402 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 18, 1917 
tion of the medical profession, and the use of anti- 
septics while’ Lister was still unknown. . How long 
ergot has been employed by the Zuni for the chief 
purpose to which it is devoted by civilised men, no one 
‘can say.” 
The subject of the ethnobotany of the American 
Indians is discussed in an elaborate report on “ Iroquois 
Foods and Food Preparation,’ by Mr. F. W. Waugh, 
published as Memoir No. 86 by the Department of 
Mines, Canada. We have a full account of their agri- 
cultural methods and customs, their cooking and eating 
‘customs, and the utensils employed in gathering, pre- 
paring, and cooking food. The method of rain-making 
is of interest. The performer, stripped to the waist, or 
lad only ina breech-cloth, burns tobacco, and calls upon 
the Thunder Man, in return for his offering of tobacco, 
to provide abundant rainfall. Another curious custom 
is that of subjecting girls at puberty to the task of 
grinding a quantity of the hardest grain which can 
be found: if she fails to accomplish the task she is 
believed to be unfit for married life. Spoons used in 
eating are decorated with designs which are disclosed 
in dreams, and interpreted by the local seer. Such 
‘dream-objects presented to the sick secure recovery. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE, 
Lonxpon.—Ten public lectures on ‘‘Science and the 
Empire: the Exploitation of Plants,” arranged in co- 
‘operation with the Imperial Studies Committee, will 
be delivered at University College during the term 
which opened on Monday. The introductory lecture 
on January 22 will be by Prof. F. W. Oliver, and 
the remaining lectures are to be as follows :—Plant 
food and soil problems, Prof. W. B. Bottomley; Tim- 
ber production in Britain, Dr, E. J. Salisbury; 
Cotton, Dr. W. Lawrence Balls: Tea-making, Dr. 
‘S. E. Chandler; The plant as healer, Dr. E. N. 
Thomas; Tropical exploitation, with especial reference 
to rubber, Dr. J. C. Willis; Vegetable dyes, Dr. S. M. 
Baker; Diseases of plants, Dr;.H. €.. i. Gwynne- 
Vaughan; Coal, Dr. Marie C. Stopes. All these lec- 
tures are open to the public without fee. 
Mr. Joserpu Yates, of the Blackburn Technical 
School, has been appointed head of the chemistry de- 
partment of the Derby Technical College. 
Tue sum of 20,0001. has been given anonymously to 
the Higher Institute of Medicine for Women at Petro- 
grad for the foundation of scholarships in the name 
of Count Vorontzoff, who died in 1916. 
A serIes of popular lectures by Miss Edith’ A. 
Browne on “The Tropical Products and Industries 
of the Empire,” illustrated by the collections of the 
Imperial Institute, began yesterday, and will be con- 
tinued on Wednesdays in January, February, March, 
and April, at the Imperial Institute, at 3 o’clock. Ad- 
mission to the lectures is free by ticket, for which appli- 
cation should be made to the director of the Imperial 
Institute, South Kensington. 
Ar the Guildhall Art Gallery on January 12 the Lord 
Mayor took the chair at the annual general meeting of 
the Royal Drawing Society, when the annual report 
was presented and speeches were made on the need 
for convincing educationists of the value of. drawing 
for school work in general, but especially with refer- 
ence to science teaching. <A letter was read from Sir 
Robert Baden-Powell approving the work. of the 
societv, and-stating that in the training of the junior 
Boy Scouts badges had been introduced for proficiency 
in drawing of a kind that displayed observation, 
memory, sense of proportion, reason, and so on. Dr. 
NO. 2464, vor. 98] 
F. A. Bather showed how the society’s method of 
making pupils draw. objects from written descriptions 
encouraged the precise use of language and the precise 
interpretation of it. Few people knew how to read or 
write, but this method taught them how to do both, 
as well as to draw. Sir John Cockburn agreed that 
reading and writing were most difficult arts, and main. 
tained that children should first be given such a know- 
ledge of concrete objects as could best be gained 
through drawing and modelling. The same applied to 
arithmetic. It was absurd to teach children their 
weights and measures until they knew what was really 
meant by a quart, a bushel, or a pound. The en- 
deavour of this society to make drawing a natural 
mode of expression in all branches of school work 
certainly deserves warm encouragement. 
WE have received particulars of the dedication of the 
Ceramic Engineering Building at the University of 
Illinois, Urbana, IIl., on December 6-7, 1916. The 
American idea of the meaning of the term ‘‘ ceramic” 
is interesting in view of a recent assumption in Eng- 
land that ‘‘ceramic” refers only to pottery, and that 
the English Ceramic Society ought, therefore, to deal 
with nothing but pottery. This assumption is not in 
accord with general usage. . The ceramic industries to 
be treated in this building cover the technology of all 
mineral products except ores and minerals of organic 
origin, and it is stated to include all kinds of clay pro- 
ducts; plasters, mortars, cements, and concrete; all 
varieties of glass; enamelled metals; and refractory, 
insulating, and abrasive materials. The new Ceramic 
Engineering Building covers a ground area of 67. ft. by 
18q ft.; it is a three-story structure with a basement, 
and, from a description in the dedicatory pamphlet, 
it appears to be handsomely equipped. It is said 
that the department of ceramic engineering is intended 
(1) to train engineers for the direction and control of 
various operations connected, with ceramic industries; 
(2) to cultivate intimate relations. with the clay-workers 
of the State; (3) to co-operate with the State Geological 
Survey in the systematic study of all the ceramic re- 
sources of the State; and (4) to prosecute research in 
special ceramic problems, and the more fundamental 
scientific problems connected with the behaviour of 
ceramic materials in the various processes to. which 
they are subjected during manufacture. The staff in- 
cludes Prof. E. W. Washburn as head of the depart- 
ment, Prof, C. W. Parmelee, Assistant Prof. R..K. 
Hursh, and Instructor H. C. Arnold. Addresses on 
the development of. the various ceramic industries were . 
given at the dedication by Messrs. S. W. Stratton, 
J. P. Beck, W. D. Yeates, W. W. Marr, H. J. Burt, 
C. Bragdon, and C. F, Binns. “The ideals described in 
the dedicatory pamphlet are splendid, and it would be 
equally splendid if. they were realised in the near 
future. " . - 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
5 Wasuincton, D.C. : ; 
National Academy of Sciences, November, 1916 (Pro- 
ceedings No. 11, vol. ii.)—C, Barus: Path differences 
within which spectrum interferences - are observable. 
The method of observing interferences in the -zeroth, 
first, second, third, and even fourth order, successively, 
without essential change of the parts of the apparatus, 
is noteworthy. The present experiments furnish a strik- 
ing example of the uniform breadth of the strip of 
spectrum carrying the fringes. quite anart from the 
dispersion of the spectrum.—C, Barts: Non-reversed 
spectra of restricted coincidence: The method,, apart 
from. any practical outcome, is worth. pursuing be- 
cause of the data it will furnish of the width of the 
strip of spectrum carrying interference fringes under 
any given conditions.—L. J. Henderson and E. J. 
