March 9, 1916] 



NATURE 



41 



governors of the college, had met and discussed in 

 detail the subject of science in national affairs, we 

 might have had a manifesto which would have out- 

 lined a national programme on, a scientific basis, in- 

 stead of a memorandum on the defects of the public- 

 school curricula and Civil Service examinations as 

 regards the study of science, and their consequences 

 in public administration and legislation. There is 

 not much new to be said upon these subjects, and the 

 scientific aspects have been surveyed in our own 

 columns from every point of view. In a leading article 

 the Times Educational Supplement acknowledges that 

 men of science will have little difficulty in establishing 

 the following contentions : — (i) That much of our pre- 

 sent teaching is antiquated, and, in method, unscien- 

 tific; (2) that natural science, if taught at all, has too 

 small a place in the average curriculum ; and (3) that 

 our social organisation makes it far easier for literary 

 than for scientific ability to find its level. These un- 

 doubted defects might well be placed before a com- 

 mittee, independent of any Government department, 

 appointed to inquire into the entire question of the 

 organisation of our educational system, as suggested by 

 Sir Philip Magnus. The subject should be included in 

 the national programme- which, we learn from a letter by 

 Sir William Mather and Sir Norman Lx)ckyer, is being 

 deliberated by the British Science Guild. Any sugges- 

 tions for such a programme should be sent to the 

 honorary secretaries of the Guild, 199 Piccadilly, W. 



Further regulations under the Defence of the Realm 

 Act, issued on March i, contain provisions prohibiting 

 speculative transactions in the various metals required 

 in the production of war material. The new regula- 

 tion provides that it shall not be lawful for any person 

 on his own behalf, or on behalf of any other person, 

 to sell or buy iron (including pig-iron), steel of all 

 kinds, copper, zinc, brass, lead, antimony, nickel, 

 tungsten, molybdenum, ferro alloys, or any other metal 

 which may be specified as being a metal required for 

 the production of any war material. Rather curiously, 

 tin, which is an important constituent of many naval 

 alloys^ including Admiralt)' gun-metal and Admiralty 

 brass, and the price of which is very liable to sudden 

 and large fluctuations owing to speculation, is absent 

 from this list. On the face of it this metal should 

 certainly have been included. The effect of these regu- 

 lations on the operations of the metal exchanges of 

 London, Birmingham, and Glasgow was at once 

 evident. All business in regard to the above metals 

 and alloys was suspended. A sobering influence on 

 market prices should certainly result. A deputation 

 from the London Metal Exchange was to discuss the 

 situation with the Minister of Munitions on March 3. 



Prof. W. Kiu.\n, of Grenoble, has contributed tc 



the Revue Scientifique (vol. liv., pp. 33-40) a long anu 



interesting article on proposals for the organisation 



I of scientific research in France after the war. He 



i pomts out how pre-eminent Germany has become in 



! the provision of bibliographies, synoptical treatises, 



I other works of reference, more or less international 



; journals, and materials of every kind for laboratory 



' work and the lecture-room. Writing as a geologist, 



is able to enumerate many important illustrations 



NO. 2419, VOL. 97] 



with which the efforts of French scientific men and 

 publishers compare . very unfavourably. While ad- 

 mitting that the progress of science must never be 

 hampered by international boundaries, he urges the 

 importance of some organisation for raising the pres- 

 tige of French science in the early future. He pro- 

 poses that an association be formed, for the better 

 co-ordination of work in providing bibliographies and 

 reference books ; that more posts be endowed for pure 

 scientific research ; and that more effort be made to 

 secure for French scientific men a fair proportion of 

 the appointments abroad, which are usually filled by 

 graduates from the great European universities. 



The sixth annual May lecture of the Institute of 

 Metals will be given on Thursday, May 4, by Prof. 

 W. H. Bragg, on "X-Rays and Crj'stal Strqcture, 

 with Special Reference to Certain Metals." 



The twenty-fifth annual meeting of the Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds will be held at the Middle- 

 sex Guildhall, Westminster, S.W., on Thursday, March 

 16. Mr. Montagu Sharpe, chairman of the council, 

 will take the chair at 3 p.m. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that Prof. 

 M. Weinberg, of the Pasteur Institute, Paris, will 

 deliver a lecture on bacteriological and experimental 

 researches on gas gangrene before the Royal Society 

 of Medicine (i Wimpole Street, London, W.), to- 

 morrow (Friday), at 5 p.m. 



The prize of 10/. and a silver medal, offered under 

 the Peter Le Neve Foster Trust by the Royal Society 

 of Arts, for an essay on "Zinc: its Production and 

 Industrial Applications," has been awarded to Mr. 

 J. C. Moulden, of Seaton Carew, co. Durham. 

 Honourable mention has also been awarded to Mr. 

 E. A. Smith, deputy assay master of the Sheffield 

 Assay Office, for his essay. 



The Rev. E. W. Barnes, F.R.S., Master of the 

 Temple; Mr. E. Newton, president of the Royal Insti- 

 tute of British Architects; and Prof. T. F. Tout, 

 professor of medieval and ecclesiastical history in the 

 Victoria University of Manchester, have been elected 

 members of the Athenaeum Club, under the rule which 

 empowers the annual election of a certain number of 

 persons *' of distinguished eminence in science, litera- 

 ture, the arts, or for public services." 



There will be a discussion on "The Sphere of the 

 Scientific and Technical Press in Relation to Technical 

 Education and Industrial Research" at the next meet- 

 ing of the Circle of Scientific, Technical, and Trade 

 Journalists, on Tuesday, March 14, in the hall of the 

 Institute of Journalists (Tudor Street, Blackfriars, 

 London, E.C.). The chairman of the circle, Mr. L. 

 jaster, will preside, and the discussion will be opened 

 by Dr. William Garnett, late educational adviser to 

 the London County Council. 



The following new officers and members of council 

 were elected at the annual general meeting of the 

 Institute of Chemistry on March i : — Vice-Presidents : 

 Dr. A. Harden and Prof. Herbert Jackson. Members 

 of Council: Mr. R. Bodmer, Mr. H. C. H. Candv, 

 Prof. G. G. Henderson, Mr. P. H. Kirkaldv, Dr. A 



