April i, 1922J 



NA TORE 



407 



In order to test the mass formulae the speed and 



lass of the slow-speed pencil were found by measuring 



le discharge potential directly with an electrometer, 



rhich could be effected with sufficient accuracy, 



luse in this case the difference of potential was 



ily about 14,000 volts. The speed (fS = 0-228) was 



ilculated by successive approximation, the appropriate 



formula being employed to estimate the necessary 



)rrection to the zero mass, which for this low speed 



lounted to only 3 per cent. The result, together 



rjth the measured electrostatic deflection, supplied 



data needed for the evaluation of the electric field 



tegral, which was used in the comparison with the 



igh-speed cathode-ray pencils. In the earlier experi- 



lents this field integral was also evaluated by graphic 



Iculation from the constants of the condenser, but 



le experimental method of determination was adopted 



illy as more accurate, the difference between the 



70 methods being about 5 per cent. In the later 



cperiments curved condenser plates were used, in 



ler to render the trajectories more nearly equi- 



rtential ; in this case . graphic calculation was im- 



sible. No data are given for the magnetic field 



Itegral, perhaps because it was always eliminated ; 



jvertheless, its evaluation from the constants of 



le apparatus might have been useful as a check, 



id would have made the direct calculation of the 



letic deflection possible, with a view to meeting 



Bforehand Heil's objection to Hupka's use of the 



itive method, viz. that the observed magnetic 



lections differed widely from those calculated 



>m the measured currents and the constants of the 



itus. 



Apart from the absence of this check, every precau- 



)n seems to have been taken to ensure accuracy ; 



le earth's magnetic field was compensated, electro- 



itic influences were guarded against, special arrange- 



lents were used to secure regular working of the 



:uum tube, and the number of observations was 



iply sufficient to eliminate practically all accidental 



rors. The authors are to be congratulated on 



lucing a most valuable contribution to our know- 



l^e of the dynamics of the electron. 



British University Problems. 



Congress of the Universities of the Empire, 

 1921 : Report of Proceedings. Edited by Dr. Alex. 

 -Hill. Pp. liv + 452. (London: Published for the 

 .Universities Bureau of the British Empire by G. 

 Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1921.) 21s. net. 



'HE Report of the Proceedings of the Second 



Congress of the Universities of the Empire held 



Oxford on July 5-8, 192 1, has just been published 



a volume of more than five hundred pages. It 



NO. 2735, VOL. 109] 



will be recalled that the first of these Congresses was 

 held in 1912, and, but for the intervention of the 

 war, would have been followed by the second in 

 1 91 7. Fifty-nine universities — six more than in 

 1 912 — sent upwards of three hundred delegates and 

 representatives to it. The main topics under dis- 

 cussion were the balance of studies ; the teaching of 

 civics, politics, and social economics ; secondary 

 education ; adult education ; technological education ; 

 the training for commerce, industry, and adminis- 

 tration ; the training of school teachers ; finance ; 

 research ; and the interchange of teachers and students 

 —all, of course, with reference to the universities. 

 Such a varied and comprehensive programme re- 

 quired some skill in arranging and handling, and Dr. 

 Hill is to be congratulated on the way he has edited 

 the Report. 



Thirty-five papers were presented to the Congress. 

 These have been printed in extenso, together with 

 verbatim records of the discussions which followed. 

 Though lack of space prevents it, a mere list of the 

 names of the various speakers would be interesting 

 in itself, as giving a list of distinguished scholars 

 drawn from all quarters of the British Empire. For 

 such particulars, reference must be made to the 

 Report itself. The opening address was given by 

 Lord Curzon, the Chancellor of the University of 

 Oxford, who welcomed the Congress to Oxford, and 

 expressed his opinion of the value of such Congresses 

 as having it in their " power to play a very import- 

 ant part in developing the organisation and drawing 

 closer the bonds of the British Empire." This was 

 followed by an able paper on " The Present and the 

 Future of Hellenism." Unfortunately, the discus- 

 sion was limited, no doubt, by the fact that it was 

 followed by four other papers in immediate succession. 

 Sir A. J. Balfour, the Chancellor of the Universities 

 of Cambridge and Edinburgh, who presided at the 

 discussion on " The Universities and the Teaching of 

 Civics, Politics, and Social Economics," in his opening 

 speech raised the question of innate differences of 

 races among human beings, but decided, very wisely, 

 not "to wander into a topic so tremendous." In 

 the general discussion, the point that " only a few boys 

 in any school can go to the university " was raised, 

 and, curiously enough, was emphasised in a paper 

 which followed dealing with the question of the 

 university and secondary education. The same point 

 came up in another form, when Lord Haldane, in a 

 notable address on adult education, referred to the 

 extent to which the universities were dependent on 

 the taxes and rates. " Democracy," he said, " is 

 beginning to ask why it is that, while they pay the 

 rates and taxes, only a limited section of society gets 



