156 
NATURE 
[OcToBER 26, 1916 
Sailors and Soldiers on the Land, together with some 
Considerations’ by a Free Trader in Favour of the 
Policy therein Advocated.”’ 
Tue following volumes are in preparatioa for ap- 
pearance in the ‘“ University of Michigan Studies” 
(New York: The Macmillan Company) :—Contribu- 
tions to the History of Science, part ii., *‘The Pro- 
dromus of Nicholas Steno’s Latin Dissertation on a 
Solid Body Enclosed by Natural Process within a 
Solid,” translated into English by Prof. J. G. Winter, 
with a foreword by Prof. W. H. Hobbs, illustrated ; 
part iii., ‘‘ Vesuvius in Antiquity,” passages of ancient 
authors, with a translation and elucidations, by F. W. 
Kelsey, illustrated; Scientific Series, vol. ii., ** Studies 
on Divergent Series and Summability,” by Prof. W. B. 
Ford. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Two Larce Firesatts.—On October 20 at 8h. 14m. 
and toh, 34m. p.m. large fireballs were observed. The 
first was seen by Mr. J. E. Clark, of Purley, Surrey, and 
it was estimated as twice as bright as Venus. The 
path was 82°+62° to 79°+35°, and its duration four 
to five seconds. The second was seen by Mrs, Fiam- 
metta Wilson at Totteridge, Herts, and. by Mr. Den- 
ning at Bristol. It appeared as a ball of fire stream- 
ing slowly along in a level course about 8° above the 
northern horizon. This fireball was at a great distance 
from the observers, and probably over the southern 
region of Scotland. It probably emanated, like Mr. 
Clark’s fireball, seen earlier on the same night, from 
a radiant near Zeta Herculis low in the N.W. sky. 
Encxe’s Comet.—Further particulars of Dr. Max 
Wolf’s recent observation of Encke’s comet are given 
in Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 4861. The search 
for the comet was undertaken at the instigation of 
Dr. Kritzinger, and eight plates were taken at different 
times during August and September, with exposures 
amounting altogether to about thirteen hours. The 
last two exposures were made on September 22, in a 
very clear sky, and though the plates were on the 
point of being regarded as failures, the use of lower 
magnifying power easily revealed the comet, at a point 
about 20’ from the position given by the ephemeris. 
The comet appeared on both plates as a faint nebulous 
patch, with an extremely small condensation, and the 
displacement of the images in the interval between the 
exposures corresponded precisely with the ephemeris. 
The photographs were taken with the 71-cm. reflector, 
which was guided to follow the probable motion of the 
comet. The observation is of special interest from the 
fact that the comet was not far from the aphelion 
point of its orbit. 
INTERNAL Motion 1N Spina. NepuLa:.—An investi- 
gation of internal motions in the spiral nebula 
Messier tor has been undertaken by A. van Maanen 
(Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol ii., p. 386). In the first 
instance measures weré made with the stereocom- 
parator on two photographs taken by Ritchey in 1910 
and 1915, and strong evidence of motion, even in this 
short interval, was obtained. Other plates, taken 
- with the Crossley reflector of the Lick Observatory 
in 1899, 1908, and 1914, were afterwards included in 
the discussion. The resulting data depend upon 
measures of eighty-seven nebulous points and thirty- 
two comparison stars. Relatively to the mean of the 
comparison stars, the annual motion of translation of 
the nebula was found to be +0005” in R.A. and 
—o0:013” in declination. The mean rotational motion 
is 0-022” left-handed, and the mean radial motion 
0-007” outward. The measures further indicate a 
small, but scarcely trustworthy, decrease of rotational 
NO. 2452, VOL. 98] 
motion with increasing distance from the centre. 
At the mean distance of 5’ from the centre, the rota- 
tional motion of 0-022" corresponds to a period of 
about 85,000 years. If the parallax were known, and 
if it could be assumed that the movements were in 
elliptical orbits, the central mass could be calculated. — 
A comparison with the average translation of spiral 
nebulz determined by Curtis suggests a parallax of 
0-005", while a comparison. of the cross-motions with 
the known radial velocities of some of the spiral 
nebulz leads to 0-0003".. The corresponding central 
masses are 30,000 and 140,000,000 times that of the 
sun, and the corresponding orbital’ motions 21 and 
345 km./sec. Evidence of rotation has also been 
found in Messier 81. ’ 
THE ASSOCIATION OF TECHNICAL 
INSTITUTIONS. : 
LARGELY attended general meeting of the 
members of the Association of Technical Institu- 
tions was held on October 20-21 at the Imperial 
College of Technology and Science, under the presi- 
dency of Sir Alfred Keogh, K.C.B., the president of 
the association, with the view of discussing educa- 
tional questions bearing upon the work of technical 
schools and colleges. The Right Hon. A. H. Dyke- 
Acland, the chairman of the executive of the governors 
of the Imperial College, extended a welcome to the 
members and referred to the splendid service which 
Sir Alfred Keogh, the rector of the college, in his 
capacity of director of the Army Medical Service, was 
rendering to the nation. : 
The conference was addressed in the first instance 
by Lord Haldane, Chancellor of the University of 
Bristol, who took for his subject ‘‘Education after 
the War, with special reference to Technical Instruc- 
tion.’’ 
technical education was based upon large ideas and 
was penetrated by sound knowledge it must surely 
fail. He deprecated most strongly the current con- 
troversies which sought to place the teaching of the 
humanities. and natural science in unfriendly 
relation. Knowledge was one and _ indivisible. 
The study of fine literature and of the thought it 
embodies was just as needful to the complete train- 
ing of the human being as the study of mathematics 
or of the phenomena of Nature, since the object of 
all true education was a wider, a more penetrating 
and stimulating vision. The teaching of the higher 
mathematics could, if taught in the right way, be 
made as stimulating as the classics. There was a 
great awakening in the nation, induced by the events 
of the war, to the paramount necessity for know- 
ledge. Education and, business were not really in 
two compartments. Rightly considered, the success- 
ful pursuit of manufacture and commerce depended 
for its permanence and value upon sound methods of 
education and the acquisition of accurate knowledge. 
Many apt and clear illustrations in support of this 
contention were adduced from the sphere of chemical, 
physical, and electrical science and practice. In the 
domain of applied science attention was directed to the . 
fact that London was the great centre of the world’s 
trade in furs, but that in order to make the furs market- 
able to the consumer we exported them to foreign coun- 
tries, notably to Saxony, where alone they could be 
dyed and treated with suitable effect. The aloofness 
between the man of business and the man of science 
must cease, and all classes from the workers upwards, 
amongst whom there was splendid raw material, 
must receive the benefits of scientific training. We 
must have a higher standard of knowledge not only 
for managers, but for workmen also, if the position of 
He made clear in his address that unless 
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