532 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 93. 



last twelve months has been plainly apparent, 

 and the smoke cloud which obscures the Lon- 

 don atmosphere appears to be progressively 

 lightening. Mr. Ernest Hart, Chairman of the 

 Smoke Abatement Exhibition in London, fre- 

 quently pointed out that the greatest contribu- 

 tors to the smoke cloud of London were the 

 small grates of the enormous number of houses 

 of the poor, and a great deal of ingenuity had 

 been exhausted with relatively little success in 

 endeavoring to abate this nuisance. The use 

 of gas fires was urgently recommended, but 

 had hitherto been difficult, owing to its cost 

 and the want of suitable apparatus. The rapid 

 and very extensive growth of the use of gas for 

 cooking as well as lighting purposes by the 

 working classes, due to the introduction of the 

 '■ penny in the slot ' system, is working a great 

 revolution in the London atmosphere. During 

 the last four years the South London Gas Com- 

 pany alone has fixed 50,000 slot meters and 

 nearly 38,000 small gas cooking stoves in the 

 houses of the workingman. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The faculty of Cornell University has re- 

 solved that, in place of the degree of Master of 

 Arts, Master of Philosophy, Master of Letters 

 and Doctor of Sciences, the one degree of Mas- 

 ter of Arts be conferred ; and that in place of 

 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor 

 of Sciences, the one degree of Doctor of Philos- 

 ophy be conferred. 



Prof. Collier Cobb contributes to Appletons' 

 Popular Science Monthly for October an interest- 

 ing article in which he calls attention to the 

 modern plan of instruction in the sciences of- 

 fered by the University ,of North Carolina more 

 than one hundred years ago. The course 

 planned in 1792 gave great prominence to sci- 

 entific studies, especially those which could be 

 applied to the arts. The report of the commit- 

 tee recommended the purchase of apparatus for 

 experimental philosophy and astronomy, in 

 which must be included a set of globes, barom- 

 eter, thermometer, miscroscope, telescope, quad- 

 rant, prismatic glass, electrical machine and 

 an air-pump. The ancient classics were made 

 elective, the degree of B. of A. being obtainable 

 without the study of either Latin or Greek. 



Dr. D. K. Pearsons, who had promised 

 $10,000 to the trustees of the Mount Holyoke 

 Association, has agreed to give them $40,000 

 for the building fund. 



Garden and Forest states that the name of the 

 donor of the new range of greenhouses recently 

 completed for the department of botany of 

 Smith College has up to the present not been 

 announced. Last week, however, a bronze 

 tablet placed at the entrance of the Palmhouse 

 bears this inscription : ' The Lyman Plant 

 House. A Memoi'ial Tribute to Anne Jean 

 Lyman, by her Son, Edward Hutchinson Rob- 

 bins Lyman.' 



It is proposed to create a chair of biology in 

 the University of Christiania, to be filled by Mr. 

 Nansen. 



A NUMBER of promotions and new appoint- 

 ments have been made at the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. Four associate profes- 

 sors have been advanced to full professorships. 

 Dwight Porter, in Hydraulic Engineering ; Al- 

 fred E. Burton, in Topographical Engineering; 

 C. F. Allen, in Railroad Engineering, and Peter 

 Schwamb, in Mechanism. Linus Faunce has 

 been appointed Associate Professor of Drawing. 

 Four new assistant professors have been ap- 

 pointed : George H. Barton, in Geology; Wil- 

 liam H. Lawrence, in Architecture ; George G. 

 Robbins, in Civil Engineering, and Joseph J. 

 Skinner, in Mathematics. Seven assistants 

 have been raised to the rank of instructors. 

 They are William J. Drisko, in Physics; George 

 B. Haven, in Mechanical Engineering; Frank 

 P. McKibben, in Civil Engineering; Alexander 

 W. Moseley, in Mechanical Engineering ; James 

 F. Norris, in Organic Chemisti-y ; Joseph W. 

 Phelan, in General Chemistry, and Samuel C. 

 Prescott, in Biology, and in addition A. W. 

 Weysse has been made Instructor in Biology. 

 Fourteen new assistants have been appointed, 

 as follows : In Civil Engineering, Reuben E. 

 Bakenhus, Minor S. Jameson, Charles M. Spof- 

 ford and Harold C. Stevens; in Geology, Ama- 

 deus W. Grabau ; in Industrial Chemistry, 

 Leonard W. Goodhue and Harrison W. Hay- 

 ward ; in Mechanical Drawing, Albert J.Wells ; 

 in Mechanical Engineering, Edward M. Bragg 

 and Frank B. Masters ; in Oil and Gas Analysis, 



