January 6, 1910J 



NATURE 



299 



W. A. Brockington, director of education for Leicester- 

 shire, raises several questions which deserve the earnest 

 consideration of all who desire a complete and duly corre- 

 lated national system of education. In the first place, there 

 is the problem connected with the differentiation of 

 secondary schools and the differentiation of the curricula 

 in these schools. Then the question as to how to secure 

 an adequate supply of trained teachers in secondary schools 

 is discussed. "It is of no use," says Mr. Broclcington, 

 " to palter with the problem of the training of secondary- 

 school teachers." Thirdly, there is the problem as to the 

 length of the secondary-school life. " Public opinion has 

 still to be educated into the general acceptance of the axiom 

 that secondary education begins at the age of ten or 

 eleven, and must be continued until at least the age of 

 sixteen or seventeen ; and that, accordingly, the privilege 

 of free secondary education imposes a real obligation of 

 self-sacrifice upon the parent." Commenting upon what 

 should be the character of secondary education in the 

 future, Mr. Brockington maintains that we should pre- 

 serve what is good in traditional knowledge, and, keeping 

 our schools in living touch with the changing needs of 

 society, make the curriculum of secondary schools an 

 epitome of the experience of the race. All sorts of teach- 

 ing, if properly ^imparted, represent culture — science, 

 theoretical and applied, the construction of engines, and 

 manual work. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Society, De'-eniber 21, 1909. — Dr. J. M. 

 Purser in the chair. — Prof. W. Brown : Permanent steel 

 magnets. With a given quality of steel the dimension-ratio 

 can be found which gives the most effective magnet with 

 a minimum weight of material. Also the results of six 

 months' tests of fourteen different steels show that mag- 

 nets made of chrome and tungsten steels are the most 

 permanent. — Major F. Eassie : Some variations in the 

 skeleton of the domestic horse and their significance. The 

 author states that in whole races of the domestic horse 

 the skeleton gives proof of deterioration from the type of 

 the wild species, and that to a great extent this deteriora- 

 tion exists in horses in every country, and that it is 

 easily recognisable in the living animal. It is due origin- 

 ally to unsuitable environment and breeding from 

 deteriorated stock. As the result of observations of a large 

 series of horses of different races, the author found three 

 main variations in the skeleton, viz. in the relative length 

 of the segments of the head and spine, of the arm, and 

 of the thigh. That the short spine is a primitive character 

 h; considers proved by the remains of horses found in 

 recent formations in the valley of the Nerbudda. In the 

 evolution of the horse from its remotest ancestors in the 

 Lower Eocene the arm and the thigh have gradually been 

 shortcnrd, and this shortening has determined its speed. 

 The author also suggests that the short spine, arm, and 

 thigh, respectively, were dominant characters as regards 

 heredity, and that deterioration from the type of the wild 

 species was probably recessive. 



F.^KIS. 



Academy of Sciences, December 27. — M. Bouchard in 

 the cliair. — The president announced the death of M. 

 Bouquet de la Grye, past-president of the academy, and 

 of M. Lortct. — Kmile Picard : A class of developments 

 in series of fundamental functions connected with certain 

 functional equations. — M. de Forcrand : The hydrates of 

 rubidium and c.-esium. Particulars are given of the isola- 

 tion of RbOH + H,0, RbOH + 2H,0, CsOH-|-H,0. The 

 melting points of these compounds and heats of solution 

 are given. — R. Jarry Desloges : The gradual retreat of 

 the southern polar cap of Mars. A reproduction is given 

 of sixteen photographs of the polar cap of Mars at dates 

 between June 23 and October ig. — M. Coggia : Observa- 

 tions of comets made at the Observatory of Marseilles 

 with the Eichens 26-cm. equatorial. Data are given for 

 Daniel's and Halley's comets on December 11 and 16. — 

 M. Borrelly : Observations of Daniel's comet, looq*". 

 made at the Observatory of Marseilles with the i6-cm. 

 finder. Data given for December g, 10, and ii. The 

 NO. 2097, ■^'OL. 82] 



comet is round, with a nucleus placed eccentrically. — P. 

 Chofardet : Observations of the new Daniel's comet, igoge, 

 made at the Observatory of Besanc;on with the bent equa- 

 torial. Data given for December 14, 16, and iS. Comet 

 appeared as a round nebulosity, 30" to 40" diameter, with 

 a slight condensation at its centre. Brightness, as a 

 whole, about the twelfth magnitude. — MM. Montange- 

 rand and Rossard : Observations of Halley's comet 

 made at the Observatory of Toulouse with the Brunner- 

 Henry equatorial. Data given for December 4, 8, 14, 

 and 16. — J. Haagr : Families of Lam4 composed of surfaces 

 admitting a plane of variable symmetry. — D. Pompeiu : 

 The representation of analytical functions by definite 

 integrals. — Charles Reignier : The calculation of the fly- 

 wheels of rolling mills. — L. Lecornu : The fly-wheel of 

 motors for flying machines. — E. Jouguet : The velocity of 

 waves of shock and of combustion. — Jean Becquerel : 

 The influence of a magnetic field on the damping of light 

 vibrations. A discussion of the absorption bands produced 

 in a magnetic field by xenotime and tysonite at the tempera- 

 ture of liquid (-253° C.) and solid hydrogen (-259° C). 

 — V. Bournay : The adsorption of ions. — L. Houlle- 

 viguc : The preparation of thin films by volatilisation in a 

 vacuum. A platinum wire is coated with a layer of the 

 metal to be deposited, and heated to the necessary tempera- 

 ture in a high vacuum. The film is formed on a glass 

 plate kept in rotation near the hot wire. The method has 

 been successfully applied to the production of thin films 

 of platinum, gold, silver, iron, copper, cadmium, zinc, 

 and tin.— G. A. Hemsalech and C. de Wattcville : The 

 yellow, orange, and red regions of the high-temperature 

 flame spectrum of calcium. Measurements are given for 

 the calcium lines produced in the oxy-acetylene flame ; it 

 is shown that the spectrum is very similar to that observed 

 by King in the electric furnace at a temperature of about 

 2800° C— E. Briner and A. Wrociynski : Chemical 

 reactions in gases submitted to very high pressures._ The 

 decomposition of nitric oxide and the formation of nitrosyl 

 chloride. Pure NO at pressures greater than 250 atmo- 

 spheres is decomposed into N.O, and N,. This corre- 

 sponds to the observed production of nitrosyl chloride by 

 the compression of a mixture of nitric oxide and hydro- 

 chloric acid. — L. Briininghaus : The law of maximum 

 phosphorescence : an attempt at a theory.— R. Boulouch : 

 A demonstration of the phase rule. A reply to remarks 

 by M. Muller on the same subject.— H. Baubigny : The 

 necessity for the exact study of reactions. Reply to a 

 criticism of M. Colson.— Em. VigoMroux : The alloys of 

 nickel and copper. A study of the electromotive forces 

 of these alloys does not point to the existence of any 

 definite compounds of these two elements. — Em. Pozzi- 

 Escot : The estimation of nitric nitrogen by reduction with 

 .-imalgamated aluminium. It is claimed for the process 

 described that it possesses advantages both in speed and 

 accuracy over those commonly employed.— Georges 

 Dupont : The stereochemical isomerides of hexine-3-diol 

 2-s, CH3.CH(OH).C=C— CH(OH)— CH3. The two iso- 

 mers were separated by means of the properties of^ the 

 dibromides. — M. Danaila : The synthesis of 5 : 7 = S' ^ 7 - 

 tetrabromo-indigo and 5:7 = 5': 7'-tetrachloro-indigo.— 

 Gabriel Bertrand and M. Holderer : Bellase and the 

 diastatic splitting up of cellose.— L. Cayeux ; The mmera- 

 logical evolution of the primary oolitic iron minerals of 

 France. — J. Dumont : The chemical decomposition of 

 rocks. Rocks of different tvpes were submitted to the 

 action of pure water, carbonic acid, dilute hydrochloric acid, 

 and solution of calcium chloride. The rocks were slowly 

 attacked in all these solutions, the amount of material 

 finally coming into solution being very small, and depend- 

 ing upon the state of division of the rock. — Em. Perrot 

 and M. Leprince : Adenium Hongkel, the ordeal poison 

 of the French Soudan. This plant is called Kidi-Sarami 

 by the natives. From the aqueous alcoholic extract of the 

 flowers a highlv toxic active principle was isolated of the 

 constitution C,',H„0,. It was definitely proved to be 

 neither an alkaloid nor a glucoside, and its true nature 

 still remains undetermined.— J. E. Abelous and E. 

 Bardier : The general physiological effects of urohypo- 

 trn^inc. Experimental studies on rabbits and dogs. — A. 

 Contamin : The X-rays and cancerous mice. The action 

 of the X-rays is more efficacious when the tissue of the 



