APRIL 23, 1914| 
ability can obtain a free-place in a secondary school ; 
and the brilliant pupil can proceed from this stage to 
a higher by means of senior scholarships. We are 
reminded of the efficiency of this educational ladder by 
a return just made to the Somerset County Council by 
the County Education Committee. It appears from this 
report that twenty-five out of the thirty senior county 
scholars referred to in it were enabled by the Educa- 
tion Committee’s system of scholarships to pass froma 
public elementary school to a university or a univer- 
sity college. Many of the ‘senior scholars have had 
remarkably successful careers since their univer- 
sity courses, and some have reached exceptional 
distinction. The return as a whole is very gratifying, 
and the result is due in part at least to the committee’s 
policy of awarding scholarships of any grade only 
when candidates of really satisfactory merit present 
themselves. 
Mr. J. A. Pease, Minister of Education, last week 
received at the offices of the Board in Whitehall, an 
influential deputation representing the civic, commer- 
cial, and educational life of Nottingham, and headed 
by the Duke of Portiana, on the subject of granting 
the status of a university to University College, 
Nottingham. His Grace gave a résumé of the history 
of the college, emphasising the fact that its work 
would bear favourable comparison with that of the 
majority of the modern universities in the country. 
The time had now come when steps should be taken 
to broaden the constitution of the college, to place it 
in the same position as other similar institutions, and 
to establish it definitely as the university centre of the 
east midlands, spreading the responsibility for its 
government and maintenance over the area which it 
serves. Principal Heaton dwelt upon the educational 
work in the college itself, especially its honours, post- 
graduate, and research work, upon the home the col- 
lege afforded to local branches of various national 
associations (such as Classical, Historical, English, 
Workers’ Educational, Chemical Industry), and on 
the increased facilities it now offered for social inter- 
course among the students. The patriotic side of its 
work was well represented by its efficient Officers 
Training Corps, and the fact that it was the first 
college in England to form for women students a 
voluntary-aid detachment of the Red Cross Associa- 
tion. In his reply, Mr. Pease said :—‘‘I appreciate, 
and the Board of Education appreciates, the desires of 
the people of Nottingham, their ambition, their aspira- 
tion, in connection with the formation of what one 
might call a full-blown university. There are schools 
of thought which think provincial universities have 
already been established in enough centres up and 
down our land. I am not one of those who take this 
view; I believe that there is work for additional uni- 
versities, and I for one would be very glad to see a 
provincial university which would meet all require- 
ments in connection with the wants of the people in 
the east midland area.” 
SOCIETIES) AND ACADEMIES. 
EDINBURGH. 
Royal Society, March 16.—Prof. James Geikie, presi- 
dent, in the chair.—Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing : Stalk- 
eyed Crustacea Malacostraca of the Scottish National 
Antarctic Expedition. Most of the fifty specimens 
described were collected by the Scotia at various 
stations during its voyage out and home, so that not 
more than ten could claim to be Antarctic or sub- 
Antarctie in their place of capture. Six new species 
were described, viz., Coryrhynchus algicola, Eupa- 
gurus modicellus, Gennadas kempi, Nauticarus brucei, 
Phye scotiae, P. rathbunae.—D. W. Steuart and 
Ingvar Jérgensen: Note on the atmospheric electrical 
NOw23 27. VOEsOg 
NATURE 
207 
potential gradient in industrial districts. The experi- 
ments were carried out in the neighbourhood of Leeds. 
The chief feature was the magnitude of the potential 
gradient under ‘certain conditions.—J. B. Robertson : 
A chemical examination of the organic matter in oil- 
shales. Thirteen samples had been analysed. The 
carbon hydrogen ratio varied from 6 to 8, the lower 
ratio belonging to the shale yielding the larger amount 
of oil produced from a definite percentage of organic 
matter. The ratios were lower than that of ordinary 
bituminous coal. The organic matter, the main bulk 
of which was insoluble in organic solvents, was the 
product of the decomposition of vegetable substance 
(alga, spores, etc.), similar in nature to what was 
found in peat and cannel coal. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, April 14.—M. P. Appell in the 
chair.—L. E. Bertin: Calculation of the increase of 
load or of velocity obtainable by increasing the dimen- 
sions of ships. A development of some consequences 
of a formula given in an earlier communication.—G. 
Gouy : The absorbing power of the electric arc for its 
own radiations. Confirming results previously ob- 
tained with flame spectra, a complete opacity of the 
vapour for the line it produces is never observed. The 
absorptive power is between 0-5 and o-7 for the very 
strong lines, and less for the weaker - lines.—A. 
Laveran: New facts tending to demonstrate that 
Mediterranean kala-azar is identical with the Indian 
kala-azar. Comparative inoculation experiments were 
carried out on monkeys, dogs, and mice. Macacus 
cynomolgus. rendered immune to the Mediterranean 
kala-azar is refractory to the Indian virus, - whilst 
another animal of the same species, inoculated under 
the same conditions as the first, and serving as a 
control, rapidly contracted a fatal infection. | From 
this it is concluded that the diseases are identical.—A. 
Bilimovitch ; The canonical transformations of the 
equations of motion of a non-holonomial system.—L. 
Dunoyer and R. W. Wood: Photometry of. the super- 
ficial resonance of sodium vapour under the stimula- 
tion of the D lines. Fineness of the resonance lines. 
The magnitude of the resonance lines was of the 
order of o-03 Angstrém.—Félix Ehrenhaft: Minimum 
quantities of electricity and the existence of quantities 
(quanta) smaller than the charge of an electron. The 
electrical charges of particles of mercury and gold in 
the colloidal state were determined, the spherical 
shape of the particles under examination being pre- 
viously proved by the microscope. The minimum 
charge is not the charge of the _electron.—Albert 
Perrier and H Kamerlingh Onnes: The interpretation 
of the magnetic properties of mixtures of oxygen and 
nitrogen. The molecular field varies inversely as the 
third power of the mean distance of the oxygen mole- 
cules.—R. Fosse: The gravimetric quantitative 
analysis of urea. The urea is precipitated from an 
acetic acid solution with xanthydrol, and the com- 
pound weighed. Its composition is definite, and can 
be controlled by analysis.—J. Bergonié: The rational 
distribution of meals in man in the nycthemeral cycle. 
The best times are shown to be 7.30 a.m. for principal 
meal, 4.30 p.m., and 8 p.m. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Echinoderma of the Indian Museum. _ Part. viii. 
Echinoidea (1). By Prof. R. Koehler. Pp. 258+xx 
plates. (Calcutta: Indian Museum.) 20 rupees. 
Gibt es denkende Tiere? By Dr. S. v. Maday. 
Pp. xiv+461. (Leipzig and Berlin: W. Engelmann). 
9.60 marks. 
Die wichtigsten Lagerstatten der ‘* Nicht-Erze.” 
By Dr. O. Stutzer. Zweiter Teil. Kohle (Allgemeine 
