November 3, 192 1] 



NATURE 



323 



tions that existed for giving training in particular sub- 

 jects should now be able to supply excellent apparatus 

 and specialised teachers for the purpose. Unfortu- 

 nately, however, too often these institutions were 

 crippled in their finances. 



Prof. Reid, of Aberdeen, urged that the respon- 

 sibility of training was at present thrown too exclu- 

 sively upon the schools. Speakers had argued for 

 industrialising education. He wished to argue for 

 educationalising industry. And he thought that a 

 hopeful change in this direction might be anticipated 

 if the spirit of the older and smaller industries could 

 be got into the big industrial concerns to-day. Other 

 speeches, following somewhat upon these lines, 

 seemed to indicate that the general opinion of the 

 three united sections had reached this interesting, 

 and, on the surface, sc>mewhat paradoxical, conclusion : 

 at present the industries left training to the school, 

 and kept vocational selection to themselves ; it was 

 urged the industries should take upon themselves more 

 and more of the responsibilities of training, and the 

 schools should take on more and more of the work of 

 the testing and selecting with a view to ultimate voca- 

 tional guidance. But it seemed universally agreed 

 that, whether in the matter of training or in that 

 of selection, neither school nor industry- could shift 

 the responsibilities entirely on to the shoulders of 

 the other. 



Mechanical Engineering Education in 

 Bengal. 



SOME months ago a committee was appointed by 

 the Government of Bengal to investigate the 

 training of mechanical engineers in the Province, 

 with special reference to the improvement of the 

 education of apprentices in the State railway work- 

 shops at Kancharapara. The committee consists of 

 Sir Rajendra Xath Mookerjee, Mr. A. T. Weston 

 (Director of Industries), Mr. B. Heaton (principal, 

 Bengal Engineering College), Prof. R. Wolfenden 

 (professor of mechanical engineering, Bengal Engi- 

 neering College), Mr. W. H. Everett (Director of 

 Technical Education, Bengal), Mr. A. Cochran, Mr. 

 H. Spalding, Mr. S. A. Skinner, Mr. Miller King, 

 Mr. H. S. Strachey (representing the railway work- 

 shops and various well-known engineering firms in 

 Calcutta), and Dutt Subrawardy, of the Bengal 

 Legislative Council. 



This committee is to be known as the " Board of 

 Control for Apprenticeship Training in Bengal." It 

 has had several meetings and has drawn up a scheme 

 of apprenticeship training which, it is hoped, will 

 greatly improve mechanical engineering education in 

 Bengal. The scheme, which will be put into opera- 

 tion at Kancharapara immediately, consists of an ad- 

 mission examination (similar to the graduate ex- 

 amination of the Institution of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers), followed by four years' training in workshops 

 with compulsory attendance at a technical school to 

 be built at Kancharapara. All the apprentices will 

 live in barracks to be provided by the railway. It is 

 hoped that by the end of the four years of training 

 the brighter students will have reached such a stan- 

 dard of proficiency in mechanical engineering sub- 

 jects as will enable them to proceed to a two vears' 

 course in the mechanical engineering department of 

 the Bengal Engineering College. Those who are not 

 sufficiently well qualified to be admitted to the 

 college will remain at the works for a further two 

 years of training. The course will, therefore, in all 

 cases be a six years' course. The scheme, at present, 

 NO. 2714, VOL. 108] 



will be compulsorv" only in the workshops of the 

 East Bengal Railway at kancharapara, but it is hoped 

 that other State workshops — such as the ordnance 

 factories and the large engineering firms in Calcutta 

 — will join in the scheme. 



The new Board of Control is also supervising the 

 courses and examinations in mechanical engineering 

 at the Bengal Engineering College. These courses 

 have to provide, at present, for students admitted 

 directly to the college after having passed the matricu- 

 lation, or the intermediate science examinations of 

 Calcutta University. They comprise (a) a three j-ears' 

 course at the college, together with three years' 

 practical training in approved workshops, leading to a 

 college diploma ; and (ft) a four years' course at the 

 college followed by two years' practical training in 

 workshops leading to the associateship of the college. 

 Course (h) is for the exceptionally good men who, in 

 the opinion of the examiners and of the professor of 

 mechanical engineering, would profit by a year of 

 more advanced training. 



The courses are arranged to suit the conditions 

 prevailing in India, and will include training in modem 

 workshop methods and measurements, and in work- 

 shop management and accounts. It is hoped that 

 these courses will succeed in producing a regular 

 supplj- of thoroughly trained mechanical engineers 

 for service in the Province. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Edinblrgh. — There comes into operation this year 

 the new Science Ordinance, under which a student 

 may study either for a pass or for an honours B.Sc. 

 degree. Four years is the minimum time in which 

 either degree may be completed. The main difference 

 between the two classes of degree is that a student 

 aiming at the honours degree in any science devotes 

 in general the third and fourth years to a specialised 

 study of the subject he is professing, cognate 

 sciences being studied up to a somewhat lower 

 standard. In the pass degree several branches of 

 science are carried forward simultaneously to an inter- 

 mediate standard. With the exception of the first 

 year chemistrA- the lectures and laboratory work are 

 now being conducted in the new King's Buildings on 

 the southern margin of greater Edinburgh. Next 

 year all the work will be transferred there. 



The L'niversity Court has approved generally of a 

 draft Ordinance founding an independent professor- 

 ship in the department of natural philosophy, to be 

 called the Tait chair of natural philosophy. 



The following new courses have been instituted : — 

 (i) A course in Indian geology for focestrv' students 

 who have been selected as probationers for the Indian 

 Forest Service, and (2) two half courses in economic 

 geology, the first to deal with ore deposits. 



In terms of an Act of Parliament recently passed 

 the income of the John Newland Endowment (capital 

 22,500/.) will in future be applied in bursaries, the 

 award to be determined on the results of the L'niver- 

 sitv examination for entrance bursaries. 



Negotiations have been completed for the purchase 

 of about ten acres of Ground for the extension of the 

 Universit}- athletic field. 



Manchester. — Prof. F. E. Weiss has been ap- 

 pointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor. 



The resignation of Mr. P. A. Cooper, assistant 

 lecturer in physics, is announced. 



Mr. C. G. Core and Miss Lucv' Higginbotham 

 have been re-appointed Schunk research assistants. 



