2 7 6 



NATURE 



[December 5, [918 



with .1 few <■ officii ibers. 141 Thai il should 



meet noi fewer than three times a year, and thai some 

 guard should be introduced preventing its meetings 

 (11,111 becoming mere formalities. (5) Thai the exael 

 di Snition of its functions should be lefi to further 

 consideration bj consultation." The Admiralty, being 

 oi opinion thai il would be desirable to proceed with 

 the proposal, suggested thai representatives of the 

 Home Office, War Office, Board oi Trade, Board of 

 Agriculture, Ordnance Survey, Royal Society, Royal 

 Astronomical Society, and Royal Geographical Society 

 should confer with the rlydrographer and the 

 Astronomer Royal as to the establishmeni of the 

 suggested board, and its functions if created. The 

 council concurred in the proposal, and appointed Prof. 

 Schuster to r< present il al the conference. I hi 

 matter is still under consideration. 



Meteorological Office and Air Board. 

 At the beginning of the year the council was 



informed thai a scheme was in contemplation for 

 merging the Meteorological Office in the Air Ministry. 

 The council approached the Treasury on the subject, 

 pointing out that, while it appreciated the import- 

 ance of extending the meteorological organisation so 

 a$ to render it more effective in dealing with problems 

 of aeronautics, the intimate connection of the science 

 with agriculture, public health, and certain depart- 

 ments iif the Admiralty, as well as with the general 

 problems of geophysics, might, in its opinion, be 

 endangered by handing over the Meteorological Office 

 entirely to a department which necessarily concen- 

 trates its attention on a single branch of the work. 

 As the result of a conference held in May last, the 

 Treasury has agreed that it is not desirable to change 

 the existing form of the constitution of the Meteoro- 

 logical Office, "which should remain, as in the past, 

 the central institution devoted to the progress of the 

 science of meteorology, and forming the focus for 

 the activities of all departments interested in the 

 various aspects of the science throughout the Empire." 

 In view of the special interest in meteorology of the 

 Air Ministry and of its great importance for the 

 development of aeronautics and the problems connected 

 therewith, the Ministry is now represented on the 

 Meteorological Committee. 



The National Physical Laboratory. 



Important changes have taken place during the year 

 under review in the relations between the society and 

 the National Physical Laboratory. On April i last the 

 transfer lo the Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research of financial responsibility for the laboratory 

 took effect, and in the future the expenditure incurred 

 in the work of the laboratory will be carried on the 

 .I the Department. 



While the normal extension of the scope of its work 

 been in many directions retarded or stopped by the 

 war, in certain sections work already in progress has 

 greatly increased in volume owing to the special condi- 

 tions which have arisen, and during the past year it 

 has been necessary to provide further accommodation 

 for work of pressing importance. Three additional 

 permanent buildings are, in consequence, at present in 

 course of erection; two of these provide for extension 

 of the aerodynamics researches and of the gauge work; 

 the third will be devoted to the testing of volumetric 

 glassware — largely made and tested in Germany before 

 the war — and lo work on optical instruments. The 

 standardisation of scientific glassware is being carried 

 on at present in temporary premises adjoining the 

 laboratory. Temporarj building have also been put 

 up to accommodate other special war-work. 



With the return of peace conditions provision must 

 NO. 2562, VOL. I02] 



be madi F01 thi development oi branches of technical 

 research which hitherto, for lack of facilities, haw 

 ret eivi d little or no attention. A scheme For the , stab- 

 lishment of a National Electrical Proving Hot 

 been prepared by the committee of the Institution of 

 ; il Engineers. This provides that the proving 



house should be sel it]' al the laboratory^ and 



advisor) committee should !"• appointed 

 to assist tie- executive committee in its mam 

 Proposals have been made that the laboratory should 

 in -mite form undertake the responsibility foi 

 gauges and for other standardisation work in Birming- 

 ham. Similar proposals for the establishment of 

 standardising laboratories have been brought forward 

 1 1 enii es of industry. 

 With the assistance of the Research Dip. 

 industrial associations are being formed to promote 

 research and investigation in connection with impor- 

 tant national industries. Research lab 

 no doubt, be established at the principal centres of 

 these industries working in immediate touch with 



associated manufacturing firms. Some of 1 1 1. ] 



can besl l»- done in the central laboratory more com- 

 pletely equipped for dealing with the more complex 

 probli ins, ;iinl the laboratory has been invited in marry 

 cases to co-operate in the work. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Lord Rothermere, who, as sir Harold 

 I larnisw hi th, gave 2o,oooJ. for the endowment of the 

 King Ldward VII. professorship of English litera- 

 ture in the University, has now offered a like sum 

 as an endowment fund for a professorship of naval 

 history, to be called the Vere Hnrmsworth chair of 

 naval history, in memory of his second son, who 

 was killed in the Battle of the Ancre while serving 

 with the Royal Naval Division. 



LIVERPOOL. — The Vice-Chancellor, Sir Alfred Dale, 

 has sent in his resignation, to take effect in September 

 next year. In his letter to the President of the I ni- 

 versiix Council he says: — "Our superannuation 

 scheme, as you know, requires me to retire 

 from rwy post in December, 1020, two years 

 from now, but I am convinced that the University 

 would suffer if I held on till then." The University 

 Council, in accepting the resignation with regret, has 

 placed on record its appreciation of Sir Alfred's in- 

 valuable services during nineteen years, first as Prin- 

 cipal of University College, Liverpool, and afterwards 

 as Vice-Chancellor of the University. 



Was conditions have depleted the technical 

 in Germany, and the supply of trained engini - 

 the war is jeopardised. To meet this difficulty, a 

 committee of engineers and manufacturers proposes 

 (Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, September 12) that 

 special facilities should be given to students who renew 

 their interrupted studies, and that the curricula and 

 examinations should be modified to meet their require- 

 ments. Scholarships should be provided mi 1 

 scale to promising students. The Army should con- 

 tribute to the relief of the situation by demobilising 

 prospective students as early as possible. 



A 1 OP} of the report for last session, 1917^18, of 

 the faculty of Engineering of the University of 

 Bristol, which is provided and maintained in the 

 Merchant Venturers' Technical College, bis been re- 

 ceived. The number of tests on materials made for 

 various industrial firms in the district in which the 

 University is situated has grown very much in recent 



