944 
Cambridge, Mass., has given $25,000 to Brown 
University. 
THE sum of $10,000 has been given to McGill 
University for the establishment of a research 
scholarship in electrical engineering. 
WE are glad to learn that the suit entered to 
break the will of the late Professor Marsh, of 
Yale University, has failed and that the will 
leaving his property to Yale University has 
been probated. 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY will for the first time 
hold a summer session this year. The courses 
will open on July 5th and will continue until 
August 8th. Each course will be given daily 
including Saturdays and will entitle students to 
credit toward College and University degrees. 
The courses offered are as follows: botany 2; 
education, 5; English, 5; geography, 2; man- 
ual training, 2; physical training, 2; math- 
ematics, 3 ; philosophy, 1 ; physics, 2 ; psychol- 
ogy, 2. 
Ir is expected that the statutory committee 
will complete the formulation of the statutes for 
the University of London before the close of the 
present year and that they may be adopted by 
Parliament before Easter. It is hoped that the 
reconstituted University of London will be es- 
tablished at the Imperial Institute before the 
beginning of the summer holidays. 
PrRorEessoR WINSLOW Upron, professor of 
astronomy of Brown University, has been ap- 
pointed dean of the college. 
Mr. GRAFTON ELLior-SmirH, B.A., of St. 
John’s College, Cambridge University, has been 
appointed demonstrator of anatomy. 
THE Degree Committee of the Special Board 
for Physics and Chemistry, of Cambridge Uni- 
versity, are of opinion that the work submitted 
by Walter Rosenhain, of St. John’s College, 
advanced student, comprising the following 
papers: (1) Experiments on Steam-jets ; (2) On 
the Crystalline Structure of Metals (Bakerian 
Lecture, 1899, by Professor Ewing and W. 
Rosenhain) ; (8) Experiments in Micro-metal- 
lurgy (by the same two authors as No. 2)—is of 
distinction as a record of original research. 
PRESIDENT JAMES B. ANGELL, of the Univer- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Von. X. No. 260. 
sity of Michigan, concluded his annual report 
by expressing ‘‘gratitude for the considerate 
treatment accorded us by the Legislature at its 
session last winter. Almost unanimously it 
raised the appropriation for our aid from the tax 
of one-sixth of a mill to that of one-fourth of a 
mill. It thus increased our annual income by 
about $92,500. This addition to our resources 
was imperatively needed to keep the University 
in the position it had so long held among the 
strong universities of the land. With our great 
number of students we were in sore need of 
some new and commodious buildings and also 
of additions to our faculties. The institution 
has been maintained with the utmost economy, 
at an expense not exceeding one-half or two- 
thirds of that of even smaller universities. The 
hearty support given us by the Legislature fur- 
nishes us the gratifying evidence that the com- 
monwealth which we are striving to serve be- 
lieves that we are really conferring substantial 
benefits upon her and upon the nation. That 
is our sufficient reward and the stimulus to re- 
newed energy in the future.”’ 
THE mathematical tripos and the senior 
wrangler appear to be such an essential part 
of Cambridge University, that many will be 
surprised to learn that the special board for 
mathematics has recommended radical changes. 
The defects of the present system, as stated by 
the board, are as follows: (1) The range of 
subjects in Part I. is excessive, and the result 
is that many are able to prepare only a portion 
of the subjects contained in the schedule. (2) 
The papers are made difficult so as to provide 
full opportunities for discriminating between 
the best candidates ; they consequently tend to 
become unsuitable as a real test for many of 
the others. (8) The better students spend 
three years in acquiring an analytical facility in 
solving complicated and artificial questions in 
a great variety of comparatively elementary 
subjects—in fact, in mathematical gymuasties. 
(4) The candidates are not brought into contact 
with the ideas and methods characteristic of 
modern advances in mathematics. The Board 
proposes that the first part of the tripos be ar- 
ranged so that it shall be taken at the end of 
the second year and that the order of merit be 
abolished. 
