NATURE 



[August io, ign 



in the German technical colleges, that so far as possible 

 no lectures are to be delivered without the accompanying 

 tutorials. 



In all the departments devoted to different professional 

 I ranches, the course is a four-year one. At the conclusion 

 of the second year, the preliminary examination for the 

 degree or diploma is held, the final examination being taken 

 at the close of the fourth year. The first two years are 

 principally devoted to the more general studies in mathe- 

 matics and natural science subjects, although a beginning 

 is made with the introductory lectures and tutorials in the 

 main subjects at the outset of the first term. But whereas 

 the general subjects at first take up much more of the 

 student's time than the special subjects, this proportion 

 gradually alters as the course proceeds till it finally becomes 

 reversed. 



Another feature of the arrangement of the studies is that 

 the lectures are, so far as possible, delivered during the 

 earlier terms, while the drawing-office work gradually 

 assumes greater importance as the course proceeds. This 

 is intended to give the student in his last year as broad a 

 base as possible for designing and applying what he has 

 learnt from the lectures. 



The primary object of the course of instruction during 

 the first two years is to give the student a general 

 grounding on the broadest possible lines in mathematics 

 and natural science subjects, and concurrently therewith to 

 introduce him to the elements of, his special subject, so 

 that, after passing the preliminary examination, he mav 

 devote himself in a higher degree to the direct study of his 

 profession during the last two years. 



In the course of these two years, then, the tutorials 

 gradually take the place of the lectures, and the profes- 

 sional study proper is gone into in detail. The student of 

 naval architecture is engaged in designing and working out 

 the plans of merchant and war vessels, and in studying the 

 arrangement and working of shipyards, while the marine 

 engineering student is at work on marine boilers, recipro- 

 cating, turbine, and internal-combustion engines. In 

 addition, auxiliary engines and propellers are thoroughly 

 gone into. 



Students in each branch concern themselves with the 

 other just so far that, in their respective parts of the work 

 on one and the same vessel, they can completely understand 

 one another, and give due consideration to each other's 

 requirements. 



The domain of airship construction and aerial naviga- 

 tion, which is closely related to naval architecture, has 

 been included in the province of the latter, and it may be 

 »f interest to mention that quite a number of the first 

 designers and engineers who have specialised in airship con- 

 struction were formerly students in the department of naval 

 architecture. 



One of the important aims of science as applied to naval 

 architecture is directed to the keeping of the rules of 

 the classification societies in general accordance with the 

 latest advances in knowledge. This refers chiefly to the 

 arrangement, scantlings, and riveting together of the 

 structural parts of the hulls of vessels, and to the applica- 

 tion of the laws of mechanics, statics, and dynamics. A 

 second aim is that the rules of these societies, which are 

 gradually gaining in authority, shall be prevented from 

 developing into crystallised and inelastic ordinances which 

 interfere with the scientific development of ship design. 



Both for instructional purposes and for scientific research 



work, suitabli laboratories are nowadays of the very 



i t value. In all branches of engineering, there are 



many questions the solution of which by pure analytical 



method! impossible, and which therefore can only he 



with by practical experiment. To what excellent use 



in this v,e. havi the existing testing laboratories in 



almost all countries been put! At the Technical College in 

 Charlottenburg the mechanical engineering section in par- 

 ticular lias established numerous laboratories, and thev 

 have been of the utmost value both from the educational 

 and from the industrial point of vii w. 



The Technical College at Charlottenburg now possesses 

 twenty laboratories, which serve the purposes of the 

 research work of the professors as well as those of instruc- 

 tion. A short time ago a project for the installation of a 

 second laboratory for the civil engineering section for the 



NO. 2l8o, VOL. 87] 



investigation of hydraulic questions was unfortunately 

 rejected by the Prussian House of Representatives. It is 

 a remarkable circumstance that in the entire establishment 

 the section for shipbuilding and engineering should be the 

 only one which has no laboratory ! It must be admitted 

 that this is very much to be deplored, and that the course 

 of instruction as well as the solution of engineering 

 problems is immensely impeded thereby. It may readilv 

 be understood, therefore, that the naval architectural 

 section is doing its best towards the early attainment of 

 an establishment of this kind so as to close up the gap in 

 its structure. 



My endeavours are directed to the establishment of a 

 suitable naval architecture laboratory in which experiments 

 may be made on the action of the screw propeller, and in 

 which the gross and net amounts of work done by the 

 latter, i.e. its efficiency, may at the same time be deter- 

 mined. Further experiments will then be made to determine 

 the effect on each other of several screw propellers arranged 

 abreast, or one behind the other, and also the effect 

 exercised on them by the rudder. We shall then know 

 whether it is possible to design high-speed propellers of 

 high efficiency, and our knowledge over a wide range of 

 under-water phenomena will be available for further 

 advances in this branch of engineering. Students should 

 take part in all inquiries of this kind, so that the results 

 may benefit succeeding generations of engineers and enable 

 them to play a leading part in the scientific progress ot 

 their time. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



A Reuter message from Simla on August 3 states that 

 Lord Crewe has accepted the scheme for a Mohammedan 

 University at Aligarh, provided adequate financial support 

 is forthcoming. 



We have received from the Department of Technology 

 of the City and Guilds of London Institute the programme 

 for the session 1911-12, containing regulations for the 

 registration, conduct, and inspection of classes and 

 examination of candidates in technological subjects, and 

 for the award of teachers' certificates in manual training 

 and domestic subjects. We notice that the names of the 

 two examinations held at the end of the session have been 

 changed from " ordinary grade " and " honours grade " 

 to "grade I." and "final examination," corresponding, 

 in a sense, to the two new examinations in science subjects 

 instituted by the Board of Education under the names of 

 " lower " and " higher "; but in certain subjects there are 

 first- and second-grade examinations before the final 

 examination can be taken. The list of subjects in which 

 examinations are to be held in 1912 numbers seventy-nine, as 

 compared with seventy-eight during the present year. The 

 new subject is entitled " Heating and Lighting," and 

 covers very fully the science and technology of these 

 important processes. All inquiries for information in con- 

 nection with the recognition of classes in technological 

 subjects, examinations, and inspection should be add; 

 to the Superintendent, Department of Technology, City 

 and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, 



s.w. 



The eighth annual report of the Education Committee 

 of the City Council of Manchester for the year 1909-10 

 gives much interesting information as to the pro 

 which is being made in the various grades of education 

 administered by the committee. In the Municipal School 

 of Technology the number of individual day and evening 

 students enrolled for the session ending July 31, 1910, was 

 5018, as compared with 4988 for the same period in 1907-S, 

 an increase of 30. The number of individual students 

 enrolled in the day departments was 733, as compai 1 

 with 780 for the session 1908-9. The class entries for the 

 session were 11,071, against 10,500 for the session 190S-0. 

 These figures do not include the class entries in respect 

 of students in the day departments of the school. During 

 tlie session, 200 students in the day departments of the 

 school were enrolled as students of the Victoria University 

 of Manchester in the faculty of technology, 07 with a 



