September i, 1923] 



NA TURE 



139 



of Fatigue," by the director of the Institute, Dr. C. S. 

 Myers. 



In addition to the sessional programme, a series of 

 afternoon lectures and lecturettes have been arranged ; 

 and a Citizens' Lecture entitled " Skill in Work and 

 Play " will be given by Prof. T. H. Pear. 



Section K (Botany). 



This Section will meet under the presidency of 

 Mr. A. G. Tansley, whose address will deal with 

 " The Present Position of Botany." IVIost branches 

 of botany are well represented in the programme, 

 and, as in recent years, papers of a cognate nature 

 will be grouped together so far as possible. The only 

 loint discussion arranged this year is one on " Virus 

 Diseases of Plants," in which Sections K and M will 

 neet. This discussion will be opened by Dr. Paul 

 Murphy, who will be followed by Prof. H. M. Quanjer, 

 ihe eminent Dutch investigator of these curious 

 maladies. One morning session will be devoted to 

 morphological problems, including papers by Dr. 

 D. H. Scott and Prof. Lang on the organisation of 

 vascular plants considered in the light of fossil 

 history. Prof. Seward will speak on the Cretaceous 

 floras of Greenland. Plant physiology will again 

 be strongly represented, among others, by Dr. F. F. 

 Blackman on " Oxidation and Respiration," by 

 Prof. Dixon on the " Extraction of Sap by means of 

 Compressed Air," and by Prof. V. H. Blackman and 

 his colleagues on " The Effect of Electric Currents 

 on Plant Growth." A discussion will take place on 

 " The Effect of Soil Sourness on Plants," in which 

 most of the chief British ecologists will take part. 

 There wdll be a considerable number of papers on 

 cytology and mycology, also communications on 

 floral morphology by Miss Saunders and Prof. J. 

 McLean Thompson. In addition, a large number of 

 papers of a miscellaneous nature will be presented. 

 The popular lecture will be given this year by Dr. 

 W. L. Balls on the appropriate subject of " Cotton." 



Several interesting excursions have been arranged, 

 including visits to the West Lancashire sand dunes 

 and to Ingleborough. As in the last few years, 

 opportunity will again be afforded for the display of 

 botanical specimens of special interest in one of the 

 rooms of the Section. 



Section L (Educ.\tional Science). 



The president of the Education Section for the 

 meeting at Liverpool is Dr. T. P. Nunn, principal of 

 the London Day Training College, who is taking as the 

 subject of his address " The Education of The People " ; 

 following the examples of his two predecessors. Dr. 

 Xunn wishes the address to be followed by a dis- 

 cussion, and this will be opened by Prof. Campagnac. 

 The first paper on Thursday. September 13, will be 

 read by Prof. O. Jespcrsen, of Copenhagen, a scholar 

 of wide reputation, upon " Grammar and Logic," and 

 a large audience is expected to hear him. The 

 morning of Monday, September 17, will be devoted to 

 a joint meeting of psychologists and educationists 

 to discuss the subject of "The Delinquent Child." 

 The chair at this meeting will be taken by Mr. C. 

 P>urt, psychologist to the London County Council and 

 president of the Psychology Section, who has made 

 a special study of the problem ; he will be followed 

 l)y Dr. Gordon, of Bath, Dr. Potts, and Miss Crossland. 

 Ihis discussion, which arises out of that upon psycho- 

 analysis last year at Hull, is expected to be one of 

 'he mo.st popular of the meeting. On the afternoon 

 I the same day, there will be a joint discussion with 

 the Section of Geography on geography as a basis for 



NO. 2809, VOL. 112] 



a general science course. The report of a committee 

 appointed last year upon this subject will be pre- 

 sented. 



On Tuesday, September 18, Bishop Welldon, Dean 

 of Durham, will raise the question in a paper as to 

 how far the value of education in elementary schools 

 has corresponded with the increase of expenditure 

 upon it, and it is probable that a very animated 

 discussion will follow the paper. 



During the past two years, several Sections have 

 tried the experiment of having semi-popular lectures 

 in the afternoons. The Education Section is follow- 

 ing this example at Liverpool, with a paper upon 

 " The Education of Children in Music," by Dr. C. S. 

 Grundy, who will be assisted by a full professional 

 orchestra, kindly arranged by Messrs. Rushworth and 

 Dreaper, of Liverpool. There will also be a paper by 

 Miss Margaret Einert upon " Rhythmic Dancing," 

 illustrated by a demonstration. Each of these papers 

 will be read at 5 o'clock, the former on the Thursday, 

 the latter on the Tuesday afternoon. 



Other topics to be considered are education and 

 business life, the older children in elementary schools, 

 literar^^ appreciation in elementary schools, and the 

 teaching of dynamics. 



Section M (Agriculture). 



The meetings of Section M will be held under the 

 presidency of Dr. C. Crowther, principal of the Harper 

 Adams Agricultural College, whose address on ' ' Science 

 and the Agricultural Crisis" will be given in the 

 morning of Thursday, September 13. Two papers 

 from Dr. Stenhouse Williams and his co-workers at 

 the National Dairy Research Institute at Reading will 

 precede the president's address. After the address 

 Mr. Hay will read a paper on agricultural economics 

 and the development of agricultural education. 



On Friday, September 14, the work of the Section 

 will begin with two papers on frit-fly problems by 

 Dr. Fryer and Mr. N. Cunliffe, and these will be 

 followed by a joint discussion with Section F (Eco- 

 nomics), in which the subject will be "The Economic 

 Outlook for British Agriculture." The speakers in 

 this discussion will include Mr. Forrester and Mr. A. 

 W. Ashby. 



On Saturday it is proposed to visit the Lactose 

 Factory at Haslington, and typical cheese-making 

 farms of that area later in the da3^ 



The following Monday morning will be devoted to 

 papers dealing with problems of interest from the 

 side of physical science. The local sectional secretary, 

 Mr. E. Rideout, will speak on the soils of Wirral, and 

 Prof. Sven Oden, of Stockholm, on his apparatus for 

 the mechanical analysis of soils. Different aspects of 

 the soil water and of the soil solution will be dealt with 

 by Mr. E. A. Fisher, of the University of Leeds, and 

 by Prof. Hoagland and Prof. Burd, of the University 

 of CaUfomia. In the afternoon an excursion will be 

 made to farms of the Wirral peninsula. 



The concluding day of the meeting will be devoted 

 to a discussion with Section K (Botany) on the virus 

 diseases of plants, at which the principal speakers 

 will be Dr. Murphy, Dr. Quanjer and Dr. Brierley, 

 followed by a paper by Mr. G. D. Miln, of Messrs. 

 Gartons, on the commercial value of indigenous 

 strains of pasture grasses. Mr. Atkins and Mr. 

 Fenton will discuss the relation of soil acidity to 

 the natural distribution of certain pasture plants. 

 The work of the Section will conclude with a visit 

 to Messrs. Gartons' seed establishment at War- 

 rington, which should form a fitting conclusion to 

 what promises to be a sectional meeting of exceptional 

 interest. 



