5IO 



NA TURE 



[June 23, 1910 



employment, and details of some such instances of part- 

 time day work may be indicated here. 



In a town in the north of England a number of appren- 

 tices are set free from their employment at certain times 

 so that they may attend classes which have been specially 

 arranged for them in the local technical school in engineer- 

 ing and allied trades ; the courses extend over two sessions 

 of eight months each ; students in their first year attend 

 for one morning and one afternoon a week, and those in 

 their second year for two afternoons a week, or four 

 hours in all. The fees are paid by the employers ; the 

 apprentices pay for books and materials, but receive their 

 wages for the periods of absence from work granted to 

 enable them to attend the classes. The time spent by 

 apprentices in attendance at the day classes is counted in 

 their term of apprenticeship, and preference is given by 

 the employers in filling vacancies in their works to those 

 who attend the classes. The employers are represented on 

 the governing body of the technical school. 



The local education authority at a railway centre in 

 the south of England has provided in the technical insti- 

 tute classes for engineering apprentices in the employment 

 of the railway company. The apprentices are allowed to 

 attend a four years* course, arranged in the case of the 

 first year of instruction for ■z\ hours for one morning a 

 week, and in the case of the second and third and fourth 

 years for 3^ hours a week, spread over two mornings. 

 Again, at a railway centre in the north of England, the 

 technical school carries on a course on the construction 

 and management of the locomotive to meet the require- 

 ments of engine drivers, firemen, and engine cleaners ; the 

 instruction here is for two hours on one morning a week, 

 and is given by teachers who are district locomotive fore- 

 men. 



In a centre of chemical manufacture we find special 

 arrangements for the instruction of trade apprentices of 

 large engineering and chemical works. In the case of one 

 firm the employers require that their employees shall 

 attend an evening school until they are nineteen years of 

 age, but some of the apprentices of this and of another 

 firm are allowed to attend for instruction for four hours 

 on two afternoons a week for forty weeks in the year 

 during the last two years of their apprenticeship, without 

 loss of wages during their absence from the works at the 

 classes ; the employers pay the fees, and attendance at 

 these classes is regarded by them as a very important part 

 of the apprenticeship. 



In a large industrial centre the local education authority 

 has provided apprentice day courses for engineering, 

 plumbers' work, and painters' and decorators' work; the 

 various courses range over two or more years, and meet 

 for one whole day a week throughout the year. Seasonal 

 periods of less pressure or slackness of work are peculiarly 

 liable to occur in summer in some departments of the 

 building trade, such as painting and plumbing, and accord- 

 ingly the same authority has succeeded in establishing a 

 suitable special summer course for plumbers who can utilise 

 the opportunity in order to improve their knowledge and 

 efficiency by attending on four full days and two half days 

 weekly throughout a complete month for instruction in 

 subjects cognate to plumbing. 



Again, in the case of a closely related trade (gas-fitting), 

 where, however, the conditions of work are somewhat 

 different, another local authority has arranged that boys 

 who are under training to become gas-fitters may have 

 the advantage of concurrent technical education in the day- 

 time. The boys attend at the local technical institute for 

 three hours on each of three afternoons a week. The 

 instruction they receive is in continuation and development 

 of their previous work at the public elementary school, and 

 includes English, workshop arithmetic, and mechanical 

 drawing. 



Among the advantages of close relations between school 

 authorities and the employers of the students who attend 

 the schools, not the least is the increased confidence with 

 which school authorities can advise their pupils — especially 

 young pupils — as to the studies they ought to take up. In 

 the arrangements made for giving such advice there is 

 room for great improvement ; at present it is not possible 

 to say more than that this is an essential feature in all 

 schemes of evening-school work that succeed in securing 

 large and continued attendance of pupils. 



ITO. 2I2T, VOL. 83] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The following are the speeches delivered t^ 

 the Pubhc Orator, Dr. Sandys, on Tuesday, June 14, in 

 presenting Sir Oliver Lodge, principal of the University of 

 Birmingham, and Prof. VViUiam Henry Perkin, professor 

 of organic chemistry in the Victoria University of Man- 

 chester, for the degree of Doctor in Science honori.\ 

 causa : — 



Adest vir scientiarum physicarum in regione quudan; 

 caelesti investiganda iam per annos triginta praeclaru 

 meritus, qui praesertim aethera ilium exploravit, per quem 

 solis stellarumque lux et calor " immemorabile pef 

 spatium " confestim, sine ullo phaenomenorum terrestriun- 

 impedimento, in orbem terrarum nostrum transmittuntu: . 

 Idem diligenter inquisivit, fulgurum vis electrica quomodo 

 fila tectorum securitati inservientia percurrat, quamobrem 

 subito deserat. Inde progressus, etiam vim electricam, non 

 aliter quam lucem, undarum more moveri eo ipso tempore 

 argumentis idoneis ostendebat, quo vir quidam insignis, 

 Henricus Hertzius, illud ipsum experimentis comprobavit r-^ 

 Maxwellii nostri vaticinationes veras esse demonstravit. 

 lure igitur Optimo Regia Scientiarum Societas numisma 

 lucis et caloris legibus investigandis propositum huic 

 potissimum viro donavit ; iure Optimo nos quoque, et haec 

 et alia eius merita plurima admirati, eundem inter scienti- 

 arum doctores nostros honoris causa collocamus. Euiti 

 certe, qui Anglia in media, ipsius Volcani in domo dilecta 

 Sapientiae sedem serenam nascentem fovit, crescentem 

 adiuvit, etiam nostra Mater Alma voltu benigno respicit. 



Praesentatur vobis Universitatis illius novae praesf^ 

 dignissimus, rerum naturae explorator felix, eques insignia, 

 Oliver Lodge. 



Abhinc annos quattuor et quinquaginta unus e nostratibus 

 (iuvat gloriari) primus omnium indicavit etiam e liquore 

 piceo, qui carbonis fossilis e bitumine exsudat, colore* 

 quosdam roseos posse exoriri. Utinam etiam inventi tan 

 pulchri repertorem illustrem purpura nostra decorare nob' 

 contigisset ! Laetamur tamen patris tam illustris in filio , 

 insigni eandem laboris patientiam, eundem scientiae, 

 eundem veritatls amorem simplicem sincerumque agnoscere. 

 Vir in experimentis elaborandis sollertissimus, in experi* 

 mentorum interpretatione perspicacissimus, (ne plura com- 

 memorem) non modo " narcotinam " illam, quae papaverl- 

 in succ est, sed etiam rerum naturae odores quosda: 

 suavissimos artificio suo aemulatus est. Viro tali idcirc. 

 praesertim gratulamur quod ei, propter labores eiu'^ 

 assiduos, primum a Societate Regia Londiniensi numisma ^ 

 aureum donatum est; deinde Victoriana in Universitate 1 

 Mancuniensi, viri huius e studiis novani gloriam adeptae, 

 cathedra nova constituta. Laetamur denique tot colorum 

 inventoris filium, in eadem scientiarum provincia explora- 

 torem felicem, honoris causa purpura nostra vestitum 

 v'dere. 



Duco ad vos scientiae chemicae professorcm Mancuni- 

 ensem, nominis magni heredem magnum, Willelmura 

 Henricum Perkin. 



TWEEDS. — At a meeting of the council of the Universi' 

 held on June 15, the following resolution was passed :- 

 " The council record their deep sense of the honour don- 

 to the University by the offer of a fund raised as n 

 memorial to the late' Sir George Livesey for the endow 

 rnent of a professorship of applied chemistry relating • 

 the coal-gas and fuel industries. The council gratefull 

 accept the offer, and hereby establish a Livesey professor- 

 ship of coal-gas and fuel industries, subject to the con- 

 ditions prescribed in the deed of gift submitted on behalf 

 of the donors or the Livesey Memorial Fund." The funH 

 referred to amounts to about ii.oooZ., and has be • 

 collected from corporations, companies, and private done: 

 associated with the industries with which Sir Geor.. 

 Livesey was so honourably connected. 



London. — .'\t a meeting held on June 15 the Senate re- 

 elected Dr. M. J. M. Hill, F.R.S., Astor professor of, 

 mathematics, to be Vice-Chancellor of the University for^ 

 a second term of office, viz. until June, 191 1. 



Oxford.— The electrical laboratory presented to the 

 Universitv bv the Drapers' Company, and erected on the 

 north side of the University Museum at a cost of 23,000!., 



