2c6 
50 per cent. occurs over the first third length of the 
tube, 22 per cent over the second third, and only 8 per 
cent. over the last third. Fourthly, inasmuch as each 
tube of the boiler is, so to speak, an independent com- 
bustion unit, capable of being shut off or lit up with- 
out affecting the others, and as it only takes five 
minutes after lighting up a cold tube to attain its 
maximum steam output, it is obvious that not only is 
such a boiler highly responsive to rapid variations in 
the load, but also it works with equal efficiency at 
both small and big loads; indeed, within very wide 
limits, its efficiency is practically independent of the 
load. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
ABERDEEN.—Lord Elgin has: been elected Chancellor 
of the University in succession to Lord Strathcona. 
Lonpon.—The following, courses of advanced lec- 
tures, addressed to students of the University and to 
others interested in the respective subjects, to which 
admission is free without ticket, are announced in 
the issue of the London University Gazette of April 
8 :—Five lectures on the earlier Palaeozoic land plants 
at University College, by Dr. D. H. Scott, on Wed- 
nesdays, May 6 to June 3; two lectures on plant pig- 
ments at University College, by Prof. R. Willstatter, 
professor of chemistry in the University of Berlin, on 
Monday, May 4, and Tuesday, May 5; two lectures, 
in French, entitled ‘‘La Catalyse, et mes divers 
travaux sur la Catalyse,” at King’s College, by Prof. 
Paul Sabatier, of the University of Toulouse, on 
Thursday, May 14, and Friday, May 15; eight lectures 
on the rate of the blood-flow in man in health and 
disease, in the Physiological Laboratory of the Uni- 
versity, South Kensington, by Prof. G. N. Stewart, 
professor of experimental medicine, Western Reserve 
University, Cleveland, U.S.A., on Tuesdays, May 
5-23; eight lectures on oxidation in the tissues, at 
University College, by Dr. C. Lovatt Evans, on 
Fridays, May 8 to June 26; four lectures on the regu- 
lation of the composition and volume of the blood, in 
the Physiological Laboratory of Guy’s Hospital, by 
Dr. J. S. Haldane, on Thursdays, May 7-28; four 
lectures on the gaseous exchanges of the body, in the 
Physiological Laboratory of King’s College, by Prof. 
T. G. Brodie, professor of physiology in the Univer- 
sity of Toronto, on Monday, June 8, Wednesday, June 
10, Monday, June 15, and Wednesday, June 17; three 
lectures on the morphology of the cranial muscles in 
vertebrates, in the Zoological Department, University 
College, by Prof. F. H. Edgeworth, professor of 
medicine in the University of Bristol, on Monday, 
May 4, Tuesday, May 5, and Wednesday, May 6; five 
lectures on the measurement of social phenomena, at 
the London School of Economics and Political Science, 
by Dr. A. L. Bowley, University reader in statistics, 
on Mondays, April 27 to May 2s. 
Among the public lectures, to which admission is 
free without ticket, announced to be delivered at Uni- 
versity College during the third term of the present 
academic year, the following may be mentioned :— 
Four lectures on the ethnology and pathology of the 
ancient Egyptians, by Dr. D. E. Derry, beginning on 
May 5, at 5 p.m.; a lecture on Ptolemy’s map of 
Germany and the Cimbric Chersonese, by Prof. Gud- 
mudd Schiitte, on May 11, at 5 p.m.; an introductory 
lecture on recent discoveries in Egypt, by Prof. 
Flinders Petrie, on May 21, at 2.30 p.m. 
Giascow.—The following doctorates were among 
the degrees conferred on April 20 :—Doctor of Philo- 
sophy (D.Phil.): L. J. Russell; thesis, ‘‘ The Develop- 
NO. 239215 VOLE. 92) 
NATURE 
[APRIL 23, 1914 
ment of the Philosophy of Leibniz, 1666-86.’’ Doc- 
tors of Science (D.Sc.): Margaret B. Moir; thesis, 
‘“The Influence of Temperature on the Magnetic Pro- 
perties of Carbon Steels; Sensitive Magnetic State 
induced by Thermal Treatment and by Strain; Mag- 
netic Properties of Chrome Steels at Ordinary and 
Low Temperatures: Permanent Magnetism of Chrome 
Steels; with other papers.’’ F. Mort; thesis, ‘‘ North 
Arran: a Physiographic Study; with others papers.” 
Maggie M. J. Sutherland; thesis, ‘‘ Camphenanic 
Acid, its Isomers and Derivatives; with other papers.” 
Science states that a contribution of 10,000l. 
from Mrs. E. H. Harriman to the endowment fund of 
Barnard College, Columbia University, is announced 
toward the million dollar fund now being raised for 
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the institution. The 
amount now promised is 110,000l. 
Mr. H. Norman EpGE has been appointed honorary 
lecturer on meteorology to the Lancashire (Navy 
League) and National Sea Training Homes. As in- 
creased attention is now being given to the subject of 
marine meteorology, and a number of vessels keep a 
four-hourly log, the instruction in the keeping of 
the meteorological log to boys being prepared for a 
seafaring life is of real practical value. 
Ir is announced in the Times that the late Mr. 
H. B. Noble, of Douglas, Isle of Man, left practically 
all his large estate for educaticnal and charitable pur- 
poses in the island. The trustees ot his will have 
decided to devote 20,0001. for the fostering of agricul- 
ture in the island. In connection with this gift a Bill 
has been introduced into the Manx Legislature consti- 
tuting a Board of Agriculture for the island. The 
Board will administer the income arising from the 
gift, and will, in addition, have a fund placed at its 
disposal by the Government of the island. 
A COMPREHENSIVE resolution dealing with the age 
of exemption from attendance at school, continuation 
classes, and child labour, was passed by the National 
Union of Teachers at the Lowestoft conference on 
April 15. The resolution, which was moved 
by Mr. G. Sharples, was as _ follows :—That 
all regulations recognising the half-time system, 
labour examinations, and other forms of early 
exemption from attendance at school should be 
abolished ; that no child should be exempt from attend- 
ing under the age of fourteen; that local authorities 
should be empowered to make by-laws requiring the 
attendance of children up to the age of fifteen; that 
all wage-earning work, and particularly all street 
trading, should be prohibited for all children under 
fourteen, both in urban and rural districts; and that 
a system of compulsory attendance at continuation 
classes should be established for children between the 
ages of fourteen and eighteen who are not otherwise 
receiving a suitable education, such a system to be 
accompanied by a statutory limitation of the hours of 
child labour. 
A WEAK point in most of the Continental educa- 
tional systems is that there is no easy bridge by which 
the public elementary and trade continuation class 
pupil can pass into the higher ranks of his vocation 
and complete his studies in the polytechnic or univer- 
sity. The avenue to these higher institutions is almost 
solely through the gymnasial secondary schools. In 
the facilities offered by scholarships for the transfer- 
ence of gifted pupils from primary schools to secondary 
schools and through these to universities and like 
places of advanced learning, we have nothing. to learn 
from Continental methods. The scholarship systems 
of the education authorities of English counties and 
county boroughs provide the means by which any 
elementary-school pupil of little more than average 
