56o 



NA TURE 



[SEPTEMJiER 26, 1907 



University College by Mr. G. U. Yule on Wednesdays at 

 5.30, commencing Wednesday, October 9. A course of ten 

 lectures will be delivered on Saturday mornings, beginning 

 on Saturday, October 12, by Mr. F. L. Grant, on " Recent 

 Developments in the Teaching of Arithmetic." This 

 course is open, without fee, to all teachers in London 

 schools. Teachers wishing to attend should apply for 

 forms to the executive oflicer, London County Council 

 Education Offices, Victoria Embankment, W.C. Forms 

 should be returned by Monday next, September 30. 



At the autumnal meeting of the Association of Chambers 

 of Commerce, held at Liverpool last week, the following 

 resolution was carried : — "That it is of the highest import- 

 ance that the education of boys be continued after leaving 

 school ;■ that employers be urged to use their influence in 

 inducing boys to attend evening classes and to give facili- 

 ties for such attendance ; that in every locality there should 

 be schools provided for secondary and commercial educa- 

 tion and for teaching the scientific and artistic principles 

 underlying local industries to boys and domestic economy 

 to girls." The association also carried unanimously a 

 resolution urging the Government to bring in at an early 

 date, as foreshadowed in the King's Speech in 1905, a 

 measure for the conversion of the ISoard of Trade into a 

 Ministry of Commerce on modern and representative lines. 



The " Scholarships and Training of Teachers' Hand- 

 book " for 1907-S, just issued by the London County 

 Council, gives particulars of the Council's scholarships 

 and other scholarships open to London children, together 

 with regulations for the admission of pupil teachers, 

 biirsars and student teachers, and for admission to train- 

 ing colleges, and a list of London secondary schools. The 

 county scholarships of the Council provide a complete 

 scheme under which a boy or girl may proceed by various 

 stages from the public elementary school to the highest 

 grades of education, whether at a university, technical 

 college, or other institution providing advanced training 

 for a professional career. The scholarships consist of 

 junior county scholarships (ages of candidates, eleven to 

 twelve), intermediate county scholarships (ages fifteen to 

 seventeen), and senior county scholarships and exhibitions 

 (ages, nineteen to twenty-two years). The first class 

 (awarded to all candidates — about 2000 — who reach scholar- 

 ship standard) provides free education at public secondary 

 schools approved by the Council, and a maintenance grant 

 of bl. a year; the second (not less than 100 scholarships), 

 free education at approved secondary schools or technical 

 colleges up to a fee of 25/. a year, and a maintenance 

 grant of 25?. or 30/. a year; and the third class (fifty 

 scholarships) provides a maintenance grant of 60/. a year 

 for three years, and tuition and examination fees up to 

 30/. a year. In awarding these senior scholarships, regard 

 is paid to the past successes of the candidates, the financial 

 need, and the recommendations of the teachers under 

 whom the candidates have worked. All candidates for 

 scholarships may be required to present themselves for 

 medical examination, and no award is confirmed if a 

 candidate is found physically unfit to take advantage of 

 a scholarship. In addition to the junior, intermediate, and 

 senior scholarshins, the Council awards a number of 

 technical, industrial, and other scholarships, particulars of 

 which are given in the handbook. All the scholarshins 

 are confined to candidates resident in the administrative 

 county of London whose parents have incomes not exceed- 

 mg i6o;. a year in the case of the junior scholarships, and 

 400;. a year in those of the intermediate and senior 

 scholarshijjs. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



P.ARIS. 



Academy of Sciences, September 16.— i\r. A. Gaudrvin the 

 chair. — Observations on ' the electrical action of tlic sun 

 and moon : .•\lbcrt Nodon. This work was carried out 

 at the observatory on the Pic du Midi, at an altitude of 

 2877 metres. The results generally confirm those obtained 

 at lower altitudes; the sun induces a positive electric 

 charge varying from i to 6 volts per minute, according 

 to the state of the atmosphere. The solar charge is 

 NO. 1978, VOL. 76] 



absorbed by passing through a cloud or layer of moist 

 air. The full moon produced a positise electric induction 

 analogous to that of the sun. — .A new flying apparatus 

 called the gyroplane : Louis Breguet, Jacques Breguet, 

 and Charles Richet. The lifting force is supplied by 

 rotating planes, driven by a 40 horse-power motor. The 

 apparatus sustained its own weight, together with that 

 of a man (540 kilograms in all), for one minute at a 

 height of 0-6 metre above the ground, and descended 

 slowly as the velocity of the plane was reduced. — A method 

 for the rapid estimation of carbon and hydrogen in organic 

 substances : Pierre Breteau and Henri Leroux. The 

 vapours driven off by heating the boat containing the sub- 

 stance in a current of oxygen are burnt by an electrically 

 heated spiral of platinum wire, a diagram of the arrange- 

 ment being given. It is claimed that the time required 

 for a combustion is only from fifteen to forty minutes, 

 according to the nature of the organic substance. No 

 test analyses are given. — The conservation of the arterial 

 pressure in man after the application of high-frequency 

 currents in the form of autoconduction : J. Bereroni6, 

 Andre Brocai and (j. Ferrie. The apparatus used gave 

 a frequency in the solenoid of between 400,000 and 

 410,000, with effective intensities of between 15 and 20 

 amperes, or from seven to ten times greater than those 

 described up to the present. The conditions for the most 

 advantageous use of the apparatus are given, together 

 with details of experiments on ten subjects. The net 

 result is that high-frequency currents are without action 

 on the arterial pressure. — Remarks on the preceding com- 

 munication : M. d'Arsonval. A discussion of the possible 

 sources of the discrepancies between the results given by 

 the authors of the preceding paper and those of earlier 

 observers. — The agents of coagulation of the milk con- 

 tained in the juices of Broussonetia papyrifera : C. Gerber. 

 — The light-receiving terminations in the compound eyes 

 of the Muscidje : Pierre Vigier. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Geological Society of London. By J. W. G. . 537 



Ancient Babylonian Letters 539 



Psychological Science. By W. B 540 



Theory and Practice of Lubrication. By Prof. 



F. W. Burstall 541 



Our Book Shelf :- 



Hardy and Elkington ; " The Savage South Seas " — 



. C. G. S 541 



Hoskins : " A Text-book on Hydraulics, including an 



Outline of the Theory of Turbines" ..... 542 

 Arnold : " Flora of Sussex, or a List of Flowering 



Plants and Ferns found in the County of Sussex " . 54^ 

 Letters to the Editor- — 



Reconstruction nf Diprotodon from the Callabonna 

 Deposits, South Australia. (////M/ra/.-rf. )— Prof. 



E. C. Stirling, F.R.S 543 



The Origin of Radium. — Dr. Bertram B. Boltwood 544 



The Body of Queen Tii.—H. R.Hall 545 



Use of the word " Telephotography." — R. Child 



Bayley : Dr. Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S. ... 546 



Double Stars 546 



Food Inspection and Adukeration. By C. Sim- 



monds 547 



Scientific Work in India 548 



The CuUinan Diamond 549 



New Laboratories at Queen's College, Belfast . . . 550 



Prof L. F. VernonHarcourt 550 



Notes. (!//:isli\i/t\l.) 551 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



.Astronomical Occurrences in October 555 



Specttum of Daniel's Comet (I907r/) 555 



The Lowell Expedition to the Andes 555 



September Meteors 555 



Photographs of Plirebe 55$ 



Solar Activitv and Terrestrial Phenomena 555 



The Juvisy Obseivatory 556 



Botany at the British Association 556 



Economic Geology in the United States 559 



University and Educational Intelligence 559 



Societies and Academies 560 



