JUNE 19, 1902 | 
NATURE 
Ig! 
servitutis imaginem vividam expressit? Talium 
laboribus indies plura de Africae regione immensa cognovimus, 
et telluris illius tenebras luce indies maiore illustratas cernimus. 
Duco ad vos virum a societate zoologica numismate aureo 
honoris causa donatum, equitem insignem, HARRY HAMILTON 
JOHNSTON. 
Universitatis Londiniensis nuper denuo constitutae praesidem 
primum ea qua par est observantia salutamus, virum studiis 
mathematicis olim excultum, Collegii sui inter Oxonienses 
honoris causa socium ; primum in comitatu Eboracensi, deinde 
inter Londinienses scientiae physicae professorem ; Societatis 
Britannicae scientiarum finibus proferendis nuper praepositum ; 
Regiae denique Societatis inter lumina iamdudum numeratum. 
Qui insulae Britannicae explorationem magneticam non semel 
tantum ad finem felicem perduxit, nunc Universitati maximae 
est praepositus, in qua, animi vi quadam magnetica praeditus, 
collegarum suorum omnium corda ad se attrahit, et Universitatis 
totius ad communem fructum Londiniensium _liberalitatem 
allicit. Duco ad vos Universitatis Londiniensis praesidem 
insignem, ARTHURUM WILLELMUM RUCKER. 
Ho.ipay courses in botany, physics, physiology and zoology 
will be held at the University of Jena from August 4 to 
August 16. Particulars and detailed programmes of these and 
other courses can be obtained from the secretary, Mrs. Dr. 
Schnetger, 2 Gartenstrasse, Jena. 
THE discussion of the Education Bill was resumed in. Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons on Tuesday. An amendment 
providing that the council of a borough with a population of more 
than 10,000, or an urban district with a population of more than 
20,000, must obtain the consent of the council of the county in 
order to become the local authority for elementary education 
was put to the vote and negatived. A proposal to omit the 
whole of the clause which constitutes the county councils local 
education authorities was also rejected. 
AT a meeting of the council of the Institution of Mining and 
Metallurgy on Tuesday, it was decided to offer scholarships in 
mining and metallurgy to the following colleges :—The Royal 
School of Mines, two scholarships of 50/. each ; King’s Col- 
lege (London), 50/. ; the Camborne School of Mines (Corn- 
wall), 50/7.; and the Durham College of Science (Newcastle- 
on-Tyne), 50/7. These scholarships will be offered annually for 
three years. In addition to other work for the advancement 
of technical education in mining and metallurgy, the Institution 
has submitted to the Board of Education a comprehensive 
scheme for affording practical experience in workshops through- 
out the kingdom to mining and metallurgical students, and it is 
expected shortly to be put in force. 
AT a special meeting of the council of King’s College, 
London, held on Friday last, it was resolved by twenty-two votes 
to two, ‘‘ That, in view of the situation created by the Univer- 
sity of London Act, 1898, the council, while determined to 
maintain the connection of the college with the Church of 
England as set forth in section 5 of King’s College, London, 
Act, 1882, resolves that, so soon as may be, every religious test 
as a qualification for office, position, or membership in or 
under the council or college, other than professorships or lecture- 
ships in the Faculty of Theology, shall cease to exist, and, 
further, that all necessary and proper steps be taken to give 
effect to this resolution.” The section referred to in this reso- 
lution specifies the following as the purpose of the college :— 
To give ‘‘instruction in the various branches of literature and 
science and the doctrines and duties of Christianity as the same 
are inculcated by the Church of England.” 
A SUCCESSFUL exhibition, designed to show the provision 
made for science teaching in the secondary and elementary 
schools of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, was held at the 
Hartley College, Southampton, on Saturday last. A well- 
arranged series of exhibits enabled the visitor to see at a glance 
the encouragement given by His Majesty’s inspectors and others 
to the construction of simple home-made apparatus to illustrate 
the principles of physics and chemistry. It was clear from the 
work of students which was on view that considerable prominence 
is being given to nature study in these districts ; and the collections 
and drawings of biological subjects of the kind shown should 
serve to extend and improve the teaching of botany and zoology 
in schools. The conference of teachers held at the Hartley 
NO. 1703, VOL. 66] 
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College in connection with the exhibition, to discuss methods of 
teaching science, was largely attended and gave evidence of a 
widespread desire to introduce observational and experimental 
methods in all scientific instruction. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON. 
Chemical Society, May 28.—Prof. Meldola, F.R.S., vice- 
| president, in the chair.—Taxine, the alkaloid of yew, by Dr. 
Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S., and Mr. G. Stubbs. The authors have 
confirmed the observations of Hilger and Brande, Marmé and 
others on the occurrence of an amorphous alkaloid in yew.— 
The sampling of soils, by Dr. J. W. Leather. Comparative 
experiments were made in India to determine the possible 
accuracy of the auger method of sampling soils, the available 
phosphoric acid and potash being taken as a standard of com- 
The results showed that in most cases the agreement 
was good between the samples, but that there was occasionally 
a divergence of about five per cent.—Some excessively saline 
Indian well waters, by Dr. J. W. Leather. An examination 
of some well waters collected in the Muttra district, United 
Provinces, India, showed that they contained from ‘2 to 2 per 
cent. of saline substances consisting of sulphate, nitrate, chloride 
and carbonate of sodium. —Nitrobromo-derivatives of fluorescein, 
by Dr. Hewitt and Mr. Woodforde. Several of these substances 
have been isolated and characterised. — Phosphorus sesquisulphide 
and its behaviour with Mitscherlich’s test, by Mr. F. G. Clay- 
ton. Analyses of commercial specimens of this substance have 
been made, and show that they contain from 83 to 97 per cent. 
of sesquisulphide.—Atomic and molecular heats of fusion, by 
Mr. P. W. Robertson. The author finds that for a number of 
the elements and their binary inorganic derivatives a relation 
between (atomic or molecular) heat of fusion, absolute melting 
point and atomic volume exists which is capable of a more or 
less general representation by an equation of the form Aw/T?/V 
=«.—The preparation of mixed ketones by heating mixed 
calcium salts of organic acids, by Mr. E. B. Ludlam. An 
extension of the method proposed by Young’ in 1891.— 
Isomeric additive products of methyl, ethyl and propyl benzyl 
ketones with benzylidene aniline, part iv., by Dr. Francis and 
Mr. Ludlam.—The influence of solvents on the rotation of 
optically active compounds, part iii., influence of benzene, 
toluene, o-xylene, m-xylene, #-xylene and mesitylene on the 
rotation of ethyl tartrate, by Dr. T, S. Patterson. The above 
solvents exert in the order named an increasing influence in 
diminishing the rotation of ethyl tartrate ; in the case of the first 
four solvents this effect reaches a minimum and a maximum at 
appropriate concentrations.—iv. Influence of naphthalene on 
the rotation of ethyl tartrate, by Dr. T. S. Patterson. The 
effect of this hydrocarbon is to increase the observed rotation. 
Geological Society, May 28.—Prof. Charles Lapworth, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The Red Sandstone-Rocks of 
Peel (Isle of Man), by Prof. W. Boyd. Dawkins, F.R.S. 
The Red Sandstone series, ranging along the coast from Peel 
to Wili’s Strand, is faulted into the Ordovician massif of the Isle 
of Man. It has been referred to the Old Red Sandstone, the 
Calciferous Sandstone, the basement Carboniferous, and to the 
Permian. The series consists of red sandstones containing 
irregular conglomerates and breccias, more or less chemically 
altered, known in the lake district as ‘‘ Brockram.” Sections 
at Ballagnane, Creg Malin, and at the Gob and Traie Fogog, 
are described in detail ; the rocks are classified, and their range 
to the north-east and inland is described. It is pointed out 
that the rocks are different in many respects from the basement 
Carboniferous rocks of Langness and elsewhere, and a list of 
the materials contained in the ‘‘Brockrams” is given. The 
fossiliferous pebbles in the rocks in question are described, and 
their fossil contents determined. The whole group of fossils is 
Lower Carboniferous and Ordovician, and centres mainly in the 
Carboniferous Limestone. A comparison is instituted with the 
Permian rocks of Barrowmouth, the Vale of Eden and else- 
where.—The Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic rocks under 
the glacial drift in the north of the Isle of Man, by Prof. W. 
Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S.—Note on a preliminary examination of 
the ash that fell on Barbados, after the eruption at St. Vincent 
(West Indies), by Dr. J. S. Flett, with an analysis of the dust 
by Dr. William Pollard (see p. 130). 
