August 24, 191 1] 



NATURE 



271 



assistant and lecturer in the department of hygiene and 

 public health. 



Following the example, set first by the London County 

 1 "until, of arranging annual conferences of teachers of 

 science for the discussion of methods of teaching and other 

 important matters, the Director of Public Instruction for 

 Ceylon, Mr. J. Harward, was instrumental in bringing 

 about a second conference on science teaching in Colombo 

 last March. We have received a report of the proceedings 

 at this year's meetings, which were largely attended. The 

 interest with which the proceedings were followed show-ed 

 clearly that the conferences are a movement in the right 

 direction. Four papers were read and discussed, as 

 follows : — the teaching of elementary mechanics, by Mr. 

 C. W. B. Arnold ; the value of ugliness in electrical 

 apparatus, by Mr. A. J. Bamford, of Colombo Observa- 

 tory ; the position of biology in education, by Dr. J. Pear- 

 son ; and physiology in boys' schools, by Mr. E. Evans, of 

 (he Government Training College. 



The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion for Ireland has issued its " Programme of Experi- 

 mental Science, Drawing, Manual Instruction, and 

 Domestic Economy for Day Secondary Schools " for the 

 session 1911-12. Among the more important alterations 

 which have been introduced are : a course of physical and 

 commercial geography has been substituted for that in 

 geology in the special courses ; students who have worked 

 satisfactorily through the third-year syllabus of physics 

 will be permitted to proceed to the fourth-year syllabus of 

 mechanics, without having worked previously the third-year 

 syllabus of the latter subject ; students who are more than 

 eighteen years of age on June 1 in the year in which the 

 course is entered upon will be ineligible for grants ; and 

 grants will be payable, under certain conditions, upon the 

 attendance of students at instruction in a fourth-year 

 syllabus during a second year. We notice that summer 

 courses for instruction for teachers will be continued as 

 heretofore, but the hope is expressed that the courses will 

 shortly have satisfied the need of qualifying teachers, and 

 will develop into " post-graduate " courses on special 

 subjects for those already qualified. 



Reference was made in the issue of Nature for July 20 

 (vol. lxxxvii., p. 101) to a scheme arranged by the Royal 

 Commissioners for the Exhibition of 185 1 for the award 

 of industrial bursaries to young men who, after a course 

 of training in a university or approved technical college, 

 desire to enter engineering, chemical, or other manu- 

 facturing works. The scheme is another indication of the 

 desire of educationists to establish a link between educa- 

 tion and industry ; it is based on the assumption that 

 college-trained men are not able, as a rule, to obtain re- 

 munerative employment in industries immediately after the 

 completion of their college course. Its main characteristic 

 is to lead the students to the manufacturers. In the issue 

 of The Times for August 14, the writer of an article on 

 " Commerce and the Universities," after directing attention 

 to this scheme, gives an interesting account of the indus- 

 trial fellowships inaugurated in the University of Kansas. 

 They were initiated by Prof. Duncan in 1907. The fellow- 

 ships are tenable in the chemical department by students 

 appointed by the University, and the emoluments are pro- 

 vided by manufacturers. To illustrate the conditions under 

 which the fellowships are held, those attaching to a fellow- 

 ship (No. 7) established by a glass company may, says The 

 Times contributor, be taken as typical. The object of the 

 fellowship was investigation into the optical properties of 

 glass in relation to its chemical constitution. The fellow 

 contracted to devote the whole of his time to this investi- 

 gation, with the exception of three hours a week, which 

 he gave to teaching in the University, in return for which 

 he was exempted from the payment of university fees. 

 The tenure of the fellowship was for two years, and the 

 emoluments, 300!. a year, were provided by the company. 

 All discoveries made by the fellow during the tenure of the 

 fellowship become the property of the company, subject to 

 the payment of 10 per cent, of the net profits to the fellow ; 

 and any patents taken out by the fellow are assigned to the 

 company. The fellow is allowed to publish any results the 

 publication of which, in the opinion of the company, would 



NO. 2l82, VOL. 87] 



not injure their interests. At the end of the tenure the 

 fellow is required to present to the University a complete 

 monograph on the work done, and, after the expiration of 

 three years, the University is at liberty to publish the results 

 for the use and benefit of the people. 



The executive committee of the General Council of 

 Church Training Colleges has presented a memorandum 

 to the President of the Board of Education dealing with 

 the qualification and supply of teachers. The memor- 

 andum states there has been a marked and general falling 

 off in the number of candidates for entrance into training 

 colleges owing largely to the agitation of the last two 

 years, which arose out of the over-supply of teachers and 

 consequent difficulty in many cases of obtaining employ- 

 ment. A careful investigation leads the council to the 

 conclusion that a pressing need of the time is the framing 

 and publication by the Board of Education of a definite 

 and comprehensive policy with reference to the qualifica- 

 tion and supply of teachers. If such declaration be made, 

 the following steps would follow in due course : (1) The 

 definite announcement would be made that after a certain 

 date no more (or, according to policy, a much smaller 

 percentage of) untrained or uncertificated teachers would be 

 appointed. Special arrangements would have to be made 

 in the case of smaller country schools. (2) A thorough 

 inquiry would be made into, and a careful estimate formed 

 of, the consequent requirements of the schools throughout 

 the country and of the existing provision to supply their 

 needs. (3) The council feels strongly that as the revised 

 staffing would involve increased expenditure, more care 

 should be taken in the preliminary selection of candidates 

 for the teaching profession, and suggests (i) that no young 

 person should be appointed as bursar who has not shown 

 some qualities and aptitude (apart from merely intellectual 

 tests) for the teacher's profession; and (ii) that no bursar 

 should be allowed to proceed to a student-teachership who 

 has failed to prove such fitness. (4) To avoid any possible 

 hardship to any person now engaged in teaching, existing 

 qualifications should be recognised, subject to the require- 

 ments of efficiency, although the council is of opinion that 

 it might be reasonable to require, or at any rate useful 

 to encourage, untrained, uncertificated, and supplementary 

 teachers to improve their qualifications within a certain 

 period. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Academy of Sciences, August 7.— M. le General Bassot 

 in the chair.— Sir William Ramsay : The action of niton 

 (the radium emanation) on thorium salts. Commenting on 

 a recent paper by M. Herschfinkel on this subject, the 

 author gives details of the method of purification of the 

 thorium nitrate used in his experiments, with especial 

 reference to the destruction of any organic matter w^hich 

 might have been present in the crude salt. — Kr. Birke- 

 land : Are the rings of Saturn due to an electrical radia- 

 tion frpm the planet? A description of the phenomena 

 observed when a magnetised globe is placed in a strong 

 electric field. Three photographic reproductions of the 

 appearance of the globe under these conditions show the 

 similarity of the luminous ring with that of Saturn. 

 Observations by other workers are also cited in support 

 of this view. — J. Guillaume : Observations of the Kiess 

 comet (191 16) made with the Brunner equatorial of the 

 Lyons Observatory. Data are given for July 15, 17, 20, 

 and 21.— J. Ph. Lagrula and H. Chretien : The Kiess 

 comet (19116). Its photographic aspect and its spectrum. 

 One photograph showed a well-defined tail to the comet 

 i° in length. The spectrum contained cyanogen bands 

 and the blue hydrocarbon band. — Marcel Brillouin : 

 Crystalline elements and molecular orientation.— Daniel 

 Berthelot and Henrv Gaudechon : The photolysis of 

 alcohols, acid anhydrides, ether oxides, and esters by the 

 ultra-violet rays. Alcohols are characterised by evolution 

 of hydrogen and formation of aldehydes. Ethers give 

 carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and saturated hydrocarbons. 

 Various esters were also submitted to ultra-violet light, 

 and the gases produced are tabulated.— Ame Pictet and 

 Alphonse 'Gams : The synthesis of berberine. Starting 



