June 17, 1920] 



NATURE 



479 



Board of Education), and that their students do 

 their teaching- practice in the same kind of schools 

 under the same local education authority. These 

 facts would be highly diverting were their conse- 

 quences not so serious. 



This anomalous state ofjaffairs has provoked 

 much criticism in University circles. What com- 

 plicates matters is the fact that there exists a con- 

 tributory pension scheme in the Universities — the 

 federated superannuation scheme — which is 

 thought by some to be superior to the Teachers 

 Act in certain respects, such as in cases of death 

 during service ^nd of retirement before the age of 

 sixty, and in the form of benefit on retiral. As 

 against these the Teachers Act is non-contributory, 

 it is retrospective, and its benefits are calculated 

 upon the average salary in the last five years of 

 service. The whole question has been considered 

 by a conference of representatives from the Uni- 

 versities of England and Wales, at which it was 

 unanimously resolved to lay the case before the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer in terms of the follow- 

 ing resolutions : — 



"(i) That this Conference is of opinion that the 

 interests of English and Welsh education as a 

 whole demand the institution of a scheme of 

 superannuation for University teachers and 

 administrative officials conferring benefits not 

 inferior to those granted under the School 

 Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918, and of a 

 like retrospective character ; (2) that such a scheme 

 should make due provision (a) for the super- 

 annuation of persons who enter the service of a 

 University or University college so late in life 

 as to be unable to acquire the service qualification 

 necessary under the School Teachers Act; (&) for 

 meeting the case of persons who retire before the 

 normal age of retirement ; and (c) for meeting the 

 case of persons who die on service. (3) That any 

 scheme of superannuation for University teachers 

 and administrative officials should be of such a 

 nature as to allow (without loss in respect of 

 superannuation) the transfer of a person employed 

 at a University or University college to another 

 approved educational or scientific institution in 

 Great Britain or vice versa. ^' 



The term "institution," of course, includes 

 schools. These resolutions have been accepted by 

 the Association of University Teachers. Whatever 

 be the result, it is a great step forward to have 

 secured unanimity on essentials. The resolutions 

 have clearly demonstrated the present absolute 

 inadequacy of the federated superannuation 

 system and the difficulty of patching up its 

 deficiencies as regards retrospective benefits, inter- 

 changeability of teachers, and the amount of 

 retiral allowances or annuities. 

 NO. 2642, VOL. 105] 



Aerography. 



The Principles of Aerography. By Prof A. 

 McAdie. Pp. xii-t-318. (London: G. G. Harrap 

 and Co., Ltd., 1917.) Price 21s. net. 



FROM time to time it has been a subject of 

 remark by the learned that a book on 

 meteorology has to be a collection of essays, 

 because the available material does not lend itself 

 to exposition in a connected treatise. The sub- 

 stitution of the new name aerography for the 

 older meteorology has not changed the leopard's 

 spots. Indeed, Prof. McAdie has made the 

 peculiarities of the subject more remarkable by 

 presenting a work which is partly a collection of 

 meteorological essays, and partly the note-book of 

 a physicist interested in the study of the atmo- 

 sphere. 



Out of eighteen chapters, the first four are a 

 recitation of the physical meteorologist's "credo," 

 which includes absolute units as a theme with 

 variations, preceded by a brief history. There 

 follow nine chapters, which are partly note-book 

 and partly essay ; then the essay gradually extends 

 its claim in chapters on atmospheric electricity, 

 precipitation, floods, and notable storms, until it 

 fully asserts itself in a chapter on frosts. Finally, 

 a couple of pages of solar influences lead us to an 

 appendix of conversion-tables and an excellent 

 index. 



It is the characteristic of the note-book which 

 will appeal most to the reader. We find a sum- 

 mary of references to the results of modern aero- 

 logical research which are frequently wanted and 

 not elsewhere at hand. Very useful information 

 about investigations with kites, pilot balloons, 

 and sounding balloons is put in an attractive 

 form. It includes, on p. 19, a table of ex- 

 treme elevations reached by various means, and 

 much other information of like character. The 

 whole is well illustrated by photographs, maps, 

 and diagrams. It is rather discursive. It begins 

 with the troposphere and stratosphere ; winds 

 follow the " major circulation " and the " minor 

 circulation." Ocean currents get a "look in " 

 with the major circulation. 



The "credo" is interesting; it shows how care- 

 ful one has to be in choosing words to express 

 one's meaning. The student has to think when 

 he reads: "The gas constant for the air is not 

 constant. It varies . . . owing to the non- 

 adiabatic character of the atmosphere." "It 

 should be remembered that a gram of ice is by 

 weight a little more than a cubic centimetre, and 

 if pure ice is used only 73 calories are needed " 

 (for liquefaction). Very little unorthodoxy is 



