January 10, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



57 



Education, Sir J. Winthrop Hackett. The 

 general secretary for the meeting is Dr. T. S. 

 Hall. 



Professor Walter N. Lacy, of the Anglo- 

 Chinese College at roochow, China, writes to 

 Professor J. C. Branner, of Stanford Univer- 

 sity, the following in regard to the work of 

 ants and termites in China. The paper re- 

 ferred to is published in the Bulletin of the 

 Geological Society of America, Vol. 21, 449- 

 496. 



I have read with much pleasure your paper on 

 the geologic work of ants in tropical America, for 

 which I have to thank you. One or two items 

 from this part of the world, regarding the termites 

 or white ants may be of interest to you, although 

 Foochow is in lat. 26° 58' N. — not quite within the 

 tropics. 



On pages 478 and 479 you refer to the common 

 ants being enemies of the white ants, and the two 

 not thriving together. A friend of mine in the 

 northwest part of this province has tried success- 

 fully placing black ants' nests under the house 

 which was occasionally attacked by the white ants, 

 and found that they were completely rid of the 

 latter, without being in any way inconvenienced 

 by the common ants. 



On page 491 you say: "I am not aware that 

 they (the white ants) ever attack living trees." 

 It is not at all uncommon in these parts to find 

 their mason-work passage-ways built up the trunks 

 of growing trees. A few years ago an olive tree 

 near our house was blown over in a typhoon, and 

 it was discovered that the entire tree had been 

 riddled by the white ants; although the tree trunk 

 was from 18 to 24 inches in diameter, little had 

 been left but the outer shell and bark of the tree 

 and the leaves on the branches. For the white 

 ants to do away with trees in this way is not rare, 

 but, as you suggest, their work is not done in a 

 night, but through a considerable period of time, 

 without doubt. 



UNIVEBSITT AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 Grinnell College received on December 24 

 a Christmas gift of $50,000. The money was 

 made immediately available, to be used for 

 any purpose, the donor stipulating but one 

 condition, namely, that his name should never 

 be made public. 



Mrs. John Hall has given £500 to Sheffield 

 University in memory of her husband. The 

 income will provide each year a gold medal to 

 be awarded to the student who does best in the 

 subject of pathology at the examination for 

 the degree. 



The university court of Edinburgh Univer- 

 sity has given a grant to Professor Whittaker 

 for the equipment of a mathematical labora- 

 tory for the practical training of mathema- 

 ticians and for a research institution. This 

 will, it is said, be the first laboratory of its 

 kind in a British university. 



The general council of the University of 

 Edinburgh has taken action to bring before 

 members of parliament and others interested 

 in higher education the serious danger with 

 which the universities of Scotland are threat- 

 ened by the recent interference of the treasury 

 with their freedom of internal administration. 



CERTAra citizens of Oberlin recently asked 

 that the part of the endowment fiinds of 

 Oberlin College invested in stocks and bonds 

 should be listed for taxation. The decision ot 

 the auditor of Lorain County has now been 

 rendered in favor of the college, to the effect 

 that according to the laws of the state of Ohio 

 the college endovnnent funds can not be taxed. 



At Harvard University, Dr. Harvey Gush- 

 ing has been appointed professor of surgery, 

 and Dr. George Gray Sears, clinical professor 

 of medicine. Professor Ralph B. Perry has 

 been promoted to a professorship of philos- 

 ophy. 



W. S. Hunter, Ph.D. (Chicago), has been 

 appointed instructor in psychology in the 

 University of Texas. E. A. C. Perrin, Ph.D. 

 (Chicago), has been appointed instructor in 

 psychology in the University of Pittsburgh. 



Mr. Charles Fuller Baker, known for 

 work in various fields of natural science, has 

 entered the faculty of the College of Agricul- 

 ture of the University of the Philippines as 

 professor of agronomy. In the same coUege, 

 Mr. A. G. Glodt, formerly of the engineer 

 corps of the Erench army and a member of the 

 Marchand relief expedition across Africa, is 



