920 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. XVII. No. 440. 



The report of the Mathematical Pass Ex- 

 aminations Syudieate, at Cambridge Univer- 

 sity, appointed in December, 1902, has been 

 issued, dealing with the mathematical subjects 

 of the previous examination. According to 

 the London Times the report makes important 

 recommendations as regards the trea:tment of 

 geometry. Hitherto Euclid's elements has 

 been the universal text-book, and Euclid's 

 sequences, if not his actual proofs, have been 

 insisted on. Should the senate accept this 

 report, all this will be changed. In the proofs 

 of theorems any proof which forms part of a 

 systematic treatment of the subject will be 

 accepted, so that teachers will be free to use 

 any text-books. As most of the theorems in 

 the schedule to the syndicate's report are to be 

 found in Euclid, many teachers will no doubt 

 adhere to the old method. Another novelty 

 in the schedule is the introduction of ques- 

 tions in practical geometry involving the use 

 of mathematical instruments. For some 

 years changes more or less of this character 

 have been recommended by a committee of the 

 Mathematical Association and a committee of 

 the British Association. With regard to 

 arithmetic, there will not be required a knowl- 

 edge of recurring decimals and of the process 

 of extracting cube root, but the use of 

 algebraical symbols and processes will be per- 

 mitted. These changes are unanimously ap- 

 proved of by a very strong syndicate, con- 

 sisting of the leading resident mathematicians 

 — viz., Mr. Charles Smith, Master of Sidney, 

 Professor Porsyth, Dr. Hobson, Mr. Mollison, 

 Mr. C. A. E. Pollock, Mr. Welsh, Mr. G. B. 

 Mathews, Mr. S. Barnard, Mr. W. M. Coates, 

 Mr. E. T. Whittaker and Mr. A. W. Siddons. 

 It is proposed that the first examination under 

 the new regulations should be held in Decem- 

 ber, 1904. The proposal as to algebra is not 

 approved by Mr. Coates. At a meeting of the 

 members of the senate, there was almost en- 

 tire unanimity in favor of the recommenda- 

 tions, the criticism being confined to points 

 of detail. Some of the suggestions will prob- 

 ably be accepted, but the acceptance of the 

 report by the senate is practically assured. 



The question of the expediency of main- 



taining the Engineering College at Coopers 

 Hill, as a government institution for the sup- 

 ply of officers to the Public Works Depart- 

 ment in India, having again been raised, the 

 Secretary of State for India has appointed a 

 committee to inquire and report to him on 

 this subject. It will be composed as follows : 

 Sir Charles Crosthwaite, late Lieutenant- 

 Governor of the North- Western Provinces and 

 member of the Council of India, chairman; 

 Sir James Mackay, G.C.M.G., Sir William 

 Arrol, M.P., Sir Arthur Eiicker, principal of 

 the University of London, and Sir Thomas 

 Higham, K.C.I.E., late of the Indian Public 

 Works Department, with Mr. J. E. Eerard, 

 of the India Office, as secretary. 



Washington University is extending its 

 teaching force for the coming year by adding 

 an instructor in mathematics, and a professor 

 of psychology and pedagogy. 



Dr. John Gordon, president of Tabor Col- 

 lege, has received an offer of the presidency 

 of Howard University, at Washington, D. C. 



Dr. L. a. Parsons, of the Johns Hopkins 

 University, has been appointed assistant in 

 physics at the University of Utah. 



Dr. S. M. Coulter has been promoted from 

 instructor to assistant professor in the Shaw 

 School of Botany in Washington University, 

 and has been given an additional assistant. 



Mr. Lewis A. Darling, of the University of 

 Nevada, has been appointed instructor in me- 

 chanical engineering in Stanford University 

 and will take part of the mechanical engineer- 

 ing work of Professor G. H. Marx, who goes 

 to Europe on a year's leave of absence. 



Dr. George Walter Stewart, instructor in 

 physics at Cornell University, has been ap- 

 pointed assistant professor of physics in charge 

 of the department at the University of North 

 Dakota. 



Dr. Philip Henry Pye-Smith, M.D., F.E.S., 

 has been appointed vice-chancellor of the Uni- 

 versity of London for the remainder of the 

 year for which Dr. Robertson (now Bishop of 

 Exeter) was appointed in June, 1902. 



