Mae 
3 
SEPTEMBER 14, 1916] 
Colonial commerce; there are three important rail- 
way and three usetul fishery maps. 
On the whole, the work achieves an object of 
notable importance—a comprehensive summary of one 
department of American history. There has been a 
development in time, but the more important changes 
have been spatial, so that the underlying unity of the 
work is geographical rather than historical; spread 
over an extensive area, the people have always tended 
towards sectional interests, and the chronological 
sequence of events necessarily depends upon a con- 
tinuous adjustment to new topographical conditions. 
In the earlier periods the exchanges were triangular 
in character; at first, from the north-eastern coast- 
lands ships carried produce to the West Indies; the 
goods were, practically, exchanged for sugar, which 
went to Great Britain, and were there exchanged for 
British manufactured products to be sent to Boston; 
later, when the Middle West became populous, farm 
produce from the Ohio districts went down the 
Mississippi, was exchanged for cotton, which was sent 
coastwise to New York, and was there exchanged for 
‘manufactured goods, which went west to the Ohio. 
The gradual substitution of direct trading based 
upon increased facilities of ship, canal, and railway, 
upon increased divergence of fundamental interest as 
the several areas confined attention to one or other 
definite form of production, and upon the increased 
quantity of coin and coin equivalent in the country, is 
resolved into a commentary upon the steady develop- 
ment of the natural resources »f the United States. 
Tobacco and cotton exports from the plantation States, 
direct trade with the West Indies (which was always 
of paramount importance), and direct trade, at a later 
date, with the Far East, gradually gave the United 
States the largest mercantile fleet in the world, and 
despite piracy and privateering, this predominance was 
maintained until the substitution of iron for timber 
in the construction of the hulls of ships. The story of 
the limitation of the fisheries, and of the decline of the 
whale fishery, helps to explain the smallness of the 
United States marine, both commercial and naval, at 
the present day. 
The facts for the years 1860, 1880, and 1900 show 
that the production of maize, wheat, oats, and butter 
was at least trebled; coal production advanced from 
13 to 241 million tons annually, petroleum from a half 
to 64 million barrels; the numbers of wage-earners 
engaged in manufacturing increased from 1} to 5% 
millions, and the manufactured products increased 
from 377 to 2600 million pounds sterling. 
‘UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Tue extension of the I.ondon (Royal Free Hospital) 
School of Medicine for Women at Hunter Street, 
Brunswick Square, W.C., will be opened by H.M. the 
Queen on Monday, October 2, at 3 p.m. 
By the death, on September 1, of Mrs. William 
Jackson, widow of Mr. William Jackson, of Thorn- 
grove, Aberdeen, a large sum becomes available for 
the founding of a chair of engineering in the Univer- 
sity of Aberdeen. 
ARRANGEMENTS have been made by the Cheshire 
County Council Education Committee with the authori- 
ties of McGill University, Montreal, which will permit 
of engineering students winning technological scholar- 
ships in Cheshire to have a portion of their three 
years’ training at McGill University. 
Ir was announced in our issue of August 31 (vol. 
xevii., p- 555) that the Weardale Lead Company is 
establishing two mining scholarships, each of the value 
NO. 2446, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
43 
of 6o0l., in connection respectively with the Royal 
School of Mines and Armstrong College, Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne. The former scholarship will be known as 
the ‘‘ Richardson,” and the latter, a correspondent in- 
forms us, as the ‘“‘Cameron-Swan,” and not the 
‘““Cameron,"’ as stated in our note. 
Tue syllabuses of classes which begin at the Sir 
John Cass Technical Institute, Aldgate, on September 
25 has now been issued. The courses of instruction 
are specially concerned with the technical training of 
persons engaged in chemical, metallurgical, and elec- 
trical industries. In addition, facilities are offered for 
special investigation and research. We notice that the 
curriculum in connection with the fermentation indus- 
tries includes courses in brewing and malting and the 
microbiology of the fermentation industries. In the 
metallurgy department advanced courses are provided 
on gold, silver, and allied metals, on metallography 
and pyrometry, and other important technical subjects. 
Aw abridged calendar for the forthcoming session of 
the London School of Economics and Political Science 
(University of London) has been issued. One of the 
objects of the school is to supply liberal courses of 
educatien specially adapted to the needs of persons 
taking up any kind of administration, such as the 
service of any Government or local authority, or the 
higher branches of Commerce and industry. Courses 
of study are arranged also for students desiring to 
graduate at the University of London in the faculty 
of economics. The school is provided with a research 
department in which the methods of utilising great 
libraries and collections of material are explained and 
hints are given in the prosecution of research. The 
time-tables of lectures and classes printed in the calen- 
dar are comprehensive and exhaustive, and the list of 
lecturers includes the names of many distinguished 
authorities. 
TuE new session of the Battersea Polytechnic begins 
on September 19. In the day technical college, courses 
have been arranged in civil, electrical, motor, and 
chemical engineering, and full preparation for degrees 
in science at the University of London. The depart- 
ment of hygiene and physiology provides training for 
women sanitary inspectors and health visitors. Full 
evening courses will be held in a great variety of sub- 
jects in science, technology, and commerce. Special 
classes for the training of men and women munition 
workers are held, and the manufacture of munitions 
for the Admiralty is undertaken. At the request of the 
War Office, a full-time course in engineering for men 
of the Royal Flying Corps has been arranged. Red 
Cross classes for women in the subjects of first aid, 
home nursing, cookery, and laundry work are also 
held. In addition, the members of the chemistry de- 
partment have been engaged on the preparation of 
chemical substances for the War Office, and the 
staff of the physics department has assisted in the 
testing of optical instruments for the Ministry of 
Munitions. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, August 28.—M. Paul Appell in 
the chair.—A. Lacroix; The constitution of the vol- 
canic rocks of the archipelago of the Comores. This 
archipelago is entirely volcanic, and geological re- 
searches are carried out with difficulty; basaltic tufa 
predominates, and the porous rocks have undergone 
profound alteration. The tropical vegetation is very 
intense and effectually hides the subsoil. A chart of 
the geological formation of the Grand Comore is given, 
together with six complete chemical analyses of typical 
