March 30, 191 1] 



NATURE 



159 



from the typical Phoronis in having an involution of the 

 epidermal ceils below the oesophageal nerve collar ; it has 

 been allotted to a new genus as Plioronopsis albomaculata ; 

 the third form is a Ptychodera, P. capensis, a brief pre- 

 liminary description of which is given. 



In a short paper Miss Lydia Jacubowa describes a new 

 species of Plarocera, P. gilchristi. 



Dr. Caiman contributes an account of a parasitic cope- 

 Dd from Cephalodiscus gilchristi from the Cape Seas. 

 fAn interesting point about this new form is that it is 

 [referable to the family Ascidicolidae as Zanclopus cephalo- 

 idisci (nov. gen. et sp.J, and is thus closely allied to forms 

 [infesting tunicates. The author points out that as the 

 [nearest ally of Zanclopus is a form infesting the echino- 

 ierm Antedon, the nature of the parasite in this case does 

 Fnot necessarily have any bearing on the chordate affinities 

 [of the host ; nevertheless, the point has some value in such 

 [discussions. 



Mr. F. Gordon Pearcey concludes this volume with a 

 paper on the genus Botellina, with a description of a new 

 species, which is a gigantic arenaceous rhizopod, attaining 

 a height of i to 2J inches. 



Vol. vi. of the Marine Investigations will be published 

 in the Annals of the South African Museum. 



SOME MODERN METHODS OF ORE- 

 TREA TMENT. 

 A T the twentieth annual general meeting of the Institu- 

 ■^^ tion of Mining and Metallurgy, held on March 22, 

 the new president, Mr. H. Livingstone Sulman, was 

 inducted into the chair, and delivered an address in which 

 he reviewed some modern methods of ore-treatment. At 

 the outset, attention was directed to the increasing com- 

 plexity of metallurgical science, and the need for specialisa- 

 tion on the part of those engaged in its practice. Each 

 stage of production for every finished metal demands its 

 own specialised services from the miner, the metallurgist, 

 and the metal worker, and the task of each daily becomes 

 more elaborate in detail. 



After paying a passing tribute to the debt owing to the 

 technical chemist and the mechanical engineer, who have 

 enriched metallurgical practice with such a wealth of 

 ingenious and useful apparatus, Mr. Sulman passed on to 

 z. general review of the metallurgical industry, its con- 

 ditions and requirements, incidentally touching on some of 

 the more important processes now in operation in the 

 treatment of various metals. Zinc-fume precipitation of 

 gold solutions, oil-flotation in aiding recovery of gold and 

 tin, electrolytic cyanidation, the use of cyanogen iodide and 

 of bromocyanide, of silica sponge brick and other methods, 

 were briefly noted, and the speaker then dealt with the 

 rapid development that has recently come about in the 

 treatment of " complex " ores, in which blende, more or 

 less ferruginous in character, is in intimate physical 

 association with galena and other minerals. The means 

 by which such ores can be attacked may be divided into 

 two broad classes, proximate or mechanical methods, and 

 ultimate or leaching and smelting processes. Among the 

 former, flotation methods (somewhat indiscriminately 

 termed "oil" and "surface tension" processes) are now 

 largely used, though there is still apparently much to be 

 learned in this department, especially with regard to the 

 underlying physical reactions, and the need for a practical 

 solution of the slime problem. Magnetic separation, 

 electrostatic methods, and centrifugal machines are also 

 among the mechanical devices which are still in vogue. 

 Ip processes dependent on the prior removal of zinc by 

 distillation, comparatively little progress has been made ; 

 but the reproach often levelled against zinc metallurgists 

 of being behindhand and incomplete in their practice is 

 unmerited, since the conditions surrounding the reduction 

 of zinc oxide to metal are peculiar, and the reactions in- 

 volved are so highly endothermic. A feature of the zinc 

 industry is its limitation to comparatively few smelting 

 centres, a localisation due primarily to the necessity for 

 cheap fuel, the occurrence of the peculiar clays required 

 for retorts, and climatic conditions. Ultimate methods of 

 tre.-iting complex ores introduce a variety of processes 

 devised to meet diverse circumstances, and include leach- 

 ing processes, electrolysis, electric smelting, and other 

 means. 



Mr. Sulman also touched on the treatment of copper 

 ores, and in this connection led up to the necessity for 

 the conservation of what the present generation is too apt 

 to regard as " waste " tailings, but which in the future,, 

 with more advanced methods, may prove to be sources of 

 considerable profit. This question of profit, present or 

 ultimate, should, of course, be the dominating idea in all 

 metallurgical work, for, as pointed out earlier in the 

 address, whilst the labours of the chemist, the physicist,, 

 the engineer, the mechanician, and the electrician are all 

 important in their respective spheres, the accountant must 

 in effect dominate all. 



THE ORGANISATION OF TECHNICAL 

 EDUCATION. 



A N open meeting of the London Branch of the Associa- 

 ■^ tion of Teachers in Technical Institutions was held 

 on March 25 at the South-Western Polytechnic. The chair- 

 man of the branch, Mr. J. Paley Yorke, presided, and 

 Dr. R. T, Glazebrook, F.R.S., opened a conference on 

 the organisation of technical instruction, especially in con- 

 nection with the higher branches. Dr. Glazebrook 's- 

 address was confined mainly to the question of the 

 organisation of some form of technical university in 

 London. As a keynote he quoted, from his recent speech 

 at the Guildhall, three main points to the effect that (a). 

 an independent faculty of technology in London University 

 had become a necessity ; (h) definite value should be given 

 to the technical instruction in each London school of 

 technology ; (c) the technical faculty should have power 

 to confer degrees under conditions which should be laid, 

 down by the faculty. He pointed out the difticulties 

 which lay in the way of establishing an independent uni- 

 versity of technology, and affirmed that these need not 

 exist if separate and independent faculties were established 

 in the existing university. Moreover, each faculty could 

 be treated as if it were a university. It could have its 

 own active body of control composed of representative 

 business and professional men of wide views and sound 

 knowledge of and interest in local necessities and con- 

 ditions. This body would be similar to the controlling, 

 bodies of such provincial universities as Birmingham or 

 Leeds. It could have its council to keep in touch with 

 the governing bodies of the various institutions in the 

 faculty, to approve the various courses of instruction, and 

 adjust the degree of " recognition " of the work done in 

 each institution. This council should consist of repre- 

 sentatives of employers, employees, and teachers. It could 

 also have its board of studies, composed of teachers of 

 various subjects under the faculty, to arrange the educa- 

 tional courses and exam'nations. These independent facul- 

 ties would have to be connected in some way to prevent 

 overlapping. This could be done by means of advisory 

 committees which should advise a board of trustees, which 

 would sec that the freedom of the faculties was not abused^ 

 adjust any differences, and administer finance. 



Dr. Glazebrook urged the importance of inter-school 

 courses, and the need of greater facilities to teachers and 

 post-graduate students for carrying out research work at 

 their own institutions, and also at the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology. Principal Skinner advocated the 

 linking up of the polytechnics to the Imperial College, but 

 did not wish to break connection with the pure science 

 side of the university. His polytechnic was already 

 " thrusting itself into the Imperial College," as Sir Alfred 

 Keogh had urged all polytechnics to do, and was doing 

 inter-collegiate work with it. Mr. J. Wilson emphasised 

 the difficulty of procuring under present conditions that 

 freedom of the faculties which was so necessary. Messrs. 

 H. Ade Clark and W. J. Lineham urged for complete 

 separation on the grounds that sympathy towards technical 

 work was not likely to be forthcoming from the present 

 university. Mr. W. P. Winter urged the adoption of a 

 wider matriculation examination, which would allow ar 

 student to qualify without having to take a foreign 

 language. Mr. E. Bates also spoke on behalf of the build- 

 ing trades. Dr. Glazebrook, replying to a vote of thanks, 

 hoped the conference would help to strengthen the evidence 

 which the association had been asked to present to "the 

 Royal Commission. 



NO. 2 161, VOL. 86] 



