;o6 



NATURE 



[August 31, 191 1 



increases are not to apply to members of the facult) below 

 the rank of instructor, nor above the rank of assistant 

 professor, and there is to be no automatic increase aftei 

 instructors have arrived at a salary of 300/., and after 

 assistant professors have arrived at a salary of 400/. 

 I dm rases are not automatic in salaries of members of the 

 faculty who are on part time only, nor in the case of 

 instructors and assistant professors for a year of tibvim 

 on leave. Increases of salary may, uf course, be given in 

 thi cases cited above, in which no automatic increase is 

 due as til right. Larger increases than of 20Z. air some- 

 times made at the discretion of the president, with the 

 appi oval nl 111.- 1 "gents. 



The calendar for the session 1911-12 of the Glasgow 

 and West of Scotland Technical College shows thai the 

 whole building now comprises more than seven acres of 

 floor space. To quote the calendar, it " forms the largest 

 structure in Great Britain devoted to education." It has 

 ■cost, with the equipment, about 400,000/. The plan of 

 confining each department to one floor has been followed 

 in neatly every case, with the result that the internal 



arrangements generally are well adapted to pri 1 



efficiency in working. County secondary education com- 

 mittees in Scotland are authorised I ■> the Education (Scot- 

 land) Act of 1908 to grant bursaries tenable at this college 

 to students resident within their districts. It maj be 

 noticed, too, that a large number of firms in the area in 

 which the college is situated have expressed their willing- 

 ness to allow a selected number of their apprentices facili- 

 ties for carrying out a scheme of collet' study conjoined 

 with practical work. The courses of study in engineering 

 an In Id during the winter session of the college, and thus 

 student-apprentices are left free to spend the intervening 

 summers in works. Some of these firms are willing to 

 recognise, wholly or partially, the time spent in college as 

 part of the apprenticeship period, but such recognition will 

 be contingent upon satisfactory reports being received from 

 the college in each case. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences. August 21.— M. Arrmn dGautier 

 in the chair. — The president announced the death of Albert 

 Ladenburg, correspondant in the section of chemistry, and 

 gave a short account of his work. — II. Deslandres and 

 L. d'Azambuja : The velocities of rotation of the black 

 filaments (flocculi) in the upper layer of the solar atmo- 

 sphere. A historical sketch of the work done on the dark 

 flocculi since their discovery by Hale and Ellermann in 

 1903, with special reference to the work done at the 

 Meudon Ob rvatory since 1908. Five diagrams are given 

 showing successive positions of a filament on different 

 dates, and four tables analysing various negatives. — J. 

 Boussinesq : The spontaneous vibrations of a free bar, 

 cooling by contacl at its extremities and by radiation or 



■ lion at its lateral surface. — Kr. Birkeland : The 

 sun and its spots. A description of experiments made with 

 a magnetic globe as a kathode in a large discharging 

 vessel, and a discussion of the possible bearing of these 



"■■nl. mi iln theory of the sun. Seven photographs 

 ol the luminous phenomena observed an reproduced, and 

 the .author concludes that in the evolution of the solar 

 system, electrical and magnetic fores must be regarded as 

 playing a part comparable with gravitation. \. de la 

 Baume Pluvinel and F. Baldet : The spectrum ol the 



Kiess cornel 1 M. The Kiess comet was sufficiently 



1 ■ econd forti ;hl in Julj to allow oi the 



photography ol its spectrum h\ the prism-objective method 



The wave-lengths and aspeel ol the bands mi ui d an 



1 ■' table. II" ' 1 gave no continuous spectrum. 



■ us of the Swan spectrum and cyanogen spectrum 



and compai isons are madi « ith the 



'i and M01 1 hou ;i tool ts. 



Michel Feketo : Some generalisations of a theorem of 



Weiei 1 ,'s de Bothezat : A method foi the 



imental study of the deadening of the oscillation ol 



-' ti in- iii motion in a fluid. -Em. Bourquolot : 



1 f the pear tree, its presence 



in the leaves of several varieties, its pres in the trunk 



1 I ■ -i' nei ol -1 trui arbutine in the leaves, 



branches, and roots of the pear has been proved. — E. L. 

 Troucssart and E. ti. Dehaut : The wild and domesti- 

 cated pigs of Sardinia and Corsica. — Edouard Chatton : 

 Some parasites of marine copepods observed bj M. Apstein. 

 — E. Roubaud : New biological researches on the solitary 

 wasps of Africa ; evolution, variations, disturbances of the 

 maternal instinct under the influence of Inn 

 Schlegrel : The development of Ma'ia squinado. — Maurice 

 Arthus : The .intoxications produced by snake venom. — 

 J. Basset: The determining cause of "typhoid fever of 

 the horse " (influenza, grippe, pasteup Ilosis, ph rdestaupe, 

 pink eye). — Maurice Piettre : .\ mode "I resorption of 

 fatty reserves. 



NO. 2183, VOL. 87] 



FORTHCOMING CONGRESSES. 



.R.S. Addr 

 ersity of Chri 



h. Presi- 

 President 



August 3t-September 6. — British 1 

 dent: Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., 

 General Secretaries, Kurlington House. \ 



September 4-6. — Centenary of the Uri 

 of Festival Committee : Prof. Brogger. 



September 9-20. — International Congress of the Applications of Elec- 

 tricity. Turin'. P.esident of the Committee of Honour: H.R.H. the 

 Duke of the Abruzzi. Honorary Secretary of the Committee : Signor 

 Guido Semenza, Via S. Paolo to, Milano. International Secretary : Col. 

 R. E. Crompton, C.B., R.E., Crompton Laboratory, Kensington Court. \V. 



September 12-15.— Celebration of the Five-liundredth Anniversary of 

 the University of St. Andrews. 



September 18-23. — International Conference of Genetics. Paris. 

 President: Dr. Viger. Secretary: M. Philippe de Vilmorin. 



September 25-29. —German Naturalists and Physicians, Karlsruhe. 



October 2-7. — Third International Congress of Hygiene. Dresden. 

 General Secretary : Dr. Hopf, Reichsstrasse 4, Dresden. 



October 12-ic. — Italian Society for the Advancement of Science. 

 Rome. President : Prof. G. Ciamician. General Secretary : Prof. V. 

 Reina, Via del Collegio Romano 26, Roma 



October 15-22. — Tenth International Geographical Congress. Rome. 

 President : Marquis Raffaele Cappelli. General Secretary : Commander 

 Giovanni Roncagli, Italian Geographical Society, Rome. 



December 27.— American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 President : Dr. C. E. Bessey, University of NebrasV-a. Permanent Secre- 

 tary : Dr. L. O. Howard, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 



CONTENTS. page 



The Foundations of Mathematics. By G. B. M. . . 273 



Movement and Escapement. By W. W. B 274 



Cosmical Physics . 275 



Botanical Monographs 276 



Our Book Shelf 276 



Letters to the Editor: — 



A Pseudo-Aurora — Sir Lauder Brunton, Bart., 



F.R.S 278 



Rainless Thunderstorms — A. A. M. ; E. G 278 



Habits of Dogs— A. Everett 278 



The Kacharis of Assam. (Illustrated.) 279 



The Promotion of Agricultural Research and Local 



Investigations 279 



The Recognition of Palaeobotany 280 



S. H. Burbury, F.R.S. By Prof. G. H. Bryan. 



F.R.S 281 



Prof. A. Ladenburg 



The British Association at Portsmouth : — 



Inaugural Address by Prof. Sir William Ramsay, 

 K.C.B., Ph.D., LL.D., D.Sc, M.D., F.R.S , 



President 



Section A. — Mathematics and Physics. — Opening 

 Address by Prof. H. H. Turner, D.Sc, D.C.L., 



F.R.S., President of the Section 



Section B. — Chemistry. — Opening Address by Prof. 

 J. Walker, D.Sc, F.R.S., President of the 



Section 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Astronomical Occurrences for September 



Brooks's Comet, 1911c 



Encke's Comet, ioii</ 



The Aspect of Nova Lacertse 



Kiess's Comet, 191 \b 



The Early Visibility of the New Moon 



Variable Stars 



Water Supply in the United States 



Magnetic Observations . 



University and Educational Intelligence 



Societies and Academies . 



282 



296 



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