406 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 717 



works. The general conclusion of the com- 

 missioners is as follows : " We are satisfied that 

 it is practicable to purify the sewage of towns 

 to any degree required, either by land treat- 

 ment or by artificial filters, and that there is 

 no essential difference between the two pro- 

 cesses, for in each case the purification, so far 

 as it is not mechanical, is chiefly effected by 

 means of microorganisms. The two main 

 questions, therefore, to be considered in the 

 ease of a town proposing to adopt a system 

 of sewage purifications are: First, what de- 

 gree of purification is required in the circum- 

 stances of that town and of the river or stream 

 into which its liquid refuse is to be dis- 

 charged ? Second, how the degree of purifica- 

 tion required can, in the particular case, be 

 most economically obtained? . . . We may 

 state that we know of no case where the ad- 

 mixture of trade refuse with the sewage makes 

 it impracticable to purify the sewage either 

 upon land or by means of artificial processes, 

 although in certain extreme cases special 

 processes of preliminary treatment may be 

 necessary." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



By the will of the late Mrs. Jane A. Town- 

 send, Tale University received $50,000 for 

 the endowment of a professorship of history. 



Maeymlle College at Knoxville, Tenn., 

 has received $5,000 from Mrs. William Thaw, 

 of Pittsburgh. 



A FIRE on the fourth floor of McCoy Hall 

 of the Johns Hopkins University, on the night 

 of September lY, destroyed valuable manu- 

 scripts and archeological collections and dam- 

 aged a large collection of books and pam- 

 phlets. 



There were 137 students in attendance at 

 the graduate school of agriculture, held this 

 year at Cornell University, in addition to 

 regular students of the university. In the 

 summer session of the university there were 

 841 students. 



According to a press cablegram, the chan- 



cellor of St. Petersburg University, Professor 

 Ivan Ivanovio Borgmann and the vice-chan- 

 cellor. Professor Pedor Alexandrovic Braun, 

 have resigned from the institution. The fac- 

 ulty of the university has sent a collective 

 declaration to M. Schwartz, the minister of 

 education, stating that his recent repressive 

 measures against professors and students en- 

 danger peace at the university, and declines 

 to accept the responsibility for disorders that 

 may occur. 



In stating that in 1907 there were in Europe 

 125 universities, which were visited by 228,- 

 732 students, Vice-Consul James L. A. Bur- 

 rell, of Magdeburg, sends details. Of these 

 the university of Berlin had the largest num- 

 ber of students, viz., 13,884; next came Paris 

 with 12,985, Budapest with 6,551, and Vienna 

 with 6,205. The list by country follows : 



No. of 

 Country Universities Students 



Germany 21 49,000 



France 16 32,000 



Austria-Hungary 11 30,000 



England 15 25,000 



Italy 21 24,000 



Russia 9 23,000 



Spain 9 12,000 



Switzerland 7 6,500 



Belgium 4 5,000 



Sweden 3 5,000 



Roumania 2 5,000 



Holland 5 4,000 



The smaller countries — Greece, Norway, Por- 

 tiigal, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Servia — have 

 each one university. 



Dr. William Osler, regius professor of med- 

 icine at Oxford University, has been elected 

 lord rector of Edinburgh University. 



Dr. Harey a. Garfield will be installed as 

 president of Williams College on October 7. 



Mr. Egbert Forsyth Scott^ the author of 

 works on mathematics, has been elected 

 master of St. John's College in place of the 

 late Eev. Dr. Charles Taylor. 



The trustees of the University of North 

 Carolina have made the following appoint- 

 ments: Professor Charles H. Herty to be 



