November 22, 1917] 



NATURE 



239 



only three of the 48b were not studying for the degrees 

 of the National University, of which the Cork Univer- 

 sity College is one of the constituent colk>ges. The 

 report records that the city of Cork has made a grant 

 of 150/. per annum to the college for the purpose of 

 promoting the higher education of the working men 

 of the city. Additions have been made to the physio- 

 logical tmd pathological departmemts of the college to 

 supply in some measure the accommodation for the 

 large number of students now entering the medical 

 faculty. Further additions are urgently necessary as 

 soon as funds permit of their being carried out. A com- 

 prehensive list of books and papers published by mem- 

 bers of the college s1:aff during the session is printed 

 at the end of the report. 



A COPY of Section X., Higher Education, of the 

 Handbook of the Education Committee of the County 

 Council of the West Riding of Yorkshire has been 

 received. It gives full particulars regarding the scholar- 

 ships and exhibitions offered by the committee for 

 competition in 1918. The needs of every class of 

 deserving student appear to be catered for. We notice 

 among these numerous aids to the prosecution of 

 higher education the county major scholarships, of the 

 estimated value of 60/. to 65/. per annum, to be held 

 at univ'ersities, university colleges, or other approved 

 institutions ; the county free studentships, covering 

 tuition fees at the University of Leeds or the Univer- 

 sity of Sheffield ; the county technological scholarships, 

 value 60/. per annum, tenable for day courses or for 

 combined day and evening courses at institutions 

 where higher technical work is carried out ; and county 

 coal-mining exhibitions, covering tuition fees for full 

 courses in coal-mining, or in electricity applied to 

 mining, at the University of Leeds or at the University 

 of Sheffield. There are also scholarships for qualified 

 women desirous of specialising in midwifery and nurs- 

 ing, dairy work, horticulture, and other activities. 

 Section IX. of the same part of the handbook will be 

 (ublished in its revised form next January; meanwhile 

 he committee has issued a circular summarising the 

 :irticiilars respecting scholarships and grants available 

 for persons intending in 19 18 to adopt the teaching pro- 

 fession. 



Among other papers included in the June issue of 

 the South African Journal of Science is one by the 

 Rev. J. R. L. Kingon on native education in the 

 Transkei. Mr. Kingon refers to the national import- 

 ance of educating the native, and urges that the plain 

 fact of the matter is that the natives are determined 

 to have education, and will resort to private schools if 

 they cannot get encouragement from the authorities. 

 More than sixty years of native education havg produced 

 I rich harvest and fully vindicated the efforts of pioneer 

 workers in this field. A new situation has arisen in 

 South Africa, the article points out, since the consum- 

 mation of the Union. The responsibilities and dangers 

 of the white men are greater, because of the millions 

 .)f black men who are now subject to one central 

 Government. Hitherto in the Orange Free State, the 

 Transvaal, and Natal little has been done to educate the 

 native. Again, owing to a defective system, education 

 in the Transkei, which is taken as a typical example, 

 is almost wholly literary in character, though agricul- 

 tural education is receiving attention apart from the 

 sohooLs. But for the future, Mr. Kingon says, agri- 

 cultural education must be given a large place in the 

 schools; industrial education, at present" a scandal, 

 must 'be developed, and facilities must 'be provided for 

 commercial education. From his experience in Trans- 

 kei, Mr. Kingon insists that the 'introduction of a 

 liberal and far-seeing policy of native education 

 throughout the Union of South .Africa would secure 

 the future progress and stabilitv of the Union. 

 NO. 2508, VOL. 100] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



LO.NDON. 



Royal Society, November 



-Sir J. J. Thomson, 



pi\-siuent, m tne cnair. — E. E. T. hinue : A new gyro- 

 I scopic phenomenon. — A. P. Laurie and C. Ranlien : In- 

 I vestigation into the imbibition exhibited by some 

 I snellac derivatives. The paper deals with experiments 

 , made on the :*ubstances obtained by boiling shellac 

 I with carbonate of soda or borax. These solid sub- 

 ! stances, very similar in consistency to gutta-percha, 

 ! are found to expand rapidly when placed in water. 

 The control of the expansion by the addition of soluble 

 salts is not the same as in the case of gelatine, since, 

 at any rate in a large number of cases, it does not seem 

 to depend upon the nature of the salt, but simply upon 

 the strength of the solution, the amount of the expan- 

 sion increasing with the diminution of the strength of 

 the solution. If the expansion is allowed to become 

 complete in cold water, it is not possible to contract 

 the mass again, but in the case of the e.vpansion in a 

 salt solution it is possible to get the mass to contract 

 j again iby putting it into a stronger solution. Strong 

 j salt solutions are also found to precipitate the soluble 

 I portion of the shellac borax compound. — G. L Taylor : 

 Fhenomenji connected with turbulence in the lower 

 atmosphere. In a previous paper by the author it Avas 

 shown theoreticiilly thait a connection should exist be- 

 tween the rate ait which heat is convened into the 

 atmosphere by means of eddies, and the amount of 

 retardation of the velocity of the lower layers of the 

 atmosphere behind the gradient velocity due to the 

 friction of the ground. In the present paper the 

 amount of the turbulence over Paris is calculated from 

 temperature observations taken on the Eiffel Tower. 

 It is sho.wn that the amount is the sjune as that cal- 

 culated from observations of the change in direction 

 of the wind between the bottom and top of the Eiffel 

 Tower due to the friction of the ground. The daily 

 variation in wind velocity which depends on the daily 

 variation in turbulence is next discussed, and it is 

 shown that the chief characteristics of the observed 

 phenomena of daily variation are explained, both quali- 

 tatively and, so far as is possible, quantitatively by 

 the author's equations.— E. G. Bilham : The relation 

 between barometric pressure and the water-level in a 

 well at Kew Observatory. The water-level shows a 

 well-marked response to changes of barometric pres- 

 i sure at all times of the year. Under similar conditions 

 j a given increase of pressure, Bp. will depress the water- 

 ' level in the well by an amount Su, which is propor- 

 tional to Sp. The value of 8u/8p varies with the mean 

 j level of the water, but is always negative. The \alidit\- 

 of the equation Bu = a.8p was established between limits 

 I given by dp!(H>os mb./hr., and the value of a was 

 I determined in the case of three groups of months 

 i representing high, intermediate, and low levels. The 

 sensitiveness of the water-level to pressure was found 

 to increase rapidly with the height of the water, the 

 value of a for a height of 360 cm. above M.S.L. being 

 ; four times as great as for a height of 200 cm. The 

 j change of sensitiveness appears to be entirely due to 

 the change in the condition of the soil. The average 

 value of a is 11 mm./mb. There appears to be no 

 lag in the response of the well to changes of pressure, 

 and under favourable conditions the most rapid fluc- 

 tuations of pressure are shown on the water-level trace. 

 Zoological Society, November 6. — Dr. A. Smith Wood- 

 ward, vice-president, in the chair. — Lieut. F. F. 

 Laidlaw : Some additions to the known dragonfly fauna 

 of Borneo, with an account of new species of the 

 genus Ca>liccia.— Dr. G. .\. Boulenger : The use of 

 the names Plesiosauria and Sauropterygia. — Dr. J. C. 

 I Mottram : Some observations upon concealment by the 

 apparent disruption of surface in a plane at right 

 ' angles to the surface. 



