December i, 192 i] 



NATURE 



451 



is placed on the ground outside and the mystic 

 "Nyakang " set on it. The king-elect holds one leg 

 of the stool and the highest chief holds another, while 

 members of the royal family stand around. Certain 

 men known as ororo, who are said to be descended 

 from the third Shilluk king, kill and eat a bullock, 

 and then place the king on the stool, while the image 

 is taken in to the shrine. At sundown the king rises 

 and is escorted to three newly built huts, where he 

 remains in retirement for three days. During the 

 fourth night he is quietly conducted to his palace, and 

 on the following day gives public audience. The three 

 huts are broken up and cast into the river. The men 

 of Akurwa remain at Fashoda until the end of the 

 dry season. 



The divine spirit is thus not congenital, but must 

 be conveyed to each successive monarch. The entry 

 of a royal spirit into an individual is believed to be 

 one of the commonest causes of sickness. Only the 

 earlv kings take part in this, and they may be induced 

 to leave the sufferer by sacrificial offerings at the 

 appropriate shrine. Certain persons, the ajuajo, are 

 regarded as permanently possessed, and these do a 

 brisk trade in healing and the sale of amulets. 



T 



Fuel Research.' 



HE first section, issued separately, of the report of 

 the Fuel Research Board for the years 1920-21 

 is devoted to an account of experiments made at 

 the Greenwich Experimental Station on steaming 

 in vertical gas retorts. A Glover-West setting was 

 emplo5'ed, but the ordinary system of working was 

 modified in one or two respects. The setting was 

 fired by water-gas or coal-gas, the quantity of which 

 could be measured, and the air for combustion was 

 supplied under uniform positive pressure. Moreover, 

 the air supply was preheated by the outgoing flue 

 gases at the top of the setting in an exchanger built 

 of steel pipes. 



The work may be regarded as complementary to 

 that carried out on the same subject at Uddingston 

 by the Joint Research Committee of the University 

 of Leeds and the Institution of Gas Engineers, and 

 reported last year. It had the same aim of establishing 

 trustworthy technical data for the process of steam- 

 ing, which is increased in importance bv the greater 

 elasticity given to the manufacturers of gas by the 

 provisions of the new Gas Act. Whereas, hov^ever, 

 the work of the Research Committee at Uddingston 

 was confined to one Scottish coal, tests have been 

 made by the Fuel Research Board on several coals, 

 including Consett and Mitchell Main gas nuts, 

 although the coal used at Uddingston was included 

 in order to bring the two sets of experiments into 

 line. 



This extension of the work to several coals has 

 apparently made it impossible to secure the same con- 

 struction of chemical balance sheets for carbon, 

 nitrogen, and sulphur, which was a principal part of 

 the work of the Research Committee. Data have 

 been obtained for the increase in gas makes, the pro- 

 duction of ammonia, and fuel consumption when 

 operating with different quantities of steam, and as a 

 result the favourable verdict of the Research Com- 

 mittee on the steaming process is confirmed. 



A number of interesting tables and graphs, which 

 will repay the critical attention of those specially 

 interested, and a clear diagram of the train of 



' Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: Report of the Fuel 

 Research Board for the Years 1920-21. First Section: "Steaming in 

 Vertical Gas Retorts." (London : H.M.S.O., 1921.) is. (u/. net. 



NO. 2718, VOL. 108] 



plant which was employed for carbonisation and 

 purification accompany the report. Some sugges- 

 tions are given for consideration on practical points. 

 One appendix deals with sampling, testing, and 

 analysis, and three others with special points 

 arising in the tests. The whole of the report is a 

 full record of very extensive experimental work 

 carried out on a subject which has been recognised 

 by those associated with the gas industry as of a 

 high order of importance. J. W. C 



I University and Educational Intelligence. 



BRiSTOL.^It has been decided to conform to the 

 practice of most other English universities by grant- 

 ing a diploma (in lieu of a certificate) in engineer- 

 ing to students who, though not qualified for matricu- 

 lation, pass the entrance examination for admission 

 to the Faculty of Engineering and complete satis- 

 factorily the course of study prescribed for this pur- 

 pose. 



Some years ago a committee was set up by the 

 Faculty of Medicine for organising post-graduate 

 studies for practitioners in and around Bristol, and 

 during this autumn three courses of demonstrations 

 have been given, two in Wiltshire and one in Dorset- 

 shire. These have proved so successful that the com- 

 mittee is projecting a wider campaign, and is offering 

 to arrange courses throughout the south-west of Eng- 

 land. Each course consists of six demonstrations, 

 one or more per week, and to each centre a large 

 selection of subjects is offered from which those 

 attending the course may select what seems to them 

 of greatest value. In rural areas all the demonstra- 

 tions are given by University lecturers, but in the 

 large towns it is hooed to enlist the co-operation of 

 the local hospital staffs. The demonstrations condense 

 into small compass recent advances in the work of 

 the medical profession, and each one is entrusted 

 to a member of the Faculty who has given par- 

 ticular attention to that subject. In this form of 

 University extension work Bristol leads the way so 

 far as Britain is concerned, though we believe that 

 similar work has been undertaken in Canada by the 

 University of Toronto. It is as direct a return as any 

 of the activities of the University for the grant now 

 being made by local authorities. 



London. — The Senate has conferred the title of 

 " Professor of Logic and Scientific Method in the 

 University of London " on Dr. A. Wolf, former fellow 

 of St. John's College, Cambridge, and fellow of 

 University College, London. Prof. Wolf is the head 

 of the Department of the History and Method of 

 Science at University College and of Logic and 

 Scientific Method at the London School of Economics 

 and Political Science. 



The annual prize distribution and students' con- 

 versazione of the Northampton Polvtechnic Institute, 

 Clerkenwell, London, E.C, will be held on Friday, 

 December 2. The Right Hon. Lord Southwark will 

 distribute the prizes and certificates. 



Trinity College, Cambridge, offers for the second 

 time a research studentship of a value varying with 

 the need of the student, but not exceeding 200Z. a 

 year, to a non-member of the University of Cam- 

 bridge who proposes to enter that University in 

 October. 1922, as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. 

 Applications should be sent as early as possible in 



