February 15, 19 12] 



NATURE 



537 



and graphical) in the upper classes of schools that prepare , 

 for the universities ; (2) mathematics as needed in the study ; 

 of physics. In preparation for these discussions, informa- 

 tion is being collected as to the conditions prevailing in 

 different countries. The information collected will be pub- 

 lished in L'Enseignement Mathhnatique (Paris : Gauthier- 

 \'illars) ; and as regards the position of (i) in this country, 

 a report in greater detail will be published by the Board of 

 Kducation. The meetings and other proceedings at Cam- 

 1 nidge will be open to all who pay the subscription of a 

 c;uinea. 



The annual report of the council of the Institution of 

 Mechanical Engineers includes as an appendix a draft 

 scheme for associate membership examinations. Just as 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Surveyors' 

 Institution have found it expedient to hold similar ex- 

 aminations, the council of the Institution of Mechanical 

 F.ngineers is of opinion that the time has come for institu- 

 ting an entrance examination for the younger applicants 

 for admission to its institution. The council suggests (i) 

 that the examination should be taken, especially by 

 graduates, at as early an age as possible, and in order to 

 bring such a scheme gradually into operation it might be 

 desirable that it should apply in the first year only to 

 candidates of twenty-eight years of age and under, in the 

 second year to candidates of twenty-nine years of age and 

 under, and in the third and subsequent years to candidates 

 of thirty vears of age and under ; (2) that no examina- 

 tions need' be held abroad at present ; (3) that, so far as 

 possible, examinations of universities and colleges or other 

 public examining bodies should be accepted as exempting 

 from the institution examination, it being understood that 

 only such examinations as are of at least a standard equal 

 to the institution examination will be accepted. _ A list of 

 examinations which might be accepted as exempting candi- 

 dates is provided, and it may be noted this list includes the 

 engineering degrees of British universities, the diplomas of 

 the City and Guilds College, University College and King's 

 College, London, and Whitworth scholarships and exhibi- 

 tions. The suggested subjects of examination are grouped 

 under general, scientific, and technical knowledge. 



The standing committee, of which Sir Matthew Nathan 

 is chairman, dealing with the employment of boy labour 

 in the Post Oflice, has issued its second report. In the 

 first report, published last year, a number of recommenda- 

 tions were made," which have been acted upon. A scheme 

 of education for the boys, designed to improve their 

 qualifications and to fit them for further employment, has 

 been approved by the Postmaster-General. The number of 

 bov messengers was reduced from 15,790 in March, 191 1, 

 to' 14,506 in September, 191 1. Instead of there being only 

 iqoo vacancies per year in the Post Office service for these 

 bovs to fill later, a revised estimate gives the number as 

 2350, of which 1280 are for postmen. The Navy and the 

 Roval Engineers can also take some of the boys for special 

 service. The report deals also with the boys' training for 

 subsequent employments. A useful purpose is served by 

 the boys' institutes, which are carried on mainly by the 

 voluntary work of local oflicials, and receive grants 

 amounting to 200oZ. a year from the Treasury. The even- 

 ing schools of local education authorities also have been 

 made use of, half the boys' fees being paid out of mstitute 

 funds. The number of boys who attended classes during 

 the session 1910-11 in London and seventy-eight provincial 

 towns was 6479, or about 70 per cent, of the whole number 

 employed in those towns. To remedy irregular attend- 

 ance, 'which has been somewhat pronounced, the committee 

 recommended compulsory attendance at the classes, and a 

 minimum of four hours a week, from September to April, 

 was fixed, this being made a condition of employment 

 during the boys' first two years of service. Special classes 

 : for the bovs are recommended, and an essential feature is 

 I that the boys' attendances are to be arranged so that each 

 class should always be composed of the same boys. ine 

 committee approached the Postmaster-General with these 

 recommendations, and he approved of their being carried 

 out without delay. The committee has come to the con- 

 clusion that the basis for permanent employment shall be 

 a competitive examination in the subjects taught at tnc 

 compulsory classes, 

 j^^ NO. 2207, VOL. 88] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, February 8. — Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., president, followed by Sir Alfred Kempe, vice- 

 president and treasurer, in the chair. — Sir Norman 

 Lockyer : The spectrum of comet Brooks (1911c). 

 In this paper an account is given of the lines shown 

 in a series of ten photographs of the spectrum of 

 comet Brooks, taken between September 6 and October 31. 

 Seven of the photographs were taken while the comet was 

 an evening object, and three when it was a morning object. 

 The instrument used was a 2-in. quartz-calcite prisnaatic 

 camera. In the best spectrum (September 30), in addition 

 to the well-established carbon or carbon-compound bands 

 at K\ 3883, 4737, 5165, 5635, other radiations were seen 

 at \\ 310, 316, 337, 405, 421, and 436. Line A 421 is 

 probably the cyanogen band, the head of which is \ 4216. 

 So far as is known, the ultra-violet bands XX 310, 316, 337 

 have not been recorded in the spectrum of any previous 

 comet. Attempts have been made to ascertain the chemical 

 origin of these lines by reference to published records of 

 laboratory spectra, and to recent photographs of the spec- 

 trum of CO taken with the quartz-calcite prism, but with 

 no success. Although no definite changes in the relative 

 intensity of the cometary lines were noted amongst the 

 earlier photographs, a comparison of the best of these 

 (September 30) with that of October 31, when the comet 

 was a morning object, showed the following changes :— 

 (i) On September 30 line X 4216 was weakest of the three 

 subsidiary lines XX 405, 4216, 43O. On October 31 it was 

 strongest. (2) Lines XX 3883, 4737 were of about equal 

 intensity on September 30. On October 31 X 3883 was 

 distinctly the stronger. (3) The ultra-violet lines XX 310, 

 316, 337, shown in the spectrum of September 30, were 

 not seen on October 31- A photographic comparison is 

 given of the Kensington spectrum of comet Brooks (Sep- 

 tember 30) with that of comet Daniel (ignd). reproduced 

 by Campbell in Lick Bulletin No. 135- Ahhough the 

 latter showed far more detail, being photographed with a 

 slit spectrograph, it is fairly evident that the spectra of the 

 two comets are very similar.— Hon. R. J. Strutt : 

 A chemically active modification of nitrogen, produced by 

 the electric discharge.-IIL (i) Active nitrogen emits its 

 energy more quickly, and reverts sooner to ordinary 

 nitrogen, if it is cooled. This is apparently a unique 

 instance of a chemical change accelerated by cooling. 

 (2) If the glowing gas is compressed to small volume, it 

 flashes out with great brilliance, and e.xhausts itself in so 

 doing. This proves that the glow-transformation is poly- 

 molecular, i.e that more than one '"O^^^" ^'""VHiinrv 

 oart in it. (3) Active nitrogen may revert to ordinar> 

 nitrogen in two distinct ways. One of those is a volume 

 chanle. accompanied by glow; the other a.^^r.'ace action 

 of the wall= of the vessel, without glow. I his is 

 ^naloTous to the behaviour of oxyhydrogen gas m its trans- 

 LrmaUon to water, which may be ^ ^-^^^^^^^^^^ 

 ^ffert according to circumstances.— K. Whytiaxw-urmif 

 and Sir W R«m.«y: The atomic weight of radium 

 The material for this research consisted of 330 mg. of a 

 mKture of ad^um and barium bromides, containing ao(. 

 mi of radium bromide, supplied by the courtesy of the 

 B?iiish RaZm Corporation. The bromides wore «ub- 

 m ted to meSi^ical fractional crystallisation, and yielded 



o,,f^r the last five determinations giving the figurcH 

 a„d it i. pomt«l out 'h". •'•"'''' Suv „f ,|,c Utter. 



;lSerSrw.'lcH'"'„,rK ^.in.».i«. or .-ectHc 



