NOVEMBER 2, 1916] 
training. A student on leaving school will enter the 
university and will spend a session there, passing the 
intermediate examination for the B.Sc. degree - in 
engineering at the end; if his record is good, and he 
is a promising student, he will be recommended to 
a firm which will allow him to enter its works for 
a period of fourteen months, This will enable the 
student to judge to what extent he is fitted for an 
engineering career, and will also enable the manu- 
_ facturers to form an.impression as to his suitability. 
_ He will then return to the university and continue his 
studies for a further period of two years, in some 
cases spending the long vacation in the works; after 
that he will return to the same works, if he has 
given satisfaction, for another period of fourteen 
months. A number of firms have already agreed to 
talke part in the experiment, so that a satisfactory trial 
is assured. The “sandwich”’ scheme, besides provid- 
_ ing an improved method of engineering training, will 
also, it is hoped, bring the important firms which are 
_ taking part in it into closer touch with the. University, 
_ and thus lead to more co-operation in research and 
other matters. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
MANCHESTER. 
Literary and Philosophical Society, October 3.—Prof. 
S. J. Hickson, president, in the chair.—Prof. F. E. 
Weiss; Sir E, Kutherford, WW. Thomson, and Dr. G. 
Hickling ; The discussions at the Newcastle meeting of 
the British Association. 
October 17.—Prof. S. J. Hickson, president, in the 
chair.—Prof. W. H. Lang: Rhynia Gwynne-Vaughant, 
Kidston and Lang, a new type of vascular cryptogam 
from the Old Red Sandstone of Rhynie, Aberdeen- 
shire. The chert in which the plant occurs was dis- 
covered by Dr. Mackie, of Elgin, and the plant re- 
mains are being studied by Dr, R. Kidston and Prof. 
W. H. Lang, the results being published by the 
Royal Society of Edinburgh. Photographic slides 
showed the underground rhizomes attached to the 
peaty soil by rhizoids, the branched cylindrical aerial 
stems, which were leafless, and the large cylindrical 
sporangia. The internal structure is well preserved, 
so that our knowledge of this ancient land plant is 
pretty complete. Rhynia differs so much from other 
vascular cryptogams that a new class, the Psilo- 
phytales, has been founded to contain it. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, October 9.—M. Camille Jordan 
in the chair.—P. Puiseux: The physical libration of 
_ the moon, studied on forty photographs obtained at 
the Paris.Observatory between the years 1894 and 1909. 
The method of measurement and calculation employed 
is fully described, and the conclusion is drawn that 
the theory of the movement of the moon round its 
centre of gravity, established by considering the satel- 
lite as an indeformable body, does not correspond with 
the facts.—D. Eydoux : The transmission of strokes of 
a hydraulic ram in pipes with bifurcations.—F. 
Houssay : The sound of distant cannonades. The com- 
plexity of the question. A description of observations 
made at Sceaux. Heavy cannonades can be heard at 
distances at which single cannon-shots cannot be 
detected; there would appear to be a summation effect. 
—M. de Broglie: On.a-system of absorption bands 
corresponding to the L-rays of X-ray spectra of the 
elements, and on the importance of the phenomena of 
selective absorption in radiography. Commenting on 
a recent communication by M. Boll and L. Mallet. the 
author agrees that the radiations emitted by a Coolidge 
NO. 2453, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
therefore, proposed a modified ‘‘sandwich’’ system of 
183 
tube are as heterogeneous as those given by other 
bulbs, and give a relatively complex spectrum. Filtra- 
tion through a non-selective screen, such as aluminium, 
may be made to give a roughly monochromatic beam. 
From a discussion of the action on a silver bromide 
emulsion, it is shown that a practically monochromatic 
| radiation can be obtained by interposing a selective 
screen containing a substance (cadmium, antimony) 
with an atomic weight slightly higher than that of 
silver.—P, Nicolardot; The action of reagents upon 
French, Bohemian, and German glassware. Glass- 
ware for chemical purposes is now made by several 
firms in France. Some of these glasses have been sub- 
mitted to the attack of various chemical reagents 
(water, solutions of hydrochloric acid, ammonia, 
ammonium chloride, sodium carbonate), comparative 
tests being carried out under the same conditions with 
Jena glass, two Bohemian and two Thuringian 
glasses. The French glasses proved to be equal to 
the best German glasses. Comparative tests were also 
carried out on the resistance of the glasses to sudden 
changes of temperature and to the action of water at 
temperatures up to 160° C. Complete analyses of the 
French; Jena, and Bohemian glasses used are given.— 
A. Pictet, L, Ramseyer, and O. Kaiser: Some hydro- 
carbons contained in coal. A soft Sarre coal was 
extracted on the large scale (five and a half tons) with 
benzene. From the extraction product (0-25 per cent. 
of the coal) seven unsaturated and seven saturated 
hydrocarbons were isolated. These have been com- 
pared with the hydrocarbons obtained by the distilla- 
tion of coal at 450° C. in a vacuum, and it is shown 
that a part, at least, of the hydrocarbons of the vacuum 
tar exist as such in the coal. The extracted material 
proved to be optically active, although no fraction from 
the vacuum tar possessed this property. Hence it 
would appear that a temperature of 450° is sufficient 
-to racemise the volatile active substances contained in 
coal. This furnishes a proof that the materials from 
which the coal has been formed have never been 
carried to that temperature.—R. Masse and H. Leroux : 
The estimation of phenol in crude tar phenols. The 
process suggested consists of a preliminary fractional 
distillation, followed by a determination of the melting 
point.—J. Bougault: The semicarbazones of a-ketonic 
acids. The a-iodocinnamic acids.—G, Barthelat: The 
structure of the floral pedicel of Mesembryanthemum. 
—M. Mirande: The cytological formation of antho- 
eyanin in the living plant.—M. Molliard: The dis- 
engagement of oxygen arising from the reduction of 
nitrates by green plants.—Em, Bourquelot : Remarks 
on the rotatory powers of the a- and B-alcohol-d- 
glucosides and alcohol-d-galactosides.—J. Legendre : 
The destruction of mosquitoes by fish. It has been 
proved that the Chinese carp (Carassius auratus) 
flourishes when introduced into the rice plantations 
of Madagascar, devouring the larve of the mosquito 
in large numbers, thus helping to reduce malaria.—A. 
Lumiére : The presence of the tetanus bacillus at the 
surface of projectiles buried in cicatrised wounds. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Dyeing in Germany and America, with Notes on 
Colour Production. By S. H. Higgins. Second 
edition, Pp. viiit+143. (Manchester: University 
Press; London: Longmans and Co.) 5s. net. 
Philips’ Planisphere showing the Principal Stars 
Visible for Every Hour in the Year. (London: G. 
Philip and Son, Ltd.) 1s. 6d. net. 
A Text-Book of Quantitative Chemical Analysis. 
Bv Drs. A. C. Cumming and S. A. Kay. Second 
edition. Pp. xv+4o02. (London: Gurney and Jack- 
son; Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.) gs. net. 
