January 30, 1908J 



NA TURE 



509 



it conceals, forming blocks of the size and shape of an 

 ordinary building brick. These, after being trimmed to 

 remove adherent oxide, are immersed in paraffin oil, and 

 are then packed into large iron drums holding about 6 cwt. 

 or 7 cwt., capable of being closed air-tight, and protected 

 in transit by an outer rasing of wood. 



The due regulation of the volume and intensity of the 

 current is a matter of the greatest importance in order to 

 obtain the most economical yield of the metal. No very 

 high temperature is needed ; indeed, the temperature of the 

 fused caustic soda should not be much higher than that 

 of its melting point. By suitably regulating the current, 

 the soda, in fact, mav be maintained at the proper 

 temperature and in the proper degree of fluidity without 

 extraneous heat. Fresh melted caustic soda is added to 

 the vessel from time to time to replace the metal removed, 

 and in this manner the process is made continuous. 



The Castner process is now worked in England at 

 Wallsend-on-Tyne, and at Weston Point, in Cheshire ; at 

 Rheinfelden, in Germany; at Clavaux, in France; also in 

 Switzerland, and at Niagara, in America. The present 

 yearlv output amounts to about 5000 tons, but the plant 

 ahcady laid down is capable of producing at least twice 

 this quantity. 



The greater quantity of the sodium made in England 

 is sent to Glasgow, where it is converted into sodium 

 cyanide by the Cassel Cyanide Company for use in the 

 extraction of gold. As gold is, I suppose, generally con- 

 sidered the principal material factor in procuring the 

 comforts and conveniences of life, Davy's great discovery 

 may be thus said to have secured the primary object which 

 ihe projectors of the Royal Institution had in view. Other 

 important uses of sodium are in the manufacture of 

 peroxide for bleaching purposes, of artificial indigo, and of 

 a number of other synthetic dye-stuffs and of drugs like 

 antipyrin. 



It need hardly be said that this extraordinary develop- 

 ment of the manufacture has not been without its influence 

 on the price of sodium. A quarter of a century ago it 

 was a comparatively rare metal, and a stick of it was 

 regarded as a chemical curiosity, to be handled with 

 circumspection and care. Even as late as 1890 its selling 

 price was as high as 8s. per lb. To-day it is 8<i. Sodium 

 now takes rank, therefore, with zinc, tin, copper, or 

 aluminium as a common, ordinary metal of commerce. 



I am indebted to the directors of the Castner-Kellner 

 Company, and in particular to my friends Sir Henry 

 Roscoe and Mr. Beilby, for affording me the opportunity, 

 in connection with this lecture, of actually witnessing the 

 modern process of manufacturing sodium as it is carried 

 out at Wallsend, and I am further indebted to Mr. Beilby 

 for the loan of the lantern-slides and specimens with 

 which I have sought to illustrate that process. 



\nA in concluding may I be permitted to recall here the 

 feelings to which that visit to Wallsend gave rise? There, 

 grouped together on the very spot where ended the old wall 

 — the visible symbol of the power and might of a civilisa- 

 tion long since passed away — were some of the character- 

 istic signs of another civilisation ampler and more 

 beneficent. Before me, stretching down to the river, was 

 the factory where a score of workers, clad in helmets and 

 gauntlets, and swathed like so many Knights Templar, their 

 visages lit up by the yellow soda flames, and their ears 

 half-deafened with the sound of exploding hydrogen — a 

 veritable inferno — were repeating on a Gargantuan scale the 

 little experiment first made a century ago in the cellars of 

 this building, turning out, day and night, tons of the 

 plastic metal in place of the little pin-heads which then 

 burst upon the astonished and delighted gaze of Davy. 

 Behind me was the magnificent power-house — one of the 

 most magnificent of its kind in the world — furnishing not 

 only the electrical energy whi.-h transformed the soda into 

 sodium, but diffusing this energy for a multitude of other 

 purposes over an entire district — a noble temple to the 

 genius ,ind prescience of Faraday. .Surely one might here 

 say, if you desire to see the monuments of these men, look 

 around I And to my, right, and. close at hand, was the 

 huge building slip just vacated by the Maurclaiiia, herself 

 a symbol of the supremacy of an empire, far mightier, 

 more wtirld-wide, and more potent for good than that 

 which massed its legions behind the old wall. 



NO. iQq6, VOL. 77] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The electors to the Allen scholarship give 

 notice that they are prepared to receive applications from 

 candidates. Any graduate of the University is eligible for 

 the scholarship provided that his age on the first day of 

 the Lent term 1908 does not exceed twenty-eight years. 

 This year the scholarship is open to candidates who pro- 

 pose to undertake research in any branch of study which 

 comes within the department of any of the following 

 special boards : — medicine, mathematics, physics and 

 chemistry, biology and geology. The scholarship is tenable 

 for one year, during which period it will be the duty of 

 the student to devote himself to research in Cambridge 

 or elsewhere. The emolument of the student is 250/., or 

 such smaller sum as the fund, after payment of all 

 expenses, shall be capable of providing. Every candidate 

 must send particulars of his qualifications, &c., to the 

 Vice-Chancellor, Gonville and Caius College Lodge, on 

 or before February 15. 



Manchester. — The following brief summary of some 

 recentlv published st.itistics serves to illustrate the develop- 

 ment in the work of the University during the past eight 

 years. The table not only indicates that a considerable 

 increase has taken place in the numbers of students and 

 staff, but also shows that the progress has been particularly 

 marked in the fields of advanced study and research. 

 The growing success of the honours schools in both science 

 and arts is particularly worthy of notice : — 



Endofi?99 End of 1907 

 Professors ... ... ... ... 30 ... 43 



Total teaching staff... ... ... 98 ... 203 



Students taking full day courses... qoo ... 1400 

 Science honours students ... ... 97 ... 180 



Arts honours students ... ... 34 ... 106 



Graduate and research students 



in residence ... ... ... — ... 141 



Research fellows and students 



pursuing original work ... ... — ... 55 



By the will of the late Mr. Basil McCrea, 'he Magee 

 Presbyterian College, Londonderry, receives several sub- 

 stantial benefactions. Among these gifts occur 14,001;. 

 for building and equipping a new lecture hall ; a sum to 

 endow two professorships, to be known respectively as the 

 " Henry Wallace " and the " William Archer Butler " 

 professorships, each professor to receive an annual stipend 

 of 300/. ; a sum to found and endow two lectureships in 

 the science department of the college, each lecturer to 

 receive an annual stipend of 150J., and to be known as 

 the " McCrca lecturers"; such annual sum as may be 

 necessarv to make up the stipends of each of the professor- 

 ships in the literary and science departments to 300/. per 

 annum ; 500/. each year to found and endow a " McCrea 

 science scholarship " and a " McCrea literary scholar- 

 ship." each of the value of looJ., to be competed for every 

 third year, and any surplus to be used for " McCrea 

 prizes " in the science and literary departments. 



At a recent meeting of the governors of the Glasgow 

 and West of Scotland Technical College it was intimated 

 that the Glasgow City Educational Endowments Board 

 had made a further grant of looo?. to the building fund 

 of the college, and that the trustees of the Bellahouston 

 Bequest Fund had promised a donation of 5000/. on con- 

 dition that the governors raised a further sum of 45,000!. 

 Including these grants, the building fund now amounts to 

 301,000;. The governors of the college have just resolved 

 to raise the standard of the preliminary examination for 

 admission to the course for the college diploma to that of 

 the Leaving Certificate of the Scotch Education Depart- 

 ment. The holders of this certificate are exempted from 

 the preliminary examination of the Scottish universities. 

 This raising of the standard of the entrance examination 

 by the governors of the great technical college at Glasgow 

 represents a new departure of high significance in technical 

 education. Now that the courses will be based upon a 

 preparatory training equal to that demanded by any British 

 university, it will be possible to make substantial advance 

 in the quality of the work undertaken. 



