4Q 



NATURE 



September \z. njis 



quali i hi [h orn pi the medical corpoi ations. 

 The Icdii ail Journal points oul thai betw een 

 no .Hid K114 the annual entrj of first-year 

 udents averaged roughh '44". Since the 

 imbei nl thesi entries has inci eased bj five 

 or six hundred .1 year. Thus the whole number of 

 ictualrj pursuing medical studies in the 

 medical schools of the United Kingdom has shown .-1 

 upward movement. In May, igi6, the total 

 6103 ; in January, 10/17, it was 66S n Oi tober, 

 11)17, ii was 704S; while the latest figure, for May, 

 1'iiN, u;ls 7630. Bui l.n somi time the large with- 

 drawals of male students from the medical schools 

 lor combatant service, 01 foi service as surgeon pro- 

 bationers in th< Navy, 1 than nullified the in- 

 creased entries, and bade fair to produce a serious 

 deficiency of new practitioners in the years roi8 and 

 iqio- Urgenl representations upon this matter were 

 made to the Government. Vs a result, something lias 

 been done to make good the threatened shortage bA 

 the return of third-\ ear students from active service 

 to complete their studies, h\ the retention in the 



medical schools of students on their way towards 

 qualification who are liable to be called to the colours, 

 and by limiting the period of service of surgeon pro- 

 bationers. The Minister of National Service has 

 further undertaken to provide that, if possible, the 

 supplv of students in training shall be kept at a level 

 sufficient to give an annual yield of at least iooo new 

 practitioners. Another feature of the last four years 

 has been the great increase in the number of women 

 students of medicine. In May last there were 8250 

 women medical students in the United Kingdom — a 

 figure 23 tier cent, greater than the total for January, 

 1017, and several times larger than in 1014. For this 

 remarkable growth the war must be held mainly 

 responsible. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, August 19.— M. Ed. Perrier in 

 the chair.— J. Boussinesq ; Rational solution of the two 

 problems of the punching out and flow of plastic 

 blocks, furnished with a rigid, polished ring. — R. de 

 Montessus de Ballore : Plane algebraic curves having 

 common multiple points.- P. Weiss : The characteristic 

 ■quation of fluids. The isochores of hydrogen, accord- 

 to the measurements of Kamerlfngh Onnes and 

 Braak, are rectilinear, and give for the law of expan- 



T 

 sion . /'<+R -.where K is the gas constant and n 

 p + n 



the internal pressure. For the families of recti- 

 linear isochores studied by the author the relation 

 given le the above equation holds to a degree of pre- 

 cision ol the experiments, hut R has -to he multiplied 

 by a factoi ; ater than 1. Thus it is 1-30 for carbon 

 dioxide. With argon and isopentane the isochores 

 are formed of two straight lines making an angle 

 with each othei -that is, the above factor changes 

 abruptly in the rgon from 1 to 1 5.9, 



C. Benedicks 'n o-thermal effect, of which the 



Thomson effeel is a pecial case. L. (ientil : The 

 neogene deposits ,,f southern Spain. — A. Sarton : 

 Spot illation b\ symbiosi er fungi. Without 



eria being present thi perithecium of Aspergillus 



is not formed. It would appear that under the action 



1 bacteria the medium undei » a transformation 



which renders it capable oi pn the production 



if the perithecium. II. Vincent and G. Stodel : lii, 



Its nl' arrtigangrene serotherapy . Details of five 



ned b) the use of the si mm described in an 



luriica'tien. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 

 A Calendai oi Leading Experiments. B3 VV. S. 

 Franklin and B. Mactiutt. Pp. vHi+210. South 

 Bethlehi m, Pa. : Franklin, Macnutt, and 1 

 2.50 dollars. 



I In Destinies ol thi Stars. Bj Dr. S. Arrhehius. 

 Translated b) J. E. Fries. Pp. xvii+2Sj6. (Net 

 and London: G. P. Putnam's Suns.) js. 6d. net. 



Matrices and Determinoids. By Prof. ('. 1".. Cullis. 

 Vol: ii. Pp. xxiv+555. (Cambridge: \i the 1 ni- 

 versitj Press.) 42.?. net. 



Applied Anatomy. Bj Prof. G. G. Davis. Fifth 

 edition. Pp. x+630. (Philadelphia and London: 

 J. B. Lippincott Co.) 



Homeland: V Year of Country Days. By P. W.D. 

 Izzard. Pp. 383. (London : John Ri. h 



7s. Ill/, net. 



The ( 'In inisi, j ol Synthetic Drugs. Bj Dr. P. May. 

 Second edition. Pp.. xH+350. (London : Longmans 

 and Co.) ios. <></. net. 



Dr. John kadclilfe. By Dr. J. B. Nias. Pp. 147. 

 (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press.) 12*. 6d. net. 



Magnetism and Electricity for Home Studv. Bv 



H. E. Pe se. Pp. xxiH-l-515. (Londi 



Wireless Puss, Lid.) gs. net. 



CONTENTS. page 



Industrial Chemistry. I. By Dr. E. F. Armstrong . 21 



The " Kew Bulletin " 22 



The Map as a New Educational Instrument. By 



E. J. Orford 23 



Our Bookshelf 23 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Auroral Observations in the Antarctic. (Illustrated.) 

 —Dr. G. C. Simpson, F.R.S. ; Dr. C. Chree, 



F.R.S. . 24 



Hybrid Sunflowers.— Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell . . 25 



The Nitrogen Problem in Relation to the War ... 26 



Indigo in Bihar 27 



Notes 28 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Harvest Moon 32 



The New Star in Aquila 32 



Wolf's Comet 32 



New Scientific Factors in Industry 32 



Rothamsted in War Time 34 



Bacteria of Ice and Snow in Antarctica. By Capt. 



A. L. McLean 35 



University and Educational Intelligence 39 



Societies and Academies 40 



Books Received 40 



I550, VOL. I02] 



Editorial and Publishing Offices: 

 MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., 

 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W 1 



and business letters to be addressed tc the 

 Publishers. 



ial Cornmxunii / Editor, 



graphic Address: Phlsis, London. 

 Telephone Number': Gerrard 8830. 



