February 24, 19 16] 



NATURE 



7^2, 



IS so pro[>ortioned that the principal transverse sec- 

 tion is wholly in tension (Fig. 7) and is much more 

 evenly distributed than before, while the elongated 

 head allows a more even distribution in the longi- 

 tudinal section. The contour is apparently not en- 

 tirely satisfactory, as the head merges into the main 

 body in a somewhat abrupt manner,, and suggests 

 that a more satisfactory solution would be obtained 

 by more gradual transition curves following one of 

 the system of curves of principal stress in a member of 

 rectangular form, and of considerable width. If this 

 is carried out as shown in the next model, you will, 

 I think, observe that the effect of this change is a 

 beneficial one, and the lines of stress are less curved, 

 while there are no portions of the head which may 

 be looked upon as of doubtful utility. 



thorpian professor (Prof. Somerville) has also xtccepted 

 Government work. In spite of depleted numbers, re- 

 search has been conducted on representative soils from 

 the Belgian Congo, on soils in the Oxford district, 

 on the reaction of soil constituents towards solutions 

 of phosphate, the comparative value of high and low 

 basic slag, the relation between hygroscopic value and 

 the results of mechanical analysis of soils, the effects 



^ of grass, etc., on the growth of trees, the storage of 

 fertility in grassland as the result of the use of 

 phosphates, and the life-history of Stigmounia coni- 

 ferana, a microlepidopteron. The Institute for Re- 

 search in Agricultural Economics, the aim of which 

 is the application of scientific discovery to the prac- 

 tical business of food-production, has continued its 

 work under considerable difficulty, mainly arising from 

 the war. The chief subject investigated has Ix^en the 

 cost of production in agriculture, particularly in re- 



j gard to the expenditure upon labour. An agricultural 

 survey of Oxfordshire has also been carried out, but 

 many promising inquiries have had to be suspended. 



The Board of Finance, presided over by Sir (ieorg<' 

 Murray, has reported that, largely in consequence of 

 the generosity of individuals, of the colleges, and of 

 delegacies, the immediate difficulties of the year 1915 

 have been surmounted. The Board concurs in the 

 proposal to establish an "Emergency Relief F'und," 

 and thinks that later on in the year it will become 

 necessary to reconsider the financial situation. 



Leave of absence on account of war service has been 

 granted to the professor of engineering science (Prof. 

 C. F. Jenkin), and the Waynflete professor of minera- 

 logy (Prof. H. I.. Bowman). 



Economy in the use and distribution of material 

 to resist stresses in a structure is clearly a most desir- 

 able end, and in i^erhaps no case is this more neces- 

 sary than in some of the latest developments of 

 modern engineering — the airship and the aeroplane — 

 where weight is a most important factor; and tenta- 

 tive experiments upon models of links used in these 

 structures show that some help in the solution of 

 these new problems may possibly be afforded by 

 optical investigations. 



It would not be difficult to supply other examples, 

 but the cases already described are possibly sufficient 

 to show the use of polarised light in engineering 

 problems of stress and strain, and to indicate the 

 possible utility of stress pictures in other fields of 

 applied science and industrial research. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— Mr. G. W. Walker, F.R.S., formerly 

 fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, has been ap- 

 pointed Halley lecturer for 1916, in place of Prince 

 Boris Galitzin, resigned. 



The report of the Committee for Rural Economy, 

 which has just been issued, records the fact that the 

 whole of the staff of the school who are of military 

 age have accepted commissions, or are otherwise 

 engaged on work connected with the war. The Sib- 



NO. 2417, VOX,. 96] 



Miss Sar.xh Holborn, who died on January 3, has 

 left the sum of looof. to the London .School of Medi- 

 cine for Women. 



The conversazione of the Battersea Polytechnic will 

 Be held on Saturday next, February 26. The labora- 

 tories, workshops, and the polytechnic generally will 

 be on view, and the evening affords an opportunity 

 for the public to see the kind of work which is carried 

 on in the training of men and women to fit them for 

 the higher technical posts in industrial life. 



Announcement of a gift of 50,000?. for a library for 

 Amherst College was made at the annual banquet 

 of the Amherst Alumni Association of New York. 

 The library is, Science states, to be a memorial to a 

 graduate of the class of 1867 from a brother whose 

 name is withheld. A gift of 30,000/. from a graduate 

 of Wellesley College toward the fund for a new ad- 

 ministration building is also announced by our con- 

 temporary. The donor does not wish her name made 

 known at present. 



According to a correspondent of the Titncs, .some 

 education authorities are contemplating the re-intro- 

 duction of slates to the schoolroom. Such a step 

 would be a retrograde one, for it is generally recog- 

 nised by hygienists that the slate and slate pencil 

 — cleaned with saliva and sucked by the pupil — possess 

 considerable capacity for the spread of infectious 

 disea.se among the scholars. The writing on a slate, 

 moreover, does not stand out so clearly as on paper, 

 and the strain to the eyes is therefore greater. 



In the Times of February 18 particulars are ])ub- 

 lished of the loss of libraries and mu.seums by Serbia 

 consequent upon the recent invasion by the enemy. 

 In Belgrade King Peter's private library and the 

 Royal collections were ransacked. At Nish, the com- 

 plete treasures of the National Library, the University 

 Library, and the libraries of the various faculties, 

 which had been removed from Belgrade, were cx)n- 



