50b 



NATURE 



[June 17, 1920 



One ot the problems at present confronting the 

 Ministry of Agriculture is the provision of advice and 

 supervision for the smallholder. This problem has 

 become more acute now that so many of the men 

 settling on the land are lacking, either partly or alto . 

 ^ether, in knowledge of the theory and practice of 

 horticulture. When the question arose of appointing 

 organisers to instruct these men and to look after 

 their interests, it was found that the number of candi- 

 dates qualified to fill such posts was extremely limited. 

 A man who is to organise the horticultural instruction 

 of a county should have a knowledge of the scientific 

 side of the subject as well as of its practical side. 

 Quite apart from this question of supplying instruc- 

 tion for smallholders, it is obviously desirable, in view 

 of the rapidly increasing importance of horticulture in 

 this country, that the prospective fruit-farmer or 

 market-gardener should be able to obtain instruction in 

 his subject as scientific' and comprehensive as that 

 which can be so readily obtained nowadays by the 

 prospective agriculturist. In order that such instruc-' 

 tion may be available, the Ministry of Agriculture has 

 made it possible for the University of Cambridge to 

 establish a degree in horticulture and a post-graduate 

 diploma. The course for the degree will extend over 

 three years, and will consist of instruction in the 

 theory and practice of commercial fruit- and vegetable- 

 growing, the practical side of the subject being treated 

 no less fully than its theoretical aspect. It is hoped 

 that the course for the diploma will provide 

 men qualified for research work in horticulture. 

 Hitherto there has been a dearth of such men 

 owing to difficulty in obtaining suitable training, and 

 research work in connection with an important in- 

 dustry has therefore been greatly hampered. The 

 courses will commence in October next, and informa- 

 tion concerning them can be obtained from the Secre- 

 tary, School of Agriculture, Cambridge. 



Societies and Academies. 



London. 



Zoological Society, June i.— Sir Sidney F. Harmer, 

 vice-president, in the chair.— Dr. G. M. Vevers : 

 Report on the Entozoa collected from animals which 

 had died in the society's menagerie during the past 

 nine months. — Dr. W. T. Caiman : Notes on marine 

 wood-boring animals. I. : The shipworms (Tere- 

 dinidae). 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, May 17.— Mr. C. T. R. Wilson, 

 president, in the chair.— Dr. F. W. Aston : The 

 atomic nature of matter in the light of modern 

 physics. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, May 18. — Mr. R. L. 

 Taylor, vice-president, in the chair. — W. Thomson and 

 H. S. Newman : Further notes on the filamentous 

 growths from aluminium amalgams. Experiments to 

 determine the ratio of the mercury to 100 parts of 

 alumina were detailed, and descriptions of erratic 

 growths given. The action of mercury on zinc 

 was compared with its action on aluminium. — Prof. 

 Sydney Chapman : The effects of lunar tides on the 

 earth's atmosphere. The barometric pressure shows 

 a very minute tidal variation with the .period of half a 

 lunar day. This variation can be determined only by 

 a diflficult process of averaging out other regular and 

 irregular variations from long series of hourly 

 barometric observations, so that data from very few 

 stations are available. The author described and dis- 

 cussed their theoretical significance. Many questions 



NO. 2642, VOL. 105] 



suggested by the data have as yet received no satis- 

 factory answer, but their elucidation, as further data 

 accumulate, should add to our knowledge of the atmo- 

 sphere in some important respects.— Dr. R. S. 

 Willows : Transverse section of cotton fibre illustrating 

 Balls 's daily growth rings. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, May 31.— M. Henri Deslandres 

 in the chair.— G. A. Boulenger : Remarks on the note 

 of M. Ad. Davy de Virvilie concerning the species 

 Primula elatior, acaidis, and officinalis.— Ch. Gautier ; 

 A sundial giving legal time throughout the year with 

 a sufficient approximation for ordinary purposes, as 

 well as the approximate date. The dial described 

 and illustrated gives the legal time within about one 

 minute. At the equinoxes it gives the exact date, 

 but at the solstices only an approximation to the date. 

 —Alex. Veronnet : The equilibrium figures of a liquid 

 in rotation. Order of succession of the critical figures 

 of bifurcation.— M. T. Huber : The generalisation of 

 a theorem of M. Mesnager concerning the sense of 

 the displacements of a rectangular plate. — J. Fallou : 

 The expansion caused by Joule's effect at the contact 

 of two solids. Two metals in contact when heated 

 electrically' expand proportionally to the square of the 

 current or to the heat developed by the Joule effect. — 

 A. Guillet : An auto-ballistic astronomical pendulum. 

 An attempt to realise the conditions laid down by 

 G. Lippmann and B. Baillaud, the impulses being 

 supplied by induced currents. — M. Girousse : The cal- 

 culation of currents causing electrolysis in metallic 

 masses near an electric traction line. — F. V16s : Con- 

 tribution to the study of absorption based on the 

 properties of the nitrophenols. By the application of 

 formulae given in a previous communication it is 

 shown how the absorption spectrum of a compound 

 cam be calculated from its composition. — F. Bourion : 

 Kinetic study of the chlorination of benzene. The 

 effects of rate of supply of chlorine, concentration of 

 the benzene in chlorobenzene, and of temperature 

 upon the reaction velocity were examined separately. 

 — L. Vignon : The resistance of tissues to light and 

 ultra-violet rays. Linen and silk tissues were exposed 

 to sunlight and to ultra-violet rays (Heraeiis quartz 

 lamp) under dry and moist conditions, and the 

 changes In the strength, as measured by the breaking 

 load, determined. The silk fabric showed greater 

 resistance than the linen to the effects of exposure. ^ — 

 E. E. Blaise : The action of hydrazine on the i : 4 

 acyclic diketones. Details are given of the products 

 of the reactions between hydrazine and acetonylacetone 

 and hydrazine and dioropionylethane. — A. Gascard : 

 Ceryl alcohol and cerotic acid from China wax. The 

 wax, after a preliminary purification, was saponified 

 by potash in alcohol-benzene solution, the cerotic acid 

 precipitated as calcium salt, and the ceryl alcohol 

 recovered from the filtrate. Brodie's formula for the 

 alcohol was confirmed by preparation and analysis of 

 cervl iodide, Co-H.,.,?, and for cerotic acid bv oxida- 

 tion of the alcohol and by its acidity figure.— A. 

 Guiiliermond : Observations on the living chondriome 

 of one of the Saprolegniaceae. — L. Daniel : A new race 

 of Asphodelus obtained bv the action of a marine 

 climate. A description of the changes In tvpe pro- 

 duced in Asphodelus luteus by twentv years' cultiva- 

 tion on the sea-coast. The modified plant can not 

 onlv be reproduced by subdivision of the roots, but 

 also bv growing from seed.— P. Ammann : The great 

 richness In nitrogenous matter of certain maniocs 

 from Cambodge.— A. Chevalier : Researches on pear- 

 trees, walnuts, and chestnuts of the cooler parts of 

 Tndo-China and the south of China.— E. Fogx : 

 Necrosis of the stem of the ootato attacked by the 



