466 
sum of 120,000l. was granted for the purpose of con- 
structing and equipping buildings for a school of 
technology as a department of the University, and an 
annual grant of 10,0001. was added for maintenance. 
It is expected that the preliminary engineering courses 
will be inaugurated at the beginning of next session. 
Tue friends of the late Miss Rosa Morison (lady 
superintendent of women students at University Col- 
lege, London, 1883-1912) desire to raise a memorial 
as a tribute of the affection and respect in which they 
held her and as a means of commemorating her work 
in connection with the higher education of women. 
To give effect to this desire, some of those associated 
with Miss Morison in her work at University College, 
Queen’s College, and College Hall, Byng Place, to- 
gether with some of her personal friends, have formed 
a committee, the president of which is Lord Reay; 
chairman, Dr. T. Gregory Foster; hon. treasurer, 
Lady Lockyer; hon. secretaries, Miss E. Chick and 
Miss E. Goodyear. The precise form of the memorial 
will be left for decision until the funds are raised. 
The hon. secretaries invite those who wish to take 
part in this memorial to communicate with them 
forthwith : address, Rosa Morison Memorial Com- 
oy University College, London (Gower Street, 
W.C.). 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Lonpon. 
Physical Society, June 14.—Prof. A. Schuster, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—T. H. Blakesley : 
Demonstration of the use of specific gravity balls for 
determining very small differences of density. Ex- | 
periments were quoted which indicate a sensibility 
such that the error which might be expected in a 
properly conducted experiment would be of the order 
5 in the sixth decimal place. Specific gravity balls 
have been employed for the purpose of discriminating 
between the qualities of potable waters in respect of 
density and of testing the efficacy of softening pro- 
cesses. A thermometer of open scale is employed to 
give the temperature at which a specific gravity ball 
is in equilibrium with a liquid being slowly warmed 
or cooled through that point of temperature. If such 
a determination is made in distilled water at ordinary 
atmospheric temperatures it fixes the specific gravity 
of the ball at the temperature of equilibrium within 
four or five units in the sixth place of decimals. If 
a second observation with the same ball is made in 
a slightly heavier liquid, the temperature of equili- 
brium will be considerably higher, perhaps 2° or 
more, than in distilled water. By applying the co- 
efficient of cubical expansion the density of the ball 
at the higher temperature can be obtained, and this 
is the density of the second specimen of water at the 
second temperature. Reference to a table of densities 
of distilled water will furnish its density at the higher 
temperature, and the difference between the two 
numbers will give what the author calls the density 
excess of the second liquid over distilled water at the 
higher of the two temperatures. This density excess 
is best quoted in parts in one million.—Dr. H. F. 
Haworth : Maximum sensibility of a Duddell vibration 
galvanometer. 
coil vibration galvanometer as a voltage detector is 
obtained when the flux through it is so adjusted that 
the back E.M.F. of the coil is equal to its CR drop; 
then the back E.M.F. is equal to half the applied 
voltage, and the current is equal to V/2R, and is in 
phase with the applied voltage. Increases of current 
sensibility of about 30 per cent. at 200~ and 4o per 
cent. at 1000 ~ were obtained on running the instru- 
ment in a vacuum, thus showing that a large part 
NO. 2227, VOL. 89] 
<<</;5 
NALRORE 
The maximum sensibility of a moving | 
[JULY 4, 1912 
of the mechanical work produced was used in over- 
coming the molecular friction-of the system.—F. 
Stroude: An accurate examination of the Steinmetz 
index for transformer iron, stalloy, and cast-iron. 
Experiments to provide an experimental basis, suit- 
able for mathematical analysis, with the view of dis- 
covering some relation connecting hysteresis loss and 
flux density which will accord with results obtained 
practically to a greater extent than the empirical law 
due to Steinmetz. Experiments were made with 
transformer iron stalloy (3 per cent. silicon iron) and 
cast-iron, two rings of each material being tested. A 
set of comparative tests on one of the transformer 
iron rings was made by the ballistic method, and 
these tests show that, in general, for a given value 
of B the hysteresis loss and the value of H for the 
ballistic tests are higher than the corresponding values 
for the slow cyclic tests. 
Royal Meteorological Society, June 19.—Dr. H. N. 
Dickson, president, in the chair.—Dr. G. C. Simpson : 
Coronz and iridescent clouds. During September, 
1gtt, the author was one of a party led by Captain 
Scott to survey McMurdo Sound, and on September 
24, while enveloped in fog, he observed a fine fog- 
bow. It was opposite the sun, and a measurement 
of the radius with a theodolite gave 38°. The bow 
was practically white, but a reddish tinge could be 
seen on the outer side. As the fog dissipated the 
upper sky became clearer, and the sun shone over 
the top of a heavy bank of fog. For some minutes 
the sun had a brilliant corona with bright colours, 
and the diameter of this corona seemed unusually 
large, but there was no opportunity to make “a 
measurement. As the fog still further cleared away 
| glimpses of the corona appeared again, and the fog 
under the sun became fairly brilliantly illuminated 
with iridescent colours, which did not appear to be 
| part of the corona, but in places blended into it. 
During the whole period the temperature was between 
—15° and —21° F. The fur of the sleeping bags 
and the wool of sweaters became covered with hoar- 
frost. These observations show that water can exist 
in the atmosphere at much lower temperatures than 
has generally been supposed by meteorologists. It is 
now generally admitted that while halos are caused 
by the refraction and reflection of ice crystals, coronz 
are due to diffraction effects of either small drops of 
water or thin ice needles. From certain observations 
| made in the Antarctic, Dr. Simpson was led to doubt 
the possibility of ice crystals ever forming diffraction 
effects. This is an important question for meteor- 
ology, for if it is true, we have a powerful instrument 
for determining the constitution of a cloud; if there 
is a corona the cloud must be composed of water, 
while if there is a halo it must be composed of ice. 
—W. W. Bryant: The adoption of a climatological 
day. When observations are made only once a day, 
viz. at 9g a.m., it is the practice to enter the reading 
of the maximum thermometer to the previous day, 
and the reading of the minimum thermometer to the 
current day. Mr. Bryant does not consider that these 
give correct results, but that they are higher than 
| if the readings were taken at 9 p.m. or midnight and 
applied to the civil day. 
Royal Microscopical Society, June 19.—Mr. H. G. 
| Plimmer, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Lord 
| Avebury: Short account of the development of pollen 
and of recent researches on fertilisation. The author 
| divided pollen into: aérial pollen carried by the wind, 
| aérial pollen carried by insects, and subaqueous pollen. 
The various forms of pollen were described and their 
distribution in the different orders enumerated. The 
most common form of pollen is elliptical, with three 
| ribs, for which Lord Avebury believes there is as yet 
