94 



NATURE 



[x\pRiL 4, 19 1 8 



Harvard Observatory is carried on in co-operation with 

 other institutions. Prof. Pickering has also assisted 

 largely in the organisation of amateur astronomers in 

 America, especially for the observation of variable 

 stars, in which thirty observers are now associated. 

 For this work the observatory has furnished suitable 

 charts, and deterrrtinations of the magnitudes of nearly 

 5000 reference stars. 



Harvard Circulars Nos. 203 and 204 have also been 

 received. The first includes particulars of asteroids 

 which will attain magnitude 10, or brighter, during 

 1918, and the second contains a valuable summary of 

 the observed magnitudes of Nova Persei No. 2 from 

 1902 to the end of last year, together with a list of 

 comparison stars suitable for future determinations. 



The Canadian "Observer's Handbook." — A useful 

 service to its members is rendered by the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society of Canada in the annual publication 

 of "The Observer's Handbook." It includes a collec- 

 tion of astronomical data, referring especially to the 

 sun, moon, and planets, arranged very conveniently 

 in the form of a calendar. There is also a special list 

 of occultations, calculated for Ottawa. Tables which 

 vary but little from year to year have been omitted 

 from the present issue. 



Ephemerides of Algol Variables. — In the Journal 

 des Observateurs, vol. ii., No. 4, M. Luizet has given 

 a valuable series of tables, from which observers can 

 readily prepare a list of the dates of occurrence during 

 the present year of minima of 123 variables of the 

 Algol type. The epoch of the first minimum occurring 

 in each month is given in the first table, and the 

 length of period, and multiples thereof, in the second. 

 The variables are designated by the notation of 

 Andr^, as well as by that of Argelander. 



, ! 



THE TRAINING OF THE FRENCH 

 ENGINEER. 

 TN the Bulletin de la Societe d' Encouragement pour 

 -■• rindustrie Nationale for September-October last 

 appears a valuable report of the proceedings of the 

 Society of Civil Engineers of France concerning the 

 training of engineers of the first rank, alike for the 

 special services of the State and for leading positions 

 in industry. Not only is the specialised training re- 

 quired considered in the article, but also the previous 

 preparatory education. The matter arose on the pre- 

 sentation of an important communication from M. 

 L^on Guillet, a member of the society, which was 

 considered at a special session of the society held on 

 November 3, 1916, at which the Minister of Commerce 

 and Industry presided. The communication embraced 

 a comparative study of the subject of technical train- 

 ing as it is pursued in France and abroad, a thought- 

 ful criticism of the existing means and methods of 

 such instruction and the preparation required for it, 

 and an expression of personal views as to the lines 

 upon which in future both preparatory and technical 

 studies should proceed.^ A special commission was 

 appointed, which sat during five sessions, extending to 

 the end of April, 1917, and took important evidence 

 from professional and other persons engaged in en- 

 gineering. 



An oflficial invitation was received by the society in 

 January, 1917, from the Minister " of Commerce 

 and Industry, to formulate proposals for the 

 essential modifications required, in its opinion, 

 to be introduced to ensure the more efficient 

 education and training of professional engineers. 

 These proposals take the form of recommenda- 

 tions relative to reforms in the aims and methods 

 of secondary education, as a preparation for higher 

 NO. 2527, VOL. lOl] 



technical schools, in which it is suggested that the 

 classical studies should be lessened, the teaching of 

 modern languages encouraged, and courses in manual 

 exercises introduced. It is also suggested that the 

 plan of instruction should be arranged so as to meet 

 the needs on one hand of those proceeding to higher 

 normal schools, and on the other of those entering the 

 technical high schools. 



Great importance is attached to the necessity for the 

 fullest opportunity of laboratory practice in the tech- 

 nical high schools, and for the encouragement not only 

 of a spirit of individual research and incjuiry in the 

 students, but also of a more intimate relation between 

 them and the teaching body with less merely ex 

 cathedra teaching. It is laid down as essential that 

 the directing and teaching personnel of the engineering 

 schools shall be recruited from persons actively asso- 

 ciated with industrial conditions, and that the students 

 themselves shall have had the opportunity of work in 

 the factories and of travel-study in the workshops of 

 France and in foreign countries. The vital importance 

 of the economic aspect of industry is insisted upon, and 

 with the view of increasing French influence abroad, 

 every encouragement should be given to foreigners to 

 follow in whole or in part the instruction in the tech- 

 nical high schools, and, finally, it is recommended that 

 so far as possible the native pupils shall be admitted 

 without fee, and assisted, where necessary, by loans 

 without interest. It is suggested that regular military 

 training shall be maintained in these schools, that 

 the time spent in them shall count as two years in the 

 Service, and that the one year of effective service shall 

 consist of six months with the colours and six 

 months in the service of the State or in industries 

 susceptible of contributing to the national defence, or 

 in camp instruction for officers. 



Proposals are made for further specialised and ad- 

 vanced instruction of a post-graduate character, and 

 after the manner of the newly founded High School 

 of Electricity, it is suggested that institutions dealing 

 respectively with machinery and iron and steel con- 

 struction, metallurgy, chemistry, textiles, public works 

 and railways, and naval construction should be estab- 

 lished, and short technical courses of a very ad- 

 vanced character dealing with the most recent 

 progress in technical science offered to professional 

 engineers engaged in works. The proposals are fur- 

 ther elaborated in a long communication from the 

 vice-president of the society to the Minister of Com- 

 merce and Industry which is well worthy of the atten- 

 tion of the engineering profession in this country. 



NEMATODE PESTS. 



PROF. WARRINGTON YORKE and Dr. B. 

 Blacklock (in Annals of Trop. Med. and 

 Parasitology, vol. xi., No. 2, 1917) have re- 

 corded a series of interesting observations on 

 the periodicity of the larvae of the nematode worm, 

 Filaria bancrofti (nocturna), in an Australian who con- 

 tracted the infection in Queensland. It is well known 

 that during the night the larvas of this species are 

 concentrated in the cutaneous vessels, while during the 

 day they are present there in small numbers only. 

 The authors estimated the number of larvae in the 

 cutaneous blood every two hours for a period of 

 twenty-four hours on December 21-22, 1916, and again 

 on January 5-6, 1917. The maximum concentration 

 observed was at midnight, when there were 12,850 

 larvae per cubic centimetre. Although the number of 

 larvae fell to a low level during the daytime they were 

 never absent, the minimum number note 1 being 

 50 per c.c. of cutaneous blood. A discussion of the ob- 



