May 6, 1922] 



NATURE 



597 



British Research Chemicals. 



\\7'E have received a pamphlet entitled " British 

 * ' Research Chemicals produced by Members 

 of the Association," issued by the Association of 

 British Chemical Manufacturers. This is a revised 

 edition of the association's earlier pamphlet, and now 

 contains inorganic as well as organic chemicals. In 

 the list of inorganic chemicals, however, there are 

 many which cannot fairly be called research chemicals, 

 and can be obtained from almost any dealer. These 

 include alum, ammonium chloride, barium chloride, 

 bismuth subnitrate, and the like. It is evident that 

 the Association had research chemicals in mind in 

 drawing up the list, since such substances as ferrous 

 ammonium sulphate are omitted. This inclusion of 

 common chemicals swells the bulk of the list without 

 adding to its value. 



Although the preface states that there are certain 

 chemicals on the list a permanent supply of which 

 cannot be guaranteed unless there is sufficient demand 

 (these might have been indicated in some way), it is 

 evident that considerable progress has been made 

 since the issue of the first edition, and the manufac- 

 turers are to be congratulated heartily on their efforts 

 to supply from home sources materials which were 

 obtained formerly from abroad. The list is far from 

 complete ; the present writer sought in vain for four 

 not very rare substances he requires for research and 

 used to obtain from Germany. With such an ex- 

 cellent beginning, however, the by no means small 

 difficulties of research workers at the present time 

 should rapidly be alleviated. 



We notice that the manufacture of new chemicals 

 may be undertaken by one or other of the firms 

 " according to demand." We wish to point out, how- 

 ever, that this will scarcely meet the case satisfactorily. 

 There are some materials which could formerly be 

 obtained from German firms for which the demand 

 must have been extremely small. If the research 

 worker is to be told that the materials he requires 

 cannot be made in this country because there do not 

 happen to be a hundred other people working on the 

 same subject, he will not derive much comfort from 

 the statement. We offer these criticisms in the hope 

 that they may be of assistance, and not in any way as 

 detracting from the praise which is due to the firms 

 for what they have already accomplished. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Teeds. — At a meeting of the Court of the Uni- 

 versity of Leeds, held on April 26, it was decided to 

 confer the following honorary degrees among others : 

 D.Sc, Sir Dugald Clerk ; Sir Frank Dyson, Astro- 

 nomer-Royal ; Sir Richard Gregory ; Sir Charles 

 Sherrington, President of the Royal Society, Wayn- 

 fiete Professor of Physiology in the University of 

 Oxford ; and Sir Harold Stiles, President of the 

 Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University of 

 Edinburgh. M.Sc, Mr. R. W. Haydon, until recently 

 Lecturer in Agriculture in the University. 



A CONFERENCE of representatives of the Universities 

 of the United Kingdom will be held on May 13 in the 

 Botanical Theatre, University College, London. The 

 subjects and the openers of the discussions are as 

 follows : the urgent need for the provision of enlarged 

 opportunities for advanced study and research (Dr. 



NO. 2740, VOL. 109] 



J. C. Irvine) ; the increase of residential accommoda- 

 tion for undergraduate and other students (Sir 

 Michael E. Sadler) ; speciaUsation in certain subjects 

 of study by certain universities (Dr. L. R. Farnell) ; 

 and the organisation of adult education as an integral 

 part of the work of the universities (Sir. Henry A. 

 Miers) . 



The Melbourne correspondent of the Times 

 announces that the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney, 

 and Adelaide have agreed to invite Prof. Einstein, 

 when he visits Java, to continue afterwards to 

 Australia and visit the principal cities. Sydney and 

 Melbourne will contribute 80/. each towards his- 

 expenses, and Adelaide 60/. 



It is announced in the Chemist and Druggist that 

 under the will of the late Mr. Henry Musgrave sums 

 amounting to 57,000/. have been bequeathed to 

 Que^en's University, Belfast. The Senate requested 

 the Academic Council to make the consequential 

 regulations for awarding " The Musgrave Research 

 Studentship." 



In a new magazine. The Beacon, for April, Mr. E. H. 

 Dance writes on " The Channels of Education : a 

 Suggestion for Remuneration Economy." He admits 

 tha,t economy is as necessary in education as in other 

 national activities, and he remarks that the Scripture 

 lesson is the most unfruitful in the whole curriculum ; 

 he also states that the advantages of commandeering 

 a large proportion of the time allotted to it and 

 transferring it to geography would be incalculable. 

 It is suggested that economics might largely take the 

 place of Latin. Science teaching in its present form 

 he condemns because its matter is of little real 

 utility, '' even when the canon of utility is educa- 

 tional ... in spite of recent developments, educa- 

 tion continues to lay undue emphasis on deductive 

 reasoning." Science teaching, as now carried out, 

 might, he thinks, be replaced by a more suitable 

 medium : " that medium lies ready to hand in the 

 modern treatment of history. History may be de- 

 scribed as the laboratory of politics." " The inculca- 

 tion of a general aesthetic sense is perhaps the most 

 obvious need of modern education." Some of us 

 may find it difficult to accept the writer's conclusions, 

 but the article is well written and suggestive. 



In the course of his presidential address, delivered 

 on April 20 at the annual general meeting of the 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr. S. J. 

 Speak referred to the part which the Institution has 

 played in the development of technical education. 

 Speaking of the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, London, and particularly of the Royal 

 School of Mines, he said that the Institution had 

 aimed always at securing recognition for the College 

 as " the technological centre of the Empire." The 

 work of the College was, however, hampered seriously 

 by lack of the power to grant degrees, and for this 

 reason it is advocated that the status of the College 

 should be raised to that of an Imperial University of 

 Science and Technology. Opposition to this sugges- 

 tion comes mainly from two sources : first, from the 

 University of London, which naturally desires to 

 absorb vigorous local institutions into itself and fails 

 to see that facilities for obtaining London degrees do 

 not meet 1;he case. The second source of opposition 

 is found in those educated on the classical side of 

 existing universities, and to them a University of 

 Science and Technology is unthinkable. Mr. Speak 

 protested against this as suggesting that the study of 

 the " humanities " is a higher form of education than 

 the study of science. 



