NATURE 



[March 25, 1909 



two tons capacity. Provision is made for three explorers, 

 a pack of dogs, two sleds, a boat, &c., and, when com- 

 pletely equipped, the ship weighs about live tons. 



Owing to the few opportunities of inspecting aeroplanes 

 in this country in the past, these machines at Olympia are 

 easily first in public interest. Included among them is the 

 aeroplane, of French make, used by Mr. J. T. C. Moore- 

 Brabazon, who was one of the first two Englishmen actually 

 to fly. The machine is a bi-plane, i.e. two planes one 

 above the other, built by Voisin, there being 2 metres' 

 distance between the planes, and it is fitted with an 

 eight-cylinder E.N.V. engine. Three flights of from one 

 to two kilometres, and about a dozen flights of from one 

 to five kilometres, at a height up to 50 feet, have been 

 made with this machine. 



The Soci^te Commercial des Automobiles Gobron-Brillie 

 show an unfinished Breguet aeroplane of the bi-plane type. 

 This machine is fitted with means of warping the planes 

 differentially, which is intended to produce automatic 

 balancing, to facilitate turning, and to act as an elevating 

 rudder. 



A British-made aeroplane, designed by Mr. Weiss, is 

 shown by Handley Page, of Woolwich. The machine is a 

 monoplane, having a span of 34 feet and an area of 150 

 square feet. There are two propellers driven by a 12 horse- 

 power three-cylinder motor, air-cooled. Steering is effected 

 by means of two flaps placed at the back of the main 

 plane. 



The Micsse Petrol Car Syndicate show a machine having 

 wings, which are given a bird-like movement by an in- 

 genious mechanism. Messrs. Short Brothers, of Battersea, 

 show a bi-plane, and also an inflated balloon of 11,000 

 cubic feet capacity constructed for the Hon. C. S. Rolls. 

 A bi-plane designed by W. Windham, of St. John's Hill, is 

 shown, but, like several of the other machines, has not 

 yet been tried. The Continental Tyre and Rubber Co., 

 of Clerkenwell Road, show an inflated passenger balloon 

 of 49,000 cubic feet capacity. 



Mr. Howard T. Wright, of Marylebone, shows a beauti- 

 fully constructed bi-plane, the main planes being 40 feet 

 wide and 6 feet 6 inches deep. There are two propellers 

 running in opposite directions driven by a 20 horse-power 

 motor. Vertical steering is provided for by a double rudder 

 in front of the main planes, and horizontal steering by 

 a vertical rudder in the tail. Messrs. Lamplough and Son, 

 Ltd., of Willesden Junction, show a compound lifter plane 

 and glider. The design is the first of its kind, and awaits 

 trial. 



Mr. Frederick R. Simms shows a Simms-Voisin bi-plane 

 of the type used by Farman, Delagrange, and Fournier 

 in their flights. The main planes are 32.8 feet long, 

 6-5 feet wide, 5 feet space ; the rudder cell or tail is <S-5 feet 

 w-ide, 5 feet space, and contains a vertical rudder for 

 horizontal steering. Vertical steering is secured by a hori- 

 zontal rudder in front of the main planes. The total length 

 is 37-8 feet ; the weight complete is 1500 lb. The 50 horse- 

 power motor has si.x cylinders, and weighs 528 lb. com- 

 plete with water and petrol for a two hours' run. The 

 propeller is 7 feet 5 inches diameter, 5 feet pitch, and 

 weighs 33 lb. 



.'\n R.E.P. monoplane is shown by the Etablissement 

 Robert-Esnault-Pelterie. This machine won third prize 

 for 200-metrc flight last year, the wind having a speed of 

 6 metres to 8 metres. A Delagrange bi-plane, bv Voisin, 

 is shown by the Mass Cars firm. The Cody war kite is 

 on view by permission of the War Office. Messrs. 

 Willows show a dirigible balloon built at Cardiff. Con- 

 spicuous among the exhibits of motors are those of the 

 Wolselcy Tool and Motor Car Co., Ltd., and also those 

 of Messrs. John L Thornycroft and Co., Ltd. It is un- 

 fortunate that no machine used by the Wright brothers 

 is on view, although a small model of one may be seen. 



The exhibition is well worth a visit, and shows that 

 in.Tnufacturers in this country are alive to the potentialities 

 if reront developments in France and other countries, and 

 If taking steps not to be left behind in the race for the 

 conquest of the air. It will assist in arriving at a proper 

 estimation of the value of the exhibition if the fact is 

 . real-.sed that all is as yet in the experimental stage, even 

 in the rase of the most successful of the machines shown. 



NO. 2056, VOL. 80] 



HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED 

 STATES. 



T^HE report of the U.S. Commissioner for Education for 

 the year ended on June 30, 1907, has been received 

 from Washington. This is the first report issued by Dr. 

 Elmer E. Brown, who succeeded Dr. William T. Harris 

 as commissioner on July i, 1906. The two volumes, which 

 together run to 12 14 pages, deal exhaustively with every 

 branch of American education, and in addition include 

 valuable reviews of educational progress in many European 

 and other countries. 



The carefully arranged and remarkably complete tabu- 

 lated statistics of the 6o5 universities, colleges, and 

 technological schools of the United States, contained in the 

 second volume, shows what valuable assistance our own 

 Board of Education could render students and adminis- 

 trators of education if it would provide similar conspectuses 

 concerning British institutions of higher learning. 



From this part of the report we learn that the total 

 value of all gifts and bequests reported by the 606 institu- 

 tions referred to, as having been received during the year 

 under review, amounted to 4,574,000/. Of this amount 

 about 1,540,000/. was given for buildings and improve- 

 ments, and 2,540,000/. for endowment. The remaining 

 amount was for current expenses. Forty-two institutions 

 each received 20,000/. or more. The six institutions which 

 benefited to the largest extent in this way were the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, which received some 1,189,000/.; the 

 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, of New York, with its 

 215,400/. ; Vale University, 198,000/. ; Cornell University, 

 156,000/. ; Princeton University, New Jersey, 153,000/. ; 

 and Harvard University, 139,000/. 



The report shows that the Washington Bureau of Educa- 

 tion received full particulars for the year which ended in 

 June, 1907, from 606 universities, colleges, and techno- 

 logical institutions in the United States. Of these institu- 

 tions, 150 are for men only, and 330 are open to both men 

 and women. The teaching force of the whole of the 

 institutions aggregated 24,679 — an increase of 729 teachers 

 of different grades over the preceding year. The total 

 enrolment of students was 293,343. Leaving out colleges 

 for women only, and dealing with the remaining 480 

 institutions, tables are provided in the report which show 

 that, in the session 1906-7, 3,399,000/. was received by 

 students' fees, 782,000/. being for board and other non- 

 educational purposes. 



The amount received from productive funds was 

 1,955,000/. ; the receipts from State or city for increase of 

 plant were 755,000/., for endowment 45,000/., and for 

 current expenses 1,628,000/. From the United States 

 Government certain of the institutions, including agri- 

 cultural and mechanical colleges, received 533,000/. The 

 grand total of the receipts of these 480 colleges from every 

 source was 13,616,000/. Exclusive of amounts for endow- 

 ment purposes, the total sum available for current 

 expenses, improvements, and building was 11,083,000/. 

 These institutions had in the year under review in their 

 libraries 12,472,530 volumes, valued at about 3,613,000/. 

 The value of their scientific apparatus, machinery, and 

 furniture was 5,639,000/., and of grounds and buildings 

 48,816,000/., while their productive funds reached 

 50,238,000/. 



Some aspects of higher education in the United States 

 are dealt with in an article by Prof. R. C. Maclaurin, 

 president-elect of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, which appeared in the Revue scicntifiqiie of 

 January 16 under the title " L'Enseignement technique 

 sup^rieur aux Etats-L-nis." After referring to the interest 

 taken in France in the progress of technological education. 

 Prof. Maclaurin remarks that the European suspects an 

 excessive development of the utilitarian spirit across the 

 .Atlantic, and thinks that America's enthusiasm for her 

 own institutions too often displays some lack of the critical 

 faculty; but it is maintained that a good deal of the right 

 spirit is at w^ork, and that the problems of education in 

 America are being attacked with seriousness and strength 

 of purpose. Referring to the better technological institu- 

 tions in the L^nited States, the article points out that, 

 judged by French standards, the expense of conducting 



