NATURE 



[April i8, 191 8 



but cannot be separated Chemically, and the atomic 

 weights of which may differ slightly. 



With regard to the" study of the X-rays themselves, 

 no outstanding advances were made tor some ten years 

 after their discovery, when Barkla obtained evidence 

 of the existence of "characteristic" radiations from 

 experiments on secondary X-rays. The discovery led 

 to the wave-theory of the X-rays, which was completely 

 substantiated at later dates by the diffraction experi- 

 ments of Laue, the Braggs, Moseley, and Darwin. 

 Barkla 's characteristic rays are thus shown to be of 

 the same nature as the rays yielding bright-line spectra 

 in the case of ordinary light. The diffraction experi- 

 ments led to the employment of the X-rays for two 

 classes of investigation, in the hands of Prof. Bragg 

 and his son, problems of crystal structure have been 

 successfully attacked, while in the other direction the 

 late Mr. Moseley has shown these phenomena to be a 

 most powerful method o*f investigating the constitution 

 of the elements. He showed that the critical property 

 of an element was its atomic number, while its atomic 

 weight was relatively of secondary importance. The 

 important relationship between the frequency of the 

 K or L series of characteristic rays and the atomic 

 number of the element should be known as Moseley's 

 law. 



At the conclusion of the meeting the president pre- 

 sented to Sir Ernest Rutherford the first of the medals 

 which will be given annually in commemoration of the 

 Silvanus Thompson Memorial lecture. 



SCOTTISH METEOROLOGY. 



'T'HE Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society 

 -*• for 19 1 6 retains the interesting character it has 

 held of recent years. There are four articles besides 

 the report of the council, and the statistical informa- 

 tion, with fifteen pages of letterpress, on the weather 

 of 1916 in Scotland. 



Capt. Douglas gives a very interesting account of 

 his observations on clouds as seen from an aeroplane, 

 but- as this was the subject of an article in the issue 

 pf Nature for April 4 it is unnecessary to say more 

 about it here. 



The second article is by Mr. M'Cullum Fairgrieve, 

 and discusses a chart suggested by Dr. Griffiths Tay- 

 lor, and called by him a climograph. The chart is 

 formed by plotting the mean monthly wet-bulb tem- 

 perature against the mean monthly humidity on 

 squared paper, and joining in order the twelve points 

 so formed. The idea originated with Prof. Hunting- 

 don, who was investigating the effect of climate upon 

 the mental and physical fitness of a race. Both Mr. 

 Fairgrieve's and Dr. Taylor's papers should be read — 

 it is impossible in a brief space to give extracts ; they 

 are both very interesting, but the criticism that occurfe 

 to one is that the magnitude and prosperity of a big 

 city do not depend very largely on its climate, but 

 rather on its geographical position. Thus, Edinburgh 

 or Liverpool has probably just as good a climate as 

 London or New York, but the preponderance of the 

 latter cities depends chiefly on other considerations. 



Dr. Crighton Mitchell, in the third article, discusses 

 the time of the occurrence of the maximum and mini- 

 mum temperatures at Eskdalemuir. He has taken the 

 frequencies at each hour of the day, and so formed a 

 frequency table for each month. The standard devia- 

 tion of the time of maximum is much less in the 

 summer than in the winter. For the summer the time 

 of maximum is 2 p.m. and the standard deviation 

 255 hours. For the winter these values become i p.m. 

 and v^S hours. As at other stations, the minimum 

 mostlv occurs about the time of sunrise. 



In the fourth article Mr. Smillie and Mr. Watt 



discuss a curious case of ground-ice which caused 

 much inconvenience by blocking the inlet of a public 

 water supply. The trouble occurred at Lochrutton 

 Lock, near Dumfries, and is the only similar case re- 

 corded there, although many more severe frosts have 

 occurred since the construction of the waterworks. 

 There was no surface ice on the lock at the time, the 

 inlet became clear, and no further trouble was experi- 

 enced as soon as ithe surface was frozen. The authors 

 discuss the reason of the formation of ground-ice and 

 show that it is probaibly due to radiation. 



The rest of the journal contains notes, reviews of 

 current literature, a list of fellows, and a statement of 

 accounts, as well as an interesting description of the 

 weather of each month by Mr. Watt. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The Foreign Secretary and the President of the 

 Board of Education have invited representatives of uni- 

 versities to attend a conference to be held on May 9 

 to consider the possibility of establishing closer connec- 

 tion between British universities and those of the 

 Allied countries. The proceedings will be private. 



Ix recognition of his services to the cause of science 

 the sum of two lakhs of rupees was recently presented 

 to Sir J. C. Bose, of the Presidency College, Calcutta, 

 by some of the leading- citizens of Bombay. In accept- 

 ing the gift Sir J. C. Bose stated that it would be 

 held in trust by a committee of three for the use of 

 the Bose Institute. 



The Department of Agriculture and Technical In- 

 struction for Ireland will next June award a limited 

 number of trade scholarships. The object of the 

 scholarships is to enable selected persons who have 

 been engaged in certain industries in Ireland, for a 

 period of at least two years, to obtain systematic in- 

 struction in the principles of science and art as applied 

 to these industries. By this means it is hoped that the 

 standard of workmanship will be raised and the 

 .industries, as well as the scholarship holders, thereby 

 benefited. Candidates must be recommended by 

 the managers of the industries in. which they are em- 

 ployed, and must produce an undertaking from the 

 [managers to the effect that the latter will re- 

 emplov them after the termination of the scholarships. 

 Scholars must also undertake to resume their 

 employment on the termination of the scholarships. 

 Scholarships will not be awarded to apprentices whose 

 apprenticeships will normally terminate within the 

 period of the training course. The scholarships will 

 be tenable for one school session, and will be of the 

 value of il. per week during the period of instruction, 

 together with class-fees and travelling expenses. Can- 

 didates unable to produce evidence of a satisfactory 

 g-eneral education will be required to pass a simple 

 qualifving examination in English, arithmetic, and 

 drawing, and the standard will be equivalent to that 

 of the sixth standard of the Board of National Edu- 

 jcation. For the session 1918-19 the industries 

 selected are t3-pography, cabinet-making, loom tenting, 

 ,motor engineering, plumbing, and woollen manu- 

 facture. 



A PAPER on "Technical Education in India: its Past 

 and Future," was written by Mr. E. F. Tipple, of the 

 Thomason Civil Engineering College, Roorkee, U.P., 

 for the Indian Industrial Conference held in Calcutta 

 in December, 1917. Mr. Tipple urged that practical 

 education in India has been much neglected, and that 

 courses for the technical education required for the 

 management of industries should be provided, and 



NO. 2529, VOL. lOl] 



