August 11, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



191 



expresses the hope that it may very shortly be 

 adopted for England and the empire generally, 

 and recommends that such legislation may 

 now be framed in the commonwealth as will 

 enable ixs to at once follow the home country 

 in this change." 



It is stated in Nature that the council of 

 the Royal Meteorological Society, being de- 

 sirous of advancing the general knowledge of 

 raeteorology and of promoting an intelligent 

 public interest in the science, hag appointed a 

 lecturer who is prepared to deliver lectures to 

 scientific societies, institutions and schools on 

 payment of a moderate fee and the cost of 

 traveling expenses, the subjects being — how 

 to observe the weather ; ' weather forecasting ; 

 climate ; rainfall; thunderstorms ; meteorology 

 in relation to agriculture, health, etc. The 

 society is also j)repared to lend and fit up a 

 complete climatological station for exhibition, 

 showing the necessary intruments in position 

 and ready for use, and to lend in return for a 

 nominal amount sets of lantern slides illus- 

 trating meteorological phenomena. 



Engllsh journals state that the government 

 of India has ordered the introduction of a 

 standard time, with eifect from July 1, on the 

 railways (other than small local lines, where 

 the change might be inconvenient) and in all 

 telegraph offices in the country, and also in 

 Burma. Hitherto Madras time has been 

 adopted by most of the Indian railways. The 

 standard now to be introduced is nine minutes 

 in advance of the ' railway time,' as it is 

 called in all parts of India, and is thus 5^ 

 hours in advance of Greenwich, being the 

 local time of longitude 82° 30'. The standard 

 for Burma is to be exactly an hour earlier, 

 viz., 6^ hours in advance of Greenwich and 

 five minutes earlier than Rangoon local time. 

 In inland places it has been found convenient 

 generally to follow railway time ; but the great 

 seaports of Calcutta, Bombay and Karachi 

 have followed the local time of their respective 

 longitudes. The government of India does 

 not prescribe the new standard for these and 

 other places following local time, but if a 

 general desire to adopt the new standard is 

 evinced, the government will be prepared to 



support the change and to cooperate in bring- 

 ing it about. In all probability, therefore, 

 there will ere long be a uniform time 

 throughout India exactly 5^ hours in advance 

 of Greenwich, while that of Burma will be 6^ 

 hours in advance. 



Nature says : " The proposal made by the 

 Emperor of Germany for the temporary inter- 

 change of professors with America for a course 

 of lectures is leading to a number of impor- 

 tant results. Harvard University has invited 

 Professor Ostwald, of Leipzig, to give a half 

 year's course and Columbia University has se- 

 cured lectures from Professor V. F. Bjerknes, 

 of Stockholm, on ' Fields of Force,' and from 

 Professor H. A. Lorentz, of Leyden, on ' Ex- 

 tensions of Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory.' 

 Is Great Britain with its usual insularity 

 going to keep aloof from the new movement? 

 It is hardly likely that any proposal from our 

 country would fail to obtain hearty support 

 either in Germany or in America." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



A COMMITTEE of the alumni of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, with Mr. F. 

 L. Locke, '86, as chairman, has addressed a 

 circular to the alumni asking their opinion of 

 the advisability of opposing in the courts the 

 recent vote of the corporation of the institute 

 in favor of an alliance with Harvard Univer- 

 sity. It states that a league has been formed 

 " to oppose the contemplated alliance with 

 Harvard University or any similar alliance; 

 to defend the educational freedom of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and to 

 promote the influence of the faculty and past 

 students in its government." In regard to 

 the action of the corporation, it says : " Such 

 extraordinary exercise of corporate power in 

 marked disregard of the moral obligation to 

 respect the opinions and desires of those di- 

 rectly interested in the welfare of the institute 

 raises a question more important even than 

 the abandonment of its independent educa- 

 tional policy." 



Mrs. E. a. Jeffers, of Eichmond, Ind., has 

 bequeathed $60,000 to Ohio Wesleyan Univer- 

 sity and $35,000 to De Pauw Univeroity. 



