August 14, 19 19] 



NATURE 



479 



lould be no necessity for this country to import a 

 li^le ton of foreign steel. Before the war something 



l<i' 2,500,000 tons of steel, in the form of slabs, 

 J (looms, and billets, were imported into this country 

 .mnually, mainly from Germany. 



But for success in this great undertaking cheap ore 

 and fuel are essential, and these can be obtained, in 

 face of the greatly augmented cost of labour and 

 material, which is a legacy of the war, only bv an all- 

 round increase in efficiency, embracing capital, en- 

 gineering, and labour^capital by the installation of 

 \ TJp-to-date equipment, engineering by improved mining 

 methods, and labour bv an increased output T>€r man 

 per shift. 



These are the pressing problems of the immediate 

 future. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



London. — The following appointments have been 

 made: — At King's College: Mr. J. E. Barnard, lec- 

 turer in microscopy; Major J. Quinton, lecturer in 

 •mathematics; and Dr. W. Wilson, as whole-time senior 

 lecturer in the department of physics. At Bedford 

 College for Women : Mrs. Orson Wood, demonstra- 

 tor in the department of physics; Miss Woodman, 

 part-time demonstrator in the department of 

 physiology. The chemical department of the college 

 has been divided into the two departments of (a) organic 

 chemistry and (b) inorganic and physical chemistry. 

 The following app>ointments have been made to the 

 staff of the new departments: — Mr. Crompton, head 

 of the department of organic chemistry and director 

 of the laboratories ; Dr. Spencer, head of the depart- 

 ment of inorganic and physical chemistry ; Miss 

 Vanderstichele and Miss Triffitt, demonstrators in the 

 department of organic chemistry; Miss Crewdson, 

 demonstrator in the department of inorganic and 

 phvsical chemistry. At Goldsmiths' College : Mr. G. T. 

 White, head of the engineering and building de- 

 partment. 



The title of assistant professor of physiologv has 

 been conferred upon Dr. O. Rosenheim, of King's 

 College. 



Oxford. — Mr. Julian S. Huxley, a scholar of Balliol 

 from IQ05 to 1909, and from 19 13 to 19 16 associate 

 professor of biolotry in the Rice Institute, Houston, 

 Texas, and Mr. Henr> Clay, scholar of University 

 College from 1902 to 1906, and author of " Economics 

 for the General Reader," have been elected fellows of 

 New College. 



Dr. a. W. Stewart, of the University of Glasgow, 

 has been appointed to succeed the late Prof. E. A. 

 Letts in the chair of chemistry in the Queen's Uni- 

 versity of Belfast. 



The late Sir Archibald D. Dawnay bequeathed for 

 scholarships 5000 iL shares in the firm of Archibald 

 Dawnay and Sons, Ltd., to the Royal Institute of 

 British Architects, 5000 to the London "County Council, 

 1000 to the South Wales Institute of Engineering, 

 Cardiff, and 1000 to the Battersea Grammar School. 

 The bequests will become operative after the death 

 of Lady Dawnay. 



Applications for the William Julius Mickle fellow- 

 ship, which is of the value of at least 2ooi., must be 

 made to the academic registrar of the I'niversity of 

 London before October 1 next. The fellowship is 

 open to both men and women, and will be awarded 

 to a graduate of the University, resident in London, 

 who has done most to advance medical art or science 

 during the past five years. 



NO. 2598, VOL. 103] 



Applications are invited by the Joint Studentship 

 Committee of the Empire Cotton-growing Committee 

 of the Board of Trade and the British Cotton Industry 

 Research Association for studentships from graduates 

 desirous of continuing their studies on the living plant. 

 The studentships are of the yearly value of about 150!., 

 and applications must reach the secretary of the 

 British Cotton Industry Research .\ssociatioTi, 108 

 Deansgate. Manchester, on or before August 27. 



The prospectus of university courses in the Muni- 

 cipal College of Technology, Manchester, for the 

 session 19J9-20 has now been published. The college 

 offers systematic training* in the principles of 

 mechanical, electrical, municipal, and sanitary engin- 

 eering ; of architecture and the building trades ; of the 

 chemical industries and the textile industries; and of 

 photography and the printing crafts. It possesses 

 extensive laboratories and workshops equipped with 

 full-sized modern machinery, tools, and apparatus, 

 including not only machines of the types now in 

 general use, but also machines especially constructed 

 for demonstration, experiment, and original research. 

 There is a generous provision of both entrance and 

 post-graduate scholarships. Courses of post-graduate 

 and specialised studv and research are offered for a 

 fourth vear to students who have successfully com- 

 pleted the three vears' course for a degree in the 

 Facultv of Technologv in the Victoria University of 

 Manchester conducted' in the college, or are otherwise 

 deemed competent to enter upon them. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, Julv 21.— M. L^on Guignard in 

 the chair. — J. Boussinesq : The existence of an approxi- 

 mate relation, pointed out bv M. Car\^allo for quartz, 

 between the two rotatorv and dispersive powers of 

 bodies.— A. Gantier and P. Clausmann : The action 

 of fluorides upon vegetation. Field culture experi- 

 ments. The fluorine in these experiments was added 

 in the form of amorphous calcium fluoride; it was 

 found to be favourable to the growth of wheat, oats, 

 carrot, broad bean, cabbage, pea, poppy, potato, and 

 hemp. No effect was observed with barley, rye, bean 

 buckwheat, and mustard, whilst beetroot, turnip, and 

 oniooi were prejudiciallv affected by fluorides.— P. Saba- 

 tier and A. MaUlie : The catalytic formation of alkyl 

 chlorides, starting with the primary alcohols. A mix- 

 ture of hvdrochloric acid and alcohol vapour, passed 

 over alumina heated to 370° to 450° C, gives the 

 alkyl chloride mixed with the ethylenic hydrocarbon 

 produced by the dehvdration of the alcohol. Primary, 

 secondary, and tertlarv chlorides mav be formed in this 

 reaction.— V. Grignard and G. Rivat : The addition 

 compounds of halogen acids to diphenylarsenic acid. 

 The addition products f(C.H,)=.AsO.OH],HCl and 

 (C.H,)3.AsO.OH.HCl and two corresponding com- 

 pounds with HBr were isolated and analysed.— G. 

 Girand: The classification of substitutions of certain 

 automorph groups of n variables, and the algebraic 

 relations which exist between any (n+i) functions cor- 

 responding with certain of these groups.— M. de Broglie : 

 The X-ray spectra of the elements. Measurements of 

 the K spectrum of rhodium and L absorption spectrum 

 of radium.— J. Hebert-Stevens and A. Larigaldie : Radio- 

 telegraphv bv infra-red radiation. The light from an 

 arc projector' is filtered through a screen which absorbs 

 all the visible ravs but allows a portion of the infra- 

 red ravs to pass.' The receiver is a parabolic mirror 

 with a sensitive thermo-couple placed at its focus, and 

 the latter actuates a relay. Messages have been sent 



