December 30, 1909] 



NATURE 



267 



destroys the symmetry on either side of the plane of the 

 ring, whilst the dissimilarity of the — H and — COjH 

 groups destroys the symmetry about the perpendicular 

 plane. The compound therefore fulfils the fundamental 

 condition for enantiomorphism, namely, that no plane of 

 symmetry shall exist. By way of contrast it may be noted 

 that the compound 



CH,^ ;CH,.CH5, ^H 



,/"■ 



H 



/ 



'^CH...CH,' 



^CO„H 



could not exist in enantiomorphous forms or exhibit optical 

 activity, because the four radicles are all situated in a 

 plane (perpendicular to that of the ring) which would thus 

 form a plane of symmetry of the molecule. 



Extraordinary difficulties were encountered in effecting 

 the resolution of the acid. Owing to its weak basicity the 

 salts were very ill-defined, and the brucine salt by means 

 of which the resolution was finally accomplished separated 

 from its solutions as an oil which only slowly became 

 crystalline. Again, the brucine salts of the enantio- 

 morphous acids were so similar that an exceedingly tedious 

 process of re-crystallisation was required before they could 

 be obtained with a constant rotatory power, and even 

 then the acids separated from them were not homogeneous, 

 but proved to be capable of further resolution. Evidently 

 the salts nre not only similar, but partially isomorphous. 

 Finally, however, both acids were obtained in a pure state, 

 the i-acid giving [o]„ — 8i-i° and the d-acid [a]D + 8i-4° in 

 absolute alcohol (0-145 g""- '" 2° c.c). 



TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN MANCHESTER. 

 T^HE sixth annual report of the Manchester Education 



-^ Committee, dealing with the work of the year 1907-8, 

 has now been published, and provides an excellent example 

 of the way in which an educational authority can build 

 up a complete and duly correlated system of education to 

 meet the precise needs of the area under its charge. The 

 report deals fully with higher, secondary, and elementary 

 education. 



The section dealing with higher education is concerned 

 with the year ending in October, 1908, and deals chiefly 

 with technical education. The number of individual day 

 and evening students enrolled at the Municipal School of 

 Technology for the session ending July 31 was 5299, as 

 compared with 5149 for the previous session. The number 

 of individual students enrolled in the day departments was 

 66i, as compared with 651 for the session 1906-7. The 

 class entries for the session were 11,379, against 10,979 

 for the session 1906-7. These figures do not, however, 

 include the class entries in respect of students in the day 

 departments of the school. Computing the total volume of 

 work of the evening departments in student-hours — that is, 

 by multiplying the number of students enrolled by the total 

 number of hours' instruction given during the session — 

 it was found to be 459,805. The actual volume of work, 

 namely, the total number of hours of instruction multiplied 

 by the actual attendances, was 302,162 student-hours, or 

 60 per cent, of the total volume of work. Whichever 

 method of computation is adopted, the result obtained 

 shows a marked increase on the previous session. 



The imperial grant received year by year increases 

 steadily, amounting during 1906-7 to 9773!. The capita- 

 tion grant paid by the Lancashire County Council in re- 

 spect of students outside the Manchester area was, for 

 1907-8, 1226Z. The Cheshire County Council compounds, 

 so far as its students are concerned, and from this source 

 the school received 400?. 



It is interesting to notice that a certificate has been 

 instituted this year for students attending the engineering 

 apprentices' course, held on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 

 6 p.m. throughout the session. To satisfy the conditions 

 of award, students must pass all the prescribed ex- 

 aminations upon completion of the two years' course of 

 study. The certificate has now been awarded to thirty- 

 seven students, who have attended the course during the 

 past four sessions. A similar day course for apprentice 

 painters and decorators has also been inaugurated. The 

 committee of the school has had under consideration the 

 question of extending the facilities to apprentices in other 



NO. 2096, VOL. 82] 



industries for instruction and training during one whole 

 day a week, so as to relieve them from attendance at the 

 evening classes, and at the same time to give additional 

 time and opportunity for homework and study in the even- 

 ing. After consultation with the Master Plumbers' 

 .Association of the Manchester and Salford district, a 

 scheme has been drawn up for apprentice plumbers on the 

 same lines as the course for apprentice engineers. 



During the past year opportunity has been taken to 

 improve and develop the organised courses of instruction 

 in several of the evening departments in order more 

 thoroughly to systematise the training given, and to bring 

 the various subjects of the respective evening courses into 

 closer organic relation. The courses in the departments of 

 mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, architecture 

 and builders' work, municipal and sanitary engineering, 

 and textile manufacture, are thus graduated and organised 

 to cover a period of three or five years, leading up to the 

 evening certificate or diploma of the school, as the case 

 may be. 



A large number of tests has been carried out during the 

 year for various firms in Manchester and district, and the 

 facilities which the school offers for mechanical and elec- 

 trical tests, and tests and analyses of a chemical nature, are 

 taken advantage of increasingly, as shown by the fees 

 received, which have increased from iiql. in 1904-5 to 

 jigl. in 1906-7, and 352!. in 1907-8. The members of the 

 staff have been responsible during the session for a con- 

 siderable amount of original research, a large portion of 

 which has been embodied in papers read before various 

 scientific societies, and published in the journals of the 

 scientific and technical Press. 



Not only does the committee govern the Municipal School 

 of Technology, but aids higher education in other ways. 

 It recommended to the City Council the grant of 4000!. 

 received by the Victoria University of Manchester, and is 

 responsible for the grants received from the council by the 

 secondary schools of the district. 



ON THE INVENTION OF THE SLIDE RULE.i 

 COME modern writers attribute the invention of the 

 "-^ rectilinear slide rule to Edmund Gunter, others to 

 William Oughtred, but most of them to Edmund Wingate. 

 This disagreement is due mainly to lack of opportunity 

 to consult original sources. It is the purpose of this paper 

 to demonstrate that Wingate never wrote on the slide rule, 

 and that Oughtred is the inventor of the rectilinear as 

 well as the circular type. 



It was pointed out by Prof. De Morgan that Gunter 

 invented Gunter's line or scale, but that he did not invent 

 the slide rule. As Gunter's works are found in most large 

 libraries, the correctness of this statement can be readily 

 verified. This scale was not a slide rule, for it had no 

 sliding parts. 



No one denies that William Forster published in London 

 in 1632 a book entitled " The Circles of Proportion," which 

 described the circular slide rule invented by William 

 Oughtred. In the dedication it is said that Oughtred 

 invented also the straight-edge type ; but this was not 

 described until 1633, when Forster Ijrought out an " Addi- 

 tion unto the Use of the Instrument," with an appendix 

 entitled " The Declaration of the Two Rulers for Calcu- 

 lation," which described the rectilinear slide rule." 



The question remains. Did Wingate invent the straight- 

 edge slide rule, and is he entitled to priority over 

 Oughtred? De Morgan maintained that Wingate never 

 wrote on the slide rule,' but he had not seen all of Win- 

 gate's books. Thus he admits* that he had not examined 

 Wingate 's " Of Naturall and .\rtificlall Arithmetique," 1630, 

 vet this very book is quoted bv several recent writers as 

 describing the slide rule ' ; but "these and all writers who 

 name Wingate as the inventor invariably fail to give 



1 Ab-stract of a paper, by Prof. F. Cajori, read before the .Section of 

 Mathematical and Physical Science of the British Association, Winnipeg, 



- 2^For Mlracls see Cajori, " History of the Losarithmic Slide Rule." (New 

 York: /Eom'tVrj'n^.'WK'S Publishing Co., 190Q.) ,,,... 



3 " Penny Cyclop.," .\rt. " Slide Rule," and Wingate, Edmund, Arithm. 

 Books." Pp. 38, 42. (London, 1847.) 

 ^ " Arithm. Books, ' p. 48. -, , , 



5 A. Favaro in " Veneto Istituto Atti " (5). 5, 1878-9, p. 500 : Mehmke in 

 " Encyklop. d. Math. Wiss.," vol. i., p. 1054. (Leipzig, 1898-1904.) 



