NA TURE 



657 



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1922. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Technical Institutions and the Board of Education . 657 



Internal Secretion By Sir W M. Bayliss, F.R.S. 658 



The Origin of Worlds. By Dr. A. C. D. Cromraelin 660 

 Reservoir and other Dams. By Dr. Brysson Cunning- 



'■•" ham . 661 



Science and Progress . 662 



Our Bookshelf 662 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Isotopes of Selenium and some other Elements. 



— Dr. F. W. Aston, F.R.S 664 



Bohr's Model of the Hydrogen Molecules and their 



netic Susceptibility. — Prof. Kotaro Honda . 664 

 Gravity Observations in India. — R. D. Oldham, 



F.R.S 665 



The Miraculous Draught of Fishes.— T. R. R. S. : 

 Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., 



F.R.S. ; Dr. W. B. Drummond ; Hy. Harries 665 

 On the Reality of Nerve Energy. — Prof. D. Fraser 



Harris 666 



Habits of Echinus esculentus. — Richard Elmhirst . 667 



Perseid Meteors in July 1592. — H. Beveridge . 667 



Skin Effect in Solenoids. — G. Breit . . . 668 



Colour Vision and Syntony. — H. S. Ryland . . 66S 



Mosaic Disease in Plants. — Kenneth M. Smith . 668 

 Einstein's Paradox. — Rev. H. C. Browne; Prof. 



H. Wildon Carr 66S 



Waterspouts. — Dr. Willard J. Fisher . . . 669 

 Tillies of the Incomplete Gamma-Function. — Prof. 



Karl Pearson, F.R.S 669 



The Nitrogen Industry. By Prof. C. H. Desch . 670 

 The Thermal Basis of Gas Supply. By Prof. John 



W. Cobb 671 



Obituary : — 



Prof. A. Crura Brown, F.R.S. . . . 673 



Prof. J. P. Kuenen. By Prof. H. Kamerlingh 



Onnes, For. Mem. R.S 673 



Current Topics and Events 674 



Our Astronomical Column 678 



Research Items . 679 



The Origin of Atmospherics. By R. A. Watson 



Watt 6S0 



X Ray Electrons. By Prof. A. O. Rankine . 6S1 



Correlation of the Social Sciences .... 682 

 The Effect of Deformation on the Ar 1 Change in 



Steels ......... 6S2 



Medical Education 683 



The Chilian Earthquake 683 



University and Educational Intelligence . . 6S4 



Calendar of Industrial Pioneers 685 



Societies and Academies ... . 685 



Official Publications Received 688 



Diary of Societies 6S8 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN &■ CO., LTD.. 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



NO. 2768, VOL. I lo] 



Technical Institutions and the Board of 

 Education. 



THE Board of Education has issued a circular (12S6) 

 for the purpose of defining full-time teaching 

 service within the meaning of the School Teachers 

 (Superannuation) Act. The Board appears to find 

 much difficulty in defining full-time teaching service — 

 difficulty which would not be shared, we think, by the 

 average layman. 



It would seem to us that there are two classes of 

 teachers — those who have chosen teaching as their 

 profession and have taken up full-time appointments 

 under an Education Authority, and those who are 

 known as visiting teachers or part-time teachers, and 

 attend at their educational institutions only in 

 order to conduct the special courses for which they 

 were appointed. Generally speaking, the latter indi- 

 viduals are members of some other profession and would 

 not expect to be regarded as full-time teachers. 

 We can believe that there may be a few border-line 

 cases — but they would be relatively very few, and 

 each case could be considered on its merits. But 

 the Board of Education — or is it the Treasury ? 

 — cannot look at the matter in this broad light, and 

 this circular is an attempt to define full-time teaching 

 service. The circular indicates that the first essential 

 for recognition of full-time teaching service should be 

 a formal agreement between employer and teacher in 

 which should be clearly set out the nature of the 

 duties, whether they are wholly of a teaching character, 

 the extent of the employer's claim upon the teacher's 

 working hours, and the restrictions, if any. put upon the 

 employment. 



We should have thought that such an agreement 

 would have been sufficient evidence of full-time teach- 

 ing service, just as it would be sufficient evidence for 

 any judge or jury. Indeed, it is even sufficient for 

 the Board so far as head or assistant teachers on the 

 ordinary staffs of elementary or secondary schools 

 are concerned, but in the case of specialist teachers and 

 of teachers in technical schools and colleges, many of 

 which are of university rank, " it will be necessary to 

 call ... for information as to the actual teaching 

 hours as evidence of their full-time employment." 

 Teachers in technical schools and colleges have a 

 genuine cause for complaint here — not only because 

 their agreement cannot be regarded by the Board as 

 sufficient evidence in itself, but also because of the 

 nature of the additional evidence to be demanded. 



Full-time teaching service consists essentially of two 

 component parts : actual teaching before a class, and 

 the subsidiary duties entailed by actual teaching. The 

 proportional value of these components depends, most 



