382 



NATURE 



[August 15, 1895 



Iiecause side by side with the teaching of science there is the 

 teaching of the "humanities." The remarks conclude with a 

 statement of the amount allotted from the public funds to 

 university colleges. Out of the sum available under (he Local 

 Taxation Act alwul £.(xo,ooa a year is devoteil to technical 

 education, but only ;{r23,S54 was given to fourteen university 

 colleges in England and Wales in 1892-3 by twenty local 

 authorities, in addition to a sum of ^^29,550 provided by the 

 Treasur)-, of which nearly half (i,'l3,3o6) went to the three 

 W elsh colleges alone. The sup|K)rt certainly seems insufficient 

 for the great services rendered by the colleges to the nation. 



The third Re|X)rt of Mr. J- A- Bennion. the Director of 

 Technical Instruction in the County Palatine of Lancaster, 

 was presented to the County Council a few days ,-igo. 

 It is clear from the report that ever)- effort is being 

 made by the Committee to expend judiciously the funds 

 at their disposal. A .sum of £,2%,yxi was distributed 

 among the urban and rural districts of the county last year. 

 The following amounts were voted for work in special sub- 

 jects : — Navigation, /'250 ; Sea Fisheries, £,yxt ; University 

 Extension Lectures, 2' 500; Horology, £2^3; Mining, ;f 500 : 

 Silk Industry, jf 500 : Plumbing and Sanitary Science, /'750 : 

 Horticulture and Bee-keeping, .{.500: Practical .\griculture 

 (including \eterinary .Science, Poultry-keeping, and allied suIj- 

 jects), £\CXX>. In addition to the ordinary .sums allotted to each 

 district, special grants, amounting to nearly £\<xyo, were made 

 for the pHrpo.se of purch.asing ap|)aralus and ajipliances. Uni- 

 versity College, Liverixxjl, and the Owens College, Manchester, 

 each received a grant of /'400 for the same pur|«se. Classes 

 in h<irolog)- are held at Prescot, but they are <iHile inadequate 

 for the whole county : and do not im|xirt the thorough 

 teaching, either theoretical or practical, that is given on the 

 continent. .\ deputation from the Committee visited some of 

 the Continental Schools of Horolog)-, and as a residt of their 

 ins|)ection they strongly recommended the establishment of a 

 County .School of Horologj-, similar to the school at (ieneva. It 

 w.as afterwards resolved at a large and representative conference 

 that '• it is desirable to establish a Technical .School of Horology 

 and Scientific Instrument-making, including electrical, optical, 

 and mechanical instruments, Iwith practical and thef>retical, for 

 the County of I.ancasler." Efforts are now being m.ide to put 

 this re-solution into effect. The establishment of a .school to 

 afford effective teaching in .subjects relating to the silk industry 

 is al.so uniler consideration. It is proposed to found the school 

 upon the mwlel of the Scidenweb Schule of Wipkingen, in 

 Zurich. For the purpose of providing instruction in practical 

 agriculture, a farm and farm buiMings, covering nearly 150 acres, 

 has been actjuired at Ilulton, near Preslon. ,\ vote of £i)^o 

 was made to the Harris Institute for sixrcial courses to agri- 

 cultural students ; and a number of lectures on .subjects relating 

 to agriculture were delivered in various jjarls of the county, 

 while agricultural ex|ieriments were carried on in several 

 districls. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



It'll, liiiiaiiii'i Aiiiiahii tUr Physik mid Cluiiiic, No. 7. — 

 Al)Sorplion sjwctruni of pure water for red and infra-red rays, 

 by E. .-Vschkinass. The "extinction coefficients'" of water for 

 the various wave-lengths at the red end of the spectrum were 

 determined by the bolometer, and calculated by the formula 



J'=K"', 



where J is the intensity of the incident, and J' ihal of the irans- 



niilted light. // the thickness of the layer in (/;/.<- the basis of 



llie Napierian logarithms, anri « the " extinction coefficient," 



which therefore means the reciprocal of the thickness which a 



ray must traverse in order 10 be reduced to !/< of its original 



intensity. Of these extinction coeliicienis 200 arc given, for 



»a\elfngihs extending from 0-4500 /j to 8-49 )jl. The minimuin 



■ ^575, lieing 000005, ""'' •'"^ maximum of 2733 is 



- 302/1. A second maximum occurs at 6'09 /u, 



' " ' ' "■ ' '' ■ values of the exiinclion coefficients 



'O. -.\bs<irption of radiant heat by 



i. The lic|uids investigated were 



i II i.oiii|xMiriils iMiiiaineil in cells Ijctween an iron lilock and 



finnpili- Ani..ni; lh<- rrinlts iiblalned are the follfuving : — 



Mid. 11, O, HO, or N are re- 



iismitlance of Ihc soluticm is 



-..:.i.,..., 1 M,{iig<ius series the transniitlanre 



is regidarly changed by ever)- addition of CH^, but the direction 

 of this change depends upon the nature of the other atoms con- 

 tained in the molecule. The absorptive power of a compound 

 does not essentially depend upon the size of the molecule, but 

 seems to be a jiroperty of the constituent atoms. The greatest 

 influence is alw.-iys due to II, N, and also O. In isimieric com- 

 pounds the diathermancy is ditTereiU, and the difference is not 

 only connected with the difference of atomic volume of the ele- 

 nientar)- atoms, but also with the diflerence of linkage of the 

 atoms amongst each other : in s;tturated compounds the dia- 

 thermancy (transmittance) always increases with the atomic 

 volume. The determination of the diathermancy is the most 

 delicate test available for the purity of organic liquids or salts 

 which are soluble in highly diathermanous liquids. 



NO. 1346, VOL. 52] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



I.OMION. 



Royal Horticultural Society, June 25. — Mr. Mcl.achlait 

 in the chair. — Mr. Wilson exhibited a pot containing some seed- 

 ling plants, in blossom, of the North British species riiniuia 

 Sioti<a, which is ftiund in pastures of Orkney, Caithness, and 

 Sutherland. The flowers are honiomorphic, not liaving the 

 stamens and pistils of tliflerent lengths as in most other Primulas. 

 — Mr. Jackman exhibited small trees of Fai^iis sylvatua, with tin. 

 leaves small, entire, and round. .\s the trees exhibited an erect 

 form, with short branches, it would seem to be the result of sonic- 

 check to growth, the form of the leaf representing a less deve- 

 loped state tlian that of the ordinary type of tree, -.Mr. Coll 

 netle, of Cniernsey. forwarded some hazel wood found in peal 

 near the coast of Ouern.sey, containing flint implements, stone 

 rings, and pottery, presumably neolithic. No hazel is now- 

 known to be indigenous to C'lUernsey. — .Mr. McLachlan ex- 

 hibited s|x;ciinens of Melanosloma scalare attached to flowering 

 stems of a grass, Glyariajluitans. 



July 23. — Dr. .M. T. Masters describeil a curious case of Ci'/r/- 

 pt'diiutt malforme<l, receivetl from Messrs. Sanderand Co. , in w hich 

 the seiials were normal, but the two petals and lip were absent. 

 Dr. Masters also drew attention to a jieculiarity in the venation 

 of the lobed leaves of Z.«t'(i;/i/«/<i (/t-«/rt/<i. — Dr. Cli. B. Phnvrighi 

 forwarded specimens of the parasitical fungus .Kiidiiini iiyiii- 

 p/iicoidis, with the following observations: — "This .l-'.cidiiini 

 has been staled by Chodal to be connected with the Puccinia on 

 Sth'ptis hcii.<tris. In November 1S77, Piuiinia siirpi was 

 found floating in the river Ouse at King's Lynn. During the 

 past -.\inter I found it on the bulrushes (5". lacuatris) in ihe 

 ' Old Bedford' at Karilh, Huntingdonshire. On revisiting the 

 spot this July the .Ecidium on Villarsia was met with in great 

 abundance.'' Dr. I'lowright also .sent s|x.'cimens of the fungus 

 .Ecidium iluiio/Htdii, with some remarks upon them. With, 

 reference to the specimens of flies att.icked by a fungus, brought . 

 liefore the l.isl meeting by Mr. .Mcl.achlan, it was re|K>rled fronn 

 an examination made at Kew that "the fungus is Etiipiisa lon- 

 glomcratii , Thaxter (a somewhat rare s|)ecies), parasitic on Dip- 

 tera, especially the larvit- and im.agines of Tipulie. Dislrib. ^ 

 Europe and United .States. This is the first record for Britain." 

 — MSI. Letellier et l-'ils forwarded from Caen some growing 

 plants of thornless gooseberry, from which they have issued four 

 kinds, raised by M. Ed. Lefort, of Meaux, I'rance. The usual 

 triple spines were either C|uite absent, or represented by mere 

 rudiments only. — Mr. Cannell sent .some trusses, with small 

 jagged-edged petals of a crims(m colour, appioxiinating the 

 original wihl form. They appeared aUHHig his long-selected beds 

 of sweet Williams, the margins of the |x:lals being rounded and 

 smooth. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, .Vugusl 5. — M. Marey in the 

 chair. I'\periuieiital study of the transver.se \"ibrations of ctirtis, 

 by M. \. Cornu. The complex vibrations of strings produced 

 as in .actual musical instruments have l>een studied. The trans- 

 verse vibratimis of a .string, excited in any way whatever, are 

 always accompanied by Inrsioiial vibialions, the toisiiuial elas- 

 ticity of the cord taking efl'ecl in the same wa)' as the transverse 

 component of the tension. Not only Ls (he actual vibration 

 complicated by these torsional vibratioas, but, in many cases, 

 Ihc transverse vibra'.ions are themselves rendered more complex 

 by Ihe fact that strings are .seldom or never symmetrical about 

 their axes. The vibrations have lieeii :-lH<lied by iikmms of very 



