August 24, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



315 



is found to be radio-active, and from it the 

 chlorid and the carbonate, both also radio- 

 active, have been obtained. Early in his paper 

 von Lengyel says : " It is obviously clear that 

 the question of radium being a chemical ele- 

 ment must be answered in the negative as soon 

 as it is found possible to transform ordinary 

 inactive barium into the radio-active variety." 

 In closing he says that his researches " do not 

 nearly suffice to decide the question as to 

 whether radium is an existing chemical ele- 

 ment or not, but these facts render doubtful the 

 existence of radium." 



Following this work comes that of Becque- 

 rel, described in the last Comptea Bendus, in 

 which similar experiments are repeated from a 

 different standpoint. Uranium chlorid is mixed 

 with barium chlorid, the barium precipitated 

 by sulfuric acid. The barium sulfate thus ob- 

 tained is more or less radio-active, but the 

 radio-activity of the uranium salt left has di- 

 minished correspondingly. These experiments 

 show the futility of trying to determine in this 

 manner, whether the radio-activity resides in 

 the uranium, or is due to an independent sub- 

 stance which is an impurity in the uranium. 

 J. L. H. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



The report of the Executive Committee of 

 the Governors of the University of Birmingham, 

 dated May 31, 1900-, relative to the recent de- 

 velopment of the work in applied science and 

 engineering and the use of the recent gifts of 

 Mr. Carnegie and others has been printed for 

 distribution to friends of the university and its 

 extended work. 



On May 12, 1899, the endowment fund col- 

 lected by a canvassing committee amounted to 

 £143,000. Mr. Carnegie, through Mr. Joseph 

 Chamberlain, offered to contribute £50,000 for 

 a special science department when a total of 

 £250,000 should be pledged. This condition 

 was fulfilled within a week. On February 28, 

 1900, the sum had become £326,500, and at the 

 date of the report it was £327,468. 



Mr. Carnegie requested Mr. Chamberlain to 

 send a deputation to the United States which 

 should ' report on its return what more is nec- 

 essary, to give Birmingham a first-class modern 



scientific college, modeled, as I have said, after 

 Cornell ' — intending, presumably, a union of 

 literary with scientific and professional work, as 

 is usual in American State universities, and 

 with a well-developed ' practical ' side — ' not 

 necessarily big, but perfect of its kind.' Pro- 

 fessors Burstall, Eenwick and Poynting were 

 accordingly sent. They visited several of the 

 principal eastern colleges of the United States 

 and Canada. They conclude : 



' ' We desire to express our admiration alike 

 for the high ideal of scientific education which 

 is the aim in American universities and for the 

 enthusiasm in all classes which renders it pos- 

 sible to approach so near that ideal. Every- 

 where we found that the wealthier classes real- 

 ize the importance of university education and 

 encourage the universities by generous gifts and 

 everywhere, both by teachers and by students, 

 these gifts are being used for higher learning 

 and research." 



They "believe that the system of engineering 

 education existing at Cornell and other institu- 

 tions we have visited and the system of Mining 

 and Metallurgy at Boston and Montreal, all 

 with their four year courses, are admirably 

 planned and carried out." They advise their 

 adoption including laboratories and workshops 

 for instruction which they found "thoroughly 

 practical and on such scale that the knowledge 

 acquired there by the student would be of use 

 in his subsequent professional life." 



The proposed scale of salaries is very modest 

 —£750 for professors, £300 to £400 for assistant 

 professors, £150 for ' demonstrators ' in science 

 and instructors in shops, and £100 and £70, re- 

 spectively for minor appointments. The in- 

 vestment of ^£155,000 is proposed in buildings 

 and equipments for the new Technical College, 

 aud anticipates an annual operative expendi- 

 ture something over £10,000 with a faculty of 

 eighteen in all grades and presumably for a 

 student body of about 200 in all classes. A 

 ' commercial faculty' is proposed, consisting of 

 three officers and involving an expense of £6000 

 in equipment and £2200 annually in mainte- 

 nance. 



A four-year's course is planned, in which the 

 differentiation between the mechanical and 

 electrical engineers will occur at the end of the 



