466 



NA TURE 



[September 30, 1922 



each hemisphere, for prominences there are two 

 zones. Each point in the curves represents the mean 

 latitude of each zone throughout the year. It will be 

 noticed that in each hemisphere the zone in lower 

 latitudes gradually approaches the equator, dying out 

 just before or at sunspot minimum, while the zone 

 further away from the equator increases its latitude 

 rapidly and dies out at or a little after sunspot 

 maximum. The data up to 1914 are published in the 

 Memoirs of the Kodaikanal Observatory (vol. 1, 

 part ii.) by Mr. John Evershed, and the remainder 

 have been extracted from that Observatory's Bulletins 

 published half-yearly, from which the mean yearly 

 latitudes of the zones have been provisionally deter- 

 mined by Dr. Lockyer. 



The Forms of the Corona. — The last curve shows 

 the condition of activity of the sun as indicated by 

 the form which the corona takes when seen at total 

 eclipses. 



When the corona (polar form) exhibits streamers 

 all around the solar disc, i.e. in all solar latitudes, this 

 indicates a very turbulent state of the solar atmo- 

 sphere and a time therefore of maximum activity. 

 At this time the prominences reach their highest 

 latitudes. When the streamers are confined to the 

 equatorial regions and the poles are quite clear and 

 void of streamers, the corona takes an " equatorial " 

 or " wind-vane" form, and the solar activity is at a 

 minimum. Intermediate stages are indicated by the 

 corona taking an " intermediate " or " square " 

 shape. The various forms of the corona are indicated 

 clearly in the curve by three different symbols. The 

 curve also shows the forms expected in the two 

 approaching eclipses, namely, of this and of next 

 year. The form for the present year will be of the 

 " intermediate " type, while that for 1923 should be 

 typical of the " equatorial" type. The data for the 

 various forms of the corona have to be obtained from 

 the individual reports of eclipse expeditions, but those 

 to which reference has here been made have been 

 collected by Dr. Lockyer and published in the 

 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 (vol. 82, p. 326). 



All the solar phenomena described above thus 

 indicate clearly that the activity of the sun is decidedly 

 on the wane, and that the epoch of minimum dis- 

 turbance in the solar atmosphere is approaching and 

 will be reached in the year 1924 or 1925. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Bristol. — The degree of Ph.D. has been awarded 

 to Mr. Joseph Lineham for his dissertation on " The 

 Concept of Activity." 



London. — The list of courses of University Ex- 

 tension Lectures for the session 1922-23 has recently 

 been issued, containing particulars of some 90 

 courses and lectures which will be given in the 

 University and locally. Of this number, 14 only 

 are on scientific topics. Dr. W. B. Brierley is 

 giving a course of 24 lectures at Gresham College on 

 inter-racial problems of man, and a similar course 

 at Morley College on the principles of evolutionary 

 biology ; F. Womack is giving 2 lectures on wireless 

 telephony at Hatch End and at Hounslow, and 5 

 lectures on pioneers of science at Wood Green ; 

 and F. J. Chittenden, 3 lectures on horticulture at 

 Hatch End. The remaining science lectures are 

 related to psychology : Miss V. H. Hazlitt, 10 

 lectures on the psychology of character and conduct, 

 at Croydon ; Mr. Cyril Burt, 5 lectures on psycho- 

 analysis, at Twickenham ; S. E. Hooper, 24 lectures 

 on psychology, at Wimbledon and also at Wood Green ; 

 and E. O. Lewis, 24 lectures on psychology, at the 



NO. 2761, VOL. I IO] 



Working Men's College, Crowndale Road, N.W. 

 There are also four psychology courses, at Croydon, 

 at the Mary Ward Settlement at Tavistock Place, W.C., 

 at Wandsworth, and at Wood Green, for which lec- 

 turers' names are not yet given. Further particulars 

 of the lectures can be obtained from the local secretaries 

 whose addresses are given in the lecture list, applica- 

 tion for which should be made to the Registrar, 

 University Extension Board, University of London, 

 South Kensington, S.W.7. 



The Chcmiker Zeitung of August 29 reports that 

 Dr. H. Lecher, of the University of Munich, has been 

 appointed professor of organic chemistry at the 

 University of Freiburg. 



A special committee of the World's Student 

 Christian Federation has been appointed to co- 

 operate with the Universities' Library for Central 

 Europe in its work of securing British books, journals, 

 and scientific papers for the universities of Central 

 Europe. Donations of books, periodicals, and money 

 should be forwarded to Mr. B. M. Headicar, Univer- 

 sities' Library and Student Relief for Europe, London 

 School of Economics, Houghton Street, W.C.2. 



On several occasions recently the Chemikcr Zeitung 

 has reported the gifts of large sums granted by in- 

 dustrial concerns to universities and to associations 

 of students, for the assistance of these bodies in 

 teaching scientific subjects, particularly chemistry. 

 Although the amounts, which run into millions of 

 marks in individual grants, may seem modest when 

 translated into English currency, they represent 

 important contributions in Germany, and the 

 attention of British manufacturers might well be 

 invited to the matter. It is evident that Germany 

 realises, as she did in former years after defeat, that 

 the hope of the future lies in education, and one 

 cannot help feeling that the victors in the recent war 

 would do well to consider whether their future also 

 does not lie in the same direction, and do a little 

 more of a practical character in the furthering of 

 the work of our educational institutions. The 

 reduced grants made to the universities will be re- 

 flected in reduced facilities, and if the industries 

 which have reaped so much benefit from research 

 in pure science made in the universities, often 

 associated with individual hardship on the part of 

 the students, were to make some return, it would be 

 repaid to them a hundred-fold. 



The draft Regulations for Secondary Schools 

 recently issued by the Board of Education remedy 

 the anomalous position which hitherto geography has 

 occupied in advanced courses. As a school subject, 

 geography has steadily gained ground, and in 1921 

 was offered by no less than 78 per cent, of the can- 

 didates taking the School Leaving Examination. 

 Furthermore, Sir Richard Gregory, in his presidential 

 address to the Education Section of the British 

 Association this year at Hull, pointed out the still 

 greater part this subject could, and should, play in 

 economy of time-table and efficiency of teaching. At 

 the other end of the scale, the Universities have 

 steadily increased the facilities for graduation in 

 geography. There remained, however, the hiatus of 

 the advanced courses which cut off, in large measure, 

 the supply of students of geography. The 1922 

 Regulations provide for a new group of studies, E, 

 which is defined as " Geography, combined with two 

 other subjects approved by the Board, of which one 

 must be History or a Science." The way is now clear 

 for a complete revision of the syllabuses in geography 

 for the Higher School Certificate and for the provision 

 of university scholarships in this subject. 



