DECEMBER 31, 1897.] 
far more nutritious and did not create bilious- 
ness, as did cocoa and coffee, nor nervous 
excitability, as in the case of tea, so that the 
problem of ‘‘What may we drink?” might 
probably be solved. A number of these plants 
were propagated at Kew in 1880 and distributed 
to Calcutta, Ceylon, Zanzibar, Demerara, Do- 
minica, Sydney, Mauritius, Java, Singapore 
and Toronto, where the nuts were now pro- 
duced. It had been reported from Jamaica that 
if ademand should arise for them the nuts could 
be shipped to the extent of many tons per year. 
Notwithstanding its important properties, it is 
only lately that any great demand has arisen 
for the production. As a medical agent it is 
specially valuable as a powerful nerve stimulant. 
The kola nuts may supply a valuable medicine 
to the pharmacopeeia, as Mr. Sowerby states, but 
it is doubtful whether the Kew Gardens have 
done a philanthropic work in extending its use. 
It is already sold in large quantities, both in 
Great Britain and America, and while it may 
itself be no more harmful than coffee, when 
mixed with from 10 to 25 per cent. of alcohol, 
as is usually the case, it becomes a powerful 
and dangerous intoxicant. The fact that it is 
sold at apothecaries, often to women and chil- 
dren, rather than in saloons does not decrease 
the harm that it does. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 
In amplification of the note published last 
week in this JoURNAL regarding the gifts of 
Mr. W. C. McDonald to McGill University, 
Montreal, we are informed that the endowment 
consists in the foundation of an additional chair 
of chemistry. It will be remembered that Mr. 
McDonald recently erected a new chemical 
building at a cost of $240,000. Mr. McDonald 
has further now given an additional endowment 
of fifty thousand dollars for the Faculty of Law, 
to the Deanship of which Faculty, with the 
chair of Roman Law, Mr. EK. P. Walton, of the 
Scotch bar, was recently appointed. Mr. Mc- 
Donald has, moreover, supplemented the exist- 
ing endowments associated with his name by a 
further gift of $200,000, to provide for any de- 
ficiency in income that may result from the fall 
in the rate of interest on investments. 
SCIENCE. 
993 
THE sum of $45,000 has now been collected 
for a Science Hall for Syracuse University. It 
is expected that the erection of the building 
will be begun in the spring. 
Mrs. GEORGE SMELTZ, of Hampton, Va., has 
given $5,000 to Richmond College, to be used 
in the erection of a science building. 
A NEw building for the biological laboratory 
was begun at Adelbert College in October, and 
will probably be completed in September, 1898. 
The building is of Gothic design and is to be 
built of stone, three stories high and basement. 
The outside dimensions are about 93 by 68 feet. 
The estimated cost with equipment is $43,000. 
WITH the October Convocation the University 
of Chicago closed its first period of five years 
of graduate work, during which it conferred 
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy on seventy- 
seven candidates, distributed among the several 
departments as follows: Zoology, 12; Chem- 
istry, 6; History, 6; English, 6; Sociology, 5; 
Semitic, 5; Political Economy, 4; Germanic, 
4; Greek, 3; Romance, 3; Geology, 3; Physi- 
ology, 3; Mathematics, 2; Indo-European 
Comparative Philology, 2; Physics, 2; Anthro- 
pology, 2; Philosophy, 1; Botany, 1; Biblical 
and Patristic Greek, 1; Political Science, 1; 
Paleontology, 1; Comparative Religion, 1; Old 
Testament Literature, 1; Systematic Theology, 
1; Church History, 1; not represented, Anat- 
omy, Archeology, Astronomy, Latin and Neu- 
rology. The student of science may fairly ask 
whether, when twelve doctorates are conferred 
in zoology and but three in Latin and Greek 
combined, this means that there is less demand 
for teachers of the classics or that a less exact- 
ing preparation is required. 
WE quoted in a recent issue the statement of 
the principal of the ‘late’ Evelyn College to 
the effect that the College had been closed be- 
cause Princeton University refused to recog- 
nize its work for the higher education of women. 
A correspondent fully acquainted with the facts 
writes us: ‘‘ Hvelyn College was closed on ac- 
count of bad debts, and in the opinion of its own 
board of trustees should have been closed some 
timeago. So far from giving the institution the 
cold shoulder the University authorities allowed 
