A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



" To the solid ground 



Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for ay 



-WoRnswc '[; i II. 



SATURDAY, JULY i, 1922. 



CONTENTS. 



Parliamentary Aid to Universities 



The New Astronomy. By R. A. G. 



Index Animalium ...... 



Sugar Technology. By Prof. Arthur R. Ling 

 Geology and Tin Resources of the British Empire 



By C. G C 



Our Bookshelf 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Stature of the Scottish People.— Sir Arthur 



Keith, F.R.S 



Advanced Mathematical Study and Research at 



Cambridge. — Pro! H. S. Carslaw 

 Condition of Electrolytes in the Blood. — Benjamin 

 S. Neuhausen ....... 



The Dimensions of Area. — Dr. Norman R. Campbell 

 The Resonance Theory of Hearing. — Dr. H. 



Hartridge 



An Experimental Towing-tank used by Benjamin 

 Franklin.— Paul C. Whitney . . . . 



An Experimental Confirmation of the Kinetic and 

 Molecular Theories of Magnetism. — Dr. J. R. 

 Ashworth ........ 



Molecular .Elntropy in Liquids.— Prof. C. V. Raman 



Recent Investigations of the Lake Dwellings of 



Switzerland. (Illustrated). By Prof. Eugene 



Pittard 



Vitamin Problems. By Prof. A. Harden, F.R.S. . 

 Obituary : — 



Prof. W. Gowland, F.R.S. By H. C. H. C. . 



E. W. L. Holt. By E. J. A 



Current Topics and Events 



Our Astronomical Column 



Research Items 



Quantum Mechanism in the Atom .... 

 The Second Royal Society Conversazione 



Psychical Monism 



Technical Education 



University and Educational Intelligence . 



Societies and Academies 



Official Publications Received ..... 

 Diary of Societies 



Parliamentary Aid to Universities. 



THERE is need for a clear definition of the present 

 position in regard to Government grants for 

 university education in Great Britain. Statements of 

 a seemingly contradictory nature have been made, 

 and it is not surprising that misunderstandings have 

 arisen. On one hand we have the fact that the 

 parliamentary votes for university education are 

 reduced from 1,500,000/. to 1,169,000/., while on the 

 other we are told that the grants to the universities 

 this year will be no less than last and that the annual 

 grants are to be maintained at their present scale. 

 The real facts of the situation have become obscured 

 by certain complexities, arising mainly from the 

 difference between the Government financial year and 

 the academic year, and from the exclusion this year 

 of the Irish grants. 



The first announcement of the Treasury's decision 

 to reduce Government aid to university education 

 was a simple one, to the effect that Parliament would 

 be asked to vote for this purpose only 1,200,000/. 

 instead of the million and a half voted last year. But 

 the larger amount of last year included provision for 

 Irish universities, amounting altogether to 111,000/. 

 (not counting an emergency grant to Trinity College, 

 Dublin), while this year the sum reserved in the esti- 

 mates — namely, 1,169,000/. — makes no allowance for 

 the Irish universities. The amount available for 

 university education in Great Britain therefore falls, 

 if the estimates are approved by parliament, from 

 1,389,000/. to 1,169,000/. — that is, by 220,000/. — the 

 sum mentioned by the president of the Board of 

 Education in his recent speech at Bristol. 



The net reduction in the grant is happily less than 

 was at first anticipated. But, even so, it is difficult 

 at first sight to reconcile a loss of over 220,000/. with 

 Mr. Fisher's remark to the effect that there would be 



1748, voi .110] 



