September 4, 1919] 



NATURE 



19 



dent in the substantial asther. ^iere a speck and there 

 a speck, but, for the great bulk of it, empty space ! 



" Impalpable " is not the right word, for matter is 

 -~entially palpable. It is because it appeals so 

 urectly to our senses that we attend to it so vividly. 

 It forces itself on our attention, while the aether 

 < hides us. And why? Clearly because our bodies are 

 .(imposed — our sense organs are composed — of this 

 %ery matter. On the material side we are part of, 

 and thoroughly at home in, the material universe. 

 XVhereas the aether is elusive — we know nothing of it 

 directly — and though our eyes are instruments for 

 receiving aethereal tremors excited by agitated elec- 

 trons, we only know that fact, or half know it, by 

 rather recondite inference. Light really tells us 

 nothing about its own nature, but onlv about the 

 superficial aspect of that gross and palpable matter 

 which has interfered with and scattered it before it 

 '■nters our eve. 



Nevertheless, the atoms of this solid-seeming fle.sh 

 and matter as we know it, when analysed into con- 

 stituents, are turning out to be composed each of a 

 definite grouping of ultra-minute particles, the positive 

 and negative electrons, which themselves scarcely 

 wccupy any space (save as soldiers occupy a country), 

 and which appear to be of two kinds only : the ulti- 

 mate indivisible units of positive and negative elec- 

 ' tricity. 



(To he continued.) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 M.ANCHESTER. — The following appointments are 

 announced :— Mr. A. G. Ogilvie, reader in geography; 

 Mr. J. Macmurray. lecturer in philosoiohv; Messrs. 

 A. Gardner and R. L. Newell", demonstrators in 

 anatomy. Mr. E. N. Ramsbottom has been elected 

 to a research fellowship in public health. 



Dr. J. Graham has been appointed professor of 



anatomy in the Anderson College of Medicine, 



Glasgow, in succession to the late Dr. A. M. 

 Buchanan. 



The sum of 700,000?. has been given by Mr. G. 

 l.,istman, head of the Eastman Kodak Co., for the 

 establishment of a school of music in connection with 

 the University of Rochester, New York. 



Dr. G. Spencer Melvin, lecturer on experimental 

 I)hvsiology in the University of Aberdeen, has been 

 appointed professor of physiology in Queen's Univer- 

 -'tv, Kingston, Ontario. ~ 



The Prince of VVai.es, in acknowledging the 

 iigree of LL.D. conferred upon him on .August 26 by 

 I lie University of Toronto, said that the anti-toxin 

 ( stablishment with which the University is equipped 

 had rendered invaluable service during the war for 

 the forces of the British Empire and the .Mlies. 



Prof. C. Golgi has retired from the chair of 

 general pathology and histology in the University of 

 Pavia, but he remains in charge of the institute 

 connected with it. A gold medal and souvenir album 

 were recently presented to him, and a scholarship 

 founded in his honour is to be given to the orphan 

 of some physician killed during the late war. 



Dr. F. J. Wilson has been appointed professor of 

 inorganic and analytical chemistry, and Dr. I. M. 

 Heilbron professor of organic chemistry, at the 

 Glasgow Technical College. Mr. W. Kerr has been 

 appointed research assistant in the department of 

 mechanical engineering at the same institution. The 

 new development fund of the college has now reached 



NO. 2601, VOL. 104] 



the total of 35,000?., the following donations having 

 recently been received: — From Mr. \V. J. Chrvstal, 

 1000/. ; Mr. and Mrs. George Morton, 500Z. ; Messrs. 

 VV. Teacher and Sons, 500?. ; Messrs. .Alexander 

 Stephen and Sons, Ltd., 500J. ; the .Anchor Line 

 (Henderson Bros.), Ltd., 250?. ; Messrs. Macfarlane, 

 Lang, and Co., Ltd., 250L ; and Mr. James Reid, 

 250/. 



The Civil Service Commissioners announce that an 

 examination will begin on October 28 for the purpose 

 of filling vacancies as assistant examiners in the 

 Patent Office. The examination will be confined in 

 the main to candidates who have served in his 

 Majesty's Forces, and will consist of a qualifying 

 examination followed by interview by a selection 

 board. The subjects of the qualifying examination 

 are English composition, /)recix-writing, general 

 knowledge, and one of the following : — General 

 chemistry, electricity and magnetism, or mechanics 

 and mechanism. The limits of age are 20-30. Initial 

 salary 150!. a year, together with a war bonus. 

 Copies of the regulations and forms of application 

 may be obtained from the Secretary, Civil Ser- 

 vice Commission, Burlington Gardens, London, 

 W.I. The last day for making application is 

 September 18. 



The United States General Education Board has 

 granted 16,000 dollars to the National Committee on 

 Mathematical Requirements, appointed by the 

 National Mathematical .Association of .America, for the 

 purpose of undertaking a study looking to improve- 

 ments in the mathematical curriculum of the secondary 

 schools of the country. Mathematicians, as well as 

 educators in general, have in recent years criticised the 

 prevailing high-school work in mathematics on the 

 ground that much of the material is of little practical 

 value, and on the further ground that the high-school 

 curriculum in mathematics takes too little account of 

 modern developments in this science. The .American 

 Mathematical .Association is made up of the leading 

 professors and teachers of mathematics in .American 

 colleges and universities. It has appointed to con- 

 duct the inquiry a committee composed of four 

 university professors of mathematics and four 

 secondary-school teachers of mathematics. Having 

 no funds, this body applied to the General Education 

 Board for assistance. The board itself will not take 

 any oart in the study or make recommendations. 

 Prof. Young, of Dartmouth College, and Prof. Fobert, 

 Technical High School, Chicago, will devote their 

 entire time to the work for a year or more. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, August 18. — M. Leon Guignard 

 in the chair. — G. Humbert : The particular repre- 

 sentations of an integer by positive forms of Hermite 

 in an imaginary quadratic body. — H. Andoyer : The 

 development of a general function of the radius vector 

 of the eccentric anomaly in elliptic movement. — 

 — E. L. Bouvier and d'E. de Cbarmoy : Mutation of 

 a Caridina into an Ortmannia, and general observa- 

 tions on the evolutive mutations of fresh-water 

 shrimps of the family of the .Atyidae. — E. Kogbetliantz : 

 Ultraspherical series. — R. Garnier : Vectorial fields 

 with indeterminate asymptotic directions. — E. Jouguet : 

 -A problem of generalised hydraulics. Flow of a 

 burning gaseous mixture. — -A. Vironnet : Ellipsoidal 

 figures of equilibrium of a liquid in rotation ; varia- 

 tion pf the. major axis.— G. Fayet and. A. Schaumasse : 

 The next return of the periodic comet 191 1 VII. 

 (Schaumasse). Taking into account the perturbations 



