January 26, 1905] 



NA TURE 



309 



Improvements are continually being made in the instru- 

 ments used in every branch of science, and seismology is 

 no exception. Prof. Omori publishes (Publications of the 

 Earthquake Investigation Committee, No. iS) an account 

 of a combination of light, inverted, vertical, with a heavy 

 horizontal pendulum, with which it is claimed that a period 

 of sixty seconds can easily be got from an instrument 

 which does not exceed i metre in height and length of boom. 

 Prof. Alippi, in the Boll. Soc. Sismol. Ital., vol. x., No. 3, 

 describes a simple device for overcoming the tendency to 

 adherence in the electric contacts of delicate seismoscopes ; 

 it consists in placing an ordinary electric bell, without the 

 gong, in the circuit, and fixing it so that the clapper beats 

 against the stone slab on which the seisnioscope rests. He 

 finds that the vibration set up by this is sulTicient to cause 

 the two parts of -the contact to separate, without in any 

 way affecting the instrument, and suggests that it would 

 be better to incorporate a small electric vibrator in the base 

 of the seismoscope to act like the decoherer in wireless 

 telegraphy. 



The mysterious sounds known locally as mist-poeffers, 

 barisal guns, &c., and now generally looked upon as seismic, 

 are the subject of a short note by Prof. Alippi, who records 

 two new localities and names. In the neighbourhood of 

 Arezzo they are known as " baturlio della marina," and in 

 the country between Bologna and Modena as " romba di 

 Sassuolo." The multiplication of localities where these 

 sounds are familiar, and of local names for them, is thought 

 by Prof. Alippi to render a generic name desirable, and 

 he suggests broiitid, which has certainly the advantages of 

 being descriptive and of implying no theory of origin {Bol. 

 Soc. Sistiwl. Ital., X., part iii.). 



The relation between the variations in latitude at Tokio 

 and the occurrence of earthquakes in Japan is the subject 

 of a paper by Prof. Omori in No. 18 of the Publications of 

 the Earthquake Investigation Committee; he finds that the 

 destructive earthquakes of the last eight years all occurred 

 during periods of high or low value of the latitude, and 

 none at times when this was changing from one to the 

 other. This result is said to be in harmony with the results 

 obtained by Prof. Milne, but we may point out that this 

 is not so ; what Prof. Milne found was that the greatest 

 frequency of world-shaking earthquakes coincided with the 

 most rapid variation in the position of the pole, while Prof. 

 Omori finds that the destructive earthquakes of Japan 

 occurred at times when the latitude was stationary or only 

 changing very slowly. What his investigation seems to 

 show is that any connection which there may be between 

 the occurrence of really great earthquakes and changes in 

 the position of the axis of revolution, does not extend to 

 local earthquakes. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



In accordance with the will of the late Mr. George 

 Smith, of St. Louis, the treasurer of Harvard University 

 has received, it is stated by Science, a payment of 51,500/. 

 When this fund reaches 90,000!. by accumulation, three 

 new dormitories are to be erected. 



At the institute of archaeology of the University of 

 Liverpool, a course of lectures dealing with recent re- 

 searches on the ancient sites of Greece and with the 

 historical geography of western Asia, particularly Pales- 

 tine, has been arranged, and will be delivered on successive 

 Wednesdays of this spring term. The lecturers are Dr. 

 Caton and the Rev. M. Linton Smith. 



The President of the Board of Education has appointed 

 Mr. T. S. Dymond, of the Esse.x County Technical Labor- 

 atories, Chelmsford, to an inspectorship under the Board, 

 and to act as special adviser in matters of rural educa- 

 tion, of nature-study in public elementary schools, of 

 agricultural instruction in evening (including afternoon 

 and Saturday) schools, and of the advancement of various 

 forms of technical education in rural districts. 



The Bucks Education Committee, under the presidency 

 of the chairman, Lord Buckinghamshire, has decided that 

 a communication should be issued to all school corre- 



NO. 18.39, VOL. 71] 



spondents in the county requesting the managers to 

 consider the desirability of introducing the teaching of 

 the subjects of hygiene and temperance into the schools 

 under their charge, and referring to the support given 

 to the movement by 15,000 members of the medical 

 profession. 



About twenty scholarships ranging in value from 20!. 

 to 50/. a year, and exhibitions for men and women 

 tenable at University College, King's College, and the 

 East London Technical College, in the faculties of arts, 

 science, and engineering, will be offered for competition 

 on June 27 and following days. Full particulars and 

 forms of application may be obtained on application to 

 the secretary of the Inter-Collegiate Scholarships' Board, 

 King's College, Strand, W.C. 



The conference on school hygiene, which will be held 

 at the University of London on Kebruary 7-10, will be 

 opened with an address by Sir Arthur W. Rucker, F.R.S., 

 on " The Coordination of the Teaching of Hygiene." 

 The subjects of papers for discussion include the follow- 

 ing : — " Physical and Mental Development during School 

 Life," Miss A. J. Cooper; "Physical Inspection," Dr. 

 ."V. K. Chalmers; "Building and Equipment," Sir Aston 

 Webb, R.A. ; "Sanitary Inspection," Dr. J. F. J. Sykes ; 

 " Training of Teachers," Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S. ; 

 and " Training of Scholars," Prof. Findlay. 



The British Medical Journal announces that the French 

 Congress of School Hygiene will hold its second meeting 

 in Paris this year at Whitsuntide. The following is the 

 programme of discussions: — (i) the medical inspection of 

 primary schools ; (2) the education of families in school 

 hygiene ; (3) vacations and holidays ; (4) tuberculosis and 

 teachers ; (5) the overloading of school courses and com- 

 petitions for admission to large schools. Profs. Debove, 

 r.rancher, Landouzy, and Pinard are honorary presidents 

 of the congress. All communications should be addressed 

 to Dr. I. Ch. Roux, 46 rue de Crenelle, Paris. 



The annual general meeting of the Association of 

 Technical Institutions is to be held at the Manchester 

 School of Technology on January 27. The business will 

 include the address of the president. Sir Philip Magnus, 

 consideration of the council's report, the election of 

 officers, and the reading of papers. The subjects to be 

 dealt with are : — " The Coordination of the Work of 

 Evening Continuation Schools and Municipal Technical 

 Institutions," "The Cooperation of Employers in the 

 Technical Training of their Apprentices," and "The 

 Registration of Teachers in Technical Institutions." 



The annual general meeting of the members of the 

 Association of Directors and Secretaries for Education 

 was held in London on January 19 and 20. Mr. F. 

 Wilkinson, the chairman for the year, presided, and in 

 the course of his remarks dealt with the new regulations 

 for secondary schools of the Board of Education. The 

 following resolution was adopted by the association : — 

 " That the policy at present pursued at South Kensington 

 with reference to the erection, financing, and control of 

 secondary day schools is calculated to cast a heavy burden 

 upon the ratepayers, while at the same time depriving 

 them of adequate control." 



Mr. a. J. GiMSON described before the Institution of 

 Mechanical Engineers on January 20 his impressions of 

 sixteen engineering workshops visited by him in America. 

 In the course of his remarks, he said that a feature of 

 the engineering industry that impressed him was " the 

 close intercommunication of technical institutes and manu- 

 facturing workshops, of professors and manufacturers, and 

 the presence, in minor positions of authority, of young 

 men who had passed through a complete course of 

 technical instruction." In this country, manufacturers as 

 a rule have yet to learn the value of scientific investi- 

 gation and scientific education as factors of industrial 

 progress. 



Sir W1LLI.4M White delivered an address at the Battersea 

 Polytechnic on January 21 on the systematic study of 



