December 23, 1909] 



NA TURE 



235 



the strains. The testing machine employed was the loo-ton 

 Buckton machine in the Walker Engineering Laboratory. 

 Hoop tension and compression were obtained by applying 

 hydraulic pressure to the inside and outside of the tubes 

 respectively ; in the latter case a special jacket surrounded 

 the tube under test. The experiments show an approximate 

 agreement between the maximum shear stress at the yield 

 point in compression and the yield-point stress in pure 

 shear, the mean difference in the tests of annealed speci- 

 mens being about 3 per cent. It appears, then, that mild 

 steel in compression yields by shearing ; and, to a first 

 approximation, the value of this shear stress is independent 

 of any normal compressive stress on the planes of the 

 slide. 



The second paper was contributed by Mr. C. A. M. 

 Smith, of the East London College, University of London. 

 Solid mild steel test specimens were used under combined 

 tension and torsion, and also under combined compression 

 and torsion. The 50-ton machine at the college was used, 

 and the strains were measured by means of the author's 

 sphingometer, by means of which readings are obtained 

 on tliree planes at I20 degrees. The results obtained give 

 further confirmation of Guest's law for mild steel. The 

 author's remarks regarding the difficulty of obtaining axial 

 application of the Itiad, both with pull and push, were of 

 special interest. Ordinary wedge grips are of little use in 

 securing this ; even spherical seatings are bad. Sphingo- 

 metcr readings with the latter show great divergence from 

 regularity in the strains on three planes, although the 

 means are perfectly regular. Often in a test the ball joints 

 slip into new bearing positions, thus producing a new 

 eccentricity of the load. These facts emphasise the 

 necessity of employing an instrument of the sphingometer 

 type in tests of a scientific character for loads within the 

 yield point. 



THE VARASITES OF THE GROUSE. 

 COME valuable results of the work of the Grouse Disease 

 '~-' Inquiry Commission are published by' Dr. A. E. 

 Shipley, F.R.S., in a series of papers on the parasites of 

 the red grouse (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1909, pp. 309- 

 368, plates XXXV. -Ix.), in which the ectoparasites, the 

 thread-worms, and the tape-worms are successively 

 described and illustrated. 



Ninety per cent, of the birds examined were infested 

 with two species of Mallophaga (Goniodes tetraonis and 

 Nirnuis cameratus) which feed on the barbules of the 

 feathers. " The number on each bird is to some extent 

 an inverse measure of their health." Though not a paia- 

 site, the larva of the common dung-fiy (Scatophaga 

 stercoraria) is described and excellently figured — a note- 

 worthy contribution to the scanty literature on larval 

 Diptera — because it was hoped that these maggots, which 

 are found in numbers among the droppings of the grouse, 

 might prove to be intermediate hosts for the grouse tape- 

 worms ; the results, however, w-ere entirely negative. With 

 the same object in view, the crops of many grouse were 

 examined, and although gamekeepers and sportsmen believe 

 that these birds eat no insects, their animal food was, in 

 fact, found to be " fairly abundant and very varied," 

 comprising caterpillars of moths and saw-flies, frog- 

 hoppers and Diptera, spiders and slugs. Although no 

 bladder-worms were found by these investigations, Dr. 

 Shipley has incidentally thrown light on the feeding habits 

 of the grouse, and has shown that mere external observa- 

 tion in such questions is often to be distrusted. 



The grouse tape-worms, the cysticercus stages of which 

 are thus still unknown, comprise a larger species (Davainea 

 urogalli) and a smaller one {Hymenolepis microps). This 

 latter, " so transparent when alive as almost to be in- 

 visible," is nevertheless very abundant in the duodenum, 

 where its presence appears to be often fatal to the birds, 

 so that it is a far more serious pest than its larger com- 

 panion. 



Of the Nematoda that infest the grouse, Trichosoma 

 JongicpUe and Trichostrongyhis pergracilis are the most 

 important, and the latter of these, at least, requires no 

 intermediate host for its development. By soaking heather 

 and then centrifuging the drawn-off water, Dr. Shipley 

 NO. 2095, VOL. 82] 



showed that " heather is, so to speak, crawling with 

 thread-worms"; the means by which the nematode larvje, 

 hatched from eggs passed out of the birds' intestines, enter 

 the food canal of new hosts is thus plain. Another fact 

 of interest is the presence of larval thread-worms in the 

 lungs and liver ; these are believed to be derived from 

 eggs hatched while still in the intestine of their parents' 

 host-bird, and to wander through the latter 's body. 

 Readers who have followed Dr. Shipley's recent sugges- 

 tions as to the importance of parasitic worms in certain 

 human diseases vi'ill be prepared for his belief that these 

 wandering larval nematodes may be responsible for patho- 

 logical conditions in the organs of the grouse. 



G. H. C. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 CAMBRIDGE. — The general board of studies has appointed 

 Mr. L. A. Borradaile to be university lecturer in zoology 

 from January i, 1910, to September 30, 1914. 



It is proposed, in accordance with the recommendation 

 of the special board for moral science, to appoint a syndicate 

 to make arrangements for the building of a laboratory of 

 experimental psychology. 



Dr. J. L. SiMONSF.N, assistant lecturer and demonstrator 

 1,1 chemistry in the University of Manchester, has been 

 appointed professor of chemistry in the University of 

 Madras, and Dr. A. Holt has succeeded him at Manchester. 



A LECTURE by some man eminent in letters, science, or 

 art, to be delivered annually in the Lent term, has been 

 established at Queen's College, London. Her Majesty the 

 Queen, patron ~of the college, has allowed it to be called 

 the Queen's lecture. 



Under the Irish Universities Act, igo8, graduates of the 

 Royal University of Ireland may be registered as graduates 

 of the National University of Ireland. We are asked to 

 announce that as the first meeting of Convocation^ must 

 take place within six months from the date of the dissolu- 

 tion of the Royal University of Ireland, it is very advisable 

 that application for registration as graduates should^ be 

 made without delav. .MI information may be obtained 

 from Dr. Joseph McGrath, registrar of the University, 

 the National University of Ireland, Dublin. 



Courses of afternoon lectures on aeronautics will be 

 held after Christmas at the Imperial College of Science 

 and Technology. Sir George Greenhill, F.R.S., will 

 lecture on the dynamics of an aeroplane: Mr. H. R. A. 

 Mallock, F.R.S., on fluid resistance; and Colonel H. C. L. 

 Holden, F.R.S., on light petrol motors for aerial work. 

 The courses will begin respectively about the middle of 

 Januarv, the early part of February, and after Easter. 

 Research scholarships will be awarded by the college to 

 advanced students desirous of undertaking research work 

 in scientific problems connected with aeronautics. The 

 scholarships are to be tenable for one year at the Imperial 

 College, and provision may be made for part of the work 

 to be undertaken at the National Physical Laboratory. 

 Scholars will be entitled to free admission to the college 

 and to a maintenance allowance. 



The next annual conference of teachers arranged by the 

 London County Council will be held on January 6-8 in- 

 clusive at Birkbeck College, Chancery Lane, London. 

 ."Xmong the subjects for discussion, we notice that during 

 the afternoon of the first dav the training of engineers 

 will be dealt with. Sir William White, K.C.B., will 

 preside, and addresses will be delivered by Prof. D. S. 

 Capper on the training of engineers, by Dr. R. M. 

 Walmsley on the sandwich svstem as applied to_ day 

 engineering students, and by Mr. R. Bunting on higher 

 elementary education and the preliminary training of 

 engineers. The next afternoon Sir Lauder Brunton will 

 preside, and the teaching of domestic economy will be 

 discussed. Mr. John Wilson will deliver an address on 

 the correlation between the teaching of domestic economy 

 and experimental science. Other subjects of discussion 

 will be :— the organisation of higher schools ; the teaching 

 of number ; methods of teaching in schools for the mentally 



