October 6, 1904] 



NATURE 



57^ 



fettered. If a man sets himself to improve an existing 

 process, he very likely may succeed, but he will not effect 

 a revolution in manufacture. The purely scientific investi- 

 gator who is free to follow indications of no apparent com- 

 mercial import has not infrequently made discoveries of 

 a radical nature, which have entirely changed some par- 

 ticular industry. I do not recommend the one to the 

 exclusion of the other ; both are best ; and both are best 

 attained bv an intimate association between the universities 

 and the chemical works. The investigator often learns 

 much by the study of industrial processes. The chemical 

 manufacturer who is keenly alive to his own interests will 

 not fail to keep himself in touch with every discovery, how- 

 ever little it appears to be connected with his own industry. 



THE GRAIN IN PHOTOGRAPHIC FILMS. 

 T N the September number of the Astrophysical Journal 

 .Mr. R. J. Wallace gives an account of his investigation 

 of the circumstances that control the size of the silver 

 particles in a developed gelatino-bromide plate. Of four 

 rapid plates of American make, the " Seed 27, Gilt Edge " 

 was found to give the best results. It was the most 

 uniform in speed from time to time, and gave the least 

 amount of "chemical fog," the smallest particles of silver, 

 and the most regular distribution of them. While the 

 particles were found to be, generally speaking, spherical in 

 ordinary plates, isochromatic plates of several makes showed 

 the peculiarity of having almost exclusively elongated (the 

 author calls them " spicular ") grains at the surface of the 

 film, while in passing downwards through the film they 

 gradually gave place to rounded particles, until close to the 

 supporting glass these latter were the only ones found. 

 Intensification increases the size of the particles; this is 

 the common experience of those interested in these matters. 



formation of " group-particles " because they dissolved off 

 the film after development and examined a new film made 

 from the product. 



itomicrograph 



but the author's demonstration is of special interest, as 

 he performed the intensification with a brush, using the 

 mercury and ammonia method, without shifting the plate, 

 so that he was able to photograph the identical particles 

 before and after the operation. The same grains can easily 

 be traced in the two photographs reproduced. The magnifi- 

 cation is 430 diameters. The author also shows the differ- 

 ence between rapid and slow development. In the first case 

 he considers that the silver particles most nearly approach 

 the size of the original particles of silver salt from which 

 they are produced, while by prolonged development they 

 become enlarged by reason of the formation of " group- 

 particles " as well as by accretion. For the finest grain the 

 author deprecates slow development. In a postscript refer- 

 ence is made to the deduction of Messrs. Lumi^re and 

 Seyewetz from their recent experiments to the effect that 

 neither the temperature, concentration, nor duration of 

 development practically affects the size of the grain. The 

 author considers that these investigators have neglected the 



THE DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND'S SCHOOL 



AT GOLSPIE. 

 A S announced in our columns last year (September 24, 

 -'"*- 1903), the formal foundation of the Duchess of Suther- 

 land's Technical School at Golspie was inaugurated on 

 September 8, 1903, by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, at that 

 time Secretary for Scotland. The building is, we are in- 

 formed, now completed, the total cost of erection and equip- 

 ment having exceeded 16,000/., exclusive of the site and 

 grounds given by the Duke of Sutherland. The school is 

 a handsome structure in white freestone, and three storeys 

 in height. It contains altogether fifty-six rooms, including 

 fourteen class-rooms, workshops, laboratories, museum, &c. 

 The dormitories are 50 feet by 21 feet, with bathrooms and 

 lavatories attached. The school when full can receive sixty 

 pupils. The curriculum covers a period of three years, and 

 the subjects comprised are such as are most likely to meet 

 local industrial requirements, the whole course being framed 

 on a sound scientific basis. In drafting the original scheme 

 the duchess had the cooperation of Prof. R. Meldola, Prof. 

 Magnus Maclean, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the Right Hon. 

 R. B. Haldane, and Mr. Struthers, of the Scotch Education 

 Department. A formal deed has been executed by the 

 duchess ensuring the perpetuity of the school, and appoint- 

 ing for its management a local board of governors, the 

 duchess herself being chairman and the duke a member of 

 this board. An advisory committee has also been appointed 

 consisting of leading educationists and representatives of 

 Highland societies, as well as Her Grace's original 

 advisers. 



The building and equipment fund has been raised entirely 

 by private voluntary subscriptions, the 

 Duke of Sutherland having contributed 

 8000/. Other munificent supporters of 

 the scheme are Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

 and Lord Strathcona, the Dukes of 

 Portland and Westminster, Mr. James 

 Coats, of Paisley, and Mrs. Carnegie. 

 The cordial support which this new 

 educational departure has received in 

 Scotland will be recognised when it is 

 stated that out of the sixty places in 

 the school forty are provided for by 

 bursaries guaranteed by various bene- 

 factors interested in the counties of 

 Sutherland, Caithness, Ross and Cro- 

 marty, and one (by Mr. Dewar) for a 

 student from Inverness-shire. Another 

 indication of the local practical interest 

 in the scheme is that at the opening 

 of the school for regular work on 

 October 3 the claims of more than 

 sixty applicants for admission had been 

 considered by the board of governors. 

 Out of these, twenty-five bursars have 

 been admitted as the first batch, and 

 further admissions of bursars will 

 be sanctioned for next year and for 1906. , , , 



It is proposed to work the school as a higher grade school 

 under the Scotch Board of Education, and, in addition to 

 the scientific and technical subjects, the ordinary literary 

 and humanitarian subjects will be carried on from the 

 elementarv school stage, the standard of qualification re- 

 quired for admission as a bursar being that he should have 

 completed his thirteenth year and have received the 

 •■ merit certificate" or its equivalent. It is of interest to 

 learn that the elementary schools from which the technical 

 school will be supplied with pupils are cooperating most 

 sympathetically in carrving out the scheme. One of the 

 difficulties, as we learn from Prof. Meldola, which has beset 

 the school in Essex founded by Lady Warwick, sister of the 

 Duchess of Sutherland, has hitherto been the want of co- 

 operation on the part of the local elementary schoolmasters. 

 The head-master of the new school is Mr. E. W. Read, 

 of Cambridge, formerly agricultural instructor at the North- 

 eastern County School, Barnard Castle, Durham. 



NO. 1823, VOL. 70] 



