May 8, 19 19] 



NATURE 



199 



After an interval of four years, due to the circum- 

 stances of war, the eighth annual general meeting 

 of the Old Students Association of the Royal College 

 of Science, London, will be held on Saturday, May 24, 

 at 3.30 p.m., at the Imperial College Union, Prince 

 Consort Road, South Kensington. The meeting will 

 discuss the important questions raised by the petition 

 to the governing body of the Imperial College, signed 

 bv past and present students of the Royal College of 

 Science, requesting it to take immediate steps to 

 raise the status, of the college to that of a university 

 of technology, empowered to confer its own degrees 

 in science and technology. At the conclusion of the 

 regular business an address will be given by the 

 retiring president. Prof. H. E. Armstrong. The 

 eighth annual dinner of Old Students will be held at 

 the Cafe Monico after the general meeting. Tickets 

 may be obtained from the secretary, Mr. T. LI. 

 Humberstone, 21 Gower Street, W.C.i. 



A CONFERENCE attended by representatives of the 

 professorial and non-professorial teaching staffs of the 

 university institutions of England, Wales, and Ire- 

 land, with Mr. R. D. Laurie, of the University Col- 

 lege of Wales, Aberystwyth, as chairman, met at the 

 University of ShefHeld on April 11 to discuss the 

 position with regard to superannuation, ir) view of 

 the recent Act, which confers non-contributory pension 

 benefits upon all teachers in State-aided institutions 

 except university teachers. Since 1913 there has been 

 a pension scheme for universities of a contributory 

 character, known as the Federated Superannuation 

 Scheme, under which the State pays one-half of the 

 total contribution and the other half is paid by the 

 beneficiary. This scheme, which in its present form 

 compares very unfavourably with the non-contributory 

 scheme under the Teachers (Superannuation) Act, is 

 mainly applicable, however, to professorial staffs, as 

 the majority of lecturers are in receipt of salaries so 

 low that they cannot afford to make the necessary 

 contribution. ' After discussion at the recent meeting, 

 a motion, "That this conference wishes to urge 

 strongly that the Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 

 19 18, be extended so as to include the staffs of uni- 

 versities and university colleges," was carried with 

 only one dissentient. A further resolution, carried 

 unanimously, was : — "That this conference urges that 

 before any modification of the Federated Superannua- 

 tion Scho'me for university teachers be adopted, an 

 opportunity be given to the various sections of the 

 staffs of the universities to place their views directly 

 before the President of the Board of Education and 

 the Treasurv, and that this resolution be communi- 

 cated immediately to the President of the Board of 

 Education." It was also decided to communicate with 

 all the associations of teachers in schools which come 

 under the present Act to advise them of the action 

 being taken by the conference. 



A CONFERENCE to direct attention to the position of 

 science in the educational system of the country was 

 held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on April 30, 

 under the ausoices of the League for the Promotion 

 of Science in " Education. The chair was taken by 

 Lord Leverhulme, who said that our system of educa- 

 tion should take into the fullest possible consideration 

 the means that science had placed at our disposal in 

 the daily life and industries of the nation. Three 

 resolutions were submitted to the conference and 

 carried unanimously. The first of these emphasised 

 the importance of having an adequate representation 

 of scientific men in all Government Departments, 

 and in proposing it Mr. Sanderson, the headmaster 

 of Oundle School, deplored the lack of scientific out- 

 look bv Government officials, and criticised the new 

 regulations for the Civil Service examinations. Sir 

 NO. 2584, VOL. 103] 



Philip Magnus, M.P., in seconding, emphasised the 

 fact that the league did not in any way desire to 

 favour scientific teaching at the expense of so-called 

 humanistic studies. They wished, however, to en- 

 courage the adoption of the scientific method in all 

 branches of learning. Mr. Charles Bright supported 

 the resolution, and suggested that men of scientific 

 and business experience might well be introduced into 

 the personnel of Government Departments. Mr. 

 Arthur Lynch, in proposing the second resolution 

 calling for a pronouncement by the Government as 

 to its attitude towards the recommendations of Sir 

 J. J. Thomson's report, criticised the lack of 

 scientific knowledge of Members of Parliament in 

 matters of general education. Lord Headley seconded 

 this resolution, and attributed the indifference to 

 matters of this nature to the lack of scientific educa- 

 tion, which alone could produce action and organising 

 ability. The third resolution was proposed in a force- 

 ful speech by Dr. H. B. Gray, formerly headmaster 

 of Bradfield College, who expressed the view that the 

 present public school and university system failed to 

 produce that activity of mind and breadth of know- 

 ledge which were necessary for dealing satisfactorily 

 with modern problems. Mr. Edward Berkeley, a 

 member of the council of the National LInion of 

 Manufacturers, seconded this resolution. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



LOSDOS. 



Royal Anthropological Institute, April 8. — Sir Everard 

 im Thurn, president, in the chair.— Lieut. E. \V. 

 Pearson Chinnery : Reactions of certain New Guinea 

 primitive people to Government control. It is the 

 desire of Australia to put down cannilpalism and 

 general savagery and introduce civilisation among 

 people of the Stone age in Papua without injury to 

 them. Cannibalism and savagery are essential parts 

 of the social and religious fabric of an uncivilised 

 community. If they are to be suppressed without 

 injury to the people, alternative practices of equal 

 potency must be substituted to perpetuate material 

 welfare and develop cultural institutions in accord- 

 ance with the laws of the Government. Since the 

 wild tribes of Papua received their first alien stimuli 

 through the magistrates of their districts, progress 

 depends on the ability of these officers to establish 

 a proper relationship' of mutual understanding and 

 confidence between Government and subjects. When 

 this is attained the officers, by intensive study of the 

 culture of their people, can acquire a knowledge of 

 the modes of thought that produce customs antagonis- 

 tic to civilised standards, and safely guide the people 

 through the stages of transition. If a system of 

 training district magistrates in anthropological 

 methods is added to existing methods of administra- 

 tion, Australia should, in the shortest possible time, 

 achieve the credit of having conducted the savage of 

 the Stone age. without injury to him, to an attain- 

 ment of the ideals of civilisation. 



P.ARIS. 



Academy ol Sciences, April 22.— M. L^on Guignard 



in the chair. D. Berthelot : Notice on the work of 



Sir William Crookes.— G. Blgourdan : The work of 

 Le Monnier at the meridian of Saint-Sulpice. The 

 end of the observatory of the rue Saint-Honor^.— G. 

 Julia : Some properties of integral or meromorphic 

 functions.— A. Guldberg : The law of errors of Bravais. 

 _-G Guillaumin : Certain particular solutions of the 

 problem of sandy flow.— MM. Jouguet and Crussard : 

 The velocity of deflagrations.— M. Amans : Equations 

 of similitude in propulsive helices.— M. Picon: The 



