“Marcu 10, 1923] 
the switch was sometimes made of wood, which is 
a very poor insulator. Electricians then improved 
matters by accelerating the rate at which the terminal 
pieces separated when the current was broken. Later 
on it was found that a double air break was a vast 
improvement, and the base is now made of the best 
vitreous porcelain, which is practically a non-con- 
ductor. Those who use switches nowadays seldom 
if ever consider the thought that has been expended 
on their development. Every device in a progressive 
factory is undergoing continual improvement, and 
practical men recognise the value of an experimental 
and theoretical study of the physical laws which 
govern its development. 
The new laboratory at Wembley is one of the 
largest research laboratories in this country. Com- 
red with American standards, however, it is not 
ge. The research laboratory of the Western 
Electric Co., Inc., of 463 West Street, New York, has 
a 13-storey building on a floor area of 400,000 square 
feet, and employs 1600 full-time researchers under the 
able guidance of Dr. Jewett, president of the American 
Institution of Electrical Engineers. The results ob- 
tained, however, are seldom in proportion to the 
size of a research laboratory, and we were much im- 
pressed by the ability of the staff at Wembley. 

University and Educational Intelligence. 
ABERDEEN.—The honorary degree of LL.D. was 
conferred, in absentia, on the Duke of Richmond and 
Gordon, Chancellor of the University, at a meeting 
of the Senatus Academicus held on Tuesday, Feb- 
Tuary 27. 
Prof. W. Mitchell, vice-chancellor and Hughes 
ead of philosophy in the University of Adelaide, 
uth Australia, has been appointed Gifford lecturer 
for the sessions 1924-25 and 1925-26. 
CaMBRIDGE.—The Grace approving the regulations 
for the admission of women students of Girton and 
Newnham Colleges to titular degrees in the University 
has now been approved and one stage of a long-drawn- 
out controversy has been completed. Among the 
other privileges granted to women students by the 
new regulations is included the right to be admitted 
to instruction in the University and to University 
laboratories and museums, though the number receiv- 
ing such instruction at any one time is limited to five 
hundred. Women are now admitted as research 
students on the same footing as present candidates for 
the degrees of M.Litt., M.Sc. and Ph.D. 
The Right Hon. T. Clifford Allbutt, Gonville and 
Caius College, Regius professor of physic, has been 
appointed as delegate to the celebration next June of 
e 800th anniversary of the foundation of St. 
Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Priory Church of 
St. Bartholomew the Great. 

THE ae of the new chemistry section of the 
Technical High School of Stockholm is announced 
in the Chemiker Zeitung of February 10. The build- 
ing cost 3,300,000 kroner, and has four large labora- 
tories for inorganic, organic, technical, and electro- 
chemistry, and a smaller for the study of fermentation. 
The Director is Prof. W. Palmaer. It is stated that 
ot = the building is exceeded only by that of 
mn. 
_ A REPoRT on the development of adult education 
in rural areas has been issued (H.M. Stationery 
Office, 6d.) by the Adult Education Committee 
NO. 2784, VOL. I11] 
NATURE 
345 
constituted in April 1921 by the Board of Education. 
The report reviews the work in this field of existing 
organisations—Local Education and other County 
Authorities, Women’s Institutes, University Exten- 
sion Committees, Workers’ Educational Association, 
Association of Village Clubs, Y.M.C.A., Educational 
Settlements, and County Unions of village organisa- 
tions,—the conditions of State aid, and the available 
sources of supply of books, and concludes with 
several practical suggestions. Among the opinions 
formulated by the Committee are: schemes of rural 
education properly organised can secure immediate 
and notable success provided village initiative and 
co-operation are encouraged ; some form of county 
organisation, such as the Oxford Rural Community 
Council, is essential; national organisation is desirable 
and has been provided for by the recent establish- 
ment of a representative council by the National 
Council of Social Service ; pioneer lectures and short 
courses of lectures are a necessary prelude to formal 
classes and merit State aid; the full development of 
the Carnegie Trust Rural Library Scheme will solve 
most difficulties as to the supply of books. As 
regards this last point, it is explained in a highly 
interesting memorandum appended to the report 
that.it is the policy of the trustees to promote the 
establishment of county schemes controlled by 
County Council Education Committees, and 192,000/. 
was set aside by the trustees in February 1920 to 
enable every county to inaugurate one. By January 
1922 thirty-eight were in operation. The key-stone of 
the whole system is the Central Library for Students 
(London and Dunfermline), from which any good- 
class modern book on a serious subject can be obtained 
through the county librarians. 
Statistics of 670 Universities, Colleges, and Pro- 
fessional Schools, published by the United States 
Bureau of Education as Bulletin, 1922, No. 28, shows 
a total student enrolment for 1919-20 of 521,754, of 
whom rather more than one-third were women; by 
departments—preparatory 59,309, collegiate 341,082, 
graduate 15,612, professional 57,131. Of the 670 
institutions, 109 were under public and 561 under 
private control: 82 were independent professional 
schools. Of 586 universities and colleges with under- 
graduate students, 354 were co-educational, and 
reported 162,558 men and 96,908 women; I17 were 
maintained exclusively for men and 115 exclusively 
for women. Enrolments in the professional schools 
were: law 20,992, medicine 14,242, dentistry 8809, 
theology 7216, pharmacy 5026, veterinary medicine 
go8. The percentage of women students ranged 
between 14 in pharmacy and o-or in veterinary 
medicine. Engineering schools’ enrolled 51,908 
students, almost all men, distributed as follows : 
general engineering 10,231, civil 8859, mechanical 
11,789, electrical 9469, mining 3048, chemical 5743. 
The number of engineering students more than 
doubled itself in the decade 1910-20, The total 
amount of benefactions—excluding government 
grants—was 65 million dollars. The total income 
per student—363 dollars in 1920—has risen steadily 
since 1890, when it was only 68 dollars. During the 
same period the percentage of receipts derived from 
the Federal Government, the State, and the city has 
increased from 12 to 27 and of student fees from 22 to 
26, while the percentage from productive funds and 
rivate benefactions has decreased from 65 to 38. 
he following figures relate to universities and uni- 
versity colleges (excluding Oxford and Cambridge) in 
Great Britain in receipt of annual Treasury grants 
in 1920-21: income per student 54/., percentage of 
income from endowments 11, parliamentary grants 
34, grants from local authorities 9, tuition fees 32. 
