April 24, 19 13"] 



NATURE 



205 



The seventeenth annual conference of the Parents' 

 National Educational Union will be held at the Cax- 

 ton Hall, Victoria Street, S.W., on May 5. Among 

 the subjects of papers are : — Education and social 

 sympathy, J. St. G. Heath; the reading habit and a 

 wide curriculum, Miss C. M. Mason ; knowledge and 

 learning, Stanley Leathes, C.B. ; and knowledge and 

 its relation to national efficiency, J. L. Paton. Fur- 

 ther particulars may be obtained from Miss Parish, 

 26 Victoria Street, S.YV. 



The University of Edinburgh announces the 

 establishment, in October next, of a mathematical 

 laboratory for practical instruction in numerical, 

 graphical, and mechanical calculation and analysis, 

 as required in applied mathematical sciences and for 

 research in connection with the mathematical de- 

 partment. A course of practical work has been 

 drawn up by Prof. E. T. Whittaker, F.R.S., in- 

 cluding methods of interpolation, graphic solution of 

 equations, practical Fourier analysis, use of calcu- 

 lating instruments, and calculations of elliptic func- 

 tions, Bessel functions, gamma functions, and, 

 indeed, new functions not previously tabulated. 

 Prof. Whittaker proposes to give sufficient theoretical 

 explanation to render the more advanced work in- 

 telligible to those who have not previously studied 

 the functions of higher analysis. 



The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries proposes to 

 award in October next twelve research scholarships 

 in agricultural science, of the annual value of 150Z., 

 and tenable for three years. These scholarships have 

 been established in order to train promising students 

 under suitable supervision, \yith the view of their 

 contributing to the development of agriculture, either 

 by earning out independent research, or by acting 

 in an advisory capacity to agriculturists. Thev will 

 be granted only to students who show distinct promise 

 of capacitv for advanced study and research in some 

 one of the sciences bearing on agriculture. Appli- 

 cants must be graduates of a university, or holders 

 of a diploma of a university or college of university 

 rank, and application should be made not later than 

 June on a form to be obtained from the secretary, 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Whitehall Place, 

 London, S.W. 



The annual conference of the Association of 

 Teachers in Technical Institutions will be held this 

 year in Bradford at Whitsuntide. The proceedings 

 will be opened on Whit-Monday, when the Lord 

 Mayor of Bradford, Alderman Fred Foster, will 

 officially welcome the conference to Bradford. This 

 will be followed by the address of the president, Mr. 

 P. Coleman, of the Northern Polytechnic Institute. 

 The meeting on Tuesday evening will be addre - 1 

 bv the Right Hon. J. A. Pease, President of the 

 Board of Education, and in view of the introduction 

 of the new Education Bill soon after Whitsuntide, this 

 address will be looked forward to with exceptional 

 interest. This meeting will also be addressed by Dr. 

 M. E. Sadler, Vice-Chancellor of the University of 

 Leeds. Sir William Priestley, M.P., Sir Alfred Ke'ogh, 

 K.C.B., rector of the Imperial College of Science and 

 Technology, Mr. F. W. Jowett, M.P., and others. 

 Papers will be read to the conference on corporate life 

 in a technical institution, by Mr. W. Hibbert, the 

 Polvtechnic. Regent Street: vocational education, by 

 Mr. A. C. Coffin, director of education, Bradford, and 

 coordination within a county area, by Mr. F. N. 

 Cook, secretarv for higher education in the West 

 Riding of Yorkshire. 



The January issue of the Bulletin of the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology contains the report of the 

 president, Dr. R. C. Maclaurin, presented to the 

 NO. 226q. VOL. QT~l 



governing body of the institute in December last. 

 Taken in conjunction with that of the previous year, 

 the report shows that during the last eighteen months 

 nearly 1,400,000!. has been paid or promised by way 

 of gift to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

 The principal items include boo, 000/. for buildings, 

 160,000/. for land, 320,000?. for general endowment, 

 150,000!. for endowment of the department of naval 

 architecture, 40,000/. for scientific research, and 

 100,000/. for scholarships. It is not surprising to find 

 that the institute attracts students from all parts of 

 the United States, and, indeed, from all parts of the 

 world. Students come in large numbers from China, 

 South America, Canada, and in considerable numbers 

 from Europe, India, Egypt, South Africa, and a few 

 from Australia. The proportion of foreign students 

 at the institute is more than double that at almost 

 any other institution in the United States. The num- 

 ber of students on November 1 last reached 161 1, the 

 largest in the history of the institute. The total 

 number of members "of the teaching staff for these 

 students was 254, of whom 56 were full professors, 

 while there were, in addition, 16 research professors. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Royal Society, April 17.— Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., president, in the chair.— Dr. W. Watson : The 

 luminosity curves of persons having normal and 

 abnormal colour vision. The author has calculated 

 the form of the luminosity curves corresponding to 

 different degrees of deficiency of the red and green 

 sensation, and shows that in the great majority of 

 cases of colour blindness the observed points agree 

 with the calculated curves, and hence the correctness 

 ol Sir \Y. Abney's sensation curves and his theory as 

 to partial colour blindness is supported. The cases of 

 abnormal luminosity curves given by persons having 

 normal colour vision are shown to be probably due to 

 variation in macular pigmentation.— Prof. W. H. 

 Bragg and W. L. Bragg : The reflection of X-rays by 

 crystals. The paper deals with the reflection of a 

 beam of X-rays bv the cleavage faces of various 

 crystals, an ionisation method being employed to 

 measure the strength of the reflected rays. The 

 apparatus corresponds to a spectrometer, the parallel 

 planes in which the atoms of the crystal are arranged 

 taking the place of the lines of a grating, and the 

 ionisation chamber that of a telescope. A fine slit in 

 front of the X-rav bulb allows a beam of rays to fall 

 on the face of 'the crystal, and both crystal and 

 ionisation chamber turn about the axis of the instru- 

 ment and can be set at any desired angles. By this 

 method evidence has been found of the existence of 

 three very homogeneous components in the rays from 

 the bulb 'employed, which are only reflected from the 

 crystal at definite angles. They show as a very 

 strong reflection superimposed on the general reflec- 

 tion which takes place at all angles. Each of these 

 has a definite absorption coefficient in aluminium, and 

 can be recognised when reflected from many crystals. 

 The absorption of the homogeneous rays in different 

 metals corresponds in all respects to the absorption 

 of characteristic X-rays.— Prof. J. C. McLennan : A 

 fluorescence spectrum of iodine vapour. — Dr. W. 

 Wahl : The relation between the crystal-symmetry of 

 the simpler organic compounds and their molecular 

 constitution. Part I.— Prof. H. E. Armstrong and 

 E. E. Walker : Studies of the processes operative in 

 solutions. XXVIII. , The causes of variation in the 

 optical rotatory power of organic compounds and of 

 anomalous rotatorv dispersive power. Attention is 

 directed to the explanation of the anomalous rotatory 

 dispersive power displayed by some organic compounds. 



