2o8 



NA TURE 



[December 17, 1908 



than other minerals, and there is no plausibility in such 

 a theory from the geological standpoint. iVIy own opinion 

 is that, in all probability, an element hitherto unknown 

 exists in the mineral, from which the helium is generated. 

 It may be objected that, in that case, the mineral ought 

 to be radio-active. If, however, the radiation were 

 emitted with less than the critical velocity, we should not 

 be able to detect it, and nothing is known to make such 

 an hypothesis improbable. 



In conclusion, I shall be well content if I have con- 

 vinced you that there is still something to be learnt from 

 careful examination of the most commonplace materials. 

 If there is nothing new under the sun, there are, at least, 

 unsuspected things going on inside the earth, where the 

 sun cannot penetrate. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Glasgow. — Dr. C. H. Desch, of University Coiiege, 

 London, has been appointed university lecturer in metal- 

 lurgical chemistry in the place of Dr. C. E. Fawsitt, the 

 new professor of chemistry in the University of Sydney, 

 \ew South Wales. 



Oxford. — Dr. Arthur J. Evans, K.R.S., has handed 

 over as a free gift to the Ashmolean Museum the collec- 

 tion of Anglo-Saxon jewellery and other relics bequeathed 

 to him by his father, the late Sir John Evans. With it is 

 also a comparative series illustrating the early Teutonic 

 art of the Continent, including specimens of Scandinavian, 

 Prankish, Lombard, and Gothic work. 



We learn from Science that Colonel Oliver H. Payne, 

 of New York, has given 10,000!. to the endowment fund 

 of the University of Virginia. 



We have received a copy of the December issue of Tlie 

 Record, the magazine of the South-Western Polytechnic 

 Institute, Chelsea. In addition to items of news about 

 the work and play of students of the institution, the 

 magazine contains short articles from members of the 

 teaching staff and from students. 



The draft charter of incorporation of the University of 

 Bristol has been issued. The following are to be the first 

 chief officers of the new university : — Chancellor, Mr. 

 H. O. Wills ; pro-Chancellors, the Bishop of Hereford, the 

 Right Hon. Lewis Fry, and the Right Hon. Henry Hob- 

 house ; Vice-Chancellor, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, F.R.S. ; 

 and treasurer, Mr. G. A. Wills. Women are to be 

 eligible for any office in the University and for member- 

 ship of any of its constituent bodies, and all degrees and 

 courses of study in the University are to be open to 

 them. It has been announced that the authorities of the 

 Bristol University College have purchased the blind 

 a>ylum and its land which adjoin University College. The 

 site thus secured will be used for the erection of part of 

 the new university. 



An appeal is being made on behalf of the Bethnal 

 Green Free Library Institute, which was founded thirty 

 years ago. The institute has no endowment and no State 

 or rate aid, but is entirely maintained by voluntary gifts. 

 There is a lending library, a reading room, and a large 

 reference library. Classes for instruction in various sub- 

 jects are held, and lectures by Sir Robert Ball, F.R.S., 

 Dr. Andrew Wilson, Dr. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S., aniJ 

 others, have been provided. The library is entirely free. 

 There is a debt of 250!. on the general fund, which the 

 committee is anxious to clear off before the end of the 

 year. Contributions may be sent to the treasurer, Mr. 

 F. A. Sevan, 54 Lombard Street, E.C. 



On Wednesday of last week, December q. the first annual 

 dinner of old students of the Royal College of Science 

 was held at the Criterion Raetaurant, and was attended 

 by more than a hundred old students, in addition to 

 past and present members of the staff and members of 

 the governing body of the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology, of which the college now forms a part. 

 The chair was taken bv Mr. H. G. Wells, who was a 

 student of the college during 1.S84-7. The tonst of the 

 Royal College of Science was proposed by the Right Hon. 



NO. 2042, VOL. 79] 



A. H. D. Acland, who, after making some happy allusions 

 to the descriptions of college life in one of Mr. Wells's 

 books, went on to say that the governing body of the 

 Imperial College intends to do something to foster cor- 

 porate life among the students by the erection of a suit- 

 able building for a students' club. He also made an 

 important statement as to the future of the college, indi- 

 cating that the governors are fully alive to its great tradi- 

 tions, and that the associateship will still continue to be 

 given as the diploma in science, just as that of the School 

 of Mines is to be the diploma in mining. Mr. A. E. 

 Briscoe, who responded to the toast on behalf of the old 

 students, said that students of the college have gone all 

 over the world, and have had much to do in bringing 

 about that efficient teaching of scientific method which 

 has been ,so marked a feature of recent educational pro- 

 gress. Many of the old students have made great names 

 for themselves, and he attributed their success to the 

 thoroughness of their training, and especially to the 

 laboratory training they received. He hoped that under 

 the new regime research will be the main work of the 

 college. Subsequent speakers included Dr. H. A. Miers, 

 principal of the University of London, who referred to 

 the imperial character of the work of the college as a 

 valuable feature of modern university life, and Prof. 

 W. P. Wynne, who spoke of the debt owed by many old 

 students to that much-abused body, the Department of 

 Science and .Art. At the conclusion of the dinner the 

 old students present proceeded to elect a provisional com- 

 mittee to draw up rules for an old students' association 

 to be submitted to a special meeting at an early date. 

 Mr. T. L. Humberstone, 3 Selwood Place, South Kensing- 

 ton, will act as secretary ; all old students who are desirous 

 of becoming members are requested to communicate with 

 him. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society. November 19. — " On ibe Refraction and 

 Dispersion of Krypton and Xenon, and their Relation to 

 those of Helium and Argon." By C. Cuthbertson and 

 M. Cuthbertson. Communicated bv Prof. F. T. Trouton, 

 F.R.S. 



The authors have determined the refraction and dis- 

 persion of krypton and xenon with larger quantities of 

 gas than were available at the time of their first isolation. 

 The gases were prepared in the laboratory of Sir W. 

 Ramsay by Prof. R. B. Moore. The atomic refractive 

 index of krypton is found to be 



M= I + o-coo8!78 f I + -^^,Y 

 \ \'-io"/ 

 and that of xenon 



M=i+o-oor3646(^i+ '°''*\ 



\ A-IO'V 



On comparing these figures with the refractive indices 

 of helium and argon, as determined by W. Burton, it is 

 shown that the refractivities for infinite wave-lengths are ' 

 eveii more nearly in the ratios of whole numbers than the 

 earlier values. Taking the value found for argon as the 

 standard, the divergence from integral ratios is, for 

 krypton, 00 per cent. ; for helium, 0-34 per cent. ; and for 

 xenon, 2-25 per cent. 



If the refractive indices are expressed by means of 

 Cauchy's formula, fi—i=a(i + bl\'), it is found that, 

 plotting a against b for the four gases examined, the rela- 

 tion is linear. 



Owing to the untrustworthiness of the existing deter- 

 minations of the dispersion of oxygen, nitrogen, and 

 hydrogen, comparison cannot be made with other groups 

 of elements. 



Physical Socie'v, November 27.— Dr C. Chree, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — A graphic method of dealing with 

 refracting surfaces : H. S. Allen, A graphic method is 

 given for finding the cardinal points for combinations of 

 coaxial refracting surfaces. The method may be applied 

 to such cases as that of two thin lenses a finite distance 

 apart, two refracting surfaces forming a thick lens, or to 

 the general case of the combination of two lens systems. 

 — .'\n accurate method of measuring moments of inertia : 



