536 



NATURE 



[September 19, 1907 



sound general education and some commercial experience. 

 The object of the scholarships is to afford facilities for 

 the holders obtaining training in some higher institution, 

 approved by the department, with a view to their employ- 

 ment as teachers of commercial subjects in Ireland. The 

 scholarships are of the value of too/, each, and are tenable 

 for two years. Candidates must have been at least twenty- 

 one years of age on September i, and must fill in and 

 return a certain form to the secretary of the department 

 not later than September 25. The department also pro- 

 poses to award three industrial scholarships to persons 

 engaged in industries, such as the woollen, linen, leather, 

 and tanning industries. The scholarships will be of the 

 value of 8oi. each, and may be renewed for a second or a 

 third year at the discretion of the department. 



The new buildings in Queen's College, Belfast, which 

 are to be formally opened by Lord Kelvin on September 20, 

 are for the purpose of affording increased accommodation 

 in the departments of chemistry, physics, engineering, 

 natural history and geology, physiology, pathology, 

 medicine, and surgery. The chemical buildings are now 

 completed by the erection of a large lecture room, a 

 lecture preparation room, and a museum for chemical 

 specimens. In physics there are new elementary and 

 advanced laboratories, and in engineering a laboratory, 

 a lecture room, and a drawing office. The additions to 

 the natural history and geological departments include a 

 laboratory for elementary classes in biology, a laboratory 

 for geologv and mineralogy, and rooms for advanced 

 classes and private research in zoology and botany. The 

 physiological department has been provided with three new 

 laboratories, viz. for histology, chemical physiology, and 

 experimental work, and the pathological department with 

 private research rooms for the professor and his assistant, 

 and a laboratory for advanced classes in bacteriology. 

 The medical buildings have been extended by the addition 

 of a class room, &c., specially designed for ooerative 

 surgery. The cost of these extensions has been defrayed 

 by private donations, with the assistance of a Government 

 grant. 



A MEDICAL department of the Board of Education has 

 been established to advise and assist in the discharge of 

 the new duties imposed on the Board by the Education 

 (.Administrative Provisions) Act in regard to the medical 

 inspection of school children which local education authori- 

 ties are required by that Act to carry out in England and 

 Wales. The chief duties of the Board in this direction 

 will consist in advising and supervising local education 

 authorities as to the manner and degree in which those 

 authorities carry out this medical inspection ; in giving 

 such directions as may be necessary regarding the fre- 

 quency and method of such inspection in particular areas ; 

 and in considering and sanctioning such arrangements as 

 may be proposed under the .Act by individual authorities 

 for attending to the health and phvsical condition of the 

 children. The organisation and persotuicl of the Board's 

 medical department are not yet fully determined ; as a first 

 step Dr. George Newman has been appointed chief 

 medical officer of the Board. Dr. .Mfred Eichholz, who 

 has for nine years been on the Board's staff as medical 

 inspector of schools, will also be appointed to the n-.edical 

 department, and further appointments will be made in 

 dus course. The Board intends in the autumn to issue a 

 circular to local education authorities regarding their new 

 duties in the matter of medical inspection of school 

 children. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Scien-es, Septemli-r 9 — M. Henri B'cqiierel 



in the chair. — The contact phenomena of phonolitic 



trachyte from Griounot. Cantal : A. Lacroix. — Bi-secondary 



butylene chlorohvdrin : Eouis Henry. The sccondarv butvl 



alcohol, CH— CH,— CH(OH)— CH„ was prepared svh- 



thetically from ethylmagnesium bromide and aldehvde : this 



was converted into the secondarv iodide, and from' this, by 



the action of alcoholic potash, svinmetrical dimethyl- 



ethylene was prepared. The chlorohvdrin results from the 



NO. 1977, VOL. 76"! 



interaction of this hydrocarbon and hypochlorous acid. 

 Its physical properties are given. — The resistance of the 

 air : .\1. Jougfuet. — Contribution to the study of the alloys 

 of cobalt and tin : F. Ducelliez. The present note deals 

 with alloys containing between 57 per cent, and 66 per 

 cent, of tin. The alloys are probably formed of a mixture 

 of CoSn and Co^Sn,. — Celestite from Mokattam : M. 

 Couyat. — Parasitic phanerogamic plants and nitrates : 

 Marcel Mirande. Parasitic phanerogams without chloro- 

 phyll cannot absorb nitrates from their hosts. The green 

 hemiparasites vary, some being capable of absorbing 

 nitrates from the host, others not. — Variation in the 

 ramification of umbels : H. Ric&me. — The causes of the 

 death of the young hippopotamus of the museum 

 menagerie : E. L. Trouessart. The animal died from 

 injuries to the head caused by the mother in repelling the 

 young hippopotamus from the breast. — The culture of the 

 turbot : R. Anthony. — The subterranean waters of the 

 Basque country : E. A. Martel. 



Nii'.v South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, |i'lv 31. — Mr. A. II. Lucas, president, 

 in the chair. — The geology of Newbridge, near Bathurst, 

 N.S.W. : W. Noel Benson. — Revision of the Australian 

 species of the genus .Anthobosca (Hymenoptera : fam. 

 Scoliid.-e), with descriptions of new species : R. E. 

 Turner. By careful comparison with exotic species in 

 the British Museum collection, the author has convinced 

 himself that the insects classed in the genus Anthobosca 

 are the male sex of the insects usually known in Australia 

 as Dimorphoptcra (Sm.). — The Mollusca of the Mast Head 

 Reef, Capricorn Group, Queensland, part ii. : C. Hedley. 

 This part enumerates the Gastropoda collected on and 

 around Mast Head. Thirty-seven new species are de- 

 scribed and figured. The geographical range of shells 

 previously only noted on the one part from Torres Strait, 

 on the other from the neighbourhood of Sydney, is greatly 

 enlarged. Altogether, two hundred and two mollusca are 

 added to the known fauna of Queensland. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Irriga'ion Engineering 513 



Geological Explorations in Sinai. By H. B. W. . . 514 



Electrochemistry. By F. M. P 515 



Australian Insects. By W. F. K 515 



Our Book Shelf: - 



McConk : " Nature's Cra'^tsmen : Popular Studies of 



■ Ants and other Insects " . S'^ 



Twelvetrees : " Concre'e S'eel Buildings" — T. H. B. 516 

 Hubbard and Kiersfed : " Waterworks Management 



and Maintenance" 5'7 



WaKvyn : " Pictures from Nature's Garden ; Stories 



from Life in Wood and Field'— R. L 517 



Letters to the Editor: — 



On Correlation and the Methods of Modern Statistics. 



—Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S 517 



Placue Prevention in India. — Prof. Ronald Ross, 



C.B., F.R.S 51S 



RootArtir.n and Bicteria.—F. Fletcher 518 



Some Scientific Centres. X. — The Liverpool 



School of Tropical Medicine, (/////f/ ;■;.',</.) ... 519 



The Year's Photography. By C. J 520 



International Seismological Congress . , ... 521 



The Immigration of Summer Birds. By W. E. C. . 521 



Preservation of Memorials in America 522 



Notes 522 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Daniel's Comet {I go;^* 526 



The Lowell Fxpediiion to the Andes 527 



Markings on the Third Satellite of Jupiter .... 5^7 



Astrof-hysiral Observation's and Anomalous D'spersion 527 



Forty Years of Cornish Mining. By J. H. Collins . 527 

 The Irish Peat Industries. (Illuslralcd.) By Dr. 



Hugh Ryan . . 528 



Zoology at the British Association. By Dr. J. H. 



Ash worth . 530 



Physiology at the British Association. {^Illustrated.) 



By J. Barcroft 533 



The Kingston Earthquake. {Illustrated.) S3S 



University and Educational Intelligence 535 



Societies and Acade-nies 53^ 



