50 



NATURE 



[March 13, 19 13 



from the chair of applied chemistry (chemistry of 

 leather manufacture) which he has held for the past 

 twenty-two years. Prof. Procter is prepared and 

 desirous to continue in an honorary capacity the re- 

 searches into the chemistry of the tanning process and 

 the behaviour of colloids, on which he has been en- 

 gaged. To commemorate the great services he has 

 rendered to leather industries it is therefore proposed 

 to erect and equip an International Research Labora- 

 tory, of which he will be honorary director so long 

 as he desires to continue his investigations. The 

 laboratory will be open, without charge, to competent 

 students from every part of the world. The council 

 of the University has provided a site, and an influ- 

 ential committee, representing the scientific and com- 

 mercial sides of the leather industry, has been formed 

 to appeal for subscriptions. The sum desired is 4000?. 

 for the establishment of the laboratory, and 300Z. a 

 vear for _current expenses and assistance. The 

 honorary treasurer of the committee is Mr. W. J. 

 Rivington, The Leather Trades Review, 24 Mark 

 Lane, London, E.C. 



The University is to receive a grant of 1000/. a year 

 through the Board of Agriculture from the Develop- 

 ment Fund for investigations into the subject of 

 animal nutrition. The work is to be carried out in 

 consultation with the existing Research Institution at 

 Cambridge, so that there shall be no unnecessary 

 overlapping between the two schemes. 



Science announces that gifts amounting to more 

 than ioo,oooL to Washington and Lee University, 

 Lexington, Va., are provided for in the will of Mr. 

 R. P. Doremus, who died on February 1. 



The council of the University of Bristol has been 

 informed that the late Mr. Augustus Nash has be- 

 queathed the residue of his estate in trust to pay a 

 near relative the income during life, and afterwards to 

 pay the capital sum to the Universitv in the hope 

 that it mav be used to advance natural sciences, par- 

 ticularlv chemistry. The sum will be about 18,000/. 



It will be remembered that, in 1909, the Goldsmiths 

 Company gave 50,000?. towards the extension of the 

 engineerine department in the Central Technical Col- 

 lege. The company has now offered to pay the entire 

 cost of the new building, which means an added gift 

 of 37,000!. The Goldsmiths' Company has attached 

 the condition that the portion of the capital belonging 

 to the Imperial College of Science and Technology 

 which will be thus set free shall be added to the 

 endowment fund, the income being used for higher 

 educational and research work. 



A memorial signed by a large number of educa- 

 tionists and others has been presented to the Prime 

 Minister urging the need for an immediate reform 

 of our national education. The petition states that 

 the memorialists "are of opinion that this country- 

 has been slow, as compared with some other nations, 

 in recognising how greatly education increases 

 national strength when it permeates every class of the 

 community and makes for the unitv of the nation. 

 They, therefore, urge that adequate provision for 

 education in all grades, from the primarv school to 

 the university, be made in every defined area of the 

 population ; that the artificial barriers between srrade 

 and grade should be, so far as possible, broken down, 

 and facilities given to every child, whatever his birth 

 or creed, to proceed unhindered to his appropriate 

 development and towards a national ideal of intellec- 

 tual, spiritual, and vocational efficiency." The peti- 

 tion urg-es the Government to undertake forthwith " a 

 comprehensive reform of the national education, 

 making for the good of the nation as a whole. 



no. 2263, VOL - 9 1 ] 



The Admiralty has issued a circular detailing the 

 steps it is proposed to take to supplement the supply 

 of officers for the Navy. The new requirements of 

 the Air and Submarine Services, the establishment of 

 the Dominion Navies, and other causes all make an 

 increased number of naval officers necessary. This 

 greatlv augmented demand will be met in part by 

 promotions from the lower deck, by absorption of 

 officers from the R.N.R., and in other ways, but to 

 provide officers available for service in 1920 a new 

 nolicv is to be adopted in addition to existing plans. 

 The special entry is proposed of a limited number of 

 cadets of about "the age of eighteen, who have com- 

 pleted their general education. A number of such 

 cadets not exceeding thirty annually will be admitted 

 bv competitive examination of selected candidates. 

 They will be sent to a naval establishment for a course 

 of professional training before being distributed as 

 midshipmen in the fleet. The same subsequent career 

 will be open to them as to officers who have entered 

 through Osborne. They will be free to volunteer for 

 service in any one of the . special branches. The 

 entrance examination will be such as to attract candi- 

 dates who have received at school a good grounding 

 in mathematics, mechanics, and physics. The sub- 

 jects of examination will be nearlv identical with those 

 prescribed for entrv to Woolwich, but some weight 

 will be assigned to an elementary knowledge of 

 engineering science in addition to the usual Woolwich 

 subjects. The course of training which these cadets 

 will undergo after admission will consist largely^ of 

 instruction of a practical kind in naval engineering 

 and in the service applications of electricity. The 

 first special entry under these conditions will take 

 place bv competitive examination in June next._ An 

 Admiraltv Committee will interview each candidate 

 and examine credentials furnished by the headmaster 

 of the school he is attending or last attended. _ On 

 the report of this committee it will be determined 

 whether the candidate shall be admitted to compete. 



During the International Kinematograph Exhibi- 

 tion, to be held at Olympia on March 22-29, there 

 will be an educational conference, at which the use 

 and value of the kinematograph as an aid to instruc- 

 tion will be discussed. It would, of course, be absurd 

 to suggest that direct observation, or mental work 

 requiring the individual activity of the pupil, can be re- 

 placed as educational factors by the more or less passive 

 contemplation of moving pictures ; nevertheless, there 

 are many subjects, which can be illustrated more 

 effectively bv the kinematograph than by any other 

 means. Moving pictures representing the peoples, 

 industries, and" characteristics of many lands give 

 more accurate impressions than many pages of a 

 Geographical reading book; the dry bones of history 

 mav be mad? tn live in the minds of pupils by means 

 of some of the historical films available ; animals may 

 be seen in their natural haunts ; the stages of de- 

 velopment of an animal or plant can be followed in 

 auick and orderly sequence; the nature of disease and 

 the value of preventive medicine can be illustrated; 

 and many other points not easily explained can be 

 presented in the most striking manner. At the forth- 

 coming conference the application of the kinemato- 

 graph to instruction in various branches of the curri- 

 culum, and to education generally, will be discussed. 

 Among the speakers will be Dr. Lyttelton (headmaster 

 of Eton), Mr. Stephen Paget, Miss Von Wvss (presi- 

 dent of the Nature Studv Union), Dr. Walmsley, Mr. 

 F. W. Sanderson (headmaster of Oundle School). 

 Mr. A. P. Graves (late H.M. Chief Inspector of 

 Schools). Messrs. Pathe" Freres will show many of 

 their educational films during the conference in illus- 

 tration of the various subjects brought forward. The 



