September 26, 1912] 



NATURE 



127 



equipped. Practical and theoretical courses in pure 

 chemistry extend over five years, and a college certi- 

 ficate is granted ; there are also complete courses in 

 gas engineering', gas supply and distribution, coal-tar 

 distillation, chemical engineering, soap manufacture, 

 painters' oils, colours and varnishes, oils, fats and 

 \vaxes, metallurgy, and sugar manufacture, all of 

 which are largely attended by students who are 

 engaged either in the laboratories or on the plant in 

 the respective industries. 



More accommodation has for some time been 

 urgentlv needed in the departments of bacteriology and 

 public health of King's College (University of Lon- 

 don). This has now been provided, with the sanction 

 and approval of the University, by the removal of 

 these departments with their staffs to 62 Chandos 

 Street, Strand, W.C. (Charing Cross Medical School 

 Buildings), where an excellent suite of laboratories is 

 at present vacant owing to the transference of the 

 Charing Cross Medical School's preliminary and inter- 

 mediate medical studies to King's College. The 

 laboratories at Chandos Street are being altered and 

 refitted, and the accommodation there provided will 

 comprise a large class labocatory, research laboratory, 

 professors' laboratory, and lecturer's laboratory for 

 each department, bacteriology and public health re- 

 spectively ; a photomicrographic laboratory, prepara- 

 tion and animal rooms; a large theatre, ofifice, and 

 library for the joint use of the two departments. 

 There will be the regular courses of instruction in 

 bacteriology, clinical pathology, and photomicro- 

 graphy, and for the diploma of public health.- Re- 

 search and investigation work for public bodies and 

 others will also be carried on as iDefore. The new 

 laboratories will be opened on or about October i. 

 The laboratories vacated at King's College by this 

 removal will be utilised for increasing the accommo- 

 dation for the preliminary and intermediate medical 

 studies. 



The volume of announcements of the Northampton 

 Polytechnic Institute, London, E.C., for the session 

 1912-13 shows that the equipment of the institute has 

 been steadily extended since last year, but there is no 

 large item like a new generating station to report on 

 this occasion. In the mechanical engineering depart- 

 ment the equipment for experimental work in aero- 

 nautics has been considerably augmented and a new 

 steam power plant has been laid down, which will 

 enable students to e.xperiment on the efticiencv of 

 steam plant from the coal and water to the brake of 

 the engine with measuring appliances at every stage. 

 In the evening classes in the electrical engineering 

 department the heavy electrical engineering work now 

 so well known is being continued. An important 

 departure has been made in radio-telegraphy by the 

 extension of the single course previously given to 

 additional courses. The courses and classes in tele- 

 graphy and telephony have been remodelled to suit 

 the changed conditions in the public services. In the 

 mechanical engineering department the courses in 

 aeronautical engineering have been further developed, 

 especially on the experimental side. The new equip- 

 ment referred to above will form a prominent feature 

 of the laboratory instruction. The extensive work of 

 this department in automobile and other branches of 

 engineering is being continued. In technical optics 

 and in technical chemistry the courses have been 

 brought quite up-tn-date, but there is no development 

 that calls for special remark. The half-time trade 

 courses in technical chemistry and in horology in- 

 augurated last session are being further developed. 

 In these classes the students, all of whom are engaged 

 NO. 2239, VOL. 90] 



in commercial workshops, are in attendance from 

 9 a.m. to I p.m., and spend the afternoons in their 

 employers' workshops. The experiment appears to 

 meet the needs of the ])arlicular trades mentioned, 

 and if it continues to be as successful as in the past 

 year it will probably be extended to other trades. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 16.— .M. .-\. Gran- 

 didier in the chair. — H. Deslandres : The relations of 

 the prominences with the filaments and alignements 

 of the upper layers of the solar atmosphere. Further 

 details on the character of the alignements and the 

 filaments (long dark flocculi, absorption markings of 

 Hale and Evershed). The alignements are subdivided 

 into two classes, those with dark and with bright 

 lines. The properties of the latter are consistent with 

 the assumption of a circulation current of the upper atmo- 

 sphere. — A. Lacroix : The mineralogical constitution of 

 the volcanoes of the Island of Reunion. The essential 

 characteristic of the mineralogy of Reunion is the pro- 

 duction in the same volcano, and at the expense of the 

 same magma, of well-characterised types of sub- 

 alkaline and alkaline rocks. These have hitherto been 

 regarded as necessarily of independent origin. — Fred 

 Vies: Remarks on the form of the sun and moon.- — 

 Paul Uaubert: The influence of the velocity of attack 

 of calcite by acids on the form of the corrosion 

 figures of this mineral. An account of experiments 

 with calcite and dolomite when attacked with dilute 

 solutions of hydrochloric, acetic, formic and nitric 

 acids. — Walter T. Swingle : The slow artificial ripening 

 of the Deglet-nour date. The Algerian date was 

 introduced into the LJnited States (.Arizona and Cali- 

 fornia) in 1900, but the fruit did not ripen properly 

 on the tree. It has been proved that the dates may 

 be ripened in twenty-four hours by incubation at a 

 temperature of 43° to 49° C. It has now been found 

 that in presence of moisture the fruit can be slowly 

 ripened at the ordinary temperature. — M. Foex and 

 P. Bertbault: A disease of maize in Cochin China. 

 The disease, the effects of which are described in 

 detail, is due to a fungus of the genus Dothiorella. — 

 E. C. Teodoresco: The influence of temperature on 

 nuclease. Nuclease from the plants studied only com- 

 pletely lost its diastatic properties after having been 

 i heated to about 90° C. The maximum diastatic action 

 is at about 34° C. — .Alphonse Berget : An arrangement 

 of apparatus designed for the relative measurement 

 of the acceleration of gravity. — Da Montessus de 

 Ballore : Earthquakes and sunspots. 



Cape Town. 

 Royal Society of South Africa, August 21. — Dr. 

 J. K. E. Halm in the chair. — A. G. Howard : The 

 blizzard of June 9-12, 1902. In continuation of the 

 paper by Mr. Stewart, read in November, 1904, before 

 the South African Association for the .Advancement of 

 Science, the writer of the present paper brings to notice 

 a series of synoptic charts of the weather con- 

 ditions from June 8 to 13, 1902, inclusive. — J. 

 Hewitt and J. H. Power: A list of South African 

 Lacertilia, Ophidia, and Batrachia in the McGregor 

 Museum, Kimberley, with field notes on 

 various species. The paper is offered primarily 

 as a contribution to our knowledge of the 

 fauna of the Kimberley district. The present- 

 day fauna of that neighbourhood is shown to be com- 

 posite, a new element having been introduced along 

 with timber from Bechuanaland. The faunistic lists 



