March i6, 191 i] 



NATURE 



93 



2h. fast 



from other times in the system by an odd half-hour as 

 well as an exact number of hours. 



The subjoined table, adapted from one in " Hazell's 

 Annual," shows the standard meridians used by various 

 countries, with which France has now come into line : — 



Standard Times. 



C'.reenwich Time.. Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, Holland 

 ih. fast on Green- / Italy, Austria - Hungary, Switzerland, 



wich ( Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden 



f Cap>e Colony, Transvaal, Orange River 

 "\ Colony, Natal, Turkey, Egypt 

 , J Mauritius and dependencies (except Chagos) 



'* ■ " ■■■ "■ ( and Seychelles 



5h. ,, Chagos Archipelago 



5ib. ,, India 



6^h. ,, Burma 



( West Australia, Coast of China from New- 



8h. ,, A chwangtoSwatow, up Yangtse to Hankow, 



\ Hong Kong, Labuan, Brit ish North Borneo 

 9h. ,, ... ... Japan, Philippines 



9ih. ,, South Australia 



1 \ Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, 



" ( Tasmania 



lih. ,, New Zealand 



ih. slow Iceland 



America — 



4h. ,, Atlantic 



5h. ,, ... ... ... ... Eastern 



6h. ,, ... ... ... ... Central 



7I1. ,, ... ... ... ... Mountain 



8h. , Pacific 



Russia, Portugal, and Ireland still remain outside the 

 system ; but perhaps the example now set by France in 

 sacrificing national sentiment to a scientific principle' will 

 induce these countries to link up their times with those of 

 other nations by the adoption of convenient meridians 

 simply related to those of the international standards. 



A LONDON INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL 

 OPTICS. 

 A scheme; for the establishment of an Institute of 

 Technical Optics has now been approved by the 

 Education Committee of the London County Council, and 

 will shortly come before the Council. The object of this 

 icheme is the establishment in London of an Institute of 

 'ICchnical Optics for the widest possible training of opticians 

 and optical instrument mal<ers, and it is also hoped that 

 valuable work may be done in connection with investiga- 

 tions in optical glass, for which this country now so largely 

 depends upon imported supplies. 



The Education Committee proposes that the Council 

 shall grant 35,000/. for the building and equipment of the 

 new institute, the site, valued at about i2,oooL, having 

 been already provided by the Northampton Polytechnic 

 Institute, under the direction of the governors of which 

 the new institute will be maintained. To ensure that the 

 work shall be on the best lines, it is proposed to appoint 

 .1 consultative committee representative of the trade, 

 scientific, and other organisations interested. 



The new institute will be maintained from funds at 

 present used to maintain the Technical Optics Department 

 of the Northampton Polytechnic Institute, additional grants 

 from the Board of Education, and additional contributions 

 from the London County Council. Later it is hoped that, 

 in view of the national character of some of the work 

 which may be developed, assistance may also be obtained 

 from imperial funds. 



In the proposals under consideration, provision is made 

 for the teaching of optical science with its technical appli- 

 tations, and of other subjects of value to the manufacturer 

 and designer of optical instruments, and to the optician. 



Such instruction will be given in day and evening classes, 

 the former being arranged to train men for positions as 

 captains of industry in the trade, while the latter will be 

 chiefly concerned with improving the technical and scien- 

 tific equipment of those already engaged in the trade. In 

 addition to the necessary auxiliary subjects, such as mathe- 

 matics, drawing, elementary physics, &c., the courses 



NO. 2159, VOL. 86] 



would deal with (a) the theory of optics and optical 

 systems, the design of optical systems, the methods of 

 manufacture, and the testing of lenses and other optical 

 work ; {h) the principles, design, and construction of 

 optical instruments (such as telescopes, microscopes^ 

 spectroscopes, photographic apparatus, surveying and other 

 instruments, &c.), their adjustment, testing, and use ; 

 (c) the manufacture, testing, &c., of spectacle frames and 

 lenses ; (d) physiological optics. 



In the various courses suitable laboratory and workshop 

 classes will be included. The day courses will train men,, 

 some of whom may be recruited from the universities, as 

 designers, test-room and general technical assistants, or as 

 retail opticians, the evening classes in corresponding-, 

 branches supplying theoretical and laboratory knowledge 

 to men already engaged in the trade. 



Day classes are also proposed for boys who intend to 

 enter the optical trades as lens workers or instrument 

 makers ; these courses would take the place of part of the 

 time of apprenticeship ; they would probably be on the 

 general lines of such courses held in connection with other 

 trades. In addition, workshop classes, associated with 

 elementary theoretical classes, would be provided for work- 

 men desirous of becoming foremen or of improving their 

 woric in special directions. Facilities for research work 

 on technical problems will also be provided, and students 

 encouraged to pursue such investigations under the direc- 

 tion of a carefully selected and capable staff. Special 

 investigations of questions of general interest to optical 

 instrument makers, as, for instance, the questions con- 

 nected with optical glass, will also be undertaken. 



The above is a bare statement of the character of the 

 proposed institute, and the funds which it is hoped wilf 

 be available for its establishment and maintenance. 

 Nothing has been said of the very strong arguments upon 

 which the case for the founding of such an institute rests. 

 These are embodied in two elaborate reports covering^ 

 nearly forty pages of foolscap print, and signed, respec- 

 tively, by the education officer (Mr. R. Blair) and the 

 educational adviser (Dr. Garnett) of the London County 

 Council. The wide reaching and important character of 

 the work to be undertaken is very fully set out, and it is 

 scarcely too much to say that these reports contain food 

 for serious thought for every scientific worker in physical, 

 chemical, and natural science. 



A 



THE STEREOCHEMISTRY OF NITROGEN. 



T the end of December, 1909, attention was directed 

 "n these columns (vol. Ixxxii., p. 266) to the pre- 

 paration by Profs. Perkin, Pope, and Wallach of an acid 

 of the formula 



H^ .CH2— CH2. n 



>'=<CH -CH >C-^<( 



CH, 



-COOH 



which contained no asymmetric atom, but which was cap- 

 able of existing in two enantiomorphous forms — each- 

 having a large optical rotatory power — because the mole- 

 cule, as a whole, was devoid of any plane of symmetry. 



This important method of investigation has been ex- 

 tended to the stereochemistry of nitrogen by Dr. W. H. 

 Mills and Miss Bain, whose observations are recorded in 

 the Chemical Society's Journal. The substance investi- 

 gated was the oxime of the formula 



HO.CO^^^CH2-CIl3>^'^^-^"' 



This oxime is obviously not symmetrical on either side of 

 the plane of the ring, but would possess a plane of 

 symmetry perpendicular to the ring if it could be assumed 

 that the hydroxyl-group is situated in this median plane. 

 The view that the hydro.vyl-group is not situated in the 

 plane of the remaining valencies of the nitrogen atom was 

 advanced by Hantzsch and Werner in order to account for 

 the isomerism of certain aromatic oximes, but was based 

 upon somewhat slender evidence. In the case of the 

 oxime formulated above, the matter can be tested directly 

 by determining whether it can exist in optically active 

 forms or not. The experiments show that the resolutiort 

 of the oxime can actually be effected by means of morphine- 

 or quinine. It has a high rotatory power, not less thanr 



