464 



NA TURE 



[September 5, 1901 



be judged by the fact that one pubhc school with goo boys has 

 four science masters, and another with 500 boys only has three. 

 In fact, the complaint made long ago by Ascham and Milton, 

 and reiterated by Royal Commission after Royal Commission, 

 still holds good to a great extent. 



The following list of successful candidates for Royal Exhi- 

 liitions, National Scholarships, and Free Studentships (Science), 

 igoi, has been issued by the Board of Education, South 

 Kensington : — Royai Exhibitions. — Walter Smith, Menry F. C. 

 Walsworth, Alec J. Simpson, James C. Smail, John Good, 

 Sydney F. Paul, George E. Piper. National Scliolarships for 

 Mechanics.— George W. Phillips, Alfred W. Steed, David P. 

 Grubb, Thomas G. John, Henry J. Jones. Fi-t\' Stndents/iips 

 for Mechanics. — Herbert G. Tisdall, Thomas Chester. National 

 Scholarships for Physics. — George W. Andrew, Leonard 

 Southerns, John B. Homer, Sydney H. Higgins, Roger E. 

 Grime. Free Studentship for Physics. — O^m&x U. Seeman. 

 National Scholarships for Chemistry. — Herbert B. P. Hum. 

 phries, Alfred Shepherd, Alfred Berry, Donald Levy, Sydney H. 

 .Smith. Free Studentships for Chemistry. — Joseph A. Stokes, 

 John F. Stansfield. National Scholarships for Biology. — 

 Arthur R. Mynott, Alfred Eastwood, Richard C. Bristow, 

 Malcolm Wilson. Free Studentship for Biology. — Florence E. 

 Pratt. National Scholarships for Geology.— ]a'an E. Haworth, 

 ■ Claude G. Sara, Tobias Clegg. 



The candidates successful in the recent competition for the 

 Whitworth Scholarships and Exhibitions are announced by the 

 •Board of Education, South Kensington, to be as follo^vs : — 

 Scholarships, 125/. a year each (tenable for three years) — 

 -Charles E. Handy, John E. Jagger, Albert Wilson, James C. 

 Macfarlane. Exhibitions, 50/. (tenable for one year) : — Thomas 

 P. Shilston, Arthur Baker, George W. Phillips, George H. 

 Andrews, John S. Nicholson, Henry F. C. Walsworth, Thomas 

 G. John, Harry J. Wickham, John Good, James C. Smail, 

 Gilmour E. Brown, George E. Piper, Alexander Gray, Arthur 

 H. Sturdee, Harry Topham, Reginald Lavender, William H. 

 Snow, Richard F. Barljer, Harold .Scragg, Harold E. Morrow, 

 Thornton Knowles, John Ingham, Percy M. Bennett, Ernest 

 -G. Beck, Alfred G. Fox, Harold Fowler, Frank Lord, Thomas 

 Chester, William E. Gardner, Roland W. Parry. 



From particulars given in the thirteenth annual report just 

 published by the National Association for the Promotion of 

 Technical and Secondary Education, it appears that considerably 

 over a quarter of a million of money (or 286,980/. ) has become 

 involved during the past year for the structural development of 

 technical schools in England. If this sum be added to the 

 trustworthy estimate of 2,643,172/. given in last year's report, 

 it shows that the total amount incurred in England (excluding 

 London) for 295 schools under municipal and public bodies is 

 now at least 2,930,152/ ; if all outlays upon other schools 

 could be definitely assessed, this sum would doubtless reach more 

 ihan 3,000,000/. (excluding London). The largest of the new 

 imilding schemes is that of Bolton, the estimated capital outlay 

 being 80,000/. The school will be established to a considerable 

 degree upon Continental models, and will form one of the most 

 important centres of technological training in the country. In 

 Liverpool, 14,500/. is to be utilised for the equipment of a cen- 

 tral technical school costing over 100,000/. ; an important move- 

 ment towards centralisation is consequently now taking place 

 in that city. 



•SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, August 26. — M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — Remarks by M. Janssen upon some ob-erva- 

 tions of the Pi-iseids from the Observatory at the summit of 

 Mont Blanc— On the application of the principle of energy to 

 electrodynamic and electromagnetic phenomena, by M. E. 

 Sarrau. — Critical remarks c nccrning the determination of sex 

 in the L<-pidoptera, by M. Alfred Giard. In discussing the re- 

 sults of the experiments of M. C. Flammarion upon the in- 

 fluence of coliiurs in the production of the sexes in Sericaia 

 inori, the author points oui ceriain morphological dau which 

 modify the inlerprctation oi the experiments CnnndeiMbly. In 

 the opinion ol the author, ihe great error of ph)Mnl..gi-ts in 

 studying qnesiinns ol this order, as in many others, is in com- 

 pletely neglecting ihe morphological data, and in considering 



NO. 1662, VOL. 64] 



the animal or vegetable egg as a point o, absolute departure, 

 instead of a complex of energies accumulated by the varied con- 

 ditions of existence or found in the ancestral organism. — On the 

 mode of action of the brakes of automobiles, by M. A. Petot. 

 From the formula; usually employed to express the relation 

 between the inertia and the co-efficient of adherence it can be 

 deduced that it ought to be impossible to stop an electric tram- 

 way as rapidly as another vehicle, under similar conditions of 

 speed and adherence. It is shown in the present note that this 

 is an error, due to an inexact interpretation of the function of 

 adherence during the application of the brake. — On the constitu- 

 tion of white light, by M. O. M. Corbino. According to M. 

 Gouy, the different rays constituting the spectrum of white light 

 are sinusoidal and perfectly regular components of one single 

 complex vibration of any form whatever, and hence it follows 

 that these components, their amplitude and phase remaining in- 

 variable, can interfere. According to M. Carvallo, the radia- 

 tions separated by a grating are independent and conse- 

 quently cannot interfere with each other. According to 

 the author, the production of a system of mobile 

 fringes in a channeled spectrum affords a crucial test 

 of these two views. From these it is concluded that 

 two radiations taken from different points of a continuous 

 spectrum produced by white light are completely independent, ' 

 and that in consequence it is impossible to consider them as two 

 sinusoidal components of a single complex vibration. — The 

 sexual elements and copulation in Stylorhynchus, by M. Louis 

 Leger. — On a bacterial disease of the potato, by M. G. Dela- 

 croix. The disease in question, which is very prevalent in the 

 centre and west of France, is due to a bacterium which appears 

 to be identical with the Bacillus Solanacearum of E. F. Smith. 

 It possesses the same characteristics on cultivation, and the 

 symptoms of the disease observed in the United States on 

 potatoes and tomatoes are similar to those observed in Fiance. 

 The only suggestion that can be put forward as a remedy is a 

 triennial variation in the crops in order to clean the soil, which 

 appears to be the vehicle of the disease, from the pathogenic 

 organisms which it contains. — The invasion of streams of water 

 in the department of Herault by Jiissiaea grandiflora, and on 

 the growth of this species in France, by M. P. Carles. The 

 growth of this plant in some districts is so great that it forms 

 true aquatic prairies. It has been stated that this plant could 

 not fructify in France, but this is now shown to be inaccurate, 

 since in the month of September on the River Orb the fruit was 

 formed in the shape of capsules about 29 mm. in length, each 

 capsule having five divisions containing about fifteen seeds. It 

 is by these seeds that it multiplies so abundantly. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Petroleum. By W. T. Lawrence 441 



Commercial Education 442 



The Birds of Iceland 443 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Worgiizky: '■Bliitengeheimnisse : Fine BUitenhiologie 



in Einzelbildern " . . . ... . . 444 



Barren : "The Lepidoptera of the British Islands." 



— W. F. K 444 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Testing of some Ballistic Experiments. — Rev. F. 



Bashforth .... 445 



Horn-ieeding Larvre.— Captain W. J. Hume 



McCorquodale . . 44^ 



New Garden Plnnts: a Study in Evolution . . . 446 



The Photographii- Chart of the Heavens . 446 



The Colorado Potato Beetle. By W. F. Kirby 450 

 Prof. Baron Adolf Erik von Nordenskjold. By 



W. S. Bruce 45° 



Notes ... . 452 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Spectrum of Nova Persei , 45^ 



New Double Stars . . 456 



Six Stars with Variable Radial Velocity . . . 456 



Causes of the Variabiliiy ol Earthshlne . 459 



Solar Ra iation. B) J. Y. Bu.han<.n, F.R.S. . 456 



Reflex Action and Instinct. By Dr. W. Benthall . 459 



The Education of Engineers 462 



University and e.duca.ional intelligence 463 



Societies and \Ladcmies 464 



