May 29, 19 19] 



NATURE 



249 



being held at 153 Queen Victoria Street, and will 

 be open until June 5. The optical exhibits include 

 field- and opera-glasses, telescopes, kinematographs, 

 surgical mirrors, laryngoscopes, spectacles, etc. So 

 much advance has been made in this industry by British 

 manufacturers during the war, and so little is known 

 of it on the Continent, that we hope something will 

 be done to hold in Paris and elsewhere an exhibition 

 I of optical and other manufactures in which we have 

 achieved decided progress. Perhaps arrangements can 

 be made to transfer to some Continental cities the 

 main part of the British Scientific Products Exhibi- 

 tion to be held at the Central Hall, Westminster, 

 during July. 



In view of the present industrial unrest and the 

 difficult social problems with which the country will 

 be faced during the next few years, the promotion of 

 better relations between employers and employees 

 demands scientific study. The National Alliance of 

 Employers and Employed, through its organ Unify, 

 fs adopting the enterprising step of offering a series 

 of prizes presented by Sir Robert Hadfield, and 

 amounting in all to 20oi., for the best essay on either 

 of the following subjects: — "A Practical Scheme for 

 the Joint Development of Industry by Capital and 

 Labour," "The Most Effective Means for the Preven- 

 tion of Unemployment, " and "The Most Effective 

 Means for the Prevention of Industrial Disputes." 

 The committee of award will consist of the Right 

 Hon. Fredk. Huth Jackson (chairman of the National 

 Alliance), the Master of Balliol College, Oxford, and 

 the Right Hon. Arthur Henderson. Essays must not 

 exceed 3000 words in length, and must be addressed 

 to the Editor. Unity, 64 Victoria Street, London, 

 S.W.I, marked "Essay Competition." The competi- 

 tion closes on August 30, and the rights of publication 

 of essays submitted are to be vested in Unity. 



The difficulties experienced by many university 

 graduates in obtaining employment suitable to their 

 education and abilities received careful consideration 

 at a recent meeting of representatives of the universi- 

 ties, the Imperial College of Technology, and the 

 Federation of British Industries, under the chairman- 

 ship of Sir Richard Vassar-Smith. The proposal to 

 set up an organisation which might act as a 

 "clearing-house" between the universities and the 

 industries of the country was received so favourably 

 that it was decided to hold a further meeting to con- 

 sider the practical details of the scheme. An efficient 

 organisation of the nature suggested should ensure 

 that all grades of university students would have the 

 opportunity of passing into that type of productive 

 employment in which they would be able to use their 

 abilities to the fullest extent. It would also make 

 for that closer co-operation between the university and 

 industry which is so essential for national prosperity 

 in the years to come. The marked tendency for the 

 i university graduate to proceed overseas would un- 

 j doubtedly be checked by the offer of suitable employ- 

 ment in this country, and the setting up of such an 

 organisation will meet with the approval of all in- 

 terested in national well-being. The carrying out of 

 the scheme at an early date would exert a considerable 

 influence on the maintenance of that steady flow of 

 workers through the universitv to commerce and 

 labour which is looked forward to on all sides. 



A PETITION in opposition to the Dogs Protection Bill, 

 [ with more than eight hundred signatures, chiefly of 

 residents in Leeds and other cities in Yorkshire, has 

 been collected by a few private individuals in ten 

 days, and has been forwarded to the Home Secretary. 

 It was pointed out that, in the opinion of the peti- 

 tioners, the Bill would do hann bv interfering with 

 NO. 2587, VOL. 103] 



the progress of medical research. The list of signa- 

 tures included the heads of many of the departments 

 of science, technology, and medicine in the University 

 of Leeds, as well as many important members of the 

 administrative staff of the University. There were 

 also names of many members of the infirmary staff, 

 important civic persons, and representatives of the 

 clerical, legal, dental, nursing, and other professions. 

 The Bill was amended in the House of Commons 

 during the report stage on M.ay 23 by the insertion 

 of a provision, moved on behalf of the Government, 

 permitting experiments where the object in view 

 would be frustrated unless it was performed on a 

 dog. The amendment was carried by a majority of 

 78, and the Bill now awaits a third reading. 



The Society for the Prevention of Hydrophobia 

 (founded in 1886) is being reorganised for the purpose 

 of influencing public opinion and urging the Govern- 

 ment to adopt universal muzzling for eight months, 

 accompanied by six months' quarantine on all imported 

 dogs, which past experience has shown to be the 

 quickest, safest, and only means of^ completely 

 eradicating rabies and hydrophobia. It is the stray, 

 wandering, and uncared-for dogs, which infest every 

 town and village, that are the most likely to be bitten 

 by a rabid dog escaped from an infected area and to 

 spread the disease farther afield. Universal muzzling 

 would lead to the seizing and elimination of all stray 

 dogs before a rabid dog arrived in the district. To 

 wait until a rabid dog has arrived in a district and 

 infected one or more of these strays is a fatal mis- 

 take. A forty-mile radius is all very well for cattle 

 disease and swine fever, but not for rabies. Amongst 

 those who have lately joined the committee are Sir 

 John McFadyean, principal of the Royal Veterinary Col- 

 lege ; Dr. C. J. Martin, director of the Lister Insti- 

 tute; Mr. Stephen Paget, and Major Penberthy, presi- 

 dent of the Roval College of Veterinary Surgeons 

 (1897). Mr. J. Sidney Turner has been elected chair- 

 man. Vice-presidents will include Surg. -Gen. Sir 

 David Bruce, Sir J. Rose Bradford, the Earl of 

 Chesterfield, Sir Watson Chevne, Bart., Enrl Curzon 

 of Kedleston, Maior David Davies, the Duchess of 

 Newcastle, Lord Bledisloe, Mr. Leslie Scott, K.C., 

 and the Hon. A. H. Holland-Hibbert. 



An outline of the progress in practical radio- 

 telegraphy during the past four years was given last 

 week by Mr. Godfrey Isaacs in an address before the 

 members of the Aldwvch Club. The range of mari- 

 time communication, which before the war averaged 

 200 miles by day and 500 miles at night, had been 

 quadrupled. "Jamming," apparently, has been 

 eliminated, and Mr. Isaacs said ships would in future 

 be able to telephone and telegraph either to ships at 

 sea or to the coast without any possibility of inter- 

 ference. The wireless "direction-finder" would en- 

 able the pilot of an aeroplane or airship to ascertain 

 approximately where he was at any time. A further 

 development had produced a new transmitter, which 

 would project into the air a wide, divergent beam, 

 something like a searchlight without the light, 

 which would extend over any area required, or, if it 

 was desired, a concentrated beam over some small 

 place, and these beams would convey to the men in 

 the sky automatically the name of the place they 

 were passing over. Similarly, these beams could be 

 equipped to lightships or buoys in fixed and defined 

 positions, so that even when passing over the sea 

 an airman would know exactly where he was. With 

 regard to land communications, very little was done 

 before the war, particularly in well-populated coun- 

 tries, such as those in Europe, in connection with 

 wireless telegraphy, for the reason that if thev had 



