432 
money available under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) 
Act for technical education in England (excluding Monmouth- 
shire), or, as the grant is usually called, the ‘‘ whisky ” money, 
was during the same period 924,360/., but only a part was 
appropriated to educational purposes, 60,513/. going to the 
relief of rates, the London County Council recognising this un- 
enlightened policy to the extent of 32,711/. It is gratifying 
to find, however, that nine only of the forty-nine county 
councils included in the return devote part of their funds avail- 
able for education to the relief of rates, and only six of the 
sixty-two county borough councils allow any such diversion of 
sunds. More than this, two county councils, twenty-four county 
borough councils, ninety-nine boroughs and 195 urban districts 
are making grants out of the rates under the Technical In- 
struction Acts. In Wales and Monmouth, the whole of the 
‘* whisky” money is devoted to education, and in addition to 
this sum about 24,000/. raised by rates was expended for the 
same purpose during the period under review. 
ON August 23, Prof. Geddes presided over the Nature-Study 
Conference organised in connection with the University Exten- 
sion Meeting at Cambridge, and Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb gave 
an address on his ‘‘ Impressions of * Nature-Study.’”’ Mr. Webb 
showed the importance of the three branches of nature-study 
which he recognises with reference to four of its non-utilitarian 
aims. ‘‘ Scientific teaching will often provide,” he said, ‘a 
definite hobby or interest in life.” Going to the other extreme, 
simple ‘‘ nature-lore "—studied out of doors—may be expected 
to add to ‘* the mere joy of existence,” to produce ‘‘an appre- 
ciation of the country and its pursuits,”’ and in correlation with 
“‘unsystematised nature-knowledge ”—acquired in school as 
part of general education—to cultivate “‘ habits of investigation 
by directing natural curiosity into rational channels.” The 
necessity of emphasising outdoor work, the ease with which it 
may be undertaken off-hand by any teacher and the possibility of 
regarding it as nature-study in a restricted sense were touched 
upon. Mr. Macan’s excellent suggestion that special nature- 
study training colleges should be inaugurated by groups of 
county councils was strongly commended. In the interesting 
discussion which followed, Miss Ravenhill showed how nature- 
study leads to the necessary consideration of man in his environ- 
ment. Prof. Haddon hinted that the best naturalists, and there- 
fore teachers of nature-study, were not necessarily those who 
had passed examinations. Mr. Oldham disagreed with those 
who would confine nature-study to animate objects and thus 
exclude the consideration of the earth itself. Miss Von Wyss 
described the voluntary biological work undertaken by all the 
students in the Cambridge Training College. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. 
Journal of Botany, August.—Continuing their descriptions 
of ‘* Crassulas from South Africa,” Mr. S. Schonland and Mr. 
E. G. Baker introduce twelve new species of the genus.—A 
bryological article, with illustrative plate, by Mr. E. S. Salmon 
is mainly concerned with a consideration of the genus 
Thiemea, C. Miill, which he is inclined to sink in the genus 
Wilsoniella of the same authority, and the description of a 
variety of Syrrhopodon Gardnert, Schwaegr.—Other articles 
are:—Buchanan’s Avan Plants, J. Britten; Azeracium 
murorum and H. caesium, F. N. Williams; West Lancashire 
Notes, C. E. Salmon and H. S. Thompson, 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
PARIS. 
Academy of Sciences, August 18.—M. Bouquet de la 
ane in the chair.—The resistance to traction of mortar, by 
Considére. The experiments were carried out on prisms 
stienctheted at the angles with iron wires. The results of the 
traction experiments were automatically recorded by the testing 
machine, and reduced facsimiles of these curves accompany the 
paper.—On the year’s work at the observatory at the summit of 
Mont Blanc, by M. J. Janssen. The researches which are pro- 
posed for the present year include a study of the modifications 
which the hemoglobin of the blood undergoes with muscular 
effort at varying altitudes, the relations between the altitude 
NO. 1713, VOL. 66] 
NATURE 
[AucusT 28, 1902 
and rarity of the atmosphere, and the richness of the spectrum 
in violet and ultra-violet rays, studies on atmospheric electricity, 
and the effect upon the composition of the blood and the 
respiratory exchanges of altitude alone or combined with 
muscular effort.—On the assemblage of two bodies, by M. G, 
Koenigs.—On some organic addition compounds, by M. P. 
Lemoult. A description of the preparation and properties of 
some addition compounds of chlorodinitrobenzene with some 
diamines.—Experimental researches on the conservation of 
muscular potential in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, by 
M. Lhotak de Lhota. Carbonic anhydride accelerates the 
fatigue of a muscle by stopping the disengagement of energy. 
On account of this the muscle cannot be used up; the energy 
may be given off after the removal of the carbon dioxide, and 
hence this gas constitutes a favourable factor in preserving 
muscular energy.—The comparative study of the organic fluids 
of the sacculina and the crab, by MM. Louis Bruntz and Jean 
Gautrelet.—On some fossil pollens, male prothallia, pollenic 
tubes, &c., in the Coal-measures, by M. B. Renault. Many 
pollen grains of the coal epoch contain a perfectly well-marked 
male prothallus, the compartments of which contain the mother 
cells of the antherozoids. This prothallus may emit a pollen 
tube, as in Stephanospermum, or allow the antherozoids to 
escape directly from the pollen chamber, as in Aetheotesta.— 
The influence of cream separation on the principal constituents 
of milk, by MM. F. Bordas and Sig. de Raczkowski. The 
removal of the fat to the extent of 98 per cent. takes away at 
the same time 69 per cent. of the lecithin. In the authors’ 
opinion, this is sufficient to explain the high death-rates through 
gastro-intestinal troubles in those towns where the sale of 
skimmed milk is allowed. It also accounts for some diseases 
in infants fed exclusively on sterilised milk.—On the physical 
geography of the Western Yaila, Crimea, by M. E. Daniloff. 
CONTENTS. PAGE 
A Field Naturalist’s Science... ....5... - 409 
Chronometry. By C. C. 2 Ne or PolaPonnred ae taper 411 
Trades’ Waste and River Pollution B1 Och, Rilwcige 413 
Our Book Shelf :— 
Auerbach: ‘‘ Die Weltherrin und ihr Schatten. Ein 
Vortrag iiber Energie und Entropie”  . 414 
Henniger: ‘‘ Chemisch-Analytisches Praktikum.” 
AGS ar F 414 
Licd : ‘La Protezione ‘degli Animali.”—R. L.. . 414 
Walker: ‘* Coal Cutting by Machinery in the United 
Kingdom ” 5 otk: rab) EA emo Ci! 
Hiorns : “ Metallography : an Introduction to the 
Study of the Structure of Metals, Hy, ys the 
Aid of the Microscope”’ ae see 415 
Letters to the Editor :— 
Notes on Young Gulls.—Prof, R. v. Lendenfeid 415 
The Effect of Light on Cyanin.—P. G. Nutting . 416 
Fog Bow at Oxford.—J. Rose . 416 
Simple Means of Prod Diffraction Effects. — 
Wilfred Hall . . 416 
Time-Signals by Wireless| Telegraphy. — John 
Munro . 416 
The Belfast Meeting ‘of the British iAugociation: 
(Zllustrated) + 1 426 
A Great Persian “Traveller. iS inacraredy By 
Wert. B: SUR BCS: 1) Le 
Notes aie 421 
Our Astronomical Column: — 
Astronomical Occurrences in September .« 425 
New Discoveries of Variable Velocities in Line of 
Sight . . Siegie Maser Wee geass: 
The caine of New Variable ‘Stars xc al daesy SEERA 
The Spectrum of Nova Persei : 425 
The Changes in the Nebula surrounding Nova Persei 426 
Hugh Miller: his Work and Influence. | Sir 
Archibald Geikie, F.R.S. .... - 426 
What the United States of Ammesice’ is doing f fot 
Anthropology. By Dr. A. C, Haddon, F.R.S. 430 
University and Educational Intelligence ..... 431 
Scieneincnscrial .° . .. .../ | usimemeamecimalvelits el cia mienney ec 
iSocietiesiand Academies {i uu.0-) 5 =). ee eae 
