August 23, 19 17] 



NATURE 



519 



l"and associations. He strongly recommends Esperanto 

 as a neutral language for this purpose, remark- 

 ing that it is already wall known both in Germany 

 and in Austria-Hungary. Moreover, classes for 

 Esperanto have been formed in many internment 

 camps among both civilian and military prisoners. The 

 knowledge of this auxiliary language has enabled 

 prisoners of different nationalities to converse together. 

 It is, indeed, to be expected that prisoners in a foreign 

 countrv should keenly realise the advantage? of a 

 language common to themselves and their gaolers. 



The fourth annual meeting of the conference en 

 New Ideals in Education was held, August 14 to 21, 

 at Bedford College, London, under the presidency of 

 the Earl of Lytton, and was, like its predecessors, 

 Hargeh' attended by persons representative of a wide 

 range of educational interests, lay and professional. 

 The main subject of debate was the problems pre- 

 sented by the system of universal continuation schools 

 '- < under the consideration of Parliament. The dis- 

 on was opened by the President of the Board of 

 ation himself, who spoke of the continuation schools 

 potential great '" University of England,"' the best 

 most durable national memorial of the war, and 

 in\ited missionar\- effort to commend the principles 

 r" his present Bill to popular opinion, and to secure 

 -rnooth working if it should be passed. In the 

 ' quent sessions the conference considered the 

 pecial problems that confront the urban and rural 

 ontinuation schools respectively. With regard to the 

 ormer, it was agreed that the main dimcultv lies 

 n the treatment of boys and girls condemned to mono- 

 onous unskilled labour, and that, in dealinjf with this 

 reat section of our juvenile population, educational 

 annot be separated from social and industrial .eform. 

 The report of the committee appointed by the North- 

 Last Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders 

 tpon the education of apprentices has now been issued, 

 nd has been accepted generally by the other engineer- 

 ig and shipbuilding associations in the north-east 

 istrict. The scheme in brief provides for elementary 

 ducation up to twelve and a half years of age approxi- 

 lately, followed by three years' full timfe at a junior 

 chnical .=chool. The bulk of the boys (a) then pro- 

 «d to ordinary apprenticeship with two or three half- 

 ays per week at continuation classes up to eighteen 

 ears of age; the best (b) are to spend half-time per 

 eek in the works and the other half in the technical 

 >llege up to the same age. Group (a) then proceeds 

 ► ordinary apprenticeship with optional evening 

 lasses. Group (b) is divided again at eighteen years of 

 [e, the majority proceeding to ordinary apprenticeship 

 ith optional evening classes, while those of special 

 'ity proceed to the full applied science degree course 

 ng to the B.Sc. in engineering or naval architec- 

 The details of the scheme comprise maflv in- 

 - ing features. Junior day technical schools should 

 garded as a distinct type of higher school, in no 

 inferior to a secondary school; this point is to 

 ged upon the Board of Education by a deputation 

 renting the Institution. An advisory committee 

 be appointed to be associated with the manage- 

 of the schools in a consultative capacity. Youths 

 ng out of these schools are to have preferential 

 inent in the matter of appointment to apprentice- 

 The latter point is of great importance, and if 

 red throughout the country will be instrumental 

 le suppression of the premium system, and also of 

 method which some firms adopt of taking as 

 ntices without premiu.n those lads only who are 

 of employees, irrespective of their previous train- 

 The scheme is excellent on the whole, and will 

 ide facilities for any intelligent lad possessing grit 

 rise to the top of the educational ladder and to 



NO. 2495, VOL. 99] 



qualify for the highest posts no matter how lowly he 

 may start. There is just one point open to criticism. 

 The best lads wTio are selected for university courses 

 will be handicapped at matriculation if no foreign lan- 

 guage is taught prior to the age of sixteen. It would 

 be well to include, say, two hours per week in the 

 junior technical school curriculum; this would have 

 the effect of bringing the products of these schools into 

 line with secondary-school boys starting apprenticeship 

 at sixteen. The report is well worth studying by all 

 interested in education. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 30. — M. Paul .Appell in the- 

 chair.^The president announced the death of M. F. C. 

 Grand'Eurv, correspondant of the section of botany. — 

 G. Bigourdan : The propagation of the sound-wave 

 produced by gun-fire to great distances. Direct deter- 

 minations of the velocity of sound in the air could 

 be made to-day over distances nearly ten times those 

 utilised in the earlier experiments made between 173b 

 and 1822. — H. Le Chatelier : The tempering of steel. 

 Summarising recent researches by Portevin, Cheve- 

 nard, and Dejean, the author concludes that, starting 

 with the eutectoid with 08 per cent, carbon, initial 

 state austenite, the final state may be perlite with 

 slow cooling, troostite, martensite, or austenite being 

 the final products as the rate of cooling is increased. 

 The last case can only be practically realised in the 

 presence of 2 per cent, of manganese or a slightly 

 higher proportion of nickel. — M. Balland : The altera- 

 tions of biscuit bread. The flour used is the same as 

 that of which ordinary bread is made, but it is baked 

 in a cooler oven for a longer time. It has a thicker 

 crust, highly resistant to the action of external in- 

 fluences, and keeps good for from fifteen to twenty days. 

 - — A. Nodon : Observations on the eclipse of the moon 

 of July 4, 1917. The observations were made at Bor- 

 deaux under good atmospheric conditions, and the 

 results appear to indicate a luminosity due to the 

 surface of the moon. — E. Helot : The physical and 

 ballistic history of the lunar volcanoes. — M. Portevin : 

 The carburation of iron by alkaline cyanides and 

 cvanates. .\t temperatures of 750" C. and 900^ C. the 

 addition of a proportion of cyanate to potassium, 

 cvanide results in a considerable increaise in the 

 amount of carbon taken up by the iron. — P. Dejean : 

 The formation of troostite and martensite. — A. Colani : 

 The action of metaphosphoric acid upon the oxides of 

 molvbdenum. At a red heat metaphosphoric acid acts 

 upon M0O3, giving a slight reduction and evolution 

 of oxvgen. — H. Travers : The rapid estimation of man- 

 ganese* and chromium in metallurgical products. The 

 method is based on oxidation with ammonium per- 

 sulphate and subsequent titration with sodium arsenite 

 and is applicable to certain chrome steels.— L. Vialleton : 

 Ontogenic relations of the pelvic and thoracic bands 

 in the tetrapod vertebrates. — A. Lecaillon : The signi- 

 fication of the colour-changes normally produced in 

 certain non-impregnated eggs of Bo)nbyx mori and 

 the formation, in this species, of true caterpillars of 

 parthenogenetic origin. — H. Colin : The antiseptic pro- 

 perties of nitrous fumes. In the absence of oxygen, 

 nitric oxide is devoid of antiseptic properties. The 

 contrary results obtained by Priestley were due to 

 nitric acid produced by the simultaneous presence of 

 air and water. — P. Portier : Researches on svmbiotic 

 micro-organisms in the animal series. — MM. Wein. 

 burg and P. Seqnin : Serotherapy of gas gangrene in 

 man. An account of the favourable results obtained 

 by a mixed serurn. — P. Armand-Delille : Remarks on 

 the parasitological aspects of malaria contracted in 

 Macedonia. 



