158 



NATURE 



[April 24, 19 19 



chamber, as is done bv Prof. Sampson at the Royal 

 Observatory at Edinbiargh. The other condition is 

 much more difficult. There is, besides the almost 

 inevitable friction of the escapjement, the effect of the 

 buoyancy of the air. This last can be avoided by 

 enclosing the whole clock in a glass case, tightly 

 fitted, in which the air can be slightly rarefied and 

 maintained at a constant pressure below that of the 

 atmosphere. This would seem to offer a very satis- 

 factory solution of the difficulty. Temperature error 

 and buoyancy error having thus been to a great 

 extent mastered, we come back to the forces con- 

 nected with the maintenance and recording of the 

 motion as the principal sources of uncertainty. And 

 let no one suppose that little has been effected. Per- 

 fection in this, as in other human pursuits, is doubt- 

 less unattainable, but we approach it asymptotically, 

 and we are farther along the asymptote than might 

 be imagined. Prof. Sampson tells us that in his 

 thermostatic chamber and barostatic cases, and with 

 the Riefler, Cottingham, and Synchronome escape- 

 ments which he is studying, the errors average no 

 more than one-hundredth of a second per dav — that is, 

 at the rate of, one minute in sixteen years, if the clock 

 could run so long without stopping — truly an almost 

 miraculous accuracy, unrivalled, I imagine, in any 

 physical measurement. Anyone, therefore, who hooes 

 to improve upon this hasi a diflRcult task before him. 

 If it is true that le tnieiix est I'ennemi du bien. it 

 must be acknowledged that le mieux has against him 

 a most formidable antagonist. 



[The lecture was illustrated bv a number of working 

 models.] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE, 



Edinburgh.— Dr. James Drever has been appointed 

 Coombe lecturer in psychology. 



The University Court has resolved, subject to the 

 approval of the Senatus and to the co-operation of 

 the Town Council, to invite the British Association 

 to hold the annual meeting in 192 1 in Edinburgh. 



An important step has recently been taken in the 

 purchase of 100 acres of land for University exten- 

 sion. The land lies on the south side of the city, 

 about two miles from the present University, and in 

 the neighbourhood of the Royal Observatory on Black- 

 ford Hill. There will be ample scope in the imme- 

 diate future, not only for the building of laboratories 

 and hostels, but also for accommodation for sports 

 and athletics. 



Glasgow. — The following doctorates were among 

 the degrees conferred on April 22 i—M.D. : W E. 

 Boyd. Thesis: "The Colloidal State of the Blood 

 Serum and its Electrical Reactions." D.Sc: D. 

 Burns. Thesis : " On the Physiological Significance 

 of Guanidin, especially in its Relation to Creatin- 

 Creatinin Metabolism," with other papers. 



The standard of education in Central Europe pre- 

 sents notable divergences from that to which we are 

 accustomed. It is measured by the percentage of 

 illiterates among- those who exceed the age of six 

 years. As one goes east the percentage increases. 

 Amongr the northern Slavs, the Czechs are well edu- 

 cated, their percentage being 4 ; next come the Slovaks 

 with 20 per cent. ; then the Poles of Galicia with 

 a percentage twice that of the Slovaks; and finallv 

 there are the Ruthenes, or Little Russians, of Galicia', 

 Hung;-ary, and the Ukraine, with a percentage of 80, 

 double that of the Poles. Among the Slavs of the 

 south, the Slovenes who border on Italy have a per- 

 ?:0. 2582, VOL. 103] 



centage of 20 ; then come the Croats with a percentage 

 of 60, and the Serbs with one of 70. Between the two 

 branches of Slavs lie the Italians, who vary from 7 to 

 40 per cent, in illiteracy; the Germans of Austria, 

 whose numbers lie between 2 and 20; the Magyars 

 of Central Hungary, who are about as well educated 

 as the Slovaks or Slovenes; and, finally, the Ruman- 

 ians of Transylvania, three out of four of whom are 

 illiterate. These differences are a result of two fac- 

 tors: first, nearness or remoteness from Western civil- 

 isation, and, secondly, religion — the western folk are 

 Roman Catholics and the eastern folk adhere chieflv 

 to the Greek Church. 



A COPY of the calendar for 1917-18 of the Imperial 

 University of Tokyo has been received. The calendar 

 is published biennially, and an examination of the 

 present issue serves admirably to illustrate what rapid 

 strides in the provision of facilities for higher education 

 have been made in Japan in recent years. Among other 

 constituent colleges of the University the calendar deals 

 with the College of Science, and gives full particulars 

 of the extensive collections of specimens in the Natural 

 Science Department and of the numerous adjuncts 

 with which the college is provided ; for instance, the 

 Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, the Botanic Gardens 

 of forty acres at Koishikawa, the Seismological Ob- 

 servatory, and the Marine Biological Station at 

 Misaki, primarily intended for the use of instructors 

 and students of the University, but available for other 

 workers in biological research. Similarly, in connec- 

 tion with the flourishing College of Agriculture, everv 

 facility seems to have been provided. There are farm, 

 nursery, and botanical gardens ; laboratories for agri- 

 cultural chemistry, forestry, fisheries, and for studying 

 silkworm diseases, as well as numerous museums 



devoted to specific objects. A veterinarv hospital is 

 situated in the grounds of the college ; a pomological 

 garden has been laid out in Rokugo ; and there are 

 nine forests attached to the college. The University 

 also includes an institute for the study of infectious 

 diseases, where are arranged the investigation of the 

 etiology, prophylaxis, and treatment of infectious and 

 parasitic diseases, and experiments with disinfecting, 

 prophylactic, and curative agents. The calendar runs 

 to 402 pages, which teem with interesting particulars 

 concerning the activities of the other faculties, and is 

 illustrated also with charts, diagrams, and plans to 

 make clear the working arrangements of this centre of 

 higher learning. 



The British Science Guild has just issued a 

 memorandum on the question of the appointment of 

 a Departmental Committee to inquire into the exist- 

 ing provision of university and higher technical educa- 

 tion in the United Kingdom, and also as to the 

 desirability of appointing a consultative committee, 

 including representatives of industry, to advise the 

 Board of Education in matters affecting the relation- 

 ship of science and industry to education. It is now 

 thirty-seven years since the fruitful inquiry by a Royal 

 Commission was held as to the provision for scientific 

 and technical education, not only in this country, but 

 also in Europe generally and the United States, which 

 revealed our serioift deficiency, and led ultimately to 

 the adoption of the Technical Instruction Acts of iSSq 

 and 1 89 1, and to the valuable results which ensued. 

 It is felt that the time is ripe for a further inquiry 

 as to our present facilities for scientific and technical 

 education with the view of ascertaining how far it is 

 adequate to the needs of our chief manufactures in 

 face of the great advances made abroad in the 

 chemical, iron and steel, textile, optical glass, and 

 other important industries. Especiallv is it desirable 

 to learn what means exist for the encouragement and 



