194 



NATURE 



[April 27, 19 16 



upper air have proved that all the vital parts of the 

 facile description which was the accepted theory of 

 cyclones and anticyclones are quite illusory. What it 

 took for guidance in fornung a picture of the struc- 

 ture was the accidental character of motion near the 

 ground. We now feel that the motion of air in the 

 lowest kilometre had better be disregarded, or, better 

 still, be handed over to students of turbulent motion, 

 while we as meteorologists consider the normal state 

 of the atmosphere as motion under balanced forces. 

 Instead of a natural flow from high pressure to low 

 pressure, we have a natural flow without any change 

 of pressure ; the motion of a heavenly body round its 

 sun is taken as the type for the air instead of the 

 motion of a falling stone. 



While we are considering illusions, let me add 

 another example depending upon what was at one 

 time, and possibly is still, a commonplace of physical 

 teaching in regard to the relation of barometric 

 changes to weather. 



It is this : moist air is lighter, bulk for bulk, than 

 dry air, and consequently pressure is low where the 

 air is moist. That is why a low barometer is indica- 

 tive of rain ; the moist air causes the low pressure. 

 This is not true to fact. Mr. Dines has recently 

 examined the correlation between the humidity of the 

 troposphere and the pressure at the surface. The co- 

 efficient is quite insignificant ; there is no relation 

 between moist air and low pressure on the miap. 



(To he continued.) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



It is announced in the issue of Science for March 

 31 that the wills of the late Edith and Walter Scull, 

 niece and nephew of Mr. David Scull, for many years 

 a manager of Haverford College, give 2o,oooZ. to the 

 college. 



A MEETING convened by the Committee on the 

 Neglect of Science will be held on Wednesday, May 

 3, at 3 p.m., in the rooms of the Linnean Society, 

 Burlington House. Lord Rayleigh, O.M., will take 

 the chair. A series of resolutions will be submitted 

 to the meeting. Among those who have written in 

 support of the objects of the meeting (many of whom 

 will speak) are : — The Duke of Bedford, Lord Mon- 

 tagu of BeauHeu, the Lord Chief Justice, the Right 

 Hon. Arthur Acland, Mr. Stanley Leathes (Civil Ser- 

 vice Commissioner), the master of University College, 

 Oxford, the rector of Exeter College, the master of 

 Christ's, the headmaster of Westminster, the dean of 

 Christ Church, Sir Harry Johnston, Sir Edward 

 Schafer, Sir William Crookes, Sir William Osier, Sir 

 Ronald Ross, Sir Rav Lankester, Sir William Tilden, 

 Sir Hugh Bell, Sir Robert Hadfield, Dr. Martin 

 Forster, the headmaster of Sherborne, Mr. H. G. 

 Wells, Sir Owen Seaman, and the Poet Laureate, as 

 well as many other leaders in science, education, and 

 industry. Those desiring invitations to the meeting 

 should apply to the Committee on Neglect of Science, 

 28 Victoria ^Street, S.W. 



We learn from the issue of Science for March 24 

 Ihat Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, junior, has been re-elected 

 president, and Mr. ]. G. Greene secretary, of the 

 Rockefeller Foundation. The capital fund of the 

 Foundation on January i, 1915, was 20,009, 600L 

 Grants amounting to 2jo,oocZ. not hitherto announced 

 have recently been made bv the Foundation. To the 

 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research 200,000?. 

 is g^iven for additional endowment needed in connection 

 with the Department of Animal Pathology ; and «mong 

 other grants, the China Medical Board receives 



NO. 2426, VOL. 97] 



25,oooi. for the promotion of medical teaching in 

 China. From the same source interesting particulars 

 are forthcoming of the work of the General Education 

 Board founded by Mr. J. D. Rocketeller to promote 

 education within the United States. Since its inau- 

 guration and up to June 30 last the Board had made 

 grants amountmg to 3,372,400/. The value of the 

 Board's resources is 6,791,800/., and the gross income 

 for 1915 was 446,000/. approximately. Among the 

 grants made up to the date mentioned, we notice : 

 for the endowment of universities and colleges, 

 2,334,500/. ; for the current expenses of colleges and 

 schools, 31,200/. ; for salaries of professors of second, 

 ary education, 55,100/. ; and for farmers' co-operative 

 demonstration work, 157,200/. 



The approaching retirement of Dr. Lyttelton, the 

 headmaster of Eton, has led to the suggestion that the 

 governors of the college should appomt as his suc- 

 cessor a representative of modern scientific learning 

 instead of a classical divine. The usual objections 

 have been raised to such a course, and the usual un- 

 enlightened opinions have been expressed as to the 

 association of scientific education with German bar- 

 barity. It would be just as illogical to suggest that 

 the war and its instruments of destruction were due 

 to Christian doctrine as it is to assert that science 

 is responsible for them. Science is concerned with 

 the discovery of new phenomena, new forces, new 

 relationships ; and men may use them for good or ill — 

 to ease pain and suffering, or to maim and destroy. 

 It produces chloroform as well as chlorine, and enables 

 a wireless call to be sent from a sinking ship as well 

 as makes the explosive for the torpedo or mine which 

 destroyed her. The popular conception of a man of 

 science as a being without human compassion may 

 do for the stage or a penny novelette, but it ought not 

 to be too much to expect people who write to the 

 leading newspapers to know better. We are glad to 

 see, therefore, that the Daily Mail, in a leading article 

 on April 22, gives strong support to the claims of 

 science in public-school education. It points out that 

 "clever talking has come to be regarded as almost or 

 quite as important as sound and vigorous action. 

 Precisely the same defect appeared in the later Roman 

 Empire when its education degenerated into a mere 

 study of rhetoric and declamation." Whatever defects 

 we possess as a nation — and they have been unmerci- 

 fully exposed in the present war — are due, not to 

 science, but to its neglect. It is satisfactory to know 

 that this is at last being realised by the public ; and we 

 hope it may be taken for a sign that, whether through 

 a new tvpe of headmasters or otherwise, the education 

 of our future politicians, administrators, and manu- 

 facturers shall include general scientific knowledge and 

 scientific method as essential constituents. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Zoological Society, April 4. — Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — G. A. Boulenger : The 

 lizards allied to Lacerta muralis, with an account of 

 Lacerta agilis and L. Parva. This paper is the third 

 and last instalment of a revision of the wall-lizards, 

 of which the first two parts were published in the 

 Transactions in 1905 and 1913. The author has en- 

 deavoured to depart from the empirical method usually 

 followed in the arrangement of species, by tracing 

 back the various forms of this difficult group to a 

 hypothetical ancestor of which Lacerta agilis appears, 

 to be the nearest living representative. The characters 

 of lepidosis and coloration on which his views _ are 

 based are discussed, and detailed descriptions are given 

 of L. agilis and its ally, L. parva, the latter being 



