March 14, 19 18] 



NATURE 



1 1 part (2) it is proposed that six papers should be set 

 two in mathematics and four in natural science sub- 

 . ots — experimental science, physical geography, bio- 

 igy, botany), of which a candidate would be required 

 o tiike three, one, at least, of these being a mathe- 

 matical paper, and no candidate would be allowed to 

 ke both biology and botany 



Liverpool. — ^The University of Liverpool has re- 



cntly received a gift of 2000/. from Mrs. and Miss 



Holt as a contribution towards the cost of equipment 



t the new department of geology. Prof. Boswell is 



i be congratulated upon the excellent beginning that 



' ademic geology is able to make at Liverpool in 



iiisequence of this gift. Moreover, the new depart- 



iiient has been enriched by the presentation of valu- 



jle collections of books, maps, and geological speci- 



. Among the specimens are included the collec- 



of rocks, minerals, and fossils made by the late 



H. Morton (together with his manuscript cata- 



je), the collections of the late Dr. R. C. Ricketits 



Joseph Lomas, besides other smaller miscel- 



)us collections. The departmental library of 



)logy includes a large series of periodicals, both 



ftish and foreign, the publications of the local 



"tish geological societies being of especial interest. 



late T. Mellard Reade's large collection of geo- 



ical pamphlets finds an appropriate home in the 



irtment, and a valuable gift of books and period- 



ils from the library of the late R. H. Tiddeman has 



recently been presented by his widow. Furthermore, 



for some years past Prof. W. A. Herdman has been 



collecting together an important series of maps and 



)eriodicals in anticipation of the establishment of the 



"lool of Geology. 



)xFORD. — An anonymous donor has sent 500Z. to 

 William Schlich towards the fund for the per- 

 cent endowment of the professorship of forestry. 

 |[n a Convocation held on March 12 the degree of 

 " ., honoris causa, was conferred upon Prof. W. C. 

 [ntosh, for many years professor of natural history 

 [the L'niversity of St. Andrews. 



).ME ifiteresting details are given in La Naiure for 

 )ruary 9 concerning the present activity of the 

 kiversity of Grenoble. As as well known, Grenoble 

 situated practically in the centre of the hydro- 

 trie industry of France, and much of the work of 

 Polytechnic Institute connected with the University 

 ■; a bearing on the branches of science which are 

 ncerned in the new industries arising from the use 

 iiydro-electric energy. The polytechnic comprises 



I 1 ) a higher electrotechnic college for the training of 

 Metrical engineers, electrometallurgists, and electro- 

 '1. mists; (2) an elementary school of electrotechnics ; 



;i mechanical and electrical testing laboratory for 

 nmercial tests; (4) a school for training engineers 

 the pap)er trade; (5) a laboratory for tests and 

 ilyses connected with the paper trade; and (6) an 

 ( trometallurgical and electrochemical test station, 

 -1 a tnodel plant of 1000 h.p. A chair of electro- 

 mistry and electrometallurgy has also been created. 



I I is stated that the polytechnic is also open to receive 

 students from foreign countries. 



Particulars given in the issue of the U.S. Monthly 

 Weather- Review for June of last year concerning 

 meteorological courses for aeronautical engineers have 

 been published at Washington as a separate pamphlet. 

 The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, co- 

 operating with the United States War Department, 

 arranged in May, 1917, with a number of leading uni- 

 versities and schools for courses designed specially to 

 further the education and training of aviators. These 

 courses, technically known as "Ground Schools in Mili- 

 NO. 2524, VOL. lOl] 



tary Aeronautics," include such subjects as elementary 

 meteorology, astronomy, engineering, internal-combus- 

 tion engines, and so on, and are now being offered at 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology in co-operation 

 with Harvard University, Princeton University, Cornell 

 University, Ohio State University, University of Illi- 

 nois, University of Texas, and the l'niversity of Cali- 

 fornia. Prof. R. DeC. Ward is giving the course 

 in meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, and also a more extended course forming part 

 of the requirements leading to the degree of aero- 

 nautical engineer. The syllabus of work includes, in 

 addition to the general principles of meteorology, a 

 study of atmospheric conditions affecting aviation, fore- 

 casts of wind velocity and direction aloft, and favour- 

 able and unf^vourable weather for flying. 



The governing body of the Manchester School of 

 Technology has decided to change the name to Man- 

 chester College of Technology. The progress of the 

 college fully justifies the change in name, which at 

 the same time will remove a possible misconception 

 as to the nature and scope of the activities of the insti- 

 tution. In the two years immediately before the war 

 the number of matriculated students in the college 

 increased by 50 per cent., and though the war has 

 drawn away more than two-thirds of its students, 

 to-day there are aotually more undergraduates than there 

 were in 1911-12. The proportion of evening students 

 doing the most advanced work doubled itself between 

 1913 and 1916; and even to-day, after two years of 

 the Military Service Acts, the proportion is 60 per 

 cent, greater than it was in 1911-12. To enable the 

 college to attract and retain experts of first-rate ability 

 whose services are in great demand by industrial con- 

 cerns, the governing body is now offering professorial 

 salaries up to loooZ. or 1200Z. a year, with permission 

 to undertake private consulting work under suitable 

 conditions. According to official data, the annual ex- 

 penditure of the college is now about equal to that of 

 the University of Sheffield, and is half as large again 

 as that of the University of Bristol. But perhaps the 

 greatest change of all is in the quantity of the re- 

 search work undertaken. This result is in part due 

 to the fact that the governing body now offers annually 

 several research scholarships, each of the value of looZ. 

 a year. Moreover, lecturers are appointed not only 

 to teach, but also to research ; they understand that their 

 advancement largely depends upon their research. Co- 

 operative researches in which the practical experience 

 of individual manufacturers is combined with the 

 wider but less specialised knowledge of members of 

 the college are increasing in number. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, February 28. — Sir J. J. Thomson, 

 president, in the chair. — Hon. R. J. Strutt : Scattering 

 of light by dust-free air, with artificial reproduction of 

 the blue sky. (i) By proper arrangement of the ex- 

 perimental conditions, it is possible to observe the scat- 

 tering of light by pure air, free of dust, in a small-scale 

 laboratory experiment. (2) Similar results can be ob- 

 tained with other gases. Hydrogen gives much less 

 scattering than air, oxygen about the same, carbon 

 dioxide decidedly more. (3) The scattered light in air 

 and in all the other gases is blue — the blue of the sky 

 — illustrating very directly the theory that attributes 

 the blue of the sky to scattering by the molecules of 

 air. Tyndall obtained the blue by means of fine- 

 grained fogs, precipitated from organic vapours. This 

 was a valuable oontribution, but his fogs were, of 

 course, both chemically and physically ver\' different 

 from dust-free air. (4) The scattered light is almost com- 



