May 8, 19 i 3] 



NATURE 



issues an appeal for help (not financial) in a coopera- 

 tive research recently set on foot, particulars ot which 

 may be obtained on application to the chairman of 

 the" research committee, Eugenics Education Society, 

 Kingsway House, Kingsway, London, W.C. 



At the annual meeting of the National Education 

 Association, held on May 2, Lord Sheffield made some 

 interesting comparisons between the educational 

 systems of Scotland and England. Supplementary 

 courses are recognised for all schools in Scotland, 

 where, at the end of August, 191 1, there were 2056 

 such courses in 3173 primary schools, and they had 

 49,497 pupils above twelve years of age in average 

 attendance, " out of a total of 783,792 pupils in 

 average attendance. The grants to pupils in these 

 courses amount to more than 4Z. a head, while in 

 England the grant is 2 1, a head to pupils in elemen- 

 tary schools. In Scotland 6-3 per cent, of the pupils 

 are under advanced instruction in ordinary schools, 

 or about 30 per cent, of the pupils above twelve years 

 of age in ordinary elementary schools. In England 

 there are no such pupils and no such classes, but 

 there were, in 1911-12, 1,032,000 pupils above twelve 

 years. There are 194 higher grade schools in Scot- 

 i-ind. with more than 24,000 pupils in average attend- 

 ance, or 3-2 per cent, of all the pupils in elementary 

 schools. In 1910-11 there were only forty-seven such 

 schools in England and Wales, with 8852 pupils, or 

 less than one-twentieth of the Scotch proportion. The 

 grants for these schools in Scotland are 2I. 10s. a 

 head for the first year, 3I. 10s. for the second year, 

 4!. 10s. for the third and further years, all 

 capable of an increase of 10 per cent, for good work. 

 The grants of the English code for higher elementary 

 schools are: first year, 30s., second, 45s., third, 605., 

 or an average just above il. a head, and, with the 

 fee grant and aid grant, a, total of 3Z. a head. The 

 assimilation of the English higher elementary schools 

 to the Scotch higher grade schools in all matters could 

 be done by departmental action alone. The Scotch 

 report for 1912-13 shows that more than 95 per cent, 

 of the teachers are certificated, and 6S per cent, 

 trained, and there is one certificated teacher to thirty- 

 nine pupils. In England and Wales there is one 

 certificated teacher to about fifty-two pupils, and in 

 1911-12 less than 65 per cent, were certificated. The 

 average salaries of teachers certificated are, in Scot- 

 land in 1910-11, men, 138L, women, 83L ; in England, 

 men, 127Z., women, 92L In Scotland the salaries work 

 out at about 3I. per pupil, and in England and Wales 

 at about 2I. 17s. \&. per pupil. The total cost of 

 board schools in Scotland for school maintenance and 

 interest and repayment of loans is about 4J. 16s. In 

 England it is between 4J. 8s. and 4!. 105. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, May 1. — Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 K.C.B., president in the chair.— Prof. E. H. Griffiths 

 and Ezer Griffiths : The capacity for heat of metals at 

 different temperatures. The thermal capacity, at 

 various temperatures between o° and ioo°, of the 

 following metals has been determined : — Cu, Al, Fe, 

 Zn, Ag, Cd, Sn, and Pb. The work at lower_ tem- 

 peratures will be published later. The variation in the 

 thermal capacity can be represented (over the range 

 o° to ioo°) by the following parabolic equations, the 

 difference between the calculated and experimental 

 values in no case exceeding 0-2 per cent. In the large 

 majority of cases the difference is less than 01 per 

 cent 



Cu 5 = 0-09088 (1 + 0-00053417 -o-oooooo48f-), 



Al 5 = 0-20957 (1 + 00009101 ( — 000000171 2 ), 

 Fe (ingot) 5 = 0-10452 (i+o-ooi52ot —0-000006174-), 



Zn 5 = 0-09176 (1 + 0-00056051 — 000000 1 78t 2 ), 



Ag 5 = 0-05560 (1 +o-ooo33g6( — 0-000000141^), 



Cd 5 = 0-05475 (1 + 0-0005204 —0-000000725^), 



Sn 5 = 005363 (i + oooo67o4( — o-oooooo458( 2 ), 



Pb 5 = 0-030196(1 + 0-0004004 — o-oooooo36t 2 ), 



Many forms of equations were tried, but it was found 

 that the experimental results were more closely re- 

 presented by the parabolic than by any other form.— 

 A. Robertson and G. Cook : The transition from the 

 elastic to the plastic state in mild steel. The paper 

 deals with the reduction of stress at the yield point 

 in mild steel. Apparatus for limiting the extension 

 during yield to a value comparable with the elastic ex- 

 tension," and for securing axial loading, are described. 

 Under these conditions "twelve specimens were tested, 

 and a reduction of stress of 24 to 36 per cent, observed 

 in eleven, and of 17 per cent, in the other one.— F. P. 

 Worley : Studies of the processes operative in solutions. 

 XXVIII. , The influence of acids on the rotatory power 

 of cane-sugar, of glucose, and of fructose. Experi- 

 ments on the hvdrolysis of cane-sugar by solutions of 

 benzene-sulphonic acid have confirmed the conclusion 

 previously arrived at from those in which sulphuric 

 acid was' used, that the ratio of the negative optical 

 rotation at the completion of hydrolysis to the initial 

 positive rotation increases rapidly as the concentration 

 of the acid is increased. The increase is proportional 

 to the concentration of the acid, and in the case of 

 benzenesulphonic acid amounts to about 20 per cent, 

 when the concentration is increased from zero to twice 

 normal. It has been found that the increase is due 

 entirely to the influence of the acid on the rotatory 

 power of the three sugars, cane-sugar and glucose being 

 made somewhat less "dextro-rotatory and lasvulose con- 

 sidprablv more ljevo-rotatorv by the presence of the 



ac id_ H. G. J. Moseley : The' attainment of high 



potentials bv the use of radium. A radio-active sub- 

 stance which emits 0-radiation should, when insulated, 

 continue to gain a positive charge until a potential 

 of the order' of a million volts is reached. Experi- 

 ments have been made to test this point. A small 

 bulb containing radium emanation was supported by a 

 quartz rod at the centre of a highly exhausted flask. 

 A disc suspended from a quartz spring in the neck 

 of the flask formed a simple attracted disc electro- 

 meter. It was found that a bulb of 9 mm. diameter 

 reached a potential of 160,000 volts in the course of a 

 few minutes. A sudden discharge then occurred 

 through the residual gas in the flask. A bulb of 5 cm. 

 diameter charged up much more slowly : no discharge 

 took place, and the final potential, 1 10.000 volts, was 

 limited bv a leak of electricity alone the quartz sup- 

 port.— E. Marsden and Dr. T. S. Taylor : The decrease 

 in velocitv of <* particles in passing through matter. 

 The relative velocities of the a particles of radium C 

 before and after passing through foils of various 

 thicknesses have been investigated by means of the 

 deflection caused by a magnetic field. Tables are 

 given showing the results for gold, copper, aluminium, 

 mica, and air. 



Linnean Society, April 17. Prof. E. B. Poulton, 

 F R.S., president, in the chair.— M. P. Prue and 

 N. D. Simpson : Plants collected on the Carruthers- 

 Miller-Price expedition through north-west Mongolia 

 and Chinese Dzungaria.— E. G. Baker : Some British 

 varieties of the bee-orchis, Ophrys apifera, Huds. In 

 the typical form of the bee-orchis the labellum is 

 broad' convex, with a terminal, reflexed appendage, 

 brown-purple, disc spotted with orange-yellow. In 

 1840 Hegetschweiler, in "Die Flora der Schweiz,' 



NO. 2271. VOL. 91] 



