January 30, 19 19] 



NATURE 



course and to arrive al .1 high 1 standard in the Final 



umation. Prof. Weiss also expressed the hope 



that thi conditions oi th science teachers in schools 



might i»' so ameliorated thai mam of them might 



gi in original investigations, which would vivif) 



chu ind ibii 1 hem to instil a 1 eallj 



scientific attitude of mind in theii pupils-, The meet- 



.i resolution that a consultative council ol 



university and scl should be appointed to 



and method ol the higher work in 



schools ami its rel of universities, 



A succkssfci port ol the 



on Modern Languages was 



held at the County Hall of the L.C.C on Wednesday, 



Januaa pi dings were opened' by Sir Cyril 



1, M I'., w iio said tl* ad made the ques- 



tion ni modern languages a popular orie.. Mi. Stanley 

 Leathes, chairman of tin- Governmeni Committee, fol- 

 lowed. IK- dwelt on our ignorance of and indifference 

 to the subject in the past, and insisted on English being 

 the most important language of all, French being next 

 in importance. The position- ol German would be 

 ■ I by tin- im : Germany, The esteem 



public could alone give modern languages their 

 rightful place in education. Languages should be 

 learnt, m.i tor themselves, Inn for what they con- 

 tained'. It was nol worth while in learn a language 

 badly. Better to learn one language well than two 

 badly. Mr. Gooch dilated on the existing provision 

 lor modern languages in London. Lord Crewe, who 

 was responsible for the creation ol the committee, in- 

 sisted on the need for studying tin history and in-titu- 

 tions of the foreign country a- well as the language 

 and literature. Sir Hubert Handing spoke all too 

 briefly on the value of well-trained linguists to the 

 commerce and banking ol to-day. Principal Burrows, 

 oi King's College, told of the intensive courses in 

 modern languages recently started bj the college, Miss 

 Tuke spoke of the women's interest in the matter. Sir 

 Lulham Pound described tin work of the City of 

 London College. Miss Pordie, headmistress of Maida 

 \ .de High School, pointed out numerous deficiencies 

 in the existing system, Mr. Fuller dw.lt on the gap 

 between the school and the university, which should be 

 bridged by scholarships. Mr. Hedges spoke of the 

 work of tin evening institutes, and after a short dis- 

 dings 1 1 ised wiih .1 vote of thanks 10 

 the chairman, tin question of tin future continuance of 

 the debate b ipen. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Geological Society, Januarj 8. \L. (,. \\ Lamplugh, 

 president, in the chair. Prof. I'. F. Kendall: "Wash- 

 outs" in coal-seam- and the effects ol contemporary 

 earthquakes. Two types of interruptions are dif- 

 ferentiated in coal--, am- which have been confused 

 under thi general terms ol "wash-outs," "wants," 

 "nip-," or "dumb-faults." One type- may I..- due to 

 m bj contemporary streams which coursed 

 through the alluvial area where tin coal material was 

 accumulating. A number of examples of thi- typi in 

 Hi. Midland coalfield are described'. Split seam- ol 

 the type in which tin- seam rejoins are kindred pheno- 

 mena, but in these cases the erosion was always con- 

 t. mporarv. Great diversity in the phenomena of splits 

 and wash-outs arises from the differences in the ratios 

 of shrinkage .lining consolidation ol the various con- 

 -tituent-. Cannel acts as a substance of little com- 

 sibility. Other disturbances oi thi coaJ-seams-,.mis- 

 i "wash-out-," are referred to earthquakes. Some 

 he effects of earthquakes in Coal Measure times 



NO. -570, VOL. I02J 



might I 10 be of a magnitude greater than 



1 fleets ol recent earthquakes. An abnormality in 

 coal-seams consists in the intrusion into the coal of 

 sedimentary material oi the encroachment of mass, sot 

 amorphous sandstone as "rock-rolls," probably due to 

 the invasion of sands rendered mobile bj excess of 

 water, and perhaps ol gas, and moving' under the 

 impulse of waves of elastic compression produced by 

 earthquakes. In the roofs of many coal-seams and 

 projecting slightly into the o il are curious conical 

 masses ol sandstone, familiar to the miners as 

 "drops." They are wrinkled on the surface, and often 

 have a flange on two sides, showing that they were 

 produced on the site of a crack. Thi nged in 



long rows. These are interpreted as casts of the 

 lutmel-shaped orifices through which the sands sur- 

 charged with water have been expelled. Fissures Piled 

 with sand or other materials, the " sandstone dykes " 

 of American writers, are not so common in the Mid- 

 land coalfield as in some other coalfields. They show- 

 contortion where passing through the seam, proving 

 that the coal substance had not undergone its full 

 compression at the time when the fissure was pro- 

 duced. A large number of examples of each type of 

 phenomenon, drawn from the examination of more 

 than thirty mines in the coalfield, are discussed. — 

 Dr. A. Gilligan : Sandstone dykes or rock-riders in 

 the Cumberland coalfield. These sandstone dykes 

 have been encountered in pits distributed all over the 

 coalfield, but those examined were met with In the 

 workings of the Bannock Band and Main Band seams 

 at Ladysmith Pit. The dykes pass through the Ban- 

 nock Band and Main Band seams and the intervening 

 measures. They run parallel one to the other in a 

 direction N.N.W. and S.S.E. The inclination of the 

 same dyke is not constant, but the greatest deviation 

 from the vertical was ro° south-westwards. The 

 average width of the dykes was from 2 in. to 4 in., 

 but sometimes they increase to 10 in. or dwindle 

 down to mere films. Splitting of the dykes 

 was seen. The contact of the coal and dyke 

 substance was sharply defined, the coal preserving all 

 its normal features even when adhering to the sand- 

 stone. The probable conditions which obtained at 

 the time of the formation of the fissures and their in- 

 filling were as follows : — The coal seams through 

 which the dykes pass had been compressed to their 

 present thickness, while they and the associated 

 measures were sufficiently consolidated to take a more 

 1,1- less clean fracture. The sea in which the deltaic 

 material of the Whitehaven sandstone was accumu- 

 lating covered the area. Fractures were produced by 

 earthquake disturbances set up bv movement along 

 one of the N.N.W. and S.S.E. faults, and the sedi- 

 ment on the sea-floor ran in and sealed them up. 



Pah is. 

 Academy of Sciences, January 6.- M. L. Guignard in 



the chair.— G. Bigourdan ; A project for the reform 

 of the present civil calendar (Julian, Gregorian). 

 Five principal faults of the Gregorian calendar are 

 enumerated, the last of which, that the dates of the 

 month have no -ingle concordance with the corra- 

 spotnliiig days ol the week, is regarded as the most 

 inconvenient. Statistics made on a weekly basis, 

 suo b as those of railways, are not easily adjusted 

 to the month- or the year. It is proposed to form 

 each quart, r of a t'n -t month of thirty-one days, 

 followed b) two mouth- of thirty days; in the last 

 quarter of the year the last month would always 

 have thirty-one days, in leap years thi extra day 

 would he "added by making the last month of the 

 third quarter have thirty-one days. The three first 

 quarters would thus have exactlj thirteen weeks, so 



