February ij. 1919J 



NATURE 



477 



in fund so thai I 1 arrj oul their 



11 



'urdie addi d id, aod this 



1 

 remain at the Universit) and acquire training and 

 experii n has bei n 



I, and, in tim he S Vndrews 



n important part in solving mam 

 scientific problems arising oul <d the war. 



()n I I -.. i8, Dr. C. C. Cai 1 er, 



chairman ol the South Mi Gas Co., will 



distribute prizes and certificates at the Sir John ( ass 



al Institute, and will deliver an address 



\\ 1 an i' quested i.> state thai thi dati foi thi 



sending in of applications foi the Theresa Seessel 



irch fellowships at Yali l niversitj has been 



altered from April 1 to Maj 1, 1919. Applications, 



mpanied by reprints of scientific publications and 



recommendation, together with particulars 



of tin candidate's proposed problem of research, have 



made to tin- Dean of the Graduate School, Yali 



University, New Haven, Conn., U.S.A. 



ring in Nati I larj 10 to the salai ies 



of university lecturers, Mr. R. Douglas Laurie said: 

 Scottish lecturers have been recentlj granted 

 ided -cab- rising to 750/.'' Dr. K. J. T. Bell, 

 Universitj ol Glasgow, and Mr. J. K. Wood, Uni- 

 versity of St. Andrews, write to poinl out thai this 

 v,.ii, ,.1 salaries has not yel been granted, and thai 

 the maximum salaries at present are about half the 

 ited. The general councils of the lout Scot- 

 tish Universities have n I the adoption of 

 the scale, but thi -. which arc the 

 actual executive bodies, have not yet been able to 

 the proposal, though it is understood that the 

 imendation has met with a sympathetic recep- 

 tion. The difficul and, as in other parts of 

 the kingdom, is one of funds, and apparently it can 

 be ov( by larger] increased treasury grants 

 t . the universities. 



I.i .a 01 1 S VIyei ii the Royal 



-1 ientific men 



of thi iiiip.n [.mi r6le which psychology is beginning 



to pl.i\ in man) departments ol practical life. On 



mi ot thi w.u ih' subject lias been given special 



tion, and nobody will disputi 'in fact of its having 



made good, both as .1 source of therapeutic principles 

 in certain tvpes of neurosis and as a means ot select- 

 ing men for special war service. Long before the- w.u 

 America led the way in showing the applicability of 

 the methods of the p- the problem of 



ing the right man for the right job. We now 

 learn that Columbia I niversitj is carrying the idea 

 still further. In future, matriculation candidates au- 

 to submit themselves to psychological tests with a 

 view to the elimination id those unfit to profit by 

 universit < studies. Thi ir entr. iminations havi 



mlv not succeeded iii excluding candidates who 

 el; to spi 1 ial coaching, and for 

 whom a university coursi is, in 1 ict, a waste of time 

 and effort. We must wait for further information 

 before discussing a scheme which is said to be "'based 

 on the Binet formula- whatevei that may mean — 

 modified bi used in the American War 



Department." The defects of matriculation examina- 

 tions as a test of fitness for university work are recog- 

 nised by all university teacher-, and if the Columbia 

 experiment is successful in accomplishing its objeel 

 th< gain will be considerable. 



v 1. 2572. VI tl . 102] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society, Januai J. J. Thoi 



in the chair. Prof. J. C McLennan and 

 R. J . Lang : An invi of extri mi ultra-violi 1 



spi.:.. 1 with a vacuum grating spectrograph. In this 

 investigatiot im grating spectrograph 



was d b\ the Adam Hilgi t 



g had a ruling 2-5 cm. widi 



1 o . in. in length, ol 20,1 lines to ib inch. Its 



i curvature was 1 10 em. The vacuum arc 



in \ , i upper, iron, .111.1 1 hi lien w ere 



investigated. With carbon, wave-lengths were ob- 



and measured down to A = 5S4 A. I . Prof. J. (.'. 

 McLennan and J. F. T. Voting : The absorption spi ■ " t 

 and the ionisation potentials of calcium, strontium, 

 and barium In Ibis paper it is shown thai I he 

 wave-lengths constituting the series $=(1-5, S) in/, l 1 ), 

 which a., strongb, absorbed by the vapours of calcium 



and strontium, are also strongly absorbed by the 

 vapour of barium. The wave-length of frequency 

 S={l-5, SI Im barium has been shown to be 

 A = 2',s,,^i ,\.l ., and the wave-lengths of the two 

 series 8=f>5. S)- {m, P) and S=(3-5, S) (m, V) 

 have been calculated. The wave-length of frequencj 

 .-, (1.5, S) (2, /),) has been deduced as A = 7901-11 

 A.I . Assuming that the ionisation potential for barium 

 is given by tin- relation Ye = /e\ where- £ = (1-5, S), 

 the value of this magnitude for barium has been cal- 

 culated in bi 521 volts. -Prof. J. C. McLennan, D. S. 

 Ainslie, and D. S. Fuller : Vacuum arc spectra of 

 various elements in the extreme ultra-violet. Tin- ex- 

 periments described were carried out with a fluorite 

 spectrograph the optical train of which consisted of 

 and two bin. n\e\ lenses of 15 cm. focal 

 1. ngth. The vacuum arc- spectra of copper, zinc, 

 aluminium, carbon, thallium, tin, lead, iron, cobalt, 

 nickel, and cadmium wen- investigated between 

 A = 2.pK» A.U. and A=i40o A.U. The measurements 

 obtained for the vacuum arc spectra of copper, zinc, 

 cadmium, and aluminium are wall covered by the 

 I,,, ih, -nark spectrum of these metals, as 

 obtained by previous workers. For tin, lead. 

 thallium, the n suits agree fairly well with those given 

 1>\ Saunders from A = J.)oo A.U. to A=i;oo A.i. 



Below the region covered bj Saunders's work many 

 new lines were observed and measured. The measure- 

 ments foi the vacuum arc spectra of iron, _ cobalt, 

 nick-el, and carbon appear to be tin- first obtained for 

 the are spectra of these substances in the Schumann 

 region. For these spectra nearh all the measure- 

 ments between A --'410 \ I . and A [850 A.I .. as 



in the paper, are covered bv previous work on 

 Their spark spectra. Within the region between 



v< A.U. and A = 140. . A.U. a number of new- 

 lines were ph .toeraphed and measured. — R. C. Dearie : 

 Emission and absorption in the infra-red spectra .-( 

 mercury, zinc, and cadmium. In the investigation 



..-ii in this communication the absorption spectra 



of mercurv, /inc. and cadmium were studied with a 



Hilgei infra-red spectrograph provided with a rock- 

 salt prism and a linear thermopile, in conjunction with 

 a Paschen galvanometei made bv tin- Cambi 

 S. ientific Instrument Ce. With each of the vapours 

 th. range investigated lav between t-o/i and tf>». In 

 Studvinp 'It .mission spectrum of mercurv vapour 

 bombarded bv electrons, it was found that eadiation 

 wave-length ,1=10,140 AT', was emitted with 

 impact voltages so low as ; volts, and evidence was 

 als.. obtained indicating that men m\ vapour could i»- 

 made to emit radiation of this wave-length with im- 

 pact voltages less than 5 volts. The paper presents 



