558 



NOTE. 



Technical Optics. 



The recently established Department of Technical Optics of the 

 Imperial Collef^^e at South Kensington has now begun its work. 

 It will be remembered that on the initiative of the London County 

 Council a general scheme for providing instruction in this highly 

 important national work was agreed to by the several parties con- 

 cerned in the early part of the year, when an Advisory Committee 

 to the County Council, representative of the trade, the workers, 

 and other interests concerned, was appointed under the Chairman- 

 ship of the Eight Hon. A. H. Dyke Acland. 



An important part of the scheme was the establishment of the 

 above department, which is administered under the Governors of 

 the College by the same Committee. In June Professor Frederic 

 * J. Cheshire was appointed Director of the new department ; in 

 July Professor A. E. Conrady was appointed to the Chair of 

 Optical Design, and other subordinate appointments are in hand. 



During the summer two Courses of Lectures were given on 

 the designing and computing of telescope sj^stems, and attended 

 by 6H students, of whom 42 came direct from the workshop — a 

 gratifying indication of the recognition by the manufacturers of 

 the importance of this work. About 12 of these were men of 

 academic distinction. The Ministry of Munitions, the National 

 Physical Laboratory, the Eoyal Observatory, and Woolwich 

 Arsenal were well represented. 



This Session well-attended Courses are being given in Optical 

 Designing and Computing, Practical Optical Computing, the 

 Construction, Theory and Use of Optical Measuring Instruments, 

 Theory of the Microscope, and Microscope Technique. 



The courses on the Theory of the Microscope and Microscope 

 Technique now in progress constitute the lirst effort of the Technical 

 Optics Department under the direction of Professor Cheshire to 

 meet the needs of the users of optical instruments. The microscope 

 is perhaps the most important of all optical instruments, and the 

 one for which there is the greatest commercial demand, but 

 unfortunately an exceedingly small proportion of that demand has 

 been satisfied hitherto by English manufacturers. It is hoped 

 therefore in the courses referred to above to excite a wider interest 

 in the designing and production of the microscope, and at the 

 same time to insist upon the necessity for greater technical 

 knowledge. and skill in its use. 



