)24 



NATURE 



[September 8, 1910 



instruction unless there has been adequate previous pre- 

 paration, and that students are required to pass an entrance 

 examination in subjects of general knowledge or to pro- 

 duce evidence satisfactory to the principal of their attain- 

 ments. Special attention may be directed to the fact that 

 the courses in the respective departments prepare for the 

 degree of Bachelor or Master of Technical Science of the 

 Victoria University of Manchester in the case of students 

 who have matriculated, and that special courses of fourth- 

 year post-graduate study and research are offered. The 

 University of Liverpool publishes separately the particulars 

 in connection with the faculty of engineering, of which 

 Prof. J. .A. F. Aspinall is chairman. The courses of study 

 in the faculty afford a general scientific training for those 

 who intend to become engineers, naval architects, archi- 

 tects and surveyors. The training is to be regarded as 

 either preliminary to, or supplementary of, a pupilage 

 under some engineer or course of apprenticeship with 

 some engineering firm. Arrangements are made for 

 students to spend the summer vacation in works, or to 

 take a voyage as junior engineers in steamships. The 

 prospectus of the evening classes and of the secondary 

 school in connection with the East Ham Technical College 

 points out that the numbers of students seeking admission 

 have been so great that it has been found necessary to 

 increase the accommodation by converting some of the 

 workshops into class-rooms, and building a .separate block 

 of workshops and gymnasium at a cost of 3000/. 



The -Aerial League of the British Empire proposes to 

 found a practical school of aviation as a memorial to the 

 late Hon. C. S. Rolls. In a circular letter recently re- 

 ceived from the secretary of the league it is pointed out 

 that such schools only e.Kist abroad, and that few oppor- 

 tunities e.\ist in England where students may attend 

 laboratory classes; also that there are absolutely no facili- 

 ties (e.xcept for very rich men) for practical tuition in the 

 construction and handling of flying machines or for experi- 

 mental testing of the selected designs of deserving 

 inventors. A subcommittee of the league has been at 

 work for some time past upon the project, and their pro- 

 po.ials (which have been approved bv the executive com- 

 mittee) are as follow :— (i) The primary aim of the school 

 ii to provide training in aeroplane manufacture and flight 

 and to obtain a class of men- grounded in the whole sub- 

 ject from beginning to end, the instruction to include such 

 laboratory and theoretical work as funds and the gifts 

 of apparatus may permit. The proposed laboratory to be 

 situated centrally in London, to be open for the use of 

 students from various technical institutions alreadv pro- 

 viding elementary classes in the theory of flight, and also 

 for public demonstrations in order to spread interest. 

 (2) The school of aviation to be situated as near London 

 as possible, and to be open to men who have undergone 

 courses of training in great engineering schools, competent 

 engineers, and mechanics. (3) The attention and the 

 practical work of students to be chiefy directed to securing 

 machines offering greater trustworthiness and stability, 

 lower power and fuel consumption, diminished capital cost 

 and expense of maintenance, and a higher factor of safety 

 than the apparatus now used mostly in sporting contests. 



(4) In order that an early start' may be made, two 

 machines should be bought at once. Students themselves 

 to build all further machines, and also those of selected 

 inventors whose ideas are judged to be worthy of con- 

 struction and practical trial. The result of this will be 

 that novel machines can be built and tested at very low 

 cost, and students, inventors, and instructors wilf alike 

 benefit by the experience and analysis of results obtained. 



(5) Funds to be administered by an independent committee 

 of management. Including practical men of science and 

 education experts. The estimated cost of the school is 

 1300?., and that of its running for the first year 1200!., 

 i.e. 2500/. for the year, and the league solicits the generous 

 and prompt support of all sympathisers. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 20. — M. Armand Gaulier 



in the chair. — Joannes Chatin : The posterior sclerotic 



ring in birds. — M. Gonnessiat ; Observation of the 



NO. 2132, VOL. 84] 



Arrest comet at the Observatory of Algiers. This comet 

 was detected at Algiers on August 2b, appearing as a 

 feeble nebulosity with a slight central condensation of the 

 fourteenth magnitude. — M. Baillaud : Remarks on the 

 above. This comet has a period of six years eight months, 

 and was not seen in 1904. Its position coincided with the 

 calculations of M. Leveau, the difference between the 

 calculated and observed positions being less than the 

 ordinary field of a telescope. — Kotaro Honda : The law of 

 variation of the coefficient of specific magnetisation of the 

 elements by heating. Instead of the two laws of Curie, 

 the author proposes the following : the effect of a rise of 

 temperature on the magnetisation coefficient of an element 

 is similar to that of a small increase of the atomic weight 

 of the element. The experimental data In support of this 

 are given. — G. D. Hinrichs : The atomic weights of pre- 

 cision of oxygen and silver. — M. Busignies : Some 

 ethylenic cyclic derivatives (ether o.xides) and their bromine 

 derivatives. The alkylo-xybenzophenones are treated with 

 magnesium alkyl iodides, and give alkyloxydlphenyl- 

 ethylene and its homologues. The bromine addition com- 

 pounds of these have also been prepared. — E. Voisenet : 

 New researches on bitter wines and the acrylic fermenta- 

 tion of glycerol. Determinations of the amounts of 

 acrolein in various wines showed that the bitterness in- 

 creased with the amount of acrolein present. — Z. 

 Skrzynski : Contribution to the study of mycosic sero- 

 diagnosis. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Ore Deposits. By J. W. G 293 



Observational Meteorology 293 



Abstract and other Philosophy 294 



Colour Chemistry 295 



Our Book Shelf 295 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Ratio between Uranium and Radium in Minerals. 



—Frederick Soddy, F.R.S 296 



Stagnant Glaciers. — R. M. Deeley ; G. W. Lamp- 



lugh, F.R.S 297 



The Leaning Tower of Pisa.— Edward G. Brown ; 



Arthur T. Bolton 297 



The Origin of the Domestic " Blotched " Tabby Cat. 



— H. M. Vickers ; R. I. Pocock 29S 



Lake Balaton. (Illustrated.) By J. W. G 299 



The British Association at Sheffield 300 



Section B.— Chemistry {Illustrated). — Opening Ad- 

 dress by J. E. Stead, F.R.S., F.LC, F.C.S., 



President of the Section 302 



Sub-section of B. — Agricultural Sub-section. — Open- 

 ing Address by A. D. Hall, M.A., F.R.S., 



Chairman of the Sub-section 309 



Notes 313 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Rediscovery of D' Arrest's Comet (igiOf) 317 



The Recent Occultatlon of tj Geminorum by Venus . 317 

 Search-ephemerides for Comets 1889 V. (Brooks) and 



1890 VII. (Spitaler) 317 



The Sun-spots of 1909 317 



Water Vapour on Mars 317 



Measure.'! of Double Stars 317 



The Permanent International Committee for the 



" Carte du Ciel" 317 



Meteors and Bolides 317 



History of Navigation 317 



Meteoric Fireballs 3'^ 



Recent Hittite Discovery. By D. G. Hogarth . . 31S 

 The International Zoological Congress at Graz 



(August 15-20, 1910) . 318 



The Third International Congress of School Hy- 

 giene at Paris, August 2-7, igio 320 



Veterinary Research in the Transvaal. (Illustrated.) 321 



Halley's Comet 322 



j University and Educational Intelligence 323 



I Societies and Academies 324 



