September 5, 1907] 



NA TURE 



487 



apparatus, not only at the sectional meeting, but later on 

 in tile evening at- the conversazione which was held in the 

 Leicester Museum. 



Owing to the very full programme of papers, the section 

 was forced to meet again on Wednesday, August 7, when 

 four papers were discussed. The first, a short paper by 

 Mr. J. F. Brooks, described a machine for weighing the 

 forces on a cutting tool ; the author exhibited and ex- 

 plained one of his machines, and the values of the forces 

 on tools with cutting angles of 65° and 70° when cutting 

 cast-iron and mild steel with small cuts at moderate speed 

 wrre shown by means of diagrams. 



Mr. R. S. Ball, in his paper on the governing of 

 hydraulic turbines, dealt with the problems involved in 

 tlie speed control of hydraulic turbines for a wide range 

 of head. He showed that such regulators may be divided 

 into two classes: — (i) disengagement governors (mech- 

 anical), which come into action when an assigned de- 

 parture from the normal speed is attained, being otherwise 

 out of gear ; (2) continuous governors (mechanical and 

 hydraulic), which are always connected to the gate- 

 controlling mechanism, and which begin to operate at the 

 moment the speed rises or falls from the normal. The 

 action of various types of governors was described by 

 figures and diagrams plotted from the results of tests. 



Prof. H. T. Barnes, of McGill University, Montreal, 

 then read a paper on the ice problem in engineering worl< 

 in Canada. He showed that in Canada there is always 

 great steadiness of the temperature of the water through- 

 out the ice season, and that there are three varieties of 

 ice to be distinguished — surface or sheet ice, spicular or 

 frazil ice, and anchor or ground ice. Prof. Barnes ex- 

 plained that by an intelligent use of artificial heal, 

 especially at night time, when super-cooling is most 

 common, the interference of ice with the normal oper- 

 ation of a power-house may be largely prevented. The 

 most favourable condition for a power-house is when it is 

 situated on a river normally frozen over on its surface 

 and with no stretches of open water above. 



The section concluded its business with the reading of 

 some notes' by Mr. J. Smyth on the application of water- 

 power and how to secure the greatest efficiency in 

 working same. 



Edwin O. Jordan professor of pathological anatomy and 

 bacteriology ; Dr. Francis Huber has been elected to _ the 

 chair of medicine at the New York College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons, and Dr. Frederick Peterson to that ot 

 psychiatry in the same institution ; at Yale University, 

 Dr J M. Flint has been appointed professor of surgery; 

 at Wurzburg, Dr. Faust has been made professor of 

 pharmacology. 



The remarkable progress accomplished by the Japanese 

 during the last thirty-two years in the field of public 

 education is brought iut very clearly in the thirty-second 

 annual report of the Japanese Minister of Public Instruc- 

 tion which has been published recently. This report deals 

 with the vear 1904-5, the date of the war with Russia. 

 It is instructive to note that this time of stress was 

 allowed to interfere in no way with educational activity. 

 The Emperor, indeed, proclaimed it to be a national duty 

 that the zeal and efforts of educational administrators and 

 teachers should be redoubled. Despite the financial 

 difficulties to which a great war gave rise, the expenditure 

 on education was not diminished. While in 187.^ only 

 twentv-eight out of everv 100 children were under in- 

 struction in public schools, the ratio had risen in the 

 year under review to the remarkable one of 97 boys 

 and gi-S girls out of every hundred, and the number 

 of children in the schools had reached 7, 551, 445- 

 Higher education, too, was in an equally flourishing con- 

 ditfon For example, the number of students in the 

 University of Tokyo had reached 3500, and in Kioto 1300. 

 Numerous special schools, technical schools for engineers 

 and for agricultural specialists, medical schools, and 

 schools for^he study of modern languages, were all in 

 a high state of efficiency. Moreover, a point of special 

 interest in our country to-dav, the hygiene of schools, is 

 scrupulously watched, and medical officers are charged 

 specially With the duty of keeping the pupils under 

 examination. Altogether the report provides abundant 

 evidence of the success with which Japan is educating 

 her people. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. , 



The sum of 250,000 dollars has been appropriated by 

 the Kansas Legislature for the erection of engineering 

 buildings in connection with the State university. 



The Sunderland Technical College is to be extended by 

 , the addition of a day training college and engineering 

 laboratories at a proposed cost of 10,000/. 



Dr. James E. Talm.age has resigned the professorship 

 of geology in the University of Utah in order to devote 

 himself to investigation work in mining geology. Dr. 

 F. J. Pack has been appointed to succeed him. 



This year's scholarship of the Institution of Naval 

 Architects has been awarded to Mr. A.' M. Robb, Glasgow. 

 The scholarship is of the annual value of 50/., and, subject 

 to the regulations, is tenable for three years. 



Mr. Simon Flexner has been made a member of the 

 Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York, 

 and director of the pathological laboratories ; and the 

 following have been appointed members of the institute : — 

 Mr. S. J. Meltzer (physiology and pharmacology), Mr. 

 E. L. Opie (pathology), and Mr. P. A. Levene (biological 

 chemistry). 



The calendar of the Manchester School of Technology 

 and Municipal School of Art for the session 1907-8 has 

 just been issued by the firm of John Heywood, Ltd. In 

 it are to be found full particulars of the courses of instruc- 

 tion, and the scholarships, prizes, &c., at the institution. 

 Many of the laboratories and workshops are pictorially 

 represented in the volume. 



The following appointments abroad have recently been 

 made : — at the Rush Medical College, Chicago, Dr. 

 Robert R. Benslev to be professor of anatomy, and Dr. 



NO. 1975, ^'OL- 7^] 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June 6.— "The Osmotic Pressure of Com- 

 pressible Solutions of any Degree of Concentration. By 

 Alfred W. Porter. 



.\n exact equation is obtained connecting osmotic 

 pressure with the vapour pressures of solvent and solu- 

 tion, viz. : — 



sd/,+ \ udp=\ V 



•dp. 



where , , . , 



Pp is the osmotic pressure when the hydrostatic pressure ot 



solution is / ; . , j .u 



T„„ is the vapour pressure of the solvent when under the 

 hydrostatic pressure ot its vapour alone ; , j u 



ir,r is the vapour pressure of the solution when under the 

 hydrostatic pressure of its vapour alone. 



V and u are the specific volumes of vapour and solvent; 



s is the diminution of a very large volume of the solution 

 when I gram of solvent is removed. , , r~ , c 



The equations given by van 't Hoff and the fcarl ot 

 Berkeley can at once be derived from this general one 

 bv taking the liquids as incompressible and considering 

 respectively the cases in which (i) the solvent, (2) the 

 solution, is under the pressure of its own vapour alone. 



It is shown that if two solutions in the same solvent 

 have the same osmotic pressure, they have also the same 

 vapour pressure provided the values of these pressures be 

 measured for the same hydrostatic pressure of the solution. 

 Thev have also the same freezing point. _ 



It' is shown that when a solution is in equilibrium with 

 the pure solvent across a semi-permeable membrane the 

 vapour pressure of the solution is necessarily equal to the 

 vapour pressure of the solvent, each being measured for 

 the actual hydrostatic pressure of the fluid to which tt 

 refers. 



