94 
NATURE 
[NoveMBER 22, 1906 
appointed chairman of the examiners for the natural 
sciences tripos, 1907. 
Dr. H. E. Annett has been elected to the newly- 
established chair of comparative pathology in the University 
of Liverpool. 
THE second award of the Vulcan fellowship in engineer- 
ing of the Victoria University of Manchester will be made 
this session. Applications should be made to the registrar 
on or before December 10. The fellowship, which is of 
the annual value of 120l., offers exceptional opportunities 
for research in engineering. It is tenable for one year, 
but may be renewed for a second, and in special circum- 
stances for a third, year. 
Tue Times states that the trustees of the late Mr. T. 
Graham Young have presented to the governors of the 
Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College a sum 
of 10,000]. to assist in making provision for the teaching 
of dyeing and bleaching in connection with the chair of 
technical chemistry in the college. Mr. Young’s trustees 
have also voted a sum of 85o0l. for the equipment of the 
laboratory for the chair. 
Tue regulations for admission to the schools of mines 
at Clausthal and Berlin, and to the mining and metal- 
lurgical department of the Aachen Technical School, have 
been brought into unison. Hitherto, at Clausthal and 
Berlin, on matriculation twelve months’ practical experience 
was demanded, whilst at Aachen no previous practical 
training was required. Moreover, at Aachen the length 
of the course was three years, whilst at Clausthal and 
Berlin it was four years. Henceforth no practical experi- 
ence will be demanded for entry at Clausthal and Berlin, 
but on entering for the first examination students will be 
required to furnish evidence of six months’ practical work. 
At Aachen the course will in future cover four years. 
Tue London County Council has decided to expend 
37,5001. in acquiring sites for secondary-school and train- 
ing-college purposes in the districts of Clapham, Wands- 
worth, North London, and Tooting. The schools are 
needed for the scholars elected under the council’s new 
scholarship scheme. It is proposed to erect six schools 
en the sites, three for boys and three for girls, and to 
adapt as a training college a mansion at present standing 
on one of the sites. The cost of erecting the six schools 
will be about 160,000l., and that of adapting the mansion 
Sooo]. It is anticipated that four more schools will be 
needed to provide for the full number contemplated by 
the scholarship scheme. The total expenditure upon the 
council’s proposals with regard to secondary schools is 
estimated at 575,000. 
A MOVEMENT has been started for the reconstitution of 
Queen’s College, Cork, and its conversion into a university 
centre for Munster.. Speaking at a meeting convened on 
Saturday last by the Lord Mayor of Cork and Mr. 
McDonald, chairman of the County Council, Mr. William 
O’Brien, M.P., said it is proposed to do in Cork what has 
been done in Birmingham. The institution to be set up 
will be purely democratic. It will belong to the people, 
and will be governed by the people’s representatives. The 
governing purpose of the university will be to open up a 
career in life to every gifted child in the province. Mr. 
O’Brien and his wife have decided to bequeath on their 
demise practically all their property as a contribution 
towards the endowment of a Cork University. Mr. O’Brien 
said it should be possible to arrange, if the borough and 
county councils of the province are willing to assume a 
temporary burden, which will be an exceedingly slight one, 
and every shilling of which will be repaid at his and his 
wife’s death, that a sum of 50,000]. can be at once made 
available. 
Tue recently published annual report on the work of 
the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College sup- 
plies as an appendix a report on a visit to American 
educational institutions, presented to the governors by Mr. 
H. F. Stockdale, the secretary and director of the college. 
The subject of the director’s inquiry was especially the 
equipment of the engineering schools visited, with a view 
to the economical and judicious expenditure of the grants 
NO. 1934, VOL. 75] 
| 
; made 
ERGs 
to the engineering departments of the Glasgow 
college. Mr. Stockdale insists that the only points where 
the superiority of American schools must be admitted are 
those in which the weight of money turns the scale. The 
laboratory equipments are generally far more extensive and 
include more costly apparatus than is within the means of 
most British colleges. The environment of certain 
American institutions, such as that of the University of 
Wisconsin and of Cornell University, is, too, a great 
advantage. The director was much impressed by the 
facilities in the States for the study of railway mechanical 
engineering, and he points out that this seems to be a 
field in which the Glasgow college might do good work. 
An Englishman in charge of a section of the metallurgical 
department of Columbia University alleged that many 
British students proceed to the States to study metallurgy. 
Like other British visitors to America, the Scottish director 
saw and heard with envy the large number of able men 
on the staff in nearly all the best colleges in the States, 
and noted that the heads of departments are allowed plenty 
of time for research. The circumstance that the large 
staffs make it possible for professors to engage in outside 
professional practice, to the advantage of the work of their 
colleges, is also commented upon. Mr. Stockdale has 
written a very useful report, which will repay attention 
from educational authorities. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Chemical Society, November 1.—Prof R. Meldola, 
president, in the chair.—A development of the 
atomic theory, which correlates chemical and crystalline 
structure and leads to a demonstration of the nature of 
valency: W. Barlow-and W. J. Pope. The authors re- 
present atoms in the combined state by ‘‘ spheres of 
influence.’? An examination of the geometrical properties 
of closely-packed assemblages of spheres shows that the 
atoms of the elements must be represented by spheres of 
influence directly proportional in volume to their funda- 
mental valencies, and that a closely-packed assemblage 
built up of spheres of the appropriate sizes, so as to repre- 
sent some particular compound, can be partitioned into 
units identical with the chemical molecule, and possesses 
symmetry and dimensions compatible with those of the 
crystalline substance. In addition, it is shown that close- 
packed homogeneous assemblages of spheres possess other 
properties which lead to simple interpretations of multi- 
valency and tautomerism, and that ethylenic and acetylenic 
bonds and isomerism have complete analogues in peculiari- 
ties of homogeneous assemblages of spheres.—Synthesis of 
carvestrene. Preliminary notice: W. H. Perkin, jun., and 
G. Tattersall.—Some derivatives of catechol, pyrogallol, 
benzophenone, and of some substances allied to the natural 
colouring matters: W. H. Perkin, jun., and C. 
Weizmann. This communication contains descriptions of 
the preparation and properties of a number of new sub- 
stances obtained at different times in connection with re- 
searches on the constitution of brazilin, haematoxylin, and 
other natural colouring matters.—Experiments on the 
synthesis of the terpenes, part ix., the preparation of 
cyclopentanone-4-carboxylic acid and of cyclohexanone-g- 
carboxylic acid (5-ketohexahydrobenzoic acid): F. W. Kay 
and W. H. Perkin, jun.—The hydrolysis of “* nitro- 
cellulose ’’ and ‘ nitroglycerine ’’?: O. Silberrad and R. C. 
Farmer. The hydrolysis is complicated by the simul- 
taneous reduction of the nitric acid, and intermediate pro- 
ducts are formed, which are gradually acted upon by the 
alkali; these are practically insoluble in water, and do 
not give rise to free acid when left in contact with water 
for several days.—The acidic constants of some ureides and 
uric acid derivatives: J. K. Wood. In compounds which 
contain the grouping .CO.NH.CO.NH.CO., there appears 
to be a mutual reinforcement of the imino-groups by the 
carbonyl groups present analogous to that exhibited by the 
carboxyl groups in succinic acid.—The affinity constants 
of xanthine and its methyl derivatives: J. K. Wood. The 
results of determinations of the basic and acidic constants 
of xanthine, 7-methylxanthine, the three isomeric dimethyl- 
xanthines, and caffeine are described.—The explosive com- 
