836 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 206. 



A FUND of $100,000 is being raised by the 

 trustees and friends of Oberlin, the income from 

 which is to be applied to the reduction of the 

 term bills of needy students. About one tenth 

 of this amount has already been collected. 



The Commission appointed under the Uni- 

 versity of London Act, 1898, consisting of Lord 

 Davey (Chairman), the Bishop of London, Sir 

 William Roberts, Sir Owen Roberts, Professor 

 Jebb, Professor Michael Foster and Mr. E. H. 

 Busk, with Mr. Bailey_ Saunders as Secretary, 

 has commenced its sittings. 



The Montreal correspondent of the New York 

 Evening Post states that according to present 

 arrangements the formal opening of the new 

 chemistry and mining building at McGill Uni- 

 versity will take place on December 20th. 

 There is a possibility, however, that an 

 earlier date may be selected in order to 

 meet the convenience of Lord Strathcona, 

 who wishes to be in Scotland for Christmas 

 day. The Governor-General and the Coun- 

 tess of Minto will be present. The authori- 

 ties of McGill University have been notified 

 of the loss of between $3,000 and $4,000 

 worth of chemical apparatus intended for the 

 new chemical laboratories at the University. 

 The goods were shipped by the ill fated 

 Westmeath, which was lost at sea a short time 

 ago. 



De. John Henry Babrows has been elected 

 to the Presidency of Oberlin College. This ac- 

 tion was taken by the trustees of Oberlin on 

 Tuesday, November 29th, and the vote was 

 unanimous. Dr. Barrows is widely known as 

 the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of 

 Chicago, and as the one who pushed the Parlia- 

 ment of Religions at the World's Fair through 

 to its successful end. During the last two years 

 he has been lecturing in Calcutta, India, on the 

 Haskell lectureship of the University of Chi- 

 cago. Definite word has not yet been received 

 as to his acceptance, but the trustees had as- 

 surance that he would accept, before the action 

 was taken. 



The Normal College, New York City, has 

 adopted courses of study by which the students 

 may receive academic degrees. The members 

 of the faculties concerned with the sciences are 



as follows : Professor Joseph A. Gilette, ana- 

 lytical geometry ; Professor Burgess, biology 

 and geology ; Emily I. Conant, Ph.D., psychol- 

 ogy, and Isabel Camp, Ph.D., pedagogics. 



The Council of King's College, London, have 

 appointed Mr. Ernest Wilson, M.I.E.E., pro- 

 fessor of electrical engineering in succession to 

 the late Professor Hopkiuson. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE. 



A SELF-READJUSTING ' COHERER. ' 



To THE Editor of Science : Van Gulik 

 has shown [Wied. Ann., No. 9.] that, when an 

 oscillating electric discharge takes place across 

 a minute gap between the ends of two fine 

 platinum wires, the ends of the wires are drawn 

 together and remain clinging together after the 

 discharge has ceased. 



Upon repeating some of his experiments in a 

 modified form, I am led to the conclusion that 

 such adherence does not always result if the 

 gap be between dissimilar metals. 



Advantage may be taken of this to construct 

 a self- readjusting 'coherer.' If a Branly tube 

 be filled with a mixture of tin and aluminium 

 filings it acts normally in so far that, when 

 subjected to the influence of electric waves, its 

 resistance is greatly diminished. When the 

 radiation has ceased, however, its resistance 

 again rises, unaided by any tapping back. A 

 similar result obtains, though the reaction is 

 usually more sluggish, with a pile of alternate 

 disks of aluminium and tin foil. 



A. E. Lawrence. 



Columbia University, 

 November 19, 1898. 



additional notes on an apple canker. 



From observations made since the publica- 

 tion of the article ' An Apple Canker ' in Sci- 

 ence for October 28, 1898, it seems highly prob- 

 able that Sphxropsis malorum, Peck, is not only 

 parasitic on the wood of the apple, but on the 

 wood of pear and quince as well. It would, 

 therefore, seem that a further note on the sub- 

 ject will not be out of place. 



In the spring of 1898 specimens of blighted 

 apple twigs were received. It was not deter- 

 mined at the time what was the cause of the 



