45S 



NATURE 



[August 7, 19 19 



models are of great value in research work. Several 

 discoveries have been made by means of this Kilauea 

 model. The volcanic bomb craters were practically 

 unknown before the model was made. A young 

 drainage system in the ash desert was also unknown 

 previously. Prof. R. A. Daly has discovered that the 

 land about Kilauea Iki slopes away from the crater 

 in all directions, thus making of the Kilauea Iki area 

 a dome similar to the area about Halemaumau. 

 .(3) The bird's-eye view of an area which can be studied 

 at leisure reveals many relations between various 

 features of the country which could not be well seen 

 and studied in any other way. On account of the 

 atmospheric conditions, no balloon or aeroplane ob- 

 servation or photograph could give at once such an 

 ideal view as one obtains from the model. (4) The 

 model can be used to teach students facts in geology, 

 geography, and meteorology. The important things 

 which a locality has to offer can be taught at home. 

 (5) Such naturalistic models may be used in the 

 teaching of landscape sketching and painting, and 

 even in the teaching of map-making. 



Although such models are worth while, the men 

 who can make them are not easy to find. This 

 IS the real difficulty at present. Let us hope, how- 

 ever, that the revolution which kite or aeroplane 

 views have made in this new art will encourage more 

 men to undertake it. On account of the difficulty of 

 obtaining orders for expensive models, Mr. Curtis has 

 given up the work, and at present is farming at 

 Willits, California. In order that the methods and 

 technique which Heim and Curtis have gained after 

 years of patient labour and study may not be lost, 

 they should 'b<fe described and published for the benefit 

 of those who will continue from the point where these 

 masters left off". Robert W. Sayles. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE, 

 Dr. S. Chapman has been appointed to the second 

 •chair of mathematics recently instituted in the Uni- 

 versity of Manchester. 



Dr. Samuel Smiles has been appointed to the newly 

 created chair of organic chemistry at Armstrong Col- 

 lege, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



Mr. J. W. Thomas has been appointed lecturer in 

 the electrical engineering department of the Birming- 

 ham Municipal Technical School. 



Mr. E. Rawson, recently head of the Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne Training Centre, has been appointed head 

 of the mechanical and civil engineering department of 

 the Portsmouth Municipal College. 



The following appointments have been made at the 

 London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for 

 Women : — Mary Lucas Keene, lecturer in anatomy, 

 and head of the anatomy department; John VV. Ebden, 

 Lawrence Abel, Mary Hounsfield, Mary Joll, demon- 

 strators of anatomy; Bernard H. Spilsbury, lecturer 

 in forensic medicine and toxicology; Eleanor Scar- 

 borough, demonstrator in pharmacology; M. Ross- 

 Johnson and D. Woodman, demonstrators of physio- 

 logy. 



An announcement has been received from the Tech- 

 nical Optics Department of the Imperial College of 

 Science, South Kensington, that, subject to a suffi- 

 cient response. Prof. Conrady will give a vacation 

 course of sixteen lectures on " Optical Designing and 

 Computing." For the convenience of students living 



NO. 2597, VOL. 103] 



at a distance two lectures will be given on each Tues- 

 day and Thursday from August 26 to September 18 

 at II a.m. and 2.30 p.m. The syllabus includes 

 methods of exact ray-tracing for axial and oblique 

 pencils and approximate methods of treating aberra- 

 tion problems, together with the application of these 

 methods to a number of typical optical instruments. 

 Full lecture notes will be supplied to students a few 

 days in advance of the lectures, leaving the greater 

 part of the time free for a fuller discussion of the 

 more practical aspect of the problems than would 

 otherwise be possible. The fee for the complete 

 course, including an optional computing course fol- 

 lowing the morning lectures, is 2I., payable to the 

 Registrar of the Imperial College. In the case of 

 students who have taken certain previous courses the 

 fee is reduced by one-half. It is particularly desired 

 that names should be entered well in advance. 



The Times correspondent at Cape Town, in a mes- 

 sage dated July 31, states that the Development Com- 

 mittee of the University of Cape Town is issuing a 

 scheme of development which involves an expenditure 

 of 525, ooo^, of which 2oo,oooL is for buildings at 

 Groote Schuur, loo.oooZ. for scholarships, 25,000/. for 

 a library, and 2co,oooL for general endowments. We 

 learn from the same source that the Prince of Wales, 

 as Chancellor of the University, has sent the following 

 letter to the Vice-Chancellor :— " I wish, as Chancellor 

 of the University of Cape Town, to assure you of my 

 cordial support in the movement to improve the 

 financial position of the University. The coming 

 generation is called on to restore and rebuild the 

 world. Failure in that task would imply that the 

 sacrifice of those who fell in the war had been fruit- 

 less, and failure cannot be contemplated. Success 

 depends on energy, goodwill, and, above all, on the 

 spread of knowledge and of right thinking. The 

 universities of the world can exercise a most potent 

 influence on this great work of reconstruction, and it 

 is because I feel convinced that a sacred duty to help 

 in this work rests upon our University that I appeal 

 confidently to its friends in South Africa and elsewhere 

 to equip it, of their generosity, with the means 

 worthily to do its part." 



The province of the engineer has in modern times 

 become so amplified that the great majority of young 

 men educated for that profession are, from the earliest 

 days of their active professional career, now brought 

 into immediate contact with the business side of 

 engineering practice. For this reason a widening of 

 the basis of the education provided at our universities 

 for engineering students has been strongly advocated 

 in recent times. To meet the needs of this situation 

 it has been decided by the Senate of the University 

 of Bristol to introduce commercial courses in the 

 faculty of engineering. Syllabuses of these courses, 

 which are now to be compulsory, have been prepared, 

 and are available for distribution. The scheme out- 

 lined in the svllabuses comprises instruction in four 

 groups of subjects, namely : — (a) Book-keeping and 

 accountancy, (b) works administration and organisa- 

 tion, (c) commercial law, and (d) estimating and speci- 

 fication writing. Two courses are to be provided 

 in each of the subjects (a) and (c), whilst subjects (b) 

 and (d) are to be included in both the first- and second- 

 year courses for engineering students. The main aim 

 to be kept in view in courses of this kind should 

 be to bring home clearly to engineering students the 

 real importance of the business aspects of their pro- 

 fession, and at the same time to stimulate their 

 interest in this side of engineering work. The svlla- 

 buses of the commercial courses to be introduced into 



