NATURE 



[July 6, 191 1 



is very far in the distance, if, indeed, it can ever be 

 attained. This fact does not, however, militate in 'the 

 least against the plausibility of the idea. Although man- 

 kind has not yet been able to devise a method of mathe- 

 matical analysis which will solve at one stroke the gravi- 

 tational relations of three bodies, nature is not on that 

 account prevented from causing three or more bodies to 

 act on one another with the force of gravity, or astro- 

 nomers from calculating as nearly as may be the con- 

 sequences by a process of approximation. 



Carried through to its logical conclusion, the idea that 

 atoms are compressible gives one quite a new conception 

 of the molecular mechanics of the universe. The influence 

 of atomic compressibilities may be perceived everywhere, 

 and in most cases each fact seems to fit easily and without 

 constraint into its place in the hypothesis. Even apparent 

 exceptions, such as the abnormal bulk of ice, may be 

 ascribed in a reasonable fashion to superposed effects. A 

 detailed discussion of many applications of the theory is 

 impossible here, but a few may be suggested in order to 

 make clearer its possibilities. 



The satisfying of each valence of an atom would cause 

 a depression on the atomic surface, owing to the pressure 

 exerted by the affinity in that spot. The stronger the 

 affinity, the greater should be this distortion. Evidently 

 this conception gives a new picture of the asymmetric 

 carbon atom, which, combined with four other different 

 atoms, would have upon its surface depressions of four 

 unequal magnitudes, and be twisted into an unsymmetrical 

 tetrahedron. The combining atoms would be held on the 

 faces of the tetrahedron thus formed, instead of impossibly 

 perching upon the several peaks. According to this hypo- 

 thesis, the carbon atom need not be imagined as a tetra- 

 hedron in the first place ; it would assume the tetrahedral 

 shape when combined with the other four atoms. One 

 can easily imagine that the development of each new 

 valence would change the affinities previously exercised, 

 somewhat as a second depression in the side of a rubber 

 ball will modify a forcibly caused dimple in some other 

 part. Thus a part of the effect which each new atom has 

 on the affinities of the other atoms already present may be 

 explained. 



Many other physico-chemical phenomena assume a new 

 aspect when viewed from the point of view of this idea. 

 New notions of the mechanism of the critical phenomena, 

 surface tension, ductility, malleability, tenacity, and 

 coefficient of expansion are gained. The peculiar relations 

 of material and light, such as magnetic rotation, fluores- 

 cence, partial absorption, and so forth, may be referred to 

 the modified vibrations of distorted atoms. The deviations 

 from the exact fulfilment of many older generalisations 

 concerning volume (such as the equation of van der Waals 

 already cited, the comparative volumes of aqueous solu- 

 tions, especially of electrolytically dissociated substances, 1 

 and the variations in the crystal forms of isomorphous 

 substances) are seen to be a foregone conclusion. More- 

 over, the theory, although not necessarily dependent on the 

 modern belief that atoms are built up of numbers of much 

 smaller corpuscles, is consistent with that belief ; for would 

 not such an entity be compressible? 



The more closely the actual data are studied, the more 

 plausible the hypothesis of compressible atoms appears. 

 Ten years' experience with its interpretations leads me to 

 feel that the idea is highly suggestive and helpful in stimu- 

 lating new search after truth and in correlating and codify- 

 ing diverse facts. By such fruit are hvpotheses justified. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— The following is the text of the speech 

 delivered In- Prof. Love in presenting Sir W. T. Thiselton- 

 Dyer fur the degree of D.Sc, honoris causa, at the 

 Encaenia on June 2S : — 



Vdesl nobis ornandus Willelmus Turner Thiselton-Dyer, 

 vir magnam in Botanica laudem adeptus, huius Acndemiae 

 ohm alumnus. Qui cum Dublinii, Corinii, Londonii hanc 

 ' Baxter has very recently discussed this mattei from the point ol 

 of 1 "i- sible atoms CJ. Amer. Chem. Soc., June, 1911). 



NO. 2175, V0L - 87] 



scientiam profiteretur, docendi rationes ita novavit ut 

 florentissimis totius Europae scholis schola Britannica par 

 fieret. Idem postea regalibus hortis Kewensibus praefectus 

 varia negotiorum genera ad Botanicam pertinentia pro- 

 movit. Testis est India, Cinchonae Peruvianae, in 

 medendo potentissimae, nunc ferax : testes etiam Tapro- 

 bane insula et Chryse Chersonesus Heveae Brasiliensis 

 cultrices, cuius arboris virtutes omnibus notissimae sunt. 

 Adeo non solum saluti, sed etiam rei familiari civium hie 

 noster sua opera inserviit. 



Mr. J. H. Priestley, lecturer in botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Bristol, has been appointed professor of botany 

 at the University of Leeds. 



Mr. John Blakeman, head of the mathematical depart- 

 ment of the Leicester Technical School, has been appointed 

 as principal of the Northampton Technical School. 



An endowment fund of 200,000/. has been presented to 

 University College, Reading, with a view to enable it to 

 apply for a charter as an independent university. Of the 

 amount mentioned, Lady Wantage has given 50,000!., 

 Mr. and Mrs. George W. Palmer 100,000!., and Mr. 

 Alfred Palmer 50,000/. Mr. Alfred Palmer has, in addi- 

 tion, presented to the college the freehold of four acres of 

 land contiguous to the college site, at present held and 

 used for horticultural purposes by the college under lease 

 from him. 



We learn from Science that a gift of 4000!. to aid 

 general research in the study of diseases at the Yale 

 Medical School has been announced from an old student. 

 Further gifts of 2000/. toward the endowment of the 

 University clinic, and to the Peruvian exploration fund, for 

 the Yale expedition under Prof. Hiram Bingham, have 

 also been announced. From the same source we find that 

 gifts of 20,000/. in lands by Messrs. James B. and 

 Benjamin N. Duke, of 10,000/. for a new building by Mr. 

 James B. Duke, and of 2000/. by Mr. B. N. Duke for 

 improvements, were announced recently at Trinitv College, 

 Durham, N.C. 



The General Assembly of the State of Illinois has 

 granted to the University of Illinois for the next two years 

 the sum of 703,860/. Science says that this is the largest 

 grant ever made by a State legislature to a State educa- 

 tional institution. The General Assembly has not only 

 recognised the immediate needs of the University, but has 

 looked ahead and made provision for the future by levying 

 a one mill tax for the continued support of the University. 

 It is estimated that this tax will yield an income to the 

 University, two years hence, of about 450,000/. a year. 

 In addition, the University will receive from the Federal 

 Government and other sources funds that will bring its 

 income to about 400,000/. per annum for the next 

 biennium. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Mineralogical Society, June 13. — Prof. W. J. Lewis, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — G. S. Blake : Zirkelite 

 from Ceylon. The results of five analyses made on frag- 

 ments grouped together according to their specific gravity, 

 which ranged from 5^2 to 4-4, showed remarkable varia- 

 tion in the percentage composition, the densest containing 

 about 20 per cent, thoria and little uranium, and the 

 lightest 14 per cent. U 3 O s and little thorium ; the precise 

 formula is uncertain. A few crystals, some simple and 

 some twinned, were met with ; they apparently belong to 

 the hexagonal system (cr = 53° 22'), the observed forms 

 being c(oooi), ni(iolo), r(ioii), 5(2021), d(ioi2), 2(2023), 

 and r the plane of twinning ; they were opaque in mass, 

 but translucent and isotropic in splinters. — Rev. Mark 

 Fletcher : Note on some crystals of artificial gypsum. 

 The crystals, which were formed in the condensing plant 

 of a distillery at Burton-on-Trent, were twinned about 101, 

 and the forms 100, no, 230, in were observed. — L. J. 



