t66 



NATURE 



[September 30, 1920 



(92 miU's), and Osaka {348 miles) leads to the fol- 

 lowiiif; conclusions : — (i) The frequent occurrence of 

 earthqiKiUes, both unfelt and strong, terminated at 

 or immediately before the op)ening of the eruption ; 

 (2) the principal centre of the after-shocks coincides 

 roughly with the centre of elevation of the sea-bed 

 to the north of the Sakura-jima, which is 89 miles 

 from Kagoshima ; (3) the mean duration of the pre- 

 -liminary tremor at this place was 1-94 seconds, cor- 

 responding to a focal distance of 89 miles, from 

 which it follows that the focal depth was very small ; 

 and (4) in the after-shocks the first distinct displace- 

 ment was usually directed towards or from the source 

 of disturbanc<', while the mean directions of the 

 mnximum vibrations were parallel and perpendicular 

 to the line joining the craterlets on the two flanks of 

 the volcano. C. D. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



An introductory public lecture to a series of seven 

 courses of lectures on the history of science will be 

 given by Sir W. H. Bragg at L'niversity College 

 (University of London) on Thursday, October 7, at 

 5 p.m. The courses arranged are as follows : — The 

 General History and Development of Science, Dr. .A. 

 Wolf; The More Important Developments in Physical 

 Science during the Nineteenth Century, Sir W. H. 

 Bragg, Prof. E. J. Garwood, Mr. D.' Orson Wood, 

 and others; Egyptian Science, Prof. Flinders Petrie; 

 The History of the Biological and Medical Sciences 

 from Early Times to the Eighteenth Century, Dr. 

 Charles Singer ; The History of the Biological 

 Sciences since the Eighteenth Century, Prof. J. P. 

 Hill ; Elementarv .Astronomv, treated Historicallv, 

 Prof. L. N. G. Filon; and The History of Mathe- 

 matics up to the Eighteenth Centurv, Mr. T. L. 

 Wren. 



In the annual report for 1919-20 of the Coventry 

 Public Libraries .several points are worthy of notice. 

 Figures are given showing the number of issues 

 which have been made during the past and the 

 previous year. Of the total of 380,170 issues of books 

 in 1919-20, 167,758 were of technical and literary 

 books, while 144,296 were works of fiction. The 

 figures are significant of the use to which the librarv 

 is put by the inhabitants. \% compared with the 

 previous year, the number of issues of technical works 

 has increased by 26,976, while the increase for fiction 

 was only 2087. These figures indicate the revival of 

 study which was to be expected with the return of 

 students to peaceful occupations. In the issues of 

 the home-reading libraries similar figures were 

 observed, the increase in the demand for works on 

 the arts and sciences being 6449. On the other hand, 

 research work, bv which is meant the studv of the 

 accumulated data of a subject before proceeding with 

 investigations, has declined since the armistice. Onlv 

 one-twelfth of the 82,245 volumes in stock are classed 

 as fiction. The libraries are intended chiefly for the 

 use of students, and their continued popularity shows 

 that they are appreciated as such. 



The President of the Board of Education has 

 addressed a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the Uni- 

 versity of London (Dr. Russell \\'ells), under date 

 September 24, with reference to the Government offer 

 of a site for the L'niversity behind the British 

 Museum, explaining that, with the consent of the 

 vendor (the Duke of I?edford), it is possible for the 

 offer to remain open until the Senate's meeting on 

 October 20, but no longer. Mr. Fisher expresses 

 general approval of the proposed conditions to be 

 attached to acceptance of the offer which were dis- 



NO. 2657. VOL. 106] 



cussed by the Senate in July, save that respecting 

 freedom from debt as regards the new buildings before 

 the old buildings are vacated. He suggest.s a revision 

 of the wording of this condition, but admits that the 

 Government fully shares the view as to the undesir- 

 ability of the University and King's College entering 

 upon the occupation of their new buildings under an 

 embarrassing load of debt. Mr. Fisher further ex- 

 plains that the Government offer is not available for 

 any alternative site, since on a review of all the 

 circumstances the Government has come to the 

 definite conclusion "that the site behind the British 

 Museum is the most suitable and the only one which 

 thev would feel justified in acquiring for offer to the 

 L'niversity." In conclusion, Mr. Fisher expresses 

 his earnest hope that the -Senate will decide to accept 

 the offer which the Government has made. 



The educational system of Japan (Bulletin No. 57, 

 1919, of the United States Bureau of Education) is 

 the result of a fusion of the traditional training in 

 national humanistic studies with that in modern 

 science. Progress is possible on the latter side only. 

 Technical education of an elementary type is given in 

 the vocational schools, to which students who have 

 passed through the elementary schools are admitted. 

 In 1915-16 the number of technical schools attached 

 to such vocational institutes was 900:, an increa.se of 

 533 over the preceding year; while that of the private 

 technical schools was 366, an increase of 20. .Approxi- 

 mately 95,000 pupils were enrolled in all schools of 

 this kind, exclusive of continuation schools. The 

 technical continuation schools admit students who 

 have passed the standard of the elementary schools, 

 though the individual school authorities have power 

 to admit or refuse any candidate. In the year 1915-16 

 407,600 male pupils and 89,601 females were enrolled 

 in these schools, an increase of nearly 50,000 over the 

 numbers joining during the previous year. Within the 

 next six years it is proposed to spend some four and 

 a half million pounds on higher education. The 

 technical and high schools already in existence will 

 accommodate 14,000 students onlv, while during the 

 year 1917-18 about 56,000 applied for admission. 

 This money will therefore be devoted to the building 

 of ten new high schools and eighteen new technical 

 and commercial institutes. Great prominence is given 

 to the raoid but efficient training of teachers of all 

 grades. 



Societies and Academies. 



P.\RIS. 



Academy ol Sciences, August 30. — M. Henri Deslandres 

 in the chair. — G. Humbert : An arithmetical link 

 between the real ternary quadratic forms and the 

 indefinite forms of Hermite.— H. Deslandres: The 

 recognition in stars of the successive layers of their 

 atmosphere and the periodic variations of these stars. 

 From the study of the calcium lines in the solar 

 spectrum the existence of three layers in the solar 

 atmosphere has been deduced. The same method can 

 be applied to the fixed stars, and an account is given 

 of the results obtained up to the present by various 

 observers. — E. Ariis : The specific heat of saturated 

 vapours at low temperatures. Reply to a communica- 

 tion by G. Bruhat.— J. Andrade : The regulating organs 

 of chronometers.— E. Jouguet : Waves of shock in 

 solid bodies. — M. Oalbrun : The deformation of a 

 helical spring. — M. d'Azambuja : The sjjectrum of the 

 new star in Cvgnus. On .\ugust 25 and 28 the spec- 

 trum of the new star presented the appearance usual 

 with novae in the course of the first stage of tfieir 

 evolution. — M. Burson : The spectrum of Nova Cygni. 



