574 
VEIT RE 
[APRIL 15, 1897 
future the teaching should be of a more exact nature, and such 
as to make the scholars think for themselves about the ordinary 
affairs of the household. (2) That the time is arrived when it 
is absolutely necessary to introduce into girls’ schools of all 
grades, and from the outset of the school course, simple but 
accurate experimental work dealing with domestic matters. 
(3) That the meeting notes with satisfaction the introduction 
into the Code of the Education Department of the new subject 
domestic science as tending to the promotion of the changes 
suggested in the two preceding resolutions. 
A LONG article by Sir Philip Magnus, in the April number of 
the National Review, carries on the crusade in favour of an im- 
proved organisation of scientific education and opinion as a 
means to industrial progress. He does not counsel slavish imita- 
tion of German methods, but shows that the advance of German 
manufacturing industry is largely due to a full and generous 
recognition of the great part played by science in national pro- 
gress. It is instructive to compare Germany and England by 
means of sentences taken from different parts of Sir Philip 
Magnus’ article. 
Germany. 
The recognition of the ad- 
vantages of scientific and tech- 
nical education characterises 
all classes of society in Ger- 
many, and none more than 
employers of labour engaged in 
productive and engineering 
industry. 
Between the elementary 
school and the technical high 
school or university there is an 
intelligible and well-coordi- 
nated system, which gives 
unity to the entire system of 
education. 
Care is taken that the influ- 
ence of the Minister of Instruc- 
tion, and of those who advise 
him, shall penetrate into every 
small rural School Board. 
England, 
Unfortunately, there is con- 
siderable doubt among certain 
classes of manufacturers, and 
even among engineers, as to 
the value of education in as- 
sisting industry ; and, judging 
from the treatment in Parlia- 
ment of all educational mea- 
sures, it would seem that our 
legislators are still unconvinced 
of the economic importance of 
the subject. 
At present our schools are 
only dzsjuncta membra of what 
we hope may one day become 
a system. 
There is no responsible au- 
thority to supervise or grade 
our several educational institu- 
tions, so as to bring them 
into organic relation with one 
another, 
General Conclustons.—German education is superior to our 
‘own in its appliances (schools and their equipment), methods of 
instruction, and organisation. The instruction is also more 
closely adapted to the wants and requirements of the people. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, March.—On 
certain methods of Sturm, and their application to the roots of 
Bessel’s functions, by Prof. M. Bécher. This is a paper read before 
the Society at its February meeting, of which the purpose is to 
call attention to Sturm’s methods, rather than to elaborate the 
details of the theory of the roots of Bessel’s functions. These 
methods, which appear to have been overlooked, are given by 
Sturm in Zowzvzlle’s Journal, vol. i. p. 136, &c. In addition to 
the Professor’s own work, the paper discusses two recent proofs 
of theorems, really contained in Sturm’s article, given by 
Messrs. Porter (a graduate student at Harvard) and Van Vleck 
(American Journal of Mathematics, xix. p. 75).—Dr. G. A. 
Miller, in a paper read at the January meeting, continues his 
work on groups. The article is on the transitive substitution 
groups, whose ordersare the products of three prime numbers. — 
Note on the integration of a uniformly convergent series through 
an infinite interval, by Prof. T. S. Fiske, was also read at the 
same meeting. It illustrates a communication by Prof. Osgood, 
which was published in the November number of the Aud/etén. 
—Short notices follow, by Prof. F. Morley, of Dr. L. Huebner’s 
“‘Ebene und Raumliche Geometrie des Masses,” and, by Prof. 
E. W. Brown, of the scientific papers of John Couch Adams. 
—Some points of interest are brought forward in the usual notes. 
NO. 1433, VOL. 55] 
In the numbers of the Fournad of Botany for February, March, 
and April, Messrs. W. and G. S. West continue their description 
of the Fresh-water Algze collected by Welwitsch in Africa, com- 
paratively new ground ; a large number of new and beautiful 
forms, and several new genera, being described and delineated. 
Mr. I. 1. Burrill commences an elaborate article on the fertilisa- 
tion of spring flowers on the Yorkshire coast, containing the 
results of a long series of careful observations, the general con- 
clusions from which will appear in a later number. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Royal Society, March 11.—‘‘ The Comparative Physiology 
of the Suprarenal Capsules.” By Swale Vincent, M.B. (Lond.), 
British Medical Association Research Scholar. Received 
February 18. 
The conclusions arrived at are as follows :— 
(1) The suprarenal capsule of the mammalia corresponds to 
two distinct glands in Elasmobranch fishes, the medulla corre- 
sponding 22 structure and function to the ‘‘ paired segmental ” 
suprarenal bodies (‘‘ medullary glands” they may be called), 
while the cortex corresponds to the interrenal body. 
(2) In Teleosts the medulla appears to be unrepresented, the 
known suprarenal bodies (‘* corpuscles of Stannius ”) consisting 
entirely of cortical substance, and corresponding in structure, 
and most probably in function, to the interrenal body of 
Elasmobranchs. 
(3) The same is most probably true of Ganoids, although I 
am guided here solely by histological evidence ; I have not 
been able to obtain sufficient and suitable material for physio- 
logical investigation. 
Thus it appears from these researches that two primary groups 
of the class Pesces (Teleosts and Ganoids) have no ‘‘ medulla” 
but only ‘‘ cortex.” So far as I know, the only piece of work 
published on the physiology of the suprarenal capsules in fishes 
is that of Pettit (12). This observer has made out a true 
physiological compensatory hypertrophy of one suprarenal 
in the eel after the other one has been removed. This renders 
it probable (what indeed was suggested by histological appear- 
ances) that this ‘‘cortical gland” has a secreting function. 
Pettit looks upon this organ in the eel as the fundamental type 
of the suprarenal capsule, but it appears to me much more 
probable that it represents cortex alone. 
Physical Society, April 9.—Mr. Shelford Bidwell 
in the chair.—Mr. T. A. Garrett read a paper on a 
nickel stress telephone. In conjunction with Mr. W. 
Lucas, the author has experimented upon telephones with 
nickel magnets. A magnetised nickel rod is wound with in- 
sulated wire, and is then fixed vertically by a clamp at its lower 
end. A wooden diaphragm is rigidly attached to the top of 
the rod in a horizontal plane. The rod just passes through the 
middle of the diaphragm, where it is fixed with sealing-wax. 
The diaphragm is entirely supported by the nickel rod. On 
speaking against the top of the diaphragm, variations of longi- 
tudinal pressure, and consequently of magnetisation, are pro- 
duced in the nickel, and corresponding undulatory currents are 
induced in the surrounding coil. The nickel wire is sometimes 
magnetised by stroking it with a magnet, and sometimes by 
passing a current through the coil. A diaphragm of pine-wood 
gives better results than a metallic plate. The instrument does 
not work well asa ‘‘receiver” ; an ordinary telephone is used 
for this latter purpose. The results obtained with a weakly- 
magnetised nickel rod are much better than those witha strongly- 
magnetised steel rod, indicating that the undulatory currents 
are due rather to magnetic variations arising from changes of 
stress than to the relative motions of the magnet and coil. Dr. 
S. P. Thompson said that, some years ago, he had worked with 
a somewhat similar apparatus, using it as a ‘‘ receiver,” with 
wires of nickel, cobalt, and iron. Cobalt gave the best results ; 
the metallic strips in his experiments dipped into the solenoids 
without contact with them. This arrangement did not work 
well as a ‘‘ transmitter,” even when a battery was included in 
the circuit. In some cases the rods were cut into short lengths 
separated by brass. Mr. Boys asked how the nickel “‘stress ” 
instrument compared in clearness and loudness with an ordinary 
telephone. Mr, Shelford Bidwell had tried a nickel telephone 
