December 24, 1914] 



NATURE 



469 



for human weakness and human reticences. Such is 

 the Teutonic form of efficiency, against which the 

 armies of England and India are battling in Europe 

 at this moment. The efficiency which we want in tne 

 India of to-day is of a different and a better type. 

 It seeks for a steady improvement of the conditions 

 which stimulate self-development ; it does not despise 

 the feelings and frailties of mankind; and it moves 

 through the portals of conviction towards the goal of 

 the ideal. It is in this sense that efficiencj- must 

 ever be the rally-cry of our University, ^\'e can never 

 stand still but must always move forward, striving 

 for the best, with a divine discontent for all the 

 spurious imitations and the makeshifts which w'e may 

 be asked to accept in its place. In the ordinary life 

 of the world we have constantly to endure the second 

 best or something still poorer, in art, in music, in 

 literature, in our companionships. But let us not foist 

 the second best, if we can help it, on our students. 

 The temptations to be content with it will assail them 

 soon enough. Be it our part to give them the best 

 we can command, and to help them to enjoy and 

 desire it. In this wav shall we raise the true efficiency 

 of our University and ensure for our graduates their 

 proper place in the van of Indian progress." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



M.WCHESTER. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, December i. Mr. 



F. Nicholson, president, in the chair. — C. H. Lander : 

 Graphical determination of the stresses in the main 

 spars of monoplanes. One of the most complex 

 problems connected with the design of beams con- 

 tinuous over several supports is presCTrted by the main 

 spars of monoplanes. The stresses are rnade up of 

 direct compressions and those due to bending 

 moments, the determinations of the latter being most 

 complicated. The lift of a wing surface for small 

 angles increases with the angle of incidence and with 

 the square of the velocity : at a speed of about 60 

 miles per hour the lift of a certain type of curved 

 wing varies from 5 lb. at 4° up to a maximum of 

 117 lb. at 17°; at 120 miles per hour these lifts would 

 be four times as great. Most monoplanes are de- 

 signed for a load of oooyV-lb. per square foot, V 

 being the designed speed in feet per second. From 

 this the loading on the spar may be determined for 

 different angles. The method of solution of the 

 stresses then varies according to the manner in 

 which the lift wires are attached to the spar. The 

 direct application of Claxton Fidler's method of solu- 

 tion of continuous beams maj- be used when the lift 

 w^ires are attached to the spar at the neutral axis. 

 When these wires are attached at the lower side of 

 the spar, the longitudinal moments induced may be 

 assumed and their diagrams plotted as though the 

 spars were discontinuous over the points of support, 

 characteristic points obtained, and the true base line 

 drawn by Fidler's method. A modification of Fidler's 

 method can also be used in the case of wires badlv 

 adjusted or injured. — Prof. W. H. Lang : Studies in 

 the morpholog}- of Isoetes. Pt. I. — The general mor- 

 phology of the stock of Isoetes. The external form 

 and gross anatomy of the two-lobed stock of Isoetes 

 lacustris is described. The upper portion of the 

 stock corresponds to the shoot, the lower portion 

 behaves as a downwardly growing rhizophore, on 

 which roots arise in acropetal succession. The posi- 

 tion of the deeplj-seated growing line of the rhizo- 

 phoric region corresponds to that of the secondary' 

 meristem of the base of the stem, but its mode of 

 growth is different. The growth proceeds, and the 

 roots are brought to the surface, as if the lower apex 



NO. 2 ^^6. VOL. Qd1 



were not only drawn out and deeply sunken, but the 

 opposed sides of the depression were congenitally 

 united. When the roots are exposed by the splitting 

 process at the groove they stand exogenously on the 

 surface. This mode of interpreting the morphology 

 of Isoetes proves satisfactory when applied either to 

 the explanation of the growth of the stock itself or 

 in comparisons with Lepidodendreae and Pleuromeia. 

 The rhizophoric region of the stock of Isoetes is 

 regarded as the structure in existing plants most 

 closely comparable to the stigmarian base of the 

 Lepidodendreae. 



December 15. — Mr. F. Nicholson, president, in the 

 chair. — F. R. Lankshear : Quantitative absorption 

 spectra. Part ii. — A new ultra-violet photometer. A 

 new ultra-violet photometer was described, in which, 

 by a system of condensers and prisms, two equal 

 beams of light are obtained. One beam passes 

 through the absorbing liquid and the other through 

 a central adjustable sector. Corrections due to the 

 intermittent nature of light thus become unneces- 

 sary-. — W. C. Jenkins and E. L. Rhead : Some notes 

 on aerolites : the Appley Bridge aerolite of October 

 13, 1914. A summary of obser\"ations made on the 

 mass found at Appley Bridge, and the results of 

 preliminary' analyses of its chemical composition. 



Paris. 

 .4cademy of Sciences, December 7. — M. P. AppcU in 

 the chair. — Haton de la Goupilliere : A property of 

 arithmetical progressions. — J. Bosler and H. G. Block : 

 Observations of the eclipse of the sun of August 21, 

 1914, made at Stromsund (Sweden) by the expedition 

 from Meudon Observatorj-. The main object of the 

 expedition was to photograph the spectrum of the 

 corona in the whole visible field, including the red, 

 and, if possible, obtain some indications of its velocity 

 of rotation. The weather conditions proved extremi 1 

 favourable. The results of the observatior- 

 are summarised on p. 460.^ — M. Skossarewsky : 

 The electrohtic dissociation of acetylene and 

 its metallic derivatives. The electrolytic dissocia- 

 tion of acetylene and its monosodium derivative has 

 been proved by measurements of conductivity in solu- 

 tion in liquid ammonia. The dissociation increa^ 

 with the dilution of the solution. The temperatur. 

 coefficient of the specific conductivity is about 2 per 

 cent, for 1° C, and is nearly independent of the con- 

 centration. — M. Tiffenau : ^lolecular transposition in 

 the cyc/ohexane series : passage to the tvi/opentane 

 series. Orthoiodo-hydroxycvc/ohexane, treated with 

 silver nitrate, gives the aldehyde of cyc/opentane- 

 carboxylic acid. The removal of hydriodic acid causes 

 the opening of the ring, and passing from a cyclo- 

 hexane to a f3'c-/opentane derivative. Homologues of 

 the cyt/ohexane alcohol behave in a similar manner. 

 — Marcel Le Brazidec : Molecular transposition in the 

 phenylcyc/ohexane series : migration of a phenyl group 

 without passage to the cyr/opentane series. lodo- 

 phenyltyc/ohexanol, on elimination of hydriodic acid 

 w ith silver nitrate gives phenylcvf/ohexanone, a cyclo- 

 pentane derivative not being formed.— C. Grossmann : 

 The uranium minerals of Fiadanana, Madagascar. 

 Externally the mineral resembles euxenite and con- 

 tains from 12 to 40 per cent, of Ur,0,. The mineral 

 with the higher proportion of uranium possesses a 

 radio-activit\- nearly double that of pure black uranium 

 oxide, and may prove a possible source of radium 

 compounds. — Maurice Lngeon : Some consequences of 

 the presence of cr\stalline sheets underlving the 

 Niesen zone (Switzerland).^ — Fernand Gueguen : The 

 alteration termed " piqure " of sail and tent canvas. 

 The loss of strength of canvas in certain spots after 

 exposure to the open air is shown to be due to the 



