April 9, 190.3] 



NA TURE 



549 



of air from all sides to the central parts of London during 

 dense fogs. 



(6) No severe fog occurred with an air temperature above 

 40° F. The minimum air temperature prior to fog coming 

 on averaged 9 below the normal mean temperature for the 

 day. The relation between the occurrence of fog and the 

 minimum temperature in November and December, 1901, 

 i^ shown in Fig. I. 



(7) During the period of observations, in twenty-two cases 

 out of twenty-five during the nights preceding days of fog, 

 a thermometer on the grass at Regent's Park fell much 

 below the river temperature, the amounts of difference on 

 these occasions varying from 6° to 25 F. 



Attention is called to one point of special importance in 

 connection with temperature observations, which requires 

 to be followed up. On March 7, during fog, the temper- 

 ature in the streets of London was nearly io° F. below that 

 on the roof of the Meteorological Office, the elevated 

 stations, and the surrounding country on the southern and 

 western sides. 



The outstanding parts of the inquiry are : — 



(1) To ascertain whether the proposed scale of classifi- 

 cation of fogs puts the observations of locality upon a more 

 satisfactory footing, and whether additional observations 

 throw any further light on local distribution. 



(2) The further investigation of temperature conditions, 

 including temperature observations in the early morning 

 (5 a.m.), and vertical distribution of temperature. 



With regard to the last point, we learn that an oppor- 

 tunity was recently afforded for determining the conditions 



Fig. r. — Part of diagram showing the occurrence and duration of fog in London and the daily minimum 

 of temperature at Kew. h signifies " high fog,'' u a rainfall of o'05 inch or more. 



under which such investigation could be carried out in 

 London by the loan of a captive balloon and self-recording 

 instruments. Captain Carpenter was himself unable, on 

 account of his health, to continue the conduct of the inquiry 

 beyond the close of the winter of 1901-2. The conclusions 

 drawn in his report are based exclusively upon observations 

 during that period, and are expressly subject to possible 

 revision in the light of further observations. At his sugges- 

 tion the observations were recommenced in September, 1902, 

 and have been continued during the winter; they include a 

 number of special observations of temperature at 5 a.m. 

 The continuation of the inquiry has been under the super- 

 intendence of Mr. R. G. K. Lempfert, of the Meteorological 

 Office. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The annual exhibition of scholars' work from the Board 

 Schools of London will be held at the Examination Hall, 

 Victoria Embankment, W.C. (adjoining Waterloo Bridge), 

 on Saturday, May 9, and on the following Monday, Tuesday 

 and Wednesday (May 11-13). The exhibition will be 

 opened by Lord Reay (chairman of the Board), and will 

 include among the exhibits specimens of modelling, science 

 apparatus and metal-work from the day and evening schools, 

 and also work from the schools for the blind, deaf, special 

 instruction, truant, and industrial schools. 



NO. I745, VOL. 67] 



The council of Owens College, Manchester, has, under 

 a scheme of the Board of Education, resolved to establish 

 a scholarship and exhibition in zoology and botany out of 

 the accumulations of the Robert Piatt fund, which has 

 hitherto been applied only to physiology. The scholarship 

 will be cif the yearly value of 50!., will be open for competi- 

 tion to persons who have studied zoology or botany in any 

 university or college laboratory, and will be awarded to the 

 candidate who shows most promise and ability for the 

 prosecution of research in zoology or botany. 



An interesting ceremony took place at the gardens of the 

 Royal Botanic Society on Wednesday, April 1. The Earl 

 of Aberdeen presided, and Mr. Alfred James Shepheard, 

 chairman of the Technical Education Board of the London 

 County Council, declared the newly erected laboratory open 

 for botanical and horticultural work. Instruction on the 

 lines of the syllabus of the Board of Education will be given 

 in botany, and attention will also be paid to horticultural 

 chemistry, elementary and advanced, in connection with the 

 practical gardening school. Other classes will, if necessary, 

 be carried on and research work undertaken. The school of 

 which the laboratorv is the outcome was, as Dr. C. Adams 

 pointed out at the opening ceremony, started five years 

 ago with nine students; now there are thirty-five — of whom 

 twenty-one are boys and fourteen girls. Some 2000/. has 

 been spent over the undertaking, of which the Technical 

 Education Board has provided 850/. The work has been 

 very successful, and no difficulty has been found in obtaining 

 appointments for the students who have been through the 

 three years' course. Mr. Shepheard 

 in his speech pointed out that to 

 endeavour to grow plants with only 

 practical knowledge was like at- 

 tempting to cure the sick after the 

 fashion of a quack doctor, without 

 having mastered the science of medi- 

 cine. Miss Shepheard presented 

 diplomas to successful students at 

 the school, and Dr. Kimmins, Dr. 

 Garnett and Mr. Brinsley Marlay 

 also spoke. The Royal Botanic 

 Society is decidedly to be congratu- 

 lated upon adding theoretical in- 

 struction to the practical teaching 

 already carried on, though it seems 

 advisable that the special principles 

 underlying horticultural practice 

 should figure in the syllabus as well 

 as pure botany. 



The Education Bill for London was introduced in the 

 House of Commons on Tuesday. It is proposed to make 

 the London County Council the education authority, so that 

 the London School Board will disappear. The new edui a- 

 lion committee will contain ninety-seven members, this total 

 bein<r made up as follows : — Representatives of the borough 

 councils — one for each borough and two each for West- 

 minster and the City of London — 31; London Count) 

 Council, 36 ; representatives (including women) of various 

 secondary schools, the University of London, technical in- 

 stitutions and bodies contributing to the maintenance of 

 education, 25 ; and (for the first five years) representatives of 

 the London School Board, 5 — total 97. The object of the 

 Bill is thus to abolish the School Board, and to link educa- 

 tion in London with municipal government. The County 

 Council, as the education authority, is to have the rating 

 powers of a county borough under the Education Act of 

 1902. The management of public elementary schools is to 

 be entrusted to the borough councils, subject to the general 

 direction of the education authority, which is to have com- 

 plete financial control. The borough councils are to have 

 the right to appoint and dismiss teachers, the custody of 

 the buildings, and the right to select the sites for new 

 schools in their prescribed areas. These powers, hov 

 do not apply to secondary schools and technical institutions. 



A Birmingham correspondent describes in the Times for 

 April 2 the four great German commercial high schools, 

 those namely at Aachen, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Leipzig. 

 There is a special appropriateness just now about such a 



