72 



NATURE 



[July 14, 1923 



heaters for use at high temperatures, and apparatus 

 for determining the thermal conductivity of metals 

 up to within a few degrees of their melting-points. 

 Other apparatus exhibited was concerned with the 

 production of sounds of constant intensity and 

 frequency, and with the reflecting and absorptive 

 properties of materials for sound waves. A high 

 vacuum two-stage mercury pump was also shown, 

 by which pressures of less than lo'* mm. of mercury 

 can be obtained with a supporting pressure of 4 mm. 

 of mercury. The exhaustion speed for both gases 

 and vapours is extremely high, and drying chemicals 

 are unnecessary. The pump and its connexions 

 throughout are of steel, and the system is vibration- 

 less and noiseless. 



Among other important exhibits in the Metallurgy 

 and Chemistry Departments was an induction furnace 

 in which metals of the highest melting-point can be 

 readily melted by the agency of eddy currents 

 induced in them from a surrounding high-frequency 

 current. Models illustrating the internal constitution 

 of alloys consisting of three or four metals were also 

 shown, together with a number of interesting micro- 

 photographs showing the structure of copper con- 

 taining oxygen and the deformation of metals under 

 the action of cutting tools. 



In the Optics Division various forms of apparatus 

 used in colorimetric work were on view, together 

 with demonstrations of the methods used in deter- 

 mining the optical constants of lenses, prisms, optical 

 glass, and the performances of optical instruments. 

 An interesting and simple shadow method of showing 

 up striae and lack of homogeneity in glass was shown. 



In the Electrical Standards .Division various 

 methods of measurement of electrical properties at 

 radio- and audio-frequencies were demonstrated. 



River-terraces and Glacial Episodes. 



A PENCK'S view, that the infilling of valleys with 

 ■^^^' glacial detritus in Central Europe indicates an 

 ice-extension, while the subsequent erosion of the de- 

 posits indicates an ice-retreat and therefore an inter- 

 glacial episode, has received wide acceptance, and has 

 been applied to areas where other causes may have 

 brought about the facts observed. A. Heim in Switzer- 

 land has kept in view the effect of general movements 

 of elevation or depression on river-erosion and valley- 

 choking respectively, and teachers in the British Isles 

 are not likely to have omitted such factors from their 

 explorations of existing features in the homelands. 

 W. Soergel, on the other hand (see Nature, vol. 

 108, p. 464, 1921) has felt that the infilling of the 

 valleys round the Rhine-vale and the subsequent 

 erosion must be due to climatic changes rather than 

 to earth-movement, and that much of the infilling is 

 due to frost-action. 



There seems to be a feeling in Holland that 

 valley-terraces and " drift " accumulations in the 

 northern lowlands have been unduly linked up 

 with those of the Alpine area, and Prof. J. van 

 Baren has issued a critical paper in English, bear- 

 ing the long but expressive title, " On the cor- 

 relation between the fluvial deposits of the Lower- 

 Rhine and the Lower-Meuse in the Netherlands and 

 the glacial phenomena in the Alps and Scandinavia " 

 (Mededeelingen van de Landbouwhoogeschool, 1922 ; 

 Wageningen: H. Veenman, 1922; price f. 2.50). He 

 lays stress on changes in the position of the sea-level 

 and on tectonic movements generally, and even 

 ascribes to the latter many cases of disturbance in 

 deposits that have been regarded as glacial and as 

 pressed on by the Scandinavian ice-front. In his 

 desire to be free from the incubus of glaciers in the 

 central and northern Rhine-vale, he reverts (p. 13) 



NO. 2802, VOL. 112] 



to the old suggestion that rock-surfaces may be 

 striated by the sliding of stones dowii mountain- 

 slopes. There is a good deal in recent Dutch dis- 

 cussions of the subject that van Baren desires to 

 make more widely known, and a good deal that, will 

 seem to be a challenge to liritish workers, who have 

 felt that sound conclusions have been reached in regard 

 to the problems of the East Anglian " drifts." The 

 author's beautiful photographic illustrations shou 

 how much may be done with the unpromising material 

 of modern clay-pits. 



Dr. C. H. Oostingh (Ber. Oberhess, Gesell. fur 

 Natur u. Heilkunde zu Gieszen, vol. 8, 1922) treats 

 of the " Geschrebe siidhicher Herkunft in Holland 

 und den benachbartein Gegenden," and, like van 

 Baren, is opposed to the suggestion of any glacia- 

 tion by land-ice of the hills about the central 

 Rhine. He regards the blocks from the south, of 

 which he has made careful collections throughout 

 Holland, and which are very often angular, as trans- 

 ported by ground-ice floating down the rivers. He 

 asks also for more complete petrographic information 

 as to the materials in the English Forest Bed that 

 have been attributed to the denudation of Germany 

 and the Ardennes. His extensive bibliography will 

 aid numerous English workers in this field. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Birmingham. — At a degree congregation held on 

 July 7, the Vice-Chancellor (Sir Gilbert Barling) con- 

 ferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on 

 Dr. F. \V. Aston, in recognition of his distinguished 

 contributions to scientific knowledge. 



The degree of D.Sc. was conferred {in absentia) on 

 Mr. C. S. Fox for a thesis on " The Bauxite Deposit 

 of India," and other papers on geological subject- 

 The degree of M.D. Avas conferred on the following : — 

 J. C. Brash, C. C. Elliott, R. J. Gittens, A. P. Thomson, 

 and G. H. Wilson. There were 26 successful candi- 

 dates for the degree of IM.Sc., 94 for the honours 

 B.Sc, 68 for the ordinary B.Sc, and 29 for the degree- 

 M.B., Ch.B. 



Bristol. — Prof. J. W. McBain is to give a dedica- 

 tion address in connexion with the opening of the 

 Chemical Laboratory at Brown University, Rhode 

 Island, United States. 



The degree of Bachelor of Agriculture (B.Agr.) has 

 been established in the Faculty of Science. The 

 curriculum for the degree occupies 5 years, two of 

 which will be spent in the University (including the 

 Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Long 

 Ashton), two years in the Royal Agricultural College, 

 Cirencester, and the remaining year on a selected farm. 



Cambridge. — Mr. G. C. Steward, fellow of Gonville 

 and Caius College, has been appointed fellow and 

 lecturer in mathematics at Emmanuel College. Mr. 

 A. H. Davenport has been appointed fellow and 

 bursar of Sidney Sussex College. 



The Syndicate appointed to consider the regulations 

 for the' Jacksonian professorship on the vacancy 

 caused by the death of Sir James Dewar, recommend 

 that it be defined to be a professorship of natural 

 experimental philosophy as relating to physics and 

 chemistry, and suggest that a professor should be 

 appointed whose work would advance the knowledge 

 of chemical physics on the lines of recent physical, 

 atomic, and molecular research. The exact method 

 by which such researches may lead to finding a cure 

 for the gout — one of the prime duties of the professor 

 according to the will of the founder of the chair — may 

 at present be left to the speculations of the curious. 



The Chemical Department Syndicate has issued a 



