22 



NATURE 



[November 2, 1899 



behindhand in the application of electricity to ammunition 

 hoists and other purposes in our navy. The President pointed 

 out that in matters of this kind the opinions and the wishes of 

 those who have to work the appliances must be taken into 

 account. 



The concluding day was devoted to several papers of extreme 

 interest. The business was begun with the consideration of a 

 paper by Mr. Thornycroft on recent experiences with steam on 

 common roads. After dealing with the impediment to progress 

 due to the Locomotives on Highways Act of 1896, and making 

 suggestions as to the steps which should be taken to remove 

 these obstacles in future legislation, the author gave an ex- 

 tremely valuable rhiwie of his own work in this field of 

 mechanical science. He described the different types he has 

 built since 1896, and the chief changes in the mechanical 

 details which experience has convinced him to be necessary. 

 He has built vehicles both for heavy goods traffic and for 

 passenger traffic, and has adopted a method of chainless trans- 

 mission in his most recent type. The author in conclusion 

 pointed out that, after all, in motor work a good deal depended 

 upon the care and intelligence of the driver employed. 



A paper by Mr. Edward Case, who, we regret to say, died 

 only a few days after the paper had been read, descriptive of 

 the Dymchurch sea-wall and the reclamation of the Romney 

 marshes, was next taken. These reclamation works are of great 

 antiquity ; in modern times the erection of high groynes for the 

 protection of the wall brought about thai which they were ex- 

 pected to prevent, namely, the undermining of the wall. Mr. 

 Case decided, when he took over control in 1890, to adopt an 

 entirely different system, and since 1894 a number of low 

 groynes have been run out ; the result of which has been to 

 raise the level of the fore-shore as much as 8 feet at the east end 

 of the wall. These groynes have been constructed in such a 

 way that they can be gradually raised as the level of the beach 

 gets higher, at a very trivial expense and with very little 

 difficulty. 



The Section meeting was, as has been stated before, an 

 extremely successful one : the quality of the papers being high, 

 the discussions good, and the attendance throughout thoroughly 

 satisfactory. There can be no doubt that a great deal of this 

 was due to the energy and the interest taken by the President 

 in the work of the proceedings. It is too often forgotten by 

 Presidents of Sections that the success of any particular Section 

 is almost entirely in the hands of its President. 



UNI VERS I TY AND ED UCA TIONA L 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— The 204th meeting of the Junior Scientific Club 

 was held in the University Museum on Friday, October 20. 

 Mr. Hartley (Balliol) read an interesting paper on the history of 

 the discovery of the law of isomorphism. — Owing to the length 

 of important private business Mr. Gibson (Ch. Ch. ) was unable 

 to read his paper on the retention of food by plant soils, as 

 announced. — The following are the officers for the ensuing 

 term :— J. T. Mance (Balliol), pres. H. E. Stapleton (St. 

 John's), chem. sec. C. H. Barber (non-coil.), biol. sec. F. W. 

 A. Fleischmann (Magd.), treasurer. F. W. Charlton (Merton), 

 editor. 



The examiners have notified to the Vice-Chancellor that they 

 recommend for election to the Burdett Coutts scholarship, 

 which is of the annual value of about 115/. and tenable for two 

 years, Mr. J. B. Scrivenor, Commoner of Hertford College. 

 They also recommend that Rev. E. C. Spicer, Commoner of 

 New College, be appointed an extra scholar, to retain his 

 scholarship for one year, 



Cambridge. — St. John's College has once more shown its 

 appreciation of scientific merit by electing to fellowships Mr. J. 

 J. Lister, University Demonstrator of Comparative Anatomy, and 

 Mr. A. C. Seward, University Lecturer in Botany. Mr. Lister, 

 who has done important work on the Foraminifera and other 

 groups, is a nephew of the President of the Royal Society, and 

 son of Mr. Arthur Lister, who was last year elected a Fellow 

 of the Society. Mr. Seward is a Fellow of the Royal and 

 Geological Societies, and has attained a high position as an 

 authority on fossil plants. The first volume of his treatise on 

 this subject was reviewed in Nature (December 15, 1898). 

 He_has held the Harkness Studentship iin Palaeontology, and 



NO. 1566, VOL. 61 J 



gained the Sedgwick Geological Prize in 1892. Both gentlemen 

 are Masters of Arts of the College of some years' standing, and 

 have been elected out of the ordinary course. 



Mr. J. L. Tuckett, Fellow of Trinity College, has been 

 appointed an additional Demonstrator of Physiology by Sir 

 M. Foster. 



Prof. G. Sims Woodhead has been elected to a Fellowship at 

 Trinity Hall. 



The details of the reorganisation of the Education Depart- 

 ment and the transference of its duties to the new Board of 

 Education are under consideration by a departmental com- 

 mittee ; and the committee of the City and Guilds of London 

 Institute have signified their willingness to give any help which 

 may be needed to secure the proper recognition of technological 

 teaching in the arrangements about to be made. Reference 

 to this matter is made in the report of the examinations depart- 

 ment of the Institute issued a few days ago. It is remarked 

 that, having regard to the Institute's close connection with 

 technical teaching in all parts of the country, no organisation of 

 education can meet existing requirements which does not take 

 into consideration the educational work now under the imme- 

 diate direction of the Institute. The report lurther states that 

 the committee fully recognise how desirable it is to avoid, as 

 far as possible, any overlapping in the organisation of the classes 

 and examinations directed respectively by the Science and Art 

 Department and by the Institute ; and they are of opinion 

 that, with the view to the due encouragement of practical in- 

 struction in the technology of the different trades in which 

 artizans are employed, the teaching of technology should be 

 placed on the same basis, with respect to State aid, as that of 

 science or art. 



Mr. a. E. Briscoe, the principal of the West Ham 

 Municipal Institute, sends a few particulars of the loss caused by 

 the disastrous fire which occurred a few days ago. The whole 

 of the upper floor of the building, including the chemical, art 

 and women's departments, the engineering and physical lecture 

 theatres, the drawing office and the engineering laboratories 

 have been completely gutted. The chemical and art depart- 

 ments are the greatest sufferers, but there is not much to choose 

 between them and what has happened to the others. The elec- 

 trical and physical laboratories were flooded by the water, and 

 a great many expensive instruments have been damaged by 

 water ; but the galvanometers and some of the other expensive 

 things were on shelves covered by dust-covers, so that they have 

 escaped damage. The expensive machinery in the engine and 

 dynamo laboratories and in the engineer's workshop has not 

 suffered by fire, but, of course, tons of water have fallen upon it, 

 and a very great amount of damage has been done. The insti- 

 tute was covered by insurance to the extent of 47,000/., and it is 

 believed the total damage will not reach this amount. Of course, 

 nothing can compensate for the large amount of work that has 

 been done by the staff in the equipment of the institute, and will 

 now have to be done all over again. Though the borough is not 

 a rich one, it is satisfactory to know that the institute will be re- 

 built and probably enlarged, as the classes were already too 

 great for the accommodation. The fire commenced in the 

 advanced chemical laboratory, but the origin is absolutely un- 

 known. The building had not been used for thirty-six hours 

 prior to the outbreak. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, October. — 

 Meteorological extremes. II. Temperature. Mr. Symons has 

 collected a large amofunt of useful information upon this subject 

 from all trustworthy sources. For yearly mean temperatures 

 preference is naturally given to Dr. Buchan's isothermic charts 

 published in the Challenger volume, "The Circulation of the 

 Atmosphere." The highest yearly isotherms are 85°, and these 

 occur only in three locaUties, the largest covering a portion of 

 Central Africa, bounded on the north by latitude 18° N. Two 

 smaller areas exist, one in Central India and the other in the 

 northern portion of South Australia, respectively in latitude 

 15° N. and 15° S. The absolute range of the shade temper- 

 ature in the northern hemisphere, and probably in the world, is 

 2i7°"8, depending on the absolute maximum of I27°*4 in 

 Algeria, July 17, 1879, and the absolute minimum of -9o°'4 at 

 Verchoiansk, Siberia, January. 15, 1885. The hottest region is 



