2.^,6 



NA TURE 



[July 4, 1907 



The offer of nominnlion for appointment I>y the Crown 

 on the governing body of the Imperial ('ollejje of Science 

 and Technology has been accepted by the Earl of Crewe, 

 Lord President of the Council; Mr. Gerald \V. Balfour; 

 Sir Francis Mowatt, G.C.B. ; Sir Julius C. Wernher, 

 Bart.; Sir William H. White, K.C.B., F.R.S. ; and Dr. 

 MacAlister, principal of the University of Glasgow. The 

 other persons nominated as first members of the governing 

 bodv are : — bv the President of the Board of Education, 

 Mr.' A. H. D. Acland ; Mr. V . G. Ogilvie, C.B., a prin- 

 cipal assistant secretary of the Board of Education ; Mr. 

 J. C. G. Sykes, an assistant secretary of the Board; and 

 Dr. R. T.' Glazebrook, F.R.S., director of the National 

 Physical Laboratory; by the University of London, Sir 

 E. H. Busk, past Vice-Chancellor of the University ; Prof. 

 Capper; Prof. Farmer, F.R.S. ; Sir Henry E. Roscoe, 

 F.R.S. ; and Sir A. W. Riicker, principal of the Uni- 

 versity ; by the London County Council, Mr. .\. A. Allen, 

 M.P. ; Mr. H. Percy Harris, chairman of the Council ; 

 Sir C. Kinloch-Cooke ; Mr. R. ;\. Robinson; and Mr. J. T. 

 Taylor ; by the City and Guilds of London Institute, the 

 Earl of Halsburv, F.R..S., chairman of the council of the 

 institute; Sir J. 'Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., F.R.S.; Sir Owen 

 Roberts, clerk to the Clothworkers' Company; Sir Walter 

 S. Prideaux, clerk to the Goldsmiths' Company ; and Sir 

 John Watney, hon. sec. of the institute ; by the Royal 

 Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, Viscount Esher. 

 G.C.V.O., K.C.B., and Lieut. -Colonel Sir Arthur Bigge, 

 G.C.V.O., K.C.B. ; bv the Roval Societv, Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, F.R.S. ; bv the professorial staff. Prof. Tilden, 

 F.R.S., Prof. Gowiand, and Prof. Dalby ; by the Institu- 

 tion of Civil Engineers, Sir .Mcx. B. W. Kennedy, F.R.S., 

 president of the institution ; by the Institution of 

 Mechanical Engineers, Mr. T. Hurry Riches, president of 

 the institution; by the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 

 Mr. R. Kaye Gray, past-president of the institution ; by 

 the Iron and Steel Institute, Sir Hugh Bell, Bart., presi- 

 dent of the institute; by the Institution of Naval Archi- 

 tects, Dr. F. Elgar. F.R.S. ; by the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, Dr. E. Divers, F.R.S., past-president of the 

 society ; by the Institution of Mining Engineers, Mr. A. 

 Sopwith, past-president of the Institution ; and by the 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr. W. McDermott, 

 past-president of the institution. The draft charter for the 

 establishment of the college will be submitted to His 

 Majesty for approval at the council fixed for July 6. 



The Board of Education has published (Cd. 3538) a 

 summary of figures relating to State-aided secondary 

 schools in England. The number of schools dealt with 

 in the summary is 600, but in addition to these there are 

 ninety-three secondary schools provisionally recognised by 

 the Board or seeking recognition, though these are not 

 included. The total number of scholars, excluding pupil 

 teachers, in the 600 schools is 104,938. About 80 per 

 cent, of the total number of scholars are fifteen years of 

 age or under, and the remaining 20 per cent, represent 

 the number of pupils in State-aided secondary schools 

 more than fifteen years of age. About a quarter of the 

 total number of pupils in these secondary schools pre- 

 viously attended public elementary schools and are pay- 

 ing no fees in the secondary schools, while 54 per 

 cent, of the total number previously attended public 

 elementary schools. It is important to remember that the 

 curriculum of secondary schools receiving grants from the 

 Board of Education is dominated by a four years' course 

 of work designed for children who will remain at school 

 until they have completed their sixteenth year at least, 

 and that no grants are paid for pupils under twelve years 

 of age — nearly a quarter of the above total — nor for those 

 who have completed the approved course. There seems, 

 in fact, to be little relation between the character of the 

 prescribed course and the special needs of the majority 

 of the children. If So per cent, of the pupils finish their 

 school life at fifteen or under, the curriculum might with 

 advantage be modified in such a way that thorouahne>.^s 

 and completeness in a few fundamental subjects may be 

 secured by the majority of the pupils rather than to allow 

 them to fritter away their few valuable years in beginning 

 a course of work which is doomed to be left unfinished 

 and from which little advantage can be gained. 



NO. 1966, VOL. 76] 



Nl'MF.KOLS handsome bequests have been reported in 

 Science during the last three months, and in addition to 

 specially large gifts there has been a continuous record of 

 munificence as represented by sums which are small only 

 when judged by .Vmerican standards, .'\mong other large 

 amounts, the following deserve special mention : — 

 Creighton University has received 500,000?. under the will 

 of the late Mr. J. A. Creighton ; Teachers College , 

 Columbia University, has been presented with 80,000/. i\ 

 an anonymous donor, and 60,000/. under the will of th^ 

 late Mr. F. P. Furnald. The State Legislature has pro- 

 vided the University of Alabama with 80,000/. for build- 

 ings and 5000/. a year for maintenance. Dartmouth 

 College benefits to the extent of 50,000/. under the will of 

 the late Captain Thomas P. Salter. The University of 

 Chicago has received land from Mr. J. B. Rockefeller 

 worth more than 500,000/. The Princeton University has 

 received anonymously a gift of 240,000/. 



Dr. J. C. McLknnan, for some years director of the 

 physical laboratory in the University of Toronto, has been 

 elected to the professorship of physics in succession to Dr. 

 James Loudon. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, May 23.— "The Relation of Thallium o 

 the .Alkali Metals : a Studv of Thallium Sulphate and 

 Selenate." By Dr. A. E. H.' Tutton, F.R.S. 



The author finds that the crystals of thallium sulphate 

 and selenate resemble those of the analogous salts of 

 potassium, rubidium, cassium, and ammonium adequately 

 closely morphologically to enable them to be classed in 

 the same orthorhombic isomorphous series, the average 

 difference of corresponding interfacial angles on analogous 

 potassium and thallium salts being less than half a degri'e, 

 and the maximum difference only just exceeding a degree 

 These differences, however, though small, are greater than 

 those between any other of the salts, the average difference, 

 irrespective of direction, being proportional to the higher 

 atomic weight of thallium. 



The law revealed by the author's former work, that 

 the changes in the interfacial angles are progressive func- 

 tions of the atomic weights of the interchanged metals, 

 only applies, however, to potassium, rubidium, and 

 cassium, which belong strictly to the same family group 

 of the periodic classification of the elements ; for the 

 differences in the case of thallium occur in either direction 

 indifferently. 



The molecular volumes and topic axial ratios (separation 

 along axial directions of centres of contiguous molecules) 

 are almost identical with those of analogous rubidium and 

 ammonium salts, so that structurally thallium conies along- 

 side rubidium and ammonium, intermediate bctwee: 

 potassium and cncsium. 



Optically, however, the thallium salts are quite different* 

 the refractive indices, molecular refractions, and dispersion 

 being far higher, indicating the essential chemical difference 

 of thallium from the true alkali metals and ammonium. 



Entomological Society, June 5.— Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, 

 president, in the chair. — Lcioplih(s carl<hodactyItis in 

 Britain : Dr. T. A. Chapman. A living example ; one of 

 the first bred British specimens. — Microdon miitabilis and 

 Kleditoma inyrmccophila : H. St. J. Donisthorpe. .A 

 specimen of Microdon nmtahilis^ with the emplv pupa-case, 

 bred from a larva taken in the nest of Formica ftisca at 

 Porlock, April, 1907; also J cJ and 9 O of Kleditoma 

 myrmccophila, n.sp., bred last month from a nest of Lasitis 

 fuligiiiosus found at Wellington College in March. — New 

 Phytophaga from Australia : M. Jacoby. Examples of 

 small beetles, new to science, of the niw genus Clythrida- 

 (Phytophaga), including J.easia atistralis, Jac. — Types of 

 Proctotrupid;c : A. J. Chitty. The three types of the thre. 

 species of Proctotrupid;c described by Westwood, hut 

 entirely overlooked by subsequent authors. — A parasiiii 

 South .African fly : E. E. Austen. Examples of Cnrdv- 

 loba atitliropopliaga, Grunb., an .African fly, parasitic in 

 the larval stage on human beings and animals — a trui- 

 .Muscid — hitherto confused with another ffy. The author 

 exhibited Bengalia depressa, Walk., a totally different 



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