Marcu 31, 1923] 
NATURE 
447 

q pre, with the Federal Polytechnic at Zurich or 
_ the Technical High School of Charlottenburg did not 
7 exist in Great Britain. The scale on whch they were 
designed, their large staffs of distinguished teachers, 
the number of full-time students, students who had 
remarkably good secondary school training and had 
a rigorous entrance examination, astonished 
all English visitors. The English organic chemist 
with industrial experience was equally astonished at, 
for example, the Leverkusen or the Badische factories. 
These factories differed from the corresponding English 
factories in scale, in the size of the buildings, their 
staffs, their financial results, just as the British schools 
differed from the corresponding German institutions. 
_ The number of students taking a degree in pure 
science at 17 English and Welsh Universities in 1913— 
1914 was 1867. In 1921-22 the number was 4575, 
i.e. about two and a half times the 1913-14 number. 
At the University of Cambridge the figures were as 
follows : 














* 1913-14. 1921-22. 
Number of chemical students 
working. ‘ 498 804 
esearch workers 4 to (about) 29 
Staff, including professors 25 43 
The growth of the dyestuffs industry within this 
riod is well known, and there has been a similar 
wth in the fine chemical industry. In 1913 some 
oo fine chemicals were made in England, whereas 
4000 are now being made; for every ton of fine 
chemicals made here in 1913 exactly 2} tons are made 
to-day. This ratio is identical with that of the in- 
crease in science students taking a degree course. 
Is it possible that this parallel growth in our teach- 
ing institutions and newer industries is accidental ? 
The figures are symptomatic, but they indicate that 
the strength of our higher teaching bodies is a 
measure of our strength in the industries depending 
on invention. 
It may be said that there has been in Germany, too, 
and no doubt in other countries, a great increase in the 
number of students at their High Schools. In part 
this is one of the social changes brought about by the 
new industrial revolution. ’ 
The increase in the number of chemical students 
is partly due to the publicity given in 1914 to the 
renascent dyestuffs industry, and to the support given 
‘by public opinion and by the Press for the first time 
in our history to those engaged in these industries. 
These industries open out to a young man who has a 
Large Telescopes 
IR FRANK DYSON'’S presidential address to 
the Optical Society on February 8 on the 
subject of “ Large Telescopes ’’ dealt with the pro- 
gressive advance of astronomy so far as it was brought 
about by the increased optical powers of telescopes. 
The Copernican system was established before the 
discovery of the telescope, but Galileo’s telescope re- 
moved many difficulties and commanded its accept- 
ance. The great telescopes of Herschel revealed 
the vast extent and variety of the stellar system. 
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, excellent 
achromatic telescopes of 6 inches were made by Fraun- 
hofer and Merz, and in 1824 an object glass of 9-6 
inches was made for Struve at Dorpat with which 
he carried out his great work on double stars. 
When the Russian National Observatory at Pol- 
kovo was founded a 15-inch glass was obtained from 
the Munich firm, and this was the largest refractor 
in the middle of the nineteenth century. The large 
telescopes of this time were the reflectors of Lord 
NO. 2787, VOL. 111] 
love of research the opportunity of earning a livelihood 
in a most interesting way, with the added possibility, 
if his inventions prove commercially successful, of 
earning considerable profits. Before the War it was 
difficult to live by research. 
It is probable that the grants made by the Depart- 
ment of Scientific and Industrial Research have tended 
to increase the number of chemists undertaking train- 
ing, “for the underlying object of the Scheme of 
Grants is the output of an increased number of trained 
scientific investigators.’’ At the same time, the 
Department has done much to increase the possibility 
of finding employment for chemists. The Depart- 
ment, including its headquarters staff, boards and 
committees, Fuel Research Station and the Research 
Associations, already employs 78 chemists, none of 
whom wére employed in 1913, at salaries ranging from 
about 250/. to 2000/., the majority between 350/. and 
jool. In other Government Departments, too, there 
has been a great increase in the number of chemists 
employed. In 1913-14 the staff of the Government 
Chemist consisted of 48, with a salary range of 120/. 
rising to 1500/. The majority of the posts ranged 
from 120/. to 500/. In 1921-22 there were 75 posts, 
ranging in salary from 300/. to 7ool. At the War 
Office in 1913-14 there were 22 posts and 2 teaching 
posts at the Ordnance College. The salary range was 
about 150/. to 550/. In 1921-22 there were 93 posts, 
with salaries ranging from 300/. up to 1200/., but with 
the majority falling within a range of 300/. to 7ool. 
At the Admiralty in 1913-14 there was one inspector 
of cordite, in addition to the teaching staff at the 
Royal Naval College at Greenwich and the schools at 
Dartmouth and Osborne. In 1921-22, in addition to 
these teaching staffs, there were 20 posts with salaries 
of from about r50/. to 600/. The total number of 
chemists who can to-day find employment in the 
service of the above Government Department is thus 
193 more than in 19173. 
In the 1921 report of the Department it is stated 
that of the 132 students receiving grants 24 found 
employment under the State or under State-aided 
research institutions, 22 went into the teaching pro- 
fession, and none went into industry, no doubt owing 
to the slump in trade. 
If our fine chemical industries begin to increase 
their staffs regularly, as in prosperous years they will, 
the situation will be improved, but it is to the general 
trade of the country and not to the specifically 
chemical industries that we must look to give employ- 
ment to all those who have taken a chemical degree. 
and their Work. 
Rosse and Lassell, and with them the heat from the 
moon was measured and new satellites of Uranus 
and Neptune discovered. A new development in 
reflecting telescopes came with the process of silvering 
on glass, and gradually these superseded speculum. 
In England in the early ‘eighties photography of 
nebula began with Common’s photograph of the 
Orion nebula, and was pursued by Isaac Roberts. 
The manufacture and mounting of reflectors was 
brought to a high degree of perfection by Ritchey at 
the Yerkes Observatory, but it was with the Crossley 
reflector, made by Calver and presented to the 
Lick Observatory by Sir Edward Crossley, and re- 
mounted by Keeler, that most systematic work was 
done. 
Meanwhile, larger refractors were being made. In 
1868 one of 26 inches aperture was made by Cooke 
for H. S. Newall of Newcastle. This was soon 
followed by large telescopes in America by Alvan 
Clark, by Grubb in England, and the brothers Henry 
