GRANTS FOR SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGA TION AND UNIVERSITY WORK. mankind." The grants made by the trustees amount to nearly a quarter of a million pounds annually. In addition, however, to the specific State grants WHEN the Government scheme for the promotion under the foregoing head of scientific investigation, of scientific and industrial research was announced in the House of Commons in May last, it was stated that, to begin with, a sum of 25,000l. would be placed at the disposal of the advisory council appointed in connection with the scheme. This sum, and any other amounts voted by Parliament for the same purpose, will be included in the Civil Service Estimates under the Grants in Aid of Scientific Investigation. All the grants made under this head for 1915-16, together with grants from the Development Fund, and to universities and university colleges, are shown in the subjoined statement from the ninth annual report of the British Science Guild. The provision which is now being made for research gives topical interest to the facts here brought together. The grants to the National Physical Laboratory and the Meteorological Office, amounting altogether to nearly 40,000l., are for direct national services rather than scientific investigation; and when these amounts are deducted the actual sums voted by the State to scientific institutions, or for purposes of research, show little relationship to those which the trustees of the Carnegie Institution of Washington are able to give. The institution was founded by Mr. Carnegie in 1902, with an endowment of 2,000,000l., to which he added 400,000l. in 1907, and a further 2,000,000l. in 1911. The articles of incorporation of the institution declare" that the objects of the corporation shall be to encourage, in the broadest and most liberal manner, investigation, research, and discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement of much larger funds are at the disposal of the National Health Insurance Joint Committee and the Development Commissioners. Under the National Health Insurance Act the annual revenue accruing from one penny in respect of each insured person (payable out of moneys provided by Parliament) provide a fund from which grants are available for the purposes of medical re search. The total amount available annually for this purpose is about 56,000l. GRANTS FROM the DevelopmENT FUND. The Report of the Development Commissioners for the year ended March 31, 1914, describes the work of the Commission during the year 1913-14. Attention is directed to three cardinal facts relating to the provisions of the Acts constituting the Development Fund and Commission. First, the amount hitherto appropriated by Parliament to the Fund is 2,900,000!.; secondly, the Commissioners are a purely deliberative and advisory body, having no power themselves to carry out schemes of which they approve; thirdly, grants and loans from the Fund can only be made for certain specified purposes (speaking generally for the development of the agriculture and fisheries of the United Kingdom and for connected purposes such as forestry and the construction and improvement of canals and harbours) and to certain specified bodies, which do not include companies trading for a profit. The expenditure actually recommended by the Commissioners, under the head of Agricultural and Rural Industries, during the year 1913-14 was 472,7931. (practically all grants), as compared with 227,600l. during 1912-13. This large increase is due partly to the fact that during 1913-14 three or four large grants were recommended for capital expenditure on buildings, and for some years' working of a scheme which could not be started on the basis of annual grants; such advances as 28,650l. for a veterinary laboratory for the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 18,000l. for buildings for the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture, 28,6751. for a ten years' scheme of tobacco experiments in Ireland, 10,325l. for buildings at Reading University College, 10,000l. for buildings at the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, are not annual requirements. The grant to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in aid of agricul tural research and experiments during 1914-15 was 46,900l., and for the Farm Institutes scheme 58,350l. Under the head of forestry the advances recommended by the Commissioners amounted to 91,100l., and the grants actually made amounted to 34,500l., of which 6500l. was for forestry research and advisory work during 1913-4 and 8100l. for the same purposes in 1914-15. The total grants made in connection with fisheries were 20,900l., of which 11,100l. was for fishery research and 2000l. a supplementary grant for a fishery research vessel. The Report concludes with the following statement of the position of the Development Fund and Commission: The total amount guaranteed to the Fund for the period up to the end of the financial year 1914-15 was 2,900,000l., the whole of which sum has been paid over to the Fund. Up to March 31, 1914, the Commissioners had actually recommended advances up to the amount of 1,493,375., of which 1,216,6951. were grants and 276,680l. loans. The main reason for the excess of grants over loans is the large expenditure on education and research-purposes which for obvious reasons are scarcely suitable subjects for loans. Of this sum, perhaps 220,000l. may be deemed to have lapsed, Owing to such causes as the failure of applicants to expend the whole advance sanctioned during the period for which it was advanced. It would appear that if the amount of the Development Fund is 2,900,000l., and effective advances to the amount only of 1,280,000l. were sanctioned up to March 31, 1914, the sum of 1,620,000l. still remains unappropriated. This is, however, not the case; the Commissioners having been compelled to commit themselves in substance to expenditure much in excess of the advances actually recommended. The expenditure incurred or sanctioned for the period up to March 31, 1916, in connection with agriculture and rural industries, forestry and afforestation, and fisheries is as follows: (1) Agriculture and Rural Industries.-This purpose has absorbed a considerably larger proportion of the Fund than any other object. The expenditure hitherto sanctioned is 921,5491., of which perhaps 200,000l. has lapsed. During 1914-15 and 1915-16 some 400,000l. more may be required, mainly for the following objects -the continuance of the schemes of research, technical advice, and instruction in agriculture already set on foot throughout the United Kingdom; buildings and farms for agricultural colleges; further provision for research in veterinary science; the continuance of the existing schemes for the improvement of cattle, light horse and other live stock breeding, and the promotion of co-operation. It would certainly not be safe to place the total demands for these purposes at less than 1,100,000l. (2) Forestry and Afforestation.-The total amount recommended hitherto for this purpose is 142,7491., of which rather more than 80,000l. has been advanced by way of loan. But large demands must be anticipated during the next two years, as several schemes which have taken some time to mature are now, it is hoped, approaching completion. These include a Scotch demonstration area, the acquisition of one or more experimental areas in England and Wales, afforestation schemes for land already purchased in Ireland, and loans to local authorities for the afforestation of water catchment areas. The Commissioners reserve, conjecturally, another 200,000l. for these purposes up to 1916-making the total expenditure 350,000l. (3) Fisheries.-65,5571. has been advanced for this purpose; but a large scheme of research is now being considered. 150,000l. is provisionally taken as the total expenditure, but this estimate is even more conjectural than the others given. The total sums for all purposes is 2,250,000l. The net result is that the Commissioners estimate that on March 31, 1916, the amount actually spent from the Development Fund will not be less than 2,000,000l.; it may be 200,000l. or 300,000l. more. After that date an annual sum of approximately 275,000l. will be required to keep in operation schemes already sanctioned for such purposes as agricultural research, forestry, and fisheries research, and agricultural education, which ought to be continued permanently or at least for some years. GRANTS FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION. The universities and university colleges in Great Britain which are in receipt of grants from the Board of Education are as follows:-The Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Durham (Armstrong College), Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, London (including University College, King's College, Bedford College, School of Economics, and East London College), the University Colleges of Nottingham, Reading, and Southampton; the University of Wales (University Colleges of Aberystwyth, Bangor, and Cardiff). The income from endowments of universities and university colleges in England and Wales in receipt of State grants is about 100,000l., which is also the amount of the annual income of the Carnegie Trust for the universities of Scotland. About half this amount is devoted annually to the payment of students' fees, and the other moiety is voted as grants for (1) the better equipment of the Scottish universities and colleges by the foundation of additional chairs and lectureships and by the provision of new laboratories and permanent equipment, and (2) the encouragement of research. A writer in NATURE of May 14, 1914, in an article upon the twelfth annual report of the trust, says "The impetus to research which has been produced by the work of the trust can be gauged from an example chosen from one science, chemistry. In the eight years 1903-11, the trust appointed in this department forty-five scholars, twenty-five fellows, and thirty-one grantees. The work of these has resulted in the publication of more than 130 original communications to scientific journals. Now, in 1912, the contributions of the whole British chemical world to the Transactions of the Chemical Society amounted to only double this number, 266, so that it is evident that the Carnegie Trust, by its encouragement of research, has indirectly in the course of eight years produced a series of results equal to half the annual output of the whole Empire at the present time. This, it must be remembered, represents only a single department of the trust's activities; for, in addition to chemistry, work is being carried out in physics, biology, medicine, economics, history, and languages." The Parliamentary grants to universities and university colleges (1912-13) included in the foregoing table are made up of contributions under various heads as shown below: University of Wales ... Colleges, Great Britain Scottish Universities University Colleges, Wales £ 8,000 2,000 2,000 4,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 ... 2,000 84,000 ... 150,000 15,000 ... Welsh University and Colleges : Additional Grant tion for the year ending June 30, 1913, shows that during the year the total sum received in gifts and bequests by universities and other institutions of higher education, excluding grants by the United States, different States, and municipalities, was 4,930,390l. Of this amount 895,320l. was for increase of plant, 825,980l. for current expenses, and 3,209,100! for endowment. Forty-five institutions reported gifts of more than 20,000l. The income of the 596 institutions of higher education from which the Bureau receives reports was during the year, from State and municipal grants, 3,809,960l.; from invested funds, 3,313,960l.; and from fees for tuition and other educational services, 4,183,830l. SUMMARY. The Carnegie Institution of Washington has an endowment fund of 4,400,000l., and makes grants of nearly 200,000l. annually for purely scientific investigations and publications. The Parliamentary grants in aid of scientific investigation, including the services of the Meteorological Office and the National Physical Laboratory, amount to about 100,000l. annually, or 125,000l. in£287,000 cluding the new grant recently made. The grants for the purposes of medical research, under the National Health Insurance Act, amount to about 56,000l. annually. The total amount appropriated by Parliament to the Development Fund is 2,900,000l.; and it is estimated that up to the end of March, 1916, the expenditure will be on agriculture and rural industries 1,100,000l., on forestry and afforestation 350,000l., and on fisheries 150,000l. The Parliamentary grants for universities and colleges in the United Kingdom amount to about half a million annually; the State grants to universities in Germany reach nearly two millions annually. The benefactions to institutions of higher education in the United States amount to about five millions annually; in the United Kingdom the average is less than one-tenth this sum. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL LONDON. The following science appointments have been made by the council of Bedford College for Women :-Assistant-lecturer in philosophy, W. A. Pickard-Cambridge; assistant-lecturer in physics, Miss M. O. Saltmarsh; demonstrator in physics, Miss M. £124,000 Baxter; demonstrators in physiology, Miss Hartwell and Miss Tweedy; demonstrator in geology, Miss I. Lowe. £517,000 OXFORD.-Captain C. F. Balleine, fellow and subrector of Exeter College, who was killed in action on July 2 (a note on whom appeared on p. 543 of our issue for July 15), bequeathed 1000l. to the rector and scholars of Exeter College, to be employed in some way for the benefit of that college as the governing body may direct. THE foundation stone of the new Welsh National School of Medicine at Cardiff was laid on Thursday last by Lord Pontypridd. A LABORATORY for the investigation of occupational diseases is to be established in Pittsburgh, under the supervision of Dr. J. W. Schereschewsky, of Washington. A PROPOSAL is on foot to endow the library of the department of mathematics of Brown University in honour of Prof. N. F. Davis, who, after upwards of forty years' service, is shortly to retire. THE sum of 8500 dollars has been given by Miss E. Cuyler and Mr. T. De Witt Cuyler to the George Peabody College for Teachers for the equipment of the Jesup psychology laboratory of the institution. THE sum of 1,145 dollars has been given to the University of California for the carrying out of the survey of the animal and bird life of the Yosemite National Park, by the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. DR. F. BILLINGS, of Chicago, is announced to deliver the next course of Lane medical lectures at the School of Medicine of Stanford University. He will take as his subject, "Focal Infection," and the course will extend from September 20 to 25 next. WE notice the following appointments in connection with American colleges:-Prof. H. S. Jackson, of the Oregon Agricultural College, to be head of the botany_department of the Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, in succession to Dr. J. C. Arthur; Dr. E. W. Sinnott, of the Bussey Institution, to the chair of botany and genetics at the Connecticut Agricultural College. TROOP COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, Pasadena, has recently received from an anonymous donor the sum of 10,000 dollars towards the equipment of a research laboratory in physical chemistry, and the promise of a like amount yearly for the maintenance of the laboratory. Dr. A. A. Noyes is to be in charge of the new department, dividing his time between Troop College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. or ACCORDING to the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, the appeal on behalf of the University of Louvain which was made by the bulletin has met with a very encouraging reception, upwards of 3000 volumes having already been received promised. We are glad to learn that an international committee is in process of formation, with the view to co-ordinate the many efforts that are being employed in this country, and also on the Continent, to assist in bringing about the restoration of the devastated library. THE calendar for the year 1915 of the National University of Ireland is now available. Among the changes in the courses and in the regulations for the year 1916 of which notice is given may be mentioned those in connection with the matriculation examination, travelling studentships, and the courses for higher degrees. For the purposes of matriculation the University is prepared to accept the certificates of a number of examining boards in the British Isles and Australia, and the matriculation certificates of ten specified universities. In addition, any person who has matriculated in any university of the British Dominions and Colonies, other than those already referred to, and has also passed an Intermediate examination in arts or science in that university, will be exempted from the matriculation examination of the National University of London. SIR A. H. CHURCH, who died on May 31, left to the Royal Society his reversionary interest in forty-three 20l. shares in the London County and Westminster Bank (Limited) with the request that when it falls into possession the income may be applied for purposes connected with the preservation or utilisation of the archives of the Royal Society; 500l. to the rector and fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford; to the Waynflete professor of mineralogy in the University of Oxford 100l. for the purchase of apparatus and mineral specimens, together with the testator's microscope and other optical instruments and mineral specimens, and his chemical apparatus; and 100l. to the curators of the Ashmolean Museum. He further requested his wife to make, among others, the following gifts in her lifetime or bequests at her death:-To the trustees of the British Museum for the mineralogical gallery in the Natural History Museum, his collection of cut precious stones, or such thereof as the keeper of the minerals may select; to the curators of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, his collection of Japanese sword guards, and of sliders or beads, and of Chinese and Japanese bronzes, several Indian glass sprinklers, and a number of other curios and antiques. THE Berne correspondent of the Morning Post, quoting from the Akademische Rundschau, gives some interesting information respecting the effects of the war upon the German universities, technical schools, and colleges. It is stated that in the summer term of 1914 there were, at the twenty-two German universities, eleven technical academies, five commercial schools, three veterinary schools, and six agricultural and mining schools, 79,077 students entered, a number which in the autumn of 1914 had sunk to 64,710. Of this number the following were under arms :— University students Technical students Commercial students Veterinary students Agricultural students Mining students Total The following are the percentages of students of some Königsberg, 84; Heidelberg, 60; Munich, 56; Berlin, of the universities who have gone to the front:54; Frankfurt, 11. Of the technical academies Danzig sent the highest proportion of students-90 per cent. The total number of German professors and students killed in the war, up to the end of May, is said to be 1191; Leipzig University has suffered most severely, losing 266 of its students. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. PARIS. Academy of Sciences, August 2.-M. Ed. Perrier in the chair.-G. Bigourdan: The letters of L. Euler in the correspondence of J. N. Deslisle. H. Douvillé : The Orbitoids of Trinity Island. The distribution of these foraminifera is utilised for the classification of the Eocene strata at Trinity Island.-W. Kilian and Antonin Lanquine: The tectonic complications of the south-eastern portion of the, Basses-Alpes, near Castellane.-A. Leduc : The internal pressure of gases. The influence of temperature. Experimental data for sulphur dioxide at temperatures between o° and 1000° C. are not in good accord with the formulæ of Clausius and Sarrau. A new expression is proposed which presents the experimental results with greater exactness.-Sabra Stefanescu: The origin of some accidents of the crown of elephants' molars.-Louis Gentil: The analogies of the Moroccan Haut Atlas and Atlas of the Sahara.-R. Chudeau : Temperature in western and equatorial Africa.-V. Wallich: The suppression of suppuration in war wounds. The treatment, the very favourable results of which are described, is based on suppressing all causes of irritation at the level of the wound, together with the use of a stringently aseptic dressing. No antiseptics are used, draining tubes are removed as early as possible, and the compresses are moistened with a solution of common salt (one tablespoonful to the litre of water) sterilised by boiling for fifteen minutes before use.- -V. Galippe: Parasitism in seeds and its importance in general biology. Experiments carried out on thirty-one species of plants showed that normal seeds can contain parasites. In ninety series of experiments seventy-eight results were positive. The parasite was usually a fungus, more rarely a yeast. The possibility of these parasites causing sudden mutations in plants is discussed. Edmond Perrier: Remarks on the preceding paper.Armand Gautier : Remarks on the same note of V. Galippe. : August 9.-M. Ed. Perrier in the chair.-J. Comas Solà: Stereoscopic photography in the study of the proper motions of stars. The method is based on the extreme delicacy of the eyes, which are capable of producing sensations of relief by displacements of the order of 1 μ to 2p, even making use of an ordinary stereoscope. Placing in a stereoscope two corresponding images of regions near star cluster M. 11, one taken July 12, 1912, and the other July 20, 1915, numerous stars show in relief. In a surface of 200 square, no fewer than 200 stars give evidence of movement after three years.-Thadée Banachiewicz: The method of Olbers and multiple solutions.-Arnaud Denjoy: The four fundamental cases of derived numbers.-J. Vallot: Correction for the error. introduced by the containing vessel in the determination of the diathermic power of liquids. The usual method of correcting for the effects of the containing walls is erroneous, owing to reflections due to the different refractive indices of glass and liquid. A slight modification of the usual measurements eliminates this error. Albert Gascard and Emile Beignot-Devalmont : The localisation of projectiles by radiography.-F. Bodroux: A method of preparation of hydrocarbons of the formula (C,H,),CH.R, R being an aromatic nucleus. Phenylmagnesium bromide and bromodiphenylmethane react readily in ether solutions giving triphenylmethane. Paratolyldiphenylmethane and a-naphthyldiphenylmethane can be prepared with good yields by a similar reaction.-E. Léger: The resolution of B-nataloin and B-homonataloin into their optical isomerides.-I. Pouget The use of aluminium in preventing deposits in boilers. It is well known that laboratory water baths provided with arrangements for keeping a constant level, when fed with hard waters are put out of action through the feed tube becoming choked with scale. The author has used a water-bath, painted inside with aluminium paint, for three years, nearly continuously, without stoppage, and gives the results of experiments showing that the presence of aluminium greatly diminishes scale formation. MM. Russo and Tussau: Geological expeditions. through central Morocco.-Emile Belot: The deficit and excess of the acceleration of gravity on continents and islands with respect to the isostatic condition of the earth's crust. —Henry Hubert: The climates of western Africa.—F. Garrigou Waters containing chlorides and iodides, bromides, sulphides and metals at Beaucens (HautesPyrénées).-Mme. A. Laborde: The action of radium on vicious scars resulting from war wounds. The radium radiation was used after filtration through 0.5 mm. of platinum, and from the results of the cases described the conclusion is drawn that the radium treatment may be recommended to set free nerves or tendons included in cicatricial tissue, without any danger of forming fresh adhesions.-M. Marage Contribution to the study of deafness resulting from war wounds. The deafness results from lesions of the auditive centres, either new or of a kind very rarely observed. These lesions are due either to direct shocks on the cranium or to a sudden displacement of air.-Henry D. Dakin Certain antiseptic substances containing chlorine suitable for the treatment of wounds. In studying the germicidal power of antiseptics, it is necessary to take into account the effect of the presence of serum and proteid material in modifying the action. An antiseptic should be soluble, not precipitable by proteids, and possess a minimum toxic power and local irritating action. Hypochlorites fulfil some of these conditions, but are irritating and inconstant in composition. These two drawbacks can be overcome by using a solution of sodium hypo chlorite prepared in a manner detailed. The sodium salts of benzene and toluene sulphochloroamides can also be advantageously used as antiseptics. Their aqueous solutions can be used under higher concentrations than hypochlorites, and are very slightly toxic. -R. Anthony: A brain of a foetus of the gorilla.Edmond Bordage: Histolytic phenomena observed during the regeneration of the appendices in certain Orthoptera. BOOKS REceived. Elements of Finite Differences, also Solutions to Questions Set for Part I. of the Examinations of the Institute of Actuaries. By J. Burn and E. H. Brown. Second edition. Pp. 289. (London: C. and E. Layton.) Ios. 6d. Mededeelingen van de Rijksopsporing van Delfstoffen. No. 6: The Pliocene Floras of the DutchPrussian Border. By Clement Reid and Eleanor M. Reid. Pp. 178+plates xx. (The Hague: The Institute for the Geological Exploration of the Netherlands.) |