390 



NATURE 



[September 22, 19 10 



engineering at the college. A paper was read at the meet- 

 ing by Prof. H. Louis on the Mining School at Bochum, 

 Westphalia, in the course of which he said that in 

 Germany there are schools devoted to the better education 

 of miners and the elementary training of colliery officials. 

 The course lasts two years, and the men attend for eight 

 hours weekly for a year and a half, and for ten hours 

 weekly during the last six months. It cannot, he said, 

 he imagined that the Germans would have continued those 

 institutions for nearly a century had they not found that 

 it paid them to do so. Surely it is high time to abandon 

 our insular policy of not profiting by the experience of 

 our neighbours in matters of such vital importance. In 

 Prof. Louis's opinion it would be easy enough for the 

 various British coalfields to form miners' funds like that 

 raised in Westphalia for the same purpose. Future legis- 

 lation should, he suggested, enact that in any coalfield 

 where a large majority — say two-thirds — of the producers 

 decide to take advantage of its provisions power shall be 

 given to constitute a fund, and a levy upon the entire out- 

 put of the field should thus be legalised, the fund to be 

 administered and applied very much as the Westphalian 

 miners' fund has been. 



.•\n examination of the calendars, prospectuses, and 

 announcements of the London polytechnic institutions for 

 the session which is now commencing serves to show how 

 well the metropolitan area is provided with facilities for 

 technical and scientific instruction. The encouragement 

 which is extended by the authorities to the plan of giving 

 a distinguishing character to the curricula of certain of 

 these colleges is well brought out by an inspection of the 

 .Tnnouncements in connection with the winter's work at 

 the Northampton Institute. We can only give a few 

 e.xamples. The classes in submarine cable work are being 

 continued, and more advanced classes are projected in 

 radio-telegraphy. The success of the pioneer courses in 

 aeronautics given last winter has been so marked that the 

 subject is being developed. The instruction in electro- 

 plating is being brought more into line with the actual 

 requirements of the trade, and arrangements have been 

 made to extend the advanced work in sight-testing and 

 physiological optics. The South-Western Polytechnic at 

 Chelsea continues to provide courses of study suited for a 

 great varietv of technological purposes, and also for 

 university students. We notice from the calendar of the 

 day work at this college that students are informed that 

 those who enter for technical instruction should have re- 

 ceived previously a sound English education, and should 

 have acquired an eleinentary knowledge of mathematics 

 and, if possible, of physics and chemistry. The courses 

 are arranged to occupy three years. On entering the 

 student states whether he wishes to be trained as a 

 mechanical or electrical engineer, or as a consulting or 

 industrial chemist. In any of these cases he has mapped 

 out a complete course of study. Students who have com- 

 pleted a three years' course should be in a position to 

 obtain situations in important industrial firms. Birkbeck 

 College, too, continues its excellent work. The new calendar 

 has again to point out that the usefulness of the college 

 is curtailed by its limited accommodation, and its pressing 

 need is for increased space. More spacious college build- 

 ings, with additional class-rooms and larger laboratories 

 better adapted to modern requirements, would give a 

 great stimulus to the work of the college and add to its 

 public utility. We notice that 1203 students attended its 

 classes last winter, and that .ibout a quarter of them were 

 women. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, Senttmber 12. — M. Bouchard in 

 the chair. — J. Guillaume and J. Merlin : Occultation of 

 7) Geminorum by Venus, July 26, 1910, observed at Lyons. 

 As the planet was only 9° above the horizon, the images 

 observed were unsteady. The data are given in full, and 

 calculations made of the diameter of Venus. — Carl 

 Stormer : Theorems on the general equations of motion 

 of a corpuscle in a magnetic and electric field superposed. 

 — Paul Floquet : A comparison of the different methods 



NO. 2134, VOL. 84] 



of measuring the dielectric constant. Paraffin extracted 

 from ozokerite has been shown by M. Malclte to possess 

 no residual charge and to be without any appreciable con- 

 ductivity. This paraffin has been utilised for comparing 

 at the same instant the values of the dielectric constant 

 obtained by two different static methods. The results 

 agreed within i per cent., and a similar concordance was 

 obtained for measurements based on the relative velocities 

 in air and in paraffin of Hertzian waves. — Philippe 

 de Vilmorin : Researches on Mendelian heredity. — 

 J. Athanasin and J. Dragoin : The association of 

 elastic and contractile elements in muscle. — E. Roubaud : 

 The evolution of instinct in Vespides. Remarks on the 

 social wasps of Africa, genus Belonogaster. — Joseph 

 Roussel : The existence of three horizons of calcium phos- 

 phate in .\lgeria and Tunis. 



GOTTINGF.N. 



R'-yal Society of Sciences. — The Naihiiihlun (phy-icn. 

 mathematical section), parts ii. and iii. for 1910, contain 

 the following memoirs communicated to the society : — 



February 26. — R. KSnig: : Conformal representation of 

 the surface of a solid angle. — B. Diirken : The behaviour 

 of the nervous system after extirpation of the limb-rudi- 

 ments in the frog. — O. Berg : The Thomson effect in 

 copper, iron, and plaliiium. 



March 12. — Kurt Wegrener : Aerological results obtained 

 at the Samoa Observatory in 1909. 



.'Vpril 30. — R. Fuchs : Linear homogeneous differential 

 equations of the second order with four essentially singular 

 points. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Animals of the Ancients. By R. L 357 



The Design of Reinforced Concrete Structure. By 



T. H. B 35S 



Textbooks of Chemistry 360 



Mineral Springs and Wells of Essex. By H. B. W. 361 



Our Book Shelf . 361 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Gauss and Non-Euclidean (ieometry. — Prof. H. S. 



Carslaw . 362 



An Oblique Belt on Jupiter. (Ilhistrale J.)— ScTiwerv 



Bolton 362 



Tests for Colour-vision. — Commander D. Wilson- 

 Barker • ■ • 363 



Fireball of September 2. — Edmund J. Webb ; 



W. F. Denning 363 



The Law of Definite Proportions. — C. E 364 



Fire Tests with Textiles, illustrated.) 364 



The Castes and Tribes of Southern India. (Illus- 

 trated.) 365 



A History of Birds. {Illustrated.) 367 



Reforms of the Calendar. By W. T. L 36S 



The Dynamics of Fohn. By R. G. K. L 368 



Respiration at High Altitudes. By Leonard Hill, 



F.R.S 369 



Notes 369 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Further Observations of Halley's Comet 374 



The Distances of Red Stars 374 



"Mock Suns" at Eastbourne 374 



Astronomy in India 374 



The Crusade against Consumption ... 374 



Recent Papers on Petrology. By G. A. J. C. . . . 375 



Reports on Climates 377 



Bird Notes 37S 



The British Association at Sheffield. 



Section D — Zoology. — Opening Address by Prof. 

 G. C. Bourne, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S. , Presi- 

 dent of the Section . . 378 



Section E. — Geography. — Opening Address by A. J. 

 Herbertson, M.A., Ph.D., Professor of Geo- 

 graphy in the University of Oxford, President 



of the Section 1^3 



lonisation of Gases and Chemical Change. By 



Dr. H. Brereton Baker, F.R.S 388 



University and Educational Intelligence 389 



Societies and Academies 39° 



