500 



NA TURE 



[March 23, 1905 



through an approved course of practical training lasting 

 four months, either at a mine or in engineering wortcs. 

 The subjects that may be offered are : — (a) mathematics 

 for applied science ; (b) physics and chemistry ; (c) French 

 and German translation ; (d) engineering principles and 

 machine drawing; (c) surveying; (/) geology; {g) miner- 

 alogy ; (/i) mining and engineering, hygiene and mine- 

 ventilation ; (i) electricity ; (/) assaying. For the ordinary 

 diploma candidates will be required to pass in (a), (b), and 

 (c), and in not less than three of the remaining subjects, 

 provided that (/), (g), and (t) are not taken together with- 

 out one or more of the others. Candidates who propose to 

 become colliery managers and desire to obtain exemption 

 from two of the five years' underground work required by 

 the Home Office as a qualification for a certificate as 

 colliery manager, must obtain a special diploma by passing 

 in the subjects (a), (h), (c), (fe), and three (not being 

 /, g, i) of the remainder, and by taking their four months' 

 course of practical training at a mine. 



Prof. W. J.\mes, of Harvard University, has accepted. 

 Science reports, the acting professorship of philosophy at 

 Stanford University. He will lecture at Stanford during 

 the second half of the next academic year, and will organise 

 a department of philosophy for the university. 



.\ GENERAL meeting of the -Association of Teachers in 

 Technical Institutes will be held on .Saturday, March 25, at 

 the Regent Street Polytechnic, London, when an address, 

 to be followed by a discussion, will be delivered by Mr. 

 W. J. Lineham, head of the engineering department. 

 Goldsmiths' Institute, entitled " Technical Training — a 

 Teacher's Views." 



In connection with the International Exposition to be 

 held at Li^ge, Belgium, from April to November during 

 the present year, it is proposed to hold an International 

 Congress of Childhood on September 17-20. The congress 

 will be organised in four sections, as follows : — (i) educa- 

 tion of children ; (2) study of children ; (3) care and train- 

 ing of abnormal children ; (4) parents' associations, 

 mothers' clubs, and other supplementary agencies for the 

 improvement of youth. 



The council of Liverpool University has accepted an 

 offer from the president, Mr. E. K. Muspratt, to provide 

 for an extension and equipment of the chemical labor- 

 atories at an estimated cost of 10,500^. The following con- 

 tributions for the extension and maintenance of the chemical 

 department have also been acknowledged by the council : — 

 100/. per annum for five years from the United .Mkali 

 Company, Ltd., 100/. each from Mr. George Wall, West 

 Kirby, and Mr. T. Threllfall, London. 



A NEW technical college and secondary school at East 

 Ham was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales 

 on Saturday. The building has been erected and equipped 

 at a cost of about 24,000?., towards which the Essex County 

 Council has contributed 6000!., and the remainder has been 

 made up by the East Ham Corporation. The accommoda- 

 tion includes a botanical room, chemical class-room and 

 laboratory, physics laboratory, carpenter's shop, and pro- 

 vision for the pursuit of various crafts — plumbing, metal- 

 work, brickwork, &c. In replying to the address presented 

 by the Mayor of East Ham, the Prince of Wales said : — 

 It is difficult to realise that only ten years ago these 

 crowded streets were green lanes, that your population has 

 multiplied nearly twentyfold in the last thirty years, and 

 that within your borough one industry alone employs more 

 than 10,000 men. You have very rightly recognised that 

 this remarkable growth carries with it serious responsi- 

 bilities. The vast and rapidly increasing population of 

 the borough necessitates the provision of suitable secondary 

 and technical education, and in this institution you are 

 furnishing that educational equipment for the rising gener- 

 ation which is indispensable if we intend to maintain our 

 place in the great struggle for commercial supremacy. My 

 heart is with you in all such undertakings as that which 

 we are about to inaugurate, and I trust that every success 

 may attend your useful and patriotic efforts. 



NO 1847, VOL. 71] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



LONOON. 



Royal Society, February 16.— " Further Obsecvaiions on 

 Slip-Bands. — Preliminary Note." By Walter Rosenhain. 

 Communicated by Prof. Ewing, F.R.S. 



The paper describes what the author believes to be a 

 novel method of investigating the micro-structure of metals, 

 and some preliminary results obtained by its aid. The 

 method was devised in order to throw further light on the 

 true nature of slip-bands, and the preliminary results relate 

 mainly to this question. 



.•\ direct means of examining the surface configuration of 

 a piece of metal upon which slip-bands have been produced 

 would be presented by a transverse section of such a 

 specimen, provided that the section could be produced with 

 an absolutely sharp edge, but no useful result can be ob- 

 tained by cutting the specimen through and simply polish- 

 ing the exposed section. The edges of specimens prepared 

 by the usual methods of polishing are always rounded off, 

 so that it becomes impossible to focus upon any definite 

 edge with high-power lenses ; and even apart from this 

 defect, there would be no guarantee that the edge re- 

 presented a true section of the pre-existing surface. 



The author has adopted the principle sometimes used in 

 optical work of supporting the surface, which in section 

 becomes the edge, by means of an adherent layer of hard 

 material ; but the conditions which such a layer must satisfy 

 for the purposes of metallography are very stringent. In 

 order to satisfy them, the author uses a deposit of another 

 metal obtained by electrolytic means, and this method has 

 proved satisfactory. 



The specimens used consisted of strips of the mildest 

 steel, and after preparation an electro-deposit of copper was 

 applied to them. By first bending the strips into a fiat W 

 shape, short portions of their length could be polished in 

 the usual manner for microscopic examination ; subsequently 

 the strips could be readily strained in tension. The slip- 

 bands and other features of the specimens having been 

 satisfactorily observed, elcrlro-deposition was proceeded 

 with, care being taken to avoid chemical action on the 

 prepared surface by the preliminary use of a bath of copper 

 cyanide. 



The specimens were then cut across. In order to obtain 

 a satisfactory polish, the ordinary method of polishing had 

 to be modified ; it was found that polishing with rouge 

 rapidly eroded a deep groove between the copper and iron. 



