APRIL 30, 1914] 
NATURE 
231 
sity at the fifth International Congress of Philosophy 
to be held in London next year. 
EpinsurGH.—It is announced that the honorary 
degree of LL.D. is to be conferred on Dr. F. W. Mott, 
F.R.S., and Dr. Byrom Bramwell on July 3. 
Oxrorp.—The Romanes Lecture for this year will 
be delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre on Wednesday, 
June to, by Sir J. J. Thomson, upon the subject of 
‘“The Atomic Theory.” 
Mr. J. D. ROCKEFELLER has given the sum of 
200,000l, to the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- 
search, New York, as an endowment for a new depart- 
ment which is to deal with the diseases of animals. 
Tue following Chadwick lectures have been arranged 
for London :—Thursday, April 30, ‘‘Water Supply : 
Sources, Reservoirs, and Distribution,’ E. P. Hill; 
Wednesdays, May 6, 13, and 20, a course of three 
lectures, ‘Altitude and Health,’’ Prof. F. F. Roget, 
of the University of Geneva; Wednesday, May 27, 
‘“Milk Supply: a Public Health Criticism,’’ Prot 
H. R. Kenwood. Admission to all or any of the lec- 
tures is free. Information concerning future Chad 
wick Lectures may be obtained of the secretary, Mrs. 
Aubrey Richardson, at the offices of the trust, 8 Dart- 
mouth Street, Westminster. 
A University College of Science is shortly to be 
started in Calcutta as the result of generous gifts by 
Sir T. Palit and Dr. Rashbehary Ghose. The services 
of Dr. P. C. Ray, professor of chemistry in the Presi- 
dency College, Calcutta, will be lent by Government 
to the college, and as such he will be made the Palit 
professor of chemistry in the University of Calcutta. 
In a note on this appoinment in Nature of March 19 
(p. 75) it was incorrectly stated that Dr. Ray had been 
appointed to the Palit protessorship in the Presidency 
College, whereas, as is well known, he has been 
professor of chemistry in that college for many years. 
We learn from the Pioneer Mail of April 3 that the 
foundation stone of the new college in connection 
with the Calcutta University was laid on March 27 
last by Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, Vice-Chancellor of 
the University. In performing the ceremony, Sir 
Asutosh said that the scheme was first rendered prac- 
ticable by the execution of a trust deed by Sir Tarak- 
nath Palit, by which he transferred money and land 
for the promotion of pure and applied science among 
his countrymen. A few weeks later Sir Taraknath 
executed a second deed for the purpose of supplement- 
ing the trusts mentioned in the first deed. The Uni- 
versity Syndicate had received Government’s _ per- 
mission to apply 8o0o0l. annually for the maintenance 
of the laboratory, and Dr. Rashbehary Ghose has 
offered 67,0001. for the foundation of four professor- 
ships and eight research studentships: 
Tue Department of Agriculture and Technical In- 
struction for Ireland will, in July, 1914, award a 
limited number of commercial scholarships (not more 
than six) to young men who have had a sound general 
education and some commercial experience. The 
object of the scholarships is to afford facilities for the 
holders to obtain training in some higher institution, 
approved by the Department, with a view to their 
employment as teachers of commercial subjects in 
Ireland. The scholarships are of the value of tool. 
per annum each, and are tenable for two years. Can- 
didates must be at least twenty-one years of age on 
July 1, 1914, and must have been’ born in Ireland, 
or have been resident in Ireland for three years imme- 
diately preceding July 1, 1914. Successful candidates 
will be required to enter into an undertaking that they 
NO. 2322, VOL. 93] 
will engage in the teaching of commercial subjects 
after the termination of their scholarships. Candi- 
dates must fill in Form S. 195 and return it to the 
secretary of the Department not later than May 30, 
1914. Copies of this form may be had on application. 
Tue Standing Committee of the House of Commons 
has now concluded its consideration of Mr. Denman’s 
Children (Employment and School Attendance) Bill, 
and the Bill will be reported to the House for third 
reading. Several important changes have been made, 
and new clauses added. As amended, the Bill pro- 
poses the following changes in the existing law :— 
Limitation of powers of lccal education authorities : 
(1) No exemption from school attendance allowed for 
children under thirteen years of age; (2) restrictions 
in exemption above thirteen. Extension of powers of 
local education authorities: (1) Optional powers 
granted to extend school leaving age to fifteen; (2) 
optional powers granted to make employment by-laws 
for children up to age of sixteen (instead of fourteen as 
at present). Abolition of existing half-time system and 
a restriction on street trading. The Bill renews pro- 
posals passed by Standing Committees of the House 
of Commons in 1912 in the Education (School Attend- 
ance) and the Employment of Children Bills. The 
chief objects of the Bill not contained in those Bills 
are the transference of the duty of approving by-laws 
relating to the employment of children from the Home 
Office to the Board of Education, and the raising to 
fifteen of the school leaving age and the minimum 
age for boys engaged in street trading. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Physical Society, March 27.—Sir J. J. Thomson, 
president, in the chair.—F. W. Jordan: A new type of 
thermogalvanometer. The puff of air from an orifice 
in an air chamber when the air within is heated sud- 
denly is utilised to deflect a small suspended vane. 
The current to be measured is made or broken through 
a heater of small thermal capacity in the air chamber 
and the outrush or inrush of air through the orifice 
delivers an impulse te the vane. In one instrument 
the sensibility was 4 mm. per microwatt, and the 
extremity of the throw of the vane was attained in 
two seconds.—J. D. Morgan: An instrument for re- 
cording pressure variations due to explosions in tubes. 
A mechanical oscillograph for recording the pressure 
variations which accompany a gas explosion in an 
open tube. A steel vane of rectangular form is 
employed and is mounted parallel to the explosion tube 
in a cell presenting a lateral opening to the interior. 
Along three edges the vane is free, and along the 
fourth is attached to a torsion wire. The vane fits 
the cell as closely as possible without touching the 
sides of the cell. The diagram is produced by a style 
on smoked paper wrapped round a clock-driven drum, 
and on the strip. is described a time curve. To make 
the instrument dead-beat a dash-pot is mounted on the 
front of the vane ceil and attached to the style.—R. 
Appleyard: The direct measurement of the Napierian 
base. A simple apparatus was described intended to 
convey an idea of the way in which the base e of the 
Napierian logarithms enters into physical problems. 
A length of chain hung from a loop of thread, and the 
remaining part of the chain pulled aside until the 
thread is at 45° to the vertical. The curved portion 
becomes a true catenary when the angle between the 
vertical and curved portions of chain at the attach- 
ment of the loop is 90°. To ensure this, the circle of 
curvature of the catenary at that point is drawn, and 
