480 



NATURE 



[December 30, 1915 



this district. The first, which occurred on September 

 18, 1904, also attained an intensity of degree 5. The 

 disturbed area contained 564 square miles, its centre 

 being nine miles west of Dunoon. A slighter shock 

 (intensity 4) occurred on July 3, 190S. It was felt 

 over an area of about 400 square miles, with its centre 

 eleven miles north of Dunoon. The epicentre was 

 thus displaced about fourteen miles in a north-easterly 

 direction. From the evidence at present available, a 

 similar further displacement appears to have occurred 

 in the epicentre of the recent shock. 



The accounts of the local committee of the Man- 

 chester meeting of the British Association, held in 

 September, lately issued, show that the resolution to 

 observe the strictest economy in vievi^ of the excep- 

 tional circumstances in which the meeting was held 

 was faithfully kept, and the local officers are to be 

 heartily congratulated on the success of their efforts 

 in this as in other directions. The expenditure 

 amounted to only 862Z. 15s., and 22 per cent, was all 

 .that it was necessary to ask from the guarantors. 

 On the occasion of the previous meeting, in 1887, the 

 expenses reached 3652Z., and 35 per cent, of the much 

 larger guarantee fund was called up. The meeting 

 was in every way a success ; it was attended by many 

 eminent scientific men, the papers and discus- 

 sions were of high value, and the arrangements 

 gave such satisfaction that at the concluding meeting 

 of the general committee many influential members 

 expressed the hope that future meetings might be 

 " run " on the same lines, excluding much of the lavish 

 and costly expenditure on entertainments and excur- 

 sions which has often proved a heavy charge on the 

 local funds. 



In the House of Commons on December 20, Sir 

 Philip Magnus asked the Minister of Munitions 

 whether his attention has been directed to a recent 

 resolution of the British Science Guild urging upon his 

 Majesty's Government the necessity of immediate 

 steps being taken to establish a national school of 

 technical optics, with a view of affording opportunities 

 for the scientific training in this country of artisans 

 and other students in the theory and practice of the 

 several operations needed for the manufacture of the 

 optical instruments and appliances which have hitherto 

 been largely imported from Germany, and are now 

 being imported into this country from the United 

 States of America and elsewhere ; and, if so, whether 

 he proposes to take any action in the matter. The 

 question was answered by Dr. Addison as follows : — 

 I understand that the resolution in question was passed 

 by the British Science Guild in July, 1914. The object 

 in view appears to be undoubtedly of the greatest 

 importance, and my right hon. friend has had before 

 him for some months the necesslt}" for increasing the 

 number of skilled workmen available for the manufac- 

 ture of optical instruments for war purposes. I am 

 advised that a considerable number are being trained 

 at v^arlous works engaged on Government contracts. 

 As regards the permanent supply of such workmen, 

 I understand that the matter is receiving the careful 

 attention of the Board of Education. Sir Philip also 

 asked the Minister of Munitions whether he Is aware 



NO. 2409, VOL. q61 



that a small but efficient school of technical optics 

 has been for some time In existence in connection with 

 the Northampton Polytechnic Institute, Clerkenwell; 

 that the governors of that school have purchased at a 

 cost of i3,oooZ. a site for its extension, but have no 

 funds available from which they can complete the 

 necessary extension and equipment, and that unless 

 funds are forthcoming they will be compelled to sell 

 the site to avoid further payment of interest; and 

 whether, in these circumstances, and having regard 

 to the need of a well-equipped school, the Minister of 

 Munitions can see his way to make a grant of money 

 towards the further extension of the school. The 

 answer given by Dr. Addison was : — I am sorry to 

 hear of the difficulties with which the governors of 

 the Institute are faced, but the matter does not directly 

 concern the Ministry of Munitions, and I regret that 

 I cannot hold out any prospect of a grant from funds 

 at the disposal of the Ministry. I understand, how- 

 ever, that the matter is under the consideration of the 

 Board of Education and the London County Council. 



At the sixth annual general meeting of the Society 

 of Engineers (Incorporated), held on December 13, 

 the awards of premiums made in respect of papers 

 pubUshed in the Journal of the society during 1915 

 were announced as follows : — The president's gold 

 medal to Mr. A. H. Barker, for his paper entitled 

 " Some Future Developments in Heating and Ventila- 

 tion " ; the Bessemer premium, value 5^. 5s., to Mr. 

 Alphonse Stelger, for his paper on "The Modern 

 Development of Water Power"; a society's premium, 

 value 3^ 3s., to Mr. S- G. Turner, for his paper 

 entitled "Law and Engineering; Some Points of Con- 

 tact"; a society's premium, value 2I. 2s., to Mr. F. 

 Grove, for his paper on " Main Roads, Past and Pre- 

 sent." The following were elected as members of the 

 council and officers for 1916 : — President, P. Griffith; 

 Vice-Presidents, H. C. Adams, W. B. Esson, and 

 W. Noble Twelvetrees ; Members of Council, H. 

 Adams, C. T. Walrond, F. L. Ball, B. Geen, the Rt. 

 Hon. Lord Headley, F. H. Hummel, T. J. Gueritte, 

 B. H. M. Hewett, G. A. Becks, and G. O. Case; 

 Associate Member of Council, C. E. May ; Hon. Secre- 

 tary and Hon. Treasurer, D. B. Butler. 



Students of eugenics will be greatly interested by 

 Dr. C. B. Davenport's recent paper on the inheritance 

 of violent temper (Journ. Nervous and Menial Disease, 

 xlli., 1915, pp. 593-628). His results are taken from 

 the study of 165 family histories of wayward girls 

 In State Institutions. From the facts, clearly set forth 

 in the text and the pedigrees oi eleven families in 

 graphic form, the conclusion is drawn that "the 

 tendency to outbursts of temper . . . whether asso- 

 ciated with epilepsy, hysteria, or mania or not, is 

 inherited as a dominant trait, typically does not skip 

 a generation, and tends ordinarily to reappear, on the 

 average, in half of the children of an affected parent." 

 Hence it follows that " unaffected members of a 

 fraternity who select an emotionally-controlled consort 

 will only exceptionally, if ever, have affected offspring." 

 This is comforting from the eugenic point of view, 

 and some measures for isolating the worst of the 

 "affected" might at least be discussed. 



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