September 17, 1891] 



NATURE 



469 



subject. My contention seems so plausible that I venture to 

 appeal to you to allow me to give the following brief exposition 

 of my view, in the hope that I may be able to elicit some 

 authoritative reply. 



The amount of solar radiation is at present, for all intents 

 and purposes, expressed in terms of melting ice. In other 

 words, the sun is supposed to be giving forth as much heat as 

 he would do were he surrounded, close to the photosphere, by 

 a constantly renewed shell of ice, or never-failing ocean of 

 water. My conception is, that, judging from what we know of 

 hot bodies cooling upon the earth, it is impossible to believe 

 that the sun could be pouring forth so much heat under existing 

 conditions, as he would do were he continually to radiate to ice 

 or water close to all parts of his surface. 



The velocity, and the rapidity of vibration of the waves of 

 light and heat can be accurately measured. This is the sum of 

 motion — known as radiant heat — which the sun imparts to his 

 surrounding medium. Absorbed heat is a very different thing 

 (Balfour Stewart), and could not exist without the particles of 

 matter. Now I fail to perceive what grounds the authorities 

 have for calculating, as they do, that the sun's radiation amounts 

 to something over a million calories per minute for each square 

 metre of his surface. This means a million times the quantity 

 of heat which will raise the temperature of a kilogramme of 

 water i° C. No doubt if the sun were surrounded by water the 

 above would represent a correct estimate of the outflow of heat. 

 But the men of science ignore, it appears to me, the marvellous 

 virtue of the " if" in this case. The communication of heat 

 consists in forcing the molecules and atoms of matter asunder 

 against the attractions of cohesion and affinity, and causing the 

 particles to vibrate ; and there is no proof, but the evidence is 

 all the other way, that the sum of motion imparted by the sun 

 to the ether of s^pace would represent anything like the expendi- 

 ture of energy as would do the raising of water to an enormous 

 temperature. If a red-hot globe of iron or copper were caused 

 close to the >urface to radiate to ice, the metal would cool much 

 more quickly than if it were merely exposed to a very dry atmo- 

 sphere — that is to say, the metal's radiant heat would constitute 

 a less expenditure of energy than its emission of absorbed heat. 

 I do not see, therefore, why we should not conclude that exactly 

 the same result, only of course on a very vast time-scale, would 

 happen in the case of the sun. 



The enormously long periods demanded for the sun's past 

 life-lime by the geologist and biologist furnish strong ante- 

 cedent support in favour of my contention. W. GoFF. 



New University Club, S.W., August 15. 



Morley Memorial College. 



Your readers may be interested in hearing of a successful 

 attempt to add another round to the ladder, described by Prof. 

 Huxley, extending "from the gutter to the University." Some 

 supporters of the Morley Memorial College for Working Men 

 and Women, in the Waterloo Road, last year read an account 

 in your pages of the arrangements made by the University Ex- 

 tension Society for some of its students to spend a month at 

 Cambridge during the vacation. They resolved to offer scholar- 

 ships to those who took the best places in the Christmas and 

 Easter examinations in connection with Mr. McClure's astronomy 

 class, whereby they might avail themselves of these arrange- 

 ments. This, thanks to Dr. Roberts's kind co-operation, was 

 successfully accomplished. Three students went to Cambridge, 

 the most successful in a class all of whom did well. A plumber 

 and a printer's reader went to Selwyn College, an elementary 

 schoolmistress to Newnham. Two were able to take advantage 

 of the whole month ; the third (being a family man) could only 

 spare a fortnight from his work, but all speak warmly of the 

 pleasure and profit they have derived. The following are some 

 extracts from their letters. 



One ."-ays : — " I took chemistry and geology on alternate days, 

 be>ides attending the majority of the single lectures. The work 

 being mostly of a practical kind, has been intensely interesting." 

 Another, after an enthusiastic description of the place, the 

 architecture, and the College gardens, goes on : — " Everybody 

 was mo t kind, cordial, and sociable, without the slightest sus- 

 picion of stiff"ness or formality, of condescension or patronage. 

 More than this, everybody we met seemed to be studying our 

 interests especially, and doing all in their power to make our 

 stay as enjoyable as possible. ... In science, geology was 



NO. II 42, VOL. 44] 



the only subject I was permitted to take up. In literature and 

 art I attended courses on Browning and Tennyson, and on 

 Greek art, Greek history, and Herodotus, also single lectures on 

 ' Leopold Ranke,' . . . and ' College Life Past and Present.' 

 I hope to continue these studies as far as possible in my home 

 reading. . . Beyond the actual instruction received in the 

 lectures, there has been given an impetus to further study, from 

 which a continuous benefit must be reaped, and I have obtained 

 a clear idea of what a student's life in a University town is like." 



Cambridge opens its doors in this way only to members of 

 University Extension classes, but at Oxford anyone may attend 

 the classes who pays the fee. The authorities of our College 

 accordingly offered scholarships to those of their students who 

 passed highest in the Science and Art examinations for electricity, 

 chemistry, and mechanical drawing. The results of these were 

 not known early enough for the first half of the vacation classes, 

 but the second fortnight in August was so much enjoyed that 

 those who made the arrangements considered themselves well 

 repaid for their trouble, though this was not small, for working 

 men do not find it easy to get leave of absence for even a fort- 

 night at a certain specified time. " One of the most enjoyable 

 holidays I ever spent," writes one ; " I have quite a collection 

 of geological specimens collected on the excursion." 



No wonder they enjoyed it ! They come from surroundings 

 generally dreary, sometimes squalid. They have scrambled for 

 their education, and gained it under difficulties. They find 

 themselves in a picturesque town, full of interesting associations, 

 and meet with kindness without patronage from cultured men 

 and women. Will not the school teacher's work have an added 

 interest and dignity now she has seen (if only by a passing 

 glimpse) what education is in its higher branches ? Will not all 

 of them feel that life contains something besides manual drudgery 

 for weekly wages, and that those whose lot is exempt from 

 drudgery of this kind are willing and anxious to share with them 

 the results of culture and leisure ? We live in times of a difficult 

 transition from the old feudal loyalty to self-respecting friend- 

 ship between free men, who can be mutually helpful to each 

 other just because their circumstances and advantages are 

 different. Feudalism was good in its day, but it has outlasted 

 the conditions which made it so, and the "ladder from the 

 gutter to the University " is an important instrument in effecting 

 the transition safely to something better. 



May I add that, unless the College and the scholarships receive 

 wider support from the public than they have done, it will be 

 difficult if not impossible to carry them on efficiently ? Our fees 

 are necessarily so low that the institution can never be self- 

 supporting. We charge \s. entrance fee, and \s. dd. a term 

 for the first class ; dd. for each additional class. Larger fees 

 would exclude some of our best students (one who had a perfect 

 passion for knowledge was a rag sorter till a better situation was 

 found for him by one of our Council). The public imagine that 

 we have already received a sufficient endowment from the City 

 Parochial Charities fund. We hope shortly to have a grant 

 from that fund, but we have lived on this hope for the last two 

 years, and find it a sadly insufficient resource to provide intel- 

 lectual food for 800 students. At this beginning of a fre.sh 

 session we should gratefully welcome either personal help, or a 

 subscription to general expenses or to the Scholarship Fund. 

 A month at Cambridge costs about £"], and I have no doubt 

 that (if the money were forthcoming) we should be able to 

 arrange for scholarships to Cambridge from the University Exten- 

 sion Class on Physiography which Mr. A. W. Clayden is about 

 to conduct. A fortnight at Oxford costs £Z), and we hope this 

 winter to have ten classes in connection with the Science and 

 Art Department, to which we should like to offer this advantage. 



September 9. Emma CoNS (Hon. Sec). 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: 



WASHINGTON MEETING. 



'T^HE month of August 1891 was distinguished by the 

 -*■ most notable array at Washington of scientific 

 meetings ever held in America. The series began with 

 the meeting of the American Society of Microscopists on 

 August 1 1 , and afterwards, consecutively or simultaneously, 

 came those of the Association of American Agricultural 

 Colleges and Experiment Stations ; the Association of 



