114 



NATURE 



[March 25, 1920 



a succession of engineers have been educated there 

 under an eminent series of professors, and it would 

 be a thousand pities if its work in this direction Avere 

 now to be cramped for lack of funds. The case was 

 ably put by Prince Arthur of Connaught at a lunch 

 at the Savoy Hotel on Friday last. His Royal High- 

 ness explained that the present scheme of extensions 

 of the engineering laboratories of University College 

 had a pre-war inception, and he paid a tribute to the 

 valuable anti-submarine and other electrical research 

 work carried out during the war by the professors at 

 the college. The war had made us realise the necessity 

 for adequate provision for scientific education and 

 research, and he urged the need for the laboratories 

 opened twenty-seven years ago by his father to be 

 modernised and brought up to date. Twenty-four 

 thousand pounds out of the 100,000/. which they were 

 asking for had already been subscribetl, including 

 io,oooL from I^x)rd Cowdray in memory of his son, 

 the Hon. F. G. Pearson, who lost his life during the 

 war. Lord Cowdray had also promised a further 

 io,oool. when a total of 70,000/. had been collected. 

 Dr. Russell Wells (Vice-Chancellor of the University 

 of London) also emphasised the necessity for improved 

 technological education for the future prosperity of 

 the country, and announced further subscriptions 

 aggregating more than 4000/. Sir Ernest Moir 

 (honorary treasurer to the fund) supported the appeal, 

 and Sir Robert Hadfield referred to the valuable 

 research and educational work done at the college, 

 which could not be continued without adequate funds. 

 Sir Gregory Foster (Provost of University College) 

 explained how important it was that the extensions 

 should be put in hand without delay, and pointed 

 out that, although the Government policy was to pro- 

 vide grants for maintenance purposes, capital expendi- 

 ture had to be met entirely by voluntary subscription. 



A PAMPHLET entitled "Currency Reform and the 

 Need for a Nickel Coinage on a Decimal Basis," 

 issued by the Decimal Association, directs attention 

 to the recommendations in favour of decimal coinage 

 which have been made from time to time by com- 

 mittees appointed by the Government to consider the 

 question of currency reform. The simplification of 

 account-keeping and of conversions of values into 

 foreign equivalents which the introduction of a 

 decimal coinage would necessarily secure is an 

 advantage which would benefit the whole of our 

 business community, and, in addition, effect a g-reat 

 saving of time in our schools. The Decimal Asso- 

 ciation is in favour of the pound-mil system, which 

 retains our gold coins and replaces the present bronze 

 coinage by new denominations of 4 per cent, lower 

 value. The main objection to the alternative decimal 

 systems is that they would impair the prestige of 

 the pound sterling, which under the pound-mil system 

 is retained intact. Proposed changes in the materials 

 of our coins are now under consideration by the 

 Government, and the pamphlet urges that the oppor- 

 tunity should be taken to get rid of our present in- 

 convenient system and introduce a new coinage on a 

 decimal basis. 



NO. 2630, VOL. 105] 



The second of the Chadwick public lectures or» 

 military hygiene was delivered by Gen. Sir JoHn. 

 Goodwin, Diiector A. M.S., on March 15. The 

 lecturer reviewed the Army hygiene during the 

 recent war. The clothing served out to the troops- 

 was of the best, and special attention was devoted 

 to feeding and rationing. The water-supply in large 

 measure was subjected to chlorination in order to 

 purify it, bleaching-powder being principally used for 

 the purpose. Special measures were taken for 

 cleansing purposes, bathing stations being established 

 where the men bathed, and in the meanwhile their 

 uniforms were sterilised and fresh underclothing was 

 served out to them. Destructors were built, or extem- 

 porised out of biscuit-tins, etc., in which all the camp 

 refuse was burnt. Special means were devised to 

 prevent waste. Thus in the destructors all the solder 

 from old tins was melted out and collected, and fat 

 from the kitchens was saved and sent home for manu- 

 facture into glycerine and munitions. By these 

 measures the health of the Army was preserved to a 

 degree unknown in former campaigns. For example, 

 in 1916, among a total strength of a million and a 

 quarter of all nationalities, the number of cases of 

 enteric fever was 0-2 per 1000 men, whereas in the 

 Boer War the figure was 153 per 1000. 



Thk February number of the Museums Journal 

 contains the report of a conference between Sir 

 Amherst Selby-Bigge, Secretary of the Board of 

 Education, and representatives of the Museums Asso- 

 ciation, headed by Sir Martin Conway, on the pro- 

 posed transfer of museums to the local education 

 authorities. The association presented a reasoned 

 protest, laying stress on the fact that the educational 

 activities of museums must necessarily be subsidiary to 

 their primary function of collecting and preserving the 

 works of Nature and of man, and to the study of this 

 material in prosecuting " the highest aim of a museum 

 . • . theadvancement of science, art, and industry." It 

 is the results of that study which eventually become 

 available for the education of the public. The argu- 

 ments in favour of linking up all the museums of 

 the country with the national museums under the 

 control of a separate museum board were advanced 

 by Dr. Bather, who instanced among the prospective 

 advantages of such an arrangement "the 1 loan- 

 circulation of natural history and other objects from 

 the British Museum, the provision of expert help, and 

 the cataloguing of the wealth of our scattered 

 museums." Sir A. Selby-Bigge, in his reply, claimed 

 that the conception of education had recently widened 

 so as to include the chief functions which the deputa- 

 tion assigned to inuseums. The previous number of the 

 Museums Journal reprints, with comments, the recom- 

 mendations concerning the staffs of the national 

 museums made by a Royal Commission, the report 

 of which (Cd. 7338), issued in April, 1914, was 

 obscured by the smoke of war. 



A " Special Report on the Prevention of Venereal 

 Diseases," by Dr. A. Mearns Fraser, Medical Officer 

 of Health for Portsmouth, has recently been addressed 

 bv him to the Health and Housing Committee of the 



