556 



NATURE 



[January 13, i^ijS 



statistics foi* the year 1914- 1*5. Jhe present volume 

 shows that for 1913-14 there were in England and 

 Wales 1027 secondary schools on the IBoard of 

 Education grant list,, in which 10,824 full-time 

 teachers and 3418 part-time teachers were employed. 

 Of the former, 5447 were men and 5377 \vomen. The 

 schools educated 99,171 full-time boy pupils and 

 88,036 full-time girl pupils ; while ijn addition 5802 

 part-time pupils were in attendance. Of the total 

 number of schools on the grant list, 397 were for boys, 

 349 for girls, and at 281 both boys and girls attended. 

 Of the full-time boy pupils 19,583 were under twelve 

 years of age, 70,096 were twelve and under sixteen 

 years of age, 8651 were sixteen and under eighteen 

 years of age, and 841 were eighteen years of age and 

 oyer. Of the total number of teachers 6829 were 

 graduates and 3995 non-graduates. In addition to 

 these secondalry schools on the grant list, information 

 is provided concerning 121 other schools which though 

 efficient receive no aid from the Board. In these 

 schools 13,618 bo3s and 8928 girls were taught. In a 

 second Blue-book [Cd. 8098] the statistics of the 

 Welsh schools included above are published separately. 

 In Wales (with Monmouthshire) there were J17 

 schools on the grant list — 30 for boys only, 29 for 

 girls only, and 58 for boys, and girls. The number pf 

 pupils in full-time attendance were : bpys, 8,412 ; girls, 

 8757. In addition there were 814 part-time pupils on 

 the roll. The, staffs of the schools included 554 men 

 and 460 women, exclusive of 278 part-time teachers. 

 There were four efficient Welsh schools not on the 

 grant list educating 112 boys and 296 girlsi.. ,- •■ 



TiiK first volume [Cd.,.81371 of the reports for the 

 year 1913-14 from those universities and universitv 

 colleges irv Great Britain which are in receipt of grants 

 from: the Bo<afd- 'of Education is before us. The 

 reports are of special interest for two reasons ; it is not 

 intended -to publish similar volumes for the year 

 1914-15, and the statistical information provided here 

 relates to the last academic year before the outbreak 

 of the war. In the introductory report, with which 

 the volume opens, attention is directed to the loss of 

 students and income which the .universities have 

 suffered as a result of the war, and to the additional 

 assistance to meet such loss provided by the Treasury. 

 A number of notable gift§ and bequests made to 

 university institutions during the year are recorded. 

 These include, among others, a capital grant of 

 30,oooZ. received from the London County Council by 

 the University of London for the extension and equip- 

 ment of University College; 15,000^. from the 

 Drapers' Company to defray the whole cost of the 

 buildings and equipment of the chemical laboratories 

 at East London College ; i8,oooZ. from Sir George 

 Kenrick for the endowment of a chair of physics at 

 Birmingham University; 40,000/. from Messrs. G. A. 

 and H. H. Wills for the University of Bristol; and 

 5000?. from Sir Joseph Jonas for a testing laboratory 

 for the applied science department of Shefifield L'niver- 

 sity. Interesting information can be gathered from 

 the numerous tables. In England the total income 

 from fees rose during the year by more than 6000/., 

 that from endowments by more than 5000Z., and the 

 local authority grants supplied nearly 5000/. more than 

 in the previous year. In England, again, the total 

 expenditure of these institutions rose by about i.i^.oooL 

 during the year. The total number of full-time 

 students increased from, 7666 in iqi2-i3 to 7756 in the 

 year under review, an increase of 90. There was an 

 increase of 37 students taking degree courses, and an 

 increase of 36 in the number of students taking post-r 

 graduate courses. 



NO. 241 1, VOL. 96] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. i.| 



;v Washington, D.C •'- ^ J| 



Mattoiial Academy of Sciences (Proceedings, No. * I2^ 



vol i.). L. T. Sharp : Salts, soil colloids, and sdilfe»« 



New light is thrown upon the subject of salts in relia.^ 

 tion with soil-colloids. The way is opened for 6xten. J, 

 sive experiments in the physical chemistry of soils, and $ 

 the principles involved will be of particular signifi- V 

 cance for the subject of the applications of "alkali" ■:; 

 and of fertiliser salts.— Alice C. Fletcher : The child and 1 

 the tribe. The rites connected with the initiation of * 

 the child into the tribal life are described with emphasis ' 

 upon their significance in Indian education and philo- i 

 sophy. — H. S. Washington: The correlation of potass- i^ 

 ium and magnesium, sodium and iron, in igneous r 

 rocks. The author's earlier suggestion that soda not * 

 uncommonly tends to vary with the iron oxides while jf 

 potash shows similar relations to magnesia is greatly 

 strengthened by a compilation of analyses of igneous 

 rocks, numbering nearly 10,000. — G. D. BirlihofI : 

 Theorem concerning the singular points of ordinary 

 linear differential equations. It is shown that trans- 

 formations of the independent variable have no signifi- 

 cance over and above linear transformations of the 

 dependent variables for the purposes of classification 

 with respect to the notion of equivalence.— D. I. 

 Macht, N. B. Herman, and C. S. Levy : A quantitative 

 study of cutaneous analgesia' produced by various opium 

 alkaloids. By the use of exact experimental methods 

 the order of analgesic power in the individual alkaloids I 

 from strongest to w^eakest is found to be : — Morphine | 

 (10 mg.), papaveririe (40 mg.), codeine (20 mg.), nar- j 

 cotine (30 mg.), narceine (10 mg.), thebaine (10 mg.). | 

 The combinations of alkaloids are also studied.- — W. D. ;! 

 Harking and E. C. Humphery : The surface-tension iat ^ 

 the interface between two liquids. The substitution of :s 

 experiments on the liquid-liquid interface for the .j 

 ordinary method in which a liquid-air interface is 1 

 used, makes it possible to compare the drop-weight : 

 results with those obtained in a capillary tube of large ': 

 bore. Various advantages appear from the use of this i 

 method. — W. H. Wright : Outline of a proposed system i 

 of classification of the nebulae by means of their \ 

 spectra. The spectra are arranged according to the j 

 degree of concentration of 4686A, and some of the I 

 neighbouring lines. The successive nebul?e. stand in " 

 very close relation to one another, ■ yet at one end of ; 

 the scale is a purely gaseous nebula, and at the j 

 other a banded star.— W. H. Wright : Some probable 

 identities in wave-length in nebular and stellar spectra. 

 The evidence renders probable the presence in the ■ 

 nebulae of carbon and nitrogen, and fortifies the 1 

 assumption of a close relationship between the nebulae ' 

 and the early type stars. — F. G. Benedict and H. i 

 Murschhauser : Energy transformations during hori- : 

 zontal walking. The metabolism found for the subject i 

 walking at moderate speed without food has an average \ 

 value of 1/2 gram-calorie. Slow, medium, and fast ' 

 walking, and running are investigated for comparison. ! 

 — F. G. Benedict and F. B. Talbot : The physiology of the j 

 new-born infant. The results of experiments on 105 , 

 new-born infants give opportunity for suggestions as ' 

 to supplemental feeding and methods of conserving 1 

 energy. — T. M. Carpenter: A comparison of methods for '. 

 determining the respiratory exchange of man. The \ 

 apparatus compared were the following : bed respiration ^ 

 calorimeter; two forms of; the Benedict universal re- ^ 

 spiration apparatus ; Zuntz-Geppert apparatus ; Tissot 1 

 apparatus : and so on. — R. Dodge and F. G. Benedict: J 

 Neuro-muscular effects of moderate doses of alcohol. 5 

 Contrary to the theory of Kraepelin, the authors find '■ 

 no facilitation of the motor processes, but the depres- - 

 sion of their simplest forms in the finger- and eye- ', 

 movements seem to .be one of the most characteristic 



