45° 



NA TURE 



[October 7, 1909 



sea Polyteth.nic takes a prominent place. The calendar 

 for the sosion which has just commenced shows that for 

 this winter entirely new classes have been started in 

 engineering estimates, electrochemistry, chemical engineer- 

 ing, dyeing and cleaning, analysis of foods and drugs, and 

 sanitation. In addition to this, it is of interest to notice 

 that new accommodation, in the form of laboratories, 

 workshops, and equipment, is being provided in mechanical, 

 electrical, and motor engineering, chemistry, natural 

 science, art, and domestic economy, these extensions having 

 been rendered possible by the assistance of the London 

 County Council, and it is expected that they will be to 

 some extent ready for use during the current session. 



The following free courses of advanced science lectures are 

 announced by the University of London : — the geographical 

 distribution of plants, by Prof. Percy Groom and Mr. 

 A. W. Hill ; evolutionary aspects of palaeobotany, by Mr. 

 E. A. N. Arber ; fertilisation, by Prof. J. B. Farmer, 

 F.R.S. ; the anatomy of plants in relation to external 

 conditions, bv Mr. L. A. Boodle; geology and evolution, 

 by Prof. J.'W. Judd, C.B., F.R.S. ; the geology and 

 physiography of Arctic Europe, by Prof. E. J. Garwood; 

 a course by Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. ; dynamical 

 meteorology, with special reference to the forecasting of 

 weather, by Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. ; recent researches 

 on chloroform anaesthesia, by Prof. G. A. Buckmaster and 

 Mr. J. A. Gardner; a course by Mr. W. B. Hardy, F.R.S. ; 

 the physiology of the peripheral nerves, by E)r. N. H. 

 Alcock ; protozoan parasites, with special reference to those 

 of man, by Prof. E. A. Minchin ; the distribution of the 

 Oligochsta, by Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S. ; the phylogeny 

 of calcareous sponges, by Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S. ; 

 symbiosis, by Dr. F. W. Keeble ; the Marsipobranchii, bv 

 Mr. F. G. Cole ; Amphioxus, by Prof. E. W. MacBride', 

 F.R.S. ; the morphology of swim bladders, by Dr. 

 W. N. F. Woodland. 



Th? ^wo universities created by the Irish Universities 

 Act of 1908 came into existence on October i. The Times 

 Dublin correspondent last Friday described the state of 

 preparation of the new universities. The commissions 

 appointed under the Act to draft statutes and lay the 

 foundation for the two new universities were given a period 

 of two years for their work. They have sat often and 

 worked hard, with the result that they are now well in 

 advance of schedule time. The National University 

 consists of a Senate and officers with large powers, but 

 with no buildings of its own. The University has its 

 concrete embodiment in the new University Colleges, 

 formerly Queen's Colleges, at Cork and Galway. Uni- 

 versity College, Dublin, is so far only concrete in the 

 sense that its governing body has been called into exist- 

 ence.^ At the present time it has no teaching and no college 

 buildings. The commissioners will meet shortly to appoint 

 a teaching staff, and the college will open early next 

 rnonth. .^s regards staffs, the Dublin College is differently 

 situated from those at Cork and Galway, where teaching 

 staffs exist in the staffs of the old Queen's Colleges, which 

 are to be taken over in accordance with the provisions of 

 the .Act. Only a very few chairs remain to be filled. In 

 University College, Dublin, it is taken for granted that 

 most of the old staff will be translated to corresponding 

 chairs in the new college. In this case, however, the 

 conimissioners will have also to fill a number of new 

 chairs. Nothing has yet been done in connection with the 

 buildings of the new college in Dublin, though various 

 sites have been suggested. Meanwhile, the college will 

 probably begin its work in the Royal University buildings, 

 and will solve the immediate problem of class-rooms by 

 renting the Roman Catholic University College and the 

 buildings of the Roman Catholic Medical School. The 

 cases of Queen's University, Belfast, and of the University 

 Colleges at Cork and Galw.iy present no difficulties'. 

 These institutions will have teaching staffs within a couple 

 of weeks, and all their buildings and class-rooms are in 

 going order. It may be taken for granted that by the 

 middle of November, at latest, the work of the two new 

 In'sh universities in all its departments will have been 

 organised and practically initiated. 



NO. 2084, VOL. 81] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, September 27. — M. Bouchard in the 

 chair. — The existence of intrusive Pliocene rocks in the - 

 volcanic tnussif of Cantal : A. Lacroix. — Aniline antimonyl ' 



tartrate in the treatment of trypanosomiasis : A. Laveran. 

 Experiments on experimentally infected guinea-pigs having 

 given favourable results on treatment with this drug, M. 

 Thiroux has tried it in Senegal on natives suffering with 

 sleeping sickness. The immediate results were very satis- 

 factory, the intra-venous injection of 15 centigrams causing 

 the disappearance of the trypanosomes from the blood of 

 an adult man. The action is more rapid than when atoxyl 

 is used, two patients who had commenced to sleep recover- 

 ing after the injection of 15 centigrams. It has still to be 

 proved that the cure is permanent. — The Brownian move- 

 ment of rotation : Jean Perrin. Einstein has deduced a 

 formula for the rotation of a spherical particle in a fiuid 

 of a given viscosity. The author has succeeded in measur- 

 ing the velocity of rotation experimentally, the result being 

 in complete agreement with Einstein's theory. It appears , 

 probable that the molecular kinetic hypothesis affords a 

 safe basis in the study of Brownian motion. — The electro- 

 diapason : A. Guillet. — Thermochemistry of some phos- 

 phorus compounds : P. Lemoult. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Two Bird Books. By F 421 



A Group of " Floras." By T. J 422 



Geology of New York City. By G. W. L 423 



The Laws of Inheritance. By Dr. H. M. Vernon. . 424 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Burrard and Hayden : "A Sketch of the Geography 

 and Geology of the Himalaya Mountains and 



Tibet." ... 424 



Drummond : " Elementary Physiology for Teachers 



and Others."— W. D. H. 425 



McCabe : " Evolution : A General Sketch from 



Nebula to Man." 425 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Magnetic Storms and Solar Eruptions. — Sir Oliver 



Lodge, F.R.S 425 



The Magnetic Storm. (Illustrated.)— 'Re\. Walter 



Sidgreaves 426 



The Meeting of the International Geodetic Associa- 

 tion in London and Cambridge 426 



The Administration of Agricultural Education , . . 428 



Science Teaching in German Schools. By M. D. H. 429 

 Anton Dohrn. By Sir E. Ray Lankester, K.C.B., 



F.R.S 429 



Notes 431 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Observations of Mars 436 



The Recent Magnetic Storm and Aurora ..... 436' 



Elements and Ephemeris for Halley's Comet (igogf) . 436 



Double-star Observations 436 



A Newly discovered Nebula Cluster in Cetus .... 436 



Observations of Variable Stars 436 



Terrestrial Refraction in Egypt 436 



The Iron and Steel Institute 437 



The Opening of the London Medical Session . . . 438 



Forthcoming Books of Science 438 



The British Association at Winnipeg : — 



Section L. • — Educational Science — Opening Address 

 by the Rev. H. B. Gray, D.D., Warden of 

 Bradfield College, Berkshire, President of the 



Section 442 



Geology at the British Association 446 



Engineering at the British Association 447 



University and Educational Intelligence 449 



Societies and Academies 450 



