;oS 



NATURE 



[July 25. 1895 



- Il is hcrt of imerest to inquire which constituent of these 

 minerals is effective in retaining helium. Kor this purjiose, it is 

 neces.sar^• to know their coiTi]x>sition : but it has not been 

 possible to make accurate analyses of all the samples of minerals 

 treated. Hillebrand sup|xi.*ed that the gas was retained by ths 

 uranium, and states that its volume varies roughly with the 

 amount of uranium oxides present. To decide the question, it 

 is necessary to consider the composition of these minerals in 

 some detail. 



YtlrolaiilaliltK essentiallya tantalate of yttrium and calcium, 

 containing a little tungstic acid, and small amounts of iron and 

 nianium. The yield of helium w.as here small. 



Samarskile is a niobate of uranium, iron, and yttria, contain- 

 ing smaller amounts of tungsten, zirconium, and thorium. The 

 amount of uranium oxide is about II or 12 per cent. ; of thorium 

 oxide about 6, of yttrium 13, and of cerium 3. It yields a 

 moderate amount of helium. 



Hjflmile closely resembles tantalite in composition, but 

 contains stannic oxide. The jield of helium was minute. 



Fergiitonitt is a niobate of yttrium and cerium, containing 

 only a small amount of uranium, zirconium, tin, tungsten, i&c. 

 The j-ield of helium was here minute. 



Tiintalitt con.sisLs of tantalate of iron and manganese ; the 

 helium obtained was a mere trace. 



PilihUcitdf consists mainly of the oxide, UjO,. The rare 

 metals are present in English pitchblende in verj- minute amount. 

 The helium obtained was very minute in c)uantity, and had a 

 large amount of the mineral not been used it would doubtless 

 have esca(xxi detection. 



Polycrase is a nioliate of uranium, containing titanium, iron, 

 yttrium, and cerium. The amount of helium obtained from it 

 was small. 



These minerals, il will be seen, all contain uranium. To 

 Ihem must l)e added cicveite and broggerite, from which by far 

 the l>est yield was obtained. 



MonaziU, which gave a good yield of helium, is a phosphate 

 of cerium, lanthanum, and thorium, but does not contain 

 uranium. It might serve, if necessary, as a source of helium, 

 for it is comparatively cheap ; it would form a more economical 

 source than either cicveite or broggerite. 



Xenolimc is a phosphate of yttrium, and yields a trace of 

 helium. 



Oram:cili- and Thorite are silicates of thorium containing 

 small quantities of uranium and lead. The former of these 

 yielded a fair amount of helium, but none could be obtained 

 from a larger quantity of the latter. 



Krom these details, it may be concluded that the helium is 

 retained by minerals consisting of salts of uranium, yttrium, and 

 thorium. Whether its presence is conditioned by the uranium, 

 the yttrium, or the thorium, we are hardly yet in a i)osition to 

 decide. To judge by the Cornish ore, oxide of uranium alone is 

 .sufficient to retain it ; but that its jircsence is not absolutely 

 necessary is shown by its existence in monazite and xenolime. 

 The high atomic weights of uranium and thorium, and the low 

 atomic weight of helium suggest some connection ; and yet 

 yttrium, which possesses a medium atomic weight, sometimes 

 apjiears to favour the presence of the gas ; for yttrium is iiresent 

 in yitrotantalile, whi:h, however, contains uranium, and in 

 cicveite, in which uranium is present in relatively large amount. 



None of the oxirles of uranium, when heatefl in helium and 

 allowed to cool, retains the gas ; but similar experiments have 

 not yet Wen made with oxides of thorium and yttrium, or with 

 a mixture of these with uranium oxide. 



( To he (o)ilinued. ) 



Master of the Accrington Municipal Technical Schools, just 

 erected at a cost of ^12,000. 



Ak'I'KR ten years of quiet and unostentatious work in temporary 

 buildings, the authorities of the Cambridge Training College 

 for Women Teachers have been able to erect large and handsome 

 college buildings by means of a grant from ihc Pfeifler Hequest 

 and voluntary subscriptions. The new buildings will be 

 formally oi>ened on Saturday, October 19, by the Marquess of 

 Kipon, and other well-known persons interested in education 

 have ])romised to take part in the proceedings. Practical 

 demonstrations will be arranged to illustrate some of the latest 

 developments of educational method, both in teacliing and train- 

 ing, so as to make the occasion one of special interest to those who 

 are taking a share in the development of secondary education in 

 Enj^land. The experiment of training teachers under new condi- 

 tions, and to some extent on new lines, imder the shadow of an old 

 University, isof special interest, and the opening ceremony will 

 afford a unique opportunity lo those interested in secondary 

 education to learn something of the nature and results of this 

 exj>eriment. 



Her Ma.iIlSTv's Commissioners for the Kxhibition of 1851 

 have made the follo\\ ing a]ipointmcitls lo science research 

 scholarships for the year 1895, on the recommendation of the 

 authorities of the respective universities and colleges. The 

 scholar-ships are of the value oi £\ya a year, and are tenable for 

 two years (subject lo a satisfactory report at the end of the first 

 year) in any university at home or abroad, or in some other 

 institution approved of by the Commissioners. The scholars are 

 to devote themselves exclusively to study and research in some 

 branch of science, the extension of which is important to the 

 industries of the country : University of l"(Iinliuvi;li. jolin 1). K. 

 Gilchrist ; University of Glasgow, Walter Stewart ; University 

 of St. Andrews, Henry C. Williamson ; University College, 

 Dundee, James Henderson ; Mason College, Birmingham, 

 Robert H. I'ickard : University College, Bristol, Samuel R. 

 Milner ; University College, Liverpool, John T. I'armer ; Uni- 

 versity College, London, Kniily .Vston ; Owens College, 

 Manchester, William H. Moorby; Durham College of .Science, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Alexander L. .Mellanby; University 

 College, Nottingham, Martin li. I'eilmann ; (,)ueen's College, 

 Belfast, William Hanna ; M'Ciill University, Montreal, Robert 

 O. King ; Queens University, Kingston, Canada, Thomas L. 

 Walker ; University of .Sydney, John A. Watt ; University of 

 New Zealaii 1. I' -1 Rutherford. 



L XnEliSITY AM) EDUCATIONAI. 

 IXTEI. LICENCE. 



M. LlAKD, Director of higher education in Krance, has been 

 raised to the rank of Commander in the Legion of Honour. 



Bv Ihc will of the late Mrs. Fra-scr, widow of the late Bishop 

 of Manchester, a sum of i^yxxi is bequeathed lo Oriel College, 

 Oxford, for the founrlation of a Scholarship. 



Mr. Hkvrv IIii.Ks, who was an evening student in the 

 Oicmiral Iie|>arlnienl of the I'insbury Technical College, has 

 Ijccn elected by the Technical Inslruclion Committee of 

 Accrington Town Council to the post of l'rinci|>al and I lead 



NO. 1343. VOL. 52] 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



.'liiictican Me/eorological Journal^ June. — The principal 

 articles are: — The Thermophone, by IL E. Warren and 

 (1. C. Whipple. This is an instrument for measuring tempera- 

 lure, particularly of distant or inaccessible jilaces. It was 

 devised by the authors for the purixise of obtaining the 

 temperature of the water at the bottom of a |)ond, but is also 

 suitable for obtaining the temperature of the soil at various 

 depths. The apparatus resembles Siemen's resistance thermo- 

 meter, advantage being taken of the fact lh.it different metals 

 have different electrical temperature coefficients. The 

 instrument is not yel self-reconling. -California electrical 

 storms, by J. I). Barker. The object of the paper is to intpiirc 

 into the causes of the infreipiency of electrical storms in 

 California. At San Diego, for instance, the Weather Bureau 

 has only reported two electrical storms in the last sixteen years. 

 Among the princi]>al causes, the author mentions the humidity 

 of the atmosphere, llie absence of excessive heal dining the 

 rainy se;\son (SeptemlK.'r lo May), and llie absence of c)'clones 

 during the dry season (May to Septemlwr). 



Wiedemann's Annalcn tier I'hysik um! Cheniie, No. 0. 

 Survey of the present position of energetics, by Ceorg Helm. 

 The two directions in which the ctmversion of physics into a 

 science of energy has been mo.st successfully carried oul arc 

 those of mechanics and of thermodynamics. Two views of 

 energy are at present struggling for supremacy, Ihal which re- 

 gards energy as a malhemalical abstraction, non-existent except 

 I'n equations, and Ihal «hich regards energy as a concrete reality, 

 filling space, and migraling continuously from one place to 

 another. One of Ihe chief generalisations of the .science of 

 energetics is this: In order Ihal sonielhing may happen il is 



