692 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 47. 



the University of California for the erection 

 of a suitable building for the departments 

 situated in San Francisco, the Colleges of 

 Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and 

 Veterinary Surgery. Adolph Sutro, Mayor 

 of San Francisco, has given a tract of thir- 

 teen acres just south of and overlooking 

 Golden Gate Park as a site for the building. 

 On the adjoining thirteen acres Mr. Sutro 

 proposes to erect a building for his magnifi- 

 cent library of about two hundred and fifty 

 thousand volumes. 



The work in Physics at the University 

 of California, formerly done by the late Prof. 

 Hai'old Whiting, who lost his life by 

 the foundering of the Colima, is now divided 

 between Dr. E. P. Lewis, formerly assistant 

 in physics at the Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity and associate professor of physics in 

 the Columbian University, and Dr. A. C. 

 Alexander, formerly assistant in physics at 

 the Sheffield Scientific School. 



Mb. W. D. Frost, who has been assistant 

 in the Laboratory of the Minnesota State 

 Board of Health, has accepted a similar 

 position in bacteriology in the University 

 of Wisconsin. 



During the summer an expei-imental la- 

 boratory in psychology has been fitted up at 

 the University of Kansas. The work is in 

 charge of Clin Templin, professor of phil- 

 osophy. 



The University of Pennsylvania has re- 

 ceived additional contributions to the dor- 

 mitory fund amounting to $40,000. 



It is stated that Charles Broadway Eouss 

 recently gave $25,000 to the New York As- 

 sociation of the alumni of the Univei-sity 

 of Virginia, for the fund to replace 60,000 

 volumes of the university library recently 

 destroyed by fire. 



Me. Henry Leavis, A.E.S.M., has been 

 appointed to the chair of mining in the 

 Durham College of Science, which was re- 

 cently vacated by Prof. Merivale. 



LuMAN T. Jefts, of Hudson, Mass., has 

 given $5,000 to Boston University to found 

 a scholarship. 



The attendance in the Scottish universi- 

 ties for the year 1894-95 was: Edinburgh, 

 2,924; Glasgow, 1,903; Aberdeen, 812. 



Db. Johannes Gad, professor of physi- 

 ology in Berlin, has been called to the 

 University of Prague, and Prof. Eiedel, 

 of Jena, has been called to the chair of 

 surgery at Gottingen in succession to Pro- 

 fessor Konig. 



During the academic year 1894-95 the 

 Univei'sity of Leipzig granted the Ph. D. 

 degree to 163 candidates. 



T^E Bavarian government has appropri- 

 ated $150,000 for the enlargement of the 

 buildings of the University of Munich. 



Prof. E. Mach, who has this year re- 

 signed a professorship of physics at Prague 

 to accept the chair at Vienna vacated by 

 the psychologist. Prof. Franz Brentano, gave 

 an inaugural address on ' The Influence of 

 Chance on the Development of Inventions 

 and Discoveries.' 



DISCUSSION AND COEBESPOA'DENCE. 



THE INVERTED IMAGE ON THE RETINA. 



To THE Editor of Science — The discussion 

 in recent numbers of Science concerning the 

 inversion of the retinal image has occasioned 

 me surprise, because I had supposed that the 

 interpretation which has been familiar to me for 

 many years had been universally accepted. 



The interpretation is simply that we learn to 

 associate the image with the correct position of 

 the external object. Is it not the accepted 

 view of psychologists that the primary concep- 

 tions of space are acquired by the child through 

 touch and through its own movements con- 

 nected with touch sensations'? May we not 

 look upon the visual sensations of external 

 space relations as mental translations '? If these 

 two questions be answered affirmitatively, then 

 seeing objects right side up, despite the inver- 

 sion of their retinal images, is a purely psj'cho- 



