5^2 



NA TURE 



[October 15; 1903 



ships, 63/., (i) W. A, E. Dobbin, University College, 

 Cardiff, (2) E. Beaton, Portsmouth Grammar School and 

 Caius College, Cambridge. London Hospital Medical 

 College — first prize, entrance science scholarship, 120/., 

 W. H. Palmer ; second prize, entrance science scholarship, 

 60Z., J. E. Scudamore ; third prize, entrance science scholar- 

 ship, 35L, J. P. Johnson; anatomy and physiology prize, 

 scholarship open to students of Oxford and Cambridge, 

 scholarship, 60Z., H. S. Souttar, University of Oxford. 

 King's College, London (Faculty of Medicine) — medical 

 entrance, 50Z., W. T. Briscoe and W. D. Sturrock (equal) ; 

 Sambrooke (science), looZ., E. Gauntlett ; Warneford (arts), 

 100/., O. J. W. Adamson. 



Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., delivered the introductory 

 address to the medical students at the Yorkshire College, 

 Leeds, at the opening of the winter session on October i. 

 The object of the address was to offer practical suggestions 

 with regard to the manner in which a medical curriculum 

 might be mapped out in existing circumstances. It was 

 appalling to think, said Prof. Schafer, that many people 

 who passed as highly educated had absolutely no know- 

 ledge of any of the sciences except, perhaps, mathematics. 

 He went on to say that, as a subject of general education, 

 scientific knowledge was an absolutely essential preliminary 

 to the study of medicine, and that because such knowledge 

 was not imparted in our schools it had become necessary 

 to incorporate into the medical curriculum, and in so far 

 to burden it with, courses of preliminary science. 



The distribution of medals, prizes, and diplomas to the 

 students of the Royal College of Science, South Kensing- 

 ton, took place on October 8, when Prof. J. B. Farmer, 

 F.R'.S., delivered an address, in the course of which he 

 said it was still unfortunately true that many people of 

 influence, while freely admitting the claims of science as 

 a factor of ever-growing importance in the world of pro- 

 duction and industry, nevertheless, when they said they 

 wanted more technical education in the country, did not 

 really want either science or education at all. What they 

 did desire was merely some ready means of instruction that 

 should adapt the knowledge already in sight to industrial 

 and technical purposes. He believed in securing a more 

 widespread and intelligent interest in the meaning of 

 science and the modes by which knowledge might be really 

 advanced. Chief among these was assuredly research. 



In distributing the prizes to the successful students of the 

 Halifax Municipal Technical School last week, Mr. Bryce, 

 while commending the study of commerce as a matter of 

 science and philosophy, urged the authorities at Halifax to 

 fix their attention principally to applied science. " But," 

 he added, " our experience, and that of Germany and the 

 United States, has shown that applied science, to be valu- 

 able, must be in connection with theoretical science, and in 

 this country there must be ampler provision for teaching 

 the higher branches of theoretical science if we are to make 

 progress with those branches of science concerned with the 

 practical arts. There is no reason in the world why 

 England should not have as great a career in commerce and 

 manufactures in the future as in the past. A country which 

 wishes to keep abreast of modern trade must keep abreast 

 of modern science. We have been falling behind in the 

 study of science and its application to our industries in this 

 modern world of ours. Science is king, and the commercial 

 and industrial future is with the nations able most com- 

 pletely to master and apply the forces of nature in the most 

 economical way." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 5.— M. Albert Gaudry 

 in the chair. — The influence of water on the structure of 

 the aerial roots of orchids, by M. Gaston Bonnier. Con- 

 tact with water produces an effect on the aerial roots of 

 many orchids, either by preventing the sclerification or 

 lignification of the tissues of the central cylinder, a result 

 which seems natural when compared with the modifications 

 of the roots of aquatic plants, or by provoking a reaction 

 tissue in the pericycle, capable of protecting the rest of 



NO. 1772, VOL. 68] 



the cylinder against the action of water. — On a class of 

 linear differential equations, by M. Alexander Chessin. — 

 The conditions which determine the sign and the magni- 

 tude of electrification by contact, by M. Jean Perrin. The 

 contact charge between a solid and a liquid can be readily 

 studied by means of electrical osmosis, the charge being 

 always greater when the body is a good ioniser, such as 

 water. — The heats of combustion of organic compounds 

 considered as additive properties; alcoholg and phenols, 

 ether-oxides, aldehydes and ketones, by M. 'P.' Lemoult. 

 By assigning definite values to certain atomic groupings it 

 is possible to calculate the heats of combustion of. organic 

 compounds of the above-mentioned classes with consider- 

 able accuracy. — The action of phosphorous acid upon 

 mannite ; remarks on mannide, by M. P. Ca.rr6. The ether 



P,(OH),.0,(CH,),.(CH.OH), 



is first formed, a phosphite of mannide being ultimately 

 produced. — Derivatives and products of oxidation of nitro- 

 pyromucic acid, by M. R. Marquis. This acid is totally 

 destroyed by oxidation with permanganates, chromic acid 

 or nitric acid, but with sodium peroxide gives nitrous and 

 fumaric acids. — Researches on the formation of azo- 

 compounds. The reduction of ortho-nitrobenzyl-methyl 

 ether oxide, by M. P. Freundler. — On the affinities of the 

 genus Oreosoma, by M. G. A. Boulang^er. — The action of 

 solutions of salts of the alkalis and alkaline earths on fish, 

 by M. Michel Siedleeki. — On the genus Ascodesmis, by 

 M. P. A. Dangreard. — Researches on the transpiration of 

 green leaves, either the upper or lower face of the leaf 

 being illuminated, by M. Ed. Griffon. — On the develop- 

 ment of the embryo of the rush, by M. Marcellin Laurent. 

 — On ajgyrine granites and riebeckite in Madagascar and 

 their contact phenomena, by M. Lacroix. — On the func- 

 tions of the Charriages in the delphino-provengal Alps and 

 of the fan-like structure of the Alps of the Briangonnais, 

 by M. W. Kilian. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Egyptian Geology. By J, W, J 569 



Experiments on Human Monsters. By Dr. C. S. 



Myers 570 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Elbs : " Electrolytic Preparations." — F. M. P. . . 571 



Batson : " A Concise Handbook of Garden Flowers" 571 



Bastiani : " Lavori marittimi ed Impianti portuali" 571 

 Righi : " II Moto degli loni nelle Scariche elettriche " 571 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Radium and the Sun's Heat.— Hon. R. J. Strutt ; 



Prof. J. Joly, F.R S 572 



Cambridge in the Old World and in the NeW. — Dr. 



C. S. Myers 572 



An Ancient Lava Plug like that of Mont Pelee. 



(Illustrated.)— Sir Richard Strachey, F.R.S. . . 573 

 " Lessons on Country Life." — A. H. H. Matthews ; 



The Reviewer 574 



Crater Lake in Oregon. {Illustrated.) By Prof. T. G. 



Bonney, F.R.S 574 



The Brussels and Tervueren Museums. By R. L, 575 



Technical Education and Industry 576 



Notes 577 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Reported Discovery of a Nova 580 



1903-4 Ephemeris for Winnecke's Periodical Comet . 580 



Diameter of Neptune 580 



The Opposition of Eros in 1905 580 



The Royal University Observatory, Vienna .... 580 

 The British Association : — 



Section L. — Educational Science. — Opening Address 

 by Sir William de W. Abney, K.C.B., D.C.L., 



D.Sc, F.R.S., President of the Section .... 581 



The German Association at Cassel. By W, R. . . 586 



Forthcoming Books of Science 588 



University and Educational Intelligence ..... 591 



.Societies and Academies 592 



