July 30, 1908] 



NA TURE 



?oq 



mental operations, as seen in the rise and progress of the 

 exact sciences. A liberal proteid input is serviceable in 

 sucn morbid conditions as tuberculosis, hysteria, neuras- 

 thenia, lie. The evil influence of parsimony in nutrition 

 has been shown by the researches into the condition o' 

 elementary-school children in large towns. 



Mr. C. Gordon Hewitt read a paper on the biology ol 

 house-flies in relation to public health before a joint meet- 

 ing of the preventive medicine and bacteriology sections. 

 After a short description of the more important characters 

 and the breeding habits of the species of flies that inhabit 

 houses, the chief of which is Musca domestica, the 

 public health aspect of the question was discussed. ll 

 had been proved that house-flies are able, if the necessary 

 conditions were present, to carry the pathogenic bacilli of 

 such infectious diseases as tubercle, cholera, anthrax, and 

 those of an enteric nature. He contended that house-flics 

 were not only able to be largely responsible for the dis- 

 semination of these diseases, but that summer diarrhoea, 

 which was the greatest cause of infantile mortality, was 

 largely due to the combined action of house-flies and un- 

 sanitary conditions. It was a striking fact that in places 

 where the water-system of sewage disposal was used, the 

 death-rate from infectious disease of an enteric nature was 

 less than that of places where the older conservancy 

 methods were employed. The study of the breeding habits 

 indicated the means of reducing the evil for which they 

 were responsible. In the discussion which followed, a 

 number of members referred to the connection between 

 flies and infantile diarrhoea. 



Dr. C. VV. Saleeby contributed a paper on racial hygiene 

 or negative eugenics. He advocated the forbidding of 

 parentage to the drunkard, the chronic inebriate, or the 

 dipsomaniac. Our studies might now be extended, he 

 thought, from the hygiene of the individual to that of the 

 race. 



The spread of tuberculosis by means of milk and meat 

 was made the subject of several interesting papers which 

 provoked considerable discussion. 



Dr. A. M. Fraser showed that of the 60,000 people who 

 ;Iie annually from tuberculosis, 11,000 are children under 

 five years of age, that is to say, among the section of the 

 community most dependent upon milk for its nourishment, 

 11,000 deaths occur from the disease. It has been demon- 

 strated that 10 per cent, of the milk sent in churns to the 

 cities of Liverpool, Manchester,, Leeds, Birmingham, and 

 Shefifield is infected with tubercle bacilli. Meat affected 

 with tubercle is systematically sold in the markets for 

 human consumption. He suggested the systematic inspec- 

 tion of farms by qualified veterinary inspectors and the 

 elimination of tubercular animals ; also, the improvement 

 of tlie conditions under which the cows lived. 



Prof. Cameron stated, in the discussion, that he believed 

 town milk was freer from tubercle bacilli than countrv 

 milk, and that the latter was contaminated before it left 

 the country. 



Mr. Thomas Ryan read a paper before the engineering 

 and architectural section on radio-activitv in water from 

 hot springs. .As Strutt has found that the residue deposited 

 in the Buxton and Bath hot spring waters, he was of 

 the opinion that the Buxton water contained radium 

 emanations, which view, he said, was supported by the 

 fact that a large amount of nitrogen was present in the 

 water. He urged further research on the subject. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Prof. W. J. Pope, F.R.S., professor of 

 chemistry and head of the chemistry department in the 

 Municipal School of Technology, Manchester, has been 

 elected to succeed Prof. G. D. Liveing, F.R.S., in the 

 chair of chemistry. 



London. — .^t the meeting of the Senate on July 22, Dr. 

 H. A. Miers, F.R.S., was appointed principal of the Uni- 

 versity in succession to Sir .Arthur Riicker, F.R.S., who 

 retires on September 30. Dr. Miers Is at present Wayn- 

 flete professor of mineralogy at Oxford, and fellow of 

 Magdalen College. He has had a good deal of adminis- 



trative experience at Oxford, being a member of the 

 fltbdomadal Council, a delegate of the University Press, 

 a delegate for the inspection and examination of schools, 

 and secretary to the delegates of the museum. He served 

 on the council of the Royal Society, 1901-3, and is at 

 present president of the Mineralogical Society and of the 

 I'ublic Schools Science Masters' Association. He was 

 educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, and after 

 graduating served as assistant in the British Museum 

 (1882-95), a"d 3S instructor in crystallography at the 

 Central Technical College (1886-95). He was appointed 

 professor of mineralogy at Oxford in 1895, and is now 

 tifty years of age. 



Important modifications have been made in the regula- 

 tions in medicine for internal and external students. After 

 January, 1909, there will be three examinations for medical 

 degrees (M.B., B.S.)— the first, second, and third. The 

 first examination (replacing the preliminary scientific 

 examination, part i.) will still consist of chemistry, physics, 

 and general biology, but new syllabuses, of a more pro- 

 fessional character, have been approved. The second 

 examination will be in two parts, part i., organic and 

 applied chemistry, and part ii., anatomy, physiology, and 

 pharmacology, including pharmacy and materia medlca. 

 The third examination for medical degrees is similar to 

 the present final examination, which it replaces. The whole 

 course, both for internal and for external students, will 

 extend over at least five and a half years, of which at 

 least three must be devoted to the final subjects. .After 

 July, 1909, the scholarships at present offered for anatomy, 

 physiology, and pharmacology will be withdrawn. 



The Imperial College of Science and Technology has 

 been admitted as a school of the University in the faculties 

 of science and engineering. 



The Royal Army Medical College, Millbank, has been 

 admitted as a school of the University In the faculty of 

 medicine for officers of the Royal .Army .Medical Corps. 



The following degrees have been granted : — D.Sc. in 

 physiology to Miss Winifred CuUis, an internal student 

 of the London School of Medicine for Women; D.Sc. in 

 physics to Mr. S. W. J. Smith, an internal student of the 

 Royal College of Science; D.Sc. in zoology to Mr. 

 W.' N. F. W'oodland, an internal student of University 

 and King's Colleges; D.Sc. in zoology to Mr. R. E. Lloyd,: 

 an external student of University College, Marine Survey. 

 India, and Indian Museum; D.Sc. in geology to Mr. T. P. 

 Sibly, an external student of Birmingham University :• 

 B.Sc. by research in chemistry to Mr. Jacob Fox, East 

 London College. 



NO. 2022. VOL. 



-01 



Dr. N.ansen' has been elected professor of oceanography 

 at the University of Christiania. 



The Society of Merchant \"enturers has decided to peti- 

 tion His Majesty in Council in favour of the grant of a 

 charter for the ' establishment of a University of Bristol 

 on the lines of the draft charter prepared by the local 

 university college, but suggesting certain modifications, 

 which will define more precisely the position in the Uni- 

 versity to be occupied by the university classes of the 

 Merchant Venturers' Technical College. Among the most 

 important are those which provide that Bristol students 

 whose means are small shall still be able to obtain a 

 university education at fees as low as those charged by 

 the Merchant Venturers' Technical College, and that the 

 degrees of the University shall be open to evening students. 



The Royal Commissioners of the Exhibition of 185 1 

 have appropriated the whole of the remaining site of their 

 estate at South Kensington for the purposes of the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology. This announcement 

 was made at a meeting of the governing body of the 

 college on July 24. The question of the provision of 

 additional buildings and laboratories on the sites granted 

 by the Commissioners was under consideration, and it was 

 decided, In the first instance, to proceed at once with the 

 provision of new mining and metallurgical buildings for 

 the Royal School of Mines, and to invite Sir Aston Webb. 

 R..A., to serve as architect to these buildings and of such 

 other buildings as the governing body may determine to 

 erect. The Hon. R. J. Strutt, F.R.S', was appointed by 



