NA TURE 



45 



SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1923. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



45 



Training for the Industrial Professions . 

 Evolution and Christian Faith. By Rev. Canon 



E. W. Barnes, F.R.S. 46 



Bacteria of the Soil. By H. G. Thornton . , 49 



The Latin Works of Geber. By E. J. Hclmyard . 50 

 The Living- Plant . . . . . "51 



Our Bookshelf. . - . . -51 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Crossed-Orbit Model of Helium. — Dr. Ludwik 



Silberstein 53 



Symmetry of Calcium Thiosulphate Hexahydrate. — 



W. T. Astbury 53 



A Method of Photographing the Disintegration of 

 Atoms and of Testing the Stability of Atoms by 

 the Use of High-speed Alpha Particles, (lllus 

 traced.)— Prof. William D. Harkins and R. W, 

 Ryan .... 

 Science and Economics. — Prof. Frederick Soddy, 



F.R.S. ... 

 A Puzzle Paper Band. — Prof. D'Arcy W 



Thompson, C.B., F.R.S. 

 Active Hydrogen by Electrolysis. — Prof. Y. Venka 



taramaiah and Bh. S. V. Raghava Rao 

 The Transfinite Ordinals of the Second Class. ^ — Dr 



H. C. Pocklngton, F.R.S. . 

 Shakespeare and the Indian Meteors of 1592. — H 

 Beveridge 

 The Production of Single Metallic Crystals and some 

 of their Properties. {Illustrated.) By Prof. H. C. H 

 Carpenter, F.R.S. 

 The Royal Asiatic Society. By F. E. Pargiter 

 Obituary :^ 



Prof John Chiene 

 Dr. W. d E. Emery. By R 

 Miss A. C. Breton . 

 Current Topics and Events 

 Our Astronomical Column 

 Research Items .... 



The International Air Congress, 1923 

 The National Physical Laboratory, Teddington 



Annual Visitation 

 River-terraces and Glacial Episodes 

 University and Educational Intelligence 

 Societies and Academies . 

 Official Publications Received . 

 Diary of Societies .... 

 Muscular Exercise. [Illustrated.) By Prof. A. V 

 Hill, F.R.S. . . 



T. H. 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN gr CO., LTD.. 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2, 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



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Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



NO. 2802, VOL. 112] 



Training for the Industrial Professions. 



IN the formation of the great professional corpora- 

 tions of industrial intellect it is evident that there 

 must be some condition of entry which shall make for 

 a certain uniformity and shall satisfy the requirements 

 of existing members. The essential principle on which 

 all agree is that there must be proof of an adequate 

 education in theory, along with a sufficient and com- 

 prehensive training in practice. This combination is 

 ensured in various ways, but for those who aim at 

 securing the hall-mark of inclusion within the appro- 

 priate professional institution there is now in Great 

 Britain a scale of reasonably comparable requirements, 

 based in every instance upon a proof of soundness of 

 general and scientific education, with a guarantee at 

 each stage that progressive professional or technical 

 experience is being simultaneously acquired. 



Schemes of this type have been adopted by the 

 Institute of Chemistry, and the Institutions of Civil, 

 Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers, among others. 

 Qualification to register as student is given either by 

 success in a special examination held by the institution 

 concerned, or by production of evidence of having 

 passed some recognised equivalent, such as the 

 Matriculation examination of a university ; and, in 

 this connexion, it is interesting to note that among the 

 requirements there is now in every case, in addition 

 to a proved knowledge of science, a demand for a good 

 training in English, and, at some stage, for knowledge 

 of one foreign language. 



Having thus entered, the student, with increase of 

 experience, is led to further tests, and, with these 

 satisfied and under the personal recommendation of 

 those professionally competent, he may pass forward 

 at appropriate ages to Graduateship, to Associate 

 Membership, and in the end to full Membership of the 

 institution chosen. 



The subject-matter of these further examinations is 

 almost entirely technical, and has to deal with the 

 specialised knowledge required for the particular pro- 

 fession ; but again, in lieu of this special examination, it 

 is permissible to offer a recognised and approved equi- 

 valent in the shape of the degree of an approved univer- 

 sity, or the diploma of an approved college. There 

 is, as the student advances in his career, a gradual 

 elimination of demand for those subjects which may 

 be studied mainly for educational training in favour of 

 those which are of direct professional importance. 



The course of education and training followed is to 

 give the power both to work and to think, ability not 

 only to carry into performance with intelligence in- 

 structions given, but also to see possibilities of new 

 design or process. 



