12 



NATURE 



[March i, 19 17 



graduated in science, and would be preparing to 

 occupy tlie position of managers in optical works ; 



(3) Of other persons interested in learning the scien- 

 tific construction or use of optical instruments. 



Provision should be made for research work not 

 requiring a highly specialised or expensive plant. 

 Special investigations might be referred to the 

 National Physical Laboratory, or any other laboratory 

 suitable for the purpose. 



It is also worth considering whether a good journal 

 or paper should not be published, devoted to scientific 

 instruments and other matters concerned with optics. 



We are aware of the difficulties which stand in the 

 way of putting into immediate operation a scheme 

 which would satisfy in a comprehensive manner all 

 the above conditions. It will therefore be necessary 

 to contemplate a transitional period leading up to what 

 we ultimately hope to obtain. 



In considering the provisional arrangements, regard 

 must be had to the fact that already some very good 

 work in the training of operatives of different classes 

 is being done at the Northampton Polytechnic Insti- 

 tute, where a certain amount of modern machinery 

 ancT apparatus has been provided, and young men and 

 womeh are receiving useful training, the value of 

 which has been recognised by the Government. We 

 may also direct attention to the valuable research work 

 being carried out in King's College, London, under 

 the Glass Research Committee of the Institute of 

 Chemistry. The instruction given at the Northamp- 

 ton Institute should, however, at once be supple- 

 mented by more advanced teaching in some convenient 

 institution of university rank. Stress has already 

 been laid on the immediate appointment of a principal 

 or director, and there is no reason for delaying the 

 formation of the Advisory Council. So soon as the 

 preliminary work of organisation permits, plans 

 should be prepared for a new building, which, in our 

 opinion, is essential. 



The scheme of the London County Council repre- 

 sents a carefully consider^^d attempt to utilise and 

 extend the teaching given in existing institutions, and 

 to reconcile conflicting interests. Its object is, there- 

 fore, the same as that which we contemplate in the 

 transitional period, and in its main features it seems 

 to differ little from our proposals. It is not with the 

 object of making any captious criticism, but merely 

 to prevent possible misunderstanding, that we desire 

 to point out what seem to us to be serious defects in 

 the details of the scheme. 



It is provided that the Imperial College of Science 

 should institute a separate Department of Technical 

 Optics, with a heal who is also to exercise some un- 

 defined powers of general supervision over the whole 

 scheme. Being a member of the staff of the Imperial 

 College, he would presumably be appointed by the 

 governing body of that institution, and primarily be 

 responsible to it. He would have at the same time 

 powers over the course of instruction at another insti- 

 tution that had no voice in his appointment. His 

 relationship to the /Vdvisory Council is not defined, 

 and the proposal in its present form does not seem to 

 us to be conducive to harmonious working. It also 

 seems to perpetuate what, in our opinion, should only 

 be a transitional stage. Our own proposal contem- 

 plates that the appointment of the Director of Studies 

 should be primarily vested In whatever body Is con- 

 stituted as the main governing body. 



Another fundamental defect of the scheme is implied 

 in the wording defining the distribution of the work 

 between the Imperial College and the Northampton 

 Institute. Stress appears to be laid on post-graduate 

 work conducted at the Imperial College, and research 

 work is confined to that institution. If i,t be meant that 



NO. 2470, VOL. 99] 



the normal course of instruction should begin with a 

 degree course In pure science, and the higher technical 

 teaching should only begin after such a course is 

 completed, we must express our dissent from that 

 view. There may be some cases, no doubt, where a 

 graduate in science will turn his mind towards tech- 

 nical optics, and provision should be made for him ; 

 but the centre of gravity of the institution must be 

 a course extending over two or three years, in which 

 teaching in science is, ah initio, directed towards the 

 necessities of Its optical applications. As regards re- 

 search work, the teachers in any institution which 

 may be built, or during the transitional period at the 

 Northampton Institute, should be of sufficient stand- 

 ing to be able to conduct research work, and though 

 no expensive or elaborate plant need be supplied, and 

 such research work need not form a prominent part of 

 the activity of the institute. It is not advisable to lay 

 down any hard-and-fast lines as to where researches 

 are to be carried out. Special investigations, as has 

 already been said, will probably be largely concen- 

 trated at the National Physical Laboratory, but they 

 also should not necessarily be confined to any one 

 place. 



In conclusion, we may sum up the requirements 

 which appear to us to require Immediate attention : — 



(i) The appointment of a supervising representative 

 council. 



(2) The appointment, under the proposed supervis- 

 ing council, of an administrating director, with special 

 duties during the transitional period, which wjU In- 

 clude advice to the trade and the organisation of the 

 different oarts of the curriculum. 



(3) The translation of suitable works and the ab- 

 stracting of other important publications on technical 

 optics. 



(4) Pending the erection of a suitable building, the 

 organisation of dav and evening courses at the North- 

 ampton Institute, and arrangements for higher in- 

 struction at some other institution of university rank. 



The term "technical optics" throughout the report 

 is intended to include the chemical composition and 

 manufacture of glass 



The committee Is willing to give further advice with 

 respect to the selection of books for translating or 

 abstracting, and any other matters connected with 

 subjects referred to in the report. 



NOTES. 



We notice with much regret the announcement of 

 the death, at seventy-four years of age, of Prof. J. G. 

 Darboux, permanent secretary of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, professor of higher geometry at the Sorbonne, 

 and a foreign member of the Royal Society. 



The following fifteen candidates have been selected 

 by the council of the Royal Society to be recommended 

 for election into the society : Dr. J. H. Ashworth, 

 Mr. L. Bairstow, Prof. G. A. J. Cole, Mr. C. F. 

 Cross, Dr. H. D. Dakin, Prof. A. S. Eve, Prof. H. 

 Jackson, Prof. J. S. Macdonald, Prof. J. W. Nicholson 

 Dr. R. H. Pickard, Mr. C. T. Regan, Dr. R. Robert! 

 son. Dr. E. J. Russell, Mr. S. G. Shattock, and Prof. 

 F. E. Weiss. 



The Times announces the death, on February 24, of 

 Prof. Jules Courmont, professor of hygiene and deputy 

 doyen of Lyons University. 



Mr. W. H. H. Jessop, senior ophthalmic surgeon to 

 St. Bartholomew's Hospital and president of the 

 iDphthalmological Society of the United Kingdom, died 

 on February 16 at the age of sixty-four. In 1885, soon 



