Finnemore. The author has synthesised 

 this substance from vanillin by an application of the 

 Grignard process. — The constitution of diazonium per- 

 bromides : F. D. Chattaway. — Cholestenone : C. Doree 

 and J. -A. Gardner. Cholestenone produced by the oxida- 

 tion of cholesterol reacts with ozone, giving an ozonide 

 which probably has the formula C,;H,,0.O,. This, when 

 decomposed by water, gives carbon dioxide and a keto- 

 monocarboxylic acid, Cj^Hj^Oj, identical with that obtained 

 bv Windaus. Cholesterol on similar treatment gives an 

 ozonide, C^H.jO.Oj, which also evolves carbon dioxide 

 on treatment with water. — Solubility of silver chloride in 

 mercuric nitrate solution : B. H. Buttle and J. T- 

 Hewitt. Morse's view that when mercuric nitrate is 

 present in large excess, chlorine occurs only as HgCl- 

 ions, is confirmed. — The relation between absorption spectra 

 and chemical constitution, part ix., the nitroso- and nitro- 



of Dromius aiigiistus, Brull6, and Cryptophagus lovendah. 

 Ganglb., recently recorded by him from Woking and the 

 New Forest respectively; also two species of the 

 Staphylinid genus Leptotyphlus and one of the Curculioniil 

 genus Alaocyha, the exhibitor mentioning that these 

 e.xtremely minute blind insects W'ere much smaller than any 

 known British representatives of the S. European groups 

 in question. — Colonel C. S>winhoe : Several boxes of 

 butterflies taken during the present year (1908) in the 

 Canary Islands, chiefly from Grand Canary and Teneriffe. 

 Colonel Swinhoe observed that, with the exception of 

 Lycaena wcbbianus, all the species met with suggest 

 a foreign origin. — Papers. — Notes on the value of 

 the genitalia of insects as guides in phylogeny : W. 

 Wesche. — Certain Nycteribiidte, with descriptions of two 

 new species from Formosa : Hugh Scott. — Further studies 

 of the Tetriginas (Orthoptera) in the Oxford University 

 Museum : Dr. J. L. Hancock. — Mimicry in tropical 

 American butterflies : J. C. Moulton. — Heredity in 

 Papilio dardanus from Natal, bred by Mr. G. F. Leigh, 

 of Durban : Prof. E. B. Poulton. — New species of 

 Hesperiid;e from Central and South .\merica : H. H. 

 Druce. 



Royal Meteorological Society, Jure 17. — Dr. H. R. 

 Mill, president, in the chair. — The Hong Kong typhoon 

 of September 18, 1906 : L. Gibbs. Judged by anemometer 

 records, the typhoon was by no means a severe one, as 

 the highest average hourly wind velocity was seventy miles. 

 — .\n elementary explanation of correlation, illustrated by 

 rainfall and depth of water in a well : R. H. Hooker. 



Chemical Society, June 18. — Sir W. Ram.«ay, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The thermal decomposi- 

 tion of hydrocarbons, part i., methane, ethane, ethylene, 

 and acetylene : W. A. Bone and H. V. Coward. The 

 results of a systematic investigation of the modes of de- 

 composition of the four hydrocarbons at temperatures 

 between 500° and 1200" were described, and it was shown 

 that methane, which is by far the most stable of the four 

 hydrocarbons, and a principal product of the decomposi- 

 tion of the other three, decomposes for the main part 

 directly into carbon and hydrogen. The methane formed 

 during the decomposition of the other three hydrocarbons 

 can be explained on the supposition that " residues " such 

 as ;CH and :CH, are directly " hydrogeni.sed " in an 

 atmosphere rich in hydrogen. — The rusting of iron : W. A. 

 Tilden. It was shown that (i) oxygen or air with liquid 

 water are alone necessary to produce rusting of iron ; 

 (2) that water alone attacks iron slowly, producing a film 

 of what is probably ferrous hydroxide ; (3) that iron rust 

 always contains ferrous oxide ; and (4) that rusting is due 

 in the first instance to electrolytic action, promoted in all 

 ordinary cases bv the existence of carbonic acid in water 

 exposed to the air, and by the presence in iron of various 

 compounds of carbon, silicon, phosphorus, and sulphur. — 

 Studies on zirconium: E. Wedekind and S. J. Lewis. 

 — The constituents of Canadian hemp, part i., apocynin : 

 H. Finnemore. The principal constituent of the root of 

 .\pocynum canuabinum is identical with the crystalline 

 apocynin of commerce, which is identical with the 

 acetovanillone obtained by Tiemann from I'soeugenol, and 



m'. O 



