472 



.VA TURE 



[September io, 1908 



therein 521. The Board defines a technical institution as 

 one giving an organised course of instruction in day 

 classes, including advanced instruction in science or in 

 science and art, and provided with a staff and equipment 

 adequate for the purpose. The number of students who 

 attended these institutions at any time during the year 

 was 2655 (including 325 girls and women), and 1446 of 

 these attended a full course of instruction. Of the 2330 

 boys and men attending, 542 were under seventeen years 

 of age, and 469 were twenty-one years of age or more. 

 The number of evening schools and classes in England 

 recognised by the Board for the education of persons 

 already engaged in some occupation which takes up the 

 greater part of their time was 5368 in 1906-7. These 

 classes varied very widely in character and scope ; 29,946 

 teachers were employed in them, and 687,681 students 

 attended during the year, and the Board paid grants on 

 account of 515,897. There were in the same year 676 

 secondary schools in England recognised by the Board 

 as eligible for grants as compared with 600 in the previous 

 year. These schools accommodated 62,712 boys and 

 50,877 girls, the numbers in the preceding year being 

 respectively 60,353 ^"'^ 44,68: . 



The regulations which deal with the position of agrigi 

 in the Paris faculty of medicine and the joint faculty of 

 medicine and pharmacy have, according to the Paris corre- 

 spondent of the Lancet, recently been modified by the 

 Minister of Public Instruction. The new regulations will 

 not, however, come into force until the commencement 

 of the scholastic year 1909-10. The qualifying examination 

 consists of three sections : — (i) anatomy, physiology, 

 physics, chemistry, and natural science ; (2) medicine ; and 

 (3) surgery and obstetrics. In the first and third sections 

 special branches may be taken according to the particular 

 branch to which the candidate has devoted himself. The 

 course of the examination is as follows : — (i) a written 

 essay in anatomy, physiology, and histology ; (2) a -viva 

 voce examination, lasting three-quarters of an hour, in 

 general pathology ; (3) a clinical examination ; and (4) an 

 examination in practical pathological anatomy. Once a 

 candidate has been declared qualified he maintains his 

 position for life, and all candidates who were qualified in 

 examinations held previously to November, 1907, are dis- 

 pensed from the above-mentioned examinations. For 

 admission as agrige the following tests have to be 

 passed : — (i) The candidate must hand in his testamurs 

 and other documents (titrcs). (2) He must give a lecture 

 of one hour's duration without an assistant or notes. Four 

 hours are allowed for the preparation of this lecture. 

 (3) Practical work. 



Prof. John W. Gilmore, of the Pennsylvania State 

 College, has been chosen president of the College of Agri- 

 culture and Mechanic Arts of Hawaii, situated at 

 Honolulu, which was opened on Friday last. 



The report for 1908 of the president of Yale University 

 states that plans for the immediate future at the University 

 involve the development of courses in regional geography 

 until there are instructors who are authorities on the 

 geography of each of the continents. This will eventually 

 necessitate the erection of a separate department of geo- 

 graphy, which will not only offer courses, but will also 

 conduct explorations in the less known parts of the world, 

 particularly those parts where the character of the physical 

 features has been a prominent factor in the life of a race, 

 such expeditions being in charge of ofiicers of the depart- 

 ment, and including advanced students. 



Mr. a. H. M.acKexzie, of the University of Aberdeen, 

 has been appointed professor of science and manual train- 

 ing at the Allahabad Training College for Secondary 

 Teachers. 



An exhibition of the work of teachers and pupils of 

 Indian schools of general education is to be held in 

 Mysore on October 6-12 next. Five classes of e.xhibits 

 are to be arranged for, namely, infant and primary 

 schools ; secondary schools for boys ; secondary schools for 

 girls ; collections of objects suitable for school museums ; 

 and records of teachers' work. A number of English 

 exhibits are to be sent by the English Board of Education 

 and the Director of Public Instruction, Madras. 



NO. 2028, VOL. 78] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 31. — M. Bouchard in the 

 chair. — Concerning Trypanosoma congolensc : A. Laveran. 

 Details are given of experiments on goats. In one case 

 the animal acquired complete immunity against T. congo- 

 Icnse, but this immunity did not e.xtend to infection by 

 T. dimorphon. In the second case, immunity against 

 T. congolense was also attained, and experimental in- 

 oculations with T. dimorphon are in progress. — Pfaff's 

 problem : A. J. Stodolkievicz. — Periodic functions ; P. 

 Cousin. — The temperature of dissociation of ammonia 

 and carbon monoxide : Herman C. Woltereck. Ammonia, 

 carefully purified from moisture and traces of organic 

 matter, was passed through a Jena glass tube, the tempera- 

 ture of which was controlled by a Le Chatelier pyrometer. 

 The first traces of dissociation were observed at 620° C. ; 

 the lower temperatures noted by other investigators are 

 probably due to the presence of traces of impurity. 

 Carbon monoxide commences to dissociate between 

 570° C. and 580° C. — The white disease of the oak and 

 Erysiphe querctis : M. Boudier. — The action of human ■ 

 serum on Trypanosoma pecaudi. The differentiation of 

 T. pecaudi and T. gambiense : A. Thiroux and L. 

 d'Anfreville. From experiments on apes it is concluded 

 that human serum exerts a preventive and curative effect 

 as regards infection with T. pecaudi, and this effect falls 

 off \-cry slowly. 



New Sooth Wales. 



Royal Societv. lune 3. — M'. W. M. Hamlet, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The viscosity of water : Richard 

 Hosking, — Note on a cupriferous porphyrite and quartz 

 veins in the Nelligen district : Dr. H. I. Jensen. The 

 author briefly describes a curious basalt formation between 

 Nelligen and Braidwood which contains inclusions of schist, 

 limestone, reef quartz, and quartz porphyry, and in addi- 

 tion small bunches of native copper and copper ores. 

 Unlike the Bumbo basalts, this basaltic rock contains no 

 copper at all except in the vicinity of the other inclusions. 

 It is inferred that the copper, in common with the other 

 xenoliths, has been torn out of a mineral vein along 

 which the magma found egress to the surface. " A number 

 of quartz veins which cut out in both directions, or In 

 depth, occurring in the same district, are attributed to 

 pneumatolytic processes in the period in which the ancient 

 palasozoic rocks underwent metamorphosis. 



CONTENTS. PAGF 



New Edition of Strasburger's Botany. By L. B. S. 441 



Forest Entomology. By Fred. V. Theobald . . 441 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Hilton : " An Introduction to the Theory of Groups 



of F'inile Order." — G. B. M 442 



Alexander; " A Short History of Philosophy " . . . 443 

 Letter to the Editor: — 



The Size of the Mammoth. — F. A. Lucas .... 443 

 Surveying for Archaeologists. II. [Illustrated.) 



By Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S 444 



International Congress on Tuberculosis at 



Washington 445 



The late M. Mas'art 446 



The late Earl of Rosse 448 



The Dublin Meeting of the British Association. 



By E. E. Fournier 449 



Section B. — Chemistry. — Opening Address by Prof. 

 F. S. Kipping, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.R.S., 



President of the Section 450 



Section C— Geology. (/////jV/ato/.)— Opening Address 

 by Prof. John Joly, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S., 



President of the Section 456 



Notes. Wlli'stialed.) 466 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Discovery of a Comet, igoSc 470 



Large Sun-spols 470 



Recent Meteors 470 



D3 (Helium) Absorption in the Solar Spectrum . . . 470 



The Spectrum of the Nebula HV 15 Cygni 471 



The Paris Observatory 471 



Institution of Mining Engineers 471 



University and Educational Intelligence 471 



Societies and Academies 472 



