40 



NATURE 



[September 13, 191; 



Technical schools and colleges are now issuing par- 

 ticulars of the courses of study they have arranged for 

 the forthcoming winter session, and we have received a 

 number of college calendars and prospectuses from 

 various districts. At the Battersea Polytechnic, in the 

 Technical College for Day Students, the usual courses 

 are offered in mechanical, civil, electrical, and rnotor 

 engineering, building science, and applied chemistry. 

 In addition, new courses have been arranged in gas 

 engineering and manufacture, and in the technique of 

 paper-making. The polytechnic is continuing its 

 special war work, which includes classes for the train- 

 ing of men and women munition workers, courses for 

 women in engineering tracing, and free instruction for 

 disabled soldiers and sailors in motor-car engineering, 

 electrical testing, sanitary inspectors' duties, and other 

 forms of remunerative work. The City of Bradford 

 Technical College oifers a complete training for the 

 various branches of the textile, chemical, and engineer- 

 ing industries, including the underlying sciences. The 

 diploma courses extend over three, or in some cases 

 four, years, and occupy the full time of the student, 

 much of whose work is of an advanced character. A 

 special characteristic of the courses is the great im- 

 portance attached to scientific research. At the West 

 of Scotland Agricultural College, Glasgow, students 

 are provided with facilities for the study of agriculture, 

 dairying, forestry, horticulture, and poultry-keeping. 

 Some of the courses have been arranged in conjunction 

 with the University of Glasgow, and under conditions 

 explained in the prospectus students may qualify for 

 the B.Sc. degree in agriculture of the University. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, August 27..— M. Ed. Perrier in 

 the chair. — A. Lacroix : The composition and modes 

 of alteration of the ophites of the Pyrenees. — G. 

 Humbert : Some properties of binary indefinite quad- 

 ratic forms.— H. Deslandres : Contribution to the sup- 

 posed influence of the cannonade on the fall of rain. 

 The opinion of M. C. Saint-Saens. — A. Laveran : The 

 experimental inoculation of Leishmania tropica in 

 apes : multiplication of the primary lesions by auto- 

 inoculations in a Circopithecus mona : Paul Sabatier 

 and G. Gaudion : The various modes of decomposition 

 of amines by catalysis : return to aniline and the sub- 

 stituted anilines. Examples are given of the various 

 types of decomposition effected by metallic nickel, 

 removal of hydrogen, separation of' ammonia, and 

 separation of aromatic amine.- — F. Delhaye and Sluys : 

 The formation of the Karoo in the western Congo. — 

 MM. Lapicque and Legendre : The improvement of war 

 bread by neutralisation of the ferments of the bran. 

 An extraction of 85 per cent, of the wheat thrives a 

 flour containing such a proportion of bran that the 

 bread made from it is unpleasant in taste and rapidly 

 goes mouldy. The addition of a proportion of lime 

 water in making the bread neutralises the acidity of 

 the bran and gives a bread which has a better taste 

 and Iceeps longer than bread made from the same 

 flour without the addition of lime water. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



British Museum (Natural History). British Ant- 

 arctic (Terra Nova) Expedition, iqio. Natural History 

 Report. Zoologv. Vol. iv. No. i, Echinoderma. 

 Part I. Actinogonidiata. By Prof. F. J. Bell. Pp. 

 10 + plates. (London : British Museum (Natural His- 

 torv) and others.) 2s. 6d. 



Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

 NO. 2498, VOL. IO0I 



Vol. li. Part iv. Sessions 1915-16-17. (Edinburgh ■ 

 R. Grant and Son.) 315. 6d. 



Jacob and the Mandrakes. By Sir J. G. Frazer. 

 Pp. 23. (London : H. Milford.) 2s. 6d. net. 



Primitive Man. By Prof. G. Elliot Smith. Pp. 50. 

 (London : H. Milford.) 35. 6d. net. 



Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Cul- 

 ture. By J. W. Jackson. Pp. xxviii-f2i6. (Man- 

 chester : At the University Press ; London : Longmans 

 and Co.) 6s. net. 



Our Analytical Chemistry and its Future. By Dr. 

 W. F. Hillebrand. Pp. 36. (New York: Columbia 

 University Press; London: H. Milford.) is. 6d. net. 



Thomas A. Edison. Pp. 216 + plates 8. (London : 

 G. G. Harrap and Co.) 3s. 6d. net. 



Thrice through the Dark Continent. By Prof. J. 

 Du Plessis. Pp. viii-f-350 + map and illustrations. 

 (London : Longmans and Co.) 145. net. 



Flounder's Day in War Time : An Address delivered 

 on March 23, 19 17, at a Memorial Service for Mem- 

 bers of Manchester University who have Fallen in the 

 War. By Sir A. W. Ward. Pp. 55. (Manchester ; 

 At the University Press ; London : Longmans and Co.) 

 IS. 6d. net. 



Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Year 

 Book for 1917. Pp. xvii + 213. (Washington.) 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Foundations of Bio-physics. By Prof. J. Arthur 



Thomson 21 



Science and Industry. By Prof. G. T. Morgan, 



F.R.S 22 



Luigi Cremona. By G. B. M 23 



Our Bookshelf 23 



The Dangers of Electrical Cui rents. By Prof. 



W. M. Bayliss, F.R.S 24 



Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau. By Prof. 



Henry Louis 25 



Linguistic and Political Boundaries in Europe . . 27 

 Applied Entomology in Canada. By Dr. A. D. 



Imms 27 



Edouard Sarasin (1843-1917). By Dr. Grace Chisholm 



Young 28 



Notes 28 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Relativity and Gravitation 33 



Photographs of Nebulas • , ■ 33 



The loo-in. Reflector at Mount Wilson 33 



Industrial Fatigue. By Prof. A. F. Stanley Kent . 33 



The Forest Department of India 35 



The Great Eruption of Sakura-jima 35 



The Dissemination of Fungus Diseases 35 



Paris Academy of Sciences — Bonaparte Fund . . 36 

 The American Philosophical Society. By Dr. Arthur 



W. Goodspeed 36 



Experimental Work in Aeronautics . 37 



University and Educational Intelligence 39 



Societies and Academies 40 



Books Received . 40 



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