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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 696 



workers (not to exceed 1,000 words), (e) For 

 dairy farmers (not to esceed 1,000 words). 

 (f) For sctool children in grammar school 

 grades (not to exceed 500 words). ig) Pic- 

 torial booklet for school children in primary- 

 grades and for the nursery. Dr. Charles J. 

 Hatfield, Philadelphia, is the chairman of the 

 committee, and Dr. Thomas G. Ashton, Phila- 

 delphia, is the secretary. 



The Friday evening lecture at the Royal 

 Institution on March 27 was given by the 

 Hon. E. J. Strutt, whose subject was " Radio- 

 active Change in the Earth." Lord Rayleigh 

 was in the chair. According to the report in 

 the London Times, Mr. Strutt remarked that 

 the mineral pitch-blende, the source of radium 

 and other radioactive materials, was in Eng- 

 land only found in Cornwall, in veins in the 

 granite and slate. The question arose. How 

 did it get there? The answer he proposed 

 to adopt was that it was derived from the 

 surrounding granite which refined examina- 

 tion showed to contain radium to the extent of 

 one part in a million million. Minute though 

 this proportion was, the total quantity of 

 radium contained at this rate in the external 

 crust of the earth, to a depth of 40 or 50 miles, 

 was more than sufiicient to account for the 

 internal heat of the earth. Of the constituents 

 of granite zircon was found to contain quite 

 a large quantity of radium, and in micro- 

 photographs of granite discolorations could 

 often be perceived round a zircon crystal. 

 Radium being present in granite, it was 

 natural to expect the presence of helium also ; 

 and in fact that gas could be found if looked 

 for with sufficient care. It could also be 

 found in other minerals, the radioactivity of 

 which was not very conspicuous, and he 

 showed a sparking tube filled with helium 

 which had been obtained from about 2 pounds 

 of quartz. Radium also was to be found in 

 numbers of other minerals he had examined, 

 and generally in sufficient quantities to ex- 

 plain the amount of helium they contained. 

 One exception he had discovered was beryl, 

 which contained no radium worth mention- 

 ing, but a very large quantity of helium. 

 After discussing a possible explanation of this 

 exception, the lecturer concluded by saying 



that as the production of helium was a ques- 

 tion of time, the quantity found in rocks of 

 different geological strata might provide us 

 with a means of estimating how much time 

 had lapsed since their deposition. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



Mr. Henry Wilde, D.C.L., F.R.S., already 

 a liberal benefactor of Oxford University, has 

 given £4,000 to found a Lectureship in 

 natural and comparative religion. 



Mrs. Gordon and Miss Peters have given 

 £4,000 to University College, Dundee, for the 

 erection of a laboratory of electrical engineer- 

 ing, in memory of their late brother. Lord 

 Dean of Guild Peters. 



An agreement has been reached in the 

 matter of affiliation of Cooper Medical Col- 

 lege with Stanford University. The study of 

 medicine must be pursued in^ San Francisco 

 and the trusts left by Dr. Levi C. Lane are 

 to be fulfilled. 



The regents of the University of Wisconsin 

 at their meeting on April 22 considered the 

 question as to whether the efficiency of in- 

 struction might be increased by providing 

 separate classes in subjects generally neglected 

 by men and by women, respectively; but as 

 the matter was one of general educational 

 policy, the regents deferred action until the 

 faculty has an opportunity to consider the 

 question and to report the results of its in- 

 vestigation to the board. A committee of 

 nine professors in the college of letters and 

 science, with Dean E. A. Birge as chairman, 

 is now considering the matter, but. owing to 

 the complexity of the subject will probably 

 not be able to report for some time. 



At the University of Wisconsin Professor 

 Carl C. Thomas, now head of the department 

 of marine engineering of Cornell University, 

 has been chosen to the professorship of steam 

 engineering made vacant by the death of 

 Storm Bull. 



Professor Fred'k F. Jones, dean of the 

 College of Engineering and Mechanical Arts 

 in the University of Minnesota, has been 

 elected dean of the academic faculty of Yale 

 University. Professor Jones graduated from 

 Yale College in 1884 and has been connected 

 with the University of Minnesota since 1885. 



