August 7, 19 19] 



NATURE 



459 



the engineering curriculum at the University of Bristol 

 < over eminently suitable ground, and appear to be well 

 designed successfully to achieve the 'purposes men- 

 tioned above. 



On Thursday, July 31, the King received at 

 Buckingham Palace three deputations from public 

 bodies, viz. the London County Council, the Body of 

 English Presbyterian Ministers in London and the 

 neighbourhood, and the General Body of Protestant 

 Dissenting Ministers, who each presented an address 

 of congratulation on the signing of peace after the 

 terrible four years' struggle in which the nations of 

 the world have been engaged, expressing the hope 

 that we may now embark upon measures having 

 for their object the continuous improvement of social 

 conditions and the raising of higher ideals of life. In 

 his replies to the several addresses the King expressed 

 his strong conviction that nothing is more essential to 

 national prosperity and happiness than education, and 

 that the potentialities, physical, mental, and spiritual, of 

 every member of the community should be developed 

 to the fullest extent. If this were done, the life of 

 the nation would be transformed within a generation. 

 His Majesty alluded in terms of keen sympathv to the 

 necessity for the care of the weak and helpless, 

 for the protection of our infant life, and for the 

 guardianship and training of the physically and 

 mentally defective. New powers are being bestowed 

 upon the public authorities, and the responsibility for 

 their effective use rests with them. It is essential to 

 raise the ideals of life throughout all classes. This 

 implies due nurture and care of infant life, so that 

 when the child comes of school-age it shall enter upon 

 it? formal education healthy in mind and bodv. To 

 achieve this, better housing and more ample surround- 

 ings for lijjht and air and healthy outdoor enjovment 

 are essential. If these conditions are established there 

 will no longer be, as Sir George Newman recentlv 

 reported, a million children out of six millions on the 

 rolls of the elementarv schools totally unfit, by reason 

 of physical or mental defects, to make effective use 

 of their educational opportunities. The King's sym- 

 pathy and encouragement, so earnestly expressed to 

 these deputations, ought to stimulate the zeal and the 

 efforts of the local authorities to provide the facilities 

 so necessary to the national well-being. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Faraday Society, July 14.— Prof. A. W. Porter, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — L, A. Wild : A method of 

 measuring the magnetic hardness of ferrous metals 

 and its utility for carrying out research work on 

 thermal treatment. The coercive force forms a very 

 convenient criterion for judging the physical condition 

 of steel, as a small change in the heat-treatment con- 

 ditions or composition of the steel results in the pro- 

 duction of a much larger change in the coercive force. 

 The method has been used for the investigation of 

 many problerps relating to the properties of steel. — 

 F. H. Jelfery : The electrolysis of solutions of sodium 

 nitrate, using a silver anode. — VV. E. Forgythe : The 

 disappearing-filament type of optical pyrometer. The 

 paper discusses fully the principles that determine the 

 accuracy and use of this type of pyrometer. The 

 instrument is practically a telescopve with a lamp fila- 

 ment at the focus of the objective, in series with a 

 battery resistance and ammeter. The instrument is 

 lighted in the hot body in such a manner that the 

 image of the filament crosses that of the body. The 

 current is then adjusted until the filament is just as 

 bright as the body sighted. .\ red glass in the eye- 



XO. 2597, VOL. 103] 



piece eliminates difficulties due to colour differences. — 

 E. A. Ashcroft : Some chemically reactive alloys. An 

 alloy of 15 per cent, of pure magnesium with 85 per 

 cent, of pure lead has the remarkable property that 

 upon exposure to moist air oxidation of both the 

 magnesium and the lead proceeds so rapidly that a 

 lump of alloy so exposed swells up and falls to a 

 black powder in a single night, or in some instances 

 even in an hour or two. The experiment suggests a 

 ready means of producing nitrogen or nitrogen and 

 hydrogen mixtures from these alloys, or of removing 

 remainders of oxvgen from various mixtures in the 

 cold. — Prof. H. Honda and H. Taliagi : A theory of 

 invar.— Prof. A. W. Porter : The equation for the 

 chemical equilibrium of homogeneous mixtures. 

 Part i. : Equilibrium at constant temperature. The 

 general equation for chemical equilibrium is obtained 

 in a way which is so much less abstract than the 

 method depending upon the thermodynamic potential 

 that no dubiety need exist of the meaning of the 

 result and the conditions under which any particular 

 form of it applies. The result is expressed in terms 

 of the pressures of the constituents when isolated and 

 in osmotic equilibrium with the mixture through 

 membranes each permeable to one alone of the con- 

 stituents. — Irving Langmuir : The mechanism of the 

 surface phenomena of flotation. The paper directs 

 attention to a theory of adsorption and surface tension 

 which greatly aids in understanding the phenomena 

 of flotationj The necessity for further researches is 

 urged. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 15.— M. L^on Guignard in 

 the chair. — G, Bigourdan : The pupils and temporary 

 observers of the Observatoire de la Marine. — E. 

 Kogbetliantz : The summation of ultra-spherical series. 

 — J. Guillaume : Observations of the sun made at the 

 Lyons Observatory during the first quarter of 19 19. 

 Observations were possible on seventy-two days, and 

 the results are given in tables showing the number 

 of spots, their distribution in latitude, and the dis- 

 tribution of the faculae in latitude. — A. Muguet : A 

 fluorometer. This instrument is based on the use of 

 a number, of superposed absorbent screens, and com- 

 parisons are made with a luminescent standard con- 

 taining I mg. of elementar\' radium per square centi- 

 metre of surface, acting upon a barium platino- 

 cyanide screen.— H. Abraham, E. Blocli, and L. Bloch : 

 Sensitive apparatus for the measurement of alternating 

 currents. — F. Taboury and M. Godchot : A new method 

 for the preparation of bicyclic ketones. Calcium 

 hydride is used as the condensing agent, and it is 

 noteworthy that the ketones resulting from the re- 

 action are unsaturated, as the hydrogen from the 

 calcium hydride is not taken up. — MM. Vavon and 

 Faillebin : The hydrogenation of piperonal ketone and 

 dipiperonal ketone. — E. L6ger : Contribution to the 

 study of cinchonidine. — G. Chavanne and L. J. Simon : 

 The use of the critical solution temperature 

 ("T.C.D.") in aniline for the rapid analysis of petrol. 

 The method proposed gives the percentages of 

 aromatic and naphthenic hydrocarbons. — A. Dnlfour : 

 The hexahvdrated potassium magnesium double 

 chromate. — C. Dauzire : The formation of basaltic 

 columns. — L. Dunoyer and G. Reboul : The prediction 

 of barometric variations. A reply to M. Gabriel 

 Guilbert.— Ch. Maurain : The velocity of the wind in 

 the upper atmosphere in bright weather. — J. Ronch : 

 The ascensional velocity of pilot balloons. From 

 168 measurements of velocity of pilot balloons it is 

 concluded that the velocity of ascent is practically 

 constant, and this holds for heights up to 10,000 

 metres For balloons weighing between 50 and 



