May 28, 1896] 



NATURE 



91 



on the development of Echinoderm larvie, (2) the relation of the 

 respiratory exchange of cokl-bloudej animals to temperature, 

 (3) the respiratory exchange of the lnwer marine invertebrates. 



CAMIiRinGE. — The Reade Lecture will be given on Wednes- 

 day, June 10, in the Anatomy Theatre, by Prof. J. J. Thomson. 

 The subject for this year is " Rontgon Rays." 



Prof. Lewis announces a course uf lectures and demonstra- 

 tions in Crystallography, to be given daily during the Long 

 Vacation, beginning on July 8. 



A new syndicate, to take the place of that rejected by the 

 Senate last term, has been nominated to consider the question of 

 degrees for women. It consists of the N'ice-Chancellor, Dr. C. 

 Taylor, Mr. W. Chawner, Dr. V. Stanton, Dr. F. W. Maitland, 

 Dr. L. E. Shore, Dr. M. James, Prof. Robinson, Mr. J. W. 

 Cartmell, Mr. R. D. Roberts, Mr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S., Mr. 

 A. \V. W. Dale, Mr. A. N. Whitehead, and Mr. A. Berry. 

 This list includes only three members of the Council, and is said 

 to be younger and less partisan than the rejected syndicate. 



Meanwhile Dr. Hobson, F. R. S. of Christ's College, has 

 issued a fly-sheet proposing that, as the balance of opinion in 

 the Senate is against the admission of women to full member- 

 ship, it might suflice to confer on them the "title" of B.A. by 

 diploma. The title, he thinks, should be open to women who 

 have studied at recognised colleges other than Newnham and 

 Girton, provided they pass one of the Tripos examinations. It 

 remains to be seen what reception will be given by Newnham 

 and (Jirton to this proposal for an encroachment on their 

 monopoly. 



The Statute authorising the University to make provision for 

 Advanced Students has received the approval of the Queen in 

 Council. A guide to the courses of advanced study and research 

 at present arranged for, has been |)repared by Dr. Donald 

 MacAlLster, Tutor of St. John's College, and will be issued in 

 June by the University Press. 



A STRENUOUS and persistent eftbrt to endow Barnard College 

 (for women) has just been successfully made. The college some 

 months ago purchased a site adjoining the new site of Columbia 

 University, paying 160,000 dols. , of which sum 100,000 dols. 

 remained on mortgage. An unknou n lienefactor offered to pay 

 the amount of this mortgage, provided others would contribute 

 an equal amount by >Iay 10. It is now known that this 

 benefactor is Mrs. Van Wyck Brinkerhoff. Another unknown 

 donor, who turns out to be Mr. John D. Rockefeller, offered 

 25,000 dols. ; others contributed smaller amounts, but on the 

 morning of Saturday, May 9, there was still a deficit of 

 23,000, dols. By strenuous efforts, however, this was secured 

 during the day. Among the contributors were Mr. Seth Low, 

 Mrs. F. E. Hockley, and an anonymous friend, who each paid 

 10,000 dols., and Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, who paid 8000 dols. 



We notice that at the last t)ieeting of the Oxfordshire County 

 Council, held at Oxford on the 12th inst. , a proposition was 

 made to devote the sum of ^2000 out of a total of ^4080, arising 

 from the Cu.stoms and Excise Duties, to the relief of the rates ; 

 but it was defeated by a large majority. At a meeting of the 

 East Sussex County Council, held on the same day, a resolution 

 was carried that the whole of the funds available for the 

 purposes of technical education be in future devoted to this 

 object, instead of £yxya as heretofore. A similar motion was 

 proposed at the meeting of the County Council for the North 

 Riding of Yorkshire, held on the 6lh inst. at Northallerton, and 

 gave rise to a considerable amount of discussion, during which 

 one councillor, a prominent member of Parliament, described 

 the Technical Instruction Committee as the "horse-leech of 

 the Council." Eventually an amendment, " that the County 

 Council devote £,(xx>o of the Local Taxation (Customs and 

 Excise) grant for 1896-7 to technical education," was carried 

 unanimously. By referring we find that during the financial year 

 1893-4 the total amount available was ^6928. 



The last number of the London Ticltnical Education Gazette 

 gives some very interesting information concerning the number 

 of scholarships and exhibitions which have been awarded by the 

 Technical Education Board of the London County Council. 

 The total number of the Board's scholars and exhibitioners is 

 1752, of whom 1154 are junior, 118 are intermediate, and 10 

 senior county scholars. The reports, which the Board receives 

 at regular intervals, show that in the majority of cases the 

 conduct and progress of the scholars are satisfactory. Some 

 scholars have done remarkably well, especially in the case of 



NO. 1387, VOL. 54] 



the mtermediate and senior students. In the case of a few of 

 the junior scholars it has been found necessary to give a caution 

 and to renew their scholarships for a short time on probation. 

 This has in most cases been quite enough, though one or two 

 scholarships have had to be taken away entirely. The scholar- 

 ship winners are left free to choose any school that appears 

 on the Board's published list. The result is, that at present 

 913 junior county scholars are in attendance at secondary schools, 

 and 241 at upper standard public elementary schools. The 

 secondary schools most commonly chosen are Roan School, 

 Owen's School, Alleyn's School, and Aske's School, Hatcham, 

 at all of which there are over fifty scholars and exhibitioners. 

 The intermediate county scholars are now attending all the 

 principal secondary schools of London, and some are in attend- 

 ance at institutions of university rank, after having been for a 

 year at a secondary school. The senior county scholars have 

 joined some of the principal universities of the country, two 

 being at Cambridge, at Clare and Sidney Sussex Colleges, and 

 two at Newcastle in connection with the University of Durham. 

 The report of the Technical Instruction Committee, which 

 was presented to the May meeting of the West Riding Council, 

 supplies abundant evidence of the good work which has been 

 done during the session which is being completed. As would be 

 expected, a very important place is occupied by the Committee's 

 consideration of the Education Bill, an excellent summary of 

 which forms the opening part of the report. The conclusions to 

 which the Cqmmittee have come are that it would be un- 

 desirable for the duties connected with the administration of 

 elementary education to be placed upon County Councils and 

 for any expenditure in reference to such instruction to be thrown 

 upon the County rates. The proposals with reference to secondary 

 education are very favourably regarded, but it is pointed out 

 that already the expenditure exceeds the income provided 

 under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, and 

 must necessarily increase ; and hence, if the County Council is 

 to utilise the extended powers and carry out the duties to be 

 conferred by the Bill, it is essential that adequate moneys be 

 provided by Parliament. They further recommend that the 

 Education Department should not be endowed with additional 

 powers of control over the County Council in respect of the 

 expenditure of funds provided imder the above-mentioned Act, 

 or out of the County rate for purposes of secondary education. 

 We would call especial attention to certain supplementary 

 regulations which have been adopted by the Committee as to 

 the award and tenure of technical exhibitions. In future the 

 Committee will, in considering recommendations for exhibilions, 

 have regard to the preparatory work already done by the 

 student, and as a rule no technical exhibition will be awarded 

 unless evidence can be given by the candidate that he possesses 

 a satisfactory knowledge of the principles of those sciences on 

 which such technological subject is based ; for instance, an 

 exhibition in electric lighting and power distribution would in 

 no instance be awarded to a student possessing an inadequate 

 knowledge of applied mechanics and electricity and magnetism. 

 No exhibition will usually be granted for a study of a techno- 

 logical subject to an applicant under eighteen years of age. 

 These are but examples of a number of really wise provisions. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Science, May. — Carbon and oxygen in 

 the sun, by J. Trowbridge. The peculiar bands of the arc 

 spectrum of carbon can be delected in the sun's spectrum. They 

 are, however, almost obliterated by the overlying absorption 

 lines of other metals, especially by the lines due to iron. In 

 order to form an idea of the amount of iron in the atmosphere of 

 the sun which would be necessary to c^bliterate the banded 

 spectra of carbon, the author compared the spectrum of carbon 

 with that of carbon dust and a definite proportion of iron dis- 

 tributed uniformly through it. The carbon dust and iron reduced 

 by hydrogen was formed into pencils suitable for forming the 

 voltaic arc, and containing 28 per cent, of iron to 72 per cent, 

 of carbon. Photographs were taken of the portion of the solar 

 spectrum which contains traces of the peculiar carbon band lying 

 at wave-length 3S837. The pure carbon-banded spectrum was 

 photographed on the same plate immediately below the solar 

 spectrum, and the spectrum of the mixed iron and carbon imme- 

 diately below this. It was found that the iron present almost 

 completely obliterated the carbon, and this fact tells in favdurof 



