March 19, 1903] 



NA TURE 



477 



inculcation of good reading habits and the systematic dis- 

 semination of superior literature, not merely to make this 

 literature better known, but to create an atmosphere in 

 which — except in the case of thoroughly inferior minds — 

 inferior literature will not be able to exist. 



In 1901 a central committee was formed in Berlin for the 

 purpose of organising gratuitous post-graduate courses in 

 medical science throughout Prussia. This committee, of 

 which Prof, von Bergmann is the chairman, has now in- 

 stituted such courses in twenty-three towns, and has acquired 

 a collection of medical books and instruments to be lent to 

 the local committees in small places where such means of 

 instruction are not sufficiently available. A building, to be 

 called the Empress Frederick House for Post-graduate 

 Training, will be erected in Berlin to serve as the head- 

 quarters of the organisation in Prussia. The Emperor has 

 -expressed complete approval of the plans of the committee. 



The eleventh annual report for the year iqo2 of the 

 Technical Instruction Committee of the City of Liverpool 

 •shows an increase of 1040 in the number of registered stu- 

 dents of the evening science, art and technological classes. 

 The total number of entries to the classes held at the Central 

 Technical School was 3625. This increase is to be attributed 

 in some measure to an exhibition of students' practical work 

 held just before the commencement of the session, and it 

 is in contemplation to continue the exhibition and extend 

 it to other centres. The establishment of a day technical 

 school in the central school building, and of improved local 

 buildings in the south end and on the east side of the city 

 are still under consideration. The report also shows that 

 the City Council has devoted to educational purposes the 

 whole of the amount received under the Local Taxation 

 (Customs and Excise) Act, iSqo, with the exception of a 

 sum of 7000/. paid to the credit of the City fund in 1892. 

 The total amount thus allocated to educational purposes 

 during the twelve years, 1890-1902, is 225,450/. 19s. ^d. 



The platitudes often expressed by speakers on educational 

 subjects, and the verbose character of the larger part ot 

 educational literature, are responsible for the suspicion and 

 want of respect with which many practical teachers regard 

 .any attempts to construct an educational science. What is 

 wanted at the present time is a centre where the aims and 

 practice of education can be studied without the limitations 

 -of traditional doctrines, and with modern requirements well 

 in mind. The University of Birmingham seems to offer an 

 -opportunity for work of this kind in connection with the 

 new chair of education, for which applications are invited. 

 In the particulars issued to candidates for the post we 

 read : — " The University believes that the improvement of 

 education in England is a vital matter, and that the present 

 post offers attractive opportunities to a man of influence 

 and ability who is willing to cope with the difficulties of the 

 task. Such a man would meet with cordial cooperation 

 and assistance, and might be able to accomplish a worthy 

 piece of work." The professor will be required to take 

 control of the training of secondary teachers and to organise 

 the inspection and examination of secondary schools. It 

 should thus be possible for the successful candidate to 

 establish a system of training of teachers in the science and 

 .art of education which would have a decided influence upon 

 the work of secondary schools. 



A conference of representatives of county and county 

 borough councils was held on Tuesday, under the auspices 

 of the National Association for the Promotion of Technical 

 and Secondary Education, to consider the question of higher 

 education. Lord Avebury presided, and the following reso- 

 lutions were adopted : — (1) That this conference of represen- 

 tatives of local authorities and educational bodies recognise 

 the great importance of suitable, adequate and systematic 

 provision being everywhere made for the supply of facilities 

 for higher education by means of continuation schools, 

 secondary schools, technical institutes, and classes, and by 

 access to the universities, such facilities to include a 

 sufficient number of scholarships and exhibitions, and, 

 where suitable funds exist, to provide for a post-graduate 

 course and the endowment of original research ; (2) that 

 every effort should be made to secure proper cooperation 

 between local authorities and educational bodies in pro- 

 moting higher, including university, education ; (3) that it 



NO. 1742, VOL. 67] 



is urgently necessary for the improvement of education that 

 more suitable means should be provided for the training 

 of all grades and classes of teachers. Mr. J. Bryce, M.P., 

 was one of the speakers, and in the course of his remarks 

 train for the universities ; and in towns of 100,000 people 

 what they might call a grammar school, providing the 

 elements of technical instruction ; in towns of 40,000 or 

 50,000 population there ought to be a school compelent to 

 train for the universities ; and in towns of 100,000 people 

 there should be a completely equipped technical institute 

 to fit boys for a science profession and for the pursuit of 

 science. He added that in towns of 300,000 there should 

 be a university college. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



American Journal of Mathematics, vol. xxv. No. 1, 

 January. — D. N. Lehmer, parametric representation of the 

 tetrahedroid surface by elliptic functions. Various proper- 

 ties of the singular points, lines and planes. — E. B. Skinner, 

 on ternary monomial substitution-groups of finite order with 

 determinant + 1. All the groups can be got from three 

 generators or less, one of order two, and conversely. — V. 

 Snyder, forms of sextic scrolls (two papers). There are 

 sixty-eight types of such scrolls which are unicursal, and 

 thirtv-two of genus 1. — E. D. Roe, note on symmetric func- 

 tions. — A portrait of Cremona accompanies this part. 



Annals of Mathematics (2), vol. iv. No. 2, January. — 

 J. W. Bradshaw, the logarithm as a direct function (with 

 introduction by W. F. Osgood). — P. Saurel, positive quad- 

 ratic forms. — E. A. Hook, multiple points on Lissajous's 

 curves in two and three dimensions. — C. C. Engberg, a 

 special quadri-quadric transformation of real points in a 

 plane (x = x' , y = ± vi' ! +J ,! )- 



Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (2), vol. ix. 

 No. 5, February. — VV. F. Osgood, transformation of the 

 boundary in conformal mapping. — V. Snyder, quintic scroll 

 with three double conies. — L. P. Eisenhart, surfaces referred 

 to their lines of length zero. — E. R. Hedrick, note on cal- 

 culus of variations. — E. B. Wilson, synthetic treatment of 

 conies at the present time. The author (very properly) em- 

 phasises the value of v. Staudt's methods. — Reviews : 

 Brown's " Lunar Theory " (F. R. Moulton), Geissler's " Die 

 Grundsatze u. das Wesen des Unendlichen " (E. R. 

 Hedrick), recent German text-books in geometry (P. F. 

 Smith). 



Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (2), vol. 

 ix. No. 6 (March). — L. E. Dickson, the abstract group iso- 

 morphic with the alternating group on six letters. — H. F. 

 Blichfeldt, property of conies. — R. W. H. T. Hudson, 

 analytic theory of displacements. 



Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 

 iv. No. 1 (January). — F. Morley, orthocentric properties of 

 the plane n-line. — L. E. Dickson (two papers), definitions 

 of a field by independent postulates ; definitions of a linear 

 associative algebra. — E. V. Huntington (two papers), de- 

 finitions of a commutative group and of a field. — C. N. 

 Haskins, invariants of differential forms of degree higher 

 than two. — A. Loewy, reducibility of groups of linear homo- 

 geneous substitutions. — A. B. Coble, the quartic curve as 

 related to conies. — E. Kasner, cogredient and digredient 

 theories of multiple binary forms. — R. E. Allardice, envelope 

 of axes of conies through three fixed points. — W. F. Osgood, 

 a Jordan curve of positive area. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, February 19. — "The Evaporation of Water 

 in a Current of Air." By Dr. E. P. Perman. Communi- 

 cated by Prof. E. H. Griffiths, F.R.S. 



The object of this investigation was to discover with what 

 accuracy the vapour-pressure of water could be calculated 

 from the amount of water vapour carried off by an air 

 current passed through the water, the temperature being 

 maintained constant. The method adopted was to aspirate 

 air, at a rate of not more than oil. per minute, through 



