October 21, 1915] 



NATURE 



221 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Oxford at the beginning of Michaelmas 



iTerm, 1915, presents an unwonted appearance. The 



fcolleges are almost denuded of undergraduates ; the 



river, playing grounds, and other usual resorts are 



[comparatively deserted, and many of the accustomed 



activities are at a standstill. The city is redeemed from 



itter desolation by the presence of large numbers of 



foung officers, who are sent here from their respective 



inits to undergo a course of instruction by the staff 



)f the Officers Training Corps, assisted by lecturers 



letailed from the War Office. Accommodation for 



influx of the military element has been provided by 



ireral of the colleges, notably by Trinity, Wadham, 



lertford, and Keble. The current number of the 



Jfiiversity Gazette contains a long list of members of 



University who have given their lives for their 



Ling and country. Many of the scientific staflf are 



;ing employed in researches and practical operations 



nth direct reference to the war. Among these may 



be mentioned the names of Mr. R. B. Bourdillon, 



fellow of University, Mr. H. T. Tizard, fellow of 



Oriel, and Mr. I. O. Griffith, fellow of St. John's, 



who are all engaged in most important researches in 



the chemistry and physics of aerial warfare. Mr. 



Griffith has been specially re-elected to a fellowship in 



virtue of his research work in this department. 



The new chemical laboratory, which is being 

 erected under the supervision of Prof. Perkin, is 

 rapidly approaching completion. 



The Swiney lectures on geology in connection with 

 British Museum (Natural History) will be de- 

 ivered by Dr. J. D. Falconer, in the Lecture Theatre 

 of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, 

 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, at 3 p.m., 

 beginning Saturday, November 13. There will be 

 twelve lectures, and their subject will be " Ice and the 

 Ice Age." Admission to the lectures will be free. 



A COPY of the current calendar of University Col- 

 lege, Dublin, a constituent college of the National 

 University of Ireland, has been received. It contains 

 detailed particulars of the various courses offered in 



f reparation for the degrees conferred by the National 

 Jniversity. Among such degrees we notice the 

 bachelor of agricultural science, bachelor and master 

 of engineering, bachelor and master of architecture, 

 and bachelor and master of commerce. In addition 

 to other scholarships and exhibitions, the governing 

 body is prepared to award not more than five post- 

 graduate scholarships in arts or science. 



The Departmental Committee appointed by Lord 

 Selborne under the chairmanship of Sir Harry Verney, 

 Bart., M.P., to consider what steps can be taken to 

 promote the settlement or employment on the land in 

 England and Wales of sailors and soldiers, whether 

 disabled or otherwise, on discharge from the Navy 

 or Army, has presented an interim report recommend- 

 ing that as an experiment fifty men who have been 

 discharged from the Navy or Army owing to disable- 

 ment should be given a course of training in an agri- 

 cultural college, with the view of obtaining for them 

 permanent employment on the land, and, in the case 

 of those proving specially capable, fitting them to 

 become occupiers of small holdings. This recom- 

 mendation has been approved by Lord Selborne, and 

 endorsed by the War Office, and the Treasury has 

 agreed to place funds at the disposal of the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries to defray tjie cost of the 

 experiment. It is proposed that the men selected shall 

 be sent to the Harper Adams Agricultural College, 



NO. 2399, VOL. 96] 



Newport, Salop, and to the College of Agriculture and 

 Horticulture, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, where they 

 will be provided with board and lodging and be given 

 a course of training in agriculture and horticulture 

 free of charge to themselves. Any men who have 

 been discharged from the Navy or Army on account 

 of disablement, and desire to receive this course of 

 training, should apply at once to the Secretary, Board 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries, 4 Whitehall Place, S.W., 

 for a form of application. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 11. — M. Ed. Perrier in 

 the chair. — The President announced the deaths of 

 Edouard Prillieux and Philippe Hatt, members of the 

 academy. ^ — L. Lecornu : The deformation of a 

 cylindrical tube.— Henryk Arctowski : The solar 

 faculae. .An account of a statistical study of Green- 

 wich heliographic observations. From measurements 

 of the areas of the spots and faculae, the maximum for 

 the latter is nine days behind the maximum for the 

 spots. The author, from his researches on the Green- 

 wich data, considers the phenomenon of the variation 

 of the frequency of the sun-spots as being only a 

 manifestation subordinate to the phenomenon of the 

 variation of the faculas.— Marcel Brillouin : Certain 

 problems of mathematical physics in the case of hollow 

 bodies.^Pierre Lesage : Salted plants and the trans- 

 mission of acquired characters. Plants watered with 

 salt water show differences, more or less marked, 

 from plants of the same species watered with pure 

 water. Starting with seeds of Lepidium sativum 

 arising from plants watered with weak salt solutions 

 In 191 1, it is shown that some of the acquired char- 

 acters are transmitted by the seeds, although the 

 plants arising from the latter had been watered with 

 soft water only. — E. Demoussy : The localisation Of the 

 acids and sugars in fruits. Various species of fruit, 

 both ripe and partially ripe, were subjected to gradu- 

 ally increasing pressure, and the juices expressed col- 

 lected in fractions and analysed separately. In some 

 cases the amounts of acid and sugar vary considerably 

 with the pressure. These variations are marked with 

 apricots and grapes, small for peaches, and do not 

 appear in strawberries and melons. The cause of this 

 variation is discussed from the point of view of the 

 osmotic pressures In the cells. The localisation of the 

 dissolved matter In fruits Is regarded as affording an 

 explanation of the marked difference In the taste of 

 certain fruits in the raw and cooked states. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Continuous and Alternating Current Machinery 

 Problems. By Prof. W. T. Ryan. Pp. 37. (New 

 York : J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd.) 2s. 6d. net. 



Practical Shop Mechanics and Mathematics. By 

 J. F. Johnson. Pp. ix+130. (New York: J. Wiley 

 and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) 

 4s. 6d. net. 



Arithmetic for Carpenters and Builders. By Prof. 

 R. B. Dale. Pp. Ix+231. (New York : J. Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) 5s. 6d. 

 net. 



The Essentials of Descriptive Geometiy. By Prof. 

 F. G. Higbee. Pp. vi+204. (New York : J. Wiley 

 and Sons. Inc.; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) 

 75. gd. net. 



