November 3, 1910] 



NATURE 



jj 



Applications should be addressed to the secretary of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George Street, West- 

 minster, S.W. Further particulars may be obtained on 

 application to the secretary of the institution. 



In the technical schools of this country the library is 

 usually a comparatively unimportant factor in the intel- 

 lectual work done by the institution in question. This is 

 perhaps partly due to the insistent and ever-growing claims 

 of the laboratories and workshops for apparatus, plant, 

 &c. As a result of this and other causes, the higher work 

 of many technical institutions is seriously hampered by the 

 inadequate provision of scientific and technical literature, 

 works of reference, and the journals of the learned socie- 

 ties. Not only is there a deficiency in the supply of books 

 and journals open to the student, but in some cases the 

 libraries themselves are small, badly lit, noisy, and 

 crowded. This militates against fostering those habits of 

 study which are essential to the progress of the student, 

 especially as in some cases the technical student is unable 

 to secure a quiet working place in his or her own home. 

 The magnificent new library at the Battersea Polytechnic, 

 recently presented by the munificence of Mr. Edwin Tate, 

 and opened on October 2i by the Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, is excellently adapted for study and reading by those 

 attending classes at the polytechnic. The library is 70 feet 

 long and 30 feet wide, and is erected at the south-western 

 corner of the polytechnic, and can be approached both from 

 the main corridor and the present reading-room. At the 

 western end of the library is a wide bay containing a 

 beautiful stained-glass window. The book-cases project at 

 right angles to the wall, forming bays to seat readers, and 

 the gallery runs round three sides of the librar}'. The 

 total book accommodation is 18,000 volumes. The whole 

 of the fittings and panelling are of oak, the floor being of 

 teak. .As the building stands close to the road there are 

 double casements, the inner ones being filled with orna- 

 mental lead glazing. As regards lighting, there is a 

 separate window to each bay. Speaking generally, the 

 library is planned on lines similar to those on which all 

 modern universit}' libraries are being developed, the books, 

 for instance, being accessible at once to all students. The 

 cataloguing is by card. Efforts are being made to obtain 

 funds in order to increase very largely the technical and 

 scientific portions of the libran.-. It may be mentioned 

 that the library is of considerable use, not only to students 

 of the polytechnic, but also to certain local firms. Some 

 little time ago a circular was sent from the polytechnic 

 to the local chemical firms inviting them to utilise, if they 

 wished, the works of reference and technical journals in 

 the library. 



At the meeting of the Education Committee of the 

 ndon County Council on October 26 the question of the 

 nior scholarships awarded by the council was under 

 scussion. It was eventually decided to increase the 

 . mber of these scholarships in 1912. Just as it was 

 necessary to increase the number of int'^rmediate scholar- 

 ships in 1910 when the first batch of junior scholars 

 ■rained the age of sixteen, so it will be necessary to in- 

 case the number of senior scholarships in 1912 when the 

 ime candidates reach the age of eighteen. The number 

 ' senior scholarships available for competition at present 

 - 50; in 1912 it will be 100. The standard required for 

 ,e award of these senior count}- scholarships is, how- 

 ver, not to be lowered in any way. It is estimated that 

 e annual cost of awarding 100 of these scholarshios will 

 20.oooZ. In the award of senior county- scholarships the 

 ouncil has regard, in the first instance, to the past achieve- 

 ments of the candidates and to the reports of the teachers 

 under whom they have worked and of other responsible 

 pf/sons acquainted with the candidates, and such reports 

 must have reference to the character and qualifications of 

 thA applicants as well as their scholastic attainments. The 

 :holarships consist of a maintenance grant not exceeding 

 >/. a year. This amount is in each case determined after 

 ■^nsideration of the requirements and the financial circum- 

 ances of the candidate. Senior county scholarships are, 

 as a rule, tenable for a length of time necessary for a 

 <rudent to take an honours degree in the subject selTted, 

 :>rovided that this period is not more than four "years When 

 he scholarship has been held for four years the council 

 ay, in a limited number of cases, continue the scholar- 



NO. 2140, VOL. 85] 



ship for a fifth year if satisfied that there are exceptional 

 circumstances which render such further continuance 

 desirable. At present the income of the parents or 

 guardians of a scholarship holder must not exceed 400/. 

 a year. A proposal to abolish this limit was referred back 

 to the higher education sub-committee for further con- 

 sideration. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, October 19.— 

 Mr. Edgar Taylor, president, in the chair. — A. J. 

 Bensusan : Notes on passagem mine and works. — R. H. 

 Kendall : Treatment of refractory low-grade gold ores at 

 the Ouro Preto Gold Mine, Brazil. These two papers, 

 which were discussed conjointly, both deal with the same 

 mines from slightly different points of view, so that one 

 may be taken as the complement of the other. The ore 

 treated is composed of quartz, tourmaline, arsenical and 

 iron pyrites, with some bismuth, and the method of high 

 concentration had to be adopted in view of the diflliculties 

 and losses encountered with amalgamation in the presence 

 of arsenical pyrites and bismuth. The ore from the mine 

 passes through grizzlies and rock-breakers to two series 

 of Californian stamps, eighty head in all, and thence over 

 blankets. The material remaining on the blankets is piped 

 to passadores for daily concentration, and the concentrate 

 passes through a second passador and thence to bateas, 

 whence the gold dust is recovered, and the tailings return 

 to the passador, and thence with the first passador tail- 

 ings to the concentrates cyanide plant. The pulp from the 

 mortar boxes passes over Frue vanners, whence the rich 

 concentrates pass to the cyanide plant, and the tailings 

 pass through spitzkasten and thence through the sands and 

 slimes cyanide plants respectively. The papers describe 

 the various processes and the plant in considerable detail, 

 and give statistics as to costs, time of operations, and 

 results.— J. Egerton Wood : A method of collecting gold 

 from pannings. A short note dealing with a simple means 

 of collecting and preserving gold values obtained in the 

 field until such time as they can be be cupelled in the 

 laboratory. 



P.ARIS. 



Academy of Sciences, October 24- --M. Emile Picard in 

 the chair. — A. Haller : Two active alcohols and a 

 third ketone contained in spirit from cocoanut oil. The 

 raw material used in the investigation was a bye-product 

 in the purification of cocoanut oil. Apart from acids 

 separated by alkalies, possibly arising from saponification 

 of fatty bodies, methyl-heptyf-ketone, methyl-nonyl-ketone, 

 and methyl-undecyl-ketone were isolated, as well as methyl- 

 heptyl-carbinol and methyl-nonyl-carbinol. The two 

 alcohols were dextrorotatory, the optical inverse of the 

 alcohols isolated from oil of rue.— M. d'Arsonval : The 

 second International Congress for the Suppression of 

 .Adulteration. — Henri Douviile : How species have varied. 

 .As the result of a comparative study of the Lamellibranchs, 

 the author is of opinion that the evolutionary- changes have 

 not been continuous, but have occurred in a series of 

 abrupt steps separated by periods of stability-. — MM. 

 Landouzy and L. Loederich : Experimental study of 

 heredity- in tuberculosis. The experiments were made on 

 guinea-pigs. dogs, and rabbits, and evidence was obtained 

 of direct placental infection. In the cases where there was 

 no direct infection the mortality was very high from causes 

 other than tuberculosis. — F. Robin : The variation of 

 resistance of steels to crushing as a function of the tempera- 

 ture. Relations between the static and dynamic properties 

 of the steels. Data are given for copper, nickel steel, 

 manganese steel, and three steels containing 007. 0-384. 

 and 1-8 per cent, of carbon at temperatures ranging 

 between —185° and 1400° C. — Edouard Salles : The 

 diffusion of gaseous ions. Experiments were carried out 

 with air, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen ; measure- 

 ments were carried out with air at two pressures, 758 mm. 

 and 1028 mm., and with nitrogen at four, 760 mm.. 

 1000 mm., 1120 mm., and 1302 mm. — J. Duclaux : 

 Refrigerating mixtures. .A lowering of temperature is pro- 

 duced when carbon bisulphide is mixed with acetone. _ A 

 simple apparatus is described, utilising the regenerative 



