^AY. i^yi^idi], 



rnmrn. 



?I9 



clear that, ^o faras, continfied.edjJLcatipn was prQvid^4 

 under the Bill, it was undesirable that attention, 

 should not be paid during the four years of compulsory 

 attendance to the requirements of the vocation in which 

 the young person was-engaged and by which he was 

 to live. VVith respect to free secondary education, 

 strongly advocated by certain Members, Mr. Fisher 

 pointed out that 67 per cent, of the children in State- 

 aided secondary schools had already been in receipt 

 of free instruction in the elementary schools, and thpt 

 to abolish all fees in the secondary schools would mean 

 a loss to the State qf an annual revenue of 1,200,000/., 

 but he was prepared to submit a new sub-clause to 

 clause 4 calling upon the local authorities in preparing 

 schemes to provide means whereby no child because of 

 poverty should be precluded from the benefits of higher 

 education. In the organisation of advanced courses in 

 public elementary schools, it was agreed to have regard 

 not only to the older, but to the more intelligent chil- 

 dren also who stay at such schools beyond the age 

 of fourteen, and to add to clause 2 (a) (ii) of the Bill 

 the words: "So much of the definition of the term 

 * elementary school ' in section 3 of the Ace of 1870 

 as requires that elementary education shall be the 

 principal part of the education there given shall not 

 apply to such courses of advanced instruction for older 

 pupils." With these and other slight amendments 

 clauses i, 2, and 3 were added to the Bill. Clause 4, 

 dealing with the consultation of authorities for the 

 purposes of part iii. of the .Education Act, iqo2, was 

 under consideration when the Committee adjourned. 

 There are many formidable amendments yet to be 

 considered, notably those relating to clause 10, on con- 

 tinued education, but the progress already made augurs 

 well for the future course of .the measure. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, May 2. — Sir J.J. Thomson, president, 

 in the chair. — Dr. J. H. Mummery : Nerve end-cells 

 in the dental pulp. The author has carried further 

 his researches on the distribution of the nerves of the 

 dental pulp. In a paper published in the Phil. Trans, 

 for 1912, he demonstrated that the fibres from the 

 nerve plexus in the pulp beneath the odontoblasts do 

 not terminate at the inner margin of the dentine as 

 described by Huber and others, but that, although 

 they form an open plexus around the odontoblast cells, 

 they are also distributed to the dentinal tubes and 

 enter the dentine in company with the dentinal fibril, 

 but make no connection with it. Recent preparations 

 with improved methods have demonstrated that the 

 fibres from the deep plexus in the pulp pass to definite 

 nerve end-cells or peripheral nerve end-organs, which 

 this method of staining has revealed at the inner 

 margin of the odontoblasts. — H. Onslow : The nature 

 of growths in colloidal silica solutions. The late Dr. 

 Charlton Bastian claimed to have synthesised certain 

 symmetrical bodies, resernbling Torulae and other 

 minute organisms, from sterilised colloidal solutions 

 which had been exposed for a long period to light. 

 Further, he claimed that such organisms were capable 

 of reproducing themselves. The author has repeated 

 the experiments, using the special samples of sodium 

 silicate reseifved for and' recommended by Dr. Bastian 

 and following his directions in every detail. The 

 greatest precautions were taken to avoid accidental 

 contamination. The results obtained indicate that the 

 method employed yields tube.'? which are absolutely 

 sterile for air periods up to three years. 



Physical, Society, ,'\pril 26.— Prof, t; H. Le.es. .jire^u 

 dent, in the ch^ir,^r-J- Guild:. N,ptes^ ^qn ,tl?e,^Pu|lfpipi} 

 refr^ictpmete^r. . TH^ jpaper, dieals; with.^ppii^J;?, (6 ^m 

 NO. 2533, VOL. lOl] 



observ^ in the, use, ^od 4«sign of Pulfrich refracto- 

 metersv ' A theoretical ^ihVeskfgafionbf the v^rio'ufe errors 

 to which measurfe'mehts iire liable is included.— 

 F. Sinieoo : The accuracy attainable vyjt^ criUo?!- 

 angliG .refractometers. The thre^ . factors contrpHing 

 the determination of a refractive index, by n^p^uis oi^ 

 critipal-angle refractometer are, so far as t,he '.P^\*vn, 

 system is concerned, (i) the angle of the prism,; ^iiX,.!?* 

 refractive index, and (iii) the angle of emergence ffjif 

 the critical ray from the second prism fqce. .^Expres-- 

 sions are obtained for the variation of the reqMir^^g 

 refractive index with each of these factors separ.atqt\}< 

 and curves are given connecting these; variations w|tl^ 

 the angle of emergence from the second prisni face 

 for various prism angles.— Prof. H. Chatley : Cohesion 

 (fourth paper). The papei- is the fourth of a, ^eriips 

 dealing with the subject of cohesion. The aim 6f 'the 

 present paper is to consider the value of mqleculai' 

 force as indicated by Van der Waals's gas formula 

 (particularly at the critical state where the liquid apd 

 gaseous states merge), and to relate the results to the 

 previous inquiry. , . .• • . r 



Linnean Society, May 2.— Sir David Prain, presiidept, 

 in the chair. — G. M. Thomson ; .'\ new freshrW^t^r 

 shrimp (Caridina) from Fiji.^Dr. Marie Stop^s,; 

 Benncttites ScotUi. sp. nov., a European petrifaction 

 with foliage. A new species of Bennettites is 

 described, externally very like a WilUamsonia "fruit; ' 

 as regards both shape 'and size. It is, however^, .^ 

 young vegetative trunk, probably a " sproutling,'* ,Thg 

 three main points of particular interest about it are :;r- 

 (i) It is the smallest trunk of Bennettites yet kn^vwrn; 

 (2) it is the first European specimen to include xyell- 

 petrified voung foliage; (3) it is well preserved^ ,a^ 

 elucidates some anatomical details of leaf-strMCtyy* 

 not completely known from the American specimens.-r- 

 Dr. Marie Stbpes : A survey of the biological aspect, »f 

 the constitution of coal. The history of the compli- 

 cated substance known as coal was narrated, frprn 

 its earliest microscopical investigation in i833_py 

 HTM. Whitham, and shortly afterwards by Wil- 

 liam Hutton (1798-1860). Four special substances 

 \vere particularised as building up coal, and ^m 

 concluding remarks were devoted to the ecological 

 aspect of coal in its formation in geological times. , 



Mathematical Society, May 9.— Prof. Hilton, vice- 

 president, in the chair.— E. L. Ince : The continued 

 fractions connected with the hypergeometnc equau 

 tion — W P Milne : Determinantal systems of Co^ 

 apolar triads on a cubic curve.— A. Young : The electro- 

 magnetic properties of coils. 

 Paris, 



Academy of Sciences, .\pril 29.— M. Ed. Perrier in 

 the chair.^. Boussinesq : Calculation to the second 

 approximation of the limiting thrust exerted ,on a 

 vertical wall by a terre-plein with free horizontal sur- 

 face.— C. Richet, P. Brodin, and Fr. Salnt-Girons : Thp 

 influence of intravenous injections of isotonic liquids 

 on the dilution of the blood and on the number of r^- 

 blood corpuscles which may be lost in bleeding. From 

 experiments on dogs, the classical theory is found not 

 to be in complete accord with fact, llie immediate 

 cause of death bv bleeding is a more complex problem 

 than has hitherto been supposed.- E. Arlis : Ihe 

 saturated vapour pressures of triatomic liquids. Jte 

 formula derived in earlier communications is appj^ 

 to the examination of the experimental data, .for 

 carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrous oxide. 

 There- ate some divergences between the calculated 

 and experimental values, . the. . causes of whiclj,;ar£ 

 discussed.— Ji Haag: The application /of the la>y.,9l 

 Gauss to syphilis.. The application , of the theory of 

 I prpbaWl% t9...i;?8 „cas,es., of^ .^yph^Hs ^ sh6ws that\ the 



IGf 



f.r.l^ 



