yiily 7, 1 88 7] 



NATURE 



239 



you are rather anxious that that action should be stimulated by 

 moderate contributions from the public funds and from rates. 

 As to contributions from rates, I think that as the municipal 

 institutions of our country are more and more reformed and 

 developed, and the more power is given to them in the course of 

 that process of decentralization which is now accepted by almost 

 all politicians, the more power you may give to these localities to 

 act with a certain freed >m in the way of assisting such institutions 

 as they think are calculated to advance their interests in every 

 way. There is one point on which I should like to say sojie- 

 thing from a personal point of view. When I made a remark 

 that your colleges were partly literary and partly technical, I did 

 not wish to convey the impression that I think colleges for 

 general culture deserve less recognition than colleges for 

 technical education I think tUat they must to a very great 

 extent stand or fall together, and that ic would be an error — 

 though I am aware there may be others here wh ) take 

 a different view — if technical education were too much to 

 displace that general education and development of the 

 intellect which surely must always be one of the great 

 objects of education in every form. I do not know 

 whether the sum which was first mentioned, I think, by Sir 

 John Lubbock has been arrived at by any general agreement, 

 college by college, or whether it is a mere general guess. But I 

 am sure it would be necessary, as a preliminary examination of 

 the case which you have put before me, that there should be 

 some standard suggested, either of numbers or of local contribu- 

 tion, and also of work, before the matter could be taken into 

 serious practical consideration ; because not only are there these 

 twelve colleges, but I fancy that, as soon as any arrangement 

 had been made in favour of them, we should find another list of 

 colleges, not precisely on the same footing, but which were suf- 

 ficiently strong to make a kind of claim on that comparative 

 system which is con-tantly increasing the national expenditure. 

 I think tho e of the deputation who are members of Par- 

 liament will acknowledge that it would be perfectly impos- 

 sible to deal with the matter in the supplementary estimate 

 this year, even if we assented to it, without much further 

 examination, for it is really the Education Department which 

 must examine this matter. I have not had the opportunity of 

 consulting my colleagues on the magnitude of the sum which 

 you suggest, or on the general principle. All I can say to-day 

 is that I am glad to receive the suggestions which you have 

 made ; that I recognize, of course, the great importance of 

 further developinjc technical and scientific education ; but I can- 

 not pledge myself to any particular sum or to any particular 

 mode of carrying out your wishes. The deputation may rely 

 on the Government giving the matter its most serious attention, 

 and we shall be most willing to receive suggestions from such 

 men as Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Mundella, 

 and the other gentlemen who take so deep an interest in educa- 

 tion, to see what practical shape can be given to the wishes of 

 the deputation. 



Mr. Mundella observed that the condition of some of the 

 colleges was such that it was desirable that the intentions of the 

 Government should be known at the earliest possible moment. 



Sir John Lubbock moved, and the Mayor of Sheffield 

 secjnded, "That the thanks of the deputation be given to 



j, Mr. Goschen for his courtesy." 



J The deputation then withdrew. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, June 16. — " Dispersion Equivalents," Part L 



^ I. H. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S. 



he object of this paper was to bring to the notice, especially 



'lemists, the subject of dispersion equivalents ; a property 



odies similar to the refraction equivalents which are now 



rally recognized. In the paper of Gladstone and Dale in 



I'hil. Trans, for 1S63 they had adopted the difference be- 



n the refractive indices for the solar lines A and 11 as the 



ure of dispersion. This, divided by the density, gave the 



Ific dispersion. In 1866 they multiplied this by the atomic 



,ht, and termed the product the dispersion equivalent. The 



L'ct has scarcely been touched since that time either by 



lish or Continental ober\-ers. 



he author holds that the following conclusions are warranted 

 tlie accumulated data : — 



(i) That dispersion, like refraction, is primarily a question of 

 the atojjic constitution of the body : the general rule being that 

 the dispersion equivalent of a compound is the sum of the dis- 

 persion equivalents of its cons'ituents. 



(2) That the dispersion of a compound, like its refraction, is 

 modified by profound differences of constitution ; such as, 

 changes of atomicity. 



(3) That the dispersion frequently reveals differences of con- 

 stitution at present unrecognized by chemists, and not expressed 

 by our formula;. 



The dispersion equivalents of a few elements may be deter- 

 mined by direct observation, such as phosphorus, sulphur, 

 selenium, &c. ; but more important results have been obtained 

 from organic substances by comparing the dispersion equivalents 

 of different liquid or dissolved compounds of carbon. 



From a consideration of the data afforded by Continental 

 observers, or obtained by the author himself, the following table 

 has been drawn up. The dispersion figures must be taken 

 merely as approximate. 



Substance. 



Phosphorus 



Sulphur, double bond. 



,, single bonds. 



Hydrogen 



Carbon 



>> 



)i 



Oxygen, double bond . 



,, single bonds . 



Chlorine 



Bromine 



Iodine 



Nitrogen 



CHa 



NO, 



Atomic 

 weight. 



31 



I 



12 



16 



>> 

 35-5 



80 

 127 



14 

 46 



Refraction 

 equivalent A. 



183 

 i6-o 

 i4'o 

 I '3 

 5-0 

 6-1 

 6-1 



3 "4 



2-8 



9-9 



15-3 



24-5 

 4'i 



7-6 

 11-8 



Dispersion 

 equiv. H — A. 



3'o 

 2-6 



1-2 



004 



0*26 



0-51 

 066 



o-i8 

 o"io 



0-50 



I '22 

 3-65 



o-io 



o'34 

 0-82 



An examination of many salts of potassium and sodium in 

 aqueous solutions led to the conclusion that there was always a 

 difference of about 0*09 in their dispersion equivalents ; but it 

 was not so easy to determine the actual dispersive value of the 

 metals in question, the determinations of potassium from different 

 salts varying from 0*40 to 0*59. 



The main conclusion is that the specific dispersive energy of a 

 compound body is a physical property analogous to, but distinct 

 from, its specific refractive energy ; and that the phenomena of 

 dispersion are capable in like manner of throwing light upon 

 chemical structure. 



Royal Microscopical Society, June 8. — The Rev. Dr. 

 Dallinger, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Dr. E, M. Crook- 

 shank exhibited a series of cultivations of micro organisms, and 

 called attention to the somewhat unusual circumstance of being 

 able to show such a typical series all growing at the same time. 

 One of the specimens shown was a chromogenic Spirillum, 

 which had developed its colour in the depths of the gelatine, 

 contrary to the general rule. Pie also .showed a micro-organism 

 which had been said to cause the swine fever — or, rather, swine 

 erysipelas — in Germany. It was to be noted that in Germany 

 there had been many cases of swine disease, and that a different 

 organism had been found associated with it there from the one 

 found here, and recognized as the cause of Dr. Klein's swine 

 fever. So far as he (Dr. Crookshank) had been able to make 

 out, they were not identical, the German form being an extremely 

 minute Bacillus forming only a cloudy appearance and seeming 

 to be similar to mouse septicjemia. He thought there was good 

 ground for regarding the two diseases as distinct from each other, 

 the German form being swine erysipelas as distinct from swine 

 fever. He also exhibited an example of a Bacillus obtained 

 from putrid fish, which caused the remarkable phosphorescence 

 frequently noticed when fish was decaying. — Mr. Freeman 

 exhibited a number of series of sections of the anatomy of 

 spiders, worms, &c., made by Mr. Underbill at Oxford. — Mr. 

 Eve called attention to some specimens of Actinomyces from the 

 jaw of an ox, and described the effect of the disease upon the 

 animal. — Prof. Rupert Jones and Mr. C. D. Sherborne s paper 

 "On the Foraminifera, with especial reference to their varia- 



