August 9, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



171 



VNIVEBSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



The sum of £3,000 has been left to the Fni- 

 Tersity of Belfast by Mrs. F. Magrath for the 

 foundation of a " Magrath clinical scholar- 

 ship," to be given for proficiency in reports of 

 bedside cases open to fourth-year medical 

 students. 



At an extraordinary meeting of the senate 

 of the University of London, held on July 17, 

 resolutions were adopted, as we learn from 

 Nature, approving of the Foundling Hospital 

 site in Bloomsbury for the proposed new head- 

 quarters for the university, in accordance with 

 the recommendations contained in a report of 

 the Special Sites Committee, over which Sir 

 Philip Magnus, M.P., presides. Eepresenta- 

 tions are to be made to the government with 

 the view of obtaining support for the scheme, 

 and the Drapers' Company are to be asked 

 whether they consider the site siiitable for the 

 proposed Senate House which they have 

 offered to provide at an estimated cost of 

 £60,000. Lord Haldane is also to be asked to 

 use his influence so that offers of financial 

 support already made to him may be available 

 for the Foundling Hospital site. A motion 

 to refer back the report for further considera- 

 tion was negatived by a small majority. 



Mr. H. G. Hartmann, Ph.D., of Columbia 

 University, has been appointed instructor in 

 philosophy at the University of Cincinnati. 



George Weatheeworth Stratton, B.A. 

 (Colorado), Ph.D. (Ohio State, '12), has been 

 appointed assistant professor in the depart- 

 ment of chemistry of the University of Kan- 

 sas. 



Dr. Otto Porsch has been promoted to be 

 associate professor of botany and director of 

 the botanical garden of the University of 

 Czemowitz. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 



zoological nomenclature 

 Many zoologists have long been exasperated 

 by the changes of familiar names which re- 

 sult from a blind and inflexible following of 

 the law of priority. The conditions, in fact, 



are so bad that it is a frequent remark that 

 the only fixed names are the common ones. 

 At the Graz Zoological Congress there was an 

 attempt to have the rules modified and to 

 introduce a little equity and common sense 

 into the nomenclatorial laws, but, although 

 the movement was backed by a majority of 

 those present, it was burked in the nomen- 

 clatorial commission. 



Recently a number of Austrians (among 

 them the well-known names of Hatschek, 

 Steindacher, Grobben, Sturany, Graf At- 

 tems, Przibram, etc.) have formulated three 

 proposed modifications of the laws and rules 

 to which they wish all who favor them to. 

 subscribe. In the same line is the recent 

 action of the German Zoological Society, 

 which at the Halle meeting adopted three 

 articles which are to be presented at the next 

 (Monaco) meeting of the Zoological Congress 

 to be held in March, 1913. The circulars of 

 both organizations are summarized here. 

 The undersigned will supply copies of the 

 original circulars to all asking for them as 

 long as the supply lasts. 



The first section of the Austrian circular 

 modifies article 25 of the International Code 

 and provides that no work which is not bi- 

 nomial in character shall be considered in the 

 nomenclature of genera and species. The 

 second provides that when a species has once 

 been removed from a genus it shall not be 

 considered as the type of the genus in any 

 later revision. This will avoid the most 

 flagrant cause of generic changes and its 

 adoption will allow the retention of the great 

 majority of the familiar names. 



The third section is for the government of 

 the Commission on Nomenclature. It pro- 

 vides that all propositions for alterations of 

 or additions to the Rules of Nomenclature 

 which have received an absolute majority of 

 the full membership of the Commission on 

 Nomenclature (i. e., 8 votes) and of the votes 

 of those members who are present at the 

 voting on the proposition at the meeting of 

 the Congress, shall be submitted to the 

 plenum of the Congress for vote. 



