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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Studies on the Institutions of the T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo, and is continuing with the supplementary work, A General History of the T'ai-p'ing T'ien-Kuo. Mr. CHANG HSüan, in addition to his Compilation of Chinese Characters, has been engaged upon an intensive study of the Bronze Mirrors and their Inscriptions in the University Museum of Chinese Art and Archaeology.
In the Department of Extra-Mural Studies research has con- tinued about the career of W. B. Yeats as a dramatist; a book on this subject is now ready for publication. An inquiry into the literary origins of Chinese idioms is also in progress, the results of which will be published in both Chinese and English.
An investigation' of the physical and mental performances of undergraduates has been conducted by the Department of Physical Education and research will be continued with a view to establish- ing norms of physical and motor fitness characteristics.
In the Department of Zoology research has been pursued in the fields of neurology, entomology, morphology, and fisheries. The United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is supporting a neurological research programme for three years with a grant of US$27,000. Some of the results of the Fisheries Research Unit's programme appeared in the Hong Kong University Fisheries Journal No. 2 (September 1958), published by the University Press. The research vessel Alister Hardy steams an average of 600-700 nautical miles each month in conducting exploratory fishing and sampling operations.
New discoveries made in the Department of Chemistry in the fields of synthetic organic compounds, products from Hong Kong plants, and the mechanisms of chemical reactions are published from time to time in leading British chemical journals and con- tinue to attract attention in many parts of the world.
The Department of Mathematics has two distinct fields of interest: pure mathematics and applied statistics. In the former, research activity has centred mainly on the problems connected with the quotient groups of finitely generated groups; the theory of linear connexions or differentiable manifolds; and an attempt to develop the theory of metrisable Lie groups from the global point of view. In applied statistics, research work has included the planning, supervision, and analysis of the first social surveys to